These are namely the FRODEBU, CODEBU, FEDES-SANGIRA and CNDD parties. Their presidents filed a document relating to their alliance on Friday, December 13. It was received by the Ministry in charge of internal affairs which manages political parties. Called « Coalition Burundi Bwa Bose (or Burundi For All) », this coalition has set itself the mandate of helping Burundians and the country to « achieve a better future ». INFO SOS Médias Burundi

Patrick Nkurunziza, president of the FRODEBU party and at the same time representative of this new coalition explains that despite their differences of opinion, the four parties have decided to come together to defend the interests of Burundians and contribute to the establishment of democracy at a time when the country is shaken by political crises.

The new bloc that intends to face the CNDD-FDD in power since 2005 and wants to stay there by all means, has five main objectives to « restore the country » : re-establish a rule of law with social justice that satisfies everyone, strengthen peaceful cohabitation where peace and understanding reign among Burundians despite their diversity, set up a political space open to everyone, organize free, fair and peaceful elections where leaders will warn the results of the will of the population and not of intimidation and finally fight against poverty and allow sustainable socio-economic development.

The head of the new coalition announced that the four parties have filed all the necessary documents with the ministry authorized to recognize the existence of political coalitions in the small East African nation.

Mr. Nkurunziza and his allies remain convinced that since the law authorizes the coalition of political parties during election periods, the supervising ministry will take note of it.

At the top of the « Burundi Bwa Bose » coalition is the president of the FRODEBU party and the functions of secretary general and spokesperson are occupied by the president of the CODEBU party in the person of Kefa Nibizi at a time when Sébastien Butoyi, president of FEDES-SANGIRA was entrusted with the finance department.

The four opposition political parties are not very representative on the Burundian political scene. But recently, two of them have increased actions and communications aimed at denouncing the abuses of power and the crisis that the country is going through. These are the FRODEBU and CODEBU parties. The president of the latter was arrested and sent to prison at the beginning of the year for a short stay. This former supporter of the CNDD-FDD who was also the commercial director of the Burundi National Lottery, has today become one of the rare opponents who is no longer afraid to denounce the violations of the ruling party, the CNDD-FDD and its government. Several of its provincial representatives have been arrested in recent days, others sequestered by the police and members of the CNDD-FDD youth league, the Imbonerakure.

As for FRODEBU, which is trying to get back on its feet, all it still has is the notoriety of being the first Hutu party to win the presidential and legislative elections of 1993 before its leader and first Hutu to be elected head of state in Burundi, Melchior Ndadaye, was assassinated during a military coup on October 21, 1993. His death was accompanied by a civil war that left between 200 and 300 thousand victims. The CNDD-FDD, this former Hutu rebellion that came to power in 2005 thanks to the Arusha (Tanzania) agreement of 2000, was born following the assassination of Ndadaye. But since coming to power, the current leaders have pushed aside their « FRODEBU sponsors » whom they describe as « weak intellectuals who agreed to share power with the minority Tutsis ».

The CODEBU party was born from a wing of FRODEBU. The two other parties that are part of this new alliance exist only in name. The CNDD, which gave birth to the CNDD-FDD, whose traditional leader Leonard Nyangoma, currently in exile, was expelled in 1997 after three years of existence, is a less emblematic party in Burundi, as is its ally FEDES-SANGIRA.

But with the general crisis that the country is going through and the abuses of power, several analysts believe that « these parties could win the minds of Burundians if the ruling party accepted a free competition ».

Burundi is preparing for next year’s legislative and local elections and the presidential elections in 2027, in an already tense situation, characterized by hate speech, arbitrary arrests of opponents and intimidation that does not even spare members of the ruling party « sober » in certain cases.