Critical health conditio n: former CNDD-FDD strongman Alain Guillaume Bunyoni evacuated to Bujumbura

SOS Médias Burundi

Gitega, December 27, 2025 — Former CNDD-FDD strongman General Alain Guillaume Bunyoni was transferred on Saturday afternoon from Gitega to Bujumbura, according to multiple corroborating sources.

According to a witness, it was around 2:00 p.m. when the former Prime Minister left Gitega Regional Hospital in a convoy under heavy security. No official communication had been issued at the time of publication.

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

A health condition deemed critical

According to sources close to the case, Alain Guillaume Bunyoni is suffering from very advanced diabetes, combined with severe arterial hypertension, requiring specialized care unavailable in Gitega.

“He is agonizing. There is a strong chance he may not return to prison alive. What he is enduring is something one would not wish even on one’s worst enemy,” a witness who closely observed his condition told SOS Médias Burundi on October 13, 2025.

As of the publication of this article, the hospital facility likely to accommodate him on a long-term basis in Bujumbura had not yet been identified. According to several security sources, Alain Guillaume Bunyoni remains the most dangerous inmate in the small east African nation.

Family pressure and a heavy sentence

In recent days, members of his family had sent letters to the competent authorities seeking his transfer to a better-equipped medical facility, notably one with a CT scanner.

By way of reminder, in December 2023, Burundi’s Supreme Court sentenced Alain Guillaume Bunyoni to life imprisonment for undermining internal state security, attempted coup d’état, and illicit enrichment. He had been serving his sentence at Gitega Central Prison prior to his medical evacuation.

As of now, no official communication has specified the exact location of his hospitalization in Bujumbura, nor the evolution of his health condition.