BURUNDIAN president Pierre Buyoya on Saturday announced in a Labour Day speech in Bujumbura the reduction by half of citizens’ contributions to the National Solidarity Fund. All civil servants have contributed 6% of their monthly salaries while farmers and craftsmen gave 1,000 Burundian francs yearly to the fund as part of Burundi’s “war effort” since January 1997. The government took the decision six months after Burundi’s neighbours imposed economic sanctions on it in demand for a return to constitutional rule, following Buyoya’s seizure of power in a military coup.
MENINGITIS OUTBREAK IN SUDAN
THE international Red Cross on Monday described as “furious” the spread of meningitis in the seven worst-affected states in eastern Sudan where more than one million people are at risk of catching the disease. The Sudanese Red Crescent, supported by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has vaccinated more than 2,2 million people against the disease, but the vaccination campaign needed to be extended to cover another 1,19 million. Countrywide, official reports estimate that there have been 16,591 meningitis cases and 1236 deaths mainly among children and young adults.
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