Since last year, after Pierre Nkurunziza decided to run for another term as president, Burundi has been a shadow of itself – a situation many have predicted to be gearing towards a repeat of the 1993 unrest. Disturbed by reports of heavy violations and the abuse of human rights, the United Nations (UN) has resolved to send 228 members of its police to the country to monitor developments. This move will further expose Nkurunziza’s desperation to cling to power at the expense of the blood of his people.
Last Friday, the Security Council of the United Nations requested that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon establish a United Nations police officers component in Burundi. The duties of the UN Police will be to monitor the security situation in the country. Also, they will provide necessary support for the Office of the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) in monitoring rights violations and abuses in the crisis-riddled country. According to the details of their deployment, the officers will be in Burundi for 12 months and under the authority of a Senior Adviser to the United Nations.
Nkurunziza has always resisted the deployment of external forces to the country, maybe for fear of a crackdown on his own rampaging forces. Last year, attempts by the African Union (AU) to intervene in the crisis, with a 5,000 peace keeping force were rejected by the Burundian government. The United Nations also has full knowledge of the likely hostility which the prospective deployment could be met with; the reason why it urged the Burundian government and all Burundian parties “to cooperate fully in the deployment and activities of the UN police component, and to allow UN staff to travel freely and unhindered in places of detention and to prisoners.”
With close to 500 Burundians killed so far, and hundreds of thousands displaced, the latest move by the UN may not put an end to the troubles in Burundi. However, a more lucid picture of the country’s predicament will be available for all to see. The United Nations already expressed its intention to take targeted measures against all stakeholders in Burundi and abroad, threatening the country’s peace and security.
