BURUNDI: Homes, schools for returnees inaugurated

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

BUJUMBURA, 21 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza has inaugurated 1,100 homes and two schools financed by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, in two previously war-torn southern provinces of the country.

The schools are in Kirama and Iteba; and of the 1,100 houses 800 are in Nyanza-Lac in Makamba Province, and 300 at Buyengero in the Bururi Province," UNHCR Burundi said on Monday in a statement.

The buildings are for use by returning refugees and displaced persons and were part of reconstruction efforts for communities living under precarious conditions, the agency said. The agency has built 14 schools under this programme. It said 30 more were being built in the 10 provinces hosting the largest number of returnees.

UNHCR said it was also providing building materials to at least 23,000 families to enable them to build homes on their own. Some 15,000 of these families have completed building their homes while homes for the remaining 8,000 families are just awaiting roofing.

In 2005, the UNHCR said it spent nearly US $12 million on reconstruction and rehabilitation. It said it had helped at least 295,000 refugees, mainly from Tanzania, to return home. Another 400,000 Burundian refugees still remain in Tanzania.

Reconstruction and rehabilitation is being stepped up in Burundi following democratic elections in August 2005, with several countries and NGOs resuming cooperation assistance. However, the country's remaining rebel group, the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) of Agathon Rwasa, is still fighting mostly in Bujumbura Rural and Bubanza provinces and could disrupt these efforts.

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