ACLED has released a new update of the recent unrest in Burundi. This twelfth update covering events from 26 April to 5 September 2015 can be found here. These real-time data draw primarily on crowd-sourced information available from 2015Burundi as well as from ACLED’s weekly real-time conflict data release.
Over the last days of August, several influential and lead members of the Movement for Solidarity and Development (the opposition party) and of the National Council for the Defence of Democracy-Forces for the Defence of Democracy (affiliated with the ruling party) were killed. This highlights that anti-civilian violence is commonly targeted in Burundi. Victims are often figures within political parties (ranging from local to national politics); most of the time, however, it remains unclear who the perpetrators are. This supports a pattern of targeted assassinations.
While in early August, military forces were less active, they took part in anti-civilian actions in recent weeks, opening fire and killing several protesters and opposition activists in Musaga.
For more on Burundi local data coverage and analysis, see the prior posts on this topic.
