{"id":210500,"date":"2020-07-17T07:49:48","date_gmt":"2020-07-17T07:49:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=210500"},"modified":"2021-02-05T18:44:12","modified_gmt":"2021-02-05T18:44:12","slug":"coronavirus-and-regime-change-burundis-covid-coup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=210500","title":{"rendered":"Coronavirus and Regime Change: Burundi\u2019s Covid Coup"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Off-Guardian \u2013 July 14, 2020<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/off-guardian.org\/wp-content\/medialibrary\/38b76b6d-a719-4ea4-89cc-cb50c36f637f-2000x900.jpg?x19699\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-210501 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/burindi_new_president.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/burindi_new_president.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/burindi_new_president-300x135.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">While the people of the western world occupy themselves wearing masks, pointing fingers and using so much hand sanitizer it literally kills them, the big world of Geo-Politics still ticks along, following the same tired old patterns with only slight variations in method. A modern twist, if you will.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Here\u2019s a little summary of Burundi\u2019s recent history:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The president of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza, dismissed covid19 as<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/taarifa.rw\/president-nkurunzia-says-covid-19-is-a-hoax\/\"> nonsense<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The president of Burundi was vilified in the Western press.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The president of Burundi expelled the World Health Organization from his country.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The president of Burundi died suddenly of a \u201cheart attack\u201d.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The <strong>NEW<\/strong> president of Burundi immediately reversed his predecessor\u2019s Covid19 policies.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><strong>And now for the long version\u2026<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<h2>6th May 2020<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The Council on Foreign Relations blog posts an article titled <a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/blog\/covid-19-coinciding-dangerous-trends-burundis-%20democracy\">\u201c<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>COVID-19 is Coinciding with Dangerous Trends in Burundi\u2019s Democracy<\/strong><\/span>\u201d<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">At that time Burundi was listed as <a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/georank.org\/covid\/burundi\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>having 7 \u2018active cases\u2019<\/strong><\/span><\/a> of COVID-19.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">President Pierre Nukurunziza\u2019s reluctance to impose policies aimed at stopping the virus from spreading is converging with his enthusiasm for democratic authoritarianism, putting not only Burundi, but Burundi\u2019s neighbors at risk.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">[\u2026]<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Burundi\u2019s trajectory has been apparent for some time. But the pandemic now raises the stakes for neighboring states whose attempts to control the virus are threatened by Burundi\u2019s insistence on moving ahead with electoral theater regardless of the public health risks involved.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">[\u2026]<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Just as the EAC\u2019s attempts to advance dialogue in Burundi did nothing to stave off the closing of political space, today the organization seems helpless at best as Burundi and neighboring Tanzania refuse to take COVID-19 seriously.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">*<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>14th May 2020<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Reuters reports that <a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-health-coronavirus-burundi\/burundi-expels-%20who-team-as-it-prepares-for-presidential-election-idUSKBN22Q0XS\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Burundi\u2019s government expels the WHO<\/strong><\/span><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Burundi is expelling the national head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and three members of his team as it prepares for a presidential election that is being held next week despite concern about health risks during the coronavirus pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The government confirmed on Thursday that a May 12 letter from the foreign ministry was sent to WHO country head Walter Kazadi Mulombo and three others of the U.N. body\u2019s health experts, ordering them out by Friday. Bernard Ntahiraja, the foreign affairs assistant minister, said the officials had been declared \u201cpersona non grata\u201d but did not give reasons.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">[\u2026]<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Burundi has so far reported relatively few cases of the COVID-19 disease: 27 infections and one death. But testing remains very low: the nation of 11 million people has carried out only 527 tests, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">[\u2026]<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Large crowds have been gathering during the election campaign in Burundi, which has no lockdown measures in place at all, unlike many other African nations.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">[\u2026]<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Some Burundians say privately they believe COVID-19 infections are higher than officially stated but they say they fear to say so publicly because they could be targeted and punished. Le\u0301once Ngendakumana, a presidential candidate for the opposition FRODEBU party, called the expulsion regrettable. \u201cThe country alone won\u2019t be able to contain the pandemic,\u201d he told Reuters.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">*<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>10th June 2020<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The Guardian reports <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2020\/jun\/09\/burundi-president-dies-%20illness-suspected-coronavirus-pierre-nkurunziz\">the death of Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza<\/a><\/strong><\/span> of \u201csuspected Covid19\u201d [our emphasis]:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The outgoing president of Burundi has died of a sudden illness, <strong>suspected<\/strong> by many to be Covid-19.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The cause of Pierre Nkurunziza\u2019s death was described as a heart attack in a government statement. The 55-year-old was due to stand down in August following elections last month.