Burundi to sell textiles firm, offload hotel shares

By Patrick Nduwimana

BUJUMBURA (Reuters) - Burundi will privatise the country's main textiles company and sell shares it owns in two top-end hotels, the government said on Thursday.

COTEBU, the textiles firm, declared bankruptcy and halted operations in 2007. It previously employed about 1,800 people and exported some of its products to neighbouring Rwanda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Jean Marie Nzomukunda, the head of a government board in charge of privatisations, said a Belgian consultancy firm was studying COTEBU and would hand over its findings soon.

"After the report, we will then proceed to an international tender," Nzomukunda told Reuters.

The central African country also plans to sell its 54 percent stake in the Hotel Source Du Nil, he said, and its 20 percent stake in Bujumbura's Novotel Hotel.

On Monday, officials said Burundi also planned to privatise its main state-owned telecoms company ONATEL.

"The state should withdraw from business matters and deal with key development projects like roads, infrastructure and energy," Nzomukunda said.

Industry in the coffee-growing country was hammered by more than a decade of ethnic civil war that killed 300,000 people.

The government is now trying to revive the economy by reforming laws to give more incentives to private investors.