The United Nations Independent Investigation in Burundi, which was set up to investigate human rights violations in the country since April 2015, has completed the deployment of a team of human rights monitors on the ground.

The UN Human Rights Council established the Independent Investigation team in December 2015 to investigate violations and abuses of human rights in Burundi, make recommendations on the improvement of the human rights situation, and engage in a dialogue with the authorities and other relevant actors in the ongoing crisis.

“Following our first visit to Burundi in early March, the deployment of human rights monitors is a new and important step forward in our investigations, and will help us collect meaningful information on human rights violations and abuses which have been committed in Burundi since April 2015,” said Christof Heyns, Chair of the Independent Investigation.

In addition to collecting information in Burundi, the team will also visit neighbouring countries, including Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The visits to neighbouring countries will allow the human rights investigators to meet with Burundian refugees and collect testimonies from those who have fled the violence.

“Now that the team is fully in place and operational, I hope that we will receive information and documentation from many individuals, groups and organizations on the human rights violations and abuses which have been taking place in Burundi since the crisis started, a year ago,” said Mr Heyns.

In addition to Mr Heyns, the team consists of two other independent human rights experts: Maya Sahli-Fadel and Pablo de Greiff.

The three experts plan to undertake a second visit to Burundi in June, and will present their final report to the 33rd session of the Human Rights Council in September 2016.

Stories Continues after ad

Fifty four humanitarian workers have been killed in South Sudan since the outbreak of civil war in December 2013, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said.

The revelation follows the tragic killing of Sister Veronika Racková, a 58 year old Slovakian nun and medical doctor who was shot on 15 May 2016 in Yei, while on a humanitarian mission, and later succumbed to her wounds, prompting the Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan, Eugene Owusu, to strongly condemn the killing.

“I am deeply saddened by this senseless act and send my deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Sister Veronika Racková,”Mr Owusu said, adding: “I welcome steps being taken by the authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice and urge them to act swiftly.”

Sister Veronika Racková was driving an ambulance on her way back from a medical centre when she was attacked. Her death brings the number of aid workers killed in South Sudan since the beginning of the conflict in December 2013 to 54.

Mr Owusu said that violence against humanitarian workers and humanitarian assets is categorically unacceptable and must stop.

“I urge the Transitional Government of National Unity to endeavour to strengthen the safety and security environment for aid workers and will work intensively with them to achieve this,” Mr Owusu said.

In a related development Holy Mass in memory of Sr Rackova was held over the weekend at Yei’s Christ the King Cathedral in South Sudan. Sr. Veronika, a medical doctor at St Bakhita Health Centre in Yei, South Sudan died last Friday and could be buried in South Sudan.

Stories Continues after ad

President Robert Mugabe has thanked Zanu PF youths for what he claimed was a ‘resoundingly successful’ march organised in his honour, adding that party members must shun divisions.

Mugabe was the last to speak after youth leaders, his wife Grace and the two vice presidents, Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko during the Africa Day one million men march in Harare.

The veteran leader urged the youths not to be “confused by confusionists” who are bent on dividing the party into factions for personal power.

He condemned what he termed ‘little groups meant to promote so and so’ and urged the war veterans to desist from organising themselves from outside Zanu PF, saying they should air their grievances from within the ruling party. Those ‘little groups’, Mugabe said, are ‘treasonous’.

“We want you inside the party with your grievances and criticisms. Differences should be solved from within the party,” said Mugabe before calling for “unity, unity, unity and unity.”

Mugabe attacked party members who give stories to independent newspapers about other fellow Zanu PF members, saying by so doing they were ‘giving life’ to ‘little papers’. He condemned ‘gossip and rumour mongering’.

And in what seems to be currently resonating in Africa, the Zimbabwe strongman also found time to take pot shots at the opposition and the western nations saying they should forget about persuading him to resign. He said the MDC had no agenda apart from calling on him to go.

“Why do they want Mugabe to go? Is it because they feel pity for me or they are scared of Mugabe? I am sure they are scared of Mugabe,” he said.
He added: “Where do you want me to go? I am not a Briton. I am not a Yankee. I am a Zimbabwean. That’s why I told Blair to keep his England while I keep my Zimbabwe.”

“To all those who say I should go I say go and hang; go and hang yourself.”

Mugabe also thanked God for “a glorious day” claiming that no one was forced to attend the march. “One thing I insisted on during the preparation for this day was that there should be no violence,” said Mugabe.

Thousands of people attended the event and, according to reports, many people, including students, were forced to attend from all over the country.

Stories Continues after ad

Kenya’s main opposition coalition has today said it would suspend its weekly protests against the election commission to give calls for dialogue a chance.

Three people were killed on Monday in clashes between demonstrators and police in Nairobi and other cities during rallies against the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), led by opposition leader Raila Odinga’s CORD coalition. Clashes also flared during three other protests.

The next presidential and parliamentary polls in Kenya, East Africa’s largest economy, are not due until August 2017 but politicians are already trying to galvanise supporters in a country prone to political strife. Violence erupted after the 2007 vote and the opposition disputed the outcome in 2013.

The opposition accuses the IEBC of bias and wants its commissioners to be replaced. IEBC members dismiss the charges, while the government has accused the opposition of criticising the IEBC because they cannot win via the ballot box.

On Tuesday, U.S., British and other Western ambassadors called for talks to resolve the issue.

“CORD has resolved to temporarily suspend demonstrations that were scheduled for next Monday 30th May, 2016 to give dialogue and peace a chance,” an opposition statement said.

The suspension of the protests, which have been staged each Monday since April 25 bar one, would expire on June 5 if the ruling Jubilee coalition does not agree to talks, CORD said.

Stories Continues after ad