PRESS BRIEFING BY UNICEF REPRESENTATIVE IN BURUNDI
Press Briefing
PRESS BRIEFING BY UNICEF REPRESENTATIVE IN BURUNDI
19970623
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Burundi today could be characterized as a country facing a very deep political impasse which had caused a human tragedy, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) representative in Burundi, Michel Sidibe, told correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing on Friday afternoon, 20 June.
That tragedy could be best characterized by the approximately 200,000 people that had been killed in Burundi since 1993, Mr. Sidibe said. Most of those killed were women and children. An additional 1 million people, or more, had been uprooted, displaced or regrouped, and 75 per cent of those were women and children.
The standard of living of most of the refugees residing in the camps was non-existent, Mr. Sidibe said. There was no hygiene and no sanitation, and access to freshwater, health care and education was limited. Over 100,000 children were without any kind of support. The children living in the camps did not attend school, and many were malnourished. From 1993 to the present, the malnutrition rate had doubled from 6 to 12 per cent. In some areas, one out of five children were malnourished, and the chronic malnutrition rate for children under three years old was one out of two.
The situation in Burundi was certainly dramatic, Mr. Sidibe said, especially when one took into account the difficulties that existed in providing basic services. Since 1993, 20 per cent of primary school teachers, and 40 per cent of the secondary school teachers, had either been killed or had left the country.
All those conditions combined to create the explosive environment which existed in Burundi today, Mr. Sidibe said. The country needed a new solidarity to support moderate voices and to make sure that that area of the Great Lakes region of Africa did not explode. If Burundi did explode again, it would surely bring about the destabilization of the entire region.
A correspondent asked what would cause Burundi to "explode" again? Mr. Sidibe said it was very important to support the moderate voices. Since President Pierre Buyoya took office, security in the countryside had improved, a negotiation process was in place and refugees were being repatriated. Some
UNICEF Briefing - 2 - 23 June 1997
positive steps had been taken, but it was not simply due to President Buyoya. All the people in Burundi involved in the process of mediation, negotiation and political dialogue needed to be supported.
Asked how changes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo had affected the situation in Burundi, Mr. Sidibe said that in the past there used to be 300,000 Burundi citizens living on the shared Burundi/Zaire border. Since the change of Government in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the number had decreased, which had also led to the improved security in Burundi. It was important to ensure that the process of dialogue continued so that the political impasse could be resolved quickly, and a peaceful approach was undertaken in that part of the country. It was difficult to solve the problems of Burundi in isolation because they were so crystallized and polarized by ethnicity.
What factors had caused the rate of malnutrition to double? a correspondent asked. Mr. Sidibe said there had been many contributing factors. Those factors included inaccessibility to food, the further reduction in agricultural production, a lack of freedom of movement, and a lack of access to social services, like health care.
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