The Burundians who fled the civil war in their country after 1993 are coming back. Until recently, there was still sporadic armed violence in the hills around the capital of Bujumbura, allegedly perpetrated by the one remaining rebel group which has not signed on to the peace agreement of 2004, but earlier this month the final signatories were put on the page, reports Relief Web.

The European Union (EU), a major donor to Burundi, has asked the government to investigate claims of corruption and forgery in an EU-funded programme that was set up in 2001 to rehabilitate infrastructure in the country that is emerging from 12 years of civil war. The EU's contribution to Burundi accounts for 50 percent of the country's donor aid.

Following recent drought in northern Burundi, which adversely affected the region's vegetation cover, the government has drawn a plan of action to combat desertification. The plan, whose date of implementation was not disclosed, seeks the rehabilitation of agriculture and the sustainable management of degraded land with the aim of reducing drought-linked food insecurity.

Refugees in Burundi have called for the killers of 160 people at a camp there two years ago to face justice. The refugees -- Banyamulenge Tutsis -- had fled to Burundi to escape warfare in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Burundian government is detaining rather than rehabilitating former child soldiers associated with the rebel National Liberation Forces, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper released on the annual Day of the African Child.