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The International Crisis Group (ICG) has urged key bilateral and multilateral donors to give money, and "provide concrete evidence of their commitment" to a peace process that appears on the verge of ending Burundi's long civil war.
In a report, entitled "A Framework for Responsible Aid to Burundi" and published on Friday, the think-tank said it was counterproductive for donors to wait until a ceasefire was in place and for the transitional government to have begun implementing the reforms provided for under the Arusha accord of August 2000 before resuming major aid programmes.
It said the ceasefire agreements which had brought all but one of the various rebel groups into political negotiations, and the expected deployment of an African Union military observer mission had afforded a greater impetus for peace than at any time since the civil war began 10 years ago.
"The delivery of peace dividends will give all rebel groups an incentive to accept disarmament and reintegration into Burundian society, and donors the leverage they need to press the transitional government successfully on reforms," Fabienne Hara, the co-director of ICG's African Programme, said.
Responsible aid, ICG said, would include coordinated measures to begin rebuilding an economy and state structures. It said the country’s Gross Domestic Product had fallen by 20 percent, placing Burundi third from the bottom of the UN human development index. Primary school enrolment was at 28 percent, down from 70 per cent when the war began, and infant mortality had returned to the 1960 level, it added.
"There is urgent need to reintegrate into a traumatised and disorganised society 70,000 ex-combatants, at an estimated cost of US $90 million, as well as 1.2 million refugees and internally displaced persons," the ICG noted.
"Reform-minded individuals in the transitional government need international support to push change," ICG Central Africa Project Director François Grignon said.
Under the Arusha peace accord, President Pierre Buyoya is due to transfer the presidency to Domitien Ndayizeye of the Front pour la democratie au Burundi on 1 May.
ICG report see http://www.crisisweb.org/
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