Tag: GreatLakesNews

{Tens of thousands of people in the central Democratic Republic of Congo have been uprooted in recent months by spiralling violence between a militia group and government security forces, the United Nations said on Monday.}

More than 100,000 people across the provinces of Kasaï, Kasaï Central and Kasaï Oriental have fled their homes since August due to fighting between government forces and militia group Kamuina Nsapu, according to two U.N. agencies.

The violence has also disrupted education, shut health centers and halted farming across the three provinces, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

More than 100 people have died in several clashes since August – fueled by frustrations from the militia group that local leaders are not recognized by the government – and fresh violence erupted in Kasaï Oriental last week, according to OCHA.

“Innocent civilians are paying the highest price for this violence,” Yvon Edoumou of OCHA told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, adding many more people were at risk of being displaced as the violence shows no signs of abating.

While 150,000 people have been affected, only one in 10 has received financial aid due to a lack of humanitarian funding for the central African country, OCHA said.

The country’s humanitarian response plan for 2016 – which appealed for $690 million – was only 60 percent funded, the U.N.’s Financial Tracking Service (FTS) shows.

Delivering aid to those in need is challenging due to the insecurity and tensions between local leaders and the central government, the United Nations children’s agency (UNICEF) said.

“We are also concerned about number of children being recruited by the local militia,” said Steven Michel of UNICEF. Dozens are estimated to have joined Kamuina Nsapu, OCHA said.

More than a decade after the end of a 1996-2003 regional war in Congo that killed millions of people, the mineral-rich country remains a tinderbox of armed groups and ethnic militias.

{Charles Obong, 52, who worked as a senior personnel officer in the ministry of Public Service from 2006 to 2016, reportedly wanted to use the cash to redeem his soul before God.}

The hereafter, more so meeting the Creator on Judgement Day, is without a doubt a spine-chilling thought.

This was the terror-provoking imagination that tormented a former Public Service officer who saved more than Shs200 million to bribe the Almighty Father on Judgement Day so He could forgive his earthly sins.

Charles Obong, 52, who worked as a senior personnel officer in the ministry of Public Service from 2006 to 2016, reportedly wanted to use the cash to redeem his soul before God.

Obong died on December 17, 2016, after a long illness and was buried at his ancestral home at Adag-ani village, Bar-pii parish, Aromo Sub-county in Lira District, on Christmas Eve.

Obong was buried in a metallic coffin estimated to have cost Shs20m.

The Aromo Sub-county chairman, Mr David Elic, said his brother-in-law had left behind a Will, dictating that upon his death, his wife Ms Margaret Obong should deposit huge sums of money in his coffin.

He planned to convey the money to God as an offertory so that the Almighty Father could forgive his sins and save him from hellfire.

He reportedly also instructed his brother Justin Ngole and sister Hellen Aber to bear witness to ensure his wife follows his testament to the letter and secure the money in his coffin.

But relatives and local leaders who attended the deceased’s sendoff said the Will was mute on the sins Obong wanted to make amends for as he served in public office, including at the Public Service ministry.

Public service has been engulfed in pension scam scandal which cost government about Shs257 billion. The money was stolen by senior government officials.

But Mr Obong’s Will was violated as his body was exhumed last Saturday and the money withdrawn from the grave and his would-be planned penitence before God frustrated.

Somehow, Mr Obong’s clan members of Okii me Okabo, got wind of the planned heavenly restitution and forced his wife to reveal everything during a heated meeting at the home of the deceased’s father, Mr Meceli Ogwal, last Saturday.

Obong’s wife reportedly confessed that her husband had told her to bury him with huge sums of cash, which he would carry to heaven to offer God on Judgement Day. Ms Obong, however, declined to reveal the sums of money her husband asked he be buried along with.

Ms Obong further stunned clan elders when she said her husband had also instructed her to ensure Mr Ngole, her brother-in-law, and Ms Aber, her sister-in-law, should witness her placing the money in the coffin.

The witnesses (Mr Ngole and Ms Aber) also confessed that their brother was buried with countless sums of money.

The widow, who had hired funeral services from Kampala to open up the grave to put in more money, revealed she had in her possession another Shs180 million which she intended to stash in the coffin.

During the Saturday’s meeting, the Okii of Okabo clan chief, Mr Mike Gulu, ordered the exhumation of the body forthwith.

And when the clan members started exhuming the deceased’s body, Ms Obong refused to hand over the Shs180 million top-up and reportedly sped off in her car towards Lira Town.

