Least Developed Countries account for less than 1 percent of world trade. Credit: Ali Mkumbwa/Unsplash

By Deodat Maharaj
GEBZE, Türkiye, Aug 22 2025 (IPS)

Artificial intelligence and the use of frontier technologies are already transforming trade and boosting prosperity, particularly for developed and some developing countries. This ranges from the digital exchange of documents, the digitalisation of trade processes and leveraging online platforms to fast-track cross-border trade.

The rapid adoption of new technologies will further consolidate the dominance of world trade by developed economies, which currently account for roughly 74 percent of global trade, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The world’s 44 Least Developed Countries (LDCs), with a population of an estimated 1.4 billion people, are seeing a different trajectory altogether. According to the World Trade Organisation, they account for less than 1 percent of the world’s merchandise trade. LDCs continue to reel from the relentless onslaught of bad news, including increased protectionist barriers.

Deodat Maharaj, Managing Director of the United Nations Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries.

UNCTAD has estimated that tariffs on LDCs will have a devastating consequence, possibly leading to an estimated 54 percent reduction in the exports from the world’s poorest countries.

In this dire situation, exacerbated by declining overseas development assistance, what does an LDC do to survive in this difficult trade environment?

To start with, they must continue to advocate globally for fairer terms of trade. At the same time, they need to be more aggressive in addressing matters for which they have control. Otherwise, the status quo will leave their people in a perpetually disadvantageous situation. Imagine paying three times more than your competitors just to ship a single crate of goods across a border. For millions of entrepreneurs in the world’s LDCs, it is the everyday cost of doing business. Technology offers a way out in reducing these high costs.

Indeed, when the international community gathered in Sevilla for the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in July 2025, one truth stood out: Technology is no longer a luxury—it is a prerequisite for effective participation in global trade. The outcome document was clear that for the world’s 44 LDCs, bridging infrastructure gaps, building domestic technological capacity, and leveraging science, technology, and innovation are vital to unlocking trade opportunities.

So, given the challenges and opportunities, what forms the core elements of an action agenda for LDCs to leverage trade to generate jobs and opportunities for their people?

Firstly, there is a need to pivot to digital solutions, which can dramatically reduce trade costs and open new markets. According to the World Bank, paperless customs and single-window systems have been proven to cut clearance times by up to 50 percent, reducing bureaucracy that stifles commerce. In Benin, automating port procedures reduced processing time from 18 days to just three days (World Bank). E-commerce platforms, when paired with secure payment systems and targeted training, have shown remarkable potential.

Secondly, invest in digital infrastructure. The data suggest that LDCs still have a lot of catching up to do. The solution is for development partners and the international financial institutions to steer more resources in this area with a fixed percentage of resources, say, 15 percent of a country’s portfolio dedicated to boosting digital infrastructure.

Thirdly, focus on value addition and reduce transition away from the export of raw commodities. This in turn requires the human resource capacity to spur innovation and creativity. Boosting investment in research and development can pay rich dividends.

According to the World Economic Forum, LDCs invest less than 1 percent of GDP in research and development compared to developed countries. The Republic of Korea invests 4%.

Finally, for LDCs to enter the technological age, their businesses must lead the way. It is difficult to do so in some countries like Burundi, where internet penetration is a mere 5 percent of the population. The average internet penetration is around 38 percent. So, in addition to digital infrastructure, support must be provided to micro-, small and medium-scale enterprises to benefit from the opportunities provided by technology to boost trade, thereby creating jobs and opportunities. This includes the establishment of incubators to support this business sector, boosting their technological capacities to trade and profile their businesses on digital platforms, and helping them to deliver services created by the digital economy. Rwanda has been a pioneer in this regard.

Of course, technology alone will not address all the challenges faced by LDCs. However, by delivering cost-efficient solutions, it can help level the playing field and drive transformation. It is time for the international community and development partners to back their words with action in helping LDCs advance this agenda. Since LDCs represent an emerging market of 1.4 billion people, when they rise, everyone else will rise with them.

Deodat Maharaj, a national of Trinidad and Tobago is the Managing Director of the United Nations Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries and can be reached at: deodat.maharaj@un.org

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Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT (ABC) are using artificial intelligence to help eradicate Banana Bunchy Top Disease (BBTD). The disease threatens the livelihoods of farmers and impacts food security. Credit: Aimable Twahirwa/IPS

By Aimable Twahirwa
KIGALI, Aug 5 2022 (IPS)

A group of scientists involved in finding solutions to minimize the impact of a devastating banana virus in Burundi have developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool for monitoring the disease.

United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) research shows that the Banana Bunchy Top Disease (BBTD), caused by the Banana Bunchy Top Virus (BBTV), is endemic in many banana-producing countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

The virus was first reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the 1950s and has become invasive and spread into 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

The disease has been reported in Angola, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, DRC, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, and Zambia. The latest findings, however, show that BBTD is currently a major threat to banana cultivation and a threat to over 100 million people for whom the banana is a staple food.

The AI development team, led jointly by Dr Guy Blomme and his colleague Dr Michael Gomez Selvaraj from the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT (ABC), tested the detection of banana plants and their major diseases through aerial images and machine learning methods.

This project aimed to develop an AI-based banana disease and pest detection system using a Deep Convolutional Neural Network (DCNN) to support banana farmers.

A graphic shows the impact of Banana Bunchy Top Disease (BBTD). Credit: Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT (ABC)

While farmers struggle to defend their crops from pests, scientists from ABC have created an easy-to-use tool to detect banana pests and diseases.

The tool, which has proven to provide a 90 percent success in detection in some countries, such as the DRC and Uganda, is an important step towards creating a satellite-powered, globally connected network to control disease and pest outbreaks, say the researchers.

During the testing phase, in collaboration with a team from the national agricultural research organization of Burundi – ISABU, two sites where the banana bunchy top disease is endemic in Cibitoke Province were compared with an area free of the disease in Gitega Province (Central).

Cibitoke Province is BBTD endemic and lies in a frontier zone bordering Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Performance and validation metrics were also computed to measure the accuracy of different models in automated disease detection methods by applying state-of-the-art deep learning techniques to detect visible banana disease and pest symptoms on different parts of the plant.

Researchers set out the reasons detecting disease in bananas is so vital.

“In East and Central Africa, it is a substantial dietary component, accounting for over 50% of daily total food intake in parts of Uganda and Rwanda.”

Bananas are also the dominant crop in Burundi. The surface area under cultivation is estimated at 200,000 to 300,000 ha, representing 20 to 30% of the agricultural land.

Data from Burundi’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock indicate food security and nutrition continue to worsen, with 21 percent of the population food insecure. They say this could be exacerbated by various plant diseases such as BBTD.

While banana is crucial to people’s food security and livelihoods, experts also argue that BBTD could potentially have a devastating economic and social impact on the continent.

“Based on the fact that when BBTD comes in, it is initially a very cryptic disease and does not display spectacular symptoms,” Bonaventure Omondi, a CGIAR researcher who collaborated on this project and who works on related banana diseases and seed systems projects, told IPS in an interview. While it was crucial to stop the disease early, it was also challenging, which is why the AI solution was vital.

