The European Union and the United States called Monday for an African-led mediation process to end the violent power struggle over Burundi's leadership, out of concern that the crisis could ripple across the East African Great Lakes region, dpa reported. The EU was in the process of working with the African Union to immediately launch mediation between the government and insurgents, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini told reporters of a meeting with the bloc's foreign ministers in Brussels. "And we also decided ... to make available regional mediators as well as financial means so that it begins immediately," she added. In Geneva, US diplomats called for a special meeting of the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday and introduced a draft resolution which calls on the Burundi government to cooperate with regionally led peace efforts. Burundi has been gripped by violence between police and armed insurgents since April, when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced he would seek a third term in office. He won the July election, which was boycotted by the opposition. The US-drafted resolution to be adopted on Thursday "deplores that recent weeks have noted a worrying resurgence of violence and drastic increase in human rights violations and abuses."
