Pierre Nkurunziza, who has caused controversy with his decision to run for a presidential third term, has ruled Burundi for nearly 10 years.
Critics of the 51-year-old, who came to power after a civil war which left 300,000 dead, say he should not run again for office as that would be unconstitutional.
His supporters feel he is justified as he was appointed by parliament in 2005 - not directly elected.
And the former rebel leader takes pride in the fact that his administration has brought peace to Burundi - and says now is the time to reap the fruits of this.
It is this image that he is keen to portray - a man of the people working to rebuild the country, one of the poorest in the world.
It has been reported that diplomats arriving for official meetings with Mr Nkurunziza have been whisked away from the capital, Bujumbura, into the countryside, where they find the president digging in the fields with local farmers.
In fact his enthusiasm for planting avocado trees is so well known that many Burundians have renamed the popular green fruit "amaPeter" after him.
"The man's simplicity is remarkable, and he always draws attention, mingling with village people in the remote rural areas where he spends most of his time," his official biography on the Burundian government website says.
This has made him more popular in rural areas, but not in the capital, where most of the opposition resides.
Born-again Christian
Before the civil war, Mr Nkurunziza, who had graduated in sports education, was a teacher and assistant lecturer at the University of Burundi.
He also coached the army football team, Muzinga, as well as Union Sporting, a Burundian first division team in the 1990s.
He now has his own side, Hallelujah FC, where "he plays as a striker and scores regularly", his biography says.
The name of the team also indicates one of his other great passions: His Christian faith.
His father, a former governor who was killed in the 1972 massacre of ethnic Hutus, was Catholic and his mother Anglican.
Now a born-again Christian, the father of five never travels without his own football team and a choir, where he combines matches against local team with evangelical prayer sessions, according to the AFP news agency.
He and his wife Denise were once reported to have washed the feet of some of those among the crowd.
It is not only the people who the president believes have put their faith in him.
"Mr Nkurunziza indeed believes he is president by divine will, and he therefore organises his life and government around these values," says presidential spokesman Willy Nyamitwe.
The name of the team also indicates one of his other great passions: His Christian faith.
His father, a former governor who was killed in the 1972 massacre of ethnic Hutus, was Catholic and his mother Anglican.
Now a born-again Christian, the father of five never travels without his own football team and a choir, where he combines matches against local team with evangelical prayer sessions, according to the AFP news agency.
He and his wife Denise were once reported to have washed the feet of some of those among the crowd.
It is not only the people who the president believes have put their faith in him.
"Mr Nkurunziza indeed believes he is president by divine will, and he therefore organises his life and government around these values," says presidential spokesman Willy Nyamitwe.
These included several ambushes along major roads, killing many travellers, including Tutsis.
He took up arms in a bid to end the long-standing dominance of the country by the minority Tutsi community.
Mr Nkurunziza was sentenced to death in absentia by a Burundian court in 1998 for laying land mines, but received an amnesty under the peace accord that ended the fighting.
Last year, he tried and failed to change the constitution, which limits the powers of his CNDD-FDD party by guaranteeing positions for the minority Tutsi group in all government institutions.
This stands at odds with his stance that he wants to overcome the ethnic tensions that led to the civil war.
-http://www.bbc.com/
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