Agriculture experts say that the East African Highlands is the zone of secondary diversity of a type of bananas called the AAA-EA types. These bananas are genetically close to the dessert banana types but have been selected for use as beer, cooking, and dessert bananas.

Banana cultivation in Burundi is grouped into three different categories. Banana for beer/wine in which juice is extracted and fermented accounts for around 77 percent of the national production by volume. Fourteen percent of bananas are grown for cooking, and finally, about five percent are dessert bananas which are ripened and directly consumed.

With recent advances in machine learning, researchers were convinced that new disease diagnosis based on automated image recognition was technically feasible.

“Minimizing the effects of disease threats and keeping a matrix mixed landscaped of banana and non-banana canopy is a key step in managing a large number of diseases and pests,” Omondi said.

As an example of how this emerging technology works, researchers focus on data sets depicted on banana crops with disease symptoms and established algorithms to help identify plantations where the disease is present.

Prosper Ntirampeba, a banana grower from Cibitoke Province in north-western Burundi, told IPS that he harvested fewer bunches of bananas in the latest season because of BBTD that spread through his farmlands.

“We have been forced to uproot infected plants since this disease reached our main production area. This resulted in a huge extra cost burden,” he said.

In another case, with the detection of BBTD, agricultural officials under instruction from researchers advised farmers to remove all infected ‘mats’ where several hectares of diseased plants had been destroyed. This is the key to eliminating the disease in Busoni, a remote rural village in Northern Burundi.

Although some farmers often resist uprooting their banana plants, Ntirampeba said it was vital to eliminating the disease.

“The disease is likely threatening livelihoods of most farmers who are dependent on the crop,” he told IPS.

Currently, other novel disease surveillance methods are also being developed by ABC researchers in Burundi, including drone-based surveillance to determine local disease risk and delimit recovery areas.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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Fatou Bensouda, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is also a Gambian national. Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elias.

By Lindah Mogeni
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 8 2016 (IPS)

The International Criminal Court (ICC) may have had a small reprieve this week from a string of African withdrawals, with Gambia’s newly elected President Adama Barrow telling various media outlets that there is no need for Gambia to leave the court.

Gambia, alongside Burundi and South Africa, was one of three African countries to announce it’s withdrawal from the ICC this year, with Namibia and Kenya rumoured to be close in heel.

Gambia’s questionable human rights record during outgoing President Yahya Jammeh’s twenty two year rule – may have put the West African country on the court’s radar. However under Jammeh’s leadership Gambia argued the reason for the withdrawal was that the ICC was institutionally prejudiced against people of colour, especially Africans. The withdrawal also followed Gambia’s repeated unsuccessful appeals for the Court to hold the European Union accountable for the deaths of thousands of African migrants who tried to cross over to its shores.

However, President-elect Barrow has praised the ICC for advocating good governance – which he intends for Gambia.

Addressing the UN General Assembly in September, Burundi’s Foreign Minister, Alain Nyamitwe, claimed that there are “politically motivated reasons which have pushed the ICC to act on African cases.”

Significantly, the ICC had announced its plan, in April, to launch an investigation into several human rights violations surrounding the upcoming elections and President Pierre Nkurunziza’s unconstitutional claim to remain in power for another term in Burundi.

South Africa’s notice of withdrawal from the ICC was considered a particular blow to the Court, since South Africa was one of the court’s founding members and among its strongest supporters.

The withdrawal came after South Africa failed to arrest Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir, who had been indicted by the ICC, when he visited South Africa to attend the 2015 African Union (AU) Summit. As a result, the ICC accused South Africa of not complying with cooperation procedures – which seemingly fractured their relationship.

UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, told the UN Security Council that the ICC departures could “send a wrong message on these countries’ commitment to justice.”

Some members of the AU have been calling for an exodus from the ICC since tensions with the Court first began in 2009 after the ICC issued an arrest warrant for President Omar Al-Bashir.

However, there is no consensus in the AU to leave the ICC. Several African countries, including Zambia, Botswana, Tanzania, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Nigeria have opposed withdrawal from the Court.

The perception that the ICC is biased towards Africa has intensified over the past few years.

The UN’s establishment of temporary tribunals in the 1990s for war crimes in Rwanda and Yugoslavia acted as roadmaps for the launch of the ICC in July 2002.

The Court’s primary objective was to serve as a permanent international tribunal tasked with conducting investigations and prosecuting perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Africa represents the largest regional grouping of countries that are parties to the ICC, with 34 African nations having ratified the treaty, the Rome Statute, which established the court.

Since the court’s formation 14 years ago, 9 out of 10 of its active cases have been against nationals of African countries.

These include, Central African Republic, Mali, Ivory Coast, Libya, Kenya, Sudan (Darfur), Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is the main reason why the ICC is accused of selective justice.

There are three ways through which a case can be brought forth to the ICC. The first is via submissions by individual governments of the countries concerned, as was the case with Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic. The second is via self-initiated interventions by the ICC Chief Prosecutor, as was the case with Kenya and Ivory Coast. The third is via a UN Security Council referral, as was the case with Sudan and Libya – both of which are not parties to the ICC.

Evidently, the ICC has self-intervened in only two African cases. The other African cases have all come to the ICC through referrals by the countries themselves or by the UN Security Council.

Regardless of the fact that there have been cases before the ICC that were self-referred by the relevant African countries themselves, “a concern persists that the ICC appears to be targeting Africa in pursuit of political expediency,” said South Africa’s Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng in a speech addressing the Africa Legal Aid Conference (AFLA) in 2014.

“The reality is that gross human rights violations have taken place and continue to take place beyond the borders of Africa and yet, so say the critics of the ICC, there does not seem to be as much enthusiasm to deal with those atrocities as is the case with those committed in the African continent” said Mogoeng.

ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, a Gambian national, said, “with due respect, what offends me most when I hear criticisms about the so-called African bias is how quick we are to focus on the words and propaganda of a few powerful, influential individuals and to forget about the millions of anonymous people that suffer from these crimes,” said at an ICC Open Forum in 2012.

The greatest affront to victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity is to “see those powerful individuals responsible for their sufferings trying to portray themselves as the victims of a ‘pro‐Western’, ‘anti‐African’ Court…the ICC was established as a shield for the powerless not a club for the powerful,” said Bensouda.

Universality and equality before the law is one of the core ideals of the ICC. However, 3 permanent members of the UN Security Council- United States, Russia and China – are not state parties to the ICC. This has fuelled the perception that the ICC is not impartial and is essentially a ‘third world court’.

In January this year, ICC Prosecutor Bensouda opened the court’s first formal investigation outside Africa, into Georgia, for war crimes committed during the 2008 Georgia-Russia war.

Currently the ICC is examining a situation in Gabon, referred to the court by the government of Gabon, as well as situations outside Africa – including Colombia, Palestine, Afghanistan, alleged war crimes by British soldiers in Iraq and by Ukrainian separatist and Russian forces in Ukraine.

“Pulling out of the ICC is not the solution, we should be working towards fixing the court,” said Botswana’s Foreign Minister Pelomoni Venson-Moitoi.

Burundi refugees at the transit centre of Busegera in Rwanda. Credit: EU/ECHO/Thomas Conan

By Kitty Stapp
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 4 2015 (IPS)

As the U.N. Security Council met to discuss the ongoing political crisis in Burundi Thursday, a rights group says violence has intensified in the capital Bujumbura, with individuals and groups close to the presidency and the ruling party targeting civil society activists, journalists and opposition members.

