OCHA Burundi Weekly Information Update: 08-12 Jan 2001

GENERAL CONTEXT
A Step towards Peace? - Buyoya in Direct Talks with FDD leader

Burundi's President Pierre Buyoya on 09 January held direct talks with the leader of the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie - Forces pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD), Jean-Bosco Ndayikengurukiye, in Libreville, Gabon for the first time since 1997, news organizations reported. The meeting was hosted by Gabon's leader Omar Bongo and also attended by DRC President Laurent-Desire Kabila.

Reactions to the meeting have been mixed. Ndayikengurukiye himself, in an interview with the BBC Kirundi service, said he believed the talks would give an impetus to the peace process mediator, Nelson Mandela. "He will realize that the job done by Presidents Kabila and Bongo will give him strength and help him move forward, since the Arusha talks have failed," said Ndayikengurukiye. He reiterated his movement's position that the Arusha accord, signed last August, was "not useful because nothing tangible came out of it". 19 Burundi parties signed the Arusha Accord in August last year, but two armed rebel groups, the FDD and the Forces nationale de liberation (FNL), did not.

Domitien Ndayizeye, secretary-general of the Burundian main opposition party, FRODEBU, described the meeting as an "important step" in the peace process. He noted that the signatories to the Arusha agreement had stressed the need for the belligerents in the Burundi conflict to meet.

But Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, who leads the hard-line Tutsi PARENA party, said the meeting may have repercussions on the Arusha accord. "It means the Arusha talks were useless because they took place between the wrong sides," he told the BBC. "The real negotiators were hiding." He said he believed the peace process should begin afresh.

President Pierre Buyoya, who was in Dar es Salaam on 11 January, said the meeting with Ndayikengurukiye was aimed at reaching a quick cessation of hostilities and a total ceasefire, a Tanzanian newspaper reported. He told journalists he felt optimistic now that direct talks had taken place. Buyoya added that his government was ready to implement the Arusha accord. IRIN reports that regional analysts have questioned the timing of the direct negotiations. They say Buyoya may be afraid of losing power to his rival for the presidency, Colonel Epitace Bayaganakandi who, reportedly, has the support of many Tutsis and has embarked on a tour of foreign countries to gather support.

UNICEF to spend up to US$ 35 Million on Programs in Burundi 2002-2004

UNICEF have officially presented the extent and objectives of their programs in Burundi for the coming years 2002 - 2004. The US$ 30 to 35 million interventions target to improve the situation of children and youths, particularly in the health, nutrition water and sanitation sectors. This includes HIV/Aids prevention programs and the protection of children's rights.

According to a survey on the situation of women and children in the country the institute for statistics and economics in Burundi (ISTEEBU) between 1990 and 2000 some 55,000 children under five died each year. Main causes are reported to be malaria, diarrheal and respiratory tract infections, malnutrition and HIV/Aids.

In 2000 UNICEF conducted programs worth US$ 6 million in Burundi, for 2001 interventions worth US$ 8 million are previewed. Interventions planned for 2002 - 2004 are to rise above US$ 10 million each year.

Homeless after Torrential Rains in the Northwest

According to the Burundian news agency ongoing torrential rains caused flooding and have made 260 families (approx. 1000 individuals) homeless in Bubanza province. The rains are reported to have destroyed most of the maize and beans planted for the upcoming harvest season in Bubanza and Cibitoke.

GENERAL

Oxfam reports that there several thousands of newly displaced arrived in Rubirizi commune/Bujumbura rural after fighting in Nyabunyegeri, their commune of origin on 28 December.

Following a main recommendation made by the Senior Inter-Agency Assessment Mission on Internal Displacement in Burundi in December, the Humanitarian Coordinator and the Burundian authorities have agreed to set up an Ad Hoc Commission to improve access of humanitarian assistance and protection of suffering people, in particular IDPs. This mixed Government and Humanitarian Community Commission will have three mandates:

To provide an open and transparent forum to discuss issues related to access and protection, both in general and in specific cases

To organize advocacy initiatives on Human Rights, International Humanitarian Principals, and related issues

To organize joint evaluation missions to sites with access problems as well as to set up joint protection initiatives

HEALTH ISSUES

WHO Roll Back Malaria Program unfolds in Burundi

This week a team of two experts from the World Health Organization Roll Back Malaria (RBM) program arrived. They will support national and international health actors on the ground for the coming two months to combat malaria effectively. The two RBM experts are part of a team of 42, who currently conduct interventions in various regions of Africa and Asia particularly hard hit by malaria.

Objectives of the RBM program are to

• Compile documentation on malaria prevention and thus reduction of infection worldwide
• Conduct experimental research on the effectiveness of impregnated plastic sheeting and blankets treated with non-toxical insecticides to avoid mosquito bites
• Train health workers who treat malaria

Malaria Epidemic "Unprecedented"- MSF

The NGO Medicins Sans Frontières have requested the WHO Roll Back Malaria program to support usage of a combination of malarials on the basis of Artemisinine derivates.

