CIBITOKE March 27th (ABP) – The governor of Cibitoke province (northwestern Burundi), along with defense and security officials and other heads of services, was on Thursday March 22, 2018 in the Nyamakarabo zone of Mugina commune, not far from the Burundian-Rwandan border, where he held a security meeting for people on the site , especially in those days when the Burundian coffee traffic to Rwanda is denounced.
On March 6 and 20, 2018, the Nyamakarabo administration seized more than a hundred kilograms of cherry coffee on the Gitumba and Nyempundu hills, which traffickers were trying to export to Rwanda. The administration organized that tour for advice and a warning against this kind of traffic.
The governor of Cibitoke, Mr. Joseph Iteriteka, explained to the inhabitants that coffee brings a lot of foreign currency that Burundi needs for its development projects. To that fact, not giving this coffee to the Burundian traders that the province has mandated for this activity means financing the enemy, he said. In addition, Governor Iteriteka warned against any attempt at this kind of forbidden traffic. He recalled the case of 11 people from the Nyamakarabo zone who were sentenced last year to prison for exporting coffee to Rwanda.
However, the inhabitants of that zone denounce the theft made by some coffee collectors through their automatic scales and ask for their replacement. On their part, the collectors reject the allegations against them and ask rather the rehabilitation of the road connecting the headquarters of the Mugina commune and the Nyamakarabo zone. In case of rain, they are forced to deliver their coffee to the factory the next day, whereas it is against the conditions, they said.
Note that in Rwanda, a kilogram of Burundian cherry coffee would be bought at 250 Rwandan francs, equivalent of 800 Burundian francs while it is given to Burundian collectors at 600 Burundian
