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Attack on a high-school graduation party

Bujumbura - Two people were killed and 45 wounded in a grenade attack on a high-school graduation party in central Burundi, a local official said on Monday.

Attackers hurled the grenade at the revellers at a house in Burundi's central Gitega province late on Sunday, local administrator Josee Gitunati told AFP.

Twelve of the wounded were in a serious condition, he said.

Grenade attacks are common in the small central African country which since 2006 has been emerging from a civil war that erupted in 1993.

The government often blames the country's last active rebels - the National Liberation Forces - for the ambushes.

The conflict, mainly pitting rebels from the Hutu majority population against the Tutsi minority, which then dominated the army, killed some 300 000 people.
Source: News24 SA

Beijing: Presence du Burundi aux Jeux Olympiques!

Deux athlètes et une nageuse vont représenter le Burundi aux jeux Olympiques de Pékin, a-t-on appris jeudi auprès du Comité national olympique (CNO) du Burundi.

Après Atlanta en 1996, Sydney en 2000 et Athènes en 2004, il s'agira de la quatrième participation de ce petit pays d'Afrique centrale à des jeux Olympiques.

"Trois athlètes, un homme et deux femmes, vont représenter le Burundi aux Jeux olympiques de Pékin où ils vont concourir dans les catégories du marathon, du 5000 mètres et de la natation", a annoncé Emmanuel Ntakirutimana, chargé des programmes au sein du CNO du Burundi.

Il s'agit de Joachoin Nshimirimana (marathon), Francine Niyonzima (5000 m) et Elsie Uwamahoro (natation). "Franchement, on ne s'attend pas à gagner des médailles à Pékin. Nous allons là-bas pour apprendre, mais nous espérons que ces trois athlètes vont faire honneur au pays", a concédé M. Ntakirutimana.

Pour sa première participation aux jeux Olympiques, à Atlanta, le Burundi avait créé la surprise en remportant la médaille d'or du 5000 mètres grâce à Vénuste Niyongabo.
Source: Arib.info

Tea earnings up in 2008

BUJUMBURA (Reuters) - Burundi's tea export earnings rose 36 percent in the first half of 2008 compared with the same period last year on good quality, an official said on Friday.

The state-run Tea Board (OTB) said it had earned some $6.8 million from January to June after selling 3,171 tonnes of the crop compared to $5 million last year with 3,686 tonnes sold.

"The main reason for this good performance in terms of earnings is the improvement of the quality of our tea", chief of exports at OTB, Joseph Marc Ndahigeze, told Reuters. He added that the average price per kg rose to $2.15 from $1.36 in 2007.

The board projects tea export earnings to reach $13.5 million in 2008 compared with $9.2 million in 2007 due to upgraded processing machinery.

The OTB estimates output in 2008 at some 8,250 tonnes from 7,073 tonnes produced in the previous season, mainly due to good rains and the distribution of fertilizers to farmers.

Tea is the country's second-largest hard currency earner after coffee and employs some 300,000 smallholder farmers.

Burundi exports 80 percent of its tea to Kenya for sale at a weekly auction held in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa.

(Reporting by Patrick Nduwimana, editing by Jack Kimball)
Source: Reuters Africa

Burundi rebels answer resettlement call in boost for peace hopes

BUJUMBURA - Some 1,300 fighters with Burundi's rebel National Liberation Forces (FNL) have answered their leadership's call to assemble at a resettlement site, giving the African nation's fragile peace process renewed hope, an AFP correspondent said Monday.
Under a deal agreed between the government and the rebels, the FNL rebels are eventually to be integrated into the country's security and defence forces.

"We have gathered 1,300 fighters here at Rugazi today" in northwest Burundi, said FNL spokesman Pasteur Habimana.
Lorries would bring more fighters in until they had reached the agreed figure of 3,000 fighters, he added.
The FNL had until recently only managed to assemble 155 fighters. Rugazi, 35 kilometres (22 miles) north of the capital Bujumbura, is in the provinceof Bubanza, one of the FNL's main strongholds.

"The Palipehutu-FNL has just shown that it wants peace. We call on the army to do the same and return to their barracks," Habimana added. The Palipehutu is the rebels' political branch.
Army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Adolphe Manirakiza declared himself satisfied that the turn-out had relaunched the peace process.
"We hope that is going to continue," he added. If it did, the Burundian government would fulfil its promises, he said.
At the beginning of July, the FNL suspended the process of assembling its fighters, calling for the government to recognise its political wing as a political party.

