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 June 19th, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation, and guarantees of non-recurrence Pablo de Grieff presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council on the situation in Burundi. Special Rappoteur de Grieff said Burundi has recently seen blatant failures to respect freedom of expression and assembly, citing the lack of transparency in political parties, disregard for the judiciary, ignorance for the rights of citizens, and increased manipulation of ethnicity, that could jeopardize the upcoming elections. In response, he called for greater global efforts to ensure independent monitoring and reporting and for all Burundian parties to safeguard fair elections and keep protests peaceful.

On June 20th, 11 Burundian police officials were wounded in a string of overnight grenade attacks in Bujumbura. The attacks took place in the districts of Citiboke, Nyakabiga, Musaga, and Jabe, which have been at the center of the unrest over the past several weeks related to President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to seek a third term. Police blamed the attacks on demonstrators opposed to President Nkurunziza’s candidacy and responded with gunfire.