Rising risk of Burundi election violence

ADDIS ABABA: Burundi is facing a mounting risk of unrest ahead of key elections and African leaders should stop President Pierre Nkurunziza from running for a third term, rights groups warned on Tuesday.
Burundi, a small nation in central Africa´s Great Lakes region, emerged in 2006 from a brutal 13-year civil war and its political climate remains fractious ahead of the polls.
"The situation in Burundi is spiralling out of control, with hundreds of civilians killed or disappeared, due to the ongoing political impasse over moves by President Nkurunziza to run for a third term," said a grouping of civil society organisations from across the continent, who signed under the banner "The AU We Want Coalition".
"Burundi´s path toward conflict and chaos has been deliberate, and gone unquestioned by the African Union," said the statement, released ahead of a summit meeting of the leaders of the 54-member AU bloc on Friday. Measures include a wave of arrests, harassment and a clampdown on free speech.