Musasa River

Musasa River
Native name	Rivière Musasa (French)
Location
Country	Burundi
Physical characteristics
Mouth	Muyovozi River
• coordinates	3.98831°S 30.079549°E / -3.98831; 30.079549

The Musasa River (French: Rivière Musasa) is a river in the Rutana Province of Burundi. It is a right tributary of the Muyovozi River, which in turn is a left tributary of the Malagarasi River.

Course

The Musasa rises in the east of Bururi Province, to the southeast of the town of Rutovu. The Cikinga Falls are in the upper reaches of the river. It flows east through Rutana Province, southeast past Gitanga, then due east to marshes at the junction of the RN8 and RN11 highways near Kisenga. It continues east through marshes where it joins the Muyovozi River from the right.

Flooding

There are often annual floods in the Malagarazi swamp due to fluctuations in the level of the Musasa River.

In December 2021 the President of the National Platform for Risk Prevention and Disaster Management visited the site where the Kajeke River bed was being redeveloped in Gihanga Commune by Oxfam with European Union funding. After the bed had been redeveloped, grasses and trees would be planted to stabilize the banks. Oxfam planned to undertake a similar project on the Musasa River.

Infrastructure

In January 2018 work was suspended on rehabilitating the bridge over the Musasa River between the Kazeba and Kiremba collines in the Gitanga Zone. Reinforcing bars, cement and stones had been stolen. The result was to greatly increase the cost of goods brought via the bridge to the Commune of Gitanga.

In December 2018 the government of Burundi issued a request for tenders for hydro-agricultural works in the Musasa marsh, which covers 142 hectares (350 acres) in the Commune of Gitanga and Commune of Bukemba, both in Rutana Province. The marsh is downstream from an old weir, which was destroyed by floods in 2015, and runs along the left bank of the river up to the RP405 road.

The Musama dam is on the Musama River in the Musasa marshes of Bugiga colline in the Commune of Bukemba. It was destroyed in 2020, and for three years over 800 households were unable to cultivate rice in the marshes. In March 2023 Gervais Ndirakobuca, Prime Minister of Burundi, visited the site to inspect the dam, which had been rehabilitated by the TUBEHONEZA project funded by the European Union.

See also

• List of rivers of Burundi

Sources

• Bigirimana, Anatole; Kisekelwa, Tchalondawa; da Costa, Luis M.; Muzumani, Donatien R.; Mulelenu, Christian Mukweze; Abwe, Emmanuel; Banyankimbona, Gaspard; Vreven, Emmanuel (2024), "An Updated Checklist of the Fishes from the Upper Malagarazi (Lake Tanganyika Basin) in Burundi: Implications for an under Implementation Malagarazi Nature Reserve", Diversity, 16 (7: 417), doi:10.3390/d16070417
• Gakiza, Dorine (10 March 2023), "Rutana:le 1er ministre visite le barrage d'iririgation de musama", Radio Télévision Nationale du Burundi (in French), retrieved 2024-08-24
• Nkurunziza, Dieudonné (23 December 2021), "La rivière Kajeke bientôt rétablie dans son lit", Radio Télévision Nationale du Burundi (in French), retrieved 2024-08-24
• Ntiranyibagira, Damase (28 December 2018), Avis d'appel d'offres international ouvert No DNCMP 48/T/2018-2019 (PDF) (in French), Ministry of Agriculture, retrieved 2024-08-24
• "Rutana : L'arrêt des travaux du pont de la rivière Musasa paralyse la commune Gitanga", Radio Publique Africaine (in French), 14 February 2018, retrieved 2024-08-24
• Sunzu Ntigambirizwa, Salvator (August 2009), Etudes de vulnerabilite et d’adaptation aux changements climatiques (PDF) (in French), Bujumbura: Ministère de l’Eau, de l’Environnement, de l’Aménagement du Territoire et de l’Urbanisme, retrieved 2024-08-24
• "Way: Musasa (308088714)", OpenStreetMap, retrieved 2024-08-24