The national coordinator of one of Rwanda’s
main opposition movements was killed Monday, the third member of the United
Democratic Forces to either disappear or be found murdered this year.
 |
| UDF leader Victoire Ingabire |
Syridio Dusabumuremyi was stabbed
to death in his shop in the country’s southern Muhanga district by unidentified
people, the Rwanda Investigation Bureau said on its Twitter account.
Two
suspects have been arrested and investigations are ongoing, spokeswoman Modeste
Mbabazi said by phone.
UDF leader Victoire Ingabire
confirmed the killing, saying she believes the attack was premeditated. In
March, the body of a party member who had traveled to the northwest to visit
his parents was discovered in a forest. Another member has been missing since
July.
“I strongly believe these are
coordinated attacks and it looks like other targeted killings of the opposition
members,” she said by phone from the capital, Kigali. “These killings should
stop.”
Human-rights groups have repeatedly
accused President Paul Kagame’s government of cracking down on political
opponents and the media.
Amnesty
International said in a statement that Monday’s killing was “extremely
alarming” and urged the authorities to conduct an independent investigation
into what it described as “numerous suspicious attacks.”
“It is essential that the
government of Rwanda protects the rights to freedom of expression and
association, including for opposition politicians, and ends the current climate
of harassment and intimidation they face,” the U.K.-based rights group said.
Ingabire, a one-time presidential
candidate, was jailed for 15 years in 2013 for conspiring against the
government before being pardoned last year. She hasn’t been allowed to
officially register the United Democratic Forces as a party.
The
movement’s vice president hasn’t been seen since he allegedly escaped from a
maximum-security prison in October last year. - Bloomberg
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