From Africa Recovery, Vol.14#4 (January 2001), Watch page

BURUNDI
Donors pledge $440 mn

An international donor's conference for Burundi ended on 12 December with pledges of $440 mn for urgent humanitarian, reconstruction and development aid. The Paris gathering was convened by the UN Development Programme and the World Bank at the request of former South African President Nelson Mandela. The conference is part of an effort by the international community to help end a civil war that has taken an estimated 200,000 lives. A peace agreement mediated by Mr. Mandela was signed in Arusha, Tanzania, on 28 August 2000. However, some guerrilla movements from the majority Hutu population have refused to participate and fighting has continued. On 21 December, the UN Security Council condemned the continuing violence and urged the combatants to join the peace process.

African countries imposed sanctions on Burundi in 1996 after a military coup installed the government of General Paul Buyoya, comprised mainly of Tutsi. The sanctions were suspended in 1999 to support peace efforts. International Alert, a UK-based non-governmental organization, has pressed for greater reconstruction and development assistance to support peace-building. In a June 2000 report on access to education in the ethnically-divided country, the group said, "the onus is on the international community" to ensure that aid becomes a "peace dividend in which all Burundians can share."

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