Domitien Ndayizeye

Domitien Ndayizeye
8th President of Burundi
In office 30 April 2003 – 26 August 2005
Vice President	Alphonse-Marie Kadege
Preceded by	Pierre Buyoya
Succeeded by	Pierre Nkurunziza
Vice-President of Burundi
In office 1 November 2001 – 30 April 2003
President	Pierre Buyoya
Preceded by	Frédéric Bamvuginyumvira Mathias Sinamenye
Succeeded by	Alphonse-Marie Kadege
Personal details
Born	2 May 1953 Murango, Kayanza Province, Burundi
Political party	Front for Democracy in Burundi (FRODEBU)

Domitien Ndayizeye (born May 2, 1953 in Murango, Kayanza Province) is a Burundian politician who was President of Burundi from 2003 to 2005. He succeeded Pierre Buyoya, as president on 30 April 2003, after serving as Buyoya's vice president for 18 months. Ndayizeye remained in office until succeeded by Pierre Nkurunziza on 26 August 2005.

Ndayizeye currently serves as head of the National Gathering for Change (RANAC).^[1]

Under his government, Ndayizeye tried to bridge the gap between the Hutu and the Tutsi people of Burundi through cooperation with other presidents in the region such as Museveni of Uganda and Mkapa of Tanzania.

The attack on Congolese Tutsi refugees at the border of Burundi was considered a test of the president's capacity to maintain law and order and stability in the country. He promised swift retaliation and that the culprits would be apprehended.

In 2004, Ndayizeye proposed a draft constitution to the parliament prior to it being put to the electorate in referendum later in the year. Relations with the Tutsi group were strained, reflected in their boycotting of the legislative session due to consider the proposal. Due to a lack of preparation, the ballot was postponed to late November 2004.

Burundi is still trying to emerge from a civil war that began in 1993 when several groups drawn from the large Hutu majority took up arms against a government and army then dominated by a Tutsi elite.

The interim government pledged to more equitably share power between the two main ethnic groups.

On 21 August 2006, Ndayizeye was arrested in Bujumbura in relation to his alleged role in a coup plot earlier in the year. The Senate lifted his immunity as Senator prior to his arrest.^[2] He denied the charges against him in court on December 19 and said that he had "never dreamed of organising a coup, in fact I had given up politics to do business and be with my family".^[3] On January 15, 2007, he was acquitted along with former vice president Alphonse-Marie Kadege and three other defendants; two others were sentenced to long prison terms.

During 2010 general elections, as his party representative, he ran for the presidential seat but decided to withdraw from the race together with all opposition parties, after they accused the ruling party of rigging previous councilors' elections.^[4]

After opposition politician Zedi Feruzi was killed during the 2015 Burundian unrest Ndayizeye and other opposition parties broke off talks with the government of President Pierre Nkurunziza.^[1]

References

1. Christian Irambona & Don Melvin (24 May 2015). "Opposition suspends talks as Burundi's crisis grows worse". CNN. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
2. "Burundi's former leader arrested", BBC News, August 21, 2006.
3. "I never planned a coup, says Ndayizeye", Reuters (IOL), December 20, 2006.
4. Patrick Nduwimana, "Ndayizeye acquitted of coup plot in Burundi", Reuters (IOL), January 16, 2007.