When fully up and running, the force will comprise some 3,500 men and will be the first significant military operation undertaken by the African Union (AU) or the defunct Organisation of African Union, which the AU replaced last year.

For the last 10 years, Burundi has been ravaged by a civil war that has claimed more than 300,000 mostly civilian lives and which is showing no signs of ending.

The conflict pits a variety of armed rebels drawn from the large Hutu majority, some of whom have ceasefire accords with the government, against an army dominated by the Tutsi minority.

The AU peacekeepers, half of whom are South African with the others from Ethiopia and Mozambique, are mandated to monitor the truce deals and to organise the encampment and demobilisation of former fighters.

"Protecting civilians is only part of their mandate. It's astonishing," commented one analyst who asked not to be named.

"People would like us to do for them what they themselves are unwilling to do," AU Representative in Burundi Mamadou Bah told AFP.

"The force is a peacekeeping mission, not a peace-enforcement mission. We are not here to fight to those who are fighting," he added.

The rebel Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD), led by Pierre Nkurunziza, believes otherwise and has accused the AU force of coming to bolster the government army.

The FDD has also complained that it was not consulted about the deployment.

If they persist in their opposition, deploying peacekeepers in the interior will be all the more risky.

Then there's the question of money.

"Countries deploying troops will pay for them for the first two months and will be reimbursed by AU," explained Bah.

"After that, the AU will pay for the troops with funds provided by donors," he added.

To date, only South Africa, which currently occupies the AU's rotating presidency and is also playing a leading mediating role, has sent troops.

Ethiopia, where 12 million people are now dependent on food aid, and Mozambique are much poorer than South Africa and this could delay their deployments of soldiers.

"A budget will be finalised. I am sure we will have a positive reaction from donors," added Bah, explaining that a UN-led mission would eventually take over.

Soldiers in the AU force "are observers. If the Burundians cannot agree with each other, they will be able to do nothing," said a local government official in Kabezi, a battle-scarred town near the capital.

SPACE.WIRE