Burundi, 2011

I

should like, first of all, to associate myself with

previous speakers in congratulating the President of the

General Assembly at its sixty-sixth session and the

members of the Bureau for their election. We would

also like to thank the President of the sixty-fifth

session for his work in presiding over the Assembly

last year.

We also take this opportunity to congratulate His

Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon on his appointment to a

second term as Secretary-General of the United

Nations. That reappointment is vivid testimony of his

successes in contributing to the promotion of

international peace and security, human rights and

sustainable development.

The process of consolidating peace in Burundi,

with the support of the United Nations, led to the

successful organization of the 2010 elections through a

process of consensus and thanks to an electoral code

that was published following consultations with all

stakeholders. That spirit of dialogue in the process of

consolidating peace, also allowed our parliament to

establish an ombudsman position and an independent

National Human Rights Commission. This same

process has allowed us to develop a second set of

instruments in our campaign against poverty, namely,

the law governing political parties, new property rights

codes, Burundi Vision 2025, a national strategy for

democratic government, and the fight against

corruption.

Genuine democracy now exists in Burundi. The

examples referred to earlier, along with maintaining

channels of communication, holding meetings with

civil society and the process of implementing

23 11-51191

transitional justice mechanisms, are all additional proof

of this fact. Burundi has opened a dialogue with

everyone. We can all note with satisfaction, then, that a

new chapter has been opened in the history of Burundi.

Democratically elected institutions have led to

peace for the first time. The people have decided what

should be done, and there has been a peaceful transfer

of power. I pay tribute to the people of Burundi for

being able to break with the tragic habits of the past, in

which the outcome of elections was not respected.

Today, the institutions that have been established are

legitimate and have the constitutional duty to protect

the people, ensure the stability of the country and

promote development.

Let us, however, have no illusions. There is still

insecurity in the aftermath of the socio-economic

reinsertion of former combatants. There are also

ongoing problems with the transitional regime, along

with a temporary decline in the economic situation of

our people, which is traceable to problems in

agriculture, climate change and a spike in prices

generally and oil.

We should not forget the fact that Burundi is a

post-conflict country. In that connection, we are

pleased by the surrender of more than 80,000 weapons,

which people have handed over. Furthermore, a

disarmament commission has been established and the

national police have begun to scout for weapons and

confiscate them from criminals.

In the area of development, Burundi is continuing

its efforts to achieve the Millennium Development

Goals. The number of children is rising, as is that for

teachers, because primary education is now free. We

have undertaken a number of reforms to train our

young people for employment. The Government has

undertaken to bring together people in villages so as to

ensure the provision of basic services such as drinking

water, energy, health care, schools and decent housing,

which facilitates reconciliation, security and job

creation. This is in addition to free health care for

children aged 5 and under and for pregnant women and

women who give birth in public health clinics.

To that end, community-level endeavours have

enabled us to build more than 2,024 schools and more

than 80 health centres and set up more than

2,000 pumps for the provision of drinking water — all

of this in three years and without any external

assistance.

Numerous development efforts are being

undertaken in several key national sectors aimed at

enhancing the lives of our people, taking advantage of

the integration of Burundi into the East African

community.

We regret the continuing security-related

incidents caused by armed bandits, land conflicts and

the presence of negative forces in certain areas of the

Great Lakes region. We were shocked by the terrible

tragedy that took place in Gatumba on 18 September

2011. On that dark night, a bloody attack took place in

a nightclub that caused the deaths of about 40 people —

children, young people, elderly people — of all ethnic

groups, genders and political leanings.

The Government reached out to the suffering

people, paying the costs of the funerals and attending

them. The Government also decided to provide

treatment for all those who were injured during the

tragedy, and a three-day period of mourning was

announced and observed.

We strongly condemn that heinous attack and

have called for an inquiry, which should be concluded

within a month. Thanks to genuine cooperation on the

part of the people, who, having demonstrated

considerable restraint, denounced those who allegedly

planned and carried out the attack, we are pleased to

say that we have made progress in the investigations.

This is yet a further reflection of the commitment

of the people of Burundi to peace, which should

reassure everyone with regard to the viability and

stability of Burundi. That act, while it calls for further

vigilance on the part of us all, should not be considered

to reflect the current state of our country; if should be

seen as an act of terrorism — an isolated incident

within the overall context of peace in our country. Such

acts of terrorism, massacres and crimes against

humanity are, unfortunately, being carried out in a

number of countries, which makes it incumbent upon

all of us firmly to combat them and bring their

perpetrators to justice.

We call on the international community to

unreservedly condemn this heinous act and to assist us

in prosecuting the masterminds and their henchmen.

We call also on the international community to support

the operationalization of the National Independent

Human Rights Commission that, in a positive step, was

recently established in Burundi.

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We take this opportunity also to note that

investigation commissions are at work to shed light on

the assassinations that have taken place in various parts

of the country. We hope that the truth about these

events will soon be known and those responsible will

be brought to justice.

Our domestic situation is satisfactory, but we

cannot but be aware of regional and international

concerns. Thus the situation in Somalia, in which

Burundi is deeply involved through its participation in

the African Union Mission in Somalia, requires

additional partners in order for the country to be

stabilized and prepared for elections. Those efforts

should be carried out in the context of international

measures to combat terrorism and also to ensure food

security.

In order to be successful in the combat against

terrorism, global governance must be able to meet that

challenge. There is therefore an urgent need for reform

of the Security Council and ongoing interaction

between the Council and the General Assembly on all

issues of global interest.

Before closing, we would like to congratulate

South Sudan on having joined the family of nations,

and we support the resolve of the Sudan and of South

Sudan to seek ways to peacefully settlement post-

referendum issues.

We would like to close by calling on the

Assembly to speed up the quest to find a balance

between development and the survival of our planet.