The European Union (EU), through its partners, has announced the resumption of its financial aid to Burundi.
The EU says this was after what it calls progress made by Burundi’s current President, Evariste Ndayishimiye improving the climate of freedom of expression and good governance in the country.
The EU ambassador Claude Bochu pledged to the Burundian head of state that the bloc’s judicial and financial institutions would no longer suspend their financial aid.
The European Union will fund the rehabilitation of the port of Bujumbura, in collaboration with the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Brussels had suspended its financial aid in 2016, after a political crisis caused by the third term of late President Pierre Nkurunziza, who died on 8 June 2020 of a heart attack, according to a statement from the Burundian State House.
Nkurunziza’s controversial candidacy for a third term had plunged his country into chaos with summary executions, disappearances, arbitrary detentions and cases of torture targeting activists and opponents being the order of the day.
CD/fss/as/APA