Kikwete now moves to defuse Burundi crisis

NAIROBI: Small destitute Burundi, a central African nation marked by a troubled ethnic history and a deadly civil war, has been mired for eight months in a deepening political crisis that the African Union fears could trigger a genocide.
 
HOW DID BURUNDI'S CRISIS BEGIN? 

The crisis began on April 25 when President Pierre Nkurunziza, who had been in office since 2005, said he planned to run for a third term. The plan was dubbed anti-constitutional by civil society, the opposition, the Catholic...

Belgium advises its citizens to leave Burundi, while the EU says it is cutting staff levels in the African country because of the "rising risk of violence".

An ominous cloud has hung over Burundi ever since Mr Pierre Nkurunziza was sworn in as president for a controversial third term in August. The re-election campaign was bloody and the man even survived a coup attempt.

It was one of the strangest plays I have ever seen; and this one was on a big stage. The star does not only outshine everyone but also outsmarts the lot. The rest of the cast appears very lowly and shows little or no enthusiasm at all. The end is very clear.

>A high level meeting of the  East African Community (EAC) which ended here at the weekend skipped the Burundi crisis despite rising concerns on the security situation in its member state.

New York.  UN officials are making plans to rush peacekeepers from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Burundi if violence spirals out of control there, diplomats said Wednesday.

Uganda’s defence minister is in Burundi in the latest bid to kickstart peace talks between rival factions in the impoverished central African country, presidential officials said Thursday.

Plans by the African Union (AU) to deploy 5,000 peacekeepers to protect civilians in Burundi have been broadly welcomed, but will they help to end months of deadly political unrest ignited by President Pierre Nkurunziza’s quest for a third term? It remains to be seen.

The head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT), Bishop Alex Malasusa, has called for continuous regional and international talks on the violence in Burundi noting that it is the only way to save the country from a full-blown civil war.