Evariste Ndayishimiye used his maiden speech as Burundi’s new president to reach out to the opposition following an election whose results the rivals rejected.
Ndayishimiye was sworn in on Thursday, more than a month earlier than planned, after former president Pierre Nkurunziza suddenly died on June 8. Authorities had already declared Ndayishimiye winner of a May 20 election that followed months of violence.
“I call opposition parties to work with us,” Ndayishimiye said after the swearing ceremony in the capital, Gitega. “I know they had good plans too.”
The runner up, Agathon Rwasa’s National Council for Liberty, said that more than 400 of their members were detained, including the party’s election observers, on false accusations before the election.
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“We urge President Ndayishimiye to end the repression that characterized the previous government’s tenure and restore respect for the human rights of all people in Burundi,” Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s eastern and southern Africa director, said in a statement. “A good place to start is to immediately and unconditionally release all those who have been convicted on trumped up charges.”
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