In remarks last week before a ruling party meeting in the economic capital Bujumbura, Mr Ndayishimiye cautioned that he “would defeat” any plot against him.

“Is there a general who would fear someone [plotting] a coup? Who is that person?”, the president, a retired army general, asked.

No official announcement followed his remarks, and it is not clear who among the high-ranking officials he was referring to.

Burundians online have filled the information gap with speculation, even naming the people they think the president was speaking about.

Mr Ndayishimiye became president in 2020 after his predecessor Pierre Nkurunziza, who had governed the country for 15 years, died in office.

Since independence in 1962, Burundi has had three coups, two presidential assassinations, and a failed coup in 2015 that plunged the country into deadly unrest.