General Alain Guillaume Bunyoni between life and death in Gitega

SOS Médias Burundi

Gitega, October 13, 2025 — Hospitalized since Thursday, October 9, 2025, at the Gitega Regional Hospital in Burundi’s political capital, former Prime Minister Alain Guillaume Bunyoni, sentenced to life jail for endangering the State security, is in a condition considered very worrying.

The health of General Alain Guillaume Bunyoni, former Prime Minister and former influential figure in the Burundian regime, continues to deteriorate, according to several concordant medical and security sources.

A witness reports that the former strongman of the country is admitted to a VIP room in the emergency department of the Gitega Regional Hospital for intensive care. “A team of nurses and doctors has been specifically assigned to monitor his condition,” he said, adding that security around the facility has been reinforced by police and National Intelligence Service (SNR) agents.

According to a medical source that requested anonymity, General Bunyoni’s health remains critical. “He is still unconscious despite repeated interventions by the medical team,” they said. On Sunday, October 12, a team of internists was dispatched to reinforce the medical staff at the Gitega Regional Hospital. The team arrived from Bujumbura, the country’s commercial capital.

General Alain Guillaume Bunyoni was transferred from Gitega Central Prison to the regional hospital in the same city on Thursday, October 9, 2025, after a sudden deterioration in his health. The facility is located in Gitega, Burundi’s political capital, about 100 kilometers from Bujumbura, the commercial city where the main government institutions and United Nations agencies are concentrated.

In December 2023, the Supreme Court of Burundi sentenced him to life jail for endangering the internal State security, attempted coup d’état, and illicit enrichment. Since his conviction, he had been serving his sentence at Gitega Central Prison before being evacuated for treatment.

“He is dying. There is a good chance he won’t return to prison alive. What he is going through, even your worst enemy, you can’t wish that on,” a witness who closely observed his condition told SOS Médias Burundi.