Poverty in Burundi

School in Burundi © Judith Basutama / IRIN News

The 1990 baseline year for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) coincided with the beginning of a decade of political turmoil and conflict in Burundi. GDP fell by 20% and extreme poverty doubled to almost 70%. It is no surprise that, during 2008, the IMF noted that it would be a “significant challenge to achieve any of the (MDG) targets by 2015.” The poverty rate remained as high as 67% in 2006.

Another legacy of the civil war is the weak capacity for reliable data collection which handicaps projections and policy. Nevertheless, the decision to allow universal free access to primary education from 2005 boosts the potential to address poor standards of youth literacy. There are worries however as to whether the education system's capacity can be scaled up to cope with half a million extra pupils.

Villagers collecting water in Burundi © Alexandra Illmer

It is possible that Burundi will achieve the Goal for access to clean water although considerable financial resources from international aid and the state budget will be necessary. By 2006, 75% of urban households had access to safe water, but only 43% of rural households. The figures for safe sanitation are even further behind and present a real challenge for infrastructure development plans.

After some delay, Burundi submitted its final Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) for 2007-2010 and in May 2007 international donors pledged $665 million for this period. Resources for human development received a further boost in January 2009 when Burundi reached the completion point under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. The country’s exceptionally high level of debt will be very substantially reduced by the relief of $833 million that now becomes available.

Food Security in Burundi

Settlement outside Bujumbura © Alexandra Illmer

Food security in Burundi has been declining over the last two decades to the extent that production per capita has fallen by over 40%. The fragile profile of small farms, bad water management and lack of modern equipment has been no match for the impact of conflict-related disruption and high population growth. Population has increased since 1988 from 6 million to 8 million, this growth pattern distorted by the large number of refugees returning to their home villages from Tanzania. Land density is the second highest in Africa.

The consequence of these pressures is that every region of the country is prone to crisis as the vagaries of rainfall and drought cause harvests to fail. Burundi's food situation is described by the UN as "chronic insecurity" requiring constant attention. Typically, about 10% of the population requires food aid each year. Almost half of the population is chronically malnourished and over a third of all young children underweight. The weak economy was in no position to cushion the blow from rising costs of imported food during 2008 and poor households have suffered.
Climate Change

View of Lake Tanganjika from Bujumbura © Alexandra Illmer

Food insecurity has been aggravated by unstable climate conditions affecting the region in recent years, in particular the East African drought of 2006 and the serious flooding in Burundi’s western provinces in 2007. Burundi will certainly be one of the African countries to watch in the context of sensitivity to climate change. The country's National Adaptation Programme of Action points out that "all the vital sectors of the national economy are affected by (climate change)" and that Burundi has "very low capacity of adaptation". For example, coffee accounts for more than half of the country’s exports. Already vulnerable to fluctuating commodity prices, the crop’s resistance to a changing climate is uncertain.

The World Bank has drawn attention to the exceptionally high rate of deforestation in Burundi, estimated at 9% pa between 1996 and 2000. This has contributed to degradation of soil, marshlands and possibly the reduction in the water level of Lake Tanganyika. In a country where 90% of the population depends on agriculture, the sensitive interaction between climate change, sustainable ecosystems and food security will present a most demanding challenge for the government and donors.
Health and HIV/AIDS in Burundi

The Burundian health system deteriorated during the period of armed conflict in the 1990s and is plagued by a lack of financial and infrastructural resources. In 2002 a cost recovery system was adopted, requiring patients to pay for medical consultations, tests, medicines, supplies, and their stay at a hospital. The exemption system for the poorest does not seem to work and failure of patients to remit their fees has led to their detention in hospitals until they can pay their bills.

Burundian girls performing traditional dance © Alexandra Illmer

Inevitably, health indicators leave much to be desired, the rates of maternal and child mortality being close to the highest in Africa with little progress towards the MDG targets. The government has acted by introducing free healthcare for pregnant women and children under the age of five from May 2006 but the capacity of the health system remains uncertain. Health staff are unsettled by low rates of pay leaving on average one doctor responsible for 33,500 people.

Prevalence of HIV/AIDS has stabilised although latest figures report a worrying increase from 3.5% in 2002 to 4.2% in 2007. These rates disguise considerable rural/urban differentials with the capital Bujumbura displaying prevalence of up to 18%. The infection rate is threatened by high levels of sexual violence, forced prostitution of abandoned children and widows, and population movements. A National HIV/AIDS Council was established in 2002 but the latest strategic plan for 2007-2011 is significantly underfunded due to the withdrawal of support of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. About 50% of those in need of antiretroviral treatment are receiving it.
Conflict in Burundi

Displaced families camped in front of a government building in Bujumbura © United Nations' Integrated Regional Information Network

Burundi's ethnic makeup is similar to neighbouring Rwanda with two main ethnic groups represented by the majority Hutus (85%) and the minority Tutsis (14%). The history of the two countries has been inextricably linked as ethnic violence in one had repercussions in the other, in terms of refugee movements and the reinforcement of communal fear. The Belgian colonisers reinforced ethnic divisions so that, after Burundi's independence in 1962, and in contrast to Rwanda, the government and army were dominated by Tutsis. Sadly, Burundi's history since then has been marred by repeated coup attempts and regular outbreaks of violence between the two major ethnic groups.

