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
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
Rastafarians play drums outside the high court in Nairobi, Kenya, during the filing of a petition calling for marijuana decriminalization, May 17, 2021. RNS photo by Fredrick Nzwili
NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) — Rastafarians have petitioned the Kenyan high court to decriminalize the use of cannabis, claiming that smoking marijuana is part of their religious practice.
“We Rastafari, who have been stigmatized and misunderstood, we have come here to say in agreement with the United Nations that the use of cannabis for cultural, spiritual and medicinal should be allowed for people who (have) been using it for many years,” Ras Lorjoron, the chairman of the Rastafarian Society of Kenya, told journalists Monday (May 17) outside the court, where the Rastafarians demanded legal use of the plant in their houses and places of worship.
In December, a United Nations commission voted to remove cannabis from its list of deadly drugs, while still calling it harmful.
“Many parts of the world have come to debate and allow the use for spiritual, health and cultural purpose,” Lorjoron added.
Smoking marijuana, say followers of the Rastafarian movement, is their way of connecting with their God, Jah. The “holy herb,” they maintain, heightens their feeling of community and helps them reach a spiritual realm.
According to Lorjoron, the Rastafarians in Kenya are frequent targets of arrest by the police and persecution for the spiritual use of cannabis, especially for sacramental purposes. Many of them end up growing the plant secretly in forests, home compounds or pots inside their homes.
“We urge you to help remove the stigma around cannabis. We want the world to no longer see it as a narcotic, but a medical plant that can help the creation,” said Lorjoron.
In the petition, the group requested changes to sections of the Kenyan Constitution that classify cannabis as a narcotic drug and psychotropic substance. The sections, according to the group, discriminate against the Rastafarian community on the basis of religion.
The origins of Rastafarianism can be traced to the island nation of Jamaica in the Caribbean, but it gained momentum in 1930, when Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa came to power, and some in the movement came to believe Selassie was an incarnation of God. His coronation triggered an exodus to Ethiopia from the Caribbean. Followers of the faith are currently found in most countries in Africa.
The numbers are small in Kenya, where 83% are Christians and 10% are Muslims, according to a 2013 Kenya National Bureau of Statistics study.
Representatives of the movement made their petition at the same court where, in 2019, a judge declared their movement a religion.
Some leaders of more established faiths expressed their doubts. “They are one of those emerging to claim their space,” Roman Catholic Bishop Wilybard Lagho, who heads the Diocese of Malindi, told Religion News Service. “We have a liberal constitution that allows freedom of religion, but I am not sure if they qualify to be a religion.
“I think it’s more of a philosophical question more than a legal one, whether any group can rise up and use a drug as a holy herb, ” added Lagho.
Although there have been some lonely voices in the past calling for decriminalizing the smoking of cannabis in Kenya, the latest move has perturbed Christian and Muslim leaders.
“It would be a big blunder to legalize it, given that millions of Kenyan youth who are unemployed. The stressed youth would smoke to find solace and it would be total mess,” said the Rev. Joachim Omollo Ouko, an Apostle of Jesus priest in the Archdiocese of Kisumu in western Kenya.
Abdallah Kheri, a religious scholar who chairs the Islamic Research and Education Trust, said anything that harms the body is forbidden in Islam.
“Bhang affects the people’s well-being, so it’s forbidden,” said Kheri, using another word for cannabis. “We are still struggling with drug abuses in the country, and if it’s legalized we’ll keep losing generations.” - Fredrick Nzwili, Religion News Service
When you land in Bujumbura, Burundi, you are immediately struck by the verdant landscape. Everything is green. The peaceful city is surrounded by beautiful Lake Tanganyika, the deepest in Africa, with majestic hills to the north. Soon, one discovers that those steep hillsides, the nearly 3,000 or so “collines” of Burundi, are much more than an extraordinary landscape. They are home to a patchwork of communities organized around each colline. In many ways, they represent the beauty but also the pains of the people who live on it and from it. These collines hold the souls of ancestors and families lost during past conflicts, including the 1994 crisis. They tell the country’s story.
