Satellite Images Show Burundi Used Mass Graves, Amnesty Says
- Photos corroborate witness testimony on December violence
- Images suggest 'deliberate' cover-up attempt by authorities
A man cycles past a barricade set up by protestors in the Nyakabiga neighborhood in Bujumbura.
Photographer: Carl de Souza/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Satellite images from late December and early January indicate that Burundian security forces killed dozens of people and dumped them in mass graves on the outskirts of the capital, according to Amnesty International.
The photographs are consistent with the testimony of witnesses who said that graves were dug Dec. 11 after heavy fighting erupted when gunmen attacked military camps in Bujumbura, the London-based group said Friday. At least 154 people died in that bout of violence, the Paris-based Worldwide Movement for Human Rights and Ligue Iteka, a local group, said that month.