BUJUMBURA, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza Thursday drove to Ngara District in western Tanzania where he met Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli, the first foreign trip since a failed coup plot in 2015, the president's office said.
"The state visit carried out by the Burundian president in Tanzania is aimed at strengthening bilateral relations between Tanzania and Burundi," the Burundian president's office said in a press release.
Nkurunziza was accompanied by several ministers including the foreign minister, the security minister, the East African Community affairs minister, the finance minister and the defense minister.
The president's office added that on the sidelines of the visit, the president is expected to hold other meetings.
This is Nkurunziza's first foreign trip since a failed coup plot staged on May 13, 2015 when he was in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania to attend a regional summit.
Burundi plunged into a crisis since April 2015 when Burundian President Nkurunziza decided to run his controversial third term in violation of the national constitution and the 2000 Arusha Agreement.
His candidature, which was opposed by the opposition and civil society groups, resulted in a wave of protests, violence and even the failed coup on May 13, 2015.
More than 500 people in Burundi have been killed and some 400,000 people fled to neighboring countries mostly Tanzania, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda since the outbreak of the crisis. Currently, Tanzania is the largest host of Burundi refugees.
