Unmarried couples have until the end of the year to legalise their relationships, Burundi government has said, as part of an effort to reform morals in the country.

The order follows the launch of a campaign this month by President Pierre Nkurunziza “to moralise society” where he urges Burundians to 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. Terence Ntahiraja, interior ministry spokesman, told the AFP news agency that Burundi 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. Authorities in the southeastern province of Rutana have ordered that “persons living in common-law unions” should be put on a special list by 22 June, while officials in northwestern Bubanza province have demanded unspecified “sanctions” against aisle-dodgers.

Pierre, a 27-year-old farmer living with his partner in Ngozi, in Burundi’s north, said local officials had threatened him with a 50,000 Burundian franc ($29) fine and said any child born out of wedlock would not be eligible for free education and medical costs. Pierre said he had not married because he could not afford the bride price demanded by his girlfriend’s family. “She told me she was pregnant. As I am



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Not too bad