While everyone is hoping for a permanent suspension of hostilities in Burundi, too little consideration is being given to what will happen when peace is reached and over one million uprooted Burundians rush home, says the International Crisis Group in its latest report. Burundi’s refugees and displaced persons have been waiting for the dividends of peace ever since the Arusha agreement was signed on 28 August 2000. The foreseeable disappointment of a large number of refugees who will be unable to recover their property upon return offers ideal political opportunities for those opposed to the peace process and risks destabilising any transition to peace right from the outset.

From the 14th to 17th October 2003, Avocats Sans Frontières - ASF (Lawyers Without Borders) will organise in Bujumbura, Burundi, a seminar on the International Justice to the attention of lawyers of the Bar of Burundi. The program of the seminar is available on the ASF's web site.

The deteriorating security situation in Burundi is hampering efforts to reach tens of thousands of people in dire need of food assistance after they fled their homes in the face of renewed fighting, arson and looting, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said on September 26.

The latest report of the Burundian human rights group, Iteka, says that despite the signing of a ceasefire agreement between the government and the Conseil National pour la Defense de la Democratie/Forces pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD) faction of Jean Pierre Nkurunziza, the situation of human rights in the country has not improved.

Despite a 10-year civil war in Burundi, diseases remained the major causes of disability and mortality in three provinces surveyed by the International Rescue Committee (IRC). Presenting the results of the 2002 survey on Monday in the capital, Bujumbura, the IRC reported that diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, leprosy, polio and measles accounted for the largest number of disabilities in the provinces of Bujumbura Rural, Makamba and Muyinga.

Responsibilities of the candidate will include: Serving as the IRC representative in-charge of the Rutuna Field Office (approx. 30 national staff); and Supervising needs assessments, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all projects in Rutuna Province (currently water/sanitation, hygiene promotion, and the Roll Back Malaria plan).

Burundi's state regulatory body, the National Communication Council, has lifted the seven-day ban the minister of communications imposed on the private broadcaster, Radio Isanganiro, on 13 September. This allowed the Isanganiro to resume broadcasting last Thursday, Radio Bonesha reported. In response to these developments, Radio Bonesha and another private broadcaster, Radio publique africaine (RPA), ended their boycott on reporting all state functions. They had taken that measure in solidarity with Radio Isanganiro.

A summit of African leaders trying to rescue Burundi's peace process ended on Tuesday without agreement on a power-sharing solution to a decade of civil war. An estimated 300,000 people have been killed in 10 years of conflict between the Tutsi-led army and Hutu rebels fighting to end the traditional political dominance of the Tutsi minority.

Reporters sans frontières (RSF) has called on the Burundian government to immediately end its suspension of Isanganiro radio station for giving air time to anti-government rebels. "This decision deprives people of news and is especially damaging at a time when the country is starting new talks to re-establish peace," said the organisation in its letter to Communications Minister Albert Mbonerane.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) began on Monday distributing food aid to an estimated 15,000 internally displaced Burundians in Mubimbi Commune, Bujumbura Rural Province, an official told IRIN on Monday.

Things have taken an ugly turn in Burundi, with the two major rebel movements exchanging fire outside the capital, Bujumbura, this week. The larger of the two, Pierre Nkurunziza’s Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD), has yet again reneged on the eight-month peace deal it struck with the transitional government.

The head of Burundi's power-sharing government and the leader of its largest Hutu rebel group were in Kampala on Tuesday for talks aimed at reviving a moribund truce, days ahead of a regional summit on ending a decade-old civil war in the central African country.

Human rights groups, civil society organisations and opposition political parties have protested a new law granting temporary immunity to political leaders who returned from exile and are taking part in transitional government institutions in Burundi. The immunity law, which was approved by the National Assembly on 27 August, states: "The temporary immunity covers crimes with a political aim committed from 1 July 1962 (Burundi's independence) to the date of its promulgation (27 August 2003)".

Even if they no longer hold the whip hand in Burundi, armed rebels have shown that they still have a lethal grip on it. Even as the government and the largest rebel movement fine-tuned their proposals to recharge the transitional process, renewed fighting flared around Bujumbura. Humanitarian organisations reported that another 15 000 people had been displaced. Those responsible are the National Liberation Front (FNL) of Agaton Rwasa and renegade elements of the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD).

The massive and unexpected attack, launched by the rebel Palipehutu-Forces for National Liberation (FNL) on Bujumbura during the early hours of July 7 was a rude reminder that the lengthy peace process has not yet been able to achieve its goal. Burundi is yet again bleeding.

Amnesty International has appealed to regional Heads of State or their representatives meeting on 20 July 2003 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to inject a renewed momentum to ending the armed conflict in Burundi and to give protection of human rights priority on their agenda. "The gap between paper agreements and the situation of Burundian civilians in constant fear for their lives, property and security grows ever larger," said Amnesty International.

Renewed fighting between rebels and government forces in Burundi erupted in the capital Bujumbura this week, leaving streets littered with bodies and doubts about a peace process intended to end almost 10 years of civil war.
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http://irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35449

Thousands of civilians were displaced when heavy fighting erupted again on Tuesday between the army and fighters loyal to Agathon Rwasa's faction of the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) in the southeastern part of the Burundian capital, Bujumbura.

Four people were killed and seven others injured on Wednesday when rebels shelled the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, for the third consecutive day.

An estimated 44,000 internally displaced people have returned to their homes in Kayanza Province, northern Burundi, as fighting between government forces and rebels has subsided, an official of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) told IRIN last Friday.