Burundi : the fuel crisis far from being resolved

After more than 18 months of fuel crisis, the Burundian authorities give no hope. They announce measures which don’t last. Activists themselves, propose that a round table on the issue be convened. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

In Burundi, resignation and habit join when it comes to the fuel crisis. People must be accustomed to the lack, to the shortage of fuel, but also and above all to the lies or the loopholes of the authorities who keep saying that “Burundi’s stocks are full” in Dar-es-Salaam (Tanzania).

The same “truth” was repeated this Thursday by President Ndayishimiye’s spokesperson.

“There are unpatriotic importers parking their tank trucks at home and refuse to bring fuel from Tanzania. They are not above the law and untouchable. The authorized services are at work and these lost children will be able to face justice at any time,” President Évariste Ndayishimiye’s spokesperson, Rosine Guilène Gatoni, said Thursday during a public broadcast by state institutions’ spokespersons from Muramvya, central Burundi.

According to him, the government will analyze the possibility of buying its own tank trucks and is preparing to create stocks on Burundian territory. Again, no deadline was given.

For the experts, the question is very complicated that it requires a round table.

“It’s a problem that goes on. We have become a laughing stock. Burundians want to have and see fuel here and not in stocks in Dar-es-Salaam. Even Congo, a country in crisis which we are helping in matter of security has no problem importing fuel,” said Faustin Ndikumana, president of PARCEM, an NGO that campaigns for good governance.

The majority of analysts estimate that the fuel crisis is rather caused by bad management and the currency shortage.