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Burundi: Regional mediation key to preventing war—US envoy

Burundi is on the brink of civil war and will need regional mediation to establish a peace process and avert a new conflict, a US envoy said last week.

Burundi emerged from a 12-year civil war ten years ago. Its recent conflict began in April when President Nkurunziza announced that he would seek a third term in office. Since then, there have been months of protests and a failed coup.

Thomas Perriello is the US Special Envoy for Africa’s Great Lakes Region. He says that Burundi is “facing a real possibility of civil war,” though there is still “a window … to get a peace process going. The most urgent thing is a regionally-mediated dialogue that will deal with the crisis itself.”

As many as 90 people  were killed in heavy fighting in the capital Bujumbura last week.

To read the full article, go to: http://www.trust.org/item/20151203155259-m9fqm/ [1]

For more, click here: http://allafrica.com/stories/201512130004.html

Photo: A woman mourns after her son was killed during gunfire in the Nyakabiga neighbourhood of Burundi’s capital Bujumbura, December 12, 2015. Credit: REUTERS/Jean Pierre Aime Harerimana