Public transport passengers have been wearing masks since Thursday, 14 January 2021. The drivers of transport vehicles have been obliged to wear them since Wednesday. Just before and after the re-launch of the screening campaign, Burundian authorities have been making numerous declarations in favour of the fight against COVID-19. Nevertheless, the decisions taken do not hide a desire to be visible on the scene of the fierce enemies of the global pandemic. This is the opinion of some analysts who believe that there is a European hand pushing the Gitega government to acknowledge the virus whose impact it has long denied.
In its message of “good health and happiness” to all Burundians at the beginning of 2021, the European Union said that COVID-19 had been “contained in Burundi in 2020” but that its management “will remain a challenge in 2021”. In this New Year’s message from the EU Heads of Mission in Burundi, “the Heads of Mission are pleased that the Burundian authorities have seized the opportunities that presented themselves and taken initiatives to warm up their relations with the European Union”.
It is precisely this warming of relations that is at stake. Relations that have been marred by the non-respect of Article 96 of the Cotonou Agreement since the beginning of the crisis linked to the third mandate of the President of the Republic. These analysts are convinced that in addition to the requirements of improving the political climate, good governance and respect for human rights, the European Union has also obliged the Burundian authorities to be transparent in the management of the pandemic that has shaken the world since the beginning of 2020.
Why the European Union?
On 7 December last year, the European Union funded the African Union to the tune of 10 million Euros to deal with health emergencies. This 4-year project prioritises the fight against the 2019 Coronavirus Disease on the continent and has been implemented since January 1st 2021. In terms of the overall fight against the pandemic, the European Union plans to provide at least 8 billion Euros to support actions in Africa. The assistance focuses on strengthening the preparedness and response capacities of countries with the weakest health systems.
Burundi is undoubtedly one of the priority countries. Until October 2020, Burundi had already been funded by the European Union with at least 32 million Euros to respond to COVID-19. Since 2015, the European Union has also financed the training of 70 experts from the National Institute of Public Health, the main institute for COVID-19 screening in the country. The European Union is spending 2.6 million Euros on the training of INSP experts, which is being implemented by the Université Libre de Bruxelles until the end of August 2021.
Even before the emergence of COVID-19, from 2014 to 2020, Burundi was one of the 13 African countries that shared 1.1 billion Euros from the European Union for health security and health systems strengthening.
To win the confidence of one of its best donors, this government, which has trivialised the pandemic for several months, especially towards the end of the president’s disputed third term, should therefore make a greater effort today, in this health sector and elsewhere, according to analysts.
Timid actions to start
After 40 cases and then about 100 cases of people infected with COVID-19 were reported in the space of three days, the Burundian government decided to make it mandatory for public transport users to wear masks. “For those who find themselves at bus stops without masks, they can buy them on the spot,” said the spokesperson for the Ministry of the Interior, Community Development and Public Security in a press briefing on Tuesday. In addition to hand washing with soap, which has become mandatory, physical distancing should also be scrupulously respected in places of large gatherings, especially in churches, insisted Pierre Nkurikiye. Some state institutions have also required the wearing of masks to obtain a service. These include the Bujumbura town hall and the Office Burundais de Recettes, OBR.
But the borders between Burundi and Tanzania remain “open”
The land borders between Burundi and Tanzania have always been the exception when all others were officially closed at the beginning of the pandemic. Although a communiqué from the national committee for the fight against COVID-19, which took effect on Monday, states that all land and sea borders in Burundi are closed, the Burundian-Tanzanian borders are only closed to those who come from far away. “Most of those who bring the coronavirus here are not those people who live on the other side of the border. It is mainly those people who come from far away countries by plane and continue their travels by road from Dar-Es-Salam, Arusha or Kigoma,” said Minister of Public Health Thaddée Ndikumana before asking these travellers to pass through Melchior Ndadaye International Airport to enter Burundi. “Burundians and Tanzanians will continue to travel back and forth across our common borders while respecting the barrier measures,” explained the vice-president of the national committee for the fight against COVID-19. However, some analysts believe that the measures reluctantly taken by the Burundian government are not enough to protect the population against COVID-19.
It may be the vaccine that saves the Burundian people
The recent clumsy remarks by the government in Gitega on the pandemic in general and its vaccine in particular date back to 30 December 2020. Responding to a journalist’s question during a public conference in Ngozi, President Evariste Ndayishimiye said that Burundi was somehow immune to COVID-19. “We cannot be the first to go and get the vaccine because we have discovered the real vaccine. In any case, Burundi cannot rush to claim the vaccine because we do not need it more than others. Let’s wait and see how things develop. In Burundi, God is with us because when you catch the coronavirus, you are treated and cured. By the way, three white people fled COVID-19 at home and we welcomed them in our country. Two of them tested positive for the coronavirus. They are now cured after treatment and have decided to stay here. The third one did not have the coronavirus but he applied to stay in our country for 18 months. You understand that our strategies to fight COVID-19 are our vaccine,” replied the President of the Republic of Burundi, while pointing out that the vaccine was expensive.
Yet Burundi is one of about 30 low-income countries eligible for the COVAX mechanism, the global initiative to ensure rapid and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all countries, regardless of their income level.
On 8 January, WHO lamented the fact that low-income countries have yet to receive a vaccine.
That said, some analysts are confident that the Burundian government will change its tune and take the vaccine without hesitation when it becomes available.
In Burundi, the government claims that so far only 2 people have died of COVID-19 in the country. But some media outlets, including RPA, have reported several deaths of people with COVID-19 symptoms since the start of the pandemic.
The Catholic Church also disagrees with the figures presented by the Burundian government. The Catholic Church was already talking about ten cases of deaths linked to COVID-19 as of 23 July 2020.
