The United Nations (UN) Security Council is making moves to prevent the Burundi crisis from getting worse.

In order to ensure that, the council has approved a resolution to pave the way for a UN police force to be deployed in Burundi.

The resolution, drafted by France, calls on UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon to draw up a list of options for the proposed presence within 15 days.

The resolution welcomed the consent of Burundi’s authorities to increase the number of African Union human rights observers from 100 to 200 and allow 100 AU military experts.

It notes that 30 human rights observers and 15 military observers have been deployed so far.

The final draft was changed to overcome an objection from the United States.

The United States had been concerned about linking the United Nations efforts to broker peace in Burundi with the country’s security forces, who have been accused of human rights abuses, one council diplomat said.

The United Nations said in January it has documented cases of Burundi’s security forces gang-raping women during searches of opposition supporters’ houses and heard witness testimony of mass graves.

The East African country has been hit by unrest since April 2015, when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced his decision to seek a third term. He went on to win his third term bid in an election in July.