Kinama slowly finding its feet

The rehabilitation of water and sanitation facilities, and of health posts is continuing in northern Bujumbura suburb of Kinama which was severely damaged in almost three weeks of intense clashes between the Burundi army and the Hutu rebel Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) in late February and early March. Much of Kinama’s public infrastructure was damaged but the commercial water company ‘Regideso’ had reopened supplies and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) was standing by if additional interventions in water and sanitation were required, the WHO reported this week after an intergovernmental/humanitarian community coordination meeting. The health NGO Medecins sans frontieres (MSF) had re-established two health posts in Kinama - six were damaged in the clashes - and were conducting an average 150 consultations per day, WHO stated.

Most returnees were reported to be house-owners, eager to return to their properties and begin reconstruction, while tenants - especially of damaged or destroyed houses - were less willing to return, according to the agency. The religious NGO Jesuit Refugee Services (NGO) on Thursday cited government sources as saying that 4,500 of 10,000 families had returned to Kinama - the rest remained dispersed in neighbouring areas - but said there appeared to be some problems with people having to pay the military between 500 and 1,000 Burundi francs to do so. An inter-agency mission had found that there was not widespread destruction but that many houses had been looted, it said. There was some fighting reported in northern Bujumbura this week, with the army continuing “mopping-up operations” against the FNL, as peace talks continued in the Tanzanian town of Arusha.