Scarcity and SurfeitDRC after the death of President Desire Kabila and the accession of his son,
Joseph, the DRC government has committed to disbanding and demobilising
the forces which it had supported on its land, including Burundian Hutu
groups. This has created pressure for the rebels to move back into Burundi,
but with their arms and their intention to win the conflict intact. The uncer-
tainty of this situation, also given the slow and complex progress of the
Lusaka process in the DRC, is likely to destabilise Burundi and the whole
region for some time, if the peace processes cannot be coordinated.
In sum, the conflict resolution attempts to date are far from achieving the
conditions for a 'positive peace' which would allow for a transformation of
the structural underlying causes of the ~onflict.'~ The longer the conflict con-
tinues, the more Burundi's population, environment, and economy will suf-
fer, making reconstruction ever more difficult and fraught with competition
for ever-shrinking resources. At the time of the accession of the interim gov-
ernment, the Arusha peace agreement has not even managed to provide the
citizens of Burundi with a 'negative peace', a respite from violence, from
which a trajectory towards a positive peace might be found.
Overview of the Environment
Burundi has been described as the 'Switzerland of Africa'?O Its undulating
landscape is punctuated by rich and fertile soils and its hills by cold temper-
atures for most of the year. Burundi lies in the Great Rift Valley belt, with
agriculturally rich volcanic soils. The country's " ... geography, climate and
ecology are characterized by impressive heterogeneity."*l No wonder then
that cash crops like tea and coffee thrive in certain areas of the country.
Burundi has, until recently, been self-sufficient in food prod~ction.8~
Land occupies in excess of 90% of the country's 27 834 square kilometre
total surface area. Lake Tanganyika and small rivers occupy the rest. The
Imbo plain along Lake Tanganyika accounts for 7% of the total land area. The
Imbo plain is between 700 and 1 000 metres high, with relatively fertile soils.
There is then the central plateau, (1 500-1 900 m high) which covers the
widest part of the country, accounting for 52% of the total land area. Many
rivers and streams cascade across the central plateau, making the landscape
a series of slopped hills and narrow valleys. Soil fertility varies, but is con-
stantly decreasing because of demographic pressure.
A chain of high mountains in the western part of Burundi directs the flow
of water in two directions: towards the Congo River to the west and the Nile
River to the east. This mountainous chain takes 15 % of the total land area
and is between 1 900 and 2 GO0 metres above sea level. Soil fertility is good
in valleys but poor on eroded hillsides. There is, additionally, the Kumoso
depression along the Burundi-Tanzanian border, and the Bugesera depression