Former Swiss cabinet minister Pascal Couchepin left Tuesday on a five-day mission to crisis-hit Burundi as an envoy for the International Organization of Francophone States (OIF). This “information and contact” mission is expected to meet with senior government officials, heads of institutions, civil society representatives and international partners, according to the OIF. Couchepin, 75, has previously led two similar missions to Burundi in June and September 2015 to try and help find a way out of the country’s crisis. As OIF special envoy to the Great Lakes region of Africa, he is accompanied by a team of high-level francophone experts, says the OIF. Country in crisis Burundi has been in a deep political crisis since 2015 when President Pierre Nkurunziza ran for a third term, that his opponents deemed unconstitutional, and declared himself winner of elections boycotted by the opposition. At least 1,200 people have been killed in the violence and political repression that ...
