Nurses resume work but threaten to strike again

Nurses in Burundian hospitals and health facilities resumed work on Thursday after an initial three-day strike for better working conditions. They have threatened to go on another strike of the same duration next week if the government fails to meet their demands for better pay, free medical care, overtime pay and recognition of the professional risks they encounter while conducting their duties. However, Mélance Hakizimana, the leader of the nurses' main trade union, Sylibu, told IRIN that a delegation from the vice-president's office met the union's leaders on Thursday and promised to set up a commission to look into the nurses' grievances. The delegation did not indicate when these talks would begin. Hakizimana said the nurse’s union and the government's representatives still had to agree on a timetable and a mediator, but "if by 18 October nothing is done, we will resume the strike". Services in hospitals and health centres in several provinces were paralysed during the strike that began on Monday. Nurses in the capital, Bujumbura, and in the provinces of Kayanza, Bururi and Makamba responded to the union's strike call and only provided minimum services. The nurses have also threatened to go on an indefinite strike on 25 October if the government fails to meet their demands by then. Hakizimana said they would call off the action if the government shows its willingness to start negotiations.