Secretary General, Evariste Ndayishimiye (52) |
Bujumbura, BURUNDI
Burundi’s ruling party, the CNDD-FDD, on Sunday
picked Secretary General, Evariste Ndayishimiye, as its candidate in a
presidential election scheduled for May.
Ndayishimiye,
52, is a retired army general who also heads the department of military affairs
in the president’s office and has served as minister of the interior and
security.
Current
President Pierre Nkurunziza will not seek re-election.
Ndayishimiye,
who hails from the central Burundi province of Gitega, promised to carry on with
the current government’s programs if elected.
“This
is not a new start,” he told a party congress in the town of Gitega after
Nkurunziza announced he would be the candidate.
“Much
has been done ... we want that by 2027 every Burundian citizen sees change at
his home, in his neighborhood, in his district or where he works.”
CNDD-FDD
grandees said they settled on Ndayishimiye after he met the required
conditions, including understanding Burundi’s violent history, respect for
former combatants and a vision for developing the country.
He
will face off with the opposition Frodebu and CNL parties in the May 20
election. Nkurunziza promised to campaign for him “with all our force and
intelligence”.
This
is the first time that an outgoing Burundian president has picked his successor
peacefully, Ndayishimiye said.
The
East African nation of 11 million people has suffered colonial occupation,
civil war and decades of intermittent massacres.
Nkurunziza
and Ndayishimiye are close allies who started out in the CNDD-FDD (Council for
the Defence of Democracy-Force for the Defence of Democracy) as rebels in the
1990s.
Nkurunziza
became president in 2005 after a peace deal was signed in Tanzania.
His
decision to run for a third, five-year term in 2015 sparked widespread protests
and violence. His party has welcomed his decision to stand down, conferring on
him the title of “Supreme Guide of Patriotism” and lavish perks including a
villa worth $530,000.
Burundi
is one of the world’s poorest countries and lost donor funding after the
violence following the 2015 election.
In
September, the United Nations warned that police, security forces and the
ruling party’s youth league, the Imbonerakure, were committing serious human
rights violations.
Those
included killings, disappearances, torture and gang rape of alleged political
opponents. Burundi condemned the accusations.
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