Returning to Burundi after years as a refugee in Tanzania, Jonas Saya knew it would be difficult to reclaim his land from former neighbours who had settled on it. "I wanted my children to get a home of their own," he said. Saya, 56, returned with six children after spending 37 years in Ulyankulu old settlement, western Tanzania.

The Burundian government has released 203 National Liberation Front political prisoners as part of the ceasefire agreement signed between the government and the former rebel group, Ministry of Justice has said late yesterday in a statement.

Thousands of people associated with a former rebel group in Burundi could threaten the country's new-found peace because they have been excluded from a demobilisation and army integration programme on the grounds they were not actual combatants, according to analysts. Agathon Rwasa, leader of Burundi's Forces Nationals de Libération (FNL), recently handed in his weapons and uniforms to formally start the programme.

Ogeste Gelevasi sits in front of his humble house, looking out over fields of cassava and tobacco with a wide smile of contentment. He feels at home here in western Tanzania after almost 40 years as a refugee from neighbouring Burundi. For Ogeste, the country he fled aged two is a foreign country; that's why he, like an estimated 165,000 of the remaining so-called 1972 Burundians living in Mishamo and two other "old settlements," have decided to accept a landmark offer by the government to settle in Tanzania and apply for citizenship.

Agents of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are expected in Burundi to take part in investigations into the unresolved assassination of the Vice-President of the Observatory to Fight Corruption and Economic Malfeasance (OLUCOME), Ernest Manirumva, government sources told PANA here. The gesture of the US government was described by Burundi's Public Prosecutor, Elysée Ndaye, as a "guarantee of transparency" in the search for truth about the masterminds, perpetrators and motive for the crime, which aroused global emotion.

Burundi, an important host country for refugees over the past four decades, has just established a specialized office for asylum with help from the UN refugee agency. The development comes a year after the country passed its first asylum law. "The refugee agency welcomes these important steps towards improving refugee protection in Africa's Great Lakes region," said Bo Schack, the UNHCR representative in Burundi. "The government will now be clearly in the driver's seat," he added.

The Burundian authorities should ensure a speedy, independent, and thorough investigation into the killing on April 9 of prominent anti-corruption activist Ernest Manirumva, Human Rights Watch has said. The investigation should lead to the prosecution of those suspected of responsibility for the murder.

The Burindi Minister of National Defence Forces (FDN), Lieutenant General Germain Niyoyankana, announced on Thursday a new agreement aimed at demobilizing, disarming and reintegrating 8,500 ex-combatants of the National Forces of Liberation (FNL). The agreement was signed in Pretoria under the South African mediation and aims at reintegrating 3,500 ex-rebels into the different defence and security departments -- 60 per cent in the regular army and 40 per cent in the national police for mula, Niyoyankana said.

In an overwhelmingly positive vote for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the Central African nation of Burundi, the country's Senate has rejected a provision that would have criminalized consensual same-sex activity.

Burundi's parliament should respect its human rights obligations and reject a pending criminal code revision that would outlaw consensual homosexual conduct, Human Rights Watch has said in a letter to President Peter Nkurunziza and the members of the Burundian Senate.

Some $833 million of Burundi's foreign debt was canceled on Thursday under a global program to write off the debts of the world's poorest countries. In a joint statement, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund said their executive boards had approved full debt relief for the landlocked Central African country, including money owed to the global financial institutions.

Although Burundi has made commendable advances in key areas for peace consolidation, an impasse between the Government and the last major rebel holdout is deepening and the risks of renewed confrontation are intensifying, according to a United Nations report being discussed by the Security Council.

