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Melchior Ndadaye
First democratically elected president of Burundi; champion of Hutu rights
The teacher who won Burundi's first free election — and was murdered one hundred days later.
The rise
Ndadaye returned from exile in Rwanda to found the Front for Democracy in Burundi (FRODEBU). In June 1993 he won Burundi's first democratic presidential election in a landslide, becoming the first Hutu head of state. He was assassinated by Tutsi army officers in October 1993, triggering years of civil war.