Gov't launches reconstruction plan

Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza has launched a seven-year reconstruction plan in the three provinces most affected by the country's 12-year civil war. The US $32.7 million project aims to re-establish agricultural activities and rebuild infrastructure. Speaking on Tuesday during the launch in the capital, Bujumbura, Nkurunziza said the plan would facilitate communication between the provinces of Bujumbura Rural, Buriri and Ruyigi and other provinces and help restart trading activities. It would also revive communities' subsistence means. At least 370,000 people in the three provinces, including 74,000 described as "most vulnerable", will benefit from the project. The programme is funded by the International Fund for Agriculture and Development (IFAD) under a loan agreement signed in September 2004. Nkurunziza said local communities in the three provinces would also be expected to contribute about $80,000 towards the project. The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is due to contribute $14.6 million, while the Burundian government will provide $1.6 million. The initiative also includes plans to rebuild roads and provide water, Nkurunziza said. Using water from lakes for agricultural activities would help reduce the effect of natural disasters such as drought and famine, he added. Agricultural tools, livestock and fruit seeds will also be distributed to vulnerable farmers and people who lost their livestock during the civil war. Measures to improve governance, environmental protection and fishing will boost the reconstruction efforts. IFAD country Programme Manager Abla Benamouche said the reconstruction plan would be implemented through a "participative approach". Community development committees will be in charge of the planning and execution process as well as the mobilisation of resources. Benamouche called for cooperation and coordination that "takes into account the interests of beneficiaries." According to the loan agreement for the reconstruction plan, women who suffered abuse during the war would benefit from legal aid after the training of legal advisers. Over the course of Burundi's civil war, which intensified following the assassination of the country's first democratically-elected president in 1993, homes and infrastructure - including roads, hospitals, schools, water installations, bridges, public and private buildings - were destroyed. In 2004, Benamouche said reconstruction would pave the way to reconciliation among Burundians. Despite efforts to rebuild, however, the country's remaining rebel movement, Forces nationales de liberation (FNL), is still fighting in provinces such as Bujumbura Rural and Bubanza. FNL leader Agathon Rwasa has offered to hold unconditional peace negotiations with the government. Nkurunziza said on national radio recently that he would send a government team to Tanzania for peace talks with the FNL.