Pierre Ngendandumwe

Pierre Ngendandumwe (1930 – 15 January 1965) was a Burundian politician. He was a member of the Union for National Progress and was an ethnic Hutu. On 18 June 1963, about a year after Burundi gained independence and amidst efforts to bring about political cooperation between Hutus and the dominant minority Tutsis, Ngendandumwe became Burundi's first Hutu prime minister. He served as prime minister until 6 April 1964 and then became prime minister again on 7 January 1965, serving until his death. Eight days after beginning his second term, he was assassinated by a Rwandan Tutsi refugee.

Early life[]

Pierre Ngendandumwe was born in 1930^[1] in Ngozi Province, Burundi. He came from a prosperous Hutu family. In 1959 he earned a degree in political science from Lovanium University in the Belgian Congo.^[2] That year he bemoaned the domination of Urundi's administration by the Tutsi minority ethnic group.^[3]

Career[]

Following the completion of his education, Ngendandumwe worked in the Belgian colonial administration as an assistant territorial administrator. He supported Louis Rwagasore and was a member of the Union for National Progress (UPRONA).^[4] In July 1961 he was appointed Minister of Finance in the caretaker of government of national union assembled by the Belgian administration.^[5] He served as Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in Rwagosore's government of national unity later that year.^[6] On 13 October Rwagosore was assassinated. André Muhirwa was named Prime Minister to replace him, while Ngendandumwe continued to serve as Vice Prime Minister.^[7][a] Upon the death of Rwagosore, UPRONA developed two factions which became known as the "Casablanca group" and the "Monrovia group". The former was dominated by Tutsis and anti-Western in its ideological orientation. The latter was led by Hutus and leaned either pro-West or neutral towards it.^[9] Ngendandumwe was associated with the Monrovia group.^[1] At the end of the year he signed an agreement with Belgian Foreign Minister Paul-Henri Spaak, guaranteeing Burundi internal autonomy in most matters until independence.^[10] On 18 January 1962 he and the President of the Legislative Assembly of Ruanda appealed to the United Nations General Assembly to permit the independence of Ruanda-Urundi as two separate states.^[11]

In June 1963 Mwami Mwambutsa IV of Burundi revoked Muhira's government and asked Ngendandumwe to form a new government.^[12] He became Prime Minister of Burundi on 18 June 1963, the first Hutu to hold the office.^[13] Upon swearing in he announced a programme for "bread and peace", including an initiative to preserve coffee trees and an appeal to all citizens to provide two days of free labor to the country to bolster the state treasury.^[14] From this point onward the Mwami exerted considerable control over Burundian politics and made the cabinet responsible to him instead of Parliament.^[15] Ngendandumwe established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, upsetting the Mwami.^[16] On 31 March 1964 the Mwami dismissed four controversial cabinet members and asked Ngendandumwe to create a new government. A settlement was not reached^[17] and Ngendandumwe resigned on 6 April 1964.^[18] He was replaced by Albin Nyamoya.^[17] Despite this, he accompanied the Mwami to the United States in May to meet with President Lyndon B. Johnson.^[19]

Assassination[]

On 7 January 1965 Mwambutsa called on Ngendandumwe to replace Nyamoya and form a new government. The appointment was protested by the Tutsi-dominated Rwagosore National Youth, the Federation of Burundian Workers, and the Union of Administration Agents. At noon on 15 January his new government was announced.^[20] Later that day he visited his wife at a hospital in Bujumbura to watch her give birth to their son. At about 8:00 PM, as he was leaving the hospital, he was shot in the back and killed.^[21][22] His death was reportedly instantaneous, while one of his aides was wounded by a stray bullet.^[19] He was succeeded in office by acting Prime Minister Pié Masumbuko.^[23] Ngendandumwe was the second Burundian premier to have been assassinated.^[21] His death created a political crisis,^[24] prompting Mwambutsa to dissolve Parliament and call for new elections. The Hutu-dominated Party of the People (PP), bolstered by UPRONA defections, saw a political opportunity and billed itself as a champion of the Monrovia group's ideas, renaming its youth wing the Jeunesse Populaire Ngendandumwe.^[b] UPRONA loyalist civil servants denounced the youth organisation as a group founded to "avenge" the late prime minister.^[26] UPRONA maintained its majority in the elections, but the PP earned 10 seats in Parliament.^[27]

The man accused of killing Ngendandumwe was Gonzalve Muyenzi, a Rwandan refugee who worked at the United States Embassy. Shortly after the murder several Rwandan refugees were arrested, including most of the leaders of the Armée Populaire de Libération Rwandaise.^[4] The Burundian government also severed relations with China, but in March a Burundian diplomat declared that his government believed that both the United States and China were not involved in the killing.^[29] The police detained a man named Butera, another employee at the United States Embassy and the son of François Rukeba, a prominent Rwandan exile rebel leader. A ballistics expert alleged that the bullet which killed Ngendandumwe had been traced to a gun found in the possession of Butera.^[23] Also arrested were leading figures of the Casablanca group, including Nyamoa, Prime Niyongabo, and Zenon Nicanyenzi. The group had convened shortly before the murder and were accused of plotting it. Despite the arrests and several investigations,^[30] no members of the Casablanca group were ever prosecuted.^[31] In December 1967 the Supreme Court of Burundi, citing lack of evidence, dismissed all charges against those accused in the murder.^[32] The lack of a conviction for the murder became a grievance for Hutu opposition politicians.^[12]

Ngendandumwe was buried in the Vugizo area of Bujumbura, next to the tomb of Rwagosore.^[33] On 26 January 1965 the government voted to rename the Avenue de Hospital in Bujumbura—where he had been shot—as Avenue Pierre Ngendandumwe.^[34][33] The anniversary of Ngendandumwe's death in 1966 was declared a public holiday.^[35] In 2019 the Burundian government announced that it would name the planned building for the Senate in Gitega after Ngendandumwe.^[36]

Notes[]

References[]

Works cited[]

• Carbone, Carlo (March 2000). "Nazione, Nazionalisti, Decolonizzazione in Burundi 1958-1963". Africa: Rivista trimestrale di studi e documentazione dell'Istituto italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente (in Italian). 55 (1): 1–52. JSTOR 40761428.
• Deslaurier, Christine (2013). "Rwagasore for ever? Des usages contemporains d'un héros consensuel au Burundi". Vingtième Siècle Revue d'histoire (in French). 2 (118). pp. 15–30.
• Eggers, Ellen K. (2006). Historical Dictionary of Burundi (third ed.). Lanham: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-5302-7.
• Lemarchand, René (1970). Rwanda and Burundi. New York: Praeger Publishers. OCLC 254366212.
• Russell, Aiden (2019). Politics and Violence in Burundi: The Language of Truth in an Emerging State. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781108499347.
• Weinstein, Warren (1976). Historical Dictionary of Burundi. Metuchen: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810809628.