Burundi government statement on Twitter says outgoing President, Pierre Nkurunziza (55) has died at Karusi hospital after suffering heart attack.

In a statement posted on Twitter on Tuesday, the government announced “with great sorrow to Burundians and the international community” the passing of Nkurunziza, 55.

The outgoing president died at Karusi hospital after suffering a heart attack on June 8, the statement added.

In power since 2005, Nkurunziza was due to be replaced in August by political ally Evariste Ndayishimiye, who was declared earlier this month the winner of a May 20 presidential election.

WHO IS NKURUNZIZA:

• Nkurunziza was born in 1963 in Burundi’s capital city of Bujumbura.
• He was raised in the province of Ngozi in northern Burundi.
• His father, Eustache Ngabisha, was a Catholic Hutu connected with the royal family. His mother was a Protestant Tutsi assistant nurse.
• Ngabisha was enlisted to the ranks of the pro-independence UPRONA party and elected to the Parliament of Burundi in 1965, later becoming governor of two provinces before being killed in 1972 during the Burundian Genocide of 1972 when ethnic violence claimed the lives of between 80,000 and 210,000 Burundians.
• Nkurunziza attended primary school in Ngozi and pursued secondary education at Athénée in Gitega.
• He later attended the Institut d’Education Physique et des Sports (IEPS) at the University of Burundi in the late 1980s and graduated in 1990 after obtaining his degree in sports education.
• Before the civil war broke out, he became a sports professor at Lycée de Muramvya in 1991 while still studying psychology and pedagogy. Nkurunziza became a teacher and assistant lecturer at the University of Burundi in 1992.
• In 1995, he was threatened and joined the CNDD-FDD when hundreds of Hutu students were killed or forced to flee. After rising through the ranks, Nkurunziza was appointed deputy secretary-general of the CNDD-FDD in 1998.
• In the late 1990s, he was condemned to death by court and trial in absentia. In 2001, he was elected chairman.
• There was a split in the group in late 2001. He was reelected chairman in August 2004.
• During the Burundian Civil War, Nkurunziza is said to have survived a near death experience.
• He was wounded several times in the war and was given the nickname “Pita”.
• Beginning in late 2003 and after the ceasefire agreement, he was appointed Minister for Good Governance in the transitional government of President Domitien Ndayizeye.
• Following a series of CNDD-FDD victories in elections held during June and July 2005, Nkurunziza was nominated as the party’s presidential candidate.
• He was elected president by members of parliament (acting as an electoral college) with a vote of 151 to 162 on 19 August 2005 and took office on 26 August 2005.
• He was reelected in 2010 with more than 91% of the vote amidst an opposition boycott and sworn in for his second term on August 26, 2010.
• In March 2014, Nkurunziza banned jogging, due to “fears it was being used as a cover for subversion.”
• In April 2015 Nkurunziza announced that he would seek a third term in office. The opposition said that Nkurunziza’s bid to extend his term was in defiance of the constitution, as it bars the president from running for a third term.
• On May 13, 2015, Burundi Army General Godefroid Niyombareh declared a coup via radio while Nkurunziza was abroad attending a summit in Tanzania with other African leaders. Niyombareh had been dismissed from his post as head of intelligence in February 2015.
• However, the controversial presidential elections were held on 21 July 2015. The electoral commission under pressure announced on 24 July 2015 that Nkurunziza had won the election with 69.41% of the vote with low voter turnout, the participation rate under 30%.
• In March 2018, Nkurunziza was named “eternal supreme guide” by the ruling party, CNDD-FDD, in the run-up to a constitutional referendum on 17 May that year. The referendum’s proposed constitutional changes would allow Nkurunziza to stay in office until 2034.
• On 21 May the new constitution was approved, allowing Nkurunziza to extend his term limits starting in 2020.
• On 7 June 2018, Nkurunziza announced that he will step down after the 2020 elections.
• Nkurunziza was one of seven siblings. Two of his siblings were killed after civil war erupted in 1993, and three others died while fighting in the CNDD-FDD. Only one of his siblings, a sister, is alive today.
• He married his wife in 1994 and is the father of two sons.
• Nkurunziza described himself as a born again Christian, though his rule has involved severely restricting religious freedoms for evangelical Christians and other groups.
• Nkurunziza enjoyed playing football and cycling. He began playing football at the age of five, and played in a team at secondary school and his university.
• In September 2019, a UN committee concluded that President Pierre Nkurunziza was personally accountable for serious violations.

Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina has blasted the World Health Organization (WHO) for discouraging people from using their homegrown remedy for Covid-19.

WHO has repeatedly warned that the Covid-Organics drink, which Madagascar’s Rajoelina has touted as a remedy against the deadly coronavirus, has not been clinically tested.

However, in an interview with FRANCE 24 and RFI, Rajoelina defended his promotion of a controversial homegrown remedy for Covid-19 despite an absence of clinical trials.

