Burundi Security Council decides to suspend foreign NGOs for three months

The National Security Council has decided to suspend all foreign NGOs operating in Burundi for three months since Monday 1 October. It accuses them of not abiding by the law.

Silas Ntigurirwa: “All NGOs’ activities will be suspended for three months since October 1”

Silas Ntigurirwa, Secretary General of the National Security Council says the measure has been taken so that NGOs operating in Burundi comply with the law. “Most of them do not comply with the law or the texts that govern them”.
He says the institutions in charge of these organizations will help them comply with the law within this period. “The government will get time to verify if these NGOs conform to the law and regulations in force”.

Mr. Ntigurirwa calls on the ministry in charge of them to make sure this measure is implemented.
Article 16 of the law governing foreign NGOs requires compliance with current foreign exchange regulations. “All foreign NGOs must open a foreign currency account at the Central Bank- BRB. Besides, they must transfer one third of their budgets to the accounts before signing the cooperation agreement and the non-expatriate staff salaries must be paid in local currency,” reads the article.

In Article 18 of the same law, foreign NGOs have to recruit local staff. “Any recruitment of expatriate staff is conditioned upon the request and obtaining of approval”. This recruitment must also respect the ethnic and gender quotas as provided for in the Constitution of 7 June 2018. “60% of Hutu and 40% of Tutsi and a minimum of 30% of women must be insured.”

The question of ethnic quota in foreign NGOs has recently been discussed by Senators and they agreed to conduct investigations in order to see if ethnic quotas are respected.

The decision to suspend NGOs was taken after an extraordinary meeting of the Security Council chaired by Pierre Nkurunziza, Burundi President on Wednesday, September 26. The National Security Council recommends the involvement of the police and administration for an “effective implementation of the measure”.