Burundi
Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Gr ...
an
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...
. He was
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Hutu
The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic or social group which is native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they form one of the p ...
. As a child he intended on becoming a priest, and thus after finishing primary school he attended Mugera seminary. He left after his first semester and then attended university. He graduated in 1984 with a bachelor's degree in history and geography and sought out a teaching position but could not obtain one. From April 1984 to December 1987 he worked as a journalist for Burundi National Radio and Television.
Political career
Early activities and FRODEBU
In the 1970s Ntibantunganya was a member of the Movement of Progressive Barundi Students (Mouvement des Etudiants Progressistes Barundi). In August 1979 some of the student movement members founded the Burundi Workers' Party (''Umugambwe wa'Bakozi Uburundi'', UBU), a
revolutionary
A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor.
...
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
political party. To join the party, an applicant had to be sponsored by a member and was accepted on a probationary basis while they were educated in
Marxism
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
. Ntibantunganya was sponsored by one of the founding members and after three months became a full member of the party. By 1981 he sat on its central committee as its national secretary for external relations. UBU developed two factions, with the first advocating armed revolution and the second—led by Ntibantunganya and Melchior Ndadaye—advocating democracy and political freedom. As a result of these ideological divisions, the two men left UBU in 1983.
In 1988, President Pierre Buyoya decreed the creation of a 24-person commission to study ethnic divisions in Burundi and create a plan for national unity. Ntibantunganya served on the panel, which produced a Charter of National Unity, but it was denounced by Hutu members of the political opposition for being dominated by Tutsis and presenting an elitist point of view of the country. Ntibantunganya later called the project a failure. In May 1991 he founded ''Tujujurane'', a
Kirundi
Kirundi, also known as Rundi, is a Bantu language spoken by some 9 million people in Burundi and adjacent parts of Rwanda, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, as well as in Kenya. It is the official language of Burundi. ...
newspaper. He cofounded the Front pour la Démocratie au Burundi (FRODEBU) in 1986 and for a time edited its official newspaper, ''L'Aube de la Démocratie'' (), and in 1993 served on the party's central committee.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and President of the National Assembly
In Burundi's legislative elections held on 29 June 1993, Ntibantunganya was elected to a seat in the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the r ...
representing Gitega. He became Minister of Foreign Affairs in Prime Minister Sylvie Kinigi's government on 10 July.
Early in the morning on 21 October 1993 Tutsi soldiers in the Burundian Army launched a coup and attacked the presidential palace. The president's wife called Ntibantunganya called to warn him about the putsch. Thus informed, he began calling FRODEBU leaders in an attempt to rally the government and warned Minister of Communications Jean‐Marie Ngendahayo. He also called the
chargé d'affaires
A ''chargé d'affaires'' (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassado ...
at the United States embassy and extracted his assurances that the United States government would condemn the coup. He then resolved to flee. Distrustful of his military guard, Ntibantunganya changed into his gardener's clothes and walked to a friend's home, where he remained in hiding for the next two days. His wife, Eusébie Nshimirimana, was murdered by soldiers while attempting to hide at a different home, though their infant child survived. He subsequently found refuge at the French embassy with Kinigi and other government officials. President Ndadaye was ultimately killed in the coup, as were the other officials in the presidential line of succession. Ntibantunganya later recalled the night of the coup as his saddest memory. Ndadaye's death left him the interim leader of FRODEBU. He resigned as Minister of Foreign Affairs on 22 December 1993. The following day he was elected President of the National Assembly.
FRODEBU also set about trying to name a new president. This stoked a rivalry between Ntibantunganya and another FRODEBU cofounder, Léonard Nyangoma. By his own account, Ntibantunganya decided to withdraw himself as a candidate despite having the support of the central committee, citing his desire to focus on party matters, and Ngendahayo suggested that FRODEBU back
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. A Hutu born in Burundi, Ntaryamira studied there before fleeing to Rwanda ...
for the position instead. FRODEBU reached an agreement with the opposition, whereby Ntaryamira was sworn-in as President of Burundi on 5 February 1994 with a new government.
President of Burundi
On 6 April 1994 President Ntaryamira was traveling on a Rwandan plane with Rwandan President
Juvénal Habyarimana
Juvénal Habyarimana (, ; 8 March 19376 April 1994) was a Rwandan politician and military officer who served as the second president of Rwanda, from 1973 until 1994. He was nicknamed ''Kinani'', a Kinyarwanda word meaning "invincible".
An eth ...
. The aircraft was shot down by unknown assailants over Kigali, killing all aboard. The shootdown triggered the
Rwandan genocide
The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...
. Following the crash, Ntibantunganya made a broadcast on Burundi television, flanked by the minister of defence and the army chief of staff, appealing for calm. He attributed Ntaryamira's death to "the facts of circumstance" and believed that he was not the target of the assassination. In accordance with the constitution Ntibantunganya, as President of the National Assembly, became the interim President of Burundi. Prime Minister Anatole Kanyenkiko and his government officially resigned but stayed in power pending the confirmation of a new executive. Ntibantunganya and Kanyenkiko enjoyed a good working relationship.
