Sylvie Kinigi | |
|---|---|
 Kinigi in 1993 | |
| President of Burundi | |
Acting | |
| In office 27 October 1993 – 5 February 1994 | |
| Preceded by | François Ngeze (acting) |
| Succeeded by | Cyprien Ntaryamira |
| Prime Minister of Burundi | |
| In office 10 July 1993 – 5 February 1994 | |
| President | Melchior Ndadaye |
| Preceded by | Adrien Sibomana |
| Succeeded by | Anatole Kanyenkiko |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Sylvie Ntigashira 24 November 1953 Mugoyi, Ruanda-Urundi (today Bujumbura Rural Province, Burundi) |
| Political party | Union pour le Progrès national |
| Alma mater | University of Burundi |
Sylvie Kinigi (née Ntigashira; born 24 November 1953) is a Burundian politician and economist who served as prime minister of Burundi from 10 July 1993 to 7 February 1994, and acting president from November 1993 to 5 February 1994, making her the second African woman to serve as a president.
Born to a Tutsi family, she earned a degree in banking from the University of Burundi in 1979 and another diploma from the Centre de Formation de la Profession Bancaire in Paris. Politically, Kinigi was closely affiliated with the Union pour le Progrès national (UPRONA), Burundi's only legal political party at the time, and was an active member of the Union des Femmes Burundaises, a subgroup of UPRONA, serving as a member of its central committee by 1987. In that capacity she lobbied for legislative changes and government measures to benefit women. In 1990 Kinigi was hired by the Bank of the Republic of Burundi to direct its department of research and statistics, and the following year she was placed in charge of Burundi's structural adjustment program.
In the summer of 1993 Burundi hosted free elections, which were won by UPRONA's rival, Front pour la Démocratie au Burundi (FRODEBU). The new FRODEBU President of Burundi, Melchior Ndadaye, appointed Kinigi prime minister of Burundi on 10 July. Kinigi wished to pursue economic development while she was prime minister, but thought that this could not be achieved until ethnic tensions between Tutsis and Hutus were reduced. Thus, she declared that ethnic reconciliation would be her top priority. On 21 October President Ndadaye and several other officials were killed by Tutsi soldiers in a coup attempt, leaving her the highest-ranking official alive and the de facto head of state of Burundi.
She joined her surviving ministers in the French embassy until she could return to her residence under French military guard as the coup failed. Though her government proved unable to contain the ethnic violence following the coup, she played a key role in brokering a political compromise that allowed for the election of Cyprien Ntaryamira as the next president. She resigned when he took office in 1994 and assumed an executive position at the Banque Commerciale du Burundi. She then held several international positions before returning to Burundi in 2008 and becoming an independent economic consultant.