Consequently, hundreds of schools closed, including in Soum, Oudalan and Loroum. Ansaroul Islam claimed responsibility for attacking police stations in Baraoulé and Tongomaël on 27 and 28 February. On 3 March, an armed group killed a school principal and another local person in Kourfayel, a village in Soum. In August, at least 19 people were killed and more than 22 injured in an attack against a restaurant in Ouagadougou. No group claimed responsibility. On two occasions in September and November, armed groups carried out attacks in Soum, killing at least nine people. BURUNDI Republic of Burundi Head of state and government: President Pierre Nkurunziza Restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and assembly continued. The security forces, among others, carried out unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, torture and other-ill-treatment, arbitrary arrests and detention. BACKGROUND In October, the Council of Ministers approved revisions of the Constitution. The proposed constitutional amendments would allow President Nkurunziza to stand for at least two more seven-year terms, and reduce the size of the majority required to pass legislation in Parliament. In December, the President of the National Independent Electoral Commission announced that a referendum on the constitutional amendments was planned for May 2018. Efforts by the East African Community (EAC) to find a mediated solution to the political crisis sparked by the President’s decision in 2015 to stand for a third term continued to stall. Michel Kafando, former President of Burkina Faso, was appointed as UN Secretary-General Special Envoy to Burundi in May. His role included providing Amnesty International Report 2017/18 assistance to the EAC’s political dialogue efforts. The government declared a malaria epidemic in March. Between January and mid-November, 6.89 million cases and 3,017 deaths were recorded. UNLAWFUL KILLINGS Unlawful killings continued. Bodies were regularly discovered in the streets of the capital, Bujumbura, and throughout the country. Several Burundians who were living as refugees in neighbouring countries said that they left Burundi after their relatives were killed, primarily by the Imbonerakure – the increasingly militarized youth wing of the ruling National Council for the Defence of Democracy-Forces for the Defence of Democracy. Others witnessed the killings of their family members by the Imbonerakure as they tried to flee the country. ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES Reports of enforced disappearances continued, and cases from 2015 and 2016 remained unresolved. The UN Commission of Inquiry on Burundi highlighted several cases where there were reasonable grounds to believe or to fear that people had been forcibly disappeared. Pacifique Birikumana, driver for the Ngozi diocese, was believed to have been forcibly disappeared on 8 April after he returned from driving a group of soldiers to Gitega province. The Commission received information that he may have been arrested by the National Intelligence Services (SNR); his whereabouts remained unknown. Former senator and businessman Oscar Ntasano went missing with two of his employees on 20 April after meeting a man said to work for the SNR. Witnesses told the Commission that Oscar Ntasano received threats from state officials in connection with a contract he was negotiating with the UN to rent office space. One state official was said to have threatened him with death if he refused to split the proceeds. 107