GETTING OUT OF BURUNDI

The U.S. and other governments accelerated evacuations of their citizens from Burundi, the central African nation where ethnic violence threatens toduplicate last year's massive slaughter in Rwanda. Dozens -- possibly hundreds -- of people died last week in the latest conflagration in the 18-month civil war between majority Hutus and minority Tutsis. This morning, 15 relatives of U.S. diplomats flew to Brussels from Burundi's capital, Bujumbura, along with more than 250 others. The U.N. Security Council, meanwhile, said it might send troops to Burundi if the situation deteriorates and threatened extremists on both sides with a war crimes tribunal for committing atrocities. "I don't think the international community can afford anothersituation like there was in Rwanda," said French Ambassador Jean-Bernard Merimee. "It would be unthinkable."