OCHA Situation Report
Burundi
15 - 21 November 2004


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

HUMANITARIAN ACTIVITIES
1 UN DERC hails "period of great hopes and challenges"

UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Margareta Wahlstrom concluded a
three-day working mission to Burundi on 18 November. "This is a period of
great hopes and challenges, with the process of peace and stabilization
inspiring belief in a better life in Burundi," Wahlstrom stated. "Much
important work remains to be done, and we the humanitarian community are
committed to seeing this through. But we depend on the support of
Burundian authorities, with whom we have raised our concerns regarding,
among other issues, the protection of civilian populations and internally
displaced persons (IDPs), and have found these to be shared concerns."

During her visit, Wahlstrom met with representatives of the Government of
Burundi (GoB), as well as with representatives of UN agencies and NGOs,
with the objective of gaining a more complete picture of the humanitarian
context and situation in the country. She also visited Kabezi town in
Bujumbura Rural Province, where OCHA is coordinating - in consultation
with the provincial government, UN agencies, NGOs and ONUB - the
organization of the relocation of some 12,000 IDPs to an area located an
appropriate distance from a government military base and an ONUB
peacekeeping base.

2 Healthcare and repatriation: joint assessment in Muyinga and Kirundo
provinces

The joint World Health Organization (WHO)/the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)/the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) project
for health and repatriation, the Burundi Ministry of Health, the European
Community's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) and OCHA organised a joint
mission to Muyinga and Kirundo provinces, in northeastern Burundi. The
mission also took the opportunity to discuss with local authorities issues
related to recent displacement of populations affecting the two provinces.
The main conclusions drawn from the field visit included the need for
strengthening communication and coordination for greater comprehension of
the objectives of the project at the provincial level; ensuring that
provision of medicines supplied for the project are free-of-charge for
vulnerable populations; improving the mechanism to define vulnerable
populations and monitor the provision of health care free-of-charge for
them; and that the efforts for capacity building of health care providers
and personnel be monitored through close supervisory visits with partners.
Similar visits will be organized to other provinces in the coming weeks.

3 Burundian refugee returns update

As of 21 November, UNHCR in Burundi reported 80,997 facilitated and 6,157
spontaneous returns of Burundian refugees since January 2004. In order to
assist the return and reintegration of the returnees, the US Bureau of
Population, Refugees, and Migration donated US $5.2 million to UNHCR.

4 Back-to-School campaign continues

The back-to-school campaign, a joint program of the GoB, UN agencies and
NGOs, continues. On 19 November, after Ruyigi and Karuzi provinces, the
Ministry of Education in collaboration with UNESCO and UNICEF organized
awareness-raising activities in Muramvya Province. The province is home to
2,000 destitute children, including 928 who were not enrolled in first
year due to a lack of classrooms. A representative of school children said
that malnutrition and a lack of healthcare were having a major adverse
impact on their education. As part of joint efforts to address these
issues, UNESCO has assisted with the construction of a healthcare unit,
which was inaugurated the same day, while the World Food Programme (WFP)
served a meal to the school children and UNICEF distributed school
material to all 3,210 children enrolled in Bukeye I, II and Rusha primary
schools. UNICEF is distributing school material nationwide until 26
November.

5 WFP food distribution update

During the reporting week, WFP supplied 1,749 mt of food commodities to
more than 247,000 beneficiaries in different provinces of the country. In
the northern provinces, WFP continued to focus attention on food-insecure
people of Kirundo, including those who had fled to Rwanda and returned
home recently. In Kirundo alone, WFP distributed 631 mt of food aid to
112,295 persons.  People living in Mutimbuzi and Isale communes of
Bujumbura Rural Province were also assisted with 302 mt of food.

