Burundi pays tribute to Melchior Ndadaye, 33 years after his assassination

Burundi commemorated the 33rd anniversary of the assassination of Melchior Ndadaye, the country’s first democratically elected president, killed during the October 1993 coup. In Bujumbura, President Évariste Ndayishimiye laid wreaths at the Heroes of Democracy Square, where a mass was also held for Ndadaye and his close collaborators. Families and representatives of political parties later paid tribute to the victims. UPRONA president Olivier Nkurunziza said that peace alone was not enough and called for democracy to become a reality, warning against a return to one-party rule.