Presidential and parliamentary elections were postponed this week after almost daily protests in the capital since April over President Pierre Nkurunziza’s bid for a third term in office.

On June 2, U.N. Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told reporters that the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Great Lakes, Said Djinnit, had returned to the capital after attending the East African Community Summit on Sunday. But diplomatic efforts have so far failed to resolve the standoff.

Since early April, nearly 100,000 Burundians have fled their country, according to U.N. estimates, including many staff from independent media organisations. Meanwhile, those who stayed say they fear for their security if they continue to do their jobs.

“They want to break the journalists’ morale. There is harassment, phone calls, threats, blacklists,” Innocent Muhozi, the head of the Burundian Press Observatory, told the Guardian. “Some have gone into exile, others are in hiding.”

According to another media analyst and blogger in Bujumbura, “As an activist active on social media, I cannot sleep at my house any more, I cannot even stay there anymore. If I continue to work the way I did before, I risk death…The Imbonerakure have weapons and their verbal assaults spread terror.

“They say, for example: if you don’t vote for the party, we will slit your throats. They sometimes wear police uniforms, sometimes the t-shirts of the ruling party. I was personally assaulted three times. The first time, I was verbally assaulted, along with my team, by Imbonerakure bearing sticks and clubs. The second time, they broke my equipment. The third time, in the city center, a police officer hit me twice and told me: ‘If you don’t leave the area, I will shoot you down.’”

A journalist working for a radio station burned down after the coup attempt says, “The slogan of the Imbonerakure, which has even became a song, is ‘we are going to wring you out’ [tuzobamesa]. When they sing this song, they most often burst a balloon with a needle, to imitate the noise of a gun. They call the people who do not follow their group ‘Ivyitso’, literally ‘the enemies’, ‘those who are against us.’”

According to Cléa Kahn-Sriber, head of the Africa Desk, Reporters Without Borders, “A war of information is being played out in Burundi. Reporters without Borders calls on the Burundian authorities to provide credible guarantees for the protection of journalists and the reopening of what remains of private media.

“Returning to free and pluralist information is essential to avoid disinformation and de-escalate rumors which only fuel conflict. Legitimate elections wouldn’t be conceivable unless media outlets can work without restriction and journalists can report and inform the population freely.”

Calling for stepped up efforts by the U.N. and others, Thierry Vircoulon, project director for Central Africa at International Crisis Group, said, “The international community has invested so much in negotiating and implementing the Arusha agreement. If Burundi returns to conflict, it will be a terrible blow for the region but also for the credibility of all peacebuilding processes in the world.

“It will send the message that peacebuilding is just a waste of time and money.”

Edited by Kanya D’Almeida

A UN officer receiving Burundian refugees in Tanzania. Credit: UN photo

By Lisa Vives
NEW YORK, May 20 2015 (IPS)

Burundi’s President Pierre Nkuruziza, who narrowly avoided his removal from office by a citizen-backed military coup, has turned against the media that closely reported the day to day protests.

Nkuruziza was out of the country in Tanzania at a meeting of East African leaders when he learned that hundreds of Burundians were cheering his overthrow and thousands were fleeing into exile. Upon his return he quickly regrouped, dismissing the defence and foreign ministers and attacking news outlets.

A press release from the Committee to Protect Journalists recapped: “In recent days, at least five radio stations were attacked during violence over an attempted coup in the capital, Bujumbura, and threats were made against a newspaper which caused it to stop publishing, according to reports.”

“We call on the authorities and the citizens of Burundi to respect the role of journalists and the media during these uncertain times, when a consistent flow of information is vital,” said Sue Valentine, CPJ Africa Program Coordinator. “Attacking news outlets is never a solution, especially when citizens need to know what is happening around them and those in power should be listening to what their people are saying.”

Last Thursday, unidentified individuals fired grenades into the compounds of privately owned stations Bonesha FM, Renaissance Radio and Television, Radio Isanganiro, and the privately owned Burundian station African Public Radio, according to reports. Another report on Thursday said that the offices of African Public Radio had been burned down, with a report saying that it had been hit by a rocket. None of the stations are currently operating.

In Burundi, where Internet penetration was only 1.3 per cent in 2013 according to the International Telecommunications Union, radio is the primary source of news.

Meanwhile, elections are going forward next month despite an outcry from citizens that the president was seeking a third term in office in violation of the constitution.

Requests that the elections be postponed were most recently received from Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. Previous requests came from the Burundi’s Catholic hierarchy and the U.S. State Department, among others.

President Nkuruziza, a former rebel leader from the Hutu majority, in his first public address, thanked loyalist forces for crushing the attempted coup. He warned demonstrators to end weeks of protests against his bid for a third consecutive term in office.

Nkuruziza, who uses Twitter, then sent the following tweet: “I ask all Burundians to keep calm. The situation is under control.”

Edited by Kitty Stapp

The days of African presidents rewriting the constitution to crown themselves Presidents for Life may be coming to a close but Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza appears to have missed the signs of this historical shift.

Opposition to his tone-deaf overreach for an unconstitutional third term now includes religious leaders, members of his party, members of the military and a wide swathe of the population.

Even a finger-wagging message from the U.S. was studiously ignored.

Now, street protests have turned deadly as the president’s remaining loyalists turned their guns on unarmed civilians marching with hands up in the iconic “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” of the Black Lives Matter movement.

“Whatever happens in Burundi, this development sends a strong message to other African presidents who may be tempted to cling to power against the will of the people,” said Maud Jullien, a reporter for the BBC in the Burundi capital of Bujumbura.

Recent images of Burundians carried on television, showed crowds of cheering people marching through the streets and chanting “No to a Third Term”. One young man stopped to tell a reporter: “It’s the people’s victory. We fought and were shot at. We didn’t eat but in the end, victory is ours.”

As in Burkina Faso, which recently sent its president packing, military leaders in Burundi have moved into the vacuum left by Nkurunziza who was outside of the country at a meeting of East African leaders in Tanzania when the coup was announced. His whereabouts are currently unknown.

Maj Gen Godefroid Niyombare, a former intelligence chief and ally of the president who was dismissed in February, took the helm and announced that since the president had lost support of the people as well as of “many high-ranking army and police officials”, the airport would be shut down, effectively cutting off Nkrunuziza’s path to return home.

“We don’t think Burundi should be allowed to go to war again,” declared South African President Jacob Zuma after a meeting with Namibian President Hage Geingob. “People must stop the escalation of the violence that is taking place there.”

Zuma said the violence was particularly regrettable since Burundi has enjoyed a decade of peace after a bitter civil war had been hard won.

Rwandese President Paul Kagame also weighed in. “If your own citizens tell you we don’t want you to lead us, how do you say I am staying whether you want me or not?”

Curiously, Burundi is among the top five African countries receiving U.S. military training. Of the five – Nigeria, Uganda, Ghana, Rwanda and Burundi – three are now led by U.S.-trained soldiers, noted Wall Street Journal correspondent Drew Hinshaw.

Sean McFate, who trained soldiers in Burundi and Liberia from the U.S. security company DynCorp, warned: “If the most capable institution is the military, in a crisis, that is what the country is going to lean on, whether that is the appropriate tool or not.”

