Background
Micombero was born in Rutovu, Bururi Province in Belgian-ruled Ruanda-Urundi in 1940. His parents were peasants from the Hema people, part of the Tutsi ethnic group
Micombero was born in Rutovu, Bururi Province in Belgian-ruled Ruanda-Urundi in 1940. His parents were peasants from the Hema people, part of the Tutsi ethnic group
Micombero studied at Catholic mission schools in Burundi. Then at the Catholic College of St Esprit in Bujumbura, going to the Brussels Military Academy for two years before being recalled at the time of Burundi’s independence in 1962, to help maintain order.
He started in the police and rose to the rank of captain, becoming Minister of Defence in 1965. The Hutu launched a major uprising in September 1965 and he was appointed Chief of the Secretaries of State by Mwami Mwambutsa IV, who endorsed his severe repression of the revolt.
Drawing power not simply from his Tutsi tribe, but from his own clan and regional following in the southern Bururi area, he took tough measures, forcing his politicians to work and cutting ministerial salaries. He was fully behind the move that brought young Prince Charles Ndziaye back from his studies in Switzerland to depose his own father Mwambutsa IV and become King Mwami Ntare V. Micombero was made Prime Minister and immediately persuaded the 19-year-old king to dissolve Parliament with its Hutu majority and set up a government of mainly Tutsi administrators.
He soon fell out with the king, accusing him of not meeting his obligations and allowing himself to be influenced by his father. On November 29, 1966, he seized power, dismissed the king and forced him to go into exile. He then declared a Republic with himself as President, set up a National Committee of the Revolution (CNR) and ruled through newly appointed military governors.
He then embarked on a policy of national reconciliation, releasing Hutu political prisoners and speaking out against tribalism and clan rivalry. His new republican government and conciliatory policies towards the Hutu dramatically improved relationships with neighbouring Rwanda.
But criticism persisted. Six former ministers were sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment on December 26, 1968, after they had written an open letter criticising him. On October 9, 1969, he announced that another coup attempt against his government had been foiled and several officers of the Hutu tribe were tried and executed.
He hoped to give the Hutu a voice by reactivating the Unity and National Progress Party (UPRONA) which had remained largely dormant since he took over in 1966. After a long debate in the Political Bureau, it was agreed that he, as President, would become party secretary-general and that the party would have representatives drawn right down to commune level.
In November 1971 he announced that referendum would be held on a new constitution. But in October 1972 two ministers were dismissed and arrested, charged with "plotting to overthrow" the government. In the same month a new Supreme Council of the Republic was set up to advise the President while plans for the referendum on the constitution were dropped. The council had precedence over UPRONA.
Ntare V was allowed to return to his country after President Amin of Uganda had secured a safe conduct on March 31,1972. But Micombero immediately had him taken into protective custody “for his own safety". At the end of April another Hutu revolt started.
He was unable to control the Hutu revolt which followed or prevent the terrible backlash by the Tutsi which resulted in between 50,000 and 100,000 deaths in an unprecedented tribal holocaust. He narrowly escaped death when he sent his car carrying an ADC ahead. The car was ambushed and the man was killed.
It was not until July that the revenge against the Hutus finally abated. On July 14 Micombero had a thorough cabinet reshuffle in which he dropped all the old Hutu ministers (three of them were executed for their part in the coup) and only appointed four new ones out of a cabinet of 14. All the old Tutsi ministers were re-established in the new cabinet.
In the emergency which followed he refused to allow the Red Cross to supervise the distribution of relief supplies. This made the organisation abandoned its attempt to give assistance.
In November 1976, opponents of Micombero's regime, led by Colonel Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, led a successful coup d'état. Micombero himself was arrested and a second republic was declared under the dictatorship of Bagaza which would last until 1987. Micombero was exiled from Burundi in 1977. He took up residence in Somalia, then ruled by dictator Siad Barre who was a close friend.He died of a heart attack in 1983.
His ideology of "democratic centralism" brought all the country's institutions and media under the regime's control.[2] His regime combined ideas from the socialist ideology of Tanzania with others from Joseph-Désiré Mobutu's regime in the Congo.[2] As a Cold War leader, he was able to play off both Communist and Western powers against one another.
Sporting elegant sideburns, he is one of the radical Tutsi from the Hima clan in the south of the country.