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Acting WHO representative under house arrest

The acting World Health Organisation (WHO) representative in Burundi, Dr Lamine Diarra, is under house arrest, the United Nations Development Programme Resident Representative, Georg Charpentier, confirmed to IRIN on Friday.

He said Diarra had been placed under house arrest by Burundian police on Thursday morning, adding that "we are paying him visits regularly and following the evolution very closely". "We are also following up with the authorities very closely, although, as yet, they have not informed us why they took this course of action," he added.

IRIN did not succeed in getting a comment from WHO. However, the Associated Press reported a WHO spokeswoman, Melinda Henry, as saying from Geneva that "WHO is following this pending investigation and can't comment on it as it is ongoing".


This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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