Former Burundian President Buyoya dies
Pierre Buyoya who has led Burundi twice from 1987 to 1993, and from 1996 to 2003 has died. The cause of death was not immediately clear. However, some of his family members who spoke to VOA said he may have been “infected with the Corona virus.”
Major Pierre Buyoya died at the age of 71. Three weeks ago, he resigned as the special envoy of the African Union in Mali and the Sahel region.
Retiring, he said he did so in order to get the right time to deal with the recent conviction of the Burundian Court of Appeals in the murder case of Melchior Ndadaye.
In that case, Burundian justice in October sentenced him to life in prison, along with other members of the military who were in power at the time.
Pierre Buyoya has served as the African Union’s special envoy to Mali and the Sahel region for eight years.
President Buyoya has been in Burundi for two terms, helping the country through the overthrow of the regime. The first was from 1987 to 1993, and the second was from 1996 to 2003, with the signing of the Arusha Accords.
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