To the People of Burundi

I returned from Burundi at the end of March. While there, I interviewed many men and women, widows, orphans, ex-combatants, internally-displaced people, etc. To a person, they each held out hope for a peaceful Burundi but in the near term, they expected renewed conflict.

On April 19, the opposition rebels attacked the capital and six other areas. My heart goes out to the orphan whose dream is to be a mechanic, to the women who fear rape, to the ex-combatants who are trying to develop a fish farm, to the IDPs who would rather leave the country than return to their original homelands -- and everyone else who lives in that beautiful country.