First batch of Kenyan UN peacekeepers leave

Some 270 Kenyan peacekeepers serving under the UN Operation in Burundi, known as ONUB, left the capital, Bujumbura, on Wednesday, marking the start of their withdrawal from the country. These peacekeepers are the first of a 816-strong Kenyan battalion to leave. ONUB military spokesman Maj Momar Diagne said on Tuesday that the Kenyans were based in the southern province of Makamba. He said other Kenyan groups, comprising military police and a protection unit based in Bujumbura, would leave between 24 and 26 February, when the pullout of the Kenyans will have been completed. The Kenyans are the second contingent of UN peacekeepers to leave Burundi. The departure of Mozambican troops on 31 December 2005 marked the beginning of ONUB's withdrawal from the country. Diagne said other UN troops would withdraw in March. According to a progressive disengagement plan agreed upon by ONUB and the Burundian government in 2005, the 640-strong Ethiopian contingent would leave in March, along with 60 physicians from Jordan and 224 Pakistani engineers. They would be followed in April by South African troops. About 5,000 UN peacekeepers have been in Burundi since June 2004 to monitor the country's transition to democracy, with South Africa contributing the majority of troops. Ethiopia, Jordan, Nepal and Pakistan also contributed troops.