Publication

This report explores the crisis that arose in Burundi when 1) President Pierre Nkurunziza announced that he would seek a third term in office; 2) the country’s July 2015 election failed to end the crisis, and 3) the election results led to the suppression of all civil opposition and a wave of targeted killings. The problem now is that the brutal “hardliners” who dominate the government continue to stifle dissent, fuel ethnic hatred, and undermine the Arusha Accord, which has served as Burundi’s foundation for peace over the past decade. Given all these pathologies, the text’s authors conclude that the international community should prepare itself to intervene in the country if widespread violence breaks out.