The pursuit of peace is a noble calling. Substantial resources are invested in war‟s aftermath,
but sustainable socio-economic development doesn‟t occur without peace and stability. Donors
have reached consensus on good practice on a host of peacebuilding challenges, yet the
approach to civilian disarmament in Burundi affirms that lessons of the past have not been
learned. A brief civilian disarmament campaign had modest results. Prospects for additional
disarmament are dim. There is little awareness in Burundi programming of OECD / DAC
Guidelines or other documented good practice on security-related issues. This report provides a
“report card” on the performance of donor and NGO programming on civilian disarmament in
Burundi (see Table 8.1) and provides a sobering assessment of how lessons are not learned.
Institutional capacity-building of the national civilian disarmament authority is critical, and linked
to issues of national ownership, better harmonization and coordination between actors, inclusion
of youth and rebel associates, and meaningful involvement of civil society organizations.
Reintegration has largely failed, and future activities need to be based on established good
policy and practice if sustainable peace is to be found.