Burundi's ONATEL says red tape slowing growth

BUJUMBURA (Reuters) - Burundi's state-run telecoms company ONATEL said on Wednesday it feared it would not reach its 2009 earnings target of 25 billion francs due to bureaucracy slowing its growth.

"As a state-run company, we have to first ask permission before making any order, and orders take months to be approved by the tender authority," General Manager Salvator Nizigiyimana told Reuters, adding the firm often ran out of sim cards.

"We might not reach the expected earnings figure due to the long bureaucratic procedures that have paralysed our business."


ONATEL, which celebrated its 30th anniversary last month, earned 20 billion francs in 2008, up from 11 billion the year before. The company has about 170,000 mobile subscribers and some 35,000 landline users.

The African nation of 8 million people grew its subscriber base by 78 percent to 480,000 users in 2008. Burundi's telecom regulator estimates customers could reach 700,000 by 2012.

Source:af.reuters.com/

Econet Burundi targets 0.8 m clients

BUJUMBURA, BURUNDI: Burundi mobile operator Econet Wireless now targets to increase its clientele from the current 80,000 to 800,000 following the launching of the a new rechargeable solar handset.

Econet, a subsidiary of South Africa-based Econet Wireless International, has attracted 80,000 users since April and aims to have 100,000 signed up by the end of the year 2009.
The African nation of 8 million people saw its subscriber base grow by 78% to 480,000 users in 2008. Burundi's telecom regulator estimates the number of customers could reach 700,000 by 2012.

Although the Econet general manager Darlington Mandivenga did not give a time frame for his projection, due to the power shortages experienced in Bujumbura the company is likely to get more clients using the rechargeable solar handset.

The current power demand in the landlocked country is currently 45 MW against the installed capacity of 32 MW which causes frequent blackouts and the deficit reaches 25 MW during peak hours, according to the energy ministry. The handsets with Sim cards are sold with an insert of the customer bill of rights – a first in East Africa - which is designed to ensure that Customers are guaranteed quality service and have a re-course of a refund. Mandivenga told a news conference that the handset would prove invaluable for many users in a country that suffers frequent power shortages.

"If you look at the target market or the level of demand that is there, without doing any further marketing it is about 800,000 people who will benefit from this innovation.

Source:busiweek.com/

Burundi carries our round two of polio immunization campaign

BUJUMBURA, Burundi, 11 December 2009 – Vaccination teams were in high gear as Burundi carried out the second round of an ongoing polio immunization campaign last month.

During the first round in October, more than 1.6 million children under the age of five were vaccinated in health centres, outreach sites and schools – thousands more than had been expected.

UNICEF Representative in Burundi Gloria Kodzwa expressed satisfaction at the successful nationwide mobilization of families and the high turnout, following the discovery of two wild poliovirus cases in Cibitoke Province.


© UNICEF/2009/Manirakiza
In Burundi’s polio immunization drive, an indelible ink mark indicates that a child has been vaccinated and counted.
“We cannot afford to lose any more children to polio,” she said.


Dr. Emmanuel Seheye of the Ministry of Health noted that Burundi had been polio-free for 10 years before the outbreak. Sequencing of the virus shows that it came from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo in late September, after passing through Angola and India.

A partnership to fight polio

Government preparations began in October, with the support of UNICEF and the World Health Organization. UNICEF’s contribution included doses of the vaccine sufficient for two rounds, as well as mass mobilization and field supervision of the exercise.



© UNICEF/2009/Manirakiza

In Burundi’s polio immunization drive, an indelible ink mark indicates that a child has been vaccinated and counted.
UNICEF Burundi Chief of Health and Nutrition Celestin Traore noted that there were a few instances of centres running out of vaccines due to underestimated child populations and poor distribution of doses in some provinces during the first round. These lapses are being addressed, along with retraining of vaccinators and their supervisors.

Authorities are also intensifying mobilization among some groups that have prevented the vaccination of their children – since even one child who is not immunized puts all children in the vicinity at risk.


As in the first round, the second round took place simultaneously in Burundi, North and South Kivu in DR Congo, and Rwanda, Burundi’s northern neighbour.

Source:unicef.org/

Facing funding shortfall, Burundi’s election needs international support – UN

Youssef Mahmoud, Executive Representative of the Secretary-General for Burundi briefs the Security Council






10 December 2009 – The Security Council today called on the international community to support the preparation of elections in Burundi next year after the top United Nations official in the small Central African country warned that a lack of funding was challenging the “significant advances” already made after decades of ethnic and factional war.
“An amount of $3 million still need to be urgently mobilized before the end of December to help the National Independent Electoral Commission to attend to the most pressing tasks under its mandate,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Executive Representative Youssef Mahmoud told the 15-member body, stressing that pledges so far made had yet to be disbursed in good time.

He said the UN Integrated Office in Burundi (BINUB) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) were also looking, as a matter of urgency, into practical ways to help potential voters who could not afford the administrative costs of acquiring a national identity card.

“Overall, Burundi is making commendable progress despite the remaining challenges that afflict countries emerging from conflict,” he added, formally presenting Mr. Ban’s latest report to the Council, in which the Secretary-General notes that while the country has witnessed significant progress in recent months, it needs help both to ensure successful elections in 2010 and to tackle challenges such as human rights abuses, corruption and weak institutions.

