Burundi's Interior Minister, Martin Niteretse, announced at a press conference on Wednesday that Alain-Guillaume Bunyoni was wanted by the courts.
Several searches had been carried out without being able to locate him.
The search finally led to his arrest on Saturday.
Alain-Guillaume Bunyoni has been arrested, the National Independent Commission for Human Rights (CNIDH) and a senior security official announced on Saturday.
The CNIDH made Saturday “
a visit to meet with General Alain Guillaume Bunyoni.
He is doing well.
He has not suffered any act of torture or any other abuse since his arrest,
” the CNIDH said in a tweet.
Read alsoBurundi: a former prime minister disappeared and wanted by the courts after searches
Five days earlier, the Head of State had denounced in a speech the desire for a "
coup d'etat
" on the part of those who believe themselves "
almighty
" and are trying to "
sabotage
" his action.
True number two of the diet
Alain-Guillaume Bunyoni, who had been Prime Minister since June 2020, was removed from office on September 7 by President Evariste Ndayishimiye and replaced by Interior Minister Gervais Ndirakobuca.
Mr Bunyoni had long been seen as the regime's true number two since the political crisis of 2015 and the leader of the hardliners among the generals working behind the scenes of power.
Since the end of a civil war which ravaged the country between 1993 and 2006 and claimed 300,000 lives, the country has been held in an iron grip by the regime, thanks to the Imbonerakure, the youth league of the ruling party, the CNDD-FDD, and the National Intelligence Service.
While the international community has welcomed a certain openness in the country since Evariste Ndayishimiye came to power in June 2020 after the sudden death of Pierre Nkurunziza, a UN commission of inquiry affirmed in September 2021 that the human rights situation human rights remained "
disastrous
" in Burundi.
Many massacres
Since its independence in 1962, Burundi has been the scene of numerous massacres and conflicts between the Hutu and Tutsi communities, respectively estimated at 85% and 14% of its population.
Burundi, landlocked in the Great Lakes region, is the poorest country in the world in terms of GDP per capita according to the World Bank, which estimates that 75% of its twelve million inhabitants live below the poverty line.