This partially explains why African leaders initially opposed the siting of the U.S. Africa Command on the African continent.

Although President Barack Obama cautioned in a speech in Ghana that Africa needed strong institutions, not strongmen, his administration has seen the great part of U.S. funds earmarked for training soldiers, not building health ministries or electoral commissions.

Speaking from Tanzania, in one of his last televised addresses, Nkrunuziza said he saw no problems in holding national elections scheduled for Jun. 26. The country’s Catholic bishops feel otherwise.

“Instead of sticking to this path of confrontation which mostly leads to loss of lives, our leaders and all other protagonists should embrace dialogue and consultation,” said Bishop Gervais Banshimiyubusa, head of the Conference of Catholic Bishops in Burundi.

Catholics make up roughly two-thirds of Burundi’s seven million population and yield significant political influence.

Edited by Kitty Stapp

Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza, overriding objections to an ill-advised third term, now faces a growing popular movement to oust him after his term ends this coming June.

On Sunday, thousands of angry Burundians filled the streets in the capital, Bujumbura, to protest a manouevre by the ruling party to put Nkurunziza back in office for one more term of five years. The constitution allows just two terms, back to back.

News reporters at the scene said the protestors were attacked by police who fired tear gas and water cannons. Nine people were reported killed on Sunday in the melee.

Nkurunziza came to power in 2005, when a 12-year-long civil war officially ended. Presidential elections are scheduled for Jun. 26.

In an effort to control the widely disseminated images of tear gassed protestors and other abuses, the Nkurunziza government banned demonstrations, deployed the army and shut down the main independent radio station, saying it was disrupting the peace.

A prominent human rights activist, Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, was arrested and reportedly brutalised during a police raid at the headquarters of a media association.

Another activist, Vital Nshimirimana, head of an NGO forum and leader of the campaign to block a third presidential term, is reportedly being sought by police.

The ruling party is attempting to use a loophole, saying the president’s installation in 2005 came about through a vote by parliament to lead a transitional government and not by popular vote.

Those who oppose Nkurunziza running for a third term include members of his own party, lawmakers, the clergy, student groups and civil society. Washington has also expressed its displeasure, saying that with the decision to allow an additional term, the country was “losing an historic opportunity to strengthen its democracy by establishing a tradition of peaceful democratic transition.”

Many Burundians are still traumatised by an armed conflict that lasted from 1993 to 2005 in which over 300,000 people died. The conflict was between the minority Tutsi-dominated army and mainly Hutu rebel groups, such as Nkurunziza’s CNDD-FDD.

With memories of that conflict still fresh, more than 10,000 Burundians have fled to neighbouring Rwanda, citing pressure to support Nkurunziza’s party. The ruling party’s youth wing, known as Imbonerakure, is also striking fear in the population, according to the U.N. refugee agency.

Not all leaders who refuse to relinquish power are successful, however. A similar bid by the president of Burkina Faso was defeated in a recent popular uprising that sent the disgraced leader into exile.

Edited by Kitty Stapp

By David Kode
JOHANNESBURG, Apr 24 2015 (IPS)

Pierre Claver Mbonimpa is not permitted to get close to an airport, train station or port without authorisation from a judge.  He cannot travel outside of the capital of his native Burundi, Bujumbura. Whenever called upon, he must present himself before judicial authorities.

These are some of the onerous restrictions underlying the bail conditions of one of Burundi’s most prominent human rights activists since he was provisionally released on medical grounds in September last year, after spending more than four months in prison for his human rights work.

David Kode

Mbonimpa was arrested and detained on May 15, 2014, and charged with endangering state security and inciting public disobedience. The charges stemmed from views he expressed during an interview with an independent radio station, Radio Public Africaine, in which he stated that members of the Imbonerakure, the youth wing of the ruling CNDD-FDD party, were being armed and sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo for military training.

The arrest and detention of Pierre Claver is symptomatic of a pattern of repression and intimidation of human rights defenders, journalists, dissenters and members of the political opposition in Burundi as it heads towards its much anticipated elections in May and June 2015.

The forthcoming polls will be the third democratic elections organised since the end of the brutal civil war in 2005.  The antagonism of the CNDD-FDD government and its crackdown on civil society and members of opposition formations has increased, particularly as the incumbent, President Pierre Nkurunziza, silences critics and opponents in his bid to run for a third term even after the National Assembly rejected his proposals to extend his term in office.“The international community and Burundi’s donors cannot afford to stand by idly and witness a distortion of the decade-long relative peace that Burundi has enjoyed, which represents the most peaceful decade since independence from Belgium in 1962”

Tensions continue to mount ahead of the polls and even though the president has not publicly stated that he will contest the next elections, the actions of his government and the ruling party clearly suggest he will run for another term.  Members of his party argue that he has technically run the country for one term only as he was not “elected” by the people when he took to power in 2005.

Civil society organisations and religious leaders recently pointed out that Constitution and the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement – which brought an end to the civil war – clearly limit presidential terms to two years.

As the 2015 polls draw closer, state repression has increased, some political parties have been suspended and their members arrested and jailed. The Imbonerakure has embarked on campaigns to intimidate, physically assault and threaten members of the opposition with impunity. They have prevented some political gatherings from taking place under the pretext that they are guaranteeing security at the local level.

Civil society organisations and rival political movements have on several occasions been denied the right to hold public meetings and assemblies, while journalists and activists have been arrested and held under fictitious charges in an attempt to silence them and force them to resort to self-censorship.

Legislation has been used to stifle freedom of expression and restrict the activities of journalists and the independent media.  In June 2013, the government passed a new law which forces journalists to reveal their sources.

The law provides wide-ranging powers to the authorities and sets requirements for journalists to attain certain levels of education and professional expertise, limits issues journalists can cover and imposes fines on those who violate this law.  It prohibits the publication of news items on security issues, defence, public safety and the economy.

The law has been used to target media agencies and journalists, including prominent journalist Bob Rugurika, director of Radio Public Africaine.

The government does not see any major difference between opposition political parties and human rights activists and journalists and has often accused civil society and the media of being mouth pieces for the political opposition, describing them as “enemies of the state”.

In the lead-up to the last elections in 2010, most of the opposition parties decided to boycott the elections and the ruling party won almost unopposed. However, the post-elections period was characterised by political violence and conflict.

Ideally, the upcoming elections could present the perfect opportunity to “jump start” Burundi’s democracy.  For this to happen, the media and civil society need to operate without fear or intimidation from state and non-state actors.  On the contrary, state repression is bound to trigger a violent response from some of the opposition parties and ignite violence similar to that which happened in 2010.

The international community and Burundi’s donors cannot afford to stand by idly and witness a distortion of the decade-long relative peace that Burundi has enjoyed, which represents the most peaceful decade since independence from Belgium in 1962.

It is increasingly clear that the people of Burundi need the support of the international community at this critical juncture. The African Union (AU), with its public commitment to democracy and good governance, must act now by putting pressure on the government of Burundi to respect its democratic ideals to prevent more abuses and further restrictions on fundamental freedoms ahead of the elections.

The African Union should demand that the government stops extra-judicial killings and conducts independent investigations into members of the security forces and Imbonerakure who have committed human rights violations and hold them accountable.

