B.C. Burundians worried about family caught up in civil violence

Burundians in Vancouver grow more worried by the day as violence continues in the East African country.

On Dec. 11, 90 people were killed in the Burundian capital in one of the worst outbreaks of violence in the country since a failed coup in May.

Now the country has rejected peacekeeping aid from the African Union.

"It's sad, waiting for the good news, waiting for the bad news," Jean-Pierre Rukundo said of his home country. "When I open [my] phone in the morning, I just shake. My hand just shakes. I don't know what I'm going to read."

Rukundo says a friend he used to play soccer with was just shot dead on the street, and two members of his family have been kidnapped and are being held for ransom.

"It's been two weeks, we don't have any clue about them," he said. "It's very rare I'm seeing good news from my country now."

In April, Burundi`s incumbent president, Pierre Nkurunziza decided to run for a third term, which sparked widespread protests and led to a military coup that eventually collapsed.

At least 400 people have been killed since the spring while thousands of others have fled the country as refugees.

"We feel scared because we are concerned for them all the time," said Alain Ndayizigiye, an emigré who attended a vigil in Vancouver to remember the victims and those caught up in the violence. "Some of them are calling us in Canada, saying maybe you can help us."

Ndayizigiye and Rukundo say a few hundred Burundi-Canadians live in Metro Vancouver, and they are frustrated by the lack of attention they say the crisis is getting in Canada.

"People don't even know where is Burundi," said Rukundo. "Even people, those who know what is Burundi, aren't doing anything … please do something."