Bujumbura: President Neva still counts on the Imbonerakure to develop and secure Burundi

This Saturday, the former Hutu rebellion celebrated the 8th edition of the day dedicated to the members of its youth league, the Imbonerakure. The ceremony took place in the commercial city, Bujumbura. Burundian President Évariste Ndayishimiye declared again that he counts on the Imbonerakure to develop and secure his country.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

About 3,000 Imbonerakure and children from the CNDD-FDD member families (commonly known as ‘Ibiswi vy’Inkona’ or eaglets) were mobilized this Saturday in the economic capital Bujumbura, noted SOS Médias Burundi reporters. They held a long military parade in the presence of President Ndayishimiye, the Secretary General of the CNDD-FDD, Révérien Ndikuriyo and several other high authorities and senior officials of the party, not to mention guests who had represented the youth of the ruling parties in countries such as Kenya, Angola and the Republic of Congo in particular.

The Burundian president who is known to take hours to speak at such events spoke for less than 25 minutes. Évariste Ndayishimiye once again declared that he counts on the Imbonerakure for the security of the small East African nation.

“Today, even those who always plan to harm our country have understood why they cannot succeed. They have seen it. The Imbonerakure, we are vigilant, we are ready to intervene,” he said, thanking the Imbonerakure for “their contribution to the development of families and the country in general.”

Source of poverty

According to President Ndayishimiye, “white people constantly make fun of us, saying that sub-Saharan African countries are the poorest, while we are the ones with great capital”.

“Let us be careful because we ourselves create poverty: poverty results from conflicts between communities, from leaders who do not care about good governance, poverty results from war”, recalled Mr. Ndayishimiye.

Elections

According to President Neva, there are demons that resurface in Burundi during the election period.

“There are birds of ill omen. Birds of ill omen begin to operate every time elections approach. We must always remember this”.

Imbonerakure called to deal with saboteurs

The Burundian president who never stops “blaming” those he calls “saboteurs and lazy people”, called on the Imbonerakure to deal with them.

“I ask you once again, Imbonerakure, stay on your guard, there are lazy people who are very jealous of seeing workers get down to their work in a determined manner. These lazy people only dream of disturbing us. We must remain cautious while doing the work diligently”, said President Évariste Ndayishimiye. He insisted that “the enemies of Burundi must know that our country is always ready to defend itself”.

Notion of millionaire

In Burundi, according to President Neva, a person who has a capital of 100 thousand Burundian francs (less than 15 USD on the black market) can easily become a millionaire in a year.

“I had a testimony from a resident who had a single hen that he sold for 18 thousand francs (to have a basic capital) but in one year he had already been able to reach a sum of two million 500 thousand. I saw another person who started his breeding with a single cow in 2022 but now he has 50 animals”. He said he collected these testimonies during his recent tour of the different provinces of Burundi where he said “to have witnessed an extraordinary speed of development on which Burundi is”.

The wish of the one who leads the poorest country in the world where even the economic capital Bujumbura can no longer be supplied with fuel and where the company in charge of water and electricity is constantly suffering from power outage, the population no longer being able to find the means of transport, much less sugar and locally produced drinks, not to mention fertilizers from farmers, is “to see all the Imbonerakure become millionaires during the next celebration dedicated to them next year”.

“Go back with this slogan: next year I will be a millionaire”, President Neva harangued the crowd to the applause of the Imbonerakure who were about to return home.

Since the outbreak of the crisis born of another controversial mandate of the late President Pierre Nkurunziza in 2015, the Imbonerakure have been considered by several human rights organizations and UN bodies as “a militia”, which irritates representatives of the former Hutu rebellion and CNDD-FDD leaders.

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Burundian President Évariste Ndayishimiye greets the crowd on a field of the Hippique circle in the economic capital Bujumbura on the sidelines of the celebration of the 8th edition of the day dedicated to the Imbonerakure, August 31, 2024 (SOS Media Burundi)