But this impressive majestic landscape is threatened by overuse and degraded resources which are further aggravated by climate change. Climate-related disasters—chiefly torrential rains, floods and landslides—have triggered 100% of the forced displacements in 2020 in Burundi according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, underscoring the urgency of action to address compounded risks from rising climate impacts, fragility, and displacement.
Multi-risk vulnerability in Burundi’s colline landscapes
Like many African countries, Burundi is set to bear the brunt of impacts from climate change that it was not responsible for creating. Globally, Burundi has the lowest per capita Greenhouse Gas emissions, ranking last out of 188 countries and contributing only 0.01% to global emissions. Meanwhile, Burundi is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and faces the burden of the impacts of global emissions, ranking 171 out of 181 countries in the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index, which summarizes countries’ vulnerability to climate change.
Furthermore, each year, Burundi loses almost 38 million tons of soil and 4% of its gross domestic product (GDP) to land degradation. The coffee sector exemplifies people’s dependence on natural resources for their livelihoods: half of the country’s households live off the sector which brings 90% of the country’s foreign revenue. But in the last 40 years, severe soil erosion led to a two-thirds decrease in coffee production, pushing millions back into poverty.
Burundi’s collines are home to more than 90% of the country’s largely rural population, composed of mostly women and youth, who rely on agriculture and forestry for their livelihoods. They also are critical hubs of multi-risk vulnerability: 75% of court cases are linked to land disputes, and the recent massive return of refugees from neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania has been a source of increased conflict and violence. Poverty and conflict in Burundi are closely linked to resource dependence and climate fragility. Since 2015, the country has experienced unprecedented forced displacement: 131,000 internally-displaced people were counted in 2020, 83% of whom were driven by climate-related disasters and 17% caused by other socio-economic factors, according to the International Organization for Migration Displacement Tracking Matrix.
In Burundi’s context, climate change compounds pre-existing risks through rising rainfall and temperature variability, projected to worsen by 2030-50, with recurrent flooding, landslides and soil erosion already destroying livelihoods and exacerbating poverty. Past extreme weather events including severe floods in 2006 and 2007 and severe droughts between 1999 and 2000 and in 2005 accounted for losses exceeding 5% of the GDP, affecting more than two million Burundians. In addition, river flooding from Lake Tanganyika poses an increasing challenge. Batwa communities are particularly disenfranchised, and at the heart of multi-sector vulnerability, making community-driven development approaches critical in Burundi’s development context.
Climate change is the ultimate threat multiplier in fragile and conflict-affected states such as Burundi. Institutions unprepared to face new environmental and climate risks, high levels of poverty, and agricultural-based economies make them particularly vulnerable.
When you land in Bujumbura, Burundi, you are immediately struck by the verdant landscape. Everything is green. The peaceful city is surrounded by beautiful Lake Tanganyika, the deepest in Africa, with majestic hills to the north. Soon, one discovers that those steep hillsides, the nearly 3,000 or so “collines” of Burundi, are much more than an extraordinary landscape. They are home to a patchwork of communities organized around each colline. In many ways, they represent the beauty but also the pains of the people who live on it and from it. These collines hold the souls of ancestors and families lost during past conflicts, including the 1994 crisis. They tell the country’s story.
But this impressive majestic landscape is threatened by overuse and degraded resources which are further aggravated by climate change. Climate-related disasters—chiefly torrential rains, floods and landslides—have triggered 100% of the forced displacements in 2020 in Burundi according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, underscoring the urgency of action to address compounded risks from rising climate impacts, fragility, and displacement.
Multi-risk vulnerability in Burundi’s colline landscapes
Like many African countries, Burundi is set to bear the brunt of impacts from climate change that it was not responsible for creating. Globally, Burundi has the lowest per capita Greenhouse Gas emissions, ranking last out of 188 countries and contributing only 0.01% to global emissions. Meanwhile, Burundi is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and faces the burden of the impacts of global emissions, ranking 171 out of 181 countries in the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index, which summarizes countries’ vulnerability to climate change.
