President Evariste Ndayishimiye, aka Neva, recently launched a new militia group dubbed Force de Réserve et d’Appui au Développement (FRAD), an unknown and unapproved branch of the military structure. The visibly rushed ceremony was comical, with the morbidly obese Ndayishimiye dancing around in combat uniform. The event happened barely two weeks after a stern warning from Ndayishimiye to the militarised ruling party CNDD-FDD youth league: “Please, no more coups d’état.”
Under Ndayishimiye’s rule, the country has fallen back decades in all aspects. The economy is in complete chaos, with no fuel, no foreign currency reserves, no electricity, and the world’s lowest GDP per capita. Burundi has fallen so hard that its citizens flood neighbouring countries hawking, begging, and loitering around. Words such as “turarushe” (we are tired) and “vyamunaniye” (he has failed) are constantly uttered in endless queues at petrol stations, bus stops, hospitals, and even within Ndayishimiye’s political party events.
Ndayishimiye is not paranoid; his legendary governance failures could certainly lead to a coup. In addition to the growing anger amongst civilians and his party members, the majority of his armed forces are equally in despair. For a few coins, Ndayishimiye sold off more than 20,000 of his soldiers to his ally. They are illegally deployed in DR Congo to fight and die in a foreign war that should not be their concern. On several occasions, Ndayishimiye has had to face outright refusal from troop commanders to carry out his orders.
“The newly cooked-up Force de Réserve et d’Appui au Développement (FRAD) hides the obvious unrest within the ruling junta in Burundi,” a security analyst observed. “Ndayishimiye is adding a layer of security to his army, his police, and his party’s Imbonerakure militias. He simply doesn’t trust them. Moreover, the media coverage was very clear: the extensive pictures with Ndayishimiye in army uniforms with the army chief of staff was a message to unhappy soldiers.”
Ndayishimiye is aware of his slippery grip on power. His lack of results, his corruption, and his betrayals can potentially all be used to justify a forceful removal from office. Ndayishimiye cannot feel safe in Burundi; his rule is now purely a survival operation.
ellenkampire