Ndizeye, Charles

Also known by the dynastic name of Ntare, the younger son of king (mwami) Mwambutsa, ascended to the Mwamiship in September 1966. His coronation brought to an end the long interregnum caused by Mwambutsa’s flight from Bujumbura after the botched up Hutu-sponsored coup of October 19, 1965. Not until March 24, 1966 did Mwambutsa acknowledge the shortcomings of government by remote control; on that day he issued a royal decree entrusting Prince Charles Ndizeye “social powers to coordinate and control the activities of the government and the Secretariats of State”. The stage was set for a major trial of strength between the Crown and the government of President Micombero. On November 28, while attending the first anniversary of Mobutu’s military take-over in Kinshasa, Ntare learned over the radio that the army had deposed him by way of a military coup not unlike the one he was celebrating. His reign, from July 8 to November 28, 1966, is the shortest recorded in the annals of Burundi’s monarchy. Six years would go by before his assassination in Gitega, on April 29, 1972, the tragic outcome of a conspiracy concocted by Artémon Simbanaye to eliminate once and for all the threat of a monarchical restoration.

For further reference:

Chrétien, Jean-Pierre & Dupaquier, Jean-Francois, 2007. Burundi 1972 : Au bord des genocides, Karthala.

Lemarchand, René, 1970, Rwanda and Burundi, London: Pall Mall Press.

Lemarchand, René, 1977, “Burundi”, in Lemarchand, René, African Kingships in Perspective, London: Frank Cass.

Lemarchand, René, 1994, Burundi: Ethnic Conflict and Genocide, Cambridge: Woodrow Wilson Center Press and Cambridge University Press.

Nsanze, Augustin, 2007, Le Burundi Contemporain: L’Etat-nation en question (1956-2002), Paris: L’Harmattan.