![\"Crowds](\"https:\/\/media.voltron.voanews.com\/Drupal\/01live-166\/styles\/892x501\/s3\/2020-05\/AP_20135368325824.jpg?itok=uDihF2MJ\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nBurundi has expelled four officials from the World Health Organization (WHO), declaring them persona non grata and ordering them to leave the country by Friday, a leaked memo from the country\u2019s foreign ministry reveals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The decision comes days before the May 20 presidential elections and amid a global coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bernard Ntahiraja, the foreign affairs assistant minister, did not provide an explanation for the expulsion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The WHO’s Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, said that the organization \u201cremain[s] very willing to…support their [Burundi\u2019s] response to COVID-19.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
John Nkengasong, the head of the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a statement that he found the decision to hold elections in a time of the COVID-19 crisis irresponsible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have to collectively deny the virus any space to transmit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Opposition candidate L\u00e9once Ngendakumana said the expulsion is \u201cregrettable\u201d and called upon the government to heed recommended health and safety precautions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The country alone won’t be able to contain the pandemic,” Ngendakmana said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The expelled officials include WHO country head Walter Kazadi Mulombo, field epidemiologist Jean Pierre Mulunda Nkata, health sector coordinator Ruhana Mirindi Bisimwa, and Daniel Tarzy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Burundi has only 27 reported cases of COVID-19, but health officials suspect cases are on the rise due to the lack of testing and lockdown measures, the CDC said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Critics accuse the government of downplaying the virus in order to temper rising civil unrest, fearing a repeat of the violence that occurred after the 2015 election of current president Pierre Nkurunziza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2019, Burundi expelled United Nations officials who investigated the violence after the 2015 vote. The country also left the International Criminal Court after facing charges of state-sponsored crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Burundi has expelled four officials from the World Health Organization (WHO), declaring them persona non grata and ordering them to leave the country by Friday, a leaked memo from the country\u2019s foreign ministry reveals. The decision comes days before the May 20 presidential elections and amid a global coronavirus pandemic. Bernard Ntahiraja, the foreign affairs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[27,6,11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Burundi Expels WHO Officials » WatchDog Plus Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=13598\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Odofin\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=13598#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"COVID-19\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?cat=27\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Burundi Expels WHO Officials\"}]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Burundi Expels WHO Officials » WatchDog Plus Media","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=13598","author":"Odofin","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=13598#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"COVID-19","item":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?cat=27"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Burundi Expels WHO Officials"}]}]}},"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Odofin","author_link":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?author=2"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?cat=27\" rel=\"category\">COVID-19<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?cat=6\" rel=\"category\">Health<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?cat=11\" rel=\"category\">World News<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Burundi has expelled four officials from the World Health Organization (WHO), declaring them persona non grata and ordering them to leave the country by Friday, a leaked memo from the country\u2019s foreign ministry reveals. The decision comes days before the May 20 presidential elections and amid a global coronavirus pandemic. Bernard Ntahiraja, the foreign affairs…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13598"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13598"}],"version-history":[{"count":-2,"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13598\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Crowds](\"https:\/\/www.voanews.com\/s3\/files\/styles\/sourced\/s3\/2020-05\/AP_20135368325824.jpg?itok=5JQwIht0\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n