Evariste Ndikumwami, 55, residing in the Burundian capital Bujumbura, said he had been smoking for 30 years, but gave up smoking in January after taking herbal drugs prescribed by an abbot.

    "I had been smoking since my teenage and I gave up smoking in January (this year) after I took herbal drugs that I got from a Roman Catholic priest from Uganda working at Rugari parish in the province of Muyinga, some 210 km northeast of the Burundian capital Bujumbura," Ndikumwami told Xinhua.

    Ndikumwami said he used to smoke a pack of 20 cigarettes per day, adding that he had found it hard to give up smoking.

    He said, "I took the herbal drugs for 15 days. The abbot prescribed me two herbal drugs -- one to be smoked for five days at daytime when I desire to smoke and another one to be applied around the nostrils at night."After the medication period, he never felt the desire for smoking cigarettes, he said.

    "When my friends realized I was no longer smoking, they asked me which drugs I took to give up smoking. I directed them to the abbot who had healed me and they also got cured and stopped smoking," Ndikumwami said.

    He said at least 100 out of 120 smokers who consulted the abbot since January gave up smoking.

    "The remaining 20 smokers failed to give up smoking because they didn't finish the prescribed dose," according to Ndikumwami.

    Alain Ndyakarika, 28, still smoking said he is to start taking the herbal drug late this week.

    "I'm prepared to start taking the drug on Friday. Its price is 10,000 Burundi francs (8 U.S. dollars) and I have been told it's efficient," Ndyakarika told Xinhua.

    He said he sometimes has breathing problems because he smokes almost a packet of cigarettes per day.

    Ndyakarika said, "Some people in addition fear me because I smell the smoke of a cigarette. I also use a lot of money on cigarettes while my salary is small."A packet of cigarettes approximately costs BiF 1,000 (almost 1 dollar).

    Burundi's PARCEM organization advocating change of mentalities, in a press release, urged the Burundian government to set up a national strategy against tobacco, implement the convention on the fight against tobacco and forbid people from smoking in public.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)