Purge keeps fragile peace in Burundi after coup talk
Burundi President Evariste Ndayishimiye holds a stick, the symbol of power, during his swearing-in in Gitega on June 18, 2020. The former military man promised to craft a new Burundi that will be respected world over. PHOTO | AFP
The manner in which Burundian deputies dispatched Alain Guillaume Bunyoni from the premiership on Wednesday was ruthless but not surprising. It was a unanimous 113-0 vote to impeach him and President Evariste Ndayishimiye promptly replaced him with Gervais Ndirakobuca. Power abhors a vacuum.
Ndirakobuca, a lieutenant-general, is a former rebel who fled from school after the assassination of the first democratically elected president Melchior Ndadaye in 1993. He joined a rebel group which morphed into Burundi’s ruling party in 2005, the CNDD-FDD party.
