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EU appeals for action to halt Burundi unrest

EU foreign police chief Federica Mogherini, 2nd left, talks with Slovakia's Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak, left, while Ireland's Foreign Minister Charles Flanagan, right, talks with Belgium's Foreign Minister Didier Reynders during an EU foreign ministers meeting at the EU Council building in Brussels Monday, Dec. 14, 2015. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert) EU foreign police chief Federica Mogherini, 2nd left, talks with Slovakia's Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak, left, while Ireland's Foreign Minister Charles Flanagan, right, talks with Belgium's Foreign Minister Didier Reynders during an EU foreign ministers meeting at the EU Council building in Brussels Monday, Dec. 14, 2015. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

By Associated Press December 14, 2015 1 min read

BRUSSELS (AP) – European Union officials are demanding action to halt violence in Burundi after scores of people were killed in clashes linked to the disputed third term of President Pierre Nkurunziza.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini appealed on Monday for a political dialogue, saying that “it is urgent that it starts immediately.”

Eighty-seven people were killed in Burundi on Friday in a new escalation of violence, and the U.S. government urged its citizens to leave the African country as soon as possible.

Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said that “recent events are quite catastrophic.”

He said he hoped the EU can “send a message to the African Union and the U.N. Security Council: we are going to have to act. There is too much violence.”