US envoy Samantha Power heads to central Africa on genocide anniversary
US envoy to the UN Samantha Power. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- In the Rwandan capital Kigali Power will lead a US delegation at a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the atrocities
- In Burundi, "where worrying signs of ethnic exclusion and oppression are emerging," Power will meet President Pierre Nkurunziza and students and civil society leaders
UNITED NATIONS
US envoy to the UN Samantha Power travels to Rwanda, Burundi, and the Central African Republic starting April 6 as the region commemorates the 1994 genocide.
In the Rwandan capital Kigali Power will lead a US delegation at a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the atrocities that left 800,000 people, mainly minority Tutsis, dead, the US mission at the UN said Friday.
In Burundi, "where worrying signs of ethnic exclusion and oppression are emerging," Power will meet President Pierre Nkurunziza and students and civil society leaders, a statement said.
She will discuss "how to prevent the country from backsliding from the progress made since the end of the civil war in 2005," it said.
And during her second visit to CAR, the ambassador will meet members of the new transitional government, including President Catherine Samba-Panza and the leadership of the African Union peacekeeping force.
The visit to the strife-torn country aims at supporting "existing efforts and to lay the groundwork for an official United Nations Peacekeeping Operation."
