afrol News, 13 May - Burundian authorities have been called to thoroughly investigate Monday's murder of Cécile Ndikumana, an employee of the Sales Department of state-owned 'Radio Télévision Nationale du Burundi' (RTNB), and the attempted murder of RTNB cameraman Hilaire Minani in a separate incident the same day.

"Our thoughts are with Ndikumana’s family, to whom justice must be rendered, and with Minani and those close to him, who must be traumatised," said the Paris-based Raporters Without Borders.

"Letting killers go unpunished just encourages more violence. To prevent these appalling crimes from recurring, the authorities must deploy significant resources to identify and punish those responsible and thereby show they take this kind of violence seriously."

Gunmen opened fire at Ndikumana while she was returning home yesterday evening with her husband in Kakyosha, a district in the southern part of the capital Bujumbura. She was killed on the spot and wounding her husband. His husband, who had sustained non life-threatening injuries, was rushed to a Bujumbura hospital.

Two gunmen also shot dead a companion of Minani outside his home in Kamenge in the northern outskirts of the capital on Monday after an altercation ensured. As Minani and a neighbour were having a drink, gunmen appeared asking them to hand over their money and mobile phones. Minani managed to flee, although he had sustained injuries to the head and hand.

In recent, Bujumbura has seen a wave of murders and several cases of reported politically-motivated violence, especially in Kamenge. In one incident, an adult and a child were killed and three other people were wounded when heavily armed men attacked the home of a presidential aide-de-camp.

By staff writer

© afrol News

Related pages and feature

Current afrol News Top Stories