Burundi: Retired general soon to lead the country

28 Mai 2020

Bujumbura, Burundi, May 27 (Infosplusgabon) - Evariste Ndayishimiye (52), a retired general, will take command of the Burundian state on 26 August after defeating his opponents in the 20 May presidential election by nearly 69% of the votes cast.

In order to govern a country that has been going off course since the previous controversial elections in 2015, the military virtues will not be too much of a burden, especially a discipline and rigour, according to analysts in Bujumbura.

This military spirit came back to him during the election campaign, when he proclaimed himself "commander in chief of development", once the reins of power were in his hands.

The future Burundian number One citizen, a native of Gitega, the new political capital of central Burundi, has a revenge to take on his past life.

As a student at Bujumbura's public university in the law faculty, he was forced to flee after inter-ethnic killings on campus at the height of the widespread civil war in 1993.

The young survivor joined the National Council for the Defence of Democracy/Forces for the Defence of Democracy (CNDD-FDD), then in the maquis.

Many young students like him abandoned their studies to join the maquis in reaction to the assassination of the first democratically elected Hutu president, Melchior Ndadaye, in a putsch orchestrated by Tutsi elements of the Burundian army.

The young fighter quickly climbed the military ladder in the maquis and resurfaced when the time came to negotiate a ceasefire with loyalist forces weakened by a decade of fierce fighting.

The chief rebel negotiator will end up as deputy commander of the new National Defence Forces and Veterans (FDNAC), with the rank of general.

He was subsequently appointed Minister of the Interior and Public Security, and then military chief of staff to the presidency of the republic until 2015.

In August 2016, he resigned from the Burundian armed forces to take over the leadership of the ruling party.

On 26 January, an extraordinary congress designated him as the CNDD-FDD candidate for the presidential election.

In his inaugural speech, he surprised people by saying that he was designated by the divine will, referring, among other messengers, to a white dove that had landed on his wife's head shortly before.

Reputed to be open-minded, friendly, dialogue-loving and without ethnic leanings, these qualities will undoubtedly be useful to the future tenant of the Presidential Palace "Ntare Rugamba", named after the last conqueror monarch of Burundi.

Among the main challenges awaiting him is the repatriation of the thousands of refugees from the 2015 electoral crisis.

The other major challenge is the restoration of cooperation with the traditional technical and financial partners who have turned their backs on Burundi following the political and human rights crisis of the past five years.

In this area of diplomacy, there is an urgent need to normalize the particularly bad relations with Rwanda.

These relations paralyse the exchange of goods and people between the two closest neighbours in the Great Lakes region.

On the other hand, the future president is already assured of the benevolence of other distant and historically influential countries in Burundi, notably the United States of America and Belgium, which have welcomed elections "less problematic" than those of 2015.

The outgoing president, Pierre Nkurunziza, is presented as being at the source of the political crisis of 2015 for having disregarded the Constitution, by seeking a third five-year term deemed "too much", even in his own camp.

The election of his successor has been acted upon by a number of Burundian political actors who, in turn, expect a significant change in the way the country is governed.

General Ndayishimiye was declared the clear winner of the 20 May presidential election, with 68.72% of the votes cast, far ahead of the historical opponent, Agathon Rwasa (24.19%).

He also secured a parliamentary majority with an equally overwhelming victory for the ruling party (72 of the 100 seats) in the 20 May parliamentary elections.

FIN/ INFOSPLUSGABON/AOD/GABON2020

© Copyright  Infosplusgabon