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In Burundi, Fears That Next Year's Vote Will Be Bloody Again

Associated Press

   BUJUMBURA, BURUNDI - It made history as the first country to quit the
   International Criminal Court. Then it kicked out the United Nations
   human rights office. Even as Burundi's vice president asserts in a rare
   interview that the troubled country is now peaceful, reports of abuses
   are up ahead of next year's election as some people worry President
   Pierre Nkurunziza will run once more.

   An Associated Press visit this month witnessed a government intent on
   portraying an image of calm while some citizens said they live in fear
   that the upcoming vote could be bloody, like the one in 2015 that
   sparked political turmoil that still simmers today.

   "It's hard to live in Burundi, there's no freedom. You can't express
   ideas opposing the government as there's a constant fear of being
   arrested, kidnapped or killed," said Sake Mathieu, founder of the
   Community Association for Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, one
   of the few rights groups still operating in this East African country
   of some 11 million people.

   More than 1,200 people have been killed since Nkurunziza announced he
   would run for a third term and the government cracked down on the
   widespread protests that followed, the U.N. says. Nearly 350,000 people
   have fled the country, the International Crisis Group said last month.

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