Further, Burundi’s close development partners, particularly Belgium, France and the Netherlands, should condemn the attacks on civil liberties and urge the government to instil an enabling environment in which a free and fair political process can take place while journalists and civil society activists can perform their responsibilities without fear.  (END/IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE)

Edited by Phil Harris    

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, IPS – Inter Press Service. 

Excerpt:

The Burundi National Police is composed of 2.9 percent women. Despite a 30 percent quota for women’s representation in parliament, there is still a long way to go to fill the gap in government institutions where women represent only an average of 20.15 percent. Courtesy: Bernard Bankukira

By Bernard Bankukira
BUJUMBURA, Jul 5 2014 (IPS)

As Burundi heads towards the 2015 general elections, and despite a quota of 30 percent women’s representation in parliament, women in this southeast African nation feel that they are yet to have a significant say in the management of their country.

Bernardine Sindakira, the chairwoman of Synergy of Partners for the Promotion of Women’s Rights (SPPDF), a Burundian coalition of women’s rights organisations, tells IPS that the country’s very traditional culture still considers women as “homemakers” as women are educated to play this role from young. “A hen doesn’t crow when the rooster is there,” says a Burundian proverb."We’ve got so many woman engineers at building sites, doctors, heads of organisations, business women, security women, and so many others." -- Marceline Bararufise, Burundian Member of Parliament

“This has long kept her in the position of being unable to [ensure] her empowerment and have the place she deserves in the country’s management,” says Sindakira.

This country is still recovering from a 12-year ethnic-based civil war after the 1993 assassination of the country’s first democratically-elected president, Melchior Ndadaye. Almost 300,000 people died in the Hutu-Tutsi violence and the conflict “had a very negative impact on women and young girls who experienced rape and other forms of sexual violence,” according to a 2011 Global Network of Women Peacebuilders report.

According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, after the 2010 elections women in Burundi held 34 out of 106 seats in the lower house, about 32.1 percent, “as well as a significant rise in the upper house to 46.3 percent, due to a considerable degree to its quota system.“

But according to a 2011 report by the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders “the law does not specify the quota for women in other decision-making bodies. Thus in the top three offices i.e. President, First Vice President and Second Vice President, there are no women.”

SPPDF figures show that although the 30 percent quota is almost fully respected in elective agencies like parliament and local administration, there is still a long way to go to fill the gap in government institutions where women represent only an average of 20.15 percent.

In security services, women’s representation remains the lowest.

• The 2012 official records of the Burundi National Defence Force show that women represent just 0.5 percent of the force — 148 woman soldiers of the total 25,000.
• The Burundi National Police comprises 2.9 percent women.

Marceline Bararufise, a Member of Parliament (MP), head of the Parliamentary Education Sub-committee, and head of the Association of Parliamentarian Women in Burundi, told IPS that there is proof that women can perform better than men when it comes to public service delivery.

A 2012/2013 national survey conducted to assess the public service delivery at the district level, revealed that the district which came in first place for service delivery was a northern district headed by a woman. Many other districts headed by women were among the most successful, Bararufise said.

As SPPDF has launched a nationwide campaign for increasing women’s representation in the overall management of the country, Sindakira regrets that the law itself still discriminates against women.

“For example, we have been fighting for a parliamentary review of the matrimonial law so as to enable women to benefit from [inheritance], but the current situation is that we are even banned to raise the issue. This hampers all women’s efforts to stand for their rights,” Sindakira said. Here, women are not allowed to inherit and property passes from father to male heir.

She also regretted that so many women still consider that a review of the matrimonial law would be a breach of culture.

“Having educated women implies that the culture has also changed and thus no reason for the dark cultural practices to keep the Burundian woman behind,” said Sindakira.

Bararufise, who served as a governor before becoming an MP, points out though that Burundian woman have made significant steps towards self-empowerment.

“Now, apart from these political positions enshrined within the constitution, we’ve got so many woman engineers at building sites, doctors, heads of organisations, business women, security women, and so many others. This is to show that a woman of 20 years back is totally different from women now,” she told IPS.

She said that while she understood that Burundian culture was among several factors impeding women’s emancipation, it was important to note that women’s empowerment did not mean standing completely against culture as there remain some positive aspects of Burundian culture that need to be preserved.

“The only thing is that both men and women must understand that the sustainability of their family is the duty of both of them [and comes] with equal responsibility,” she said.

Bararufise regretted that Burundian women in leadership positions were disrespected by their male counterparts. “In some situations, women in positions of leadership find it difficult to command respect from men.”

She also acknowledged that a lot still needed to be done to evolve and change these current attitudes. “We want men to understand that women are able and have rights to contend for higher positions, instead of staying home.”

Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, the chairman of the Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detained Persons (APRODH) was taken into custody on May 15 for speaking publicly about the paramilitary training of the ruling party’s youth wing. Courtesy: Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detained Persons (APRODH)

By Bernard Bankukira
BUJUMBURA, May 27 2014 (IPS)

Burundi could be heading for political violence ahead of the 2015 elections amid allegations that the ruling National Council for the Defence of Democracy-Forces for Defence of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) has been arming its youth wing.

Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, the chairman of the civil society organisation Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detained Persons, known by its French acronym, APRODH, was taken into custody on May 15 for speaking publicly about the issue. Since his arrest, Mbonimpa appeared to court three times. During his last appearance on May 23 he was denied bail. Civil society groups in this tiny Central African nation tried in vain over the weekend to negotiate his release.

Mbonimpa, who was allegedly in possession of pictures supporting this claim, has repeatedly denounced the paramilitary training of CNDD-FDD’s youth wing, Imbonerakure, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Mbonimpa alleged that the training was conducted by senior police and army officers. “The attitude of [the government] in attacking civil society and the opposition, muzzling the media, and trying to silence everyone ... will lead only to a catastrophe." -- Agathon Rwasa, leader of the main opposition National Liberation Forces

Léonce Ngendakumana, the leader of the opposition Alliance of Democrats for Change (ADC-Ikibiri), a coalition of 11 major opposition parties, said that arms were being distributed in order to spread terror among the electorate and force them to vote for the ruling party.

Ngendakumana concurred with the claims by activists that Mbonimpa’s arrest was an attempt to prevent him from speaking out about the arming and militarised training.

“The chairman of APRODH was arrested because he had courageously pointed a finger at the terrorism-oriented behaviour of the Imbonerakure militia,” Ngendakumana told IPS.

Mbonimpa was charged with making false claims likely to harm relationships between Burundi and neighbouring DRC, and for undermining state security. He denied the charges.

“He has been arrested in this regard in a bid to push him to give up inquiring and delivering all the information he has,” Ngendakumana said. He pleaded for a commission of inquiry into the allegations.

However, the Burundi government has turned a deaf ear to the requests from various organisations, including the United Nations Office in Bujumbura, for an investigation into the matter.

In April a confidential correspondence from Parfait Onanga Anyanga, the U.N. secretary-general representative in Bujumbura, to the secretary-general of the U.N., alleged that army and police uniforms and weapons were being distributed to the CNDD-FDD-affiliated youth wing. Two high-ranking army officers were alleged to have been involved.

The Burundi government refuted the allegations, claiming it was an attempt by the U.N. office to divide the Burundian people.

