Burundi rejects African Union peacekeepers as invasion force

BURUNDI REJECTS AFRICAN UNION PEACEKEEPERS AS INVASION FORCE

Nairobi- Burundi's government said Sunday it would not agree to the deployment of African Union (AU) peacekeepers, warning that they would be seen as "an invasion force".

The announcement came a day after the 54-member bloc said it would send a 5,000-strong force to halt spiralling violence in the tiny central African country as fears grow that it is rapidly sliding towards civil war. It gave the government in Bujumbura a four-day deadline to agree to the offer, but warned it would send troops anyway.

"Burundi is clear on the matter: it is not ready to accept an AU force on its territory," deputy presidential spokesman Jean-Claude Karerwa told. "If AU troops came without the government's approval, it would be an invasion and occupation force, and the Burundi government would reserve the right to act accordingly."

Burundi has so far dismissed proposals for any peacekeeping force on its territory and Karerwa said any such move by the AU would have to be approved by the UN Security Council. "The Burundi government believes the AU resolution cannot be automatically applied and must first be endorsed by the UN Security Council," he said.

The Security Council late Saturday urged all Burundian stakeholders to cooperate with the proposed African Union peacekeeping mission. It condemned violence on all sides and the "persistence of impunity, as well as of the inflammatory statements made by Burundian political leaders".

The standoff comes as international alarm grows over soaring unrest in Burundi where at least 87 people were killed on December 11 in a crackdown by security forces after an attack on three military bases. Many of the dead were youths who were shot dead by the security forces.

- 'Arbitrary killings' -

Burundi has been in crisis since April, when President Pierre Nkurunziza began seeking a third term in a move that even some in his own camp judged unconstitutional. The situation deteriorated when Nkurunziza was re-elected in July in a poll that was boycotted by the opposition.

The country has since spiralled into violence and there are fears in the international community this could deteriorate into genocide. In a strongly-worded statement issued on Saturday, the AU said it would "take additional measures" to ensure the new force's deployment.

It underlined its determination "to take all appropriate measures against any party or actor... who would impede the implementation of the present decision".

The announcement came two days after the bloc's Peace and Security Council met over the crisis and agreed it would not allow "another genocide" on African soil. No details have been given about which countries might send troops -- or when they would be deployed.

The AU has urged talks with its members including regional countries in the AU's East African Standby Force (EASF) "to generate the troops and police elements needed to quickly reach the authorised strength". The 10-nation EASF includes Burundi itself, and is one of five AU regional bodies with a mandate to boost "peace and security". It has never deployed and is currently a force in principle only.

AU rights investigators last week returned from a fact-finding mission to Burundi expressing "great concern" after witnessing some of the heaviest fighting in the troubled country for months. The AU team said it had reports of "arbitrary killings and targeted assassinations" as well as arrests, detentions and torture.

Karerwa said both chambers of the national parliament would hold an extraordinary meeting on Monday to debate the African Union move, adding that "Burundi always reaches out to the international community"

UN slams French forces for leaving Muslim fighters they disarmed and their families to die

     (Men brandish machetes and knives to threaten Muslim people Central African Republic)

UNITED NATIONS SLAMS FRENCH FORCES FOR LEAVING MUSLIM FIGHTERS THEY  DISARMED  AND THEIR FAMILIES TO DIE

Christian militias blamed for atrocities in Central African Republic civil war plagued by cannibalism

French peacekeepers left Muslim fighters and their families to die unarmed at the hands of Christian militias, the United Nations said today.

Mass killings were carried out in the war-torn Central African Republic despite the UN sending in 1,600 troops and the African Union 4,000.

The French United Nations force disarmed Muslim fighters in a bid to stop the killings.

Instead their Christian enemies used the move to carry out retaliatory attacks on troops and their families.

The French peacekeepers later changed their tactics.

Fighters from neighbouring Chad, ostensibly also on peacekeeping duties, unleashed a wave of killings and looting after the Muslim rebel coalition, Seleka, seized power in the CAR sparking revenge attacks by the Christian militia.

The report comes in the week it was revealed a machete-wielding mob hacked a Muslim man to death before one of them turned cannibal to eat chunks of his leg.

Ouandja Magloire, now known as “Mad Dog” was part of the Christian mob who dragged the man from a bus in the country’s capital city Bangui and stabbed and macheted him to death.

But then Magloire chopped off one of the man’s legs and started chewing chunks off it before swallowing them.

He said after devouring the human flesh he had carried out the macabre act in revenge for the slaughter of his pregnant wife, as well as his sister-in-law and her baby.

United nations human rights spokesman Rupert Colville said today evidence showed inter communal hatred had risen to “extraordinarily vicious levels”.

The crisis sent food prices soaring, leaving many households down to one meal a day and 2.6 million people in need of U.N. humanitarian assistance, the UN World Food Programme said in a separate report Colville defended the French peacekeepers, despite their bloody tactical blunder.

“They were obviously trying to disarm armed men, which was a good thing. There were opposition elements and even civilians who took advantage of that to attack and kill people who had been disarmed, or their dependants,” he said in his report.

United Nations peacekeepers fail to stop African wars

UNITED NATIONS PEACEKEEPERS FAIL TO STOP AFRICAN WARS

NAIROBI: The United Nations has dispatched a record number of peacekeepers in Africa in recent years, deploying soldiers to trouble spots such as the Central African Republic and South Sudan. Yet the “blue helmets” and thousands of other soldiers sent by African regional groups have failed to prevent fresh spasms of violence.

