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Summary

After years of brutal civil war, Burundi installed its first democratically elected government in twelve years in August 2005. Upon taking office the new president, Pierre Nkurunziza, who also heads the former rebel movement the National Council for the Defense of Democracy—Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD), promised to protect human rights and to establish the rule of law. In the past few months the last remaining rebel group, the National Liberation Forces (FNL), led by Agathon Rwasa, appeared ready to negotiate an end to war.

Just at this moment of fresh beginnings and new hope, Burundian soldiers and intelligence agents have summarily executed and tortured civilians and suspected rebels, calling into question the assurances of human rights protection given by the new government. While government soldiers and officials seemed readier to abide by the law in areas where the CNDD-FDD had strong support, they persisted in abuse of persons in the area of FNL strength in and around the capital, Bujumbura, as they have done for the past decade.

FNL forces also assassinated local government officials and those associated with the CNDD-FDD, as they had in the past. They also continued to force civilians to contribute food, money, and other goods.

Generally pleased with the smooth transition to the newly-elected government, many representatives of embassies and international agencies have focused on hopes that the new authorities will protect human rights, and have said nothing publicly about the new wave of abuses. Others, including representatives of the human rights division of the United Nations Operation in Burundi (ONUB, the U.N. peacekeeping mission), have documented these abuses and reacted promptly, asking for meetings with government officials and members of the diplomatic community. 

Should the escalation of FNL attacks on civilians and summary executions, torture and other abuses by government soldiers and officials continue, the early hopes for improved protection of human rights under the new government will soon be extinguished.