burundi risks losing 40m

Burundi 'risks losing $40m'
30/07/2007 12:53 - (SA)

Bujumbura - Burundi risks losing $40m in World Bank funds because its divided parliament has failed to ratify the grant, the country's vice-presidency has warned.

Spokesperson Steve De Cliff said: "The World Bank allocated $40m to Burundi to tackle poverty in the 116 communes, but opposition parliamentarians have so far refused to ratify the convention."

An initial deadline on July 31 "was not reached because of the opposition's blocking of the work of the assembly." He said the World Bank would accept an extension until August 21, but after that the aid would be cancelled.

Burundi had been in political turmoil since the arrest and jailing of Hussein Radjabu, the former head of President Pierre Nkurunziza's party, which prompted outrage in the national assembly.

The president radically reshuffled his government this month after attempts to create a government of national unity with main opposition parties failed.

Burundi was struggling to emerge from a civil war, which erupted in 1993 and killed at least 300 000 people. Talks with the FNL, the country's last active rebel groups, on implementing a ceasefire had repeatedly broken down.