Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07BUJUMBURA574
2007-08-16 14:56:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Bujumbura
Cable title:  

BURUNDI PRESIDENT BEING ADVISED BY HIGH-LEVEL

Tags:  PGOV PINR PREL BY 
pdf how-to read a cable
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DE RUEHJB #0574 2281456
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 161456Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY BUJUMBURA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0489
INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
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RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
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C O N F I D E N T I A L BUJUMBURA 000574 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/C

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2017/08/16
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL BY
SUBJECT: BURUNDI PRESIDENT BEING ADVISED BY HIGH-LEVEL
MILITARY QUARTET


Classified By: Ambassador Patricia Moller for reasons 1.4b and d.

C O N F I D E N T I A L BUJUMBURA 000574

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/C

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2017/08/16
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL BY
SUBJECT: BURUNDI PRESIDENT BEING ADVISED BY HIGH-LEVEL
MILITARY QUARTET


Classified By: Ambassador Patricia Moller for reasons 1.4b and d.


1. (C) Members of Burundi's political and civil society are
consistently suggesting that President Pierre Nkurunziza is
being manipulated by a small group of advisors who are
strongly connected to the military wing of Nkurunziza's
ruling CNDD-FDD party. Embassy officers have been told by
well-connected contacts that this group includes Evariste
Ndayishimiye, the Minister of the Interior; Adolphe
Nshimirimana, the head of Burundi's National Intelligence
Services (SNR); Godefroid Niyombare, the Deputy Army Chief of
Staff; and Alain Guillaume Bunyoni, the Director General of
the National Police. The current political malaise which
threatens Burundi's economic and social stability, and is
said by political observers to be exacerbated by Nkurunziza's
complacency, is partially blamed on the 'bad' advice being
imposed upon the Burundi leader by these men. Neither the
motive for their counsel nor Nkurunziza's reasons for
allegiance to this group are known at this time.


2. (C) Brigadier General Ndayishimiye joined the CNDD-FDD
rebel movement in 1995. He has held many influential
positions within the CNDD-FDD movement as the leader of the
CNDD-FDD commission that negotiated the cease-fire and
power-sharing agreement in 2006, and lead the CNDD-FDD
delegation to the Joint Cease-fire Commission. Ndayishimiye
was appointed Minister of the Interior on March 17, 2006
after previously holding the position of Procurement and
Logistics Officer at the headquarters of the Burundian
Defense Force.


3. (C) Nshimirimana went into the bush as a rebel after the
1993 assassination of former President Ndadaye. Between 1995
and 2001 Nshimirimana served as the chief of staff of the FDD
rebels. He emerged from the bush in 2003 and was appointed
Deputy Army Chief of Staff with the rank of Brigadier
General. Nshimirimana was named to lead the SNR on August
29, 2005.


4. (C) Major General Niyombare was appointed the Deputy
Army Chief of Staff on September 1, 2005.


5. (C) Bunyoni was a member of the FDD rebels and was
appointed Director of Military Soil and Infrastructure in
April 2005. He was appointed to his present position as the
head of the national police in January 2006. He holds the
rank of Brigadier General.
MOLLER