Burundi: 25 foreign NGOs authorized to resume operations /update 2

Event

On Monday, November 5, the government authorized 25 foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to resume operations following a month-long suspension. It remains unclear, however, when their operations will effectively resume.

Context

On October 2, the Burundian government, following a National Security Council decision, ordered the majority of international NGOs operating in the country to cease operations for three months. The move reportedly seeks to force NGOs to comply with a law passed in January 2017 that imposes an ethnic quota for NGO workers - 60 percent Hutu and 40 percent Tutsi - as well as financial regulations. The suspension may, however, be extended beyond the original three-month period if NGOs continue to fail to comply with the law; only four of the 130 NGOs present in the country had complied as of mid-October. Eleven other NGOs have filed applications for re-registration.

The Burundian government has hinted that noncompliant NGOs would be permanently banned from the country.