Furthermore, each year, Burundi loses almost 38 million tons of soil and 4% of its gross domestic product (GDP) to land degradation. The coffee sector exemplifies people’s dependence on natural resources for their livelihoods: half of the country’s households live off the sector which brings 90% of the country’s foreign revenue. But in the last 40 years, severe soil erosion led to a two-thirds decrease in coffee production, pushing millions back into poverty.
Burundi’s collines are home to more than 90% of the country’s largely rural population, composed of mostly women and youth, who rely on agriculture and forestry for their livelihoods. They also are critical hubs of multi-risk vulnerability: 75% of court cases are linked to land disputes, and the recent massive return of refugees from neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania has been a source of increased conflict and violence. Poverty and conflict in Burundi are closely linked to resource dependence and climate fragility. Since 2015, the country has experienced unprecedented forced displacement: 131,000 internally-displaced people were counted in 2020, 83% of whom were driven by climate-related disasters and 17% caused by other socio-economic factors, according to the International Organization for Migration Displacement Tracking Matrix.
In Burundi’s context, climate change compounds pre-existing risks through rising rainfall and temperature variability, projected to worsen by 2030-50, with recurrent flooding, landslides and soil erosion already destroying livelihoods and exacerbating poverty. Past extreme weather events including severe floods in 2006 and 2007 and severe droughts between 1999 and 2000 and in 2005 accounted for losses exceeding 5% of the GDP, affecting more than two million Burundians. In addition, river flooding from Lake Tanganyika poses an increasing challenge. Batwa communities are particularly disenfranchised, and at the heart of multi-sector vulnerability, making community-driven development approaches critical in Burundi’s development context.
Climate change is the ultimate threat multiplier in fragile and conflict-affected states such as Burundi. Institutions unprepared to face new environmental and climate risks, high levels of poverty, and agricultural-based economies make them particularly vulnerable.
Figure 1: Scaling up Investment into Burundi’s Colline Landscapes
This is mission possible, but it cannot be done alone. While the World Bank is mobilizing additional resources through its Prevention and Resilience Allocation, it is essential to crowd-in financial and technical partners, including United Nations’ agencies and other climate concessional financing.
Addressing climate risks in fragile states has the potential to enhance resilience and reduce sources of conflict, while generating growth and long-term sustainable development. To be effective, climate investments must recognize the interlinkages between climate and conflict risks. In Burundi as in every other country, these investments must also be rooted in strong political and institutional support to trigger the changes needed to make the “land of 3,000 collines” resilient. - JUERGEN VOEGELE/VERONIQUE KABONGO/ARAME TALL, World Bank
Patriots players listen to instructions from assistant coach Bernard Oluoch during the match against Rivers Hoopers on Sunday. The league champions will qualify for the quarterfinals with a win today. Courtesy/Photo New Times
Group A Patriots v GNBC (2pm)
Group C AS Douanes v Ferroviário de Maputo (5:30pm) GSP v Zamalek (9pm)
Patriots Basketball Club will look to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) with a win over Madagascar’s GNBC on Wednesday, May 19.
The 2019/20 league champions will be hoping to build on the form they showcased in their first match of the competition against Nigeria’s Rivers Hoopers.
A win against GNBC will be enough for Patriots to advance the quarter-finals of the lucrative continental competition.
It is not the first time the two teams will be playing against each other. In 2019, Patriots wrapped up their qualification campaign with an emphatic 94-63 victory over GNBC.
Speaking to Times Sport, Dieudonne Ndizeye, Patriots’ small-forward sounded optimistic of winning the match.
“We won our first game, which boosted the confidence in the team and we are confident we can repeat the same performance,” he said.
Ndizeye contributed 13 points in Patriots’ first match where they defeated Rivers Hoopers 83-60 points.
Meanwhile, in Group C, Senegal’s AS Douanes return to action on Wednesday against Mozambique’s Ferroviário de Maputo, while GSP will take on Zamalek. By Damas Sikubwabo, New Times
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