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USAID/OTI Burundi Field Report
May 2004
Program Description
The Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) supports the ongoing peace process in Burundi as outlined in the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Accord (APRA) by promoting community-level reintegration and reconciliation through community-based leadership development, vocational skills training, small-scale infrastructure reconstruction, and information dissemination primarily in the provinces of Gitega and Ruyigi. PADCO, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWICS), and the national NGO African Strategic Impact (ASI) implement this program and manage the program’s field offices. Together, they work with government entities, community groups, media outlets, NGOs and international organizations to promote cooperation among community members and local leaders in local governance, generate economic opportunities, and increase people’s understanding of current events and national debates. Since February 2004, OTI has invested $752,090 in these activities through twenty-six small grants.
Country Situation
REGIONAL SUPPORTERS ADVOCATE MAINTAINING POLITICAL TRANSITION TIMELINE – During a meeting in South Africa on May 31, the team in charge of supporting Burundi's peace process rejected a government proposal to extend the transitional period by one year beyond its October 31, 2004 end date. The mediator, South African Vice-President Jacob Zuma, suggested the following schedule: October 12: communal administrators’ elections; October 19: parliamentary elections; and November 1: presidential election.
UNITED NATIONS OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCES PEACEKEEPING OPERATION IN BURUNDI – Following a U.N. Security Council decision to deploy peacekeeping troops to Burundi, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced that the U.N. Operation in Burundi (UNOB) will officially commence on June 1. Stating that the Security Council's decision "opens a new chapter in the Burundi peace process," Annan called on all Burundians and their leaders to take advantage of the "unique opportunity to further pursue national reconciliation and facilitate the preparation of national elections." Secretary-General Annan appointed Assistant Secretary General Carolyn McAskie as the U.N. Special Representative for Burundi.
ARMED REBELS ARRESTED NEAR RWANDAN BORDER – In the northern province of Cibitoke, National Council for the Defense of Democracy – Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) forces, operating on behalf of the Burundian army, arrested armed Tutsi rebels who allegedly received training from Rwandan counterparts. Fifty-six individuals were taken into custody, including three leaders of the Party for National Redressement (PARENA) of former Burundian President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza.
CNDD-FDD GAINS POLITICAL GROUND – Since the April announcement of CNDD-FDD’s suspension of its participation in the transitional Government of Burundi, the party’s ministers and parliamentarians have not returned to office, although they still maintain their posts. Others have criticized this suspension as political blackmail. Soon after its boycott of the Council of Ministers and the Transitional National Assembly, CNDD-FDD won an ambassadorial appointment, twenty-three communal administrator posts (including two in Gitega and four in Ruyigi) and governorships in Ruyigi, Cibitoke, Makamba and Muyinga provinces. In Gitega province, CNDD-FDD candidates won communal administrator posts in Ryansoro and Buraza communes and two head of hillside (chef de colline) posts in Itaba commune. In Ruyigi province, the CNDD-FDD won the nomination of Moise Bucumi as Governor, as well as four of seven communal administrator posts. These latter posts are in Kinyinya, Nyabitsinda, Butaganzwa and Gisuru communes.
BURUNDIAN REFUGEES IN TANZANIA RETURN EN MASSE –The number of Burundian refugees living in camps in western Tanzania has fallen to a six-year low, according to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Since the beginning of 2004, more than 40,000 refugees have returned to Burundi, bringing the number of those remaining in the camps to less than 300,000. UNHCR convoys have transported most of this year’s returnees through two major border crossings in Ruyigi province. Tanzanian authorities estimate that almost 200,000 Burundian refugees remain in settlements outside the camps, in addition to another 300,000 who have already settled in Tanzanian villages on their own.
IDPs RETURN TO THEIR HOMES OF ORIGIN –The number of people in Burundi's displaced camps dropped by half between 2002 and 2004, from 281,000 to 140,000, according to an U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) survey conducted in April and May 2004. According to the report, the majority of former IDPs returned to the southern provinces. OCHA reported that 58 percent of the 28,679 displaced families surveyed expressed their willingness to return home in the near future. Reasons for returning include IDPs’ desire to reclaim their properties before the arrival of Burundian refugees from Tanzania and the improved security situation in their home areas. Forty percent of the IDPs said they intend to settle in their current sites because of perceived insecurity outside the camps, limited access to properties, and the development of informal economic activity within the sites.
NEW CANTONMENT CAMP OPENS IN GITEGA –The Ethiopian contingent of the African Mission in Burundi (AMIB), deployed by the African Union to monitor the country's transition to democracy, opened the country’s second demobilization center in Gitega province. The first center was opened in Bubanza Province in June 2003. There are tens of thousands of former CNDD-FDD fighters waiting at several pre-cantonment assembly areas across the country to join a new integrated Burundian army.
Program Update
A. Narrative Summary
In May, OTI approved three grants totaling $189,100, bringing the total number of grants approved to twenty and total funds committed to $752,090.
