The European Union (EU) plans to cut back its funding for Burundi's lucrative peacekeeping contingent in Somalia to try to force President Pierre Nkurunziza into talks with opponents and away from the brink of ethnic conflict, diplomatic sources said.

"Support for Burundi’s contingent of AMISOM cannot continue as it is," a European diplomat was quoted by the New Times as saying.

For each African soldier sent to Somalia, the contributing government receives $1,000 a month for wages and logistics, paid for from a pot funded by the EU. 

In Burundi's case, the government keeps $200 a month and soldiers receive $800 each, a handsome bonus on top of their much lower regular pay.

Pulling the plug on funding altogether was one option, albeit the most extreme and unlikely given Burundi's determination to stay in the force, he said.

Cutting all funding would leave the African Union (AU), which oversees AMISOM's 22,000-strong force, having to find another donor to pay Burundi's troops

Source : MENA