Pierre Nkurunziza

Pierre Nkurunziza is a  Burundian politician who has been President of Burundi since 26 August 2005. He was born on 18 December I963 in Bujumbura, capital city of Burundi. He was raised in the province of Ngozi in northern Burundi. His father was Hutu and his mother was Tutsi. He graduated from the University of Burundi in Bujumbura in 1990 with a dagree in Physical education.

His father Eustache Ngabisha was elected to the Parliament of Burundi in 1965 and later became governor of two provinces before being killed in 1972 during a period of ethnic violence that claimed the lives of over 400,000 Burundians and caused many more to go into exile as refugees.

Nkurunziza was a lecturer at Burundi University when civil war broke out in the country following the assassination of Burundi's first ethnic Hutu democratically elected president, Melchior Ndadaye, in 1993. 

He joined the CNDD - FDD in 1995 as a soldier after the Tutsi army attacked the university campus and killed 200 students.

He was the chairman of the National council for the Defense of Democracy - Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD - FDD) the ruling party until he was elected the President of the Republic of Burundi.

Pierre Nkurunziza was one of seven siblings. Two of his siblings were killed after civil war erupted in 1993, and three others died while fighting in the CNDD - FDD. Only one of his siblings, a sister, is alive today.

Pierre Nkurunziza married his wife Denise Bucumi in 1994 and they have 3 children, Dorcas, Nquomie and Johnathan.

President Pierre Nkurunziza

President Pierre Nkurunziza and his wife First Lady Denise Bucumi Nkurunziza

President Pierre Nkurunziza and his wife First Lady Denise Bucumi and their three children, Dorcas, Nquomie and Johnathan with President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta (right)

President Pierre Nkurunziza (left) and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta (right)

President Pierre Nkurunziza and his wife First Lady Denise Bucumi Nkurunziza with President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta and First Lady of Kenya Margaret Kenyatta

President Pierre Nkurunziza and his wife First Lady Denise Bucumi Nkurunziza with the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh 

President Pierre Nkurunziza and President of Rwanda Paul Kagame