Burundian police have used excessive force against people protesting President Pierre Nkurunziza's election bid for a third term. Police have shot at crowds indiscriminately and severely beaten demonstrators and detainees.

All nations that change for the better have a clear sense of purpose: they fear falling behind, or repeating the mistakes of the past. Burundi's purpose encompasses both of those and another one.

It is heartbreaking for those of us who live, work, and invest in the region to contemplate that history may repeat itself.