Burundi - September 2022

With the support of the country’s parliament, Burundi’s President Evariste Ndayishimiye sacked his Prime Minister, Alain Bunyoni, and cabinet chief, General Gabriel Nizigama, after alleging a coup plot by unnamed individuals. Fifty-four provincial police commissioners were also sacked or redeployed. It was reported that all those who were purged were loyalists of Ndayishimiye’s deceased predecessor, Pierre Nkurunziza, with Bunyoni having served as Nkurunziza’s police chief. Ndayishimiye’s relationship with Bunyoni had grown increasingly acrimonious in recent months, with some commentators attributing this to the fact that the Prime Minister’s business activities have been targeted as part of the President’s anti-corruption campaign. Burundi’s security agencies have a long history of involvement in the country’s politics, which has experienced numerous coups and coup attempts, including a coup attempt in 2015. Commentators have suggested that the purge is unlikely to end tensions between the President and powerful securocrats.

Sources: The East African (1), The East African (2), Al Jazeera, Africa Confidential

The UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation on Burundi reported that the country’s situation had not substantially or sustainably improved since 2018 when, during its Universal Periodic Review, it accepted recommendations to combat impunity and establish a transparent and fair judicial system. He urged Burundi to do more to fight against impunity for abuses committed since 2015, when a failed coup attempt triggered a period of violent repression by the government of the then President Pierre Nkurunziza. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), an NGO, human rights abuses (including killings, torture and arbitrary detention) have continued to be widely perpetrated by state actors since Nkurunziza’s succession by President Evariste Ndayishimiye in 2020. HRW has contrasted these abuses with the “positive portrayal” of Burundi’s human rights situation by the international community, which has pursued a rapprochement policy with Ndayishimiye’s government.     

Sources: UN, Human Rights Watch (1), Human Rights Watch (2)