THIS WEEK: Arrest warrant issued against ex-Burundi leader
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | An international arrest warrant was issued on Nov.30 against Burundi’s former President Pierre Buyoya and 11 former senior officials over the 1993 killing of Melchior Ndadaye.
Buyoya now an African Union Representative in Mali denounced the warrant calling it politically motivated and another diversionary move to bar him from participating in tackling unresolved questions in the country.
He had come to power in 1987 with the help of the army but lost the seat in 1993 when Ndadaye a Hutu was elected. However the newly elected president died four months later in an attempted coup spearheaded by Buyoya’s Tutsi tribes’ men. Thereafter, a civil war broke out leading to death of an estimated 300,000 people.
Buyoya later become president again ruling the country from 1996 and 2003. He now says the killers of his opponent have already been convicted.