The UN Security Council last night condemned the massacre of more than 160 Tutsi Congolese refugees in western Burundi.
It urged the authorities in Burundi and neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo to work to quickly bring those responsible to justice.
A "shocked and outraged" UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the governments of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda to set up a joint verification mechanism to help crack down on armed groups operating in the area of their shared borders, a spokesman said.
Most of the victims of the massacre, which took place during the night on Friday, were women, children and babies, who were shot dead and burned as they slept in shelters at the Gatumba refugee transit camp, according to the UN peacekeeping mission in the central African nation of six million.
The camp is some 10 miles northwest of the capital city of Bujumbura, near Burundi's border with Congo.
A statement adopted at the close of an emergency meeting of the 15-nation Security Council, called at the request of France, directed UN officials in Burundi and Congo to investigate the slayings and quickly report their findings.
The statement asked the governments of Burundi and Congo to protect civilians, help the United Nations investigate the killings and do all they can to ensure the perpetrators are "brought to justice without delay".
The Forces for National Liberation (FNL), a Hutu rebel group, took responsibility for the attack, saying they were aiming to attack a military camp nearby.
Up to 20,000 Congolese Tutsi refugees have taken shelter in UN camps in Burundi after fleeing neighboring Congo, terrified of being targeted by government troops, local militia and civilians in eastern Congo.