Geneva--The international community should prepare for a possible military intervention in Burundi, one of the country's top journalists said.
"We are facing a catastrophic situation," Bob Rugurika, head of African Public Radio (RPA), Burundi's most popular private radio station which was shut down by the state in May, told AFP in an interview in Geneva this week.
"It is a catastrophe created and planned by the presidential camp," he said, insisting that "the international community should prepare for a military intervention ... to at least reduce the damage."
Burundi has been in crisis since late April over President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid for a third five-year term in office - a move critics have branded unconstitutional and a violation of a peace deal that ended 13 years of civil war in 2006.
At least 70 people have been killed in opposition protests that have been brutally suppressed, according to Aprodeh, a leading Burundian human rights group.
Rugurika's comments came as the country's ruling party announced Tuesday it was boycotting the restart of UN-led talks aimed at brokering peace after weeks of violence.
"The international community can see the danger approaching," Rugurika said in Geneva, where he met with UN representatives.
"If tomorrow catastrophe happens in Burundi, if we see violence on a large scale, and multiple human lives are lost, the international community will not have an excuse," he said.
Rugurika welcomed an threat by EU foreign ministers to sanction individuals responsible for the violence.
But sanctions would not be enough, he said, accusing Nkurunziza's administration of being prepared to "bathe the country in fire and blood" to protect themselves and stay in power.
AFP