{{Witnesses}}

Mr Elic, who witnessed the exhumation of his brother-in-law’s body, confirmed that when the coffin was opened, US$ 5,700, in the denomination of 100 notes, was found in the coffin. The money was removed and was being kept with the Okii of Okabo clan leader.

“The funeral service van also left hurriedly with the grave construction material when the situation became very tense,” Mr Elic added.

The area LC3 councillor, Richard Ecel, confirmed the exhumation. “I witnessed everything because I was invited there officially. When the clan elders ordered the exhumation, the widow resisted but was overpowered and eventually the body was exhumed and the money recovered from the coffin.”

Mr Jimmy Maxwell Auci, the chairperson of Adag-ani village, said the body was exhumed after the widow revealed she had placed some money in the coffin used to bury her late husband.

The body was reburied on Saturday evening and grave reconstructed on Sunday.

According to Mr Gulu, burying a person with money is a taboo among the Langi.
When contacted, Mr Ngole said his elder brother told him that he had left behind more than Shs6 billion.

“He did not tell me where the money was kept, but his wife had told me on phone prior to Saturday’s incident that she would bring again more Shs300 million to add in the coffin so that my brother could also enjoy,” Mr Ngole told Daily Monitor on phone on Sunday.

“When she was placing the first batch of money, the woman called me to witness it but I could not inform my people. I was afraid they could harm her but I broke the silence after I consulted widely.”

According to Mr Ngole, his brother was earning a salary of more than Shs3 million monthly. His widow works at Entebbe Airport as a principal immigration officer.

The Rev Joel Agel Awio clarified that no amount of money can buy eternal life, adding that God cannot accept such a golden handshake.

“The price for eternal life is the blood of Jesus. If you want your sins to be forgiven, do it when you are still alive,” the Anglican priest counselled.

Mr Dila Maxwell, the officer in charge of Aromo Police Post, said the widow admitted to having placed the money and clothes the deceased loved in the coffin.

He said the money was worth about Shs20.7 million.

The widow could not be reached for a comment by press time while Mr Ngole, her brother in-law, did not pick up our repeated calls to his mobile phone.

{Four locomotives and two Shatners (railway engines) arrived at the port of Mombasa on Monday as the Sh372 billion Standard Gauge Railway takes shape.}

Kenya Ports Authority managing director Catherine Mturi-Wairi received the cargo that arrived aboard MV Kota Bistari from the manufacturer, China Railway Rolling Stock.

The locomotives have been brought into the country by the Chinese Engineering, Procurement and Construction Company and China Road and Bridge Corporation for the multi-billion project expected to be launched in June.

The equipment arrived on Sunday night and is the first batch of the locomotives expected to haul modern wagons along the Standard Gauge Railway ahead of their commissioning on Wednesday. Cabinet Secretary for Transport and Infrastructure James Macharia is expected to flag off the locomotive engines.

The Shatners are railway engines but do not pull wagons; they are used to test the efficiency and suitability of the railway line before the locomotives use them.

Ms Mturi-Wairi was accompanied by general manager for technical services Joseph Atonga, corporate services manager Martin Mutuku and head of security Mariam Hamisi in receiving the equipment at the port.

President Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto have said that the first train will set off from Nairobi on June 1 to Mombasa.

The SGR is the biggest infrastructure project in Kenya since independence. It will shorten the passenger travel time from Mombasa to Nairobi from more than 10 hours to about four hours while freight trains will complete the 609km journey in less than eight hours.

{{Ordinary trains }}

The new railway line constitutes the first phase that is between Mombasa and Nairobi, but aims to connect Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan in subsequent phases. Although the project that begun in 2013 was initially scheduled to be completed in 2018, the government has said it will be ready this year.

The SGR, which will complement the slower, narrow gauge network operated by Rift Valley Railways, was budgeted to cost Sh372 billion but this could escalate to Sh447.5 billion.

The main contractor is China Road and Bridge Corporation with 90 per cent of the financing coming from the Exim Bank of China and 10 per cent from the Kenyan government.

Until now, it is estimated that more than 25,000 Kenyans have been hired to work on the railway as labourers or permanent staff for various tasks while the project is expected to open up the Southern Corridor for major economic investments.

Upon completion, the railway whose design capacity is 22 million tons per year, will be operated for five years by the Chinese company.

Passenger services will run from Changamwe in Mombasa West to Nairobi South in Syokimau where passengers can transfer to ordinary trains to the city.

Freight train services will operate from the Port of Mombasa to an inland container depot at Embakasi in Nairobi.

{Nkurunziza held an apocalyptic speech on December 31, 2016. The tone is both martial, transported and prophetic, repetitive speech and content more than worrying, alarming. Nