The situation in Burundi has progressively deteriorated since 25 April 2015, the day President Pierre Nkurunziza was nominated by his party the National Council for Defence of Democracy – Forces for Defence of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) to stand for election for a third term in office, and the violent repression by security forces of the protests that ensued. Hundreds of people have been killed since the beginning of the crisis in April and thousands have been arrested in the government crackdown on suspected opponents. Human rights organisations have documented extrajudicial executions, torture and other forms of ill-treatment, arbitrary arrests, disappearances, extortion and looting by security forces. There has been a wide-ranging crackdown on independent media and human rights organisations.
