20101025
africanews

Burundi's former rebel movement member was executed overnight by a group of men wearing police uniforms north of the capital Bujumbura, officials said. "Eight armed men, including six in police uniforms, entered the home of a National Liberation Forces demobilised member called Anicet Ndayshimiye and took him away," local official Jean-Pierre Ndayiragije said.

"They then tied him up and riddled his body with bullets, from his head down to his feet, before making off in a jeep that was waiting for them," he said.

Ndayiragije refused to speculate on who might be behind the execution but local residents alleged the killers were agents of the regime.

The killing took place in an area which has witnessed a string of tit-for-tat killings pitting members of President Pierre Nkurunziza's ruling Cndd-FDD against FNL supporters.

The violence comes amid growing fears that the civil conflict that left 300 000 people dead between 1993 and 2006 was resuming.

FNL leader Agathon Rwasa, whose movement laid down arms only last year, fled the capital in June after pulling out of an electoral process he and all other opposition parties claimed was rigged by the regime.

Senior Burundian intelligence sources claim he is based in the eastern DR Congo and being supported by other rebel movements there, allegations Rwasa's deputy has denied.