{"id":31573,"date":"2017-01-04T00:23:46","date_gmt":"2017-01-04T00:23:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/burundi-bans-oldest-rights-group\/"},"modified":"2017-01-04T00:23:43","modified_gmt":"2017-01-04T00:23:43","slug":"burundi-bans-oldest-rights-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/burundi-bans-oldest-rights-group\/","title":{"rendered":"Burundi bans oldest rights group"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>{Burundi authorities have banned the country&#8217;s oldest human rights organisation, which had continued reporting abuses despite being suspended when political turmoil broke out nearly two years ago.<br \/>\n}<br \/>\nA ministerial order made public Tuesday accused the Iteka League of &#8220;continuing to tarnish the image of the country and sowing hatred and division among the population&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The rights group, established in 1991, took part in a two-year investigation with the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) which resulted in a report released in November documenting state-sponsored violence and warning of the risk of genocide.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are not surprised by this decision (because) it confirms that the Burundi government continues to do everything to prevent the reporting of serious violations of human rights,&#8221; Iteka President Anschaire Nikoyagize, who lives in exile, told AFP.<\/p>\n<p>Despite being run from abroad, the Iteka League continues to produce weekly and monthly reports on rights abuses in Burundi.<\/p>\n<p>Burundi was plunged into turmoil in April 2015 when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced he would seek a third term in office, prompting massive protests and a failed coup attempt.<\/p>\n<p>Ensuing unrest has left more than 500 people dead and seen more than 300,000 flee the central African country.<\/p>\n<p>Nkurunziza has worked to shore up control of the country with a crackdown on opponents, the media and civil society.<\/p>\n<p>The defiant 53-year-old president last week hinted that he would not rule out a fourth stab at the presidency in 2020 elections.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-17426 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/burundipic.jpg\" alt=\"Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza speaking to the press in his office in Bujumbura on May 17, 2015. A human rights agency has been banned. \" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>{Burundi authorities have banned the country&#8217;s oldest human rights organisation, which had continued reporting abuses despite being suspended when political turmoil broke out nearly two years ago. } A ministerial order made public Tuesday accused the Iteka League of &#8220;continuing to tarnish the image of the country and sowing hatred and division among the population&#8221;. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[99],"byline":[228],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-31573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-greatlakesnews","byline-afp"],"bylines":[{"id":228,"name":"AFP","slug":"afp","description":"Agence France-Presse is an international news agency headquartered in Paris. It is the oldest news agency in the world and one of the largest. ","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":71}],"contributors":[{"id":228,"name":"AFP","slug":"afp","description":"Agence France-Presse is an international news agency headquartered in Paris. It is the oldest news agency in the world and one of the largest. 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