Burundi expels top WHO team

Burundi has ordered the expulsion of the World Health Organization's (WHO) expert team backing the country's response to the coronavirus pandemic, just days before a presidential election.

The foreign ministry, in a letter to WHO Africa headquarters and seen by AFP on Wednesday, said the UN agency's representative in Burundi and his three colleagues "are declared persona non grata and as such, must leave the territory of Burundi" by Friday.

The directive, dated May 12, expels WHO's top official in Burundi, Dr Walter Kazadi Mulombo; the country's coronavirus coordinator, Dr Jean Pierre Mulunda Nkata; communicable diseases head Dr Ruhana Mirindi Bisimwa; and a laboratory expert in the testing for COVID-19, Professor Daniel Tarzy.