Burundi's outgoing president dies of heart attack

Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza, who has died of a heart attack aged 55, according to a statement released on Tuesday, oversaw a reign of torture, rape, and murder by his security forces that drove hundreds of thousands of people into exile.

He was due to step down in August after his party's candidate won elections last month, and had been president since 2005.

He came to power at the end of Burundi's 12-year civil war, which killed 300,000 people and was driven by similar ethnic tensions as the 1994 genocide in neighboring Rwanda, where Hutu extremists slaughtered 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Nkurunziza, a former leader of a Hutu rebel group, was elected by lawmakers after promising peace but oversaw a crackdown on political opponents and the media when he was re-elected five years later.

When he stood for the third time in 2015, opponents said it violated a two-term constitutional limit. His supporters beat, tortured, and executed activists, suspected opponents, and journalists.

After the foiled an attempted coup, more than 1,000 Burundians were killed in clashes with security forces and more than 400,000 fled abroad. The economy was ruined. Donors cut aid.

In 2018, Burundians voted in a referendum that cleared the way for Nkurunziza to stay in power until 2034. The opposition said ruling party agents accompanied voters into the booths. Many people told Reuters they voted out of fear.