Burundi: Would President Evariste Ndayishimiye have received the money for the Amisom soldiers during his visit to Equatorial Guinea?
It is difficult to answer this question especially since the presidential couple went straight into quarantine on their return from this long five-day visit to Equatorial Guinea. Quarantine is a good reflex; the presidential couple is concerned about his life but also that of those around him. What about the Burundian people? Has the government taken all the necessary measures to prevent it from this pandemic? Savvy observers say no, that Burundians live as if there is no coronavirus in the country. Only the grace of God means that we do not observe deaths by the thousands like we have seen in Europe, America and elsewhere. The figure of a single death so far published by the Skills Services is no fantasy that proves that the government has always kept a blur around this issue. What’s the reason? No doubt petty calculations of Gitega’s power, but not for the benefit of all the people.
Officially, the visit of the Burundian president “is part of the excellent relations of friendship, brotherhood and cooperation that exist between the two countries and reinforced every day by the will and commitment expressed by the two Heads of State,” stresses the communiqué sanctioning the end of this visit. He added that “six cooperation agreements were thus signed between the two countries and the two sides agreed to strengthen cooperation in a spirit of commitment between the two countries to make the implementation of the agreements more visible and effective.”
According to SOS media, President Ndayishimiye said on his departure at Bujumbura airport: “Our country must cooperate with friendly countries especially African countries that share the same culture, the same destiny.” Well said. But, probably Evariste Ndayishimiye had forgotten that he boycotted the summit of heads of state of the sub-region while the Congolese Foreign Minister had even bothered to travel to him on 4 October 2020 to pass on the invitation of President Felix Tshisekedi. Does Burundi share the same culture and destiny with Equatorial Guinea more than with Rwanda, DR Congo, Uganda and Angola? Evariste Ndayishimiye can answer the question in his own way, but the general opinion knows the answer.
Unofficially, President Ndayishimiye, who left with a large delegation of 21 people including five ministers (Sos media claims to have a copy of the mission order), would have as great concern to expose to President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo: to find the money of the Amisom soldiers that would have been used in private affairs by the military clique around him and that they do not hope to recover. The Minister of Defence, who is part of the delegation, had announced before leaving for this mission that the money would be paid to them in the coming days. He had justified the delay in paying this money to the military because of the problems caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The argument does not hold because the other countries, which are experiencing problems of covid 19 more serious than those of Burundi, have already paid this money to their military. Would he have received a favourable response? No one knows yet. We will see if in few days our military will return to their rights.
As he said, President Ndayishimiye went to strengthen already existing relations; he is in the footsteps of his late predecessor President Nkurunziza mysteriously disappeared in June 2020. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, has always advised his counterpart Nkurunziza to remain in power following his example; but also, he has always supported the cnddfdd’s power with financial means to be able to regularly pay civil servants at a time when other major financiers had imposed economic sanctions on the cnddfdd system, which has always been characterized by serious violations of human rights and especially since 2015. There is a high probability that he did not dismiss the delegation of Evariste Ndayishimiye empty-handed. Our poor military personnel can hope that tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, their money will be returned to them, even if the bulk of what is theirs remains in the coffers of the state or in the pockets of the military clique that is taking the Burundian people hostage
URN HITAMWONEZA asks the military, of all categories, to have the courage to claim their rights by peaceful means. This usually involves moral talks; but they rarely stand because military leaders know that they do not have answers to certain questions such as the delay in discarding Amisom money when other countries pay their military (from the same mission as ours) on time or with a small delay and on a regular basis. We will stand by you to take your way to the countries that provide the funds for these peacekeeping missions to put pressure on Gitega’s military power. WhatsApp contact: +31685638237
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