Burundi: Delays in justice mechanisms 'fuel impunity'

Ten years after the signing of an accord designed to move Burundi from civil war to democratic stability, the country has yet to establish transitional justice mechanisms aimed at enhancing reconciliation and bringing to book those responsible for crimes committed during the country's turbulent years. Human rights activists and political observers say the lack of these mechanisms - a truth and reconciliation commission and some form of criminal tribunal - had perpetuated a culture of impunity, allowing human rights violations to proliferate, especially by state organs such as the police and judiciary.