The continued use of what one citizen described to Human Rights Watch as “the logic of the gun” by CNDD-FDD and the FNL, as well as the government’s failure to move purposefully towards the rule of law in the three years since it took power, raises fear that human rights abuses will escalate with the approach of elections in 2010. CNDD-FDD and the FNL have proved all too ready to commit abuses in efforts to dominate the political landscape, eliminate competitors, and assert power.