BUJUMBURA, Burundi, Aug. 2 (UPI) — One of the president of Burundi’s closest aides, Lt. Gen. Adolphe Nshimirimana, considered to be second in command of the country, was killed by gunmen on Sunday.
Nshimirimana, a former Burundi Army Chief of Staff and Intelligence Chief, was killed in the Kamenge district of Burundi’s capital of Bujumbura after four armed men, reportedly in military uniforms, targeted his car with machine guns and rocket launchers, reported the BBC.
The killing was confirmed by Willy Nyamitwe, media adviser to Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza.
“I just lost a brother, a companion of struggle. Sad reality: Gen. Adolphe Nshimirimana is no longer of this world,” Nyamitwe said in a statement.
The tiny central African country, landlocked and poverty-stricken with a population of 10 million, held elections July 21, after weeks of demonstrations, an attempted coup, violence between Burundi’s army and rebel militias and oppression of opposition protesters by security forces. Dozens were killed and about 175,000 people escaped to neighboring countries.
Incumbent President Nkurunziza won the election for a third term, despite a two-term constitutional limit.
“The suppression of the coup was largely attributed to Gen. Nshimirimana as the counteroffensive was launched from his area,” Burundi expert Welile Nhlapo told Independent Media. “He was deeply popular in Burundi particularly among the youth, and was a trusted confidante of the president.”
Opposition parties boycotted the election, which they claimed was rigged to favor Nkurunziza, and election monitors from human rights groups and the African Union also refrained from sending inspectors, claiming the prolonged violence in the country precluded a fair election.
Top officials have left the Nkurunziza administration, and the United States and other world powers decried his third term; Nkurunziza claims that, since his first term in office was arranged by the legislature and not by voters, it should not count as one of his two permitted terms.
Ed Adamczyk contributed to this report.
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