More than 150,000 people have died since 1993 in Burundi's civil war, twice the estimated number of casualties in Algeria's civil war over the same period. Yet there is just one foreign correspondent, from Reuters, in the country.
For most aid agencies and many international organisations, Burundi is simply too dangerous. The EU delegation and USAID buildings lie empty. The Red Cross pulled out two years ago after three of its staff were murdered. Concern has had two vehicles stolen at gunpoint in the past two months. In the first robbery, a guard was fatally wounded.
The Tutsi-controlled regime is highly suspicious of outsiders. Foreigners are closely monitored and their programmes subjected to heavy-handed bureaucracy. An atmosphere of paranoia pervades the capital, Bujumbura.
A former Belgian colony, Burundi has been crippled by bouts of ethnic massacres since independence in 1962. As in Rwanda, the population consists of 15 per cent Tutsis, who have traditionally dominated the military, the economy and politics, and 85 per cent Hutus, who account for the majority of the rural poor.
The latest round of violence was started in October 1993 with the assassination of the country's first democratically elected president, a Hutu, by Tutsi paratroopers. Following a coup, in which Maj Pierre Buyoya took power in July 1996, sanctions were imposed on Burundi by its neighbours.
The opposition forces in the National Council for the Defence of Democracy say they do not attack civilians and have blamed the Burundian army for the massacre of Hutus. However, both sides stand accused of grievous human rights violations.
There are signs now that sanctions may be lifted or eased. Eritrea has already decided to ignore them, and Rwanda has signalled its intention to follow suit. A peace initiative led by the former Tanzanian president, Mr Julius Nyerere, has made little progress. Most observers expect the killings to continue.