Paul Debbie, the security councillor of the U.N. Office in Burundi, was given 48 hours to leave the country by the government.

“Those who give these reports, which are only rumours, are the ones who have to carry out such investigations,” the government said in a statement.

Agathon Rwasa, leader of the main opposition National Liberation Forces and a presidential candidate, urged the international community to monitor the upcoming elections. He told IPS that he feared if the CNDD-FDD continued to arm Imbonerakure, the situation would eventually become catastrophic. Burundi is recovering from a 13-year civil war that resulted in 300,000 deaths and which only ended in 2006. The last armed group only formally laid down its weapons in April 2009.

“The attitude of [the government] in attacking civil society and the opposition, muzzling the media, and trying to silence everyone [reporting on] their evils will lead only to a catastrophe,” Rwasa told IPS.

“If the government fails to find a solution to what’s said about [CNDD-FDD]-affiliated youth, what would happen in Burundi if all other political parties gave their youth military training and provided them with weapons?”

Rwasa said that the ruling party was seeking to become a dictatorship.

He called on the government to promote dialogue with all key players to ensure a peaceful environment that would ensure fair elections.

Léonidas Ntahimpera, a political analyst from Bujumbura, told IPS that the ruling party had no reasonable explanation for the military training of its youth.

“Instead of explaining this suspicious venture, the government just opts to shut up any disturbing voice,” said Ntahimpera, referring to Mbonimpa’s arrest.

He said that the current socio-political situation was just a prelude to an situation of fear ahead of the 2015 elections.

“The tense situation observed for the time leads to threats of electoral violence as it happened in Kenya in 2007 and in Côte d’Ivoire in 2012 where election exercises were marred by violence,“ said Ntahimpera.

Ntahimpera urged the government to promote transparency and political tolerance and acceptance before, during and after the elections.

“Imagine there are candidates who are prohibited from running their campaigns for their own security, or [parties] where their members are intimidated in their activities. How can they believe in the outcomes of the elections?”

Pacifique Nininahazwe, the chairperson of the Forum for Conscience and Development, a civil organisation in Bujumbura, told media here that imprisonment was being used as a weapon of intimidation and harassment against human rights activists, journalists, and whoever expressed views that conflicted with those of the ruling party.

He said he failed to understand why the government was unwilling to investigate the allegations.

Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta says that the aim of the single tourist visa is to market the gorillas of Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi and the wildlife of Kenya and Tanzania as a package. Credit: Hjalmar Gislason/CC By 2.0

By Taylor Toeka Kakala
GOMA, DR Congo, Nov 4 2013 (IPS)

As the majority of East African Community countries signed an agreement paving the way for a single tourist visa in the region from 2014, some believe that Tanzania’s hesitance to agree to this integration is largely due to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

The EAC comprises Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania. But on Aug. 2 only Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda signed an agreement, which introduces a single visa that can be obtained at any entry point effective from January 2014.

“The visa will cost 100 dollars [for non-citizens of the three signatory countries] for up to 90 days. The country of entry will collect the fee,” Peter Okota, an immigration officer in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, told IPS. Each country will receive 30 dollars from this fee, while the remaining 10 dollars will go towards technical operations.

Currently, a tourist who visits the five EAC countries has to spend 250 to 300 dollars on visa fees, with only Kenya allowing re-entry on the initial visa after a visit to another EAC country.

But Rwanda and Uganda have been accused of supporting the M23 rebels and according to Godefroid Ka-Mana, president of the Great Lakes Pole Institute based in Goma in eastern DRC, “Tanzania’s participation in the new [United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the DRC] brigade against the M23 rebels is for a reason.”

Tanzanian blue helmets, who helped the Congolese army force out M23 rebels from their strategic position 15 km north of Goma in August, lost two soldiers in the fighting.

A third Tanzanian peacekeeper was killed on Oct. 26 in fighting between the Congolese army, the U.N. special brigade and M23. The fighting started on Oct. 25 in the Kibumba, Kiwanja, Rutshuru and Rumangabo districts of eastern DRC, all four of which were reclaimed from M23.

Thomas d’Aquin Mwiti, president of North Kivu’s civil society organisation, told IPS that the loss of Tanzanian soldiers to save Goma would inevitably affect relations between Tanzania and those accused of supporting the war in the DRC.

Diogène Musoni, an economics lecturer at the Rwanda Tourism University College, told IPS that Tanzania was more engaged in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) than in the EAC and remains hesitant about the path of economic integration represented by the introduction of a single visa for other reasons.

He pointed out that the single visa could increase the EAC’s tourist revenue by 50 percent over the first five years of the agreement.

“The single visa will make things easier for those wishing to visit East Africa’s tourist attractions,” Musoni said.

When contacted by telephone, the spokesperson’s office at the Tanzanian Ministry of Tourism refused to comment on “Rwandese intellectuals views about Tanzania’s isolation,” but asserted that the EAC is as important to Tanzania as SADC.

In September, Tanzanian Minister for the EAC Samuel Sitta responded to questions from the Tanzanian national media by stating that the country would not be forced into an accelerated pace of integration that is not sustainable.

Sitta suspected that the three countries involved in the single visa wanted to isolate Tanzania. “The areas of cooperation the three countries are working on are no different from the ones we collectively discussed during the chairmanship of Mwai Kibaki [former Kenyan president],” he stated. “If they have all of a sudden chosen to isolate us, all we can do is leave them alone and wish them well.”

In a statement published in September, the Burundian government said that the move by the three signatory countries to go ahead with signing the agreement raised doubts amongst the other member states.

The government of Burundi added that while it recognised that the EAC Treaty allows for countries to fast track community projects if necessary, it also states that decisions should be taken with the consensus of all member states, which was not the case with the visa agreement.

However, at the time of the agreement on Aug. 2, the Rwandan Minister for the EAC Jacqueline Muhongayire said: “We want to make it clear that the two other countries [Burundi and Tanzania] have not been left out. They can opt into this agreement once it is a priority for them.”

Okota said that although the introduction of the single visa has been delayed since 2006 because of issues of security and inadequate infrastructure in some EAC countries, the current main causes of disagreement are the fee charges and revenue sharing arrangements.

“There are still small problems with the pricing and revenue allocation from the single visa system,” Denise Nijimbere, acting director of the Burundi Tourism National Office, admitted to IPS.

However, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta believes that the single visa is the only way that the EAC can attract a larger number of tourists.

“The aim is to market the gorillas of Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi and the wildlife of Kenya and Tanzania as a package,” Kenyatta told a regional tourism forum in Kenya last month, adding that he hoped the visa would be implemented by all countries before the end of 2014.

WASHINGTON, October 11, 2012 (IPS) – At least 20 countries are currently at either “alarming” or “extremely alarming” levels of hunger, according to new research released here on Thursday.

World hunger has diminished somewhat since 1990 but remains a significant problem in many regions, according to the new Global Hunger Index released by the International Food Policy Research Institute(IFPRI), based here in Washington. IFPRI is a centre that seeks sustainable solutions for ending hunger and poverty.

“Hunger has declined and we have made progress, but it remains serious,” Claudia Ringler, co-author of the report, told journalists Thursday.

