NKURUNZIZA: A Dictator who was sentenced to Death

By Osoro Nyawangah

Pierre Nkurunziza (pictured) was a Burundian politician who served as President of Burundi from 2005 to his death in 2020.

He was a member of the Hutu ethnic group and began a career in physical education before the outbreak of the Burundian Civil War which brought him into the moderate rebel organization National Council for the Defense of Democracy—Forces for the Defense of Democracy, (CNDD–FDD).

Becoming president of the CNDD–FDD, he advocated a political solution to the conflict and was elected president in 2005 and controversially held the office for three terms rather than the two permitted in the constitution, sparking significant public unrest in 2015.

In 2018, he announced he would not stand for a fourth term and died of a cardiac arrest shortly after fresh elections in 2020.

Pierre Nkurunziza was born on 18 December 1964 in Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi, shortly after the country's independence from Belgian rule in 1962.

He was one of six children born into a family from Buye in Ngozi where Nkurunziza spent his early years. 

His father, Eustache Ngabisha, was a politician from the Hutu ethnic group and a Catholic.

Soldiers lift a wounded suspected Imbonerakure militiaman who was attacked by demonstrators protesting against President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to seek a third term in office in the Cibitoke district of Bujumbura, Burundi, Thursday May 7, 2015.

Ngabisha was involved in the nationalist politics under the Union for National Progress (Union pour le Progrès national, UPRONA) and was elected to National Assembly in 1965.

Ngabisha later became a provincial governor but was killed in the genocidal violence of 1972. Nkurunziza's mother was an assistant nurse from the Tutsi ethnic group who was Protestant. Nkurunziza himself was considered to be Hutu.

Nkurunziza attended school in Ngozi and studied at the prestigious Athenée of Gitega after his father's death. He enrolled at the Institute of Physical Education and Sports at the University of Burundi and obtained a degree in physical education in 1990. He taught at a school in Muramvya before becoming an assistant lecturer at the University in 1992.

He also taught at the Higher Institute for Military Cadres (Institut supérieur des cadres militaires, ISCAM). It is believed that he was not politically active. At the same time, he was a football coach for Muzinga FC and Union Sporting in the country's first division. 

He married Denise Bucumi in 1994.

The newly elected president Melchior Ndadaye was assassinated in an attempted coup d'état in October 1993. The killing sparked a wave of ethnic violence between Hutu and Tutsi factions and the start of the Burundian Civil War.

Nkurunziza was still teaching at the University of Burundi but was forced to flee in 1995 after hundreds of Hutu students were killed.

He spent several years in hiding in the bush but was sentenced to death in absentia by a government-backed court in 1998 for laying land mines, but received an amnesty under the peace accord that ended the fighting.

At the time, he became associated with 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) and was in charge of coordinating the political and military wings.

He fought for their militia and gained the nickname "Pita". He was nearly killed near Gitega in 2001 but interpreted his survival as a sign that he was destined to lead the group.

Nkurunziza himself became a born-again Protestant and supported the integration of Tutsis and other minority groups into the CNDD–FDD.

Nkurunziza became the president of the CNDD–FDD on 28 August 2000 and presided over the movement as it moved towards a political compromise with the government.

A series of agreements in 2003 paved the way for the CNDD–FDD to enter national politics and allowed Nkurunziza to be reunited with his wife and surviving family members. 

He became Minister for Good Government and the General Inspection of the State which was considered "a springboard post at a moment when electoral preparations were under way to complete the transition". He was re-elected president of the CNDD–FDD, now a political party, in August 2004 and became its candidate for the forthcoming legislative and presidential elections.

The elections brought Nkurunziza and the CNDD–FDD to power with a large majority of the vote.

Nkurunziza's term as president began on 26 August 2005 and he soon adopted a number of popular policies. He presided over the reconstruction of the Burundian state, based on an inter-ethnic compromise enshrined in the Arusha Accords which required the partitioning of state positions between Tutsi, Hutu, and the minority Twa ethnic groups.