The assassination of the first democratically elected Hutu president in 1993 triggered a decade-long civil war between the army and Hutu rebel movements. About 300,000 people, mostly civilians, were killed, and one million displaced. With the help of South African mediation, the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement was signed in 2000 paving the way for a new beginning. November 2003 saw a further breakthrough when the main rebel groups led by the Forces for Defence and Democracy (FDD) signed a peace agreement with the government. Over 22,000 ex-combatants and 30,000 militia members have participated in the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration process currently in place. The United Nations Operation in Burundi (ONUB) completed its mandate in December 2006 and its peacekeeping troops have left the country.

Kavumu 'regroupment' camp © Human Rights Watch

One dissenting active rebel group, the Forces Nationales de Liberation (FNL), excluded itself from this process, eventually signing a ceasefire agreement in 2006. Despite the engagement of the new UN Peacebuilding Commission in Burundian affairs, the intransigence of both parties significantly delayed the agreement’s implementation. As fighting renewed, neighbouring countries lost patience and forced the FNL to the negotiating table, concluding a further peace agreement in June 2008. By the end of the year, hopes were rising that the FNL militia would be integrated into the regular Burundian forces and that hundreds of child soldiers rumoured to be amongst their numbers would be released. Senior FNL officials had been offered positions in government departments.
Politics in Burundi

President Nkurunziza © IRIN News

The Arusha Accord made provisions for a transitional government from 2001 to 2005 aiming to secure a gradual change from the Tutsi-dominated government and public sector to more balanced representation. A new constitution defining a political system less polarised by ethnicity was approved by referendum in February 2005. The composition of the National Assembly is now regulated by ethnic and gender quotas: 40% of the seats are allocated to Tutsi delegates, 60% to Hutu. At least 30% of parliamentarians are supposed to be women. Party lists must include candidates from all ethnic groups to avoid election campaigning along ethnic lines. In 2005, local, senatorial and presidential elections took place under peaceful conditions and brought a Hutu president (Pierre Nkurunziza) and a predominantly Hutu party (the CNDD-FDD) to form the government. The main opposition parties are the Front for Democracy (FRODEBU) and the Unity for National Progress (UPRONA).

This platform for a new beginning is coming under pressure with the approach of elections in 2010. The government has assumed an increasingly authoritarian character, as harassment and detention of journalists and political opponents becomes more frequent. A split in the ruling party during 2007 removed its majority in the Assembly and delayed the passage of legislation. The President has come under pressure to respect the quota spirit of the constitution and appoint a cabinet to unite rather than divide.

Civil society in Burundi emerged only recently in the 1990s in response to international encouragement for democratisation. Although showing signs of dynamism, the movement remains relatively embryonic and has been unable as yet to disrupt the culture of petty bribery in state-provided services that undermines ideals of citizenship.
Human Rights and Media in Burundi

The wars in the Great Lakes region have led to large refugee movements across the borders of each country involved. Refugees from Burundi have fled to neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Tanzania, whilst Burundi itself is a reluctant host to over 28,000 refugees from the DRC. The improvement of the security situation since 2002 has made possible the return of over 450,000 Burundian refugees from Tanzania and the DRC, some of whom left Burundi as early as 1972. The UN Refugee Agency has overseen the repatriation of 95,000 refugees in 2008 alone.

Quite apart from the logistical challenge, the scale of this influx is creating a land crisis as disputes arise between the returnees and the current occupiers of the land. Similar problems exist for the estimated 100,000 internal displacements who remain unsettled, often beyond the knowledge of agencies providing assistance. The Commission Nationale des Terres et Autres Biens (CNTB) has been set up to rule on property rights but it faces an impossibly difficult task.

The civil war triggered a succession of atrocities committed by both sides and the Arusha Accord proposed the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Despite enabling legislation being passed in 2004, progress in setting up the new bodies has been disappointingly slow. A visit from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2007 finally extracted commitment from the government to establish the Commission and that there would be no amnesty for perpetrators of the worst violations.

The deeply established culture of violence and impunity acquired during the long war years is proving difficult to shake off. The police are greatly feared on account of the widespread use of torture to deal with suspects. By contrast the authorities display minimal concern for the escalation in the scale of sexual violence against women. Almost 20% of women in Burundi have experienced some form of sexual assault, most of them aged under 18 at the time of the offence. The 2008 report of the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) strongly criticised the government for its failure to honour Arusha commitments to protect women’s rights through new legislation.

In a partial response to this criticism, a new criminal code passed by the Assembly at the end of 2008 clarified the definition of rape. The same law abolished the death penalty and made torture a crime. Human rights observers are likely now to press for a better resourced and trained judiciary process.

Radio is the main source of information for many Burundians as low literacy restricts newspaper readership. A number of weekly and monthly publications are available, though they usually have short life spans due to limited financial and human resources, and heavy taxation by the government. The majority of these publications are in French and consequently target the population of the capital, specifically public employees, international staff and the relatively small number of Burundians educated in that language.



The OneWorld Burundi Guide was first published in this format in March 2007 with a text written by Volunteer Editor Alexandra Illmer.

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