Burundi: the hallucinations of President Neva
Burundian President Évariste Ndayishimiye declared late in February that the Garden of Eden was in Burundi and that Americans drink water from Burundi. According to the one who runs one of the least visited countries worldwide and whose tourist sites are not highlighted and without tourist statistics each year, foreigners who go to “his garden of Eden are kept there by a kind of magnet. INFO SOS Médias Burundi
The hallucinations of the Burundian head of state were revealed on February 27. On that day, Évariste Ndayishimiye participated in the launch of the States General on tourism.
“When God chased Adam and Eve out of the Eden Garden, he stationed angels there waving flaming swords so that Adam and Eve would not return there….Noah’s Ark left Burundi, I tell you. This torrential rain which caused the floods was mixed with very violent wind. The boat was in Burundi and the wind lifted it very high, transported it very far. After the flood, the Ark was located already in Israel. When they saw a river there, they believed in the Rusizi (river separating Burundi and the DRC). And the rivers which surround the Garden of Eden are: Rusizi, Ruvubu, Maragarazi and the Kanyaru (river separating Burundi and Rwanda)”, declared Mr. Neva, apparently convinced, in front of an audience that was sometimes embarrassed and applauded very timidly.
According to the Burundian president, most of his subjects do not believe in it “because the cherubim with flaming swords blind them.”
Foreigners attracted to Burundi?
President Ndayishimiye says there is a kind of magnet that keeps all visitors arriving in his country for the first time.
“Go and ask foreigners who come to Burundi. They will tell you that there is a kind of magnet which neutralizes them and thinks they will find themselves in the skies,” he tried to convince ministers, representatives of UN agencies and NGOs, Burundian government officials and several other guests.
And to insist by giving an example “ask the representative of the UNDP (United Nations Development Program) who is among us, recently the regional representative of the UNDP came and visited Burundi. She requested that I receive her twice. When she arrived, she asked me to let her travel all over Burundi first so that I could welcome her after traveling the country. The first thing she told me, ask the UNDP representative he is my witness, she told me this: you have the most beautiful country in the world”. However, the small East African nation has no statistics on the tourists it receives each year.
But the head of state knows he is the only one convinced of his declarations.
“You do not notice it because when Adam and Eve sinned, after having cast them out of the garden of Eden, God placed cherubim there with flaming swords. You cannot see it despite your presence. God has us revealed that this is the Garden of Eden. Burundi is the Garden of Eden,” he insisted.
Americans drink water from Burundi
President Neva boasted how he managed to convince an American national in visit to Burundi after explaining to him how Americans drink water from Burundi.
“An American ended up in Burundi without having planned it. He is from California in Los Angeles. How did it happen? We were in a restaurant and started talking and I challenged him : you drink our water but give us nothing in return. And to reply: we really drink your water? After a few hours of discussions I told him to open in Google F. I then told him: here is the water from Burundi, it leaves Lake Tanganyika, flows into the Rukuga River, the Rukuga flows into the Congo River and the Congo River flows into the Atlantic Ocean. However, the Atlantic Ocean is linked to the Pacific Ocean. Aren’t we on the Pacific Ocean? Haven’t you just drunk our water now?”
But the Burundian president, who spoke to an audience that did not ask any questions, did not specify whether this American national was held by the magnet which holds all visitors who arrive in his country or not.
Eden of Tales
According to the most famous Burundian activist Pacifique Nininahazwe, the Burundian president should ensure that Burundi is the real Eden of today and not the one in fairy tales.
“We were very surprised by the words of President Ndayishimiye because he did not cite any source: is this research done by the president’s office? Did God speak to him? That surprised us a lot. But if the president wants Burundi to become the Garden of Eden, it’s not a bad idea, we all want it. But the Garden of Eden that we need is not the one told in the stories, it is not the Garden of Eden of history, we want Eden Garden today,” he reacted in an exclusive interview with SOS Médias Burundi.
And to desire “freedom for all Burundians, the release of political prisoners and prisoners of opinion, the repatriation of all refugees, the return to security in Burundi, dialogue between the daughters and sons of Burundi, the establishment of programs to combat extreme poverty in Burundi.
“This is the true image of the Garden of Eden that we want to see, the president can continue his research on history but help us to make Burundi look like the Garden of Eden today, a country where all citizens live in peace and joy”, concludes the activist now in exile.
A senior Burundian journalist said that “President Neva is an idiot, narrow-minded and stubborn.”
