Pierre Nkurunziza

Pierre Nkurunziza (French pronunciation: [pjɛʁ n̪ kyʁœ̃ ziza]; 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, making him the longest-serving president in the nation's history.

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). Upon
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. Nkurunziza died on 8 June 2020, shortly after the 2020 general elections.

Childhood and teaching career, 1964–1995

View of the University of Burundi where Nkurunziza studied physical education and taught before being
forced to flee in 1995 during the Burundian Civil War

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 Mwumba, Ngozi Province, where Nkurunziza spent his early years.[1] His father, Eustache
Ngabisha, was a politician from the Hutu ethnic group and a Catholic. Ngabisha was involved in the
nationalist politics under the ruling Union for National Progress (Union pour le Progrès national,
UPRONA) and was elected to the National Assembly in 1965. Ngabisha later became a provincial
governor under the regime of General Michel Micombero but was killed in the genocidal violence of
1972.[1][2] Nkurunziza's mother, Domitille Minani, was an assistant nurse from the Tutsi ethnic group
who was Protestant. Nkurunziza himself was considered to be Hutu.[2]

Nkurunziza attended school in Ngozi and studied at the prestigious athénée in Gitega after his father's
death.[1] 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) where he made important personal contacts which
would become important in his later political career.[1] However, it is believed that he was not
politically active.[2] He was a football coach for Muzinga FC and Union Sporting in the country's first
division.[2] He married Denise Bucumi in 1994