UK Provides Burundi with £2 million

This Thursday 16 February 2017, Joyce Anelay, the British Minister in charge of human rights has visited the Centre in charge of victims of sexual-based violence in Burundi- SERUKA. She announces that UK provides £2million to Burundi, that is, about BIF 5billion.

The British minister Joyce Anelay in SERUKA Centre.

“I am pleased to announce today extra support, with £2million for Burundi from the UK Department for International Development-DFID”, says the British minister.

The aid will consist of £1 million to UNICEF and £1 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross. Those organizations will use the money to provide vital food and essential medicine to address the immediate needs of children, support the mass screening and treatment of children suffering from severe malnutrition, as well as the prevention of cholera outbreaks, says the British minister.

The British minister says more than 100,000 Burundians will receive assistance: “This includes the treatment of around 60,000 children suffering from malaria and malnutrition and the provision of clean water and sanitation to over 40,000 people”, says the British minister.

Anelay is satisfied with the work of some Burundian organisations: “Today, I have heard about the courageous and difficult work done by dedicated volunteers and professionals at the SERUKA Centre, as well as for other organisations and in other communities.”

The minister says UK is supporting, sometimes discreetly, activities in a range of provinces of Burundi to address the impact of sexual violence.

Anelay also says it is not for the first time UK provides help to Burundi. “A DFID programme delivered by UNICEF is providing £3 million in 2016/17, which will establish sexual and gender- based violence (SGBV) services in 20 Burundian health centres through training”, says the minister.

She also says the UK wants to help Burundi to resume its path to a more stable and secure future, and for that reason, Burundi government needs to engage in a genuine dialogue with opposition groups, she says.