Peace in idle hands: the prospects and pitfalls of economic recovery in Burundi

This report examines how the international community has contributed to the reintegration of former fighters and other high-risk groups into normal economic life in Burundi, and what the prospects are for shifting aid away from emergency relief towards long-term development in one of Africa's poorest countries. The field-based study analyses a host of stabilisation programmes sponsored by bilateral and multilateral donors, and shows how pockets of the population remain angry, isolated and devoted to a life of subsistence. In the wake of the controversial election season in 2010, with Burundi now forming part of the East African Community's common market, the report invites serious reflection over what can be done to solve the deep economic roots of conflict in the country. Above all, it calls for the intermediate levels of economic life, including transport, vocational skills, administrative capacity and private finance, to be strengthened in a concerted bid to help Burundi create employment.