"The FNL were obliged to make a gesture of goodwill in resuming the gatherings of its fighters under pressure from the international community, which had stopped sending supplies to their fighers," a diplomatic source who told AFP.

"In reality, there has not been any real progress in the talks between the two sides, said the source, who asked not to be identified.

An initial peace deal between FNL and the government was signed in 2006, three years after a civil war claimed 300,000 lives.

The east African country is still emerging, with difficulty, from the conflict that began in 1993, mainly pitting rebels from the Hutu majority population against the Tutsi minority, which then dominated the army.

A power-sharing government was formed in 2001, while clashes were still taking place. South Africa mediated among the different sides until almost all the rebel groups agreed to a ceasefire
Source: MoneyBiz

Rwanda/Tanzania: CECAFA Slaps Fine on Simba

Bonnie Mugabe
Kigali

The Council of East and Central Africa Football Association (CECAFA) has slapped a $350 fine on Tanzania football giants Simba.
According to Cecafa Secretary General Nicholas Musonye, who confirmed the development Times Sport over the weekend, the fine is for indiscipline and use of contradicting numbers by their players in the ongoing Cecafa Club competition in Tanzania.
Musonye said, "I warn all competiting teams and officials of severe punishments that await anybody who violates rules governing the competition."
Three Simba players Ally Mustafa, Amani Simba and Juma Jabu used different numbers in their previous two matches against Tusker and Benadir of Somalia, in violation to Cecafa rules which strictly states that a player will use one number throughout the competition.
Each player was fined $50 while Simba as a club were fined $200 when their fans threw missiles and other objects on the field of play in their 5-0 match against Benadir on Thursday last week.
Source: All Africa

OU EST PASSE ALAIN MUGABARABONA?

Par Gratien Rukindikiza

Burundi news, le 16/07/2008

Alain Mugabarabona est le seul qui est resté en prison du dossier du faux putsch attribué à l'ancien Président Ndayizeye, ancien vice-Président Kadege et autres. Mugabarabona a été oublié par la presse et l'opinion publique et son emprisonnement est devenu gênant pour le pouvoir. Il est difficile de savoir s'il reste en prison pour avoir participé à un faux putsch ou s'il a un autre dossier. Nul ne peut être condamné pour un fait inexistant.

Mugabarabona enlevé ou en fuite?

Il y a plus d'une semaine, Mugabarabona avait reçu une permission d'une semaine. Cette semaine a été prolongée suite à une autre permission. Au moment où il allait se faire soigner, Mugabarabona a disparu et cette disparition a été constatée en premier par son épouse qui ne l'a pas trouvé au lieu indiqué. Plus de trois jours que Mugabarabona ne donne pas signe de vie.

Certains pensent qu'il a été enlevé par des services de renseignement du pouvoir d'autant plus qu'il a des choses à révéler sur le montage de l'affaire du faux putsch. D'autres pensent qu'il a quitté le Burundi. S'il est en fuite, il aurait rassuré sa famille pour qu'elle ne s'inquiète pas. Or, elle n'a aucune information. elle ne sait pas s'il est encore en vie ou pas.

C'est une affaire à suivre et nous demandons à toute personne qui a une information de bien vouloir nous la communiquer.

Sources Burundi free News

Ivya shikiye Kadege....Ancient vice president

Menya neza: Zino video zandagaye kuri Youtube nkuko ubibona, Twazisize ngaha kugira ngo abantu bamenye, nicogutuma tufise liberte d'expression...Ntibisigura ko dusangiye imigambi n'imigabo n'umwazishize kuri internet, ariko ni information abantu bakeneye kumenya niyo mvo yatumwe tuzishira kuri ino blog. (Vugaduhabwe)




Umviriza....



Akabi gatwengwa nk'akeza

Archbishop Ntahoturi asks Germany to stop selling Arms to African Nations

Burundi plea on arms shipments
Monday, 14th July 2008. 3:35pm

By: George Conger.

The Archbishop of Burundi led a delegation from the World Council of Churches (WCC) last week to Berlin, to press the German government to curtail its shipments of weapons to the developing world.
“Does Germany have to be the EU arms sales champion?" Archbishop Bernard Ntahoturi asked State Secretary Christian Schmidt at the Defence Ministry in Berlin on July 1.

