Burundi accepts UN resolution for police

Burundi has accepted a resolution by the UN Security Council to send police to the country.

The resolution, drafted by France, calls on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to draw up a list of options for the proposed presence within 15 days.

According to media reports, Burundi’s foreign minister Alain Nyamitwe said that the U.N. resolution is fine for the country since it takes into account everything that the government has been saying.

“We have always been open to experts but never to sending of peacekeeping troops in Burundi,” he told Reuters.

However, Leonce Ngendakumana, the chairman of the main opposition party in the east African nation has criticised the resolution for failing to call for the deployment of peacekeepers.

He added that he wanted U.N. peacekeepers who would prevent Burundi from sliding into another civil war.

The opposition wants the peacekeepers to be deployed to disarm the different armed groups including the militia allied to the ruling party.

Burundi was thrown into chaos since April 2015 when President Pierre Nkurunziza said he would seek a third term, which his opponents said was illegal.

The violence has seen at least 400 people killed while more than 250,000 have fled into neighbouring countries.