The African Union has agreed to send troops to stop violence in Burundi, a senior official said today, after talks in which the 54-member bloc warned it would not allow "another genocide".
The move comes as international alarm grows over spiralling violence in the tiny, landlocked nation which has been mired in bloodshed since April, sparking concern it was sliding towards civil war.
The AU's Peace and Security Council (PSC) "took a decision yesterday to send troops to protect civilians," senior AU official Bonaventure Cakpo Guebegde told AFP.
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"These troops will be under the banner of the East African Standby Force (EASF)."
No decision has been made on the potential size of any force, which would require the agreement of Burundi, or a vote by AU presidents before any deployment is approved.
Earlier this week UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was dispatching an envoy for urgent talks to end the crisis, warning that the country was "on the brink of a civil war that risks engulfing the entire region."
And yesterday, the UN's top rights body agreed it would send a team of independent experts to Burundi to probe widespread abuses there.
Burundi descended into bloodshed in April when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced his intention to run for a controversial third term, which he went on to win in July.
Nkurunziza is an ex-rebel and born-again Christian who believes he has divine backing to rule.
Earlier this month Ban said that deploying UN peacekeepers was an option to quell the violence but recommended that a UN team be first sent to help bolster dialogue.
Burundi has so far dismissed proposals for any peacekeeping force.
"We have two options: we send troops with Burundi government consent, or we wait for African Union heads of states' consent, which means that two-thirds at least should agree," the AU's Guebegde said.
He said the number of troops to send had "not been fully determined yet" and could not comment on whether Bujumbura had reacted to the proposal.
"Our favourite option is to reach an agreement with Burundian government," he said.
AU security council chief Smail Chergui said there was "a very clear message" from yesterday's meeting: "The killings in Burundi must stop immediately."
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.
