OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS (OCHA) Humanitarian Briefing Pack B URUNDI April 2002 UNITED NATIONS Humanitarian Briefing Pack – Burundi TABLE OF CONTENTS COUNTRY PROFILE ......................................................................................................................3 THE GREAT LAKES REGION CONFLICTS ..................................................................................5 THE ROLE OF THE REGIONAL SUPPORT OFFICE FOR THE GREAT LAKES REGION - OCHA - NAIROBI.......................................................................................................................................6 MAP OF AFFECTED POPULATIONS IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION ......................................7 CHRONOLOGY OF KEY EVENTS IN BURUNDI ...........................................................................8 POLITICAL PARTIES AND ARMED GROUPS IN BURUNDI ......................................................10 HUMANITARIAN SITUATION ......................................................................................................12 COORDINATION MECHANISMS IN BURUNDI ...........................................................................14 CONSOLIDATED APPEAL PROCESS........................................................................................15 THE UNITED NATIONS OFFICE IN BURUNDI ............................................................................17 OCHA CONTACT LIST – HEADQUARTERS...............................................................................18 OCHA CONTACT LIST – FIELD OFFICES ..................................................................................19 DONORS’ OFFICES IN BURUNDI ...............................................................................................20 FOREIGN EMBASSIES AND CONSULATES IN BURUNDI ........................................................21 HEADS OF UN AGENCIES IN BURUNDI ....................................................................................22 INTERNATIONAL NGOS IN BURUNDI........................................................................................23 GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF BURUNDI ....................................................................25 TRAVEL, ACCOMMODATION AND SECURITY IN BURUNDI....................................................27 ADMINISTRATIVE MAP OF BURUNDI........................................................................................31 CITY MAP OF BUJUMBURA .......................................................................................................32 ON-LINE LINKS ABOUT BURUNDI.............................................................................................33 SOURCES ....................................................................................................................................34 Africa I \ Country Profile \ Humanitarian-Briefing-Packs-April-May-2002 \ Burundi-April-2002 OCHA Geneva, RCB, Africa I and Middle East, April 2002 2 Humanitarian Briefing Pack – Burundi COUNTRY PROFILE REPUBLIC OF BURUNDI Capital Bujumbura Size 25.650 Km2 Population 6.847.009 Head of State Major Pierre Buyoya Currency Burundi Franc (746 BIF = 1US$) Official Languages Kirundi, French (Swahili spoken along Lake Tanganyika and in the Bujumbura area) Main Religious Groups Christian 67%, Indigenous Beliefs 23%, Muslim 10% Main Ethnic Groups Hutu 85%, Tutsi 14%, Twa 1% Administrative Divisions 16 provinces: Bubanza, Bujumbura, Bururi, Cankuzo, Cibitoke, Gitega, Karuzi, Kayanza, Kirundo, Makamba, Muramvya, Muyinga, Mwaro, Ngozi, Rutana, Ruyigi Independence 1 July 1962 (from UN trusteeship under Belgian administration) ECONOMY Burundi is a landlocked, resource-poor country with an underdeveloped manufacturing sector. The economy is mainly agricultural with roughly 90% of the population dependent on subsistence agriculture. Its economic health depends on the coffee crop, which accounts for 80% of foreign exchange earnings. The ability to pay for imports therefore rests largely on the vagaries of the climate and the international coffee market. Agriculture - Coffee, cotton, tea, corn, sorghum, sweet potatoes, bananas, manioc, Products beef, milk Industry - Products Blankets, shoes, soap Natural Resources Nickel, uranium, rare earth oxides, peat, cobalt, copper, platinum, vanadium GNP per capita 145 US$ (1998) External Debt 1.12 billion US$ (1999) GDP 946 million US$ GDP real growth rate 1.8% OCHA Geneva, RCB, Africa I and Middle East, April 2002 3 Humanitarian Briefing Pack – Burundi HEALTH Human Development Index 1992 : 0.341 1996 : 0.300 1999 : 0.288 (UNDP Sept. 1999) Population under 14 46% Population Growth 2.38% (2001 est.) Rate Infant Mortality Rate 70.7 / 1000 live births Life Expectancy at 46 years Birth