BUJUMBURA. — A gunman killed Burundi’s environment and water minister early on Sunday, police said, the first senior government figure to be murdered in nearly two years of political violence.
Emmanuel Niyonkuru (54) was attacked as he travelled home in the capital Bujumbura, police spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye said in a tweet.
Violent protests erupted early in 2015 after President Pierre Nkurunziza said he would seek a third term — a move opponents said violated the constitution and a peace deal that ended an ethnically charged civil war.
At least 450 people have died in clashes between protesters and security forces, tit-for-tat killings and a failed coup, stoking fears of wider unrest in a region still haunted by the 1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda. — Reuters.



