Burundi orders all unwed couples to marry before year end

The Burundi government has given all unmarried couples in the country until the end of the year to legalise their relationships, as part of an effort to reform morals in the country, the government revealed.

The order comes following the launch of a campaign earlier this month by President Pierre Nkurunziza “to moralise society” in the country which for two years has been in the grip of sometimes violent political upheaval.

Interior ministry spokesman Terence Ntahiraja stated that the country was facing a population explosion which he blamed on “illegal marriages”, polygamy, bigamy and “hundreds of schoolgirls getting pregnant”.

He said church and state-sanctioned weddings were the solution and were a patriotic duty.

Nkurunziza said Burundians should show their love for each other — and their country — by getting married.

The government has since been pressuring unwed couples across the country to tie the knot.