This paper assesses the impact of the demobilization, reinsertion
and reintegration program in post-war Burundi. Two
major rebel groups benefited from cash and in-kind transfers,
the CNDD-FDD from 2004, and the FNL from 2010.
A panel data of households collected in 2006 and 2010 is
combined with official records from the National Commission
for Demobilization, Reinsertion and Reintegration.
Regression analysis shows that the cash payments received
by FNL demobilized households had a positive impact on
consumption, nonfood spending and investments. The
program also generated positive spillovers in the villages
where FNL combatants returned. Ex-combatants indeed
spent a large part of their allowance on consumption
goods and clothing, thereby generating a short-run economic
boom in villages. However, the long-run evolution
of consumption indicators is negative for CNDD-FDD
households, as well as for villages where CNDD-FDD
combatants returned, suggesting that the direct impact
and the spillovers of the program vanished in the long run.