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Burundi

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From the Communiqué

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Critics silenced; network of 146 NGOs banned

Burundian authorities outlawed a network of 146 civil society organisations on 23 November, following weeks of intimidation and threats to civil society activists who were demanding accountability for killings in 2009, report Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP) in a joint statement.

PUBLIC BROADCASTER EMPLOYEES ATTACKED

IFEX members Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) are calling on the Burundi government to investigate two separate attacks last week that killed one employee of the country's public broadcaster and left another staff member wounded.

COURT QUASHES CHARGES AGAINST JOURNALISTS

A court in Burundi has thrown out charges against three journalists accused by the government of threatening national security, a move hailed by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF).

GOVERNMENT TARGETS CIVIL SOCIETY ACTIVISTS, JOURNALISTS

The human rights situation in Burundi appears to be deteriorating, with a growing number of civil society activists and independent journalists arrested and harassed in recent months, report Human Rights Watch, Journaliste en danger (JED), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

RADIO STATION WORKS FOR RECONCILIATION

In Burundi, where ethnic conflict in the 1990s led to the killing of at least 300,000 civilians, reconciliation is a long slow process. A few brave radio stations are working to overcome that legacy of violence, including Radio Publique Africaine (RPA), reports Dangerous Assignments, the magazine of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

RADIO STATIONS BARRED FROM AIRING REBEL STATEMENTS

In Burundi, where radio is the country's main source of news, President Pierre Buyoya has ordered all private radio stations to stop airing statements or interviews with two rebel groups still at war with the government, report the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF).