Nairobi — Unmarried couples have until the end of the year to legalise their relationships, the Burundi government said on Friday, 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" in the tiny nation which, for two years, has been in the grip of sometimes violent political upheaval. Interior ministry spokesman Terence Ntahiraja told AFP the country is facing a population explosion which he blames on "illegal marriages", polygamy, bigamy and "hundreds of schoolgirls getting pregnant". He said church and state-sanctioned weddings are the solution and 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. The governor of the south-eastern province of Rutana has ordered that "persons living in common-law unions" should ...
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