Burundi opposition figure gunned down in Bujumbura

BUJUMBURA, Burundi

 The spokesman for a Burundian opposition party was killed early Tuesday near capital Bujumbura by unidentified attackers, according to a top party official.

Mpawenayo Pasteur, a leading member of Burundi’s opposition Union for Peace and Democracy (UPD) party, told Anadolu Agency that Patrice Gahungu had been gunned down outside his home in the town of Gihosha Ntahangwa north of Bujumbura.

According to Pasteur, Gahungu’s murder was likely political in nature because the perpetrators had fled the scene of the attack without stealing anything.

“Gahungu had been opposed to President Pierre Nkurunziza sitting for a third term in office,” he said.

In late July, Nkurunziza won a third term as president in polls widely boycotted by the opposition.

On May 23, UPD President Zedi Feruzi was also killed in Bujumbura -- along with his bodyguard -- by unidentified gunmen.

In the month and a half since Burundi’s controversial presidential poll, the country has witnessed a spate of violent attacks -- on both government officials and opposition figures -- sparking fears of wider political conflict.  

Only one week after Nkurunziza’s electoral victory in July, Gen. Adolphe Nshimirimana -- the country’s powerful spy chief and a Nkurunziza ally -- was also killed in the capital.

And in mid-August, Col. Jean Bikomagu, Burundi's former army chief-of-staff, was killed in his home by unidentified attackers.

According to local NGOs, at least 130 people -- mostly opposition politicians but also including Nkurunziza supporters -- have been killed amid political turbulence that began in April when Nkurunziza announced his intention to run for a third term.