Address to the United Nations Security Council on Women in Burundi
Sabine Sabimbona, Representative of the Collective of Burundian Women’s Associations, CAFOB, 23 October 2002
[translated from French]

I would like to thank the United Nations Security Council for their untiring efforts to find a lasting solution to the Burundian crisis. Their two visits to Burundi have demonstrated their solidarity with the Burundian people in their quest for peace.

Peace and security are dependent on the equal participation of men and women in all areas of public life, including decision-making.

If the political representation of women has not progressed in Burundi as it has done elsewhere, that is because the way politics is done has not much evolved.

Women are not just victims in the socio-political crisis facing Burundi. They have also contributed to the peace process. Unfortunately our role has not always been given due recognition.

Security Council Resolution 1325, if it were fully implemented, would revolutionise many things. Burundian women did not wait for this Resolution to act or to speak out.

When conflict broke out in Burundi in 1993, a number of women’s associations representing women from different ethnic groups emerged and united for peace at a time when men were prisoners in ethnic ghettos.

In 1994, Burundian women, convinced that they would be stronger if united, decided to create the Collectif des Associations et ONGs Féminines du Burundi (CAFOB). CAFOB’s main objectives are to strengthen the operational capacities of member associations and to support the role of Burundian women in peace-building, national reconciliation and development. There were 7 associations when CAFOB started out, now there are 52.

CAFOB, along with the women’s organisation, Dushirehamwe, working for the peaceful resolution of conflicts, has worked in the field of rapprochement, bringing together displaced women and those who have stayed in their villages. Visits to and meetings with the Burundian diaspora have been organised.

CAFOB has lobbied persistently for women to participate in the Burundian peace process. CAFOB has engaged on this subject with Burundian politicians, the President of the Regional Initiative for Burundi, his Excellency, Yoweri Museveni and with other mediators in the Burundian conflict. The result of this lobbying is the Government and Transitional institutions now include women in peace and development activities.

In the Arusha peace talks women from CAFOB were able to attend as observers. Throughout the process they made written contributions and recommendations about the questions being debated and also about the draft peace agreement, signed 28 August 2000. Women are represented in the transitional institutions, albeit in small numbers.

Even though women are not signatories to the Arusha Accord and in spite of the weaknesses of the Accord, Burundian women consider it to be an important step towards peace.

Your Excellencies, if it is true that Burundian women’s engagement for peace is a reason for hope, it is also true that women are up against many challenges, which risk compromising the peace movement.

These challenges include:

• Continuation of war, even though the cessation of hostilities was the dividend that the majority of Burundians, particularly women and children, were expecting.

Only further negotiation and the signature of a ceasefire agreement will restore hope. Although we deplore the fact that Burundian women have not been included in the ceasefire negotiations, in spite of our insistence, we welcome the signature on 7 October of a ceasefire agreement between the government and two of the armed groups. We hope that in the near future, the other parties will sign up.

• Insufficient material support to women’s peace initiatives

• Under-representation in decision-making

• Feminisation of poverty

• Weight of tradition which undermines women’s role

• Low levels of education – 70% of women are illiterate

• Negative solidarity from men

Your Excellencies, although these challenges lessen women’s capacity for peace-building in spite of their good will, we would like to share with you the hopes of Burundian women:

The continuation of the war in Burundi constitutes a major handicap to the peace process. If a short-term solution is not found soon the efforts of the majority of Burundians, by the UN and the rest of the international community will be compromised.

The violence that imposed on innocent civilians by fighting factions is a challenge not only for Burundians but also for the UN whose mission is to keep world peace, including Burundian peace. This is why I ask the UN, the Security Council and the rest of the international community, on behalf of Burundian women, to put pressure on, force and sanction the fighting forces so that they renounce violence, for it is unacceptable that a tiny proportion of Burundians take hostage a peace agreement that is so dear to the rest of the population.

Burundian women ask again that you continue to support the ceasefire negotiations in order to reach a sustainable peace where there are no winners or losers. There will only be peace in the Great lakes region when each country in that region lives in peace. Whilst we welcome the international community’s efforts to restore peace to the democratic republic of Congo, our neighbour, we ask them to ensure that this peace process does not impact negatively on Burundi.

Excessive poverty in Burundi is killing as many people as the war. Promises were made in Paris and Geneva. The non-release of these funds leaves the Burundian people under embargo and can only serve to exacerbate the conflict.

We assure you that, as women and mothers, experiencing the realities on the ground, the best way to demobilisation is through development. This is why we ask you intervene for Burundi so that the funds are released and targeted at the social sectors, which impact upon grassroots communities, in particular rural women, in whose hands lies the development of the country.

Burundian women ask you to help them obtain a quota of at least 30% in decision making positions. They ask that the UN and the donor community further support their peace initiatives.

Burundian women welcome the World Fund to fight HIV/AIDS. Burundi is a country greatly affected by the disease. Burundian women ask for easy access to medication at an affordable price. Finally, we welcome the establishment of the office of the High Representative for the least developed states, developing countries without coastline and insular states. Burundian women ask the Secretary General to lead by example in the implementation of 1325 and to nominate women to positions of responsibility within this office.

Finally, Burundian women ask that resolution 1325 be made into a pact so as to engage all countries.