Archbishop Joachim Ruhuna 🌐

Joachim Ruhuna was born on October 27, 1933, in Ndava. Ordained to the priesthood in 1962, he studied sacred theology in Rome and was appointed Bishop of Ruyigi before being elevated to Archbishop of Gitega in 1980, the spiritual primate of the Catholic Church in Burundi.

During the catastrophic civil war following the 1993 coup, Archbishop Ruhuna emerged as an outspoken, fearless defender of human rights. Refusing partisan silence, he publicly condemned atrocities regardless of whether perpetrators were government troops or rebel militias. On September 9, 1996, his convoy was ambushed by armed rebels in Bugendana; he was shot alongside two nuns, offering his life for peace.