Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza. He said Burundi's borders must be respected. PHOTO | FILE |
AFP
By GEORGE OBULUTSA
In Summary
- Other government officials have already said any peacekeepers arriving without Burundi's permission would violate its sovereignty.
- The African Union said this month it was ready to send 5,000 peacekeepers to protect civilians caught up in months of violence.
Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza threatened on
Wednesday to fight any African Union peacekeepers imposed on his
country, in his most confrontational comments yet on a mounting
political crisis.
The African Union said this month it was ready to send 5,000
peacekeepers to protect civilians caught up in months of violence,
invoking for the first time powers to intervene in a member state
against its will.
"Everyone has to respect Burundi borders," Nkurunziza said in comments broadcast on state radio.
"In case they violate those principles, they will have attacked
the country and every Burundian will stand up and fight against them ...
The country will have been attacked and it will respond," he said, in
his first public response to the AU plan.
Other government officials have already said any peacekeepers
arriving without Burundi's permission would violate its sovereignty.
More than 220,000 have fled since the crisis erupted in April, triggered by President Nkurunziza's bid for a third term.
Opposition groups took to the streets saying he was violating
constitutional term limits. But he pointed to a court order allowing his
campaign and was re-elected in a disputed July vote.
A failed coup, continued clashes and gun attacks in the central
African nation have unsettled a region where memories of the 1994
genocide in neighbouring Rwanda are still raw.
-Reuters-
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