The U.N. Security Council has already been looking at ways to tackle the crisis, including sending peacekeepers.
Burundian
police officers collect a cache of weapons recovered from suspected
fighters after clashes in the capital Bujumbura, Burundi December 12,
2015.
The African Union said
on Friday it was preparing to send 5,000 peacekeepers to Burundi to
protect civilians caught up in a growing crisis, for the first time
using powers to deploy troops to a member country against its will.
Burundi
dismissed the announcement, saying no foreign force would get in
without permission. But its neighbours have grown increasingly alarmed
about the violence in the central African state which the United Nations
says is on the brink of civil war.
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.
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The
African Union's Peace and Security Council said in a statement it had
drawn up plans for the force, to be called MAPROBU, and had asked the
U.N. Security Council to give it the final clearance it needed to get
boots on the ground.
The U.N. Security Council has already been looking at ways to tackle the crisis, including sending peacekeepers.
"(The
AU body) decides that MAPROBU shall have an initial strength of up to
5,000 military personnel and police," including also human rights
observers and military experts, it added.
A
diplomat told Reuters late on Thursday the resolution marked the first
time the AU had decided to invoke its charter's Article 4, that gives it
the right to intervene in a member state "in respect of grave
circumstances, namely: war crimes, genocide and crimes against
humanity".
In Washington, the State Department
said the United States was ready to support the African Union in its
efforts to prevent further violence and achieve a political resolution
to Brurundi's crisis.
It said in a statement the
United States had extended targeted sanctions against people whose
actions "threaten the peace, security, and stability of Burundi" to four
new individuals, bringing the total to eight. It did not give their
names.
AT LEAST 400 KILLED
Burundi's government spokesman, Philippe Nzobonariba,
said the force would not be allowed in without permission. "They can’t
invade a country if the latter is not informed and allow it," he said on
state radio.
"It would be better if they go to
those camps in Rwanda where troublemakers train," Nzobonariba added. The
government has accused Rwanda of supporting rebels who are recruiting
Burundian refugees, a charge Rwanda denies.
The
United Nations says at least 400 people have been killed since April
when President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to seek a third term in
office triggered protests and a failed coup.
Rights
groups have reported violent clashes between protesters and
authorities, gun attacks and detentions of government critics. The
government dismisses reports of rights abuses.
Hundreds
of thousands have also fled the worst violence to hit the country since
it emerged from an ethnically charged civil war in 2005.
Demonstrators
said the president's decision to stand in an election he eventually won
broke constitutional term limits, while his supporters pointed to a
court ruling allowing his bid.
Much of the latest
violence appears to be along political divides. But diplomats fear a
prolonged conflict could reopen old ethnic rifts.
The
civil war pitted the army, which was at the time led by minority
Tutsis, against rebel groups of the Hutu majority, including one led by
Nkurunziza, an ethnic split mirrored in Rwanda.
The
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights accused Burundi's authorities
on Thursday of dragging the country towards full-blown civil war and
called for travel bans and asset freezes targeting key officials to try
to halt the bloodshed.
Burundi's presidency said
the same day it was open to "broad-based inclusive dialogue", though
opponents have dismissed similar pledges in the past.
Other
African leaders are also pushing to extend their terms beyond
constitutional limits, despite criticism by the United States and other
Western donors.
Rwandans voted on Friday in a
referendum on changing the constitution that would allow President Paul
Kagame to extend his term in office, possibly until 2034.
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SOCCER