Gitega
[key], city, capital of Burundi and of Gitega prov., central Burundi. It
is an administrative, trade, and communications center. Construction
materials are manufactured, and there are cinchona plantations in the
surrounding region. Gitega is the seat of an agricultural university and the
National Museum. Gitega, then known as Kitega, served as the administrative
center for Urundi (Burundi) in Belgian-administered Ruanda-Urundi. The city's central
location led Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza to propose (2007) moving
the national capital there from Bujumbura, and in 2019 the government
approved the move, which is expected to be completed by 2021.
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