BUJUMBURA, Burundi
Desperate Burundi government has issued an international
arrest warrant against exiled opposition politician Alexis Sinduhije, accusing
him of leading a group responsible for multiple "terrorist acts", the
country's attorney general said.Alexis Sinduhije
The announcement by Sylvestre
Nyandwi late Wednesday followed a string of attacks in the troubled East
African nation in recent days that have left at least six dead and more than a
hundred wounded.
But the warrant relates to
earlier attacks, including grenade explosions and ambushes that have killed
dozens and injured several since the beginning of 2020, the attorney general
said.
"The investigations already carried out have
revealed that these acts are committed by a band of terrorists led by (...)
Alexis Sinduhije", he alleged.
"Under national and international law, these
acts constitute acts of terrorism, as well as crimes against humanity."
The president of the opposition Movement for
Solidarity and Development (MSD), Sinduhije lives in exile in Belgium.
He has long been suspected by the Burundian
government of being at the helm of RED-Tabara, the most active rebel group in
the country -- a claim he has always denied.
RED-Tabara has a rear base in South Kivu in the
neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo and is estimated to number between
500 and 800 men.
The group emerged 10 years ago and is accused of
being behind many deadly attacks or ambushes in Burundi since 2015.
In 2020, the group said it was behind a series of
attacks that killed more than 40 people from the security forces and the youth
league of the ruling CNDD-FDD party.
It claimed responsibility for a series of mortar blasts targeting the airport in Burundi's financial capital Bujumbura on Saturday night. No damage or casualties occurred.
Deadly grenade attacks also
struck the capital Gitega on Sunday evening and Bujumbura on Monday night. The
group has not commented on these.
However, the attorney general
said those blasts were "linked" to the earlier attacks that Sinduhije
is accused of carrying out. He did not provide further details and it was not
possible to verify his claims.
The MSD on Thursday said it
rejected "the unfounded accusations of a government incapable of ensuring
the safety of its citizens."
"Neither our leaders, nor
our members are oriented towards violence against our fellow citizens," it
added.
In addition to Sinduhije,
arrest warrants have also been issued against Francois Nyamoya, the MSD's
secretary general based in Rwanda, and Marguerite (Maggy) Brankitse, founder of
the Maison Shalom home for orphans, who lives between Rwanda and Europe.
"We ask the countries
where these criminals are based to offer us their collaboration so that they
are arrested and do not continue to shed the blood of their fellow
citizens," Nyandwi said.
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