Step by step Burundi is reverting to the police state of the 1980s and 1990s during which human rights defenders and journalists were routinely portrayed publicly as enemies of the state. This is now the trend in East Africa.

The continued detention of a prominent human rights defender highlights worsening repression of state critics ahead of elections next year, an issue that has received wide condemnation even from the UN

South Sudan’s independence is ‘a dream come true’ for the country’s people, but ‘to avoid turning that dream into a nightmare, the new nation’s leadership will need to adopt a line of governance that reflects greater commitment to human rights, public freedoms and justice for all,’ cautions Aloys Habimana.