Burundi president Evariste Ndayishimiye aka Gen. Neva is on edge, with rumors of a coup everywhere. The man is sick with fear these days.
Yet there is more bad news for the peasant clown of a president.
Recently, the Somalian government announced that Burundian forces would be excluded from peacekeeping missions in Somalia. It follows a disagreement, with Burundi begging to keep more than two battalions as “peacekeepers”, while Somalia believes that one battalion is more than enough. The Ndayishimiye regime threatened to pull all its troops (as a bluff), and to their shock, Somalia agreed and even quickly issued a fairwell note!
And now, the withdrawal of Burundian peacekeeping troops in Somalia poses another serious challenge to Ndayishimiye. Thousand of Burundian troops are told that their hard earned African Union payslip merely are pending, or even that their payment will be available once they return to Bujumbura. The problem is that their salaries and indemnities are stolen by their president and his regime.
As the African Union pays in US dollars, Gen. Neva “borrows” his peacekeepers money, to import fuel through Prestige SA (his wife’s company). Already, by forcing the central bank to pay peacekeepers in Burundian Francs at a ridiculously low rate at around 2900 per dollar (instead of parallel market rate of 7600 per dollar), a peacekeeper looses about 5 million Burundians Francs for every US$ 1000. The situation becomes even more untenable when one considers the regime’s been playing a merry-go-round scam with African Union funds.
Ndayishimiye pays his peacekeepers with delays from proceeds of other peacekeepers. His foreign currency games already lead to 7 to 8 months delays in salary payments, and when the African Union stops sending checks, the house of cards will collapse. Basically and inevitably, there will be peacekeepers that will return to find zero money on their accounts.
Fearful of the reaction of troops returning from Somalia to either find no money or only a fraction of their dues, Ndayishimiye’s regime concocted a way out using the war in DR Congo. He plans to send all peacekeepers (that also happen to be creditors) to fight for “peace” in Congo. With the death toll clocking into hundreds per month within the Burundian armed forces, the Burundian junta figured a way to “delete” their debts. To add insult to injury, Ndayishimiye also charges Tshisekedi US$ 5000 per soldier fee.
Military coups in Burundi have always been about internal issues in the army. Burundian soldiers are aware of these cheap tricks by Ndayishimiye and his cronies. They know that their hard earned money in Somalia are stolen and looted in broad daylight. They are equally aware of the attempt to send them to certain death in DR Congo, without pay, while charging Tshisekedi for it.
“We are not his slaves or property”, a young officer complained recently in Bujumbura, talking with anger (but in secret) about Evariste Ndayishimiye aka Gen. Neva.
One can imagine almost the whole army (maybe with the exception of a few senior most officers) is badly peeved at Gen. Neva.
When Somalia announced that Burundian troops would no longer be amongst peacekeepers there, the man suddenly increased his security measures and embarked on a blame-game tour, in an attempt to scapegoat Nkurunziza, who has been dead over four years.
“There are people who enriched themselves illegally and stole money from the central bank,” Ndayishimiye said, talking about Nkurunziza officials. “They are sabotaging our economy and they are causing poverty in the country!”
The shameless idiot was talking to army officers in his New Year annual gathering with security officials. But then, he left those present in bafflement because he couldn’t name, or arrest anyone.
Just like General Robert Guéï of Ivory coast was assassinated in 2002 by returning peacekeepers demanding their pay, Evariste Ndayishimiye knows there will be trouble with returning peacekeepers from Somalia.
Stealing from thousands of angry soldiers cannot end well.
Who knows, they might even apprehend him during one of his orgies of eating…
ellenkampire