Burundi orders new rights body to 'fight' UN envoy

BURUNDI’S parliament appointed a new human rights commission this week after its previous head fled into exile and said its mission was to “fight” the UN’s rights envoy.

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International rights groups have long accused Burundi’s government of suppressing civil society, political opposition and the media.

The country’s own National Independent Human Rights Commission was considered close to the government, but it released a report in January detailing hundreds of violations.

That led its president Sixte Vigny Nimuraba to flee into exile after he was criticised by the head of the National Assembly and then accused of corruption.