Total Fertility Rate 6.16 children / woman Maternal Mortality 800 / 100.000 live Rate births HIV Infection Rates (UNICEF 2000) Vaccination Rates BCG 73% Urban Areas 21% (UNICEF/EPISTAT- Polio 69 % Rural Areas 6% MSP, 2000) Measles 61% EDUCATION Illiteracy rate 62.5% (UNDP Sept. 1999) School Attendance 1992-93 : 52% 2000 : 37% (UNICEF 2000) OCHA Geneva, RCB, Africa I and Middle East, April 2002 4 Humanitarian Briefing Pack – Burundi THE GREAT LAKES REGION CONFLICTS Eight years after the horrific events in Rwanda, the Great Lakes Region (GLR) is still afflicted by the ongoing wars in Burundi and DRC. At the end of 2001, various parties to the conflict have begun to withdraw from previous frontlines in accordance with the Lusaka Cease-fire Agreement, and the Inter-Congolese Dialogue (ICD) has begun. However, fighting has continued in the East in particular and the situation remains extremely volatile. In Burundi a political agreement was finally signed on the transitional government. The armed rebellion, however, has yet to commit to the peace process and current fighting on the ground continues and may intensify. Rwanda repelled incursions from rebel forces into the Northwest in May and June, but has expressed serious concern about the alleged massing of rebel forces in the Kivus. Although improved since 2000, Rwanda’s relations with Uganda remain strained. Uganda itself has begun to withdraw its forces from DRC and the threat from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) appears to have decreased. Relations with Sudan have also improved, and negotiation has begun with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). However, while some instability continues in the north and west, it seems unlikely that the displaced will venture to leave protected camps in the near future. Some 1,130,000 people from the region are refugees, and a further 3,013,000 are displaced within their own countries. But it is not only these populations who are at risk: host communities face additional demands on their own meagre resources, livelihoods are threatened by insecurity, and access to the most basic of social services – health and education – is limited. Central to the conflict in the region, is the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), involving at its height six external state armies, various factions rebelling against the Government, as well as other armed non-state actors - using the country as a haven from which to pursue their own interests. Despite the signature of the Lusaka Agreement in 1999, there seemed little perceptible movement towards peace. Since Joseph Kabila took office in January 2001, however, the international and humanitarian community has witnessed dramatic changes. The Kinshasa government began by demonstrating increased openness to diplomatic efforts, while various warring parties began gradually to withdraw. The start of the Inter-Congolese Dialogue in August represented a further step forward. However, while this and the withdrawal of belligerents may improve the situation in parts of the DRC, warring factions, ethnic groups and increasingly-isolated non-state actors continue to clash in the east. Even as the modalities of DDD are discussed and activities planned, there is international concern that peace in the DRC might be achieved only at the expense of bloodshed in neighbouring countries. In May/June, north-west Rwanda experienced sporadic incursions from the Armée pour la Libération du Rwanda (ALIR) now allegedly concentrated in the Kivus. These attacks were repelled, but the continued presence of these Rwandan rebel forces in the east poses a serious threat. Recent skirmishes in the Kibira forest region of northern Burundi suggest that this also may be used as a transit route to attack Rwanda, with the possible assistance of Burundi’s armed rebellion. Efforts to end the war in DRC may also have a serious impact on Burundi. For the principal Burundian rebel groups, to remain in the DRC and maintain current alliances may become increasingly untenable, leaving the return to civil war in Burundi as the only option. Despite the achievement of political progress in the peace process, and the proposed start of the transitional OCHA Geneva, RCB, Africa I and Middle East, April 2002 5 Humanitarian Briefing Pack – Burundi government on 1 November 2001, all attempts to bring the rebellion to negotiate a cease-fire have failed and the fighting continues. The civil war in Burundi has already eroded the social and economic infrastructure. The combination of drought and insecurity has affected crop yields and the ability to harvest, while malaria, cholera and measles epidemics have ravaged the population. Malnutrition levels, after peaking sharply, have only recently started to drop following increased food distributions. Access to