AU leaders abandon plans to send troops into Burundi

Lobbying from powerful forces inside and outside the continent forced African leaders to abandon plans to send 5,000 peacekeepers to Burundi, contrary to the Peace and Security Council resolution in December.

The EastAfrican has established that these lobbyists convinced many of the continent’s leaders at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa in January that sending 5,000 troops without the consent of the Burundi government would further destabilise the region, given that President Pierre Nkurunziza had resisted the move.