“What if this remedy had been discovered by a European country, instead of Madagascar? Would people doubt it so much? I don’t think so,” the president told FRANCE 24’s Marc Perelman and RFI’s Christophe Boisbouvier.

The drink is derived from artemisia – a plant with proven anti-malarial properties – and other indigenous herbs.

“What is the problem with Covid-Organics, really? Could it be that this product comes from Africa? Could it be that it’s not OK for a country like Madagascar, which is the 63rd poorest country in the world… to have come up with (this formula) that can help save the world?” asked Rajoelina, who claims the infusion cures patients within ten days.

Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Niger and Tanzania have already taken delivery of consignments of Covid-Organics, which was launched last month.

“No one will stop us from moving forward – not a country, not an organisation,” Rajoelina said in response to the WHO’s concerns.

He said the proof of the tonic’s efficacy was in the “healing” of “our patients”, calling it a “preventive and curative remedy”.

According to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, Madagascar has officially reported 186 coronavirus infections and 101 recoveries to date, with no deaths.

“The patients who have healed have taken no other product than Covid-Organics,” the president said.

Reminding viewers that Madagascar has a long history of traditional medicine, Rajoelina added that many pharmaceutical drugs authorised in the West have turned out to be harmful, such as the Mediator weight loss drug in France.

Source: France 24

Contagion is currently one of the most watched and most translated movies in Uganda.

In the midst of the coronavirus panic, the 2011 movie “Contagion” became one of the most-watched movies in Uganda and online. Here’s a look at the main themes of the movie and how they are becoming a reality in 2020.

As coronavirus spreads fear and panic across the world, streaming services have been observing a spike of interest in the 2011 movie Contagion. Starring Matt Demon, Gwyneth Paltrow and Lawrence Fishburne, the movie follows the outbreak of a deadly virus called MEV-1 and its disastrous impacts on society. Needless to say, in today’s context, Contagion is not a comforting watch. In fact, if the whole Coronavirus situation is already making you anxious, you should probably avoid Contagion. Because it will only make things worse.

In fact, the slogan of the movie is “Nothing spreads like fear” – and that is basically the goal of the movie. To scare and to educate.

In fact, there is nothing entertaining about that movie. It is an educational video. It is an “ultra-realistic” depiction of a massive pandemic outbreak that takes place in real locations and that involves real organizations. Indeed, while the movie was directed by Steven Soderbergh, its narrative was shaped with input from the World Health Organization (WHO), the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and various specialists.

To put things in context, the movie came out a couple of years after the H1N1 crisis in 2008. After months of panic and a mass vaccination campaign, some studies showed that the WHO and the CDC grossly overestimated the number of actual H1N1 cases and pushed a vaccine that many deemed unnecessary. A movie like Contagion was a good remedy for this tarnished credibility.

In 2020, the world faces another major epidemic scare and Contagion becomes relevant again. Not only that, but mass media has also been casting a solid spotlight on it.

So, is Contagion accurate? Yes, more than ever. Let’s look at the main themes of the movie and how they are becoming a reality in 2020.

Contagion

The movie begins by showing the various ways a virus can spread across the world in a matter of days.

Soon after, the virus reaches the United States and all hell breaks loose.

In Contagion, the public is depicted as rather idiotic and prone to panic.

In 2020, the coronavirus outbreak causing massive lines in stores as people stockpile various items.

In Contagion, as MEV-1 spreads in the United States, the American government flees to an undisclosed location and “looks for a way of working online”. In real life, the coronavirus scare has already reached the White House as several representatives (including Trump) were reportedly in contact with disease carriers. There are also plans for “working online”.

So, in Contagion, the American government basically goes into hiding and specific organizations take over (which happen to be the organizations that helped to create the movie): The CDC (Center for Disease Control), the WHO (the UN’s World Health Organization), FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), the American Red Cross and the U.S. Army.

Soon after, the State of Minnesota is placed in quarantine.

While, in 2011, the concept of putting entire states in quarantine was a fictional (yet plausible) scenario, it became a reality in 2020. As you might know, the entire country of Italy is currently in lockdown.

In Contagion, things go way further than “containment”. The government declares Martial Law and people are directed to FEMA camps.

Mass Vaccination Campaign

After months of horror, panic, and death, a solution finally arrives: A vaccine.

In 2020, the ultimate solution to eradicate coronavirus will most likely take the form of a vaccine as well.

In Contagion, the vaccine is not only encouraged – it is mandatory.

Those who wear the bracelet are allowed to go to public places such as shopping malls. Those who do not get vaccinated cannot go anywhere and they ultimately die.

And some people refuse to get vaccinated.

As I explained back in 2012, the aim of Contagion was not to entertain but to educate. It lays a blueprint for the process that needs to take place when an epidemic arises: Fear and panic. Breakdown of social order. Control and lockdowns. Social distancing. Mandatory solution and repression of those who oppose it.

While, in 2020, things might not go as far as in Contagion (let’s hope not), the movie mentally prepares people for what could happen. And therein lies the awesome power of mass media to shape and mold society on a global level.

Source: Vigilant Citizen