OCHA Situation Report
Burundi
14 - 20 May 2007


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

ACTIVITIES AND UPDATES

Food security: To support its programme for the production and 
distribution of quality seeds to vulnerable families, the FAO/Emergency 
and Rehabilitation Coordination Unit (ERCU) started the rehabilitation 
of community storage warehouses in various provinces. This activity 
which first began in 2004 with financial support from Belgium and Sweden 
is undertaken in collaboration with provincial agricultural and 
livestock departments and FAO/ERCU partner NGOs involved in the food 
security sector. This year a total of 26 community storage warehouses 
will be refurbished. The added value for such an operation is that seeds 
produced can eventually be sold at low prices or consumed. This also 
enables better quality control of seeds by relevant services in the 
Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock.

Repatriation of Burundian refugees

During the reporting week, UNHCR registered a total of 48 Burundian 
returnees. This number includes facilitated returnees from Tanzania (13) 
and those who arrived by plane from Zambia (29), Kenya (5) and Ivory 
Coast (1). Since the beginning of this year, 3,236 Burundian refugees 
have returned to their homeland. There are still more than 300,000 
Burundian refugees in Tanzania, and more than 17,000 in the DRC.

Sexual gender-based violence (SGBV): An increase in the number of SGBV 
cases has been reported in several areas throughout the country. Over 
the reporting week, two primary school girls from the communes of 
Gihanga (Bubanza province) and Buganda (Cibitoke province) were raped. 
This crime was blamed on a policeman and a soldier. According to the 
2006 report on the human rights situation in Burundi issued by Ligue 
Iteka (a human rights association), 1,930 cases of sexual violence were 
recorded in 2006. According to the Iteka representative, Jean Marie 
Vianney Kavumbagu, the majority of victims were children younger than 
12. The report reveals that contrary to preceding years where sexual 
violence was mainly blamed on the military and rebel groups, 63.2 
percent of rape cases are now blamed on neighbors and sometimes close 
relatives. Iteka ligue urges families not to shield perpetrators of rape 
from justice, citing the case of a 12-year-old victim whose father 
accepted 60,000 francs (US$60) from the perpetrator to drop the case.

For more information: E-mail: ocha-burundi@un.org,
  Tel: +257 22 205000 Ext. 5542

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