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">It was unclear exactly when he died. A government statement said the president, a keen sports enthusiast, had attended a game of volleyball on Saturday but fell ill that night and was taken to hospital.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The former footballer\u2019s health improved on Sunday but <strong>\u201csurprisingly, on morning of Monday June 8, 2020, his health suddenly deteriorated and he had a heart attack\u201d.<\/strong> The statement described Nkurunziza\u2019s death as <strong>\u201cunexpected\u201d<\/strong> and asked people to remain calm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">*<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>15th June 2020<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The Financial Times runs an article titled <a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/a232c62b-ded1-4dd4-8ca7-a5bb5214987f%20page3image13176\">\u201c<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Coronavirus stalks Burundi\u2019s political elite after president\u2019s death<\/strong><\/span>\u201d<\/a>. It\u2019s behind a paywall, but here\u2019s a screenshot:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/FT-headline.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-210502\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/FT-headline-768x509.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"540\" height=\"358\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/FT-headline-768x509.png 768w, https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/FT-headline-300x199.png 300w, https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/FT-headline.png 781w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>1st July 2020<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The Daily Monitor publishes an article from AFP headlined <a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.monitor.co.ug\/News\/World\/Burundi-changes-tack-president-%20declares-COVID-19--biggest-enemy-\/688340-5585992-13veo1d\/index.html\">\u201c<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Burundi changes tack as president declares COVID-19 \u2018biggest enemy&#8217;<\/strong><\/span>\u201d<\/a> [our emphasis]:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Burundi\u2019s new President Evariste Ndayishimiye has declared the coronavirus the country\u2019s \u201cbiggest enemy\u201d, in a major about-turn for a nation which has largely ignored the dangers of the virus.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Former president Pierre Nkurunziza, who died suddenly last month, and even Ndayishimiye himself, had until now downplayed the gravity of the pandemic, saying God had spared Burundi from its ravages. Burundi held a full-blown campaign ahead of a May election, and unlike its neighbours which have imposed lockdowns and curfews, has taken few measures to combat the spread of the virus.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Officially the country has reported only 170 cases and one death in two months. Ndayishimiye was speaking late Tuesday after the swearing in of his new government in parliament. \u201cFrom tomorrow (Wednesday), <strong>I declare the COVID-19 pandemic the biggest enemy of Burundians, because it is clear it is becoming their biggest concern,\u201d<\/strong> he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><strong>\u201cWe firmly commit ourselves to fight this pandemic.\u201d<\/strong> He called for \u201cthe strict respect for preventative measures which the health ministry will from now on display across the country\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">He reminded citizens that coronavirus tests were free, as was treatment, warning those who did not get tested when they had symptoms.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><strong>\u201cIf in future someone does not go and get tested in such a case, it means he wants to contaminate others voluntarily\u2026 and he will be considered a sorcerer and treated as severely as one would be,\u201d<\/strong> he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">*<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>14th July 2020<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">As of today, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.worldometers.info\/coronavirus\/country\/burundi\/\">Worldometers.info<\/a><\/strong><\/span> lists 1 single death &amp; 269 \u201cTotal Cases\u201d of Covid19 for Burundi:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-67778\" src=\"https:\/\/off-guardian.org\/wp-content\/medialibrary\/burundi-covid-cases.jpg?x19699\" sizes=\"(max-width: 727px) 100vw, 727px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/off-guardian.org\/wp-content\/medialibrary\/burundi-covid-cases.jpg 727w, https:\/\/off-guardian.org\/wp-content\/medialibrary\/burundi-covid-cases-500x434.jpg 500w\" alt=\"\" width=\"727\" height=\"631\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">It seems Covid19 is a disease of rare complexity. Not only is it able to understand the importance of some social protests and avoid <a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.economist.com\/graphic-detail\/2020\/06\/30\/black-lives-matter-protests-did-not-cause-an-uptick-in-covid-19-cases\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>them entirely<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, it\u2019s also able to sense when the world leader is inconvenient and take him out.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Many thanks to commenter <strong>Stinky<\/strong>, who collated, researched and sent in these links, as well as <strong>Edwige<\/strong> and <strong>Mucho<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Can you spare $1.00 a month to support independent media<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Unlike the Guardian we are NOT funded by Bill &amp; Melinda Gates, or any other NGO or government. So a few coins in our jar to help us keep going are always appreciated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/donate\/?token=3I2Vraq2JMBVdCWn50T2iAul6bjG0I0HHizEMiVchm0n8tqOiMSG9td0WhMh0kuG_eLF5W&amp;country.x=GB&amp;locale.x=GB\">Paypal<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/offguardian\">Patreon<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/off-guardian.org\/2020\/07\/14\/coronavirus-and-regime-change-burundis-covid-coup\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is what happens when you defy the dictates of the global elite. As Burundi\u2019s President Pierre Nkurunziza discovered: there\u2019s a heavy price to be paid <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[105,58,48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-210500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-coronavirus","category-Current_Affairs","category-Unreported_News"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=210500"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226787,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210500\/revisions\/226787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=210500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=210500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=210500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}