OCHA Situation Report
Burundi
9 - 14 April 2007


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

ACTIVITIES AND UPDATES

Health: International NGO Cordaid is going to withdraw from the 
provincial hospital of Makamba but will continue to support it by 
supporting 1 surgeon and 2 anesthetists. The bulk of its support will be 
focused on the medical sector of Nyanza-lac by upgrading the local 
health center into a district hospital. Cordaid has just assigned a 
doctor to it (since April 1) and it will improve facilities by adding a 
block of lodging (40 beds) and an operating theatre suite. It will 
continue its support to other health centers of the medical sector. 
Nyanza-lac is one of the most populated communes of Burundi with almost 
180'000 inhabitants, mainly refugees who have returned since 2002.

Over the reporting period, a Government/WHO joint mission visited Ruyigi 
Province where a contagious disease targeting feet ("diamide plantaire" 
in French) has already affected 5000 persons.

Update on Burundians expelled from Tanzania:  During the reporting week, 
the Government project for the reintegration of war-affected persons 
(PARESI) registered a total of 200 persons (105 families) expelled from 
Tanzania: 152 at entry point of Kobero (Muyinga) and 48 at entry point 
of Mishiha (Cankuzo). Since January 2007, PARESI has recorded 1,702 
expelled persons (924 families) who arrived from Tanzania through the 
entry points of Kobero in the province of Muyinga and Mishiha in the 
province of Cankuzo.

Upon request from the Government (Min. of National Solidarity), the NGO 
Food for the Hungry International provided a 3 months food aid package 
in favor of 46 landless families (136 persons) expelled from Tanzania 
living in the a temporary lodging site in Songore (Ngozi province) and 
75 families (322 persons) lodging in the buildings of the Kigamba 
commune (Cankuzo Province). This package complements the initial 3 month 
kit provided by WFP as all families still rely on external aid before 
their final reinstallation.

Repatriation: During the reporting period, UNHCR registered 30 only 
returnees: 22 came from Rwanda whereas 8 others came from Tanzania and 
registered at Muyinga border. Since early January 2007, UNHCR has 
registered 2,832 Burundian returnees including 87 spontaneous returnees. 
Since the beginning of the facilitated repatriation operation in 2002, a 
total of 341,831 Burundians have returned to their home country.

Food Security: MINOLAC, a private company of manufacture of corn flour 
in Muramvya province, distributed an assistance of 49 tons of corn seeds 
to 4.187 households of farmers. During the harvest period, the 
recipients will reimburse the equivalent of what they received to allow 
assistance to other households. MINOLAC promised moreover to buy all the 
corn production from these farmers.

In Makamba province, the NGO Intermon Oxfam distributed cows and goats 
to their partners in Kayogoro and Nyanza-Lac communes.

SAP-SSA: On April 12, 2007, the SAP-SSA (agriculture early warning 
system) committee organizes a meeting at FAO office. The main point 
concerned how to improve the monthly bulletin. FAO informed participants 
that local authorities in provinces will be fully involved in the early 
warning system at their level and will be encouraged to participate in 
the production of specific papers about food security monitoring and 
early warning in their provinces.

Coordination: OCHA participated in a contingency planning workshop on 
disaster management organized by OXFAM Novib.

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