Monday, April 25, 2016

International Criminal Court Opens Early Probe Into Chicago Violence

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has opened a preliminary probe into atrocities in Chicago over the last year, saying violence in the city has reportedly left more than 430 people dead and forced 230,000 to flee their homes.-ABC
Oh wait.
The ICC isn't looking into Chicago, it's looking into Burundi.
The numbers are very close though.
Chicago's murder stats for 2015 were Shot & Killed: 445 with 507 total homicides. Also something like 200,000 fleeing the city:
From a population of 2,896,016  in 2000 to 2,722,389 at the start of last year.
Of course Burundi's population is around 9 million so Chicago's percentages are higher.

Here's the latest on Burundi via the Financial Times:

Burundi faces ICC probe as political violence escalates
The International Criminal Court is to open a preliminary investigation into the year-long political violence in Burundi, the first step in the process towards prosecutions.

Rights groups welcomed the decision, announced by Fatou Bensouda, the ICC chief prosecutor, on Monday. But some analysts said the crisis in the East African country was escalating so rapidly — as demonstrated by the murder of a Burundian general in the capital Bujumbura on Monday — that any ICC process would make little difference.

Ms Bensouda said more than 430 Burundians had been killed, 3,400 arrested and 230,000 forced to seek refuge abroad since the crisis began last April. Her office had also “reviewed reports detailing acts of killing, imprisonment, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, as well as cases of enforced disappearances”.

“All these acts appear to fall within the jurisdiction of the ICC,” she said in a statement.
The crisis began after President Pierre Nkurunziza announced he would run for a third term in office, in violation of the constitution. This triggered a coup attempt, which was put down. Mr Nkurunziza then won a third term in July in an election that was widely criticised as neither free nor fair....MORE
Most of the news of the last month was murders of Burundian cops and soldiers as it appears the rebels are trying to force an overreaction by the government. Here's the BBC a couple hours ago:
And AFP yesterday:

It is very difficul to tell if there are any good guys in this story.

Back on November 22, 2015 the President of the United States declared:
I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, find that the situation in Burundi, which has been marked by the killing of and violence against civilians, unrest, the incitement of imminent violence, and significant political repression, and which threatens the peace, security, and stability of Burundi, constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, and I hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat. I hereby order:...

 Threat to the national security of the U.S.

What the hell?

Sounds like time for a little regime change.
We think we know why, more to come.

 Possibly related:
Mar. 22
Tajikistan: Banking Crisis Nears Cracking Point
One of the countries we thought might be ripe for a color revolution this year. From January's "Report: UK, U.S., Russian troops in Libya":
Got a little (four years and counting) regime change going on here.

For those playing at home, some of the early betting favorites for 2016 are Moldova, Burundi, Tajikistan, Macedonia and Burkina Faso....
We'll probably be hearing next from Burundi as, to use Pepe Escobar's term, the "Empire of Chaos" seems to be ramping up faster there than in the other contenders....
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