François Ngeze (born 1953) is a Burundian retired politician. He served as the acting

head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "

he head of state He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

Burundi Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is located in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa, with a population of over 14 million peop ...

from 21 October 1993 to 27 October 1993. He was chosen by the military Committee of Public Salvation, a group of army officers that staged the

1993 Burundian coup d'état attempt On 21 October 1993, a Coup d'état, coup was attempted in Burundi by a Tutsi–dominated National Defence Force (Burundi), army faction. The coup attempt resulted in assassination of Hutu President Melchior Ndadaye and the deaths of other offici ...

overthrew the democratically elected government of president

Melchior Ndadaye Melchior Ndadaye (28 March 1953 – 21 October 1993) was a Burundian banker and politician who became the first democratically elected and first Hutu president of Burundi after winning the landmark 1993 Burundian presidential election, 1993 electi ...

(who was killed during the coup attempt). Ngeze, one of the few prominent

Hutu The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic group native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda where they form one of the principal ethnic groups alongside the Tutsi and the Great L ...

members of UPRONA (

Union for National Progress The Union for National Progress (, UPRONA) is a nationalist political party in Burundi. Initially it emerged as a nationalist united front in opposition to Belgian colonial rule but subsequently became an integral part of the one-party state esta ...

) at the time, was

interior minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and iden ...

in the government of

Pierre Buyoya Pierre Buyoya (24 November 1949 – 17 December 2020) was a Burundian army officer and politician who served two terms as President of Burundi in 1987 to 1993 and 1996 to 2003. He was the second-longest-serving president in Burundian history. An ...

, who was defeated by Ndadaye in elections held on 1 June 1993. Following widespread condemnation of the coup, the Committee of Public Salvation was dissolved on 27 October.

Sylvie Kinigi Sylvie Kinigi ( Ntigashira; born 24 November 1953) is a Burundian politician and economist who served as prime minister of Burundi from 10 July 1993 to 7 February 1994, and acting president from November 1993 to 5 February 1994, making her the ...

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

in the Ndadaye government, took over as acting president.

Early life

François Ngeze was born in 1953 in Isare commune, Rutegama colline,

Ruanda-Urundi Ruanda-Urundi (), later Rwanda-Burundi, was a geopolitical entity, once part of German East Africa, that was occupied by troops from the Belgian Congo during the East African campaign in World War I and was administered by Belgium under milit ...

. Ethnically, he is

. In May 1972 the Burundian regime engaged in anti-Hutu repression, including massive violence. Ngeze was student at the time in Burengo and was arrested by the authorities and imprisoned at Kayanza. By his own account government administrator Basile Gateretse—a friend of his father—released him from prison and hid him in his home for two weeks with his cousin,

Cyprien Ntaryamira Cyprien Ntaryamira (6 March 1955 – 6 April 1994) was a Burundian politician who served as President of Burundi from 5 February 1994 until his death two months later in the context of the Burundian Civil War. A Hutu born in Burundi, Nta ...

. Once the authorities became suspicious, Gateretse arranged for the two of them to flee across the

Ruzizi River The Ruzizi (also sometimes spelled Rusizi, French language, French: ''Rivière Ruzizi''; Dutch language, Dutch: ''Ruzizi Rivier'') is a river, long, that flows from Lake Kivu to Lake Tanganyika in Central Africa, descending from about to about ...

into Zaire. Ngeze then went to

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

. He earned a university degree in pedagogy and became a teacher at Saint Léon Minor Seminary of Kabgayi. He married and fathered six children.

Political career

Ngeze returned to Burundi in 1982. He joined the

(, UPRONA) and became permanent secretary of the party chapter in Bujumbura. He rose to become Governor of Cankuzo Province in 1989 and later Governor of Bujumbura Rural Province. On 4 April 1992 he was sworn-in with a new national cabinet as Minister of Interior, becoming the first Hutu to hold the post since two decades prior.

References

Works cited

* 1953 births Living people Hutu people Union for National Progress politicians Heads of state of Burundi Interior ministers of Burundi Leaders who took power by coup {{Burundi-politician-stub