Former Burundian President reburied

The body of Burundi's former President Pierre Buyoya has been repatriated to his home country, more than three years after he was buried thousands of kilometres away in Mali. News24 reports that Buyoya, who was credited with helping push democracy in the small African nation but accused of involvement in his successor's assassination, died in Paris in December 2020 after contracting Covid-19. Later that month Buyoya's body was interred in the Malian capital Bamako, his base for eight years as the African Union's special envoy to Mali and the Sahel. At the time, a senior Burundian Government official had said Buyoya had the right to be buried in his home country but would not be given the honours afforded to a former head of state. His reburial took place in a private ceremony at the family property in the southern town of Rutovo yesterday.