An official says Burundi’s government opposes the African Union’s plans to deploy a 5,000-strong peacekeeping force to stop escalating violence triggered by President Pierre Nkurunziza’s extended tenure in office. The force’s mandate will include protecting civilians under imminent threat and helping to create conditions for holding inter-Burundian dialogue. Burundi’s government insists its troops acted professionally.
Advertisement
The decision was made by the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) during its meeting held Thursday on the current situation in Burundi.
“We are a troop-contributing country to several African Union peacekeeping missions in Africa and now they want to bring peacekeepers to our country?” “Why don’t they just return our troops if they think we need help here?”
The African Union agreed last night to deploy a peacekeeping force for a period of 6 months to protect citizens after months of political violence.
Tensions have been running particularly high since gunmen attacked military sites in the capital Bujumbura last week, unnerving a region where memories of the 1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda are still raw.
The ongoing crisis in Burundi began in April when President Pierre Nkurunziza, a former Hutu rebel, said he would run for a third term.
The African Union has given the government 96 hours to co-operate and accept the deployment, warning that they reserve the right to enforce the decision. Despite reports that over 200,000 people have fled from Burundi as refugees, Nyamitwe said the country is “peaceful”.
The move comes as worldwide alarm grows over spiralling violence in the tiny, landlocked nation which has been mired in bloodshed since April, sparking concern it was sliding towards civil war.
Burundi’s presidency said the same day it was open to “broad-based inclusive dialogue”, though opponents have dismissed similar pledges in the past.
“Should mediation efforts not restart immediately alternative options might be considered by the AU and United Nations”, the 15-member body said in a presidential statement on the Central African country, where an upsurge in violence has awakened fears of a relapse into the decades of war between Hutus and Tutsis that killed tens of thousands.
Advertisement
Civil society groups and opposition parties say President Nkurunziza and members of his government are to blame for the growing insecurity in the country.