6 Amnesty warns of imminent resumption of executions, summary trials,
executions

Amnesty International has called on the National Assembly of Burundi to
reject draft legislation which proposes that perpetrators of violent
crimes, including murder, armed robbery and rape, caught in the act
(flagrant delit ou repute flagrant) be dealt with through a radically
shortened judicial procedure which falls short of internationally
recognized standards for fair trial. The bill, which was adopted by the
Council of Ministers on 16 November 2004, was to be submitted to the
National Assembly during the reporting week. According to Amnesty, the
summary proceedings proposed by the law would mean that the entire
procedure from arrest to execution would last less than 40 days -
including retrial - and could be significantly shorter. "This law makes a
mockery of justice and the government's declared commitment to respecting
human rights. We are calling on the National Assembly to reject the draft
law and oppose all moves to resume executions," Amnesty said. For the
complete AI communique, go to:
http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engafr160212004

SECURITY INCIDENTS

Recurrent criminality: in Nyakabiga Zone, Bujumbura City, Bonesha radio
reported an increase in incidents due to availability of weapons, citing
the case of a young woman who was shot in the shoulder in front of her
house on the evening of 17 November. Meanwhile, in Gisuru Commune, Ruyigi
Province, Bonesha reported on 19 November that residents were punishing
criminals themselves, as they had lost confidence in local police and
justice authorities.

Burundi's national army, the Forces Armees Burundaises (FAB), reported
that 100 elements of the Forces democratiques de liberation du Rwanda
(FDLR) - an armed Hutu extremist group - infiltrated in small groups into
Burundian territory on the road to Rugombo (Cibitoke Province,
northwestern Burundi) during the night of 18-19 November. FAB said they
would be sending two battalions to reinforce their positions in Rugombo,
in response to indications that the newly-infiltrated forces sought to
link up with FDLR elements already in Kibira Forest. FAB said they were
concerned that that these elements might try to destabilize Bujumbura
city.

LATEST EVENTS AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS

On 15 November, former Vice President Alphonse Marie Kadege handed over to
his successor, Frederic Ngenzebuhoro, whom he wished success.

The constitutional referendum was postponed for the second time, to 22
December. According to the Independent National Electoral Commission
(CENI), this was due to a lack of technical and material means. Meanwhile,
CENI was granted 546 million Burundian francs (US $490,000) by the
European Commission, who promised more substantial support for the
preparation of the elections, national radio RTNB reported.

16 November was the first anniversary of the signing of the global
ceasefire between the GoB and Pierre Nkurunziza's CNDD-FDD. According to a
communique issued by the movement, while the accord gave Burundians hope
to live in peace and security, the implementation of the agreement
remained incomplete, especially with regard to the integration of defense
forces, police and the intelligence agency. Nevertheless, the movement
said it considered the ongoing military cooperation between FAB and
CNDD-FDD in their joint operations against Agathon Rwasa's Front National
de Liberation (FNL) to be going well.

The first International Conference on Peace and Security for the Great
Lakes Region was held in Dar es Salaam from 19-20 November, at the end of
which a Declaration of Principles was adopted by the Heads of State of the
eleven Core Countries of the Conference - namely, Angola, Burundi, the
Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, the DRC, Kenya, Rwanda,
Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. For his part, Burundian President
Domitien Ndayizeye once more requested that Rwasa's FNL be treated as
terrorists.

Public Service Ministry employees continued their strike, demanding an
equal distribution of bonuses across government, Agence Burundaise de
Presse (ABP) reported. According to the director general of the ministry,
the calculation of bonuses is determined by functions and tasks, which
results in different bonuses for different departments.

ABP also reported that prices of essential foodstuffs had increased up to
ten times, with reports of food shortages due to the high cost of fuel,
cross-border smuggling and hoarding by profiteers.

COORDINATION

Ruyigi: humanitarian actors met to finalize the provincial contingency
plan. Actions to be taken in case of massive displacement or repatriation
were discussed at the sectoral level.

For further information and contributions to future updates:

Adelaide Habonimana
OCHA Information Unit
E-mail: habonimanaa@un.org


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