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France calls for end to Burundi violence at UN UN 'less equipped' in Burundi than before Rwanda genocide
(1 day later)
France has tabled a draft resolution at the UN Security Council calling for action to stop the upsurge in violence in Burundi. The UN is less equipped to deal with violence in Burundi than it was for the Rwandan genocide, a UN human rights official has said.
The council met on Monday at France's request to discuss Burundi's worst violence in ten years. Scott Campbell warned that the UN's lack of peacekeeping presence in the country means it is less able to help.
A cycle began in April with protests against President Pierre Nkurunziza's controversial decision to stand for a third term. He called on Burundi to control pro-government militias, which he says are responsible for much of the violence.
On Saturday, nine people were shot dead in a bar in the capital Bujumbura. There have been protests in the country since President Pierre Nkurunziza said he would stand for a third term.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the killings on Monday and said that the dead included a UN staff member. Opposition groups said the president's move was unconstitutional. In July, Mr Nkurunziza was re-elected to a third term with 70% of the vote.
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. Speaking in Geneva, Mr Campbell, who is head of the UN's human rights office for Central and West Africa, warned that Mr Nkurunziza - along with the president of the country's Senate - had used language similar to that used in Rwanda before the 1994 genocide.
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, BBC Africa Correspondent Alastair Leithead says. "It's slipping and sliding we believe, unfortunately, down a very ugly slope," he said.
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". "The (UN) Security Council is looking at how to react quickly should there be a need to move in forcefully with troops with preventive capacity.
France's mission at the UN said negotiations on its draft resolution would begin on Monday evening. "But I think there's a huge lesson to be learned about the risks of being passive and actually withdrawing from situations of conflict."
The Brussels-based International Crisis Group has warned the language being used in the current crisis is "chillingly similar" to that used in Rwanda before the genocide of 1994. Regional countries and the African Union must do more to resolve the crisis, he added.
Protests began in April when Mr Nkurunziza argued that his first term as president did not count towards the constitutional two-term limit as he was chosen by lawmakers. Around 252 people have been killed and 200,000 have fled to nearby states since April.
In July, Mr Nkurunziza was re-elected to a third term with 70% of the vote.
About 200 people have been killed since April.