Passion or Profession: president

Period: 1953–1993

Ethnic violence forced Melchior Ndadaye to flee Burundi in the early 1970s, and he spent a decade living in exile in Rwanda and France. Upon his return to Burundi, he became a political leader and helped found the Hutu Front for Democracy in Burundi (Frodebu). When multiparty elections were held in June 1993, Ndadaye was elected Burundi's first Hutu president. In October that year, Ndadaye was assassinated, which triggered Burundi's civil war.