During May, OTI sponsored the Central Africa Media Organization’s (OMAC) Media festival held in Bujumbura from May 3 to 5, exploring new information and communications technologies available to media to promote peace, freedom of expression and democracy. The event held a particular relevance for journalists in the Great Lakes Region, where local media have exacerbated, if not instigated, civil conflicts.
The PADCO Media Unit also signed grant agreements to support the program’s two core partners, the Burundi National Radio and Television (RTNB) and Radio Without Borders (RSF) BONESHA FM. The grants will rehabilitate the state and private media outlets’ technical equipment and provide training to improve programming on peace, reconciliation and community development and increase their respective audiences. The Media Unit began preparations with RTNB and Bonesha to launch a series entitled “Profiles of Courage” highlighting local heroes who saved relatives, neighbors and unknown persons during the ten-year crisis.
B. Grant Activity Summary – USAID/OTI Burundi
| Local and National Constituencies for Peace |
22 |
$664,196 |
| Community-level Participation in Local Governance |
1 |
$ 23,200 |
| Livelihoods and Economic Opportunities |
3 |
$ 64,694 |
| Total |
26 |
$ 752,090 |
Indicators of Success
Only days after the announcement of a new governor in Ruyigi Province, the OTI Country Representative and the PADCO Chief of Party met with Governor Moise Bucumi (CNDD-FDD) to discuss the program. As evidence that the team has successfully designed the program to respond to Burundians’ needs, Governor Bucumi conveyed his eagerness to engage fully as a proactive partner in the program and plans to make field visits with the OTI/PADCO/ASI team. The Governor is concerned about basic needs and questions how to best promote good governance and democracy among a malnourished and impoverished population. He is willing to work closely with OTI, PADCO and ASI to address this challenge.
Program Appraisal
By the beginning of the reporting period, implementing partners PADCO and ASI had successfully hired staff for all field-based positions. OTI and its partners hosted a two-day staff orientation to introduce all employees to the program’s global objective and to the role of each implementing partner. Inter-organizational teams, organized by thematic responsibility, then mapped out their strategic plans and activities calendars.
On May 24, the OTI, PADCO, WWICS, ASI teams and the Master Trainers, hired to implement the Community-based Leadership Program (CBLP), launched a baseline assessment in all eighteen communes of Gitega and Ruyigi provinces. Teams targeted a wide spectrum of the grassroots population including host communities, displaced persons and repatriates, youth, women, heads of local associations and other unofficial leaders. The goal of the assessment was to initiate discussions on the various elements of APRA and the current state of the political transition. Teams solicited people’s opinions on leadership, democracy, reconciliation, justice, community development and media outlets in Burundi. The assessment tool also helped Master Trainers identify unofficial leaders in the communes to which they are assigned. During the assessment, teams distributed leaflets in Kirundi containing the key elements of APRA and the November 2003 ceasefire agreement between the transitional Government of Burundi and the former rebel group CNDD-FDD, OTI’s Code of Conduct for the program, and a program description.
For the Vocational Skills Training Program (VST), OTI and PADCO agreed to establish eight VST schools in Ruyigi and Gitega provinces. Most notably, they are establishing VST schools in Ruyigi’s Gisuru and Kinyinya communes, which are located across a mountain range and border Tanzania. Until recently they were inaccessible due to rebel activity. The VST team identified school directors and skills trainers and received applications for students for Bwoga, Ndava and Gitongo schools (Gitega Province). These schools are scheduled to open in June or July.
| Gitega Province |
| Bwoga |
Gitega (provincial center) |
| Ndava |
Ryansoro (southern Gitega) |
| Gitongo |
Mutaho (northern Gitega) |
| Giheta |
Giheta (central Gitega) |
| Ruyigi Province |
| Muriza |
Butaganzwa (southwestern Ruyigi) |
| Bwagiriza |
Butezi (northwestern Ruyigi) |
| Gisuru |
Gisuru (eastern Ruyigi) |
| Kinyinya |
Kinyinya (southeastern Ruyigi) |
NEXT STEPS/IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES
The Media Team plans to complete a baseline study and strategy paper, and will continue to develop the content of upcoming media campaigns with core partner media outlets.
In June, the Master Trainers will take part in motorcycle safety training and will launch a two-week community awareness campaign in their respective communes to reinforce and expand on initial contacts made with the population during the baseline assessment.
The VST Team will develop a reforestation initiative to minimize any environmental burden caused by the demand of wood for VST schools. PADCO will hold a second round of recruitment for VST school administrators (five posts remain to be filled) and for skills trainers for bread-making, as many initial candidates did not successfully meet selection criteria.
For further information, please contact:
In Burundi: Cyndi Scarlett, OTI Burundi Country Representative at 257-955-635 or ScarlettCL@state.gov,
In Washington, D.C.: Carlisle J. Levine, Program Manager at 202-712-0955 or clevine@usaid.gov
Visit the USAID/OTI website at: http://www.usaid.gov/ Key Word – “OTI”
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