UN Security Council weighs Burundi crisis

The United Nations Security Council made an urgent appeal for calm and for fair elections in Burundi, but stopped short of addressing President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to run for a third term.
UN special envoy Said Djinnit told the council's 15 member countries that conditions were "not ripe" for elections, according to the Lithuanian ambassador, who holds the body's rotating presidency.
Discussions are underway to move the vote to a later date in June, according to Djinnit.
The council members "called on all parties to refrain from violence," Lithuanian envoy Raimonda Murmokaite said after the closed-door talks.
She said the council also "stressed the need to hold a credible, transparent, inclusive and peaceful electoral process and uphold the fundamental freedoms of opinion and assembly."

Asked about Nkurunziza's bid, Murmokaite recognized that "individual member states have different opinions so the council cannot pronounce itself on that issue because views vary."

Russia has blocked previous council initiatives seeking to take a position on Nkurunziza, saying the body should not get involved in the internal affairs of a sovereign state.
But Murmokaite insisted that the council meeting focused on the growing violence in Burundi. Protesters, meanwhile, called a one-day truce, saying the demonstrations would resume on Sunday.
US envoy Samantha Power warned of potential targeted sanctions from Washington on perpetrators of the violence.
She stressed that Washington considers Nkurunziza's efforts to seek a third term to be illegitimate, and urged him and his government to condemn the violence and call for restraint.

"We are seeing Burundi slide into violent turmoil. Any further violence carries the risk of irreversible consequences," Power told reporters.
She highlighted the distribution of weapons to youths backing the ruling party, in what she called an "extremely disturbing" development.
Diplomats who attended the meeting, called by France, said Djinnit described the situation as tense in Burundi.