The US$2 billion pledged by donors on 30 October to support Burundi’s development sounds like a ringing endorsement of the central African country’s progress from civil war to peace and democracy. But memories are still fresh of the 1993-2005 conflict that killed more than 200,000 people, and analysts, human rights experts, and civil society and political opposition members - while they agree significant gains have been made - worry about a range of security and governance issues that could derail them ahead of the 2015 elections.

While tens of thousands of Congolese refugees have fled to Uganda and Rwanda since April, a smaller but significant number of frightened civilians have been fleeing from eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and seeking shelter in Burundi. Some 6,000 Congolese - mainly from South Kivu province - have crossed the border since January and sought asylum in Burundi, with 4,334 of them arriving between April and September.

The imminent return of more than 35,000 Burundians from Tanzania poses major logistical challenges to aid agencies and the densely populated country they fled amid civil war almost 20 years ago. The return could degenerate into a 'humanitarian disaster' if they ignore a 31 December deadline to leave willingly and end up being deported en masse. While Burundi has absorbed more than half a million refugees since 2002, never before has it had to contend with such a large number of returnees in such a short space of time.

Offering free education, making it compulsory and supporting it politically has been the winning strategy behind Burundi's successful bid to ensure that virtually all children get a primary school education. In this interview from the Africa Report website, UNICEF's representative in Burundi, Johannes Wedenig, expatiates on government's positive role in this development. There have been some major drawbacks to such an avalanche of new students, Wedenig admits. Not enough of qualified teachers, classrooms, desks and books has created real bottlenecks. So one of the 'side effects' to the surge in school attendance, notes Wedenig, has been overcrowding and an increase in the pupil-to-teacher ratio.

With a couple of clicks, a photo appeared on the Burundian human rights activist’s computer screen: a hillside; a prone, male body, its severed head lying next to it; another man, naked, sitting, ankles and wrists bound, still alive when the photo was taken but since deceased; the uniformed legs of several other men, allegedly police, standing over the scene; the back of a jeep-type vehicle. 'This is reality,' said Pierre-Claver Mbonimpa, chairman of the Association for the Protection of Human and Prisoners’ Rights, in his small Bujumbura office, adding that the photo was taken in April 2011.

Burundi has announced the setting up of a committee to investigate alleged cases of extra-judicial executions in the country. Public prosecutor Valentin Bagorikunda announced that a committe of six magistrates of the Public prosecutor's office would investigate allegations made over the past few months by national and international human rights organizations.

The verdict on 22 May 2012, in the trial of those accused of killing Ernest Manirumva, a Burundian anti-corruption activist, has been a missed opportunity to deliver justice, 20 Burundian and international nongovernmental organizations said today in a joint statement. The outcome was a grave disappointment to those who have campaigned for his killers to be held to account, as potentially important evidence in the case was not pursued. Manirumva had been investigating several sensitive cases at the time of his killing in 2009, including allegations of large-scale police corruption and illegal weapons purchases. 'The Public Prosecutor willfully ignored calls to investigate senior figures within the Burundian security services and national police who may have been involved in the killing of Manirumva,' said Hassan Shire Sheikh, executive director of the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project.

State prosecutors requested a life sentence for Burundian radio reporter Hassan Ruvakiki who was imprisoned after airing a November interview with a purported rebel leader, according to news reports. Chief Prosecutor Barbatus Ntakarusho made the request during a hearing at a court in Cankuzo, a city in eastern Burundi, saying the reporter had engaged in 'acts of terrorism', the journalist's defense lawyer, Onesime Kabayabaya, told CPJ. Ruvakiki is a reporter for the French government-funded Radio France Internationale and the local station Radio Bonesha FM.

The Burundi government has rejected a recent critical report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on 'the escalation of violence in Burundi' describing it as 'a declaration of war'. A statement said: 'As the previous reports were seen by the Burundi government as simple signs of provocation, the one which came out on Wednesday 2 May...is a true declaration of war against the Burundi people bound, according to the NGO, to disappear if it continues to live with the leaders it elected in the last elections.'

