Tension as cattle destroy crops in Cibitoke

Tension is mounting in Burundi's northwestern province of Cibitoke where cattle belonging to herders from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda have destroyed the crops of Burundian farmers, a local administrator said. At least 4,000 cows have been trampling through farms in Rugombo, a commune in Cibitoke, destroying the livelihood of communities there, the administrative head of the commune, Onesphore Nduwumwami, told IRIN on Tuesday. Explaining the herders' position, Anatole Manirakiza, another administrative official in Cibitoke, told IRIN on Wednesday, "It's a matter of survival for the herders, as well as the cows." The herders are mostly from the Tutsi ethnic group. Those from eastern DRC fled with their livestock during fighting there in 2002 and 2004. The Rwandan Tustsi herders drove their animals across the border into Burundi because of a shortage of grazing land in their country. The Rwandan government only allows zero grazing. Local Burundians are peeved that the milk produced by the cows is sent back over the border to Rwanda. "We warned the pastoralists not to invade our farms," one Burundian farmer told IRIN. "If they do not listen, we may have to take up machetes and cut the cows' legs off." Nduwumwami said the farmers have already poisoned some of the grass that the cattle feed on. The Tutsi herders threaten to retaliate. "They usually carry guns with them," said another farmer whose cassava crop was eaten by the cattle. He said he was only armed with a hoe. Manirakiza said at a meeting he chaired on Monday between the farmers and the herders, that the herders said they "never intended to lead their cows to the crops". To try to resolve the problem, Nduwumwami said he had issued an order for Congolese Tutsi herders to move their cows to public land at the Rukoko Nature Reserve near the Congolese border. Manirakiza said Rwandan Tutsis herders had been moving their cattle away from the areas where they had been destroying crops. He also said herders were being disarmed.