UN Security Council agrees to send police to Burundi

The UN Security Council has authorised the deployment of a UN police force to Burundi to try to quell violence and human rights abuses in the country.

The council backed a French-drafted resolution to send up to 228 police for an initial period of a year.

Burundi earlier said it would accept no more than 50 police officers.

More than 400 people have been killed in unrest since President Pierre Nkurunziza said he would run for a third term in office last April.

More than 200,000 people have fled their homes.

Negotiations continue

"Given an increase in violence and tension the Security Council must have eyes and ears on the ground to predict and ensure that the worst does not occur in Burundi," said French UN Ambassador Francois Delattre.

"This is a strong act of preventative diplomacy," he added.

The government of Burundi earlier warned it would agree to no more than 50 UN police officers.

Diplomats are now negotiating how to implement the UN Security Council's resolution.

Although both Burundi's opposition and government forces are ethnically mixed, some fear that the violence could descend into a repeat of the genocidal killings which the country has previously experienced.

President Nkurunziza is the former leader of a Hutu rebel group which battled a Tutsi-dominated army for many years until he came to power in 2005 as part of a peace deal.

BBC Report

Flying Eagles defeat Burundi in Bujumbura

Nigeria’s U-20 side, on Saturday defeated hosts Burundi 1-0, in a CAF U-20 AFCON qualifier in Bujumbura.

After a goalless first half, Chukwudi Agor grabbed the winning goal in the 64th minute.

The second leg will be played in Calabar next month, with the winner over the two legs going on to face Sudan, for a place in the tournament in Zambia next year.

Nigeria is the current defending champions.

DailyPostNg

Burundi Violence Continues as One is Killed

Burundi sank into a crisis last year after President Pierre Nkurunziza ran for a third term of office, which he secured in a disputed vote.

At least one person was killed in a grenade attack on a bar in Burundi on Monday night, witnesses said, in more violence since the African Union backed away from sending in peacekeepers without the government's consent.

 

The grenades went off in the Butere neighbourhood of the capital Bujumbura on Monday night.

"One (person) was killed instantly," said Jean de Dieu, who was near the scene of attack.

Police spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye confirmed two grenades were detonated and eight people were wounded.

 

Burundi sank into a crisis last year after President Pierre Nkurunziza ran for a third term of office, which he secured in a disputed vote.

 

African leaders, who met in Addis Ababa at the weekend, agreed to send a team to try to persuade Nkurunziza to accept a 5,000-strong force after he rejected the plan and said any such force would be treated as an invasion.

 

The Butere neighbourhood was one of the flashpoints during the height of the violent protest against Nkurunziza's decision, along with the neighbouring Mutakura and Cibitoke areas.

 

When the peacekeeping plan was announced in December by the African Union's peace and security council, officials had said they could invoke an article of the AU's charter that allows it to act even without a government's agreement.

 

But African leaders showed wariness of such a move at the summit and instead decided to seek approval first.

 

One Western diplomat said he understood that the leaders had agreed to request that the U.N. Security Council pass a resolution that could threaten sanctions if Burundi refused.

 

 

pulse.ng

Burundi coup bid: Rivals battle to control Bujumbura

Burundian presidential spokesman Willy Nyamitwe confirmed to the BBC that the president had left Tanzania and was "safe and sound".

 

Heavy fighting is reported in Burundi's capital between pro-government troops and soldiers backing an attempted coup.

Both sides say they are in control of large parts of Bujumbura. At least five soldiers have been killed.
Clashes briefly halted broadcasts at the state radio building, which is still in the hands of soldiers supporting President Pierre Nkurunziza.

Unrest began on 26 April when he said he was seeking a third term. His whereabouts remain unconfirmed.
The coup was launched by Maj Gen Godefroid Niyombare on Wednesday after Mr Nkurunziza travelled to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's largest city, to attend a summit on the crisis in Burundi.

Reports late on Wednesday said the president had tried to fly back to Burundi but was forced to return to Tanzania as he could not land.

However, a Tanzanian government spokesman said on Thursday that Mr Nkurunziza flew out on Wednesday and did not return.

Burundian presidential spokesman Willy Nyamitwe confirmed to the BBC that the president had left Tanzania and was "safe and sound".

However, he said that for security reasons he could not confirm or deny whether Mr Nkurunziza was in Burundi.

'We are being attacked'

On Thursday, a general supporting the coup told Agence France-Presse that troops had been ordered to take the loyalist-held state radio building with a full armoured assault.

The RTBN radio station had earlier broadcast a message from Mr Nkurunziza condemning the coup.
"I thank soldiers who are putting things in order, and I forgive any soldier who decides to surrender," he said.

But an employee there then told AFP news agency: "We are being attacked. It is very heavy. The transmitter has been cut. We cannot transmit."

But shortly afterwards the station resumed broadcasting.

"We had stopped transmitting during the attack. Now the fighting has stopped we can resume. It is still loyalist soldiers who are in control," station director Jerome Nzokirantevye said in a broadcast.

Control of the national broadcaster is key because it is the only outlet still broadcasting outside the capital, the BBC's Maud Jullien reports.



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