The peacekeeping forces have cost billions of dollars, largely paid by the US and European nations. But they have been hobbled by weak mandates and a shortage of manpower and equipment. Some critics also say Washington, its allies and UN officials are at fault in the peacekeeping failures, for not following through with enough political pressure to prevent crises.

”The political and diplomatic elements of the international response to most Africa conflicts have been slow and ineffective,” said John Prendergast, a long-time Sudan and South Sudan activist. That, he said, “has put more pressure on peacekeeping missions to fulfil objectives for which they are totally unprepared.”

In South Sudan, a power struggle that US and UN officials were aware of for more than a year has now sparked an ethnic and political conflict that has killed hundreds, raising fears of a potential civil war.

On Friday, the warring sides held their first round of peace talks in neighbouring Ethiopia, but the conflict showed no signs of abating. Already, nearly 200,000 people have been displaced by the fighting.

Frustration with the peacekeepers is rife. Ibrahim Muhammed, 30, fled the volatile Sudanese region of Darfur a year ago and arrived in South Sudan searching for a better future. Today, he languishes inside a UN peacekeeping base in the war-ravaged South Sudanese town of Malakal, living in a tent made of blankets.

”The UN peacekeepers have not been able to stop the violence in Darfur, and so I came here,” said Muhammed, a shopkeeper. “But in South Sudan now, the situation is similar to Darfur. The peacekeepers won’t be able to stop the attacks.”

Toby Lanzer, a senior UN official in South Sudan, conceded there are limitations to what peacekeeping forces can accomplish in trouble spots. In many situations, including South Sudan and the Central African Republic (CAR), UN and African forces lack resources and a sufficient number of soldiers, he added.

There are now more UN peacekeepers in Africa than at any time in history — roughly twice as many as in the early 1990s. As of the end of November, more than 70 per cent of the 98,267 UN peacekeepers deployed globally were in sub-Saharan Africa, according to Peter Pham, executive director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Centre.

UN forces have often been limited by mandates that only allow them to fight in self-defence. Shortly before genocidal attacks erupted in Rwanda in 1994, for example, UN peacekeepers learned that arms were being imported illegally by an ethnic Hutu militia.

But senior UN officials ordered the peacekeepers not to seize the weapons because it was outside the scope of their mandate, their commander, Brig. Romeo Dallaire, later recounted in a book.

More than two years ago, the UN mission in South Sudan was authorised to have up to 7,500 military personnel and police. But it was unable to stop the ethnic and political blood-letting that had been occurring since the country won independence from Sudan in 2011.

In Jan 2012, the UN mission was heavily criticised by victims and community leaders for doing little to stop a wave of tribal killings in Jonglei State, the same region that is now a battle zone.

African peacekeeping troops not under the UN banner often have even less equipment, training and resources. Yet, they are increasingly being called upon to help contain crises around the continent.

In CAR, African Union peacekeepers have been unable to stop the brutalities committed by Muslim Seleka rebels and Christian militias in the sectarian conflict. Soldiers from Chad, a Muslim nation that is part of the peacekeeping force, have been accused of supporting the Muslim rebels.

”Even with increased engagement in peace operations, questions remain about the quality and capability of African troops,” Comfort Ero, the Africa director for the International Crisis Group, wrote in a blog on the group’s website last month.

In CAR, hundreds of soldiers from France, the former colonial power, were sent to defuse the crisis after African peacekeeping forces failed to do so.

Still, when resources, training and a strong mandate are provided to African peacekeepers, there have been some successes.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the UN mission has been widely criticised as unable to protect civilians, the recent deployment of a rapid reaction UN combat brigade with a strong mandate helped defeat the M23 rebels.—

(By arrangement with the Washington Post)

LIBERIA: NO LARGE FORCE NEEDED

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says Liberia no longer needs large troops presence, hinting improved security, but it needs continued support in building its political institutions, according to UN News Service.

He underlined key areas--security and the rule of law.

Ban, in his latest report on the U.N. Mission in Liberia, recommended a tiered reduction in the peacekeeping force in Liberia from 4,200 troops to 3,750 troops by 2015. The U.N. Mission in Liberia is ensuring the sustainability of a 2003 cease-fire that ended a civil war in the country that left around 150,000 people dead.

Liberia doesn't need a substantial peacekeeping force, but political institutions need continued support, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.

In April, Edmond Mulet, assistant U.N. secretary-general for peacekeeping operations, told a multilateral panel that UNMIL was considering a "very careful" handover of security responsibility to Liberian forces. Ban said while Liberia isn't faced with significant military threats to its national security, there are lingering concerns about political development.

"Building credible and effective institutions, particularly in the security and rule of law sectors, will require progress in overcoming the root causes of the country's conflict, including structural inequalities," he states in his report.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf secured a second term in office last year after fending off a strong challenge by former diplomat Winston Tubman. The vote went to a runoff, however, as Sirleaf failed to secure the majority needed to score an outright victory.

Violence marred the period between the two votes, however, as Tubman's camp complained of bias in the country's national election commission. "Building credible and effective institutions, particularly in the security and rule of law sectors, will require progress in overcoming the root causes of the country's conflict, including structural inequalities," Ban states in his report.