Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye has dismissed Prime Minister Alain-Guillaume Bunyoni from office, according to media reports. The president then proposed the current Minister of Interior, Gervais Ndirakobuca to the parliament as the new Premier. Ndirakobuca has been the interior minister. Following an urgent plenary convened by the speaker of the National Assembly, Ndirakobuca was approved by deputies by a show of hands with 113 voting in his favour. No single legislator voted against the motion. The Burundian office of prime minister was abolished in 1998, and reinstated in 2020 when Ndayishimiye assumed office and appointment of Bunyoni. Meanwhile, Bunyoni’s dismissal follows days of political tension in the country. Recently, Ndayishimiye expressed frustration and warned government officials against any move of carrying out a coup d’état. “Do you think an army general can be threatened by someone saying they would stage a coup d’état? Who is that? Whoever it is should come and in the name of God I will defeat them,” Ndayishimiye said while addressing government officials last Friday, September 2 He did not explicitly say who it was but many media outlets in the neighbouring country attributed his frustration to the growing rift with his then prime minister, who is also a general. Burundi has witnessed several coups and attempted coups, presidential assassinations, with the latest failed coup being in 2015.
