International
France calls for action to stop violence in Burundi
Burundi’s tit-for-tat killings and government clamp down on protesters in otherwise deserted capital city of Bujumbura taken over by security forces has forced France to table a draft resolution at the UN Security Council calling for action to stop the upsurge in violence in Burundi.
The council met on Monday at France’s request to discuss Burundi’s worst violence in ten years.
A cycle began in April with protests against President Pierre Nkurunziza’s controversial decision to stand for a third term.
On Saturday, nine people were shot dead in a bar in the capital Bujumbura.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the killings on Monday and said that the dead included a UN staff member.
Read also: Burundi: Residents flee ahead of govt crack down
A policeman is reported to have been injured and at least two people killed as government forces search house to house for weapons in opposition neighbourhoods.
President Paul Kagame of Rwanda has been critical of the way its neighbour is dealing with crisis and there is increasing concern that the spiral of violence could be taking on more of an ethnic dimension.
French Deputy Ambassador to the UN Alexis Lamek told AFP that France was “extremely worried by what we are seeing in Burundi at this moment: this increase of political violence and the extremely alarming ethnically-based hate speech”.
France’s mission at the UN said negotiations on its draft resolution would begin on Monday evening.
Credit: BBC Africa
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