Burundi’s state employees went back to work on Monday, ending an unprecedented two-week general strike and months of protests by the small Central African nation’s public sector.
“We met on Saturday and decided to tell civil servants to go back to work as early as Monday, because the government has finally accepted to launch a framework for dialogue,” said Burundi’s top union leader Tharcisse Gahungu.
Primary school teachers, medical workers and central administration employees heeded the call and returned to work on Monday morning, according to state-owned radio.
“The strike wouldn’t have lasted that long had the government refrained from jailing unionists and accepted from the outset to sit at the negotiating table,” Gahungu added.
The country’s first general strike started on December 3, with civil servants complaining that the government was failing to honour pay hike pledges made by President Pierre Nkurunziza six months ago.
The general strike was followed by 90% of civil servants and preceded by several other smaller stoppages, further crippling the economy of a country slowly recovering from a long civil war. – AFP