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The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution seeking to deploy police in Burundi, where an upsurge in violence has raised fears of a slide into ethnic conflict. The resolution calls on UN SG Ban Ki-moon to consult the government in Burundi and the African Union to present options for a police presence within 15 days in order to “increase UN capacity to monitor the security situation, advance the rule of law and promote respect for human rights in the country.” According to the UN, more than 400 people have been killed, more than 250,000 have fled the nation, and thousands more have been arrested and possibly subjected to human rights violations.
#UNSC requests options on deploying
UN</a> police in crisis-torn <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Burundi?src=hash">#Burundi</a> <a href="https://t.co/HoY2drS0d3">https://t.co/HoY2drS0d3</a> <a href="https://t.co/evopmuW8n4">pic.twitter.com/evopmuW8n4</a></p>— UN News Centre (UN_News_Centre) April 2, 2016
Burundi has been in the throes of political upheaval sicne April 2015 when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced plans for a third term in office. Protests and a failed military coup followed. The UN is under pressure to avoid any escalation of violence in Burundi which was the scene of a bloody civil war from 1993 to 2005, which was the result of long-standing ethnic divisions between Hutus and Tutsis.