The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has said it could reduce, or even suspend, its voluntary repatriation of Burundian refugees from Tanzania unless it receives the money required to help hundreds of thousands of the refugees to return home. "It is the largest ongoing voluntary repatriation operation anywhere in the world after Afghanistan," UNHCR said. "Nevertheless, there are still at least 400,000 Burundian refugees in neighbouring Tanzania alone, many of whom wish to go home.

Burundi's human rights watchdog, Iteka, has expressed concern over increased attacks on civilians by the rebel Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) and human rights violations committed by the rebels and the country's defence forces. The government must act quickly to prosecute any element of the police and other security forces involved in "extrajudiciary executions, torture and inhuman treatment", Jean-Marie Vianney Kavumbagu, the leader of Iteka, said in a report issued on Wednesday in the capital, Bujumbura.

The President of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza, has taken the brave step of dropping fees for primary school, thereby making access to primary education easier for many children in the country. But what about the education sector's ability to cope with a sudden increase in demand for education? Are there enough teachers? Is there enough money? And, as the student to teacher ratio will inevitably increase, what happens to the quality of education these children will receive?

The dual mechanism to establish crimes and responsibilities in Burundi will take longer to put into place than first announced, the International Justice Tribune reports (IJT). IJT has learnt that on 30 September, Kofi Annan will not be submitting his report to the UN Security Council on the creation of the special chamber to try those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity, and in parallel, a truth commission.

Burundi's electoral process for 2005 ended on Friday with elections for local heads of villages. The country's electoral calendar began in February with a referendum on the post-transition constitution during which an overwhelming majority voted for the draft document. The head of the National Electoral Commission, Paul Ngarambe, said voters went to polling stations countrywide on Friday to elect 14,560 local leaders out of 44,724 candidates who were all contesting as independent candidates. The voting marked the first village-level elections in the country's history.

Teachers and administrators of Burundi's primary schools faced logistical problems on Monday as hundreds of thousands of primary school students lined up to enroll for the first time for the 2005-2006 school year which the president promised would now be free. "We will not be able to cope with the increases," Donat Hatungimana, a primary school teacher in the capital, Bujumbura, said. The ministry projects that some 2,400 extra teachers and 2,400 new class rooms will be needed.

Burundi's last remaining rebel group, the National Liberation Forces (FNL), has rejected an offer of peace talks with the new government. The government took office last month under a UN-backed peace process aimed at ending a war between Hutu rebels and an army led by the Tutsi minority. The FNL was the only rebel group to remain outside the peace process. A five-year interim constitution guarantees a balance of power between Burundi's Hutu and Tutsi people.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has applauded Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza’s pledge to provide free primary education for every child as the country emerges from years of civil war. “This is an incredible opportunity for Burundi to be engaged in meeting the Millennium Development Goals – to meet the objective of universal primary education for all children," UNICEF Representative in Burundi Catherine Mbengue said. The primary school enrolment ratio for Burundian children is estimated at 59 per cent for boys and 48 per cent for girls, according to UNICEF estimates.

Elections have radically transformed Burundi's political landscape, says the International Crisis Group. "The success of the former CNDD-FDD rebels, including the selection of Pierre Nkurunziza as president on 19 August, gives the party control of all branches of government. Concurrently, the security sector has been profoundly restructured with CNDD-FDD fighters now making up 40 per cent of the army. They provide a safeguard against attempted coups to interrupt the peace process and thus a guarantee that further reforms required under the Arusha agreement for peace and reconciliation will be realised." The ICG says that nonetheless the elections are just one step towards lasting peace.

Burundi must honor the right of asylum seekers to a fair hearing of their claims for protection, Human Rights Watch said. An estimated 2,000 to 2,500 Rwandans have fled to Burundi in recent weeks, many of them arriving for the second time after previously being coerced by Burundian authorities to return home.

After a month long strike Burundian primary and secondary school teachers say they will resume work on Monday, but lecturers at Burundi’s public university say they will stay away until their situation changes. "We cannot live on promises," Paul Nkunzimana, the head of the university workers union told reporters in Bujumbura after meeting with the minister of education. The lecturers are demanding three years salary arrears as well as payment for overtime and for supervising students’ thesis.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says it is deeply shocked about the July 22 closure of independent radio station Radio Publique Africaine. The closure took place despite an earlier compromise deal between the authorities and RPA, local sources said. RPA fell silent around 5 p.m. local time as a large group of police broke into the station compound, padlocked its studios, and cut off its transmitter. It was not immediately clear if any RPA staff had been arrested, although one journalist told CPJ in a brief phone call, "they are taking us to the police station."

Officials in Burundi are counting votes following Monday's key parliamentary election, with a former Hutu rebel group looking set to win comfortably. Early results put the FDD well ahead of its main Hutu rival, the Frodebu party of President Domitien Ndayizeye. The polling was largely peaceful and the turnout was 65%.

The government of Burundi has welcomed the UN Security Council's adoption of a resolution to create a mixed truth commission and a special court to prosecute war crimes and human rights violations committed during decades of civil war in the country, Justice Minister Didace Kiganahe said on Tuesday. He attended a special briefing on 15 June in New York, the UN headquarters, on the preparation of resolution 1606, which the Council adopted on Monday.

An estimated 23,000 people have fled their homes in the last week in the western Burundi's Bubanza Province because of fighting between government soldiers and rebels of the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL). "Many of the displaced people have been without food for more than a week," Fidèle Niyongabo, the communal administrator of Mpanda, told IRIN. He said fighting occurred again there on Tuesday.

Burundi's former main rebel group, the Conseil national pour la défense de la démocratie-Forces nationales pour la défense de la démocratie (CNDD-FDD), won 55.3 percent of seats in communal elections held in the country on 3 June, according to provisional results announced last Thursday. Political parties have four days to lodge official complaints to the electoral commission and final results are expected on 19 June.

Delegates from the Burundian government and the rebel Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) began talks on Friday on how to implement a ceasefire agreement, after almost a week of delays. FNL is Burundi's only rebel group to continue fighting. All other former rebel groups have signed peace agreements with the transitional government and have since joined transitional institutions.

The election of communal councillors in Burundi began last Friday, amid reports of violence in the northwestern province of Bubanza. State-owned Radio Burundi reported on Friday that incidences of violence and exchange of gunfire in Bubanza had caused local residents to flee.

Burundian President Domitien Ndayizeye and Agathon Rwasa, the leader of the country's remaining rebel group, the Forces nationales de libération (FNL), agreed on Sunday to end hostilities and to work for lasting and sustainable peace in the country. "We have agreed to end hostilities immediately," Ndayizeye said in Tanzania's commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, shortly after signing the agreement with Rwasa. "Technical committees of the two parties are going to be picked as soon as possible so that they start working out modalities for negotiations and implementation of the ceasefire."

Burundian President Domitien Ndayizeye appointed on Tuesday Jean Marie Ngendahayo as the minister of interior, ending weeks of disagreement between the president and the former main rebel group, the CNDD-FDD. Ngendahayo is a member of the CNDD-FDD or Conseil national pour la défense de la démocratie-Forces pour la défense de la démocratie. His appointment follows talks last week in Pretoria, South Africa, between Ndayizeye and CNDD-FDD leader Pierre Nkurunziza, who is also the minister for good governance in Burundi's transitional government.