The Regional Peace Initiative chaired by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni held a summit on Burundi’s peace process, which has included over twenty summits resulting the surrender of six of the country’s seven former rebel movements. Future meetings are expected to take drastic measures should the PALIPEHUTU-FNL, the one armed group that has yet to join the regional peace initiative, should they not meet the 31 December deadline to implement the comprehensive ceasefire accord. Meanwhile, the African Union (AU) observer mission to the Ghanaian presidential and parliamentary elections has praised the country’s political maturity and advised political parties to exercise restraint while waiting for the electoral commission to announce official results. Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga has called on the chairperson of the AU, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, to oust President Robert Mugabe and end the humanitarian catastrophe, political stalemate and economic meltdown perpetrated against the Zimbabwean people.

The AU, worried about gender disparity in its member States, is planning to adopt a new gender policy that aims to promote women’s access to and control over resources, knowledge, information, land and business ownership and to achieve the enforcement of human rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment at international, continental and national level. A new report released by the International Labour Organisation concludes that African women are not benefiting from the continent’s economic boom because of low-wages and a lack of social protection. “Women have little choice but to work...but nonetheless, poverty persists, implying a grave malfunction of the labour market”, says the report. In other economic news, the AU vice president called on African governments to allow farmers to engage in viable business ventures without interference, thus avoiding over-regulation, and announced that the organisation has a comprehensive agricultural policy to ensure food security in Africa. Further, it is suggested that Africa could be the breadbasket for the Gulf Cooperation Council providing valuable water and food supplies to the entire region as it is already suffering from rising food prices, caused by inflation in exporting countries.

In other news, kings, princes, dignitaries and traditional chiefs of Africa called on African leaders to establish a Union Government to help lift the continent from poverty, disease and hunger. AU chairperson Jean Ping, in an interview with NEWSWEEK’s Jason McLure, also stated his belief in the United States of Africa, be it a confederation, a federation, or a centralised government, to help establish peace and stability in the continent. Finally, members of parliament from the Southern Africa Development Community member States, during their plenary assembly, called for the forum to be turned into a fully functional regional parliament with legislative powers.

Growing concerns about the new Burundian Penal Code have surfaced with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community in that country opposing the fact that it criminalises homosexuality. The penal code, which was voted in by the National Assembly on 22 November 2008 abolishes death penalty, makes torture, genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity punishable under Burundian law.

An independent United Nations human rights expert today voiced his deep concern over the diminishing freedom of expression and association in Burundi, warning that violations of these freedoms imperil the rule of law in the African Great Lakes country. “The Government must restore a calm political climate and take all necessary measures to end the harassment and intimidation of journalists and representatives of civil society, trade unions and political parties,” said Akich Okola, the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Burundi.

The Burundian National Assembly adopted important human rights advances in a penal code voted in on November 22, 2008, including abolishing the death penalty and making torture, genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity punishable under Burundian law, Human Rights Watch has said.

The influential European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel, is reported to have been "shocked" by the rushed move of the Burundian parliament to criminalize same-sex relations. Michael Cashman, an MEP representing Britain, was surprised by the sudden decision in Burundi, immediately raising the issue with EU Commissioner Michel, asking him to bring the matter up with the government of Burundi.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is working with authorities in Burundi to better protect the country’s albino children in the wake of a brutal crime in which a six-year-old girl was shot and dismembered, apparently in the mistaken belief of some locals that the body parts have magical qualities. Media reports say the girl was shot dead at the weekend in Burundi’s eastern province of Ruyigi, close to the border with Tanzania, and then her head and limbs were removed by her attackers.

The detention of political activist Alexis Sinduhije and 36 others by Burundian police on November 3, 2008, highlights the growing obstacles to the free exercise of civil and political rights in Burundi, Human Rights Watch said today. Sinduhije, well-known as a former radio journalist, has been trying since February to form an opposition political party, the Movement for Security and Democracy (MSD).

HIV programmes in Burundi have been struggling to support people affected by the pandemic since the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria rejected the country's request for funds a year ago. "It has been very hard; we have tried to use our internal resources and prioritise interventions to make sure that we cover the most important activities," Dr Jean Rirangira, the interim executive secretary of the national AIDS control council, CNLS, told IRIN/PlusNews.