Inner City Press: Investigative Reporting from the United Nations

In Burundi, Threats Against UN By Arusha Invitee, Belated Torture Filing

By Matthew Russell Lee, Follow Up On Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, August 1 -- The UN Security Council adopted a resolution to send up to 228 UN Police to Burundi on July 29, with four abstentions: China, Egypt, Venezuela and Egypt. Surprisingly, Russia voted yes. Here is the French text; English is below.

Minute before the UN Security Council was to vote on the draft resolution to send up to 228 police to Burundi, French ambassador Francois Delattre spoke with his Chinese counterpart, tweeted photo here, while Angola's ambassador spoke with US Ambassador Samantha Power and her deputy, David Pressman. (Blurrier photo tweeted here.)

Since then threats have been made against any UN Police who deploy - including threats by pro Nkurunziza officials who were invited to the talks in Arusha supported by the UN. From the UN, the silence has been... deafening. Meanwhile, here is the Nkurunziza government's belated justification for breaking off UN Committee Against Torture dialogue, put online by Inner City Press here.

On July 30 in Bujumbura, the CNDD-FDD rally at the French embassy which Inner City Press had reported in advance on July 29 featured French Ambassador Gerrit Van Rossum fraternizing with the CNDD-FDD crowd and their signs about Rwanda. Inner City Press tweeted photo here.
The UN of Ban Ki-moon and Herve Ladsous plans to accept 800 more soldiers from Burundi for "service" in the Central African Republic, Inner City Press was exclusively informed and got the UN to confirm on June 23. But why?

Especially now that the UN has belatedly acknowledged that the new rape charges in CAR are against Burundi? And now that Burundi has “discontinued its interactive dialogue” with the UN Committee Against Torture? On July 29 Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesman Farhan Haq about this; the generic response indicated to some that Ban's office is not even aware of it.

After breaking off interactive dialogue with the UN Committee on Torture, Burundi and its “keeper of the seals” turned in a written response that many find less than credible. Inner City Press is putting it online here on Scribd. Watch this site.

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