Burundi’s outgoing president, Pierre Nkurunziza, has just passed away. He died yesterday Monday following a cardiac arrest.
Pierre Nkurunziza, the outgoing president of the Republic of Burundi, was reportedly hospitalized at the Fiftieth Anniversary Hospital in Karuzi on Saturday after collapsing. “On Sunday his state of health improved but on Monday afternoon his condition suddenly changed with a cardiac arrest,” said a statement signed by the spokesman of the Burundian government, Prosper Ntahorwamiye. A multidisciplinary team of doctors began resuscitation but to no avail, according to the same source. A seven-day mourning period has just been decreed.
According to corroborating sources, a helicopter landed near the Karuzi hospital on Monday afternoon for an emergency intervention on behalf of the Head of State, Pierre Nkurunziza, whose health situation was deteriorating.
Four doctors were on board. Two doctors from the private clinic Kira Hospital, a specialist in intensive care from King Khaled Hospital and a kidney specialist who works at the National Institute of Public Health (INSP).
According to the newspaper le Soir.be, the helicopter sent to Karuzi returned empty to Bujumbura. “The covid-19 is said to have aggravated an illness from which Pierre Nkurunziza was already suffering and which had confirmed his decision not to seek re-election for another term,” the Belgian newspaper said, contradicting the official source.
Nkurunziza’s wife, Denise Bucumi Nkurunziza, was evacuated to Nairobi for treatment at the Aga Khan Hospital on 28 May 2020. She was suffering from Covid-19. Her health would not be in danger.
Gerard Rugambwa
