Burundi’s Nkurunziza declares six days of national prayer to solve country’s problems

Burundi has announced the setting aside of six days in January to commit the country into the hands of God.

President Pierre Nkurunziza announced the move Wednesday, saying the six days of prayers would help in finding solutions to the country’s myriad of challenges.

Nkurunziza made a similar declaration two years ago to thank God for his interventions throughout that year and to guide him in the following year.

According to local media reports, Nkurunziza urged all citizens to join in seeking God’s intervention for the East African country.

Born on December 18, 1963, Nkurunzia, who was once a Burundian educator and former leader of a Hutu rebel group, became president of Burundi in 2005.

His ascension to power has led to some challenges in various sectors of the economy, social lives, education, among others.

Burundi has also been plunged into a political crisis that was sparked off by the participation in the April 2015 presidential election of Nkurunziza.

Nkurunzuza ran for a third term, in contradiction with the Constitution.

The crisis has left hundreds of people dead, and this has come to rub off on the country’s economy.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, in 2016, said nine mass graves holding 100 bodies in total have been found, including one on a Burundi army base.

In the country’s civil war, which lasted from 1993 until 2003, an estimated 300,000 people were killed. Burundi has about 10 million people.