Bachelors and Spinters: Unmarried couples ordered to wed by end of 2017

President Pierre Nkurunziza signed a new law which the government says will help protect women and create a more moral society, but some disagree.

President Pierre Nkurunziza has said unmarried couples have until the end of the year to legalise their relationships.

This is part of an effort to reform morals in Burundi in the East African country.

The order follows the launch of a campaign by the President "to moralise society" in the nation which for two years has been in the grip of sometimes violent political upheaval.

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In May, President Pierre Nkurunziza signed a new law which the government says will help protect women and create a more moral society, but some disagree.

The government insists a legal document recognising a marriage helps protect women and their children, especially when it comes to issues such as inheritance. However, others say the new marriage law infringes on people's religious beliefs, customs and practices.

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According to reports by AFP, the country was facing a population explosion which he blamed on "illegal marriages," polygamy, bigamy and "hundreds of schoolgirls getting pregnant".

Interior ministry spokesman Terence Ntahiraja told AFP that the church and state-sanctioned weddings were the solution and were a patriotic duty.

President Pierre Nkurunziza signed a new law which the government says will help protect women and create a more moral society, but some disagree. Read Full Story