The Burundian Interior Minister ordered Human Rights Watch to cancel a news conference in the capital, Bujumbura, on May 2, 2012, that was planned to release a report on political violence in Burundi, Human Rights Watch said. The police also ordered Human Rights Watch to stop distribution of the report in Burundi. The Human Rights Watch report documents the rise of political killings in Burundi from late 2010 to late 2011.

The scheduled reopening of the trial of those accused of murdering Ernest Manirumva, a Burundian human rights defender, is a positive step, said the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP) and Protection International. Ernest Manirumva was vice-president of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Malpractice Observatory (OLUCOME). He was kidnapped from his home on the night of 8 April 2009 and murdered in the early hours of the morning of 9 April.

The Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) in the Netherlands stands accused of being responsible for the suicide of a man who died trying to protect his children from deportation. Alain Hatungimana (36), an asylum seeker from Burundi, took his own life the day before he and his two children were due to be sent back to their homeland. According to friends in the Dutch town of Culemborg, Hatungimana had become very depressed as the deportation date drew near and he had told them his life would be in ruins if he returned to Burundi.

Despite the establishment of anti-corruption agencies, Burundi is facing a deepening corruption crisis, says the International Crisis Group. 'The "neopatrimonialist" practices of the party in office since 2005 has relegated Burundi to the lowest governance rankings, reduced its appeal to foreign investors, damaged relations with donors; and contributed to social discontent. More worrying still, neopatrimonialism is undermining the credibility of post-conflict institutions, relations between former Tutsi and new Hutu elites and cohesion within the ruling party, whose leaders are regularly involved in corruption scandals.'

Hundreds of families forced from their homes in the 1990s, as well as former refugees, who are living in informal settlements on the outskirts of Bujumbura, the capital, are seeking a lasting shelter alternative to cramped temporary sites. Families were supposed to have been resettled at the Maramvya area in Bujumbura Rural's Mutimbuzi commune, in 2011, where each household would have been allocated a 270 sqm plot. But there have been challenges to the resettlement, according to officials.

In this article from the Peace and Conflict Monitor, Vital Nshimirimana discusses the transitional justice process as planned by the government of Burundi for 2012. He argues that issues including ongoing insecurity, human rights abuses, lack of dialogue and trust among social partners, as well as lack of rule of law will undermine the process.

A Burundian anti-graft activist detained two weeks ago for criticising the justice minister over alleged corruption was freed Tuesday 21 February. 'I am happy to be freed from prison where I spent two weeks for no reason, because all that I said is true and has been spoken about by several senior officials in the country,' said Faustin Ndikumana. Ndikumana had written in a complaint letter that candidates had been obliged to pay $1,450 for jobs at the judiciary.

Burundi, one of Africa's most corrupt countries, has arrested a prominent anti-graft activist after he alleged judges were forced to pay bribes before being appointed, the campaigner's lawyer said. Faustin Ndikumana, head of the Burundi advocacy group PARCEM, told a news conference last week he had written to Justice Minister Pascal Barandagiye alleging that newly-appointed judges had told his organisation they were asked to pay between $1,000 and $1,500 in return for employment.

There are fears of a looming food shortage in Burundi after heavy rains damaged two successive harvests, say officials. 'More than half of the expected harvest was lost in flooding and siltation,' Methode Niyongendako, a consultant with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said. The rains peaked in mid-September and November, exceeding forecasts in terms of volume and frequency, and were the heaviest since October 1961, according to households questioned, added Niyongendako.

Burundi has made some progress in consolidating peace, but recent developments could reverse gains, according to the UN top envoy in the country. Karen Landgren told the UN Security Council that efforts to preserve the peace are being marred by human rights challenges and politically-motivated killings.

The Burundi Security Council has recommended that the president impose sanctions against media and civil society groups who made comments over September’s massacre in a Gatumban bar that claimed the lives of more than 39 people. 'We recommend the empowered authorities take remedial measures or sanctions against the media and civil society groups who violated the law,' said Major General Pontien Gaciyubwenge, the Burundian minister of defence.