Pérouse de Montclos, Marc-Antoine <br/><br/>
On the Impartiality of Humanitarian Aid Operators and Their Beneficiaries’ Perception of Them: Political Issues Behind International Aid in Burundi 

 -  2006.<br/>							 
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<br/><br/> This article takes as starting point a satisfaction survey conducted in Burundi in 2005 in the displaced persons camps of Muyange and Nyabigina near the Tanzanian border, to examine the perception beneficiaries of international aid have of humanitarian operators. It looks at the impartiality and mode of assessment of operators who are both judge and judged regarding the quality of their services. In countries in deep crisis, international aid intervenes in situations fraught with economic and political tensions. Redistribution of this aid represents a considerable strategic issue for the authorities, offering an opportunity to build up clienteles and power networks, both at national and local levels. However, in Burundi, the beneficiaries of aid are not taken in by the neutrality of the NGOs. In a context where corruption is rife, they emphasize that the embezzlement and misappropriation of incoming humanitarian resources by local notables in fact reinforces social inequalities.