As the Gatumba flood problem has not yet found an effective solution, the Burundian state has decided to relocate the victims to safe places. But the inhabitants of this area do not want to leave it, because they were born there.
At least 2,000 flood-affected households in Gatumba will be relocated to the communes of Kabezi and Mubimbi.
The government of Burundi has decided to relocate the flood-affected residents of Gatumba. But most of them don’t want to leave this place because they were born there. Rather, they are asking the state to build a protective dike along the Rusizi River to counter the water. “ The people of Gatumba do not want to leave this area on the pretext that they were born there. But that doesn’t hold water. They must be relocated to a safe place, out of the water “, specified Gervais Ndirakobuca, Prime Minister of Burundi before the parliament meeting in congress, Wednesday April 24, 2024, during the presentation of the implementation report of the Government’s Annual Work Plan and Budget (PTBA), first half of the 2023/2024 financial year. The Prime Minister indicated that the State is in the process of looking for suitable state land to settle the inhabitants of Gatumba victims of the floods.
More than 2,000 households will be relocated initially
The National Platform for Risk Prevention and Disaster Management met at the Red Cross headquarters on April 22, 2024 to find urgent solutions for the victims of landslides and rising water levels in Lake Tanganyika. The participants agreed to initially relocate at least 2,000 households from the Gatumba area, victims of the floods. This is to implement the recommendations of the Council of Ministers which met on Wednesday April 17, 2024 in Gitega. The people who will be evacuated will be installed in sites located in the Mubimbi and Kabezi communes of Bujumbura province.
Désiré Nsengiyumva, governor of Bujumbura province, believes that it is not only the inhabitants of Gatumba who need to be relocated. Even those in Rukaramu feel this need. But Mr. Nsengiyumva says a good number of flood victims do not want to leave Gatumba supposedly because the State wants to chase them from their homes and settle them in other places to which they are not accustomed. For them, Kabezi and Mubimbi are mountainous areas which experience the phenomena of landslides and landslides which could be fatal to them.
« Ideally, every measure that the state takes must respond to the concerns of the population. Unfortunately, most residents of Gatumba are not ready to leave this area. For what ? Because some of them are used to living there or carrying out income-generating activities thanks to the proximity of the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) », Estimates Sébastien Misago, president of the Association for Patriotic Solidarity, Self-Development and Environmental Protection (ASAPE).
For Mr. Misago, if the State considers that the relocation of the inhabitants of Gatumba is necessary, so much the better, but it must be done systematically with dignity. Let the State build them an acceptable village with healthcare facilities, schools, playgrounds, water, electricity, roads, markets, etc. So this village must be better than Gatumba. The village in question must be different from a displaced person site. No matter, the State must come to the aid of the victims of the rising waters of Lake Tanganyika.
After all, it is a recommendation of the council of ministers
The Council of Ministers which met on Wednesday April 17, 2024 in Gitega analyzed various points including that on the effects of climate change in Burundi.
« Today, the El Nino phenomenon observed in 2014 is resurfacing with a gradual rise in the waters of Lake Tanganyika since 2018 and which is reaching its peak this year, surpassing the highest level which was reached in 1964. This phenomenon is at the origin of the heavy rainfall observed these days and affects many people, while others are now internally displaced, especially in Gatumba. Furthermore, the population is threatened by aquatic animals such as hippos and crocodiles. », We read in the press release sanctioning the meeting of the Council of Ministers.
The most urgent work is to relocate the affected people and provide them with food and non-food aid as well as to consider other actions in the short, medium and long term. The Council of Ministers concluded that the immediate relocation of the affected population, especially that of Gatumba, and finding somewhere to permanently settle them outside the plain is necessary. Then, we must make the means available to develop the relocation sites. We must launch an appeal for national solidarity to collect food for the victims. The Council of Ministers recommended that public infrastructure such as schools and hospitals… also be relocated.
