This archive report was first published on 12 June 2020.
On June 12, 2020, President Uhuru Kenyatta issued a statement from State House directing that the Kenyan flag and the East African Community flag be flown at half-mast from Saturday, June 13, to honor Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza, who died on June 9 at the age of 55 following a cardiac arrest.
According to the Presidential Proclamation, flags will be flown at half-mast at all public buildings, public grounds, and throughout the entire country, as well as at all of Kenya's diplomatic missions abroad.
President Kenyatta mourned President Nkurunziza, stating, 'May the late President Pierre Nkurunziza rest in eternal peace.'
President Nkurunziza's death comes as his wife, Denise Bucumi Nkurunziza, is still undergoing treatment in Nairobi, where she was flown two weeks ago.
Before joining politics, President Nkurunziza was a teacher and assistant lecturer at the University of Burundi. He emerged as the leader of the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD) following the civil war of 1993.
With the 2003 peace deal, he was named Minister of Interior before Parliament elected him President in August 2005. After 15 years in power, Nkurunziza was due to step down in August, but his death comes barely three weeks after the national elections, which his party candidate Evariste Ndayishimiye won with 68.72 per cent of the vote.
