AU now mulls deploying troops to Burundi to avert possible genocide

The African Union’s top security organ on Thursday discussed the possibility of deploying an emergency Force comprising Kenyan soldiers meant to protect civilians in Burundi.

In what could be a definitive response to the rising chaos in the central African nation, the AU announced: “Africa will not allow another Genocide to take place on its soil” as the Peace and Security Council met over the possible deployment an Africa-led mission to prevent widespread violence.

The Council was holding its 565th meeting but Burundi’s chaos in which 100 people were killed last week following renewed violence topped the agenda.

Algerian diplomat, Smail Chergui who is the Commissioner for the AU Peace and Security said the meeting generally agreed on the “urgent need to stop the violence.”

“A very Clear message coming out of the ongoing PSC meeting: The killings in Burundi must stop immediately,” he wrote on his Twitter page on Thursday.

Although deployment of a Force was considered as the ‘next step’, sources said the Council chaired by Equatorial Guinea was discussing plans made for the East African Standby Force for deployment to Bujumbura should the situation worsen.

The task of checking this possibility had been given to the Director for Peace and Security at the AU, Mr El-Ghassim Wane from Mauritania, who on Thursday presented “contingency plans” for an African Force to Burundi.

The EASF was created in 2003 as part of the African Union’s sub-regional brigades aimed at maintaining peace and security in the Eastern Africa.

Its members include Kenya, Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda. These countries have since signed to the Memorandum of Understanding on the establishment of the Eastern Africa Standby Force.

The standby Force is composed of including military, police and civilian, on standby in their countries of origin and ready for rapid deployment and was meant to respond swiftly to a crisis.

In October, the Council, made up of 15 AU members (including Burundi), requested the AU Commission to plan with the East African Standby Force and “finalise plans for purposes of deployment in Burundi.” Those plans were to be announced within 30 days.

The Council has powers to authorise an intervention Force for humanitarian, peace and security purposes. However, it would be the first time the EASF would be sending troops to a member country.

Currently, the Force is technically an organisation of military experts rather than a grouping of soldiers even though countries like Kenya have been training soldiers jointly with the rest for some time.

EASF, though, has so far helped to provide regional military advice, observer missions and fact finding missions in member countries like Somalia where it has augmented the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) Forces in logistics, training and medical support.

But countries have generally been reluctant to pool a standby military force because this is also a region with constant violence.

The National Assembly only recently approved Kenya’s signatures on the East African Community Protocol on Cooperation in Defence Affairs, the Mutual Defence Pact between Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda and the Agreement on the Establishment of the Eastern Africa Standby Force.

The violence in Burundi dates back to April when current President Pierre Nkurunziza was allowed by his party, the National Center for the Defence of Democracy – Forces for the Defence of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) to vie for a controversial third term.

The incident led to protests and even an attempted coup but President Nkurunziza stood firm to contest in a poll where six opponents pulled out citing intimidation.

The UN estimates that more than 340 people have been killed, 220,000 have fled the country and another 15,000 people displaced within Burundi.

On Thursday, the European Union announced Sh500 million to support the displaced. But most donors suspended aid following the chaotic elections in June.