In Kobero, on the Burundian border, women traders import goods from Tanzania
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Yaga Burundi
The Kobero border post, in northern Burundi, has become a key trade route, where women traders bring clothing, shoes and crates of beer from Tanzania. According to Yaga Burundi, these traders buy their goods in Kabanga, Tanzania, and must cope with the rising Tanzanian shilling.
In Burundi, women traders shuttle back and forth to Tanzania to stock their stalls, a trade that Yaga Burundi reports from Kobero, a border town in the north of the country that has become a genuine national economic lifeline. They bring in clothing, shoes or crates of beer bought in Tanzania, completing customs formalities on each crossing.
During one journey, the reporter meets a vendor selling men’s jeans bought in Kabanga, Tanzania. The rise of the Tanzanian shilling against the Burundian franc cuts into her margins, but she explains that she would rather keep going despite smaller earnings than give up her business.
