Tanzania, Kenya, and Rwanda, members of the East African Community, joined to mourn the President of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza, who died unexpectedly on Tuesday of this week. From Saturday to Monday, Tanzanian President John Magufuli has declared three days of mourning, with all the flags at half mast.
President Magufuli said in a press release that Tanzania pays tribute to Nkurunzinza in appreciation of being the president of a neighboring country which has had strong, friendly, and historic relations with Tanzania. He said:
“Burundi is a member state of the East African Community and President Nkurunzinza really loved this community, he loved Tanzania and he supported us whenever he needed, so I found Tanzanians to associate with our brothers to mourn and remember President Nkurunzinza who saw Tanzania as home.”
President Uhuru Kenyatta, in Kenya, has ordered the East African Community flag to be lowered to half mast for three days , starting on Saturday in honor of Nkurunziza. “Flags will be flown at half-mast in all public buildings in the country and in all Kenyan embassies abroad,” a statement by the White House said.
In Rwanda, President Paul Kagame has declared that from Saturday to the day before Pierre Nkurunzinza is buried the Rwandan flags and East African flags will fly half-mast. Every president has sent his condolences to the deceased’s family.
Pierre Nkurunziza was a Burundian politician who was in power from 2005. Mr Nkurunziza, a former MP ‘s friend, survived the 1993 Hutu student massacre at a Burundian university where he was a lecturer, and joined the FDD insurgency. It later became the ruling CNDD-FDD Party which came to power. He was the president of the ruling CNDD-FDD until he was elected Burundi’s president.
After the Arusha Peace Agreement between the government and the rebels, Nkurunziza was appointed Minister of the Interior until the August 2005 parliament voted him President. In 2015 Nkurunziza was re-elected by his party for the third term of office in a contentious contest. Nkurunziza did not agree with his supporters and critics on whether contesting again was valid for him and protests erupted.
Since the announcement of Nkurunziza ‘s death earlier this week, there has been a leadership crisis in the country. The constitution of the country stipulates that when the President dies, the National Assembly Speaker will have to replace him. Speaker Pascal Nyabenda, however, was not immediately sworn in by a situation that observers have interpreted within the governing party of the country as a sign of dissension.
At its Thursday session, the cabinet in Burundi decided to bring the matter before the constitutional court, and announced that it would lead the country together until the new president was elected. The decision was made at a meeting with First Vice President Gaston Sindimwo as its chairman. The group of Burundian lawyers has requested an unconditional oath of office to the president-elect.
