09-28-2016 ■ François Ngeze, the president of the national Association of Private Schools (known by its French acronym UPEP), decries the measure by the ministry of education requiring those schools to abide by the same regulations concerning post-basic school placement as public schools. He argues that if private schools admit in (...)

09-28-2016 ■ UNHCR says over 300,000 Burundians fled to neighboring countries, the number the interior minister rejects, stating that the majority have returned home “So far, about 100,000 Burundian refugees have willingly come back home from the neighboring countries”, said Térence Ntahiraja, Assistant to the Interior Minister. Most of them are (...)

09-27-2016 ■ On 26 September, all public schools including primary and secondary schools started the new school year 2016-2017 with the first candidates of the “Fundamental School” system. There are some innovations despite challenges. Queues of people were formed in front of the offices of secondary schools’ headmasters. Parents, pupils and (...)

09-27-2016 ■ One month after being honored to receive the Engel Africa Award from the Segal Family Foundation in September in Uganda and selected as the first Burundian to participate in a recent Africa Fashion Reception event in Addis Ababa, Ange Muyubira  says she is committed to creating Burundi entrepreneurs’ platform (...)

09-26-2016 ■ Dear President Mkapa Allow me to take the liberty to write to you this open letter although you don’t know me. I met you in person, for the first time, during a conference of Ministers of Information from non-aligned countries. The conference that took place in New Delhi, India, (...)

09-26-2016 ■ At a glance, wetlands – large expanses of swamps – seem like public nuisances, a waste of space; occupying prime land which could otherwise be turned into sprawling shopping malls, hotels or theme parks devoid of any green. Indeed, several wetlands in the Nile Basin have undergone degradation due (...)

09-26-2016 ■ Contrary to plan, the School of Excellence programme will open for 7th graders only. It will not open for the first year of the post-basic school starting with this new school year 2016-2017. The Minister of Education, Higher Education and Scientific Research gives two reasons for the decision: the (...)

09-26-2016 ■ The conclusions of the United Nations Independent Investigation on Burundi (UNIIB) published on Tuesday 20 September, stimulated much attention. The report accuses Bujumbura of grave human rights violations. The UNIIB report considers that these violations can be qualified as crimes against humanity and warns against a probable genocide. This (...)

09-23-2016 ■ Students of Hope Africa University and the Lake Tanganyika University of Bujumbura organized a peace workshop, Youth and Active Peace in Great Lakes Region, in Bujumbura, Burundi, from 21 to 22 September. Students from 20 universities in Burundi, Rwanda and Congo took part. “By constructive actions, the youth is (...)

09-23-2016 ■ On 22 September, Burundi’s Ministry in charge of Human Rights slammed a report by the United Nations as unverified and lacking credibility. “The UN experts collected unverified information and did not mention sources for their report’s credibility”, deplores Martin Nivyabandi, the Minister of National Solidarity, Gender and Human Rights. (...)