U.N. Group Accuses Burundi Leaders of Crimes Against Humanity<br />A panel of investigators set up by the United Nations Human Rights Council a year ago said on Monday<br />that it delivered a list of suspects to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and was giving the Security Council another list of people it said should face sanctions.<br />John Fisher said that Cooperation with council mechanisms is not optional,<br />but a requirement of membership, and there should be consequences for persistent noncompliance,<br />Mr. Ouguergouz did not name Mr. Nkurunziza as a suspect, but the panel attributed the crimes to "the highest levels of the state." It also described a parallel system of government in which major decisions, including some<br />that led to severe human rights violations, were made by the president and a small entourage of people close to him.<br />As the panel prepares to present its findings this month to the 47-member Human Rights Council, which includes Burundi,<br />its report also raises questions about whether the country should be allowed to remain on the council.<br />The council will decide this month whether to extend the panel’s powers of inquiry,<br />and diplomats say it may also call for a review of Burundi’s membership by the United Nations General Assembly, which elects council members.<br />That refusal to cooperate with a panel created by the Human Rights Council flouted<br />a core requirement for membership in the group, the world’s top human rights body.<br />Now, United Nations human rights investigators say they believe Burundi’s top leaders and state security agencies committed crimes against humanity.