The index is the seventh in a series presenting a multifaceted measure of global, regional and national hunger levels. The index weighs three indicators equally: undernourishment, levels of underweight children, and child mortality.

According to IFPRI, “The report shows that progress in reducing the proportion of hungry people in the world has been tragically slow.”

Haiti, Burundi and Eritrea top the index with “extremely alarming” levels of hunger. Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia continue to be the regions suffering from the highest hunger levels.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is not listed as “extremely alarming”, in contrast to previous years, but only because there was insufficient data available to calculate the country’s score on the index.

Seventeen other countries are listed as having “alarming” hunger levels. India was included in this list with the same hunger level from which the country suffered in 1996.

This year, the report placed particular focus on the unsustainable uses of land, water and energy as drivers of food insecurity. “Hunger is inextricably linked to growing pressure on land, water, and energy resources,” the report stated.

The researchers highlighted reasons for natural resource scarcity, including changes in rural and urban demographics, higher incomes and unsustainable resource consumption, as well as poor policies in conjunction with weak institutions.

Ringler also emphasised natural resource dependency. “The poor rely almost exclusively on natural resources for their well-being,” she said. “Therefore they have been particularly harmed by changes in the climate and the scarcity that creates.”

Such dependency makes it even more necessary to ensure good and sustainable practices with resources such as land, water and energy.

“The stark reality is that the world needs to produce more food with fewer resources, while eliminating wasteful practices and policies,” IFPRI stated.

To tackle this reality, the Global Hunger Index report laid out several policy recommendations on how to use land, water and energy to build sustainable food security. One of the recommendations was to secure local land and water rights.

These rights are at risk because in recent years, higher food and oil prices and the scarcity of farmland have increased the number of international agricultural land deals, particularly in regions where land is relatively inexpensive, such as Sub-Saharan Africa. One result of these deals is greater food insecurity.

Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe, both humanitarian groups that co-sponsored the Global Health Index report, have partnered with farmers in Sierra Leone and Tanzania to try to keep agricultural land in the hands of local farmers.

“Large-scale foreign investments in land should be closely monitored,” Welthungerhilfe President Bärbel Dieckmann said Thursday. “Local organisations are needed to secure transparency and the participation of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are impacted by land deals.”

Tanzania has proven to be a successful and important case study to which other countries can potentially look as a model.

“In Tanzania, one million people are food insecure, most of whom are farmers. Yet only 10 percent of Tanzanian farmers hold an official title to their land,” Tom Arnold, Concern’s CEO, told journalists.

Concern has been working with the Tanzanian government to provide a new land title, a certificate stating the Right to Occupancy, to over 10,000 farmers. This gives farmers the opportunity to write down the names of their family members who while continue to care for the land when they die.

If farmers have legal rights to their lands, supporters suggest, they will be more likely to invest in and improve the land, in order to see a larger crop produced year after year. On the other hand, if land is not legally owned by a farmer, researchers point to data that suggests it is often sold by the government to external investors.

“Agricultural production must increase substantially to meet the demands of a growing and increasingly wealthy population,” Arnold continued. “Yet to avoid more stress on land, water, and energy resources, and to ensure that all have access to adequate food, that production must be sustainable and must prioritise the poor.”

The report also recommended that governments phase out inefficient subsidies on water, energy and fertilisers.

“Subsidies are a short-term solution that don’t reach the entire population and can cost governments far more than their budgets can sustain,” Ringler explained, citing Malawi as an example.

Other recommendations included scaling up technical solutions, creating a macroeconomic environment that promotes efficient use of national resources, and taming the drivers of national resource scarcity.

“Food security under land, water, and energy stress poses daunting challenges,” the index stated. “But this report shows how we can meet these challenges  in a sustainable and affordable way.”

Money changing hands will soon be a thing of the past as East Africa standardises an electronic payment system. Credit Miriam Gathigah/IPS

By Miriam Gathigah
NAIROBI, Jul 17 2012 (IPS)

For months now East Africans have been expectantly waiting for an economic revolution to begin as they anticipate the launch of a new standardised payment system that will integrate the electronic transfer of money in the region. But continued delays in the launch of the system have economists fearing that the weak financial infrastructure here is hindering its implementation.

The system, a replica of the Single Euro European Payments Area (SEPA), will make all electronic payments in the East African Community (EAC) domestic ones through harmonised laws, policies and regulations within the region.

Although people still make electronic payments across the region, it is often insecure. Currently, cross border transfers in East Africa also take a number of days to be processed.

But when finally launched, the system will be unprecedented in Africa. Not even the Southern African Custom Union, the world’s oldest union, has a common electronic payment system in place. Sources say that it will eventually lead to the creation of one central bank for Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi, the countries involved in the formation of the system.

“This system is a step forward towards the establishment of one central bank in the region, as well as one common currency,” Dr. Danson Mwangangi, an economist and market researcher in East Africa, told IPS.

And it is also about integrating trade.

“This is about electronic transfers. A payment method that is increasingly becoming common as the East African Community continues to integrate trade,” explained an economist and policy analyst at the Central Bank of Kenya involved in the process, and who did not wish to be named.

But that future appears a long way off. Though the payment system was supposed to have been launched in April, it has yet to come into effect. And the Central Bank of Kenya, one of the architects of the project, has refused to divulge information about its progress or set a new launch date.

However, Dr. George Ntawagira, a Rwandese economist working in Kenya, told IPS that the delay could be because the region’s cash-based economy is characterised by weak financial infrastructure. At least 60 percent of all payments in EAC are made in cash, a system that is bulky, risky and often inefficient.

Ntawagira added that banking remained risky in the region as a significant number of banks in Kenya lose millions of shillings every year from illegal withdrawals by computer-savvy criminals.

“These kind of risks have to be minimised. Still, East Africans have great expectations for this system and there has been concern over the delay in the inception of it.

“But this is to be expected, the financial infrastructure is still too weak to support this system. One of the greatest challenges is the discrepancies in regulatory and supervisory frameworks.”

Meanwhile, Ntawagira said that most banks across East Africa still have different tax regimes that hinder financial integration.

He added that close supervision of all the banks in the region would be critical to the success of the system.

“Although it is rare to find supervisors across banks scrutinising each other, this is an important aspect of regional integration because weaknesses in one financial institution can be corrected to prevent it from putting the entire system at risk.”

Ntawagira was quick point out that even the highly successful M-PESA, a mobile phone system where a maximum of 500 dollars can be transferred from mobile phones to pay bills and accounts and even purchase airtime, faced numerous problems when first launched in 2007. This included issues of network connectivity and financial integration.

But, according to the World Bank, it has since become Africa’s success story and facilities payments totalling almost 320 million dollars a month in the region.

And economists still believe that the new electronic payment system will significantly change how money moves across the region’s borders. The system is expected to not only be more secure than the current banking structure, but also cheaper and more efficient.

“Currently, if you move to another country in East Africa, even temporarily, you will have to go through a number of complex procedures in order for you to open a new account in your new country.”

With the new electronic payment system, residents of East Africa will be able to continue using their existing bank accounts from their home countries while residing elsewhere in the region.

It is also hoped that the system will lead to increased investment.

“EAC has continued to struggle in their attempt to lure foreign direct investment (FDI). This has largely been due to poor infrastructure in all sectors, be it roads, financial and so on. This system might improve FDI,” economic analyst, Titus Mwakazi, told IPS by phone from Tanzania.

