Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza Dies Of Heart Attack
Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza, aged 55, has died of a heart attack, the government says. A government statement says that he was admitted to hospital on Saturday after feeling sick.
His condition then improved but on Monday he had a cardiac arrest and efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.
according to the PUNCH, Nkurunziza came to power in 2005, when he was selected by parliament.
His controversial and ultimately successful bid for a third term in 2015 plunged the country into crisis.
Violence left at least 1,200 people dead, displaced hundreds of thousands and the authorities carried out a sustained crackdown on the opposition and media, the paper says.
His death comes on the heels of elections on May 20 in which his hand-picked successor, Evariste Ndayishimiye, secured a seven-year term as president, a result confirmed by the constitutional court last Thursday.
Ndayishimiye was due to be sworn in, in August.
A statement from Burundi’s presidency on Tuesday said Nkurunziza was hospitalised over the weekend and that his health “abruptly changed” on Monday.
It said the country would observe seven days of mourning beginning Tuesday.
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