- EDITOR’S BRIEF: The arrest of former Prime Minister Alain-Guillaume Bunyoni in Burundi highlights the ongoing political instability in the country. Despite some progress in opening up the country, Burundi’s rights situation remains disastrous, and human rights groups continue to raise concerns about ongoing abuses by the government. The detention of Bunyoni could potentially exacerbate tensions within the ruling party and threaten the relative stability the country has achieved since the 2015 crisis.
Alain-Guillaume Bunyoni, former Prime Minister of Burundi, was arrested by authorities on the eve of his 51st birthday, seven months after his sacking in a high-level political purge. Bunyoni was in office from mid-2020 to September 2022 when he was fired in a major reshuffle after President Evariste Ndayishimiye took office. He was replaced by then interior minister Gervais Ndirakobuca after Ndayishimiye warned of a “coup” plot against him. The former police chief and minister of internal security had long been seen as de facto number two in the regime since a 2015 political crisis.
Although the international community has noted a relative opening up of the country since Ndayishimiye took office, a UN rights committee in September 2021 dubbed Burundi’s rights situation “disastrous.” Nkurunziza’s chaotic and bloody rule saw Burundi largely isolated, and the country of 12 million people remains one of the world’s poorest.
In 2015, Nkurunziza oversaw a crackdown on political opponents and made Burundi a global pariah amid turmoil after he launched a bid for a third term in office, in violation of a peace deal that ended a bloody civil war in 2006. The country saw around 300,000 people killed in 13 years of bloody ethnic fighting while around 400,000 people fled abroad amid reports of arbitrary arrests, torture, killings, and enforced disappearances.
Police and intelligence officers had searched three properties belonging to Bunyoni on Monday, but found no trace of him, according to security sources and media reports. Interior Minister Martin Niteretse told a press conference Wednesday authorities were looking for Bunyoni. A high-ranking security source told AFP on condition of anonymity, “In reality, General Bunyoni was arrested very quickly by the national intelligence service.”
The CNIDH, Burundi’s human rights commission, said it had visited Bunyoni on Saturday, adding that he “has not suffered any act of torture or any other abuse since his arrest.”
Bunyoni’s arrest highlights the continued political instability in Burundi. The country has struggled with political violence and instability since the 2015 crisis, and Bunyoni’s detention could potentially exacerbate tensions within the ruling party.
Despite some progress in opening up the country since Ndayishimiye took office, human rights groups continue to raise concerns about ongoing abuses by the government, including reports of extrajudicial killings, torture, and arbitrary arrests.
