Catching up with local partners

These last five days have given me a good opportunity to meet our local partners face to face and find out more about the situation in each country.

Burundi is about to go through a chain of elections beginning in May and running until September. The situation is peaceful at the moment but people are apprehensive. Our Burundian Partners are working hard to ensure that the elections are peaceful and fair.

In the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo – which has experienced many months of violent unrest – the situation has improved. Armed militias have been pushed deep into the forest by the Congelese army, many roads are now safe to travel and violence against ordinary people is on the decrease.

In Rwanda – a country that was brought to its knees by bloody ethnic genocide 15 years ago – the GACACA process is coming to an end. Gacaca are traditional community courts where those accused of taking part in the genocide ask forgiveness from the people they committed their crimes against before serving time in prison. This process allows people on both sides of the conflict to come to terms with what has happened and work towards a lasting peace.