Following the briefing, the Council issued a press statement endorsing the call for international support for holding “peaceful, free and fair” elections, and promoting the socio-economic recovery of communities and the return of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees.

Mr. Mahmoud said BINUB was exploring with regional organizations both in Africa and outside Burundi’s request for long-term observers who would arrive a few months before the elections and stay for several weeks after.

In his report Mr. Ban said he remained concerned about reports of restrictions to the freedom of assembly and expression of opposition parties imposed by local authorities, and of militant activities of youth groups allegedly associated with certain political parties that were generating fear and suspicion.

Mr. Mahmoud said President Pierre Nkurunziza and the Interior Ministry last month urged political leaders to put an end to “these potentially destabilizing practices. While these statements seem to be heeded, the situation bears continuous scrutiny by the Minister of the Interior, all political parties and civil society organizations,” he added.

Burundian Foreign Minister Augustin Nsanze welcomed Mr. Ban’s recognition of progress made towards the sustainable stabilization of the country, but he took issue with a number of items in the report based on “gratuitous assertions and incomplete information.” These included security, which he said was no worse than in other countries, where murders took place on an hourly basis.

Moreover, violence due to payback, land disputes and looting was being addressed by disarming the civilian population, and he also disputed comments on the rule of law, human rights and the situation of women and children.

All those issues were being addressed, he said, adding that National Human Rights Council was being established, sexual violence was being repressed through legislative measures. Condemning other “irregularities and errors” in the report, he stressed that BINUB’s future mandate should be limited to electoral aid, support for democratic governance, continuing peacebuilding, and the promotion of awareness of the gender dimension in all those areas.

Source:un.org/

Burundi is Tanzania’s last CECAFA hurdle

TANZANIA’S Kilimanjaro Stars take on The Swallows of Burundi today in their last preliminary match in the Orange CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup hoping to emulate the Uganda Cranes by securing the remaining outright slot to the quarterfinals.

The Cranes booked a place on Wednesday after beating Burundi 2-0, leaving Tanzania and Zanzibar to fight for the remaining slot in Group C and possibly the best qualifier from the three groups. The Kilimanjaro Stars will be aiming for an outright win, and at the same time hoping that Cranes beat Zanzibar for them to finish second.

Tanzania head coach Marcio Maximo does not have the word defeat in his vocabulary. “I respect Burundi for the good ball display, but I pity them because they are meeting my no-nonsense boys in a crucial game which we must win at all costs,” he told The New Vision yesterday.

On his part, Burundi coach Amars Niyongabo said they are taking on Tanzania with nothing at stake. But he cautioned his opponents that in football anything can happen. “We proved a point when we reached the last four in Uganda last year.

We could as well spoil the party for Tanzania the way we did to other highly rated teams in Kampala.” Meanwhile, the crazy soccer fans in Western Kenya are angry after CECAFA relocated all quarterfinal matches starting Monday to Nairobi. CECAFA wants the games be relayed live on SuperSport.

Source:newvision.co.ug/

Burundi delegation in DR Congo for refugee repatriation agreement

KINSHASA, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- A delegation of experts from the Burundian government arrived on Tuesday in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), to prepare for a tripartite accord with UNHCR on refugees living in the two countries, Congolese News Agency reported on Wednesday.

Led by Emmanuel Nkengurutse, Burundi officer in charge of judicial and administrative issues, the delegation will work with their Congolese counterpart on an agreement to be signed on Friday by the interior ministers of the two countries and UNHCR, in view of voluntary repatriation of these refugees.

The deal was already decided upon in October at the end of a tripartite meeting held in Bujumbura at the initiative of the DRC government. The agreement centers on the repatriation of Congolese refugees living in Gihinga camp in Mwaro province in Burundi.

Close to 2,300 Congolese refugees wanted to return to the DRC after they were refused to be transferred to another camp located in the north of Burundi.

According to the statistics of the national refugees commission in the DRC, some 34,000 Congolese refugees are living in Burundi.

Source:xinhuanet.com/

Church to hold fundraiser for Burundi trip

A rummage sale scheduled for today at a midtown church will raise funds for a medical mission to Burundi.
The sale is set for 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Christ Church United Methodist, 655 N. Craycroft Road.
Proceeds will go toward a local medical and faith mission to Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi, where team members expect to do health screening exams at an orphanage. Most of the children they'll be seeing have lost parents to AIDS and genocide, said Bill Kluge, an emergency-room nurse at University Medical Center who will be part of the mission.
Kluge was in the UMC emergency room on June 3, the day a van carrying 17 African refugees rolled over on Interstate 10, instantly killing five of them. A sixth person died shortly after. Eleven others were injured and several continue to recover.
The occupants of the van were all either Burundian or Congolese. At the time, Kluge met Bigimba Ngabo, a pastor from a local church — Goshen Ministries, which caters to the local refugee population. At the time the pastor was acting as a translator for the refugees hospitalized at UMC.
Kluge, who attends Vineyard City Church in Tucson, met Ngabo through his own church several weeks later and the two began talking about a mission to Africa, he said.

Source:azstarnet.com/