Reconciliation and dialogue were top of Evariste Ndayishimiye’s mind as he took oath of office on June 18, 2020 to be Burundi’s president.
In his maiden speech to the country in the political capital Gitega, President Ndayishimiye vowed to unite Burundians and called on citizens to shun “the colonial ethnicity imposed on Burundians”.
Burundi plunged into a political crisis in 2015 after then president Pierre Nkurunziza vied for another term which the opposition believed was unconstitutional.
As the region and the world watches President Ndayishimiye navigate internal, regional and global politics, Onesphore Sematumba, the International Crisis Group analyst for the Great lakes region says that Ndayishimiye is only one man and the Nkurunziza political-military system, of which Ndayishimiye himself is also a part, is still firmly in place.
- Additional reporting by Fred Oluoch
INSIDER COMES OF AGE
As the region and the world watches President Ndayishimiye navigate internal, regional and global politics, analysts for the Great lakes region say Ndayishimiye is only one man and the Nkurunziza political-military system, of which Ndayishimiye himself is also a part, is still firmly in place.
