A senior aide to Burundi’s president Pierre Nkurunziza narrowly escaped death in an attack on Monday in his home in the Kajaga suburb of the capital Bujumbura.
Willy Nyamitwe, who is the senior communications officer for Nkurniziza was slightly injured while one of his bodyguards was killed in the attack.
A source revealed that “Nyamitwe was slightly wounded on his arm during the attack. He is receiving treatment. One of his bodyguards died on the spot, while another was seriously injured”.
Nyamitwe’s brother, who is also the Foreign Minister, Alain Aime Nyamitwe, noted in his tweet that his brother has “survived another assassination attempt”.
I praise the Living God for keeping my brother @willynyamitwe tonight as he survived another assassination attempt. To Him, all the glory!?
— alain aimé (@nyamitwe) November 28, 2016
Nkurunziza was re-elected in July 2015 in a poll largely boycotted by the opposition, which says his extended presidency violates the constitution and the terms of a deal that ended a previous rebellion. Some opponents have taken up arms against his government.
Since 2015, Burundi has been plagued with post-electoral crisis, which has left thousands of people killed and some have been forced to flee their homes.
The instability has raised ethnic tensions in Burundi, whose Hutu-Tutsi ethnic mix is similar to that of neighbouring Rwanda, which suffered a genocide in 1994.
