Since July 5, gasoline cost has gone up in Uvira, in the province of South Kivu, eastern DRC. A liter costs 8,000 Congolese francs, up from 3000 francs. For good reason, Burundian citizens, in the economic capital Bujumbura, where lie the central administration and the United Nations agencies are concentrated, no longer have other option than going to get supply in Congo, fuel not being found in Bujumbura.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

For several months, Burundians have been going to the Kavimvira border to buy fuel that cannot be found in the small East African nation.

But one fact is slowing down the supply. The Bujumbura-Uvira road remains flooded by the waters of Lake Tanganyika and the Nyagara River and street vendors cannot satisfy the growing demand. So the Burundians decided to cross the border with Congo to fuel their cars at the Uvira’s service stations. Fuel trade in cans at the border continues too.

Since July 4, an SOS Médias Burundi reporter has noticed a new fact in this town in eastern Congo: most service stations no longer have gasoline and those that do have increased its price.

In the meantime, street vendors remain in competition.

“In Mulongwe, Kasenga and Kakungwe, at some gas stations which still had fuel, we could see Congolese and Burundians sitting with cans waiting for the fuel that they will sell at the border or on Burundian territory,” noted the SOS Médias Burundi reporter.

Jeanne Furaha traveled several kilometers to buy fuel in Congo. This Burundian widow testifies: “we were buying a 20 liter can of gasoline for 65,000 Congolese francs in recent days, today it is sold for 76,000, even 80,000,” she says.

Street fuel sellers load gasoline on a street in Uvira, July 2024

The price of transport tickets has also increased. It has doubled for buses and motorcycle taxis.

Amani Freddy is no stranger to motorcycle racing. For a trip normally billed at 1000 francs, he said he paid 2000 on Friday July 5.

“We ask our authorities to prevent Burundians from coming to stock up on fuel here because they are the ones who created this increase,” he said angrily, when we met him in the Nyamianda neighborhood as he was about to depart to Mulongwe.

The local representative of the association of fuel importers affirms that the shortage of petroleum products is caused by the strong Burundian demand but would not like “access to Uvira be refused to Burundian customers”.

City dwellers in the economic capital Bujumbura in particular obtain their fuel from Uvira or in the province of Cibitoke in the northwest of the country where fuel is introduced via the Rusizi River separating Burundi and the DRC.

One of the two other countries bordering Burundi to which residents of border regions turn to to « breathe a little » is Tanzania, those in areas bordering Rwanda, a bad neighbor according to President Évariste Ndayishimiye, being doubly penalized following the closure of the borders by the Burundian authorities.

It is difficult for the moment to hope for an end to the fuel crisis given the Burundian authorities, including the head of state, prefer to « refer to God, blame Satan » and reproach the Burundians for being « impatient and ungrateful » instead of « convening an international conference or round table on the fuel crisis in order to take emergency measures », as advised by Burundian activists campaigning for good governance.

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A fuel sales point in the town of Uvira, July 2024