MSF describe the current malaria epidemic, which rages in six of Burundi's 16 provinces as "unprecedented" in outreach and magnitude. 720,000 cases were registered countrywide in November, WHO report 607,000 registered cases in December. A survey conducted by MSF in Kayanza, one of the worst affected provinces, between October and December 2000 revealed that mortality rates of those infected are alarmingly high. More than 1.000 have died, more than half of them were children under five, MSF say in a press release issued 9 January.

MSF and Burundian health authorities, currently intervene in the three most affected provinces of Kayanza, Ngozi and Karuzi targeting a population of 1.4 million. Simple cases of malaria are treated with Choloquine/Fansidar, severe cases with Quinine.

Community Health Volunteers get on their Bikes - Red Cross Intervention

The Burundi Red Cross has launched a project this week in which 279 community volunteers are getting on their bikes to bring information to people at grassroots level on priority health issues. The volunteers have been recruited and trained to give people throughout the northern provinces of Ngozi, Muyinga, Kirundo, Muramvya and Gitega basic health information on immunization, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV, nutrition and diarrheal diseases. One of their priorities is to locate expectant mothers and newborn babies in need of vaccination as well as under-fives who require supplementary feeding.

The community-based volunteers, two of whom will share one bicycle to make their rounds, will spray insecticides and distribute impregnated mosquito nets to tackle malaria, two million cases of which are reported in Burundi each year. They will also gather information about the general state of health and hygiene, and refer people in need of particular assistance to the nearest medical facilities.

The self-help project shall assist community groups to discover for themselves their hygiene problems and then find the solutions, "in a region where cholera and diarrhoeal diseases are endemic" as a Red Cross representative put it.

The system relies on a team of Red Cross provincial health assistants, who are provided with a motorcycle and supervise 50 of the community-based volunteers. Each "coach" also liaises and coordinates with the provincial health authorities and Red Cross partners in the area. Both UNICEF and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) have used the community-based health workers, and the Red Cross expects the program to eventually cover the Burundi Red Cross Society's 13 provincial committees.

Surveys on Food Security and Malnutrition

A joint monitoring mission composed of the government of Burundi, WFP and UNICEF was conducted in Muramvya and Mwaro provinces to monitor food availability. The mission found out that food availability might be reduced due to "bad precipitation".

Concerning the nutritional situation, the mission found a global malnutrition rate of 11.6 percent and 1.5 percent of severe malnutrition in Muramvya province. For Mwaro province, the global malnutrition rate was estimated at nine percent whereas the severe malnutrition rate was at two percent. "These rates may, however, rise as food availability is not ensured in the future due to bad weather," WFP said.

Malnutrition Rates rise Dramatically in Muyinga Province

The NGO International Medical Corps (IMC) reports that malnutrition rates have raised dramatically in the northeastern Muyinga province. In December 2000 the IMC therapeutic feeding center has had 331 new admissions, a rate which is four times higher than in December 1999. There have been 4457 new admissions to the ten IMC supplementary feeding centers in the province, rates being three times higher than in December 1999. Health workers in the nutritional centers say that the dramatic rise is a direct consequence of a long period of drought and the malaria epidemic.

UNHCR Intervention to ease the Plight of Batwa IDPs in Bujumbura Mairie

51 displaced families (approx. 255 individuals) belonging to the Batwa minority group, who have lived in Buterere in the northern outskirts of the capital under deplorable conditions in makeshift constructions for the past seven years are eligible to benefit from a UNHCR building program. After a joint visit from officials from the Ministry for Reintegration, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction and UNHCR first steps to ease their plight were taken.

Inhabitants of the site said their main problem was access to land for cultivation. The administration of Bujumbura mairie currently is in the process of identifying a suitable piece of land in the area, that they may use for house construction and cultivation.

According to the administration of Buterere a total of 200 vulnerable households of displaced Batwa in the area should be integrated into the program, exact numbers remain to be confirmed. Meanwhile the NGO Catholic Relief Services (CRS) has distributed non-food items, among them shelter materials and clothes, to 75 households in Buterere.

SECURITY ISSUES

The security situation has become less tense during the past week. The Burundi army on 04 January said it had foiled an attack on Munini, in Bururi province in the southwest, AFP reported. "The assailants burned three houses and two vehicles," AFP quoted Burundi army spokesman Colonel Longin Minani as saying. He said the army was in pursuit of the rebels. Burundi radio had earlier quoted Bururi's governor, Andre Ndayizamba, as saying that a small number of villagers had been displaced by the attack. He had indicated that security forces got a tip-off of the attack from neighboring Rutana province.

Increased fighting in the south during December, particularly in Makamba province is an issue of growing concern among many members of the humanitarian community. Organizing a joint assessment mission to the province should be of highest priority, as soon as security permits

MISSIONS/APPOINTMENTS

08 - 09 January Ambassador Berhanu Dinka, the UN Secretary General's Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region and chairman of the Implementation Monitoring Commission of the Burundi Peace Agreement (IMC) visited Bujumbura to invite all participants/members of the commission to a meeting scheduled 17 - 20 January, to propose a draft agenda for the meeting and to find out whether there were any additional subjects to be added to the agenda.

Bujumbura, 12.01.00

UNITED NATIONS
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Burundi