Burundi: Long-term IDPs need land security

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^{31 December 2009}

Some 100,000 people still live in a number of IDP sites in the north and centre of Burundi. They were displaced by ethnic violence and civil strife which broke out after the 1993 coup and the fighting between the government and rebel groups which followed. The security situation improved after the last rebel group in the country laid down its arms in 2008, and no new conflict-induced displacement was reported in 2009. Most IDPs are struggling to support themselves, and many of their difficulties are shared by the rest of the population in one of the ten least-developed countries in the world. The rights of women and children are often at risk, and sexual violence remains widespread.

Most IDPs reportedly have no intention of returning to their place of origin, mostly because of the better economic opportunities around the sites, rather than for security reasons. Many of the sites are gradually becoming permanent villages. The government has, with international support, integrated vulnerable members of the host community and landless returnees into some existing sites now called “peace villages”.

The majority of IDPs do not own their houses and land in the sites, but live on state-owned, private or church-owned property, which has caused disputes with the original owners. At the same time, an estimated 70 per cent of IDPs still have access to their original farming land.

In 2009 the ministry in charge of supporting the reintegration of IDPs and returnees drafted the National Strategy of Socio-Economic Reintegration for People Affected by Conflict.

Burundi has ratified the Great Lakes Pact as well as signing the Kampala Convention in 2009.

30 April 2009: IDPs and returnees displaced again by heavy rains

Some 3,000 IDPs and returnees had to leave a site at Sabe, close to the capital Bujumbura, as weeks of heavy rains flooded or swept away their makeshift homes. The lack of sanitation facilities aggravated the situation, with rubbish and faeces floating in the stagnant water, and some residents reported waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea and roundworms. The Ministry of National Solidarity, the Evangelist Church and the World Food Programme have distributed relief, but residents described it as inadequate and requested assistance to move to a safer site. The Ministry of National Solidarity said the ministry was planning to move the Sabe residents “soon” to a safer site, but did not give a date. Prior to the flooding, UNHCR indicated that it had no knowledge of the Sabe site residents as a group in need of international humanitarian aid. Most of the residents have settled there for years, and the international agency normally only assists those who have just returned, notably with housing, land and early subsistence money.

The security situation in Burundi improved markedly after the last rebel group in the country laid down its arms at the end of 2008, and no new conflict-induced displacement was reported in 2009. However, up to 100,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) remain in sites in northern and central Burundi. Most of them, displaced in the 1990s or early 2000s following inter-ethnic violence and fighting between the government and rebel groups, have integrated in the neighbouring towns and villages they fled to, and the majority reportedly wish to remain in these sites.

The majority of IDPs do not own their houses and land in the sites, but live on state-owned, private or church-owned property, which has caused disputes with the original owners. Informal transactions take place but often lead to disputes as the same parcel of land can be sold a number of times without being registered. A comprehensive land law has been drafted which should apply to rural areas (until now regulated by customary law) as well as cities, but it is not likely to be enacted before the 2010 elections. (...)

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^{20 October 2009}