BUJUMBURA January 28th (ABP) – Major General Evariste Ndayishimiye, so known as Neva, Presidential Candidate of the CNDD-FDD party, is a politician, born in 1968 in Giheta commune of Gitega province (central Burundi).
Major General Ndayishimiye, who is since August 20, 2016 the secretary general of the National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNND-FDD), the ruling party, is among the first recruits of the Forces of defense of democracy (FDD). In 1995, he narrowly escaped the purge of Hutu students carried out at the University of Burundi by some of their Tutsi friends. He quickly joined the CNND-FDD which took up arms after the assassination of President Melchior Ndadaye in late 1993. During a decade of war, General-Major Ndayishimiye was commander of the various regions and climbed all the levels to finally preside over the office responsible for the conception and political planning of the fight.
He is a man with multiple functions. In 2003, when the CNND-FDD signed the comprehensive ceasefire agreement, things went very quickly. Major General Ndayishimiye becomes the Deputy Chief of the General Staff. Between 2006 and 2007, he was appointed Minister of the Interior and Public Security. It was after he became leader of the military cabinet to the presidency, a post he held until 2014 to take over the following year as Head of the civilian cabinet. At the same time, Major General Ndayishimiye has also headed the National Olympic Committee
