About 2,000 Eritrean migrants demonstrated in central Israel in support of a UN human rights accusation of Eritrean leaders for crimes against humanity.

The protesters, some of who called for the indictment of Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, gathered outside the headquarters of the European Union’s delegation in Ramat Gan near the coastal city of Tel Aviv to show support for the report published on June 8.

According to the UN report, between 300,000 to 400,000 people have been in slavery in the country in the past 25 years.

Meanwhile, UN human rights investigators accused the Eritrean leaders of crimes against humanity, including torture, rape, murder and enslaving hundreds of thousands of people.

“Atrocities had been committed since the country’s independence in 1991 and were continuing,” the U.N. Commission of Inquiry said in the report that was immediately rejected by the government.

According to the UN agency, Eritrea’s poor treatment of its own people has motivated many thousands to flee the country.

If indicted Afwerki will become the second African sitting Head of State to face ICC sanctions after Sudanese President Omar Bashir, who is accused of genocide and war crimes in his country’s western region of Darfur.

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A delegation of the Peace and Security Department of the African Union Commission (AUPSD) is in Burundi for a three-day peace mission to assess the security situation in the country.

On their arrival, the AUPSD met with stakeholders of Burundi’s peace process to analyze the situation and find a lasting solution to its problems.

According to a source the mission is expected to meet also with the head of state Pierre Nkurunziza. During the three-days, the PSC will also have consultations with government bodies, the opposition and civil society organisations.

Led by the Permanent Representative of the Congo to the AU, Lazare Makayat Safuesse, the mission met with Burundi’s former President Domitien Ndayizeye who reiterated the need for inclusive dialogue.

The peace mission of the AU Peace and Security Council follows that of February embarked upon by five African heads of state to the country.

The AUPSD during the crisis in Burundi had advocated for the sending of 5,000 men to end the cycle of violence. This recommendation was not agreed upon by the summit of heads of state in January after vehement rejection by the Burundi government.

Burundi was plunged in a serious crisis when President Nkurunziza announced his candidacy in April 2015 for a third term before he was re-elected in July. The violence claimed more than 500 lives and forced more than 270,000 Burundians in exile.

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An unspecified number of peacekeepers from Rwanda, Ethiopia and India could be headed home soon after the United Nations accused them of  ‘lack of responsiveness’ during a bloody attack on a UN-run camp in South Sudan in February.

UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous acknowledged today that an investigation had found ‘inadequacies’ in peacekeepers’ response when gunmen in military uniform stormed the camp in the northeastern town of Malakal on February 17 and 18, firing on civilians and setting shelters ablaze.

The attack on the camp, where about 48,000 people were sheltering, left at least 40 dead and 123 wounded.

Nearly 20,000 people lost their homes after they were torched by the attackers based on the occupants’ tribal affiliation.

“There was a lack of responsiveness by some, a lack of understanding of the rules of engagement by some,” said Ladsous, who refused to single out any individuals.

“I will not name names but there will be repatriations of units and of individual officers.”

At the time of the attack, the peacekeeping force was made up of contingents from Ethiopia, India and Rwanda.

“I can assure you that there will be a follow-up as there has been in other theatres of operation,” Ladsous said.

Initial findings of an internal UN investigation found that “there was confusion with respect to command and control” and “a lack of coordination among the various civilian and uniformed peacekeepers” during the attack.

A UN military official in Malakal said that Ethiopian peacekeepers had abandoned their posts during the attack.

The same official said that the peacekeeping contingent from Rwanda had asked, in writing, for permission to fire their weapons as the base came under attack, even though peacekeepers are licensed to use force to protect civilians.

Many of those who sought shelter at the UN site in Malakal arrived shortly after Sudan’s civil war began in December 2013 after President Salva Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar, who he had sacked earlier that year, of plotting a coup.

Civil war broke out when soldiers from Kiir’s Dinka ethnic group disarmed and targeted troops of Machar’s Nuer ethnic group. Machar and commanders loyal to him fled, and tens of thousands of people died in the civil war that followed.

A peace agreement signed in August collapsed and fighting continues in many parts of the country, despite both leaders joining a unity government two months ago.

The attack in Malakal threatens to deepen the conflict further. Leaders of the Shilluk ethnic group, the third largest tribe in the country who hail from Malakal, say that if they are not given their land back, fighting could ensue.

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