Burundi gov't condemns assassination attempt against senior official

The Burundian government has condemned the assassination attempt that targeted, Monday night, Willy Nyamitwe, senior communication adviser at the Burundian president's office, the Burundian government said Tuesday in a statement.

The statement accuses Burundian civil society leader Pacifique Nininahazwe, living in exile, of being behind the assassination attempt against Nyamitwe.

"The assassination attempt happens at a time when one of the most wanted extremists, Pacifique Nininahazwe, on Nov. 24 wrote on Twitter 'You have to pulverize and exterminate them' after the Belgian senate met Nininahazwe and his team despite protests of the Burundian government and the Burundian senate," said Burundian Government Spokesman Philippe Nzobonariba in the statement.

According to the statement, Nininahazwe's tweet and the assassination attempt against Nyamitwe prove that acts of destabilization observed in Burundi are "perpetrated" by Pacifique Nininahazwe and his team.

"The Burundian government calls again on the international community and particularly on Belgium to cooperate with the Burundian judiciary and arrest Pacifique Nininahazwe and his accomplices who are responsible for targeted assassinations," said Nzobonariba in the statement.

The Burundian president's senior communication adviser Willy Nyamitwe Monday night escaped death following a gunmen's ambush near his home at Kajaga, 7 km west of the Burundian capital Bujumbura, the Burundian police spokesman said Tuesday.

Those gunmen opened fire against Nyamitwe's car, killing one of Nyamitwe's guards and injuring another guard and Nyamitwe himself.

Burundian Police Spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye said one soldier was arrested in connection with the ambush, adding that investigations reveal that Rwandans are behind the assassination attempt.

Relations between Burundi and Rwanda are bad since April 2015 when Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to run his controversial third term in violation of the national constitution and the 2000 Arusha Agreement that ended a decade-long civil war.

Rwanda is accused of hosting Burundian citizens who staged a failed coup plot on May 13, 2015 and of providing military training to people who are destabilizing Burundi.

Rwanda has denied all those allegations.

More than 500 people in Burundi have been killed and some 300,000 people fled to neighboring countries, mostly Tanzania, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) since the outbreak of the crisis. Endit