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Amnesty slams Burundi forces for Dec. 11 bloodshed

Tuesday, 22 December 2015 7:41 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 22 December 2015 7:43 AM ]

Military personnel drive a vehicle through the Musaga neighborhood of Burundian capital, Bujumbura, on December 11, 2015. ©AFP

Amnesty International has slammed Burundian security forces for using “violent tactics,” which killed tens of anti-government protesters in the capital, Bujumbura, in a single day earlier this month.

In a report issued on Monday, the UK-based rights body outlined how security forces went on a killing spree on December 11, slaying nearly 90 people that the government said were behind recent armed attacks on military facilities in Bujumbura.

“In the single most deadly day since the current political unrest began, the streets of Bujumbura were left littered with bodies, many shot with a single bullet to the head. At least one body was found tied up,” said Muthoni Wanyeki, regional director for Amnesty’s East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.

December 11 also saw arbitrarily arrests at the hands of the forces.

Men carry away a dead body in the Nyakabiga neighborhood of Bujumbura, Burundi, on December 12, 2015. ©AP

“The security forces’ violent tactics that day represented a dramatic escalation in scale and intensity from previous operations. Men were dragged out of their homes and shot at close range, while others were shot the instant their doors were opened,” added the Amnesty official.

Latest United Nations figures show that at least 400 people have been killed, while 220,000 others have fled Burundi since April 26 due to the crisis, which broke out in response to President Pierre Nkurunziza’s bid to run for a third term.

Nkurunziza won the controversial presidential election in July.

The opposition says his move to run for president violates the constitution, which only allows two successive terms, as well as a 2006 peace deal that ended 13 years of civil war in the African state.

The UN has warned on several occasions that Burundi is on the brink of another civil war.

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