In This Issue:

- Leading the News

- United States – Africa Relations

- North Africa

- East Africa

- West Africa

- Sub - Saharan Africa

- General Africa News

- Excerpt from Leading the News:

Burundi -

On April 24th, United Nations (U.N.) officials reported nearly 15,000 Burundians have fled into Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since mid-March due to a political crisis caused by expectations that President Pierre Nkurunziza would see a third term in office. Opposition leaders argued another presidential run would be a violation of the constitution and threatened to protest once President Nkurunziza confirmed his candidacy. Rwandan officials also reported 11,915 refugees had crossed the border since mid-March, up from 6,000 last week.

On April 25th, the State Department expressed regret for the decision of Burundi’s ruling party, the National Council for the Defense of Democracy – Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) to disregard the term-limit provisions of the Arusha Agreement by naming President Pierre Nukrunziza as its candidate. Despite this decision, the State Department called for the work of building democratic practices and institutions in the country to continue and for legislative and national elections to be inclusive, transparent, and credible. U.S. officials called on the Government of Burundi to respect the rights of all political parties and their candidates to express their views and commended neighboring countries for their efforts to accept Burundian refugees. In addition, the State Department threatened to take targeted measures to hold accountable individuals involved in violence against the civilian population.