Former President of Burundi, Pierre Buyoya has died at 71, according to various media reporting his death say the former politician and military leader may have succumbed to the Covid-19 epidemic.
Buyoya ruled Burundi as the president twice from 1987 to 1993, and from 1996 to 2003, each time seizing power through a coup d’etat. Major Pierre Buyoya first came to power by overthrowing President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza.
He had later joined international diplomacy but last month resigned from his post as the Special Envoy of the African Union (AU) in Mali and the Sahel region.
Major Buyoya becomes the second Burundian leader to die this year after the then death of sitting President Pierre Nkurunziza last June.
He was from the UPRONA party and had resigned in 1993 after being defeated in the general elections by Melchior Ndadaye of the FRODEBU party.
Pierre Buyoya was born on November 24, 1949 in Rutovu in the province of Bururi, in the south of Burundi.
