USAID/OTI Burundi Field Report February 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. 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 build local and national constituencies for peace, promote cooperation among diverse groups of people, increase community-level participation in local governance, improve livelihoods, and increase economic opportunities. Since February 2004, OTI has invested over $400,000 in these activities.
Country Situation
DONORS ANTICIPATE INCREASED REFUGEE RETURNS – Recognizing Burundi’s ongoing humanitarian emergency and anticipating the returns of increasing numbers of refugees during 2004, the European Commission and the governments of Germany and Denmark announced $32.5 million in new funding for comprehensive humanitarian assistance packages and reintegration programming. As a result of ten years of civil war, Burundi lacks basic services for large portions of the population, and mortality and morbidity rates have risen notably. The conflict has killed approximately 300,000 people, created more than 800,000 refugees, and displaced more than 280,000. According to the U.N. Development Program (UNDP) Human Development Index for 2003, Burundi ranked 171st out of 175 countries.
ARUSHA ACCORD COMMITTEE PRESSES FOR NEW CONSTITUTION AND ELECTIONS – The Arusha Accord’s Implementation Monitoring Committee urged the transitional Government of Burundi to enact a new constitution and election law in accordance with the Accord timetable. In January, President Ndayizeye submitted an electoral law proposal to the parliamentarians for their approval, requesting a March deadline. Parliamentarians argue that prior to passing a new electoral law, several key issues must be resolved, including the integration of the army, demobilization and reintegration of former combatants, reintegration of refugees and internally displaced persons, release of political prisoners, and ongoing fighting and insecurity.
FORMER REBELS ARE RETURNING FROM THE DRC – The U.N. Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, under its disarmament, demobilization and rehabilitation (DDR) program, is repatriating former combatants from armed foreign groups. Approximately 100 former rebels from two factions of the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Forces de defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD) returned to Burundi during February, some after six years of fighting in the DRC. Returnees are being taken to an assembly point in the southern province of Makamba, where they are joining approximately 800 other former combatants who have already assembled there. One former commander estimated that 150 additional former combatants were still in the province of South Kivu in eastern DRC.
THOUSANDS OF REFUGEES RETURN HOME – According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than 10,000 Burundian refugees have returned home from Tanzania since January 2004. Over half of the returnees came through UNHCR’s new border crossing point at Gisuru into Burundi's eastern province of Ruyigi, which was previously inaccessible due to insecurity. As a result of such high levels of returns into Ruyigi, UNHCR has increased its number of weekly convoys to the province. UNHCR anticipated facilitating total returns of 5,000 per week.
FIGHTING IN BUJUMBURA RURAL AND BURURI DISPLACES THOUSANDS – New fighting between Agathon Rwasa’s Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) and the Burundi army displaced thousands in Bujumbura Rural Province, adding to the more than 10,000 already displaced by earlier fighting. Temporary displacement and the humanitarian needs that quickly follow are commonplace for residents of Bujumbura Rural, where the FNL remains active and outside the official peace process. In Bururi, fighting broke out between two factions of the CNDD, similarly displacing the local population.
SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT ALLOCATES ADDITIONAL FUNDS FOR AMIB – The South African government allocated approximately $165 million to support the country's peacekeeping missions in Africa, primarily in the DRC and Burundi, over the next three years. Given its lack of foreign donor assistance, the African Mission in Burundi (AMIB) would be the primary recipient of those funds and has been since 2001.
U.N. MISSION FAVORS TAKING OVER PEACEKEEPING IN BURUNDI – After a two-week evaluation in Burundi, a U.N. team recommended converting AMIB into a U.N. operation. The team visited Burundi at the invitation of the government and South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma, who is the facilitator in the Burundi peace process. The team noted that, if the U.N. Security Council gave its approval, the 2,870 AMIB troops from Ethiopia, Mozambique and South Africa would simply change helmets.
USAID/OTI Highlights
Narrative Summary
In February, OTI’s new implementing partners - the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars (WWICS), PADCO and a local NGO African Strategic Impact (ASI) - began start-up operations for a new community-reintegration program. (See January Field Report for details on each partner’s role.) February activities included establishing offices in Bujumbura, designing the Community-based Leadership Program (CBLP), and visiting the provinces of Ruyigi and Gitega to meet with government officials and lay the groundwork for the vocational skills training program.
The program awarded its first three small grants in February. Two funded ASI’s assistance in the CBLP and the vocational skills training program, while a third funded the Burundi Leadership Training Program (BLTP), out of which the CBLP is emerging, for the upcoming year. This last grant will allow the BLTP to continue providing leadership training and follow up to national-level leaders.
NEXT STEPS/IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES
OTI/Burundi, in partnership with WWICS, PADCO and ASI, will spend March continuing the start-up of its new community-based reintegration program. The team will finish setting up offices, complete the recruitment of local staff, and finish procurement related to program start-up. They will sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Handicrafts that outlines their cooperation during the vocational skills training program, and they will finish rehabilitating schools for the vocational skills training program in Ruyigi and Gitega. Finally, they will work with the population at the grassroots level to begin identifying local priorities and designing projects that respond to them.
For further information, please contact:
In Washington, D.C.: Carlisle J. Levine, Program Manager at 202-712-0955 or clevine@usaid.gov
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