Burundi: UN, African Union mission condemn attacks on political figures

The United Nations Integrated Office in Burundi (BINUB) and the African Union Mission in the country have condemned a grenade attack against political figures there.

The attacks took place during the night of 19-20 August against key individuals, “putting their lives and those of their families at risk,” BINUB and the African Union Mission, known as MIAB, said in a joint statement issued on Tuesday.

They emphasized that now is the time for dialogue and not acts of “blind and gratuitous violence.”

A series of power-sharing agreements and ceasefires between the Government and various rebel groups have helped to bring peace to Burundi, where BINUB took over from a UN peacekeeping operation which had been deployed there from mid-2004 to the end of 2006.

Burundi is currently on the agenda of the UN Peacebuilding Commission, which was established to help countries recovering from war avoid a relapse into war.