UN Security Council condemns Burundi attacks, urges peace

UN Security Council members, Friday, Nov. 20, 2015 at United Nations headquarters. AP FILE PHOTO

UNITED NATIONS, United States—The United Nations Security Council condemned deadly coordinated pre-dawn assaults on three army bases in Burundi on Friday, urging calm and dialogue.

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The council’s 15 member countries “condemned in the strongest terms the recent attacks by unidentified assailants and urged all involved actors to refrain from violence,” US Ambassador Samantha Power said following closed-door talks.

It was the worst outbreak of violence since a failed coup in May, sparked by President Pierre Nkurunziza’s bid for a third term in office, which he later won in disputed elections in July.

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Burundi’s army said 12 gunmen were killed and another 21 captured following the series of coordinated early morning assaults on the Ngagara base and a military training college, both in the capital Bujumbura, as well as on a base in Mujejuru, 25 miles (40 kilometers) away.

Power warned that the Council was ready “to consider additional measures” against powerbrokers in the country and appealed for immediate talks to prevent more bloodshed.