Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
UKMTO says vessel reported a small craft colliding with it, attempting to collide with other vessels in the area
UKMTO says it received a report of an incident 80NM northwest of jebel Ali, UAE
Israeli Foreign Minister says 'Israel' fully endorses Trump plan for Gaza aid: Reuters
Iranian state media: The fourth round of nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington has kicked off in Oman
Senior Israeli intelligence official: Contacts are underway between Syria and "Israel" to retrieve the body of the spy Eli Cohen
Reuters: US and Chinese officials met again in Geneva to resume trade talks
Al Mayadeen's envoy: The process of uranium enrichment is the main obstacle in the talks
Al Mayadeen's envoy to Muscat, quoting a source in the delegation engaging in the nuclear talks: If we see that the other party deviates from the agreed-upon frameworks, we will not continue the talks
Al Mayadeen's envoy to Muscat, quoting a source in the delegation engaging in the nuclear talks: Iran is ready to reassure all parties that its nuclear program will remain peaceful
Araghchi: Iran's position on its right to a nuclear program is firm, but we are ready for greater transparency and hope that the other side's approach will be clear

Burundi president sacks PM after warning of coup plot

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 7 Sep 2022 18:14
3 Min Read

Rumors of a coup bedevil Burundi, leading him to sack the PM and a top aide.

  • x
  • Burundi's President Evariste Ndayishimiye
    Burundi's President Evariste Ndayishimiye on June 26 (Photo: Tchandrou Nitanga/AFP)

Burundi's President Evariste Ndayishimiye dismissed on Wednesday the country's prime minister Alain-Guillaume Bunyoni and a top aide after receiving warning of a "coup" plot against him.

The former army general replaced the PM, whose fate was not immediately known, and civilian chief of staff General Gabriel Nizigama on the high-drama day in the troubled central African country.

Legislators, who had been called via urgent messages sent overnight on WhatsApp to attend the National Assembly session on Wednesday, approved appointing security minister Gervais Ndirakobuca to replace Bunyoni in a unanimous 113-0 vote, the national broadcaster RTNB said.

The President gave no reasons for Bunyoni's dismissal, but warned last Friday at a meeting of government officials of a coup plot, asking, "Do you think an army general can be threatened by saying they will make a coup? Who is that person? Whoever it is should come and, in the name of God, I will defeat him."

Colonel Aloys Sindayihebura has been appointed as the new chief of staff; he was in charge of domestic intelligence within the National Intelligence Service.

2015 crackdown 

Analysts say a group of military leaders known as "the generals" hold the true political power in Burundi, and Ndayishimiye himself alluded to his isolation in a speech last year.

Related News

Burundi accuses Rwanda of plotting an attack, while Rwanda urges calm

Congo army's retreat from Bukavu sparks clashes with allied militias

Ndayishimiye, 54, came to power in June 2020 after Pierre Nkurunziza, his predecessor, died of what the Burundian authorities said was heart failure.

Nkurunziza launched a brutal crackdown on political opponents in 2015, leaving 1,200 people dead and making Burundi a global pariah.

The turmoil erupted after he had launched a bid for a third term in office, which the opposition considered unconstitutional and violating a peace agreement that ended Burundi's 2006 bloody civil war.

Sanctions were imposed by the United States and the European Union over the unrest that also drove 400,000 people to leave the country, with reports of torture, killings, arbitrary arrests, and enforced disappearances.

Among those the US sanctioned in 2015 for "silencing those opposed" to Nkurunziza's third term bid was Ndirakobuca.

Burundi has been greatly affected by an economic crisis since the unrest, with shortages of basic goods such as fuel, building materials, medicines, and certain foodstuffs, in addition to a lack of foreign exchange.

In February, Belgium and the US resumed aid flows after easing the 2015 sanctions, citing political progress under Ndayishimiye.

'Civil society groups' returned, the BBC was allowed to broadcast again and the European Union, Burundi's largest foreign donor, applauded efforts to fight corruption.

Nonetheless, concerns over rights abuses remain. In May, Human Rights Watch described politically motivated crimes and kidnappings by police and youth groups backed by the state, while a UN inquiry characterized the situation as "disastrous" last year.

Since the country's independence in 1962, its history has been rocked by a string of presidential assassinations, ethnic massacres, and coups. It was gripped by the brutal civil war between 1993 and 2006 between the majority. Hutus and minority Tutsis left some 300,000 people dead, the majority of which were civilians.

  • Burundi
  • Gervais Ndirakobuca
  • Alain-Guillaume Bunyoni
  • Coup D'etat

Most Read

Trump cut off contact with Netanyahu, senior Israeli official says

Trump cut off contact with Netanyahu: Israeli media

  • US & Canada
  • 9 May 2025
Pakistan downs an Indian jet and hits a military base in Kashmir escalation.

Pakistan downs 3 Indian jets, hits military base in Kashmir escalation

  • Politics
  • 7 May 2025
A Yemeni gunman walks past paintings depicting rockets and scenes in solidarity with Gaza, displayed on a roadside fence in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, May 5, 2025 (AP)

Oman brokers US-Yemen ceasefire, Israelis in dark regarding deal

  • Politics
  • 6 May 2025
Saree

Yemeni Armed Forces target key Israeli sites, USS Truman

  • MENA
  • 7 May 2025

Coverage

All
Gaza prevails against genocide

Read Next

All
Lindsay Hoyle kept nearly 300 gifts as Commons Speaker
Politics

300 gifts later, Speaker Hoyle sparks questions on MPs gifts rules

Echoes of nuclear safety in the age of artificial super intelligence
Technology

AI firms urged to calculate catastrophe odds like Oppenheimer

UK Lawyers for Israel under fire over Gaza obesity remarks
Europe

Advocacy group slammed for calling Gaza starvation a fix for obesity

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., speaks with an officer demanding she be let into the ICE Detention office after the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Friday, May 9, 2025, in Newark, N.J. (AP)
Politics

Tensions escalate: DHS may arrest Congress members over ICE incident

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS