A woman walks through a flooded street to her home in Gatumba, western Burundi, on May 19, 2021. Photo MOSES HAVYARIMANA/Nation Media Group

Thousands of residents in Bujumbura and Gatumba have fled their homes after their property and houses were flooded due to the rising water levels of Lake Tanganyika and the swelling rivers around the city.

The water level of Lake Tanganyika increased since the beginning of the year, leading to almost 30,000 people displaced, as the government worked to provide land to relocate them.

“I am really tired now of shifting every now and then because this is the second time I have witnessed these floods. The first one was last year,” said 56-year-old Bemera Rea.

Ms Rea is among the 5,000 people the government said were affected by the rising water level of Rusizi river that cuts through Gatumba and flows to Lake Tanganyika.

The government said that more than 2,000 people were evacuated to Muramvya, several kilometres away from Gatumba.

When visiting the flood victims in Gatumba on Monday, Burundi’s Minister of Internal Affairs Gervais Ndirakobuca said that there is need for a clear identification of those affected.

“Whoever was renting should find somewhere else to rent because landlords now are the ones in dilemma,” he said.

“You have to prepare your hearts about any decision the government will take even if it is to relocate [you] to other areas, if that’s what the government sees as a lasting solution.”

Some of the displaced people said rather than relocating them, the government should extract sand from Rusizi river to prevent it from overflowing.

“We have built our houses here and where the government wants us to go there is nothing other than empty terrain,” said Mr Shuri Yabukumi.

Since last year, floods affected more than 27,000 people, leaving more than 6,000 people homeless, according to the government.

River Rusizi burst its banks submerging and damaging homes and properties of the residents living around the lake.

Lake Tanganyika, which is shared by four African countries, is a source of food, drinking water, transport and source of livelihood for thousands of people who live in the lake basin.

The Burundi government introduced a law that protects water bodies and only allows the construction of private buildings 150 metres away from the lake. The area between the lake and the homes is used for planting trees. However, people who have special authorisation can build near the lake. - Moses Havyarimana, The EastAfrican

Congolese families, who fled from Democratic Republic of Congo by fleeing on a boat across Lake Albert, sit in a line at United Nations High Commission for Refugees' Kyangwali refugee settlement camp in Uganda, March 19, 2018. Photo Reuters

KAMPALA, UGANDA - Twenty-two-year-old Meta Josten from the Democratic Republic of Congo was already living a hard life in one of Uganda’s refugee settlements. When the Ugandan government announced measures last year to control the spread of COVID-19, life got even harder.

With little or no work available to locals, Josten, who previously survived on casual labor outside the settlement, had no income to supplement the aid his family was given.

For Josten, who lived with five siblings and a jobless father, it was the hunger that almost got him to take his life.

“We slept two days without eating food," Josten said. "We were just surviving on just porridge. A bit of porridge which sustained us for the bit of moments. By then I was like if it’s like this, which means, it’s useless for me to stay in this world.”

Mamuru Jackson, a refugee from South Sudan, said it was the lack of human interaction that pushed him to the brink. Having fled to Uganda with a younger brother, leaving his mother and father in South Sudan, Jackson wasn’t ready to assume the role of a parent.

“Actually, that thought came into my mind," Jackson  said. "Because, I feel like I’m alone in this world. And also, the work at home. Because I was only elder person. The other brother of mine is still very young. I feel overwhelmed.”

Male Ali, a psychologist and counselor, said  both Josten’s and Jackson’s conditions were deepened due to the thought of not being cared for after separation from family. He outlines the underlying issues.

“Parental abuse, poverty," Ali said. "Those who have been stricken … Those who are traumatized. Especially those who faced violence. Exchange of bullets, now like for the refugee dwellers. And they really had a lot of post-traumatic stress that was now transitioning them to another stage of contemplating suicide.”

Psychologists say the contemplation of suicide takes place in stages. These include losing hope, planning on how to end their lives by either using an overdose, poison, ropes or falling from high elevations — and finally accomplishing the act.

It is at the second stage that psychologists say people at risk must get the attention they need to prevent them going through with suicide.

Professor Eugene Kanyinda is a member of the Medical Research Council unit of Uganda.

“Illnesses for example like depression in our African culture are not recognized as mental illnesses," Kanyinda said. "So, I think there’s a need for people to understand that, I mean, if you see a relative for example, talking of suicide, don’t take it lightly. I mean, the person probably is already entertaining those ideas.”

Some warning signs psychiatrists said one should look out for are withdrawal, crying, self-isolation, loss of interest in formerly pleasurable activities and lack of sleep.

For survivors of suicide attempts, counsellors refer to them as heroes, to encourage them to think positively. - Halima Athumani, Voice of America

Nearly 50 years after it was first mooted as a possible deepwater facility, the port of Lamu officially opened yesterday, providing new transport opportunities to businesses in northern Kenya as well as landlocked neighbours in Ethiopia and South Sudan.

Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya’s president, was on hand as the 2,524 teu Cap Carmel docked at the brand new port. The giant $3bn facility will eventually house 32 berths. Funding has come from China with state-run China Communications Construction Company the designated builder.

The port is Kenya’s second deepwater one, after Mombasa, and is part of a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure project, the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor project (LAPSSET) launched in 2012 with hinterland road and rail links being built too.

“This port will connect South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya,” Kenyatta said at the opening. “Eventually, it will connect northern Kenya to the Middle Belt of Africa, which runs from Dakar, Senegal in the west to Lamu in the east.”  Splash