Burundi: UN Step Towards Burundi Presence

The UN Security Council has given Secretary-General Kofi Annan the go-ahead to plan a peacekeeping operation in Burundi. Mr Annan had called on the body last month to send some 5,500 troops to Burundi, which is emerging from a decade of civil war. The Security Council has not yet approved the mission. But it says the secretary-general can begin consulting countries that could provide troops for a UN force. It would replace 2,500 African Union peacekeepers currently in Burundi, whose mandate has been extended until the beginning of May.