It is hard to get a feeling of being in November and approaching Christmas when it is 30 degrees outside and not a single Christmas decorations in sight. Well, that is not very true. I saw one guy today trying to sell a plastic tree (maybe around 50 cm tall) with broken light on in different colours.
Well at least, we are closer to the biblical story than in Norway! Tried to download Christmas songs, but it couls tell me today that it will take 256 days to download, and since the downloading started it has downloaded around 0 per cent.
The many joys of staying in a post conflict country!
vendredi 5 novembre 2010
jeudi 4 novembre 2010
Facts on Burundi
- Burundi's first democratically elected president was assassinated in October 1993 after only 100 days in office, triggering widespread ethnic violence between Hutu and Tutsi factions. More than 200,000 Burundians perished during the conflict that spanned almost a dozen years. Hundreds of thousands of Burundians were internally displaced or became refugees in neighboring countries. An internationally brokered power-sharing agreement between the Tutsi-dominated government and the Hutu rebels in 2003 paved the way for a transition process that led to an integrated defense force, established a new constitution in 2005, and elected a majority Hutu government in 2005. The new government, led by President Pierre NKURUNZIZA, signed a South African brokered ceasefire with the country's last rebel group in September of 2006 but still faces many challenges.
- President Pierre NKURUNZIZA won the Presidential election again in July 2010, after an election were all opponents had redraw from the elections due to rumours of fraud.
- 9,863,117 inhabitants
- life expectancy at birth: 58,29 years
- Language: Kirundi (official), French (official), Swahili (along Lake Tanganyika and in the Bujumbura area. There is somehow a try to integrate english, since Burundi became a member of the East African community.
- Burundi is a landlocked, resource-poor country with an underdeveloped manufacturing sector. The economy is predominantly agricultural which accounts for about 35% of GDP and employs more than 90% of the population. Burundi's primary exports are coffee and tea, which account for 90% of foreign exchange earnings, though exports are a relatively small share of GDP. Burundi's export earning - and its ability to pay for imports - rests primarily on weather conditions and international coffee and tea prices. The Tutsi minority, 14% of the population, dominates the coffee trade. An ethnic-based war that lasted for over a decade resulted in more than 200,000 deaths, forced more than 48,000 refugees into Tanzania, and displaced 140,000 others internally. Only one in two children go to school, and approximately one in 15 adults has HIV/AIDS. Food, medicine, and electricity remain in short supply. Burundi's GDP grew around 4% annually in 2006-09. Political stability and the end of the civil war have improved aid flows and economic activity has increased, but underlying weaknesses - a high poverty rate, poor education rates, a weak legal system, and low administrative capacity - risk undermining planned economic reforms. Burundi will continue to remain heavily dependent on aid from bilateral and multilateral donors; the delay of funds after a corruption scandal cut off bilateral aid in 2007 reduced government's revenues and its ability to pay salaries. Burundi joined the East African Community, which should boost Burundi's regional trade ties. Burundi's main challenge to economic growth will be maintaining sufficient fiscal discipline and peace during the upcoming national elections scheduled for 2010.
My first post!
For me this is the daily life now, and I do not take pictures or anything. However, just realized that I blog might make me tale pictures.
My reality is a little bit different. I work and live in Burundi (a country in a post conflict situation and in East Africa). I am loving it.
More on my work and Burundi and my life will be coming.
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