Jean-Baptiste BAGAZA
A bright man who led his country
Burundi
to the right path of development.
Military
1946-1976
Vice-Chief of Staff of the Army
1946
Born at Rutovu, Bururi province, South of Burundi
(Aug. 29)
.
1962
Independence of
Burundi
.
1971
Returned to the motherland after graduating from a Belgian military academy.
Rapidly climbed ranks to end up as Lieutenant Colonel and Vice-Chief of Staff of the army.
President
1976-1987
Head of the Republic of Burundi
1976
Became President of Burundi, after a bloodless military coup d'état, aged 30
(Nov. 10)
.
Established a political system of a single-party state.
1977
Incorporated leaders of Hutu ethnic-majority into the government and launched an anti-corruption drive.
1981
A new constitution was voted by way of popular referendum.
The country remained a one-party state run by
UPRONA
.
1984
Elected as President with 99% of the vote in a one-man race.
Credited with two-fold increase in medical professionals and establishments.
Improved road networks and other public infrastructures.
Massive state investments financed through foreign loans.
Held the most notorious international summit in the nation's history:
"La Francophonie"
, attended by 37 head of states
(Dec. 11-12)
.
1985
Expelled missionaries off the country and nationalized Catholic schools.
Country's growth rate soared at 8% and will later collapse to -0.1% after Bagaza's tenure.
1986
Massive cuts in military spending and government spending imposed on by IMF and World Bank.
Asylum
1987-1993
Public ennemy #1
1987
Ousted, also in a military coup, by Major Pierre Buyoya
(Sept. 3)
while in Canada.
Went into exile in Uganda and later, Libya
(6years)
.
Politician
1993-2005
Leader of
PARENA
1993
Returned to Burundi.
First democratically-elected president, Melchior Ndadaye, was murdered by a military junta after only 100 days in power
(Oct. 21)
.
1994
Found a political party: PARENA, acting as a Tutsi-led opposition party.
2000
Arusha Accord was signed - an agreement between
Hutu and Tutsi
elites which puts in place an ethnic quota system for state institutions
(Aug. 28)
.
Senator
2005-2016
Lifetime member of the Senate
2005
Former guerilla movement,
CNDD-FDD
, won the first elections after almost 10 years of civil war.
Became holder of a lifetime seat in the Senate of Burundi, as former head of state.
2014
Stepped down as the leader of PARENA.
2016
Died, aged 69, after a short stay in hospital in Brussels, Belgium (
May 4
).
Buried with presidential honors in
Bujumbura
(
May 17
).