Insecurity hampering food relief

An extensive joint operation launched by the WFP and ICRC on 17 April to address an acute nutritional crisis in Ngozi and Kayanza provinces faces serious problems arising from security and political conditions, the ICRC reported in a Burundi news bulletin on 26 April. The agency was compelled, for security reasons, to use aircraft even over short distances in attempting to help some 300,000 residents and displaced people to bridge “the hunger gap” until the next harvest in June, it said. “Moreover, the political situation and security conditions can deteriorate very quickly,” the report stated. The logistical chain also presented considerable challenges, it added.
Many national roads giving access to the interior were temporarily closed to UN missions for security reasons, WFP reported on 27 April. In a weekly emergency update, it said it had had to cancel distributions and assessment missions in the country due to the worsening security situation.

The security situation remained volatile in many provinces of the country, and severe confrontations had been reported in Ruyigi, Gitega, Mwaro, Bururi, Bujumbura Rural and Muramvya provinces, WFP reported. Many incursions were reported in the Cankuzo and Ruyigi provinces bordering Tanzania, the agency said. Following reports of new displacement of population due to fighting in Gitega, Muramvya and Mwaro provinces, WFP participated in a joint rapid assessment in Mwaro Province to identify urgent needs. The team observed that displaced people were progressively returning home as security situation normalised, it said. Assessment teams also visited Muyinga and Muramvya provinces to assess food security, and reported that people living in Gashoho, Gasorwe and a part of Muyinga communes (30,240 households) had exhausted coping mechanisms and had started to eat wild herbs.

Burundi’s already precarious humanitarian situation, following years of civil war, has recently been exacerbated by a dramatic increase in malnutrition rates, particularly in its northern provinces during recent months, due to consecutive poor harvests; an unprecedented malaria epidemic affecting the whole country; and the displacement of some 54,000 people as a result of an outbreak of heavy fighting in the northern outskirts of the capital, Bujumbura, in late February and early March. WFP plans to assist 1.3 million people who have seen their lives disrupted because of war, drought and disease, it reported on 27 April.