Eleven high school students in a city in central Burundi were detained and charged Friday with defacing a photo of President Pierre Nkurunziza, a police official said, as three people were shot and injured in a protest at the arrests.

An African Union human rights report called on Friday for an international police force and more military and rights observers to be sent to troubled Burundi.

Burundi's government said on yesterday that it would attend regional talks this weekend aimed at ending a year-long cycle of violence that has claimed about 450 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.