Archbishop Ntahoturi told the German government that the civil wars that have claimed the lives of millions of people in the Sudan, Zimbabwe, Somalia and the Congo were made possible by weapons manufactured outside Africa. Money spent on weapons by African governments should be redirected to disease prevention, education and social programmes designed to pull Africa out of its torpor.

Ntahoturi urged Germany to use its influence to end the sale of small arms and munitions to Africa. Schmidt told the delegation that Germany was Europe’s arms sale leader due to its concentration on high end products such as aircraft, submarines and electronics systems for its NATO allies. German law forbids manufacturers to sell arms to areas of conflict, he said.
Source: Religious Intelligence News

Quelques Statistique de la situation au Burundi

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Grand remerciement au site Burundi News pour son excellence...

Why is the CNDD-FDD is afraid of PalipeHutu as a political party?

Recently, I thought of writing an editorial to evaluate the war declared "Finished" by Agathon Rwasa and the governmental forces. I did not publish the editorial, because I realized the war was not over. In fact the editorial tries to demonstrates the fact that the war (which started opposing the two known belligerents in the Burundian conflict has created new belligerents towards its end. Compared to a football match, the match ended with members of the same team scoring against each other instead of playing against the antagonist).
The proof that the war is not over is that Agathon is demanding people in Bujumbura Rural to go back to their former ordeal of sustaining FNL fighters (Click here)...a sign demonstrating that war tendencies are still haunting Burundians.
The name "HUTU" seems to be at the heart of the conflict: CNDD-FDD does not want FNL to keep "HUTU" in the name of the political party that it wants to create. In fact CNDD-FDD argues that it is anti constitutional: May be it is right, but according to me this is a sign of a more deep fear: Mainly that allowing FNL to use HUTU, would prove that CNDD-FDD FAILED to represent the interests of the Hutu people. This is a serious offense against CNDD-FDD because HUTU are the onces that brought it to power in 2005: Failing them means it will have a hard time convincing them in 2010 that CNDD-FDD can, from then on represent their interests. We can face it or pretend: but we are all aware of the character of the Burundian conflict.
Are we stuck? Being a pessimist is what I don't want to be, but it seems that we are, unless a compromise is made. It seems that CNDD-FDD does not like compromise (the example of the Parliament, Hussein Radjab, etc...); it is also in the tradition of FNL not to compromise. We might be heading back to war.
In my opinion, FNL does not need the "H" WORD to convince Burundians about what it stands for, but using "HUTU" would simply show the lack of an inclusive character that a political party must have. But also as grown up negotiators, they know that we are so tired of their endless discussion.
Keza Clem

Burundi reconciation...Pruduction and Realization: Radio Isanganiro

Nkurunziza a l'occasion de la fete de l'independance

Burundaises, Burundais, Amis du Burundi,

1. Nous commençons par rendre grâce à Dieu Tout Puissant qui nous a gardé en vie jusqu’à cet inoubliable grand jour.

2. En effet, le Burundi célèbre aujourd’hui le quarante–sixième anniversaire (46) de son Indépendance, une fête qui rappelle la joie de tous les citoyens lors de cette victoire, lorsque le drapeau du pays a flotté pour la première fois dans le ciel burundais, et que la population a recouvré son droit à l’autodétermination. Cette fête est pour nous tous, je vous souhaite de la passer dans l’allégresse.

3. Cette indépendance, nous l’avons méritée et nous en avions profondément soif. Nos pères et nos aînés ont travaillé dur pour l’arracher, et ils l’ont obtenue parce qu’ils étaient vaillants, et qu’ils aimaient leur mère patrie.

4. L’indépendance, c’est la liberté qu’on acquiert d’organiser la vie nationale, de telle manière que chaque citoyen constate une amélioration au point de vue de la gouvernance, qu’elle soit politique, économique, sécuritaire, sociale, etc.

5. La véritable indépendance, c’est également l’autosuffisance qui caractérise un peuple, à tel enseigne que chacun cultive des convictions à poursuivre un avenir meilleur pour lui, pour sa famille et pour la nation toute entière. C’est Cette disposition à aimer notre pays qui doit donc nous guider dans toutes nos entreprises partout où nos sommes, pour que le pays avance sans cesse sur la voie du développement.

Voilà pourquoi nous avons choisi de célébrer cette fête sous le thème : « Aimons notre pays, c’est la base de l’indépendance véritable. »


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