Gervais Ndirakobuca (born 1970) is a Burundian politician, former police officer and rebel commander serving as the

Prime Minister of Burundi This article lists the prime ministers of Burundi since the formation of the post of Prime Minister of Burundi in 1961 until the present day. The office of Prime Minister was most recently abolished in 1998, and reinstated in 2020 with the appo ...

since 7 September 2022. Prior to that, he was the Minister of Interior, Public Security, and Community Development. He is known for his violent crackdown of the 2015 civil protest in Burundi and was under

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

sanctions for human rights violations when President

Évariste Ndayishimiye Évariste Ndayishimiye (born 1968) is a Burundian politician who has served as the tenth President of Burundi since 18 June 2020. He became involved in the rebel National Council for the Defense of Democracy – Forces for the Defense of Democ ...

appointed him security minister.

Biography

Gervais Ndirakobuca was born in 1970 in Bukinanyana in the

Cibitoke Province Cibitoke Province is one of the 18 provinces of Burundi, Republic of Burundi. Location Cibitoke Province is in the northwest of Burundi. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is to the west and Rwanda is to the north. Bubanza Province is to the so ...

Burundi Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is located in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa, with a population of over 14 million peop ...

. He was a rebel commander during the

Burundian Civil War The Burundian Civil War was a civil war in Burundi lasting from 1993 to 2005. The civil war was the result of longstanding ethnic divisions between the Hutu and the Tutsi ethnic groups. The conflict began following the first multi-party electi ...

that ended in 2005. His nickname was "Ndakugarika" meaning 'I will kill you' in the

Kirundi language Kirundi (), also known as Rundi, is a Bantu language and the national language of Burundi. It is mutually intelligible with Kinyarwanda, the national language of Rwanda, and the two form parts of the Rwanda-Rundi dialect continuum spoken in Bur ...

. After the civil war ended, he joined the National Police of Burundi and rose to the rank of Commissioner (lieutenant-general). He was addressed as General. As police commissioner, he deployed excessive force to quell the 2015 civil protests that followed the amendment of the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

which gave President

Pierre Nkurunziza Pierre Nkurunziza (18 December 1964 – 8 June 2020) was a Burundian politician who served as the ninth president of Burundi for almost 15 years from August 2005 until his death in June 2020. A member of the Hutu, Hutu ethnic group, Nkurunziza ...

the legal right to run for a third term. Sanctions were imposed on Ndirakobuca by the

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and the

for "acts of violence, acts of repression and violations of international human rights law against protesters … on 26, 27 and 28 April in the Nyakabiga and Musaga districts in

Bujumbura Bujumbura (; ), formerly Usumbura, is the economic capital, largest city and main port of Burundi. It ships most of the country's chief export, coffee, as well as cotton and tin ore. Bujumbura was formerly the country's political capital. In la ...

". At least 1,700 people were killed during the protest.

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...

opened an investigation against government officials involved in the crackdown including Ndirakobuca. Despite this, Ndayishimiye appointed him to a powerful position of Minister of Interior in June 2020, making Ndirakobuca the most internationally sanctioned member of Burundi national government cabinet. He was seen as a de facto deputy prime minister or 'super minister' with his overwhelming portfolio across three key ministries of Interior, Security, and Community Development in the Nkurunziza's government, but was merged into a single ministry by Ndayishimiye and given to Ndirakobuca. Ndirakobuca became prime minister of Burundi on 7 September 2022, replacing incumbent Prime Minister Alain-Guillaume Bunyoni, after Ndayishimiye warned that a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

was being planned against his government. Ndirakobuca was unanimously voted to the position by the

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ndirakobuca, Gervais Prime ministers of Burundi Living people 1970 births Interior ministers of Burundi People of the Burundian Civil War