The country
Burundi is a landlocked country in Central Africa, bordering Rwanda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The country gained its independence from Belgium in 1962. Gitega is the political capital of the state. Burundi covers an area of 27,830 square kilometers. In 2023, the country had an estimated population of about 13 million people. The Central African nation is one of the least developed countries in the world.
The humanitarian situation
The overall humanitarian situation in Burundi remains tense and serious human rights violations continue. Burundians are facing a humanitarian crisis characterized by food insecurity, violence, natural hazards and economic decline. The people of Burundi experience a triple burden: high climate risk, widespread poverty and conflict. Even though the worst of the violence has subsided in 2024, the security situation remains precarious, with an unstable political situation and ongoing displacement outside the country.
More than 500,000 men, women and children fled Burundi in the years following the deadly clashes around the 2015 presidential election. Since 2017, at least 234,000 Burundian refugees have returned to their home country.
In early 2024, some 275,000 Burundians are still refugees in neighboring countries, most of them were forced to flee after the contested elections and violence in 2015. Burundian refugees are mainly hosted in Tanzania (112,000), Rwanda (48,000), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (50,000), Uganda (40,000), and Kenya (25,000). A further 42,000 Burundian refugees, who have lived for decades in Tanzania, are not included in these figures.
According to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), the Burundi refugee situation rated among the most neglected displacement crises in 2022. Most of the Burundian refugees depend entirely on international assistance to cover their basic needs. At the same time, Burundi has around 74,000 internally displaced people (IDPs), mainly due to natural disasters. The country hosts nearly 88,000 refugees and asylum seekers, predominantly from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The Burundian government generally cooperates with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in providing protection and assistance to refugees, returning refugees or asylum seekers.
More than 56,000 Congolese refugees are currently receiving only half the food rations they need, due to a dwindling of funding for food needs in five camps in Burundi, according to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). Since April 2023, WFP has been forced to cut rations in a country where humanitarian needs are high, exacerbated by high levels of food insecurity, poverty, and the ongoing influx of refugees fleeing the conflict in eastern DRC. Cutting rations will exacerbate food insecurity and the nutritional status of refugees, and could further aggravate tensions between host and refugee communities around camps and transit centers.
Meanwhile, food insecurity persists in the country, with alarming levels of malnutrition and hunger. According to the latest IPC food security analysis, 1.88 million people were facing high acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or worse) from October to December 2023, coinciding with the lean season. Around 164,000 people were classified in IPC Phase 4 (emergency level). During the period from January to March 2024, which coincides with the harvest period of a crop season, the number of acute food insecure people is expected to decrease from 1.88 million people to 1.23 million. Around 105,000 people are facing emergency levels of hunger.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), around 650,000 people in Burundi were affected by climate-related natural disasters between 2018 and 2023, in particular torrential rain, flooding and storms, which led to the displacement of more than 145,000 people. Between September and December 2023, heavy rains associated with El Niño climate patterns and subsequent flooding in Burundi affected more than 45,000 people.
In 2023, 1.5 million people were in need of humanitarian aid, among them some 946,000 children.
Burundi was ranked among the top ten forgotten humanitarian crises that received the least media attention in 2023, according to the international humanitarian organization CARE.
The security situation
The internationally brokered Arusha Agreement, signed in 2000, and subsequent cease-fire agreements with armed movements ended the 1993-2005 civil war. Burundi’s second democratic elections were held in 2005, resulting in the election of Pierre Nkurunziza as president. He was reelected in 2010. In 2015 political unrest in Burundi took a fatal turn after President Nkurunziza announced plans to seek a third term.
After a controversial court decision allowed Nkurunziza to circumvent a term limit in 2015 and be reelected, mass protests and a failed coup led to violent clashes. Years of violent repression followed, including mass arrests, detentions, executions, torture and intimidation. Hundreds of thousands fled to nearby countries in search of safety.
Following the death of Nkurunziza, Evariste Ndayishimiye - from Nkurunziza's ruling party - was elected president in 2020. The government allowed the main opposition party to campaign and participate in the 2020 presidential and parliamentary votes. The elections resulted in a peaceful transfer of power but were deeply flawed, with widespread reports of human rights abuses perpetrated primarily against members of the main opposition party.
Since President Ndayishimiye came to power in 2020, there have been only limited improvements in Burundi’s human rights record. According to UN experts, despite commitments and measures taken by the government, the human rights situation in Burundi has not changed in a substantial and sustainable way.
Human rights group say suspected members of opposition groups continue to disappear, many have been detained and there have been documented cases of torture. Moreover, threats and politically motivated prosecutions continue. A number of returning refugees face intimidation. There are also reports of unlawful and arbitrary killings, including extrajudicial killings. Violence mainly targets journalists and members of civil society organizations, as well as opponents of the government and the ruling party or people perceived opposing one or the other.
Donations
Your donation for the Burundi emergency can help United Nations agencies, international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and their local partners to provide water, food, medicine, shelter and other aid to the people who need it most.
Currently, there are only few active appeals for the Burundi crisis. You may also consider making an unearmarked donation.
- UNHCR: Burundi
https://www.unhcr.org/countries/burundi - World Food Programme: Burundi
https://www.wfp.org/countries/Burundi - Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC): Donate
https://www.nrc.no/make-a-difference-today/ - International Rescue Committee (IRC): Donate
https://help.rescue.org/donate/ - UNICEF: Burundi appeal
https://www.unicef.org/appeals/burundi - CARE International: Donate
https://www.care-international.org/donate - UN Crisis Relief: Central Emergency Response Fund
https://crisisrelief.un.org/t/cerf - Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF): Donations
https://www.msf.org/donate - Oxfam International: Donate to the Global Emergency Fund
https://www.oxfam.org/en/donate/global-emergency-fund
To find other organizations to which you can donate, visit: Humanitarian Crisis Relief, Refugees and IDPs, Children in Need, Hunger and Food Insecurity, Medical Humanitarian Aid, Vulnerable Groups, Faith-Based Humanitarian Organizations, and Human Rights Organizations.
Further Information
- UN OCHA: Burundi (in French)
https://www.unocha.org/burundi - ACAPS: Burundi Complex Crisis
https://www.acaps.org/country/burundi/crisis/complex-crisis- - UNHCR Operational Data Portal (ODP): Burundi situation
https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/burundi - International Crisis Group: Burundi
https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/great-lakes/burundi - Human Rights Watch: World Report 2024: Burundi
https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2024/country-chapters/burundi - Amnesty International Report 2022/23: Burundi
https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/africa/east-africa-the-horn-and-great-lakes/burundi/report-burundi/ - US State Department: 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Burundi
https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/burundi
Last updated: 17/02/2024