Burundi’s ruling party, the CNDD-FDD, picked its secretary-general, Evariste Ndayishimiye, as its candidate in a presidential election scheduled for May, it said yesterday. Ndayishimiye, 52, also heads the department of military affairs in the president’s office and has served as minister of the interior and security. Burundi is one of the world’s poorest countries and lost donor funding after the political violence following the 2015 election. In September, the United Nations warned that police, security forces and the ruling party’s youth league, the Imbonerakure, were committing serious human rights violations. Those included killings, disappearances, torture and gang rape of alleged political opponents, and that violence was likely to spike as polls approached.

Source: Nigerian Tribune January 26, 2020 17:48 UTC