Central African Crisis: Ban Ki-moon to meet Nkurunziza

United Nations’ Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, is due in Burundi later today.

The visit comes as efforts to end months of violence in the country take shape.

The UN Chief is expected to hold talks with President Pierre Nkurunziza on Tuesday in Bujumbura.

President Nkurunziza has earlier rejected plans by the African Union to send peacekeepers to the country to ease tensions.

Burundi was plunged in a deep political crisis last year and has struggled to wean itself off.

More than 400 people have been killed since the beginning of the crisis. Some 240,000 Burundians have been forced to go into exile in the process.

Thousands more have been arrested, accused of extra-judicial killings.

With tensions inflaming, the government has also agreed to “strengthen human rights observers” from the African Union (AU) and UN, officials said.

The central African nation is to host delegations from the UN and the AU and also take part in a summit for heads of state of the East African Community at the end of February.

Ban leaves Burundi on Tuesday morning to visit the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It is the second leg of an African tour that will also take him to South Sudan.