The African Union (AU) on Tuesday urged member states to urgently impose travel sanctions on leaders of Burundi’s recalcitrant rebel group that claimed responsibility for last week’s slaughter of 160 refugees in Burundi.
”The council reiterates its appeal to all member states … to impose, with immediate effect, restrictions on the movement of the leaders and members of the Palipehutu/FNL,” the AU said in a statement after its peace and security council met in Addis Ababa.
The National Liberation Army, or FNL, officially the armed wing of Hutu People’s Liberation Party (Palipehutu), the last active rebel group in the tiny country, claimed responsibility for Friday’s overnight slaughter of 159 Congolese Tutsi refugees at a camp at Gatumba in Burundi.
Despite the claim, Burundian President Domicien Ndayizeye insisted that it was carried out by forces from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The AU’s council also stressed ”the urgent need to neutralise the negative forces in the DRC and in the Great Lakes region by taking urgent steps to put an end to their criminal activities,” the statement said. – Sapa-AFP