Two mass graves found in Burundi

BUJUMBURA, Burundi

Two mass graves, along with one nearby dead body, were discovered in the Cibitoke district, north of the Burundian capital of Bujumbura, the district administrator announced late Friday.

Ntahangwa Eddy Hakizimana, the Cibitoke administrator, told a press conference that the discoveries were made on the basis of information provided by a young man in a phone call, but gave no further details.

“The dead body has not been identified,” Hakizimana said.

He added that excavations have begun to make possible identifications of the corpses in the mass graves.

Amnesty International announced in January that new satellite images and eyewitness accounts indicated dozens of people reportedly killed by Burundian security forces in December were possibly buried in five mass graves on the outskirts of the capital.

Burundi’s security and political crisis started last April when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced his candidacy for a third term.

The worst of the violence occurred on Dec. 11, when 87 people were killed in clashes in Bujumbura.

More than 400 people have been killed and at least 230,000 have fled the country to seek refuge in neighboring states within the East African region.

The Burundian opposition has repeatedly deplored "arbitrary arrests" of thousands of its activists by the security forces.