42 Facts About Melchior Ndadaye

Melchior Ndadaye was a Burundian banker and politician who became the first democratically elected and first Hutu president of Burundi after winning the landmark 1993 election.

Melchior Ndadaye's assassination sparked an array of brutal tit-for-tat massacres between the Tutsi and Hutu ethnic groups, and ultimately led to the decade-long Burundi Civil War.

Melchior Ndadaye was born on 28 March 1953 in the commune of Nyabihanga, Ruanda-Urundi.

Melchior Ndadaye attended primary school in Mbogora and in 1966 enrolled at the normal school in Gitega.

Melchior Ndadaye enrolled at the Groupe Scolaire Officiel in Butare to complete his secondary studies, graduating in 1975.

Melchior Ndadaye then enrolled at the National University of Rwanda to take up pedagogical studies, earning a license degree in 1980.

Melchior Ndadaye taught at the Lycee pedagogique in Save, southern Rwanda, from 1980 to 1983.

Melchior Ndadaye became involved in politics while in Rwanda, and in 1976 founded the Mouvement des Etudiants Progressistes Barundi au Rwanda, a progressive movement for exiled Burundian Hutu students.

Melchior Ndadaye served as the party's secretary for information and editor-in-chief of its newspapers, Le Flambeau and Ukuri.

Melchior Ndadaye published a document calling for an "alliance of Burundian progressive forces," further distancing himself from other members.

In July 1984 Melchior Ndadaye married Laurence Nininahazwe, with whom he had three children.

From 1986 until 1988 Melchior Ndadaye directed the Cooperatives d'Epargne et de Credit in Gitega.

Melchior Ndadaye then took up study with the Institut Technique de Banque at the Conservatoire national des arts et metiers in Paris, securing a diploma in higher banking studies in 1992.

In February 1991 Melchior Ndadaye became one of the twelve founding members of the Iteka League, a human rights association.

Melchior Ndadaye was the sole member of the political opposition to serve on it.

Melchior Ndadaye was dissatisfied with UPRONA's control over the political transition.

Melchior Ndadaye remained critical of the transition, expressing anger at the government's domination by UPRONA members and accusing UPRONA activists of using state resources to support their activities.

Ntibantunganya, another founding FRODEBU member, said that Melchior Ndadaye further benefitted from a public perception that he was a "political virgin".

Melchior Ndadaye put forward a platform titled, "Our proposals to build a new Burundi", comprising 46 specific measures involving political, economic, and socio-cultural issues.

Melchior Ndadaye advocated disbanding the Tutsi-dominated armed forces and recreating the army and gendarmerie based on equitable recruitment from each colline, thus ensuring more ethnically balanced forces.

Melchior Ndadaye decried this characterisation, and instead accused UPRONA's leadership of attempting to sow ethnic division.

Melchior Ndadaye, endorsed by FRODEBU and the FCD, competed against UPRONA's candidate, Buyoya, and Pierre Claver Sendegeya of the Parti pour la Reconciliation du Peuple.

When Melchior Ndadaye called Buyoya to ask him about the coup, Buyoya joked with him that it was a "kind of baptism of fire".

Melchior Ndadaye was sworn-in as President of Burundi on 10 July 1993.

Melchior Ndadaye became both the first democratically-elected head of state and first Hutu president of Burundi.

Melchior Ndadaye assembled a government of 23 ministers, including 13 FRODEBU and six UPRONA members.

Melchior Ndadaye appointed a Council of National Unity comprising 15 Hutus and 15 Tutsis who were to advise him on ethnic concerns.

Melchior Ndadaye questioned contracts and concessions approved under previous Tutsi governments, which threatened the economics of the powerful Tutsi elite and army.

Melchior Ndadaye began reforms to the military, shifting the national police to a separate command and changing the admission requirements for the military and police so as to reduce the entrenched Tutsi dominance.

Melchior Ndadaye appointed Lieutenant Colonel Jean Bikomagu as Army Chief of Staff.

Later that afternoon, Melchior Ndadaye hosted a cabinet meeting in Bujumbura to mark the first 100 days of his presidency and discuss what his government had accomplished in comparison to its campaign promises.

Melchior Ndadaye requested that Ndadaye further consider a previous report declaring his personal security to be inadequate.

Melchior Ndadaye instructed Ngendahayo to bring him the Minister of Defence, Colonel Charles Ntakije.

Melchior Ndadaye spoke about training possibilities for the Presidential Guard before dismissing both ministers for the evening and going to the palace.

Melchior Ndadaye then attempted to reach Captain Ildephonse Mushwabure, the commander of the palace guard, by phone, but when he did not answer he went into the palace gardens.

Laurence Melchior Ndadaye took her three children into an interior room and sheltered them under tables, while the president was disguised in a military uniform by his guards and placed in one of their armoured cars in the garden, where he remained for the next six hours.

At Captain Mushwabure's direction, Melchior Ndadaye decided to be taken with his family to Camp Muha.

Melchior Ndadaye was taken by Army Chief of Staff Bikomagu to a meeting with other senior officers of the army.

Melchior Ndadaye reentered the armoured car with Gakoryo to finalise their understanding on paper, but when the secretary of state exited the vehicle soldiers began shouting for the president to come out.

Once he did, Bikomagu quieted the crowd and Melchior Ndadaye appealed to the soldiers to negotiate peacefully with him.

Melchior Ndadaye directed a driver to take the family away, and at Laurence's direction, the soldier brought them to the French embassy, where they were allowed to take refuge.

In Burundi, Melchior Ndadaye has been posthumously remembered as a martyr for democracy and a national hero.