Burundi has lifted a midnight to dawn curfew that has been in place for 34 years, saying the country is stable. A new government was elected last year following a civil war that killed an estimated 300,000 people. The curfew was used by the government in the 1970s - dominated by a Tutsi minority - to try to maintain control. But the country soon spiralled into chaos - as Hutu rebel groups took up arms against increasingly brutal repression by the military. The curfew remained in force fo...read more
Burundi has lifted a midnight to dawn curfew that has been in place for 34 years, saying the country is stable. A new government was elected last year following a civil war that killed an estimated 300,000 people. The curfew was used by the government in the 1970s - dominated by a Tutsi minority - to try to maintain control. But the country soon spiralled into chaos - as Hutu rebel groups took up arms against increasingly brutal repression by the military. The curfew remained in force for the next three decades - with Burundians prohibited from venturing on to the streets between midnight and dawn. Now the government says these restrictions are no longer necessary.
