Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza has died after suffering what the government said was a heart attack, two months before he was scheduled to leave office.Nkurunziza died at the Karusi Hospital in eastern Burundi late Monday, two days after he reported feeling unwell and was taken to the facility, the government reported in a news release posted Tuesday on social media.URGENT: Le Gouvernement de la République du Burundi annonce avec une très grande tristesse le décès inopiné de Son Excellence Pierre Nkurunziza, Président de la République du Burundi, survenu à l’Hôpital du Cinquantenaire de Karusi suite à un arrêt cardiaque ce 8 juin 2020. pic.twitter.com/PP46kKzAM5
— Burundi Government (@BurundiGov) The Burundian national flag is taken down at the independent square in downtown Bujumbura as Burundi mourns the death of Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza, June 9, 2020.In late 2018, Burundi ordered the U.N. Human Rights Council to close its office in eastern Burundi, after a report alleging the “involvement of the regime in systematic abuses and a risk of genocide.”In mid-May, Burundi expelled four officials from the World Health Organization without explanation, despite the coronavirus pandemic. Nkurunziza – a born-again Christian and, like his wife, a pastor – had claimed God gave special protection to faithful Burundians.Burundi Expels WHO OfficialsHealth Ministers expelled prior to election despite pandemic fearsThe country officially had 83 confirmed cases and one death as of Tuesday, though the French news agency, Agence France-Presse, said doctors in Bujumbura confidentially spoke of many unreported cases and deaths.Gervais Rufyikiri, who served in the Senate and then, from 2010 to 2015, as second vice president, told VOA that he and Nkurunziza “worked together on many projects, some of which contributed to Burundi’s development.” Rufyikiri didn’t specify what he considered his accomplishments, but he acknowledged “the national economy did not turn out as we had hoped.”Burundi remains one of the globe’s poorest countries, according to the World Bank, with most people living in poverty, especially in rural areas. The late president found his strongest support in those areas, where he was considered a man of the people because he helped with harvests and organized prayer services. After the coup attempt in 2015, he moved from the then-capital, Bujumbura, to his northern hometown of Ngozi.The two men’s relationship ruptured in 2015 when Nkurunziza decided to seek a third term. Rufyikiri fled the country.Speaking from exile in Switzerland, he added, “My wish for Burundi is not to go back into violence as we experienced in the past. … Whenever there is war, many people shed tears.”  Nkurunziza had not intended to surrender all the privileges of leadership after leaving the presidency. The ruling CNDD-FDD party anointed him its Eternal Supreme Guide in 2018. The government said that when he stepped down, it would send him off with 1 billion Burundi francs – about $535,000 – plus a villa.VOA Central Africa Service’s Geoffrey Mutagoma also contributed to this report.
 
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