Dorcas nkurunziza
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Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza in profile
Pierre Nkurunziza, who has caused controversy with his election for a third term as president, has governed Burundi for nearly 10 years.
Critics of the 51-year-old, who came to power after a civil war which left 300,000 dead, said he should not run again for office as that would be unconstitutional.
His supporters feel he was justified as he was elected by parliament in 2005 - not voters - a view upheld by Burundi's Constitutional Court.
And the former rebel leader takes pride in the fact that his administration has brought peace to Burundi.
It is this image that he is keen to portray - a man of the people working to rebuild the country, one of the poorest in the world.
It has been reported, external that diplomats arriving for official meetings with Mr Nkurunziza have been whisked away from the capital, Bujumbura, into the countryside, where they find the president digging in the fields with local farmers.
In fact his enthusiasm for planting avocado trees is so well known that many Burundians have renamed the po
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Pierre Nkurunziza, Burundi’s football-loving president and self-proclaimed pastor, has died at the age of 55. By all accounts this was death most cruel. He was soon to hand over power to his handpicked successor, Major General Evariste Ndayishimiye.
Ndayishimiye, the former army major, recently won a controversial election which was reaffirmed by the constitutional court only a few days ago. This would have been the first time in Burundi’s history that power was transferred peacefully from one leader to another, albeit from the same party.
So what does Nkurunziza’s passing mean for the transition process in Burundi? And to Burundi’s regional relationships?
When Burundians look back, some will remember their president as a man who laid the foundation for a belated political transition. Others will see his departure as good riddance. History will judge Nkurunziza as someone who brought unnecessary pain to a nation that had long suffered from political misrule, but who in death bequeathed it a golden opportunity for renewal.
Iron fist
Nkurunziza had been president of Burundi fo
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Pierre Nkurunziza
President of Burundi from 2005 to 2020
Pierre Nkurunziza (18 December 1964 – 8 June 2020) was a Burundian politician who served as the ninth president of Burundi for almost 15 years from August 2005 until his death in June 2020.
A member of the Hutu ethnic group, Nkurunziza taught physical education before becoming involved in politics during the Burundian Civil War as part of the rebel National Council for the Defense of Democracy – Forces for the Defense of Democracy (Conseil National Pour la Défense de la Démocratie – Forces pour la Défense de la Démocratie, CNDD–FDD) of which he became leader in 2000. The CNDD–FDD became a political party at the end of the Civil War and Nkurunziza was elected president. He held the post controversially for three terms, facing bloody opposition, sparking significant public unrest in 2015.
He announced his intention not to stand for re-election in 2020 and instead ceded power to Évariste Ndayishimiye, whose candidacy he had endorsed. He died on 8 June 2020 shortly before the official end of his term. He was the long
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