Burundi Weekly Humanitarian News 28 July – 03 August 2008 UNITED NATIONS NATIONS UNIES Office for the Coordination of Bureau de la Coordination Humanitarian Affairs in Burundi des Affaires Humanitaires au Burundi http://ochaonline.un.org/Burundi http://ochaonline.un.org/Burundi ACTIVITIES AND UPDATES Interagency missions An interagency mission visited the Makamba province. The main objective of the mission was to assess the situation of repatri- ates from Tanzania, including repatriated refugees and Burundi- ans expelled from Tanzania. There are in the area visited two temporary settlements managed by the PARESI, and two transit camps managed by UNICEF (expellees from Tanzania) and the UNHCR (repatriated refugees). The situation in the temporary settlements is of concerns especially in the Gitara I settlement where some 178 people, 60 families with a majority of minors, have been there for up to two years in some cases. The people in Gitara I, Gitara colline, have yet to be resettled as land was not yet allocated to them. The site in Gitara II, Musenyi colline, is now home to 636 people, 136 families including 396 minors. The closest sources of water are over one kilometre away and hy- giene, especially for children has become an issue, according to an interviewee, children could be bathed once week at best. Child at Gitara I UNICEF is working to provide water to both sites. The closest health post is at least 6 kilometres away, AHA, however, has started running mobile clin- ics but this is yet to be an adequate solution as AHA’s presence in the area is connected to that of the transit centre for the people expelled from Tanzania. Food provided by the ministry of Solidarity was being distributed during the visit; the ration consisted of 10 kilograms of rice per person. The mission could not obtain a schedule for the distributions of food. The people met also complained of the lack of firewood for cooking. Funding to Humanitarian organization The Emergency Relief Coordinator allocated a total of US$ 5,200,000 of Central Emergency Re- sponse Funds to Burundi. US$ 3,600,000 was allocated through the Underfunded Crises window of the CERF with an additional US$ 1,600,000 provided to help address the impact of the global food crisis in Burundi. Consultations on how the funds will be apportioned locally among humanitarian partners are ongoing. Repatriation of Burundian refugees During the reporting period, 2,161 Burundian refugees returned to Burundi, all of them from Tanzania. 349 entered through Ruyigi on one convoy, and 1,812 through Makamba. Among the returnees who entered through Makamba, 523 came from Mtabila refugee camp, while 1,288 returnees are former 1972 refugees from the old settlements of Mishamo and Katumba. While the number of 1972 returnees remains very high comparatively, the number of returnees from the remaining camps has gone down significantly over the last few weeks. This may be due to a number of factors that appear particularly linked to the statement from the local authorities on a pos- sible option for local integration. Since the beginning of this year, a total of 60,444 Burundian refugees have returned: 435 in January, 1,991 in February, 8,377 in March, 6,675 in April, 5,272 in May, 19,635 in June, 17,508 in July and 551 so far in August. This figure includes the return of 10,624 refugees from 1972, including 32 from villages in Kigoma region. Human rights violations The public hearings in appeal of the Hussein Radjabu, former President of the ruling party CNDD- FDD, case were postponed by the Supreme Court. The lawyers of the accused brought a claim based on the interference of the ruling party in the judiciary. Meanwhile, in Ngozi Province, the wife of one of the 22 MPs expelled from the National Assembly accused an SNR agent of plotting a grenade attack on her residence with police in complicity. With regards to justice, the HR&JD co-organised in Bujumbura its Third session of five-day training for the penitentiary administration and police. In addition, fifty two (52) people including seven women participated in training on the ethics of magistrates aimed at Muyinga’s Tribunal de Grandes In- stances (TGI) jurisdiction. The HR&JD also carried out an assessment of the action of the Communal Committee for Child Protection recently implemented by the international NGO Terre des Hommes in Ruhororo Commune in the framework of the promotion of Juvenile Justice. The HR&JD carried on its awareness raising activities in the framework of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In this regard, a session on article 25 intended at media, trade union and civil society representatives was held in Bujumbura while another one targeted to for the Batwa community took place in Rango Commune, Kayanza Province. Protection and community reintegration of returnees The Legal Aid Clinic Project of the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (AC- CORD) successfully mediated 6 disputes in the communes of Bukemba, Nyanza-Lac and Gisuru (in provinces of Rutana, Makamba and Ruyigi respectively). Out of 6 disputes, 4 were related to land and 2 related to family law. In addition, ACCORD conducted 3 legal matter trainings in the communes of Rumonge (Bururi Province), Butaganzwa (Ruyigi Province) and Gitega (Gitega Province) for 75 local administrative authorities. Finally, 8 people received legal advice from ACCORD and were after re- ferred to either Avocats sans Frontières (ASF) or to relevant judiciary institutions. These initiatives assisted towards the reintegration of returnees into communities, the promotion of reconciliation and the protection of returnees. Update on food aid distribution WFP distributed 785 MT of food aid to 62,092 beneficiaries through its various partner’s programmes. Classification of the food security from July, 2008 through January, 2009 The FAO/ Emergency and Rehabilitation Coordination Unit (FAO/ERCU) in collaboration with the ‘IPC’ steering committee composed of representatives from the government (Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of health, UN agencies (OCHA, WFP, UNICEF, FAO) as well as the NGO RESO representa- tive (Caritas Belgique) organised a workshop for the analysis and classification of food security for period from July, 2008 through January, 2009. Thirty food security experts from the Government, UN agencies, the NGO national and international and coming from various areas in country participated in this technical forum. The workshop aimed at mapping food insecurity in Burundi according to the IPC methods which con- sists of analysing food security, nutrition, water, sanitation and security indicators, as well as the live- lihood of the population and structural issues affecting food security in order to determine the food security phase and the risks of deterioration of the food security situation in the entire country. More specifically, participants were tasked with analysing and consolidating the data collected during the season 2008B in order to revise the phase classification for food security of all the agro-ecological areas of Burundi. They also established food security trends and defined priority actions to mitigate the immediate impact of the food crisis on households but also to address the underlying causes of food insecurity for each area. .