He presided over the demobilisation of the final Hutu rebel group from the Civil War, the Party for the Liberation of the Hutu People—National Forces of Liberation (Parti pour la libération du peuple Hutu—Forces nationales de libération, PALIPEHUTU-FNL), in 2008.

However, Nkurunziza's reputation became increasingly tarnished in the face of political factionalism, corruption, and continued insecurity. He was re-elected for a second term in July 2010 with a big majority but was effectively unopposed. The polls were boycotted by opposition parties.

Nkurunziza's second term saw rising discontent with his leadership. Outdoor jogging was banned in June 2014 out of fear that group exercise might be used as cover for political meetings. 

Dissent came to a head with the public announcement on 25 April 2015 that Nkurunziza would stand for a third term in the presidential elections scheduled for June that year. This appeared to be contrary to the term limits established in the Arusha Accords and sparked widespread protests in Bujumbura and elsewhere which led to violent confrontations.

However, the Constitutional Court ruled on 5 May that the projected third term was legal. The protests escalated and dozens were killed.

A military uprising was attempted on 13 May 2015 by soldiers loyal to Godefroid Niyombare but collapsed after extensive fighting in Bujumbura. Assassinations of opposition politicians and critics took place and it was reported that detained protesters were tortured or raped at so-called "black sites" by regime loyalists. 

However, the following months also saw the assassination of a number of CNDD-FDD officials and loyalists. A rebel group emerged as the Republican Forces of Burundi (Forces républicaines du Burundi, FOREBU) and large numbers of civilians fled into exile. Despite the instability and a continuing opposition boycott, the elections took place in July and Nkurunziza was returned for a third term.

Burundi under President Nkurunziza's CNDD-FDD party umbrella, the Imbonerakure (the Kirundi word for "those that see far") have been waging a campaign of intimidation and violence to help Nkurunziza win a controversial third term in the 26 June elections.

The Imbonerakure arose in 2010 out of disarmed fighters from the ruling party's previous existence as a rebel group who never fully demobilised, and members of the group are said to have never left the mentality of war.

Burundian Tutsis, who have been living in the Bugendana refugee camp after surviving the massacre of Bugendana where some 600 people were killed on 20 July 1996, said how they were on the verge of reliving an 18-year-old nightmare when the armed group allegedly surrounded their camp.

Nkurunziza's third term saw the country's increasing isolation in light of international condemnation of the repression which accompanied the 2015 unrest. 

The East African Community and African Union attempted to mediate the conflict unsuccessfully and Nkurunziza's regime became increasingly isolated. 

As well as being widely condemned, the 2015 crisis led to 350,000 refugees fleeing across the border into Rwanda and other neighbouring countries in addition to another 110,000 being internally displaced.

Poverty increased and many middle-class Burundians emigrated. 

Nkurunziza withdrew Burundi from the International Criminal Court in 2017.

However, in 2018 he announced that he would not be standing for a fourth term and that he would consequently stand down in 2020.

The CNDD–FDD's presidential candidate for the elections of 2020 was Major General Évariste Ndayishimiye, whom Nkurunziza specifically endorsed. The elections took place in May 2020 and resulted in a large majority in favour of Nkurunziza's candidate.

Burundi’s recent wave of violence, political unrest, and human rights violations commenced in April 2015 when President Pierre Nkurunziza broke with the constitution and announced he was running for a third term

However, the elections occurred against the backdrop of criticism of Nkurunziza's response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Burundi during which representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO) were expelled. Election monitors from the East African Community were also kept out.

Nkurunziza died unexpectedly on 8 June 2020 at the Fiftieth Anniversary Hospital in Karuzi, aged 55. His death was said to be caused by cardiac arrest. 

His death occurred after the 2020 elections but ahead of the projected hand-over of power in August. It had been intended that he would continue to remain prominent in public life as "Supreme Guide of Patriotism".

A week-long period of national mourning was announced. A week earlier, it had been reported that his wife had been flown to Nairobi for COVID-19 treatment. - Africa