Buyoya meets UNDP official to discuss funding issues

Burundi's President Pierre Buyoya on Thursday met the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) African region deputy director, Jacques Loup, to discuss various funding issues.

Their discussions centred on the most recent talks between donors and the Burundi government, which ended on Friday in Bujumbura, and on UNDP's contributions to the country's peace talks, given that UNDP planned to disburse US $30 million pledged in Paris, France and Geneva, Switzerland during similar round-table meetings, an official from the UNDP office in the capital, Bujumbura, told IRIN on Friday. He said the agreement for this sum would be signed next week, and that the money would be used to alleviate poverty and promote good governance.

The Burundi government sponsored a two-day consultative meeting with international donors in Bujumbura on 11 and 12 April to discuss a working draft of the country's strategic plan to reduce poverty (CSLP - Cadre strategique interimaire de croissance economique et de lutte contre la pauvrete).

The Burundi news agency ABP quoted Buyoya as saying at the meeting that 60 percent of Burundians were living below the poverty line. He cautioned that poverty would increase if government efforts were not substantially sustained by the international community.

Peace would be compromised by a continually worsening economic and financial situation, despite significant progress being made in the political arena, ABP quoted him as saying. Buyoya invited Burundi's development partners to grant the country appropriate aid so as to ensure the success of the CSLP, which had been drawn up with the participation of grass-roots communities, who, in essence, would be its beneficiaries.