Faced with the spillover of the
Rwandan Civil War
The Rwandan Civil War was a large-scale civil war in Rwanda which was fought between the Rwandan Armed Forces, representing the country's government, and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) from 1October 1990 to 18 July 1994. The war aro ...
, Ntibantunganya's government pursued a strict policy of neutrality, denying officials of the former Habyarimana regime residency in Bujumbura and refusing to allow French troops to use Burundi as a staging area for
Opération Turquoise
Opération Turquoise was a French-led military operation in Rwanda in 1994 under the mandate of the United Nations. The "multilateral" force consisted of 2,500 troops, 32 from Senegal and the rest French. The equipment included 100 APCs, 10 h ...
. In May Ntibantunganya met with RPF leader
Pasteur Bizimungu
Pasteur Bizimungu (born April 1950) is a Rwandan politician who served as the third President of Rwanda, holding office from 19 July 1994 until 23 March 2000.
A Hutu, Bizimungu had previously held several positions under President Juvenal Habya ...
. The genocide created a refugee crisis; an estimated 300,000 Rwandans ultimately fled to Burundi, while approximately 180,000 Burundian exiles who had fled to Rwanda in October 1993 also returned. With international assistance, Ntibantunganya's government opened new refugee camps to house them.
Over the course of 1994 the political and security situation in Burundi continued to deteriorate. Moderates in both UPRONA and FRODEBU were marginalised as radicals gained increasing influence and ethnic violence permeated the countryside. By the middle of the year Ntibantunganya was the only original member of the FRODEBU central committee still actively engaged with the party and the civil political process, with the others having been killed or having fled into exile. The party fractured into at least three groups, with the smallest section supporting Ntibantunganya, though many felt his cooperation with and concessions to the army and the opposition amounted to a capitulation. Another faction became a rebel group, the Conseil National Pour la Défense de la Démocratie – Forces pour la Défense de la Démocratie (CNDD–FDD). His tenure as President of the National Assembly ended on 30 September 1994. In early February 1995 Ntibantunganya dismissed two UPRONA ministers after they failed to show up to a cabinet meeting. Later that month, UPRONA extremists—displeased with the coalition government—forced out Prime Minister Kanyenkiko and replaced him with
Antoine Nduwayo Antoine Nduwayo (born 1942) was the Prime Minister of Burundi from February 22, 1995, until July 31, 1996. He is an ethnic TutsiMwanza, Tanzania. As a consequence of the meeting, the president and Nduwayo both agreed to appeal for "international military assistance". The Burundian Army feared this would mean its usurpation by foreign intervention, and UPRONA immediately denounced the proposal. Nduwayo then accused Ntibantunganya of subverting the military, and joined the thousands of others in the capital in marching against an intervention. On 20 July 300 Tutsis at a displaced persons camp were massacred, presumably by Hutu rebels. When Ntibantunganya attempted to attend a funeral for them three days later the crowd of mourners attacked him with stones, forcing him to evacuate via helicopter. Ntibantunganya then obtained intelligence which suggested his life was threatened. He refused to resign but asked for refuge at the United States Ambassador's residence, which was granted. On 25 July he went to the residence, while Nduwayo announced his government's resignation. Major Pierre Buyoya subsequently took power in a military coup. He announced the suspension of the constitution, the dissolution of the National Assembly, and the banning of political parties, but declared that he would guarantee Ntibantunganya's safety. Ntibantunganya later entered negotiations with Buyoya, who agreed to provide him with a home in the Bujumbura suburb of Kiriri. He left the United States Embassy on 8 June 1997, saying, "I reaffirm that I shall not yield on the principle for a search for a negotiated solution for all problems that face our country."
Later life
Ntibantunganya served as a
senator for life
A senator for life is a member of the senate or equivalent upper chamber of a legislature who has life tenure. , six Italian senators out of 206, two out of the 41 Burundian senators, one Congolese senator out of 109, and all members of the B ...
as a former head of state from the implementation of the Arusha Accords until August 2018. On 14 June 2007 his membership in FRODEBU was suspended. He was a candidate in the 2015 Burundian presidential election. In July he and several other opposition candidates dropped out of the race, citing concerns for their safety and fear that incumbent President Pierre Nkurunziza would rig the outcome in his favor. The following year he spent several months in exile in Belgium. In 2020 he led the
East African Community
The East African Community (EAC) is an intergovernmental organisation composed of seven countries in the Great Lakes region of East Africa: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Republic of Tanzania, the Republics of Kenya, Buru ...
's
election monitoring
Election monitoring involves the observation of an election by one or more independent parties, typically from another country or from a non-governmental organization (NGO). The monitoring parties aim primarily to assess the conduct of an electi ...
team for Tanzania's general elections.
In 1999 Ntibantunganya released his first book, ''Démocratie (une) pour tous les Burundais'', published by
L'Harmattan
Éditions L'Harmattan, usually known simply as L'Harmattan (), is one of the largest French book publishers. It specialises in non-fiction books with a particular focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. It is named after the Harmattan, a trade wind in ...
. He spent 14 years writing another book, ''Burundi, Démocratie piégée'', which he published in 2019. During the celebration of International book day on 23 April 2021 he lamented that Burundians "do not read" and called for the national promotion of literature.