“An integrated financial market can enhance liberalisation of intra-trade, boost the development of viable projects, strengthen financial institutions, encourage innovation as well as the pooling together of scarce resources in the region,” he said.

Still, despite of the promise that an integrated financial system holds for the struggling EAC economy, it nonetheless still has with a number of challenges. This includes the issue of the uneven level of growth and sophistication in the banking sector in some countries like Rwanda and Burundi.

“Kenya has achieved a much higher level of growth compared to the other countries. A weak banking system in one country may compromise the success of the system by increasing the risk of cross border electronic transfer,” Mwangangi said.

Governments and civil society organisations in Central Africa are slowly developing strategies in response to global warming. But specialists say the steps being taken seem hesitant in the face of emerging realities.

Forest elephants in the Mbeli River, Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, Congo. Central African countries are developing strategies against climate change. Credit: Thomas Breuer

For some time now, smallholder farmers in many parts of Africa, but particularly in the Congo basin, have noted with alarm a slump in farm output that can be linked to climate change.

“Before 2010, we would harvest, 1,200 kilogrammes per hectare of Kasaï 1 variety of maize, for example, or 1,000 kilos of the jl24 variety of groundnut. But beginning in 2010, yields per hectare fell to 600 kg for groundnuts and 700 kg for maize,” says a worried Jean-Baptiste Mbwengele, president of a production and sales cooperative which groups forty smallholder organisations in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Mbwengele explains that the drop in production has been caused by disruptions to the agricultural calendar, due to both unusually heavy or prolonged rainy periods which make fungal, bacterial and viral plant diseases worse, and to drought – which he linked to the clearing of forests.

In partnership with the United Nations Development Programme, the DRC has initiated PANA-ASA – the Programme of Action for Adaptation and Food Security – designed to counter the threat that climate change poses to agricultural output and food security.

“This project will facilitate access to genetic material (improved seed) better adapted to the anticipated climatic conditions as well as the adoption of better practices for water management and soil fertility,” explains Jean Ndembo, the national coordinator for PANA-ASA.

Reducing deforestation is also a necessity, both to bolster the resilience of local farmers and to contribute to global mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions in the form of carbon stored in healthy forests.

For several years, the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has been carrying out reforestation programmes as part of its Agricultural and Rural Sector Rehabilitation Support Programme, known as PARSAR. Supported by the African Development Bank, PARSAR has reforested some 600 hectares in the western provinces of Bandundu and Bas-Congo, planting 2.2 million trees, mostly acacias, according to the programme’s coordinator, Albert Luzayadio.

Smaller areas have also been rehabilitated by PARSAR in the east, in Orientale Province, where 44 hectares have been planted in Kisangani; and in the southeastern province of Katanga, 25 hectares in Pweto have been reforested.

The programme works in concert with civil society. Célestin Awiwi Mimbu, the national coordinator of non-governmental organisation Action de Reboisement au Congo, says his organisation has planted more than 900,000 trees across the Democratic Republic of Congo, mainly fast-growing eucalyptus and acacias – the latter tree’s leaves offer the additional benefit of fertilising the soil.

Mimbu explains that besides acacia and eucalyptus, umbrella trees – Maesopsis eminiii, a tall, fast- growing species widely found across tropical Africa – and various fruit trees have been planted at several sites in the southwestern DRC province of Bandundu, including 34 hectares at Ndunga and Ngulambondo, and another 56 hectares at Masimanimba.

“We have managed to carry out this reforestation work since the start of 2011, thanks to the National Forestry Fund established by the government. The aim is to build up resilience, support green growth, and fight global warming, which has many negative impacts,” he told IPS.

But he regrets that no budget was allocated for the care of these trees once planted, and some have been lost due to bushfires. Mimbu’s NGO is a member of the Natural Resources Network (la Réseau Ressource Naturelles), an umbrella organisation for civil society across Central Africa which works for the defence and promotion of better governance of forest resources.

“Armed conflict remains one of the major challenges in adapting to climate change in the Congo Basin. In the provinces of Maniema and North and South Kivu, in the eastern DRC, which have been plagued by conflict since 1997, shelling by armed groups has caused the degradation of forests, destroying soil fertility with the chemicals found in artillery shells,” said Corneille Lebu, a Congolese ecologist.

“The shelling cuts the leaves which in principle absorb carbon, leaving the soil bare, leading to the leaching (of nutrients) and destroying micro-organisms. There is a marked acceleration in the loss of moisture from the soil and the rapid release of greenhouse gases,” Lebu told IPS. “Since 1997, conflict in DRC have resulted in more than five million deaths.”

Lebu believes that for adaptation measures to succeed, it is essential to bring peace to war-ravaged zones, and to restore the soil using manure.”

Cameroon, the DRC and the Central African Republic have all begun implementing their National Adaptation Programmes, according to a 2010 report of COFCCA, the Congo Basin Forests and Climate Change Adaptation project.

Launched in Yaoundé, Cameroon, in 2008, COFCCA aims to identify and set joint priorities at the national and regional levels for forests and forest services that are vulnerable to climate change. The project also supports the sharing of experiences on adaptation strategies for a transfrontier resource such as the Congo Basin forests.

Elsewhere in the region, in 2010 the Gabonese government established an agency for research and observation of the climate from space, involving a tripartite accord with the French Institute of Research for Development (IRD) and the Brazilian Institute for Space Research.

Gabon has set up a station to receive satellite images, with the primary task of monitoring the state of health of tropical forests of the Congo Basin – 1.8 million square kilometres of forest, and constituting a “green lung” for the planet, second in size only to the Amazon.

In Burundi, deforestation is being countered by planting jatropha. Since 2010, the shrub has been planted on dozens of hectares in the Rukoko conservation area, which lies on the country’s border with DRC. The work has been done by the Tubane Association of Gikuzi with support from the Congo Basin Forest Fund.

A second phase of the project will be supported by the African Development Bank; the aim is to simultaneously combat poverty and protect the environment, with an integrated plan for exploitation of jatropha helping to bring an end to the present “anarchic” clearing of forest in the Rukoko Nature Reserve. The jatropha will reduce the impact of forest cover already lost while reducing pressure to cut down even more trees. People living in areas adjacent to the park will gain from the harvest and sale of raw jatropha seeds – which yield a valuable oil – as well as local production of soap and fertiliser from the seeds.

It’s in line with the government’s commitment to limit the impact of climatic changes due to deforestation, which is a growing problem Burundi. In November 2011, the country’s first vice president, Thérence Sinuguruza, called on the Environment Ministry to draft a law forbidding the unregulated cutting down of trees.

But even taken together, the actions of governments and civil society in Central Africa so far are inadequate, as they have not yet produced the desired results, says Odon Munsadi, a Congolese ecologist. “Communities in our respective countries are not yet applying agro-ecological practices, and the effects of climate change remain unchanged.”

“Sub-Saharan Africa produces less than four percent of greenhouse gases, this is much less than North America, Europe, Asia and other industrialised regions,” according to experts. But, “Africa is already suffering the effects of climate change will only suffer more in the years to come.”

* This article is one of a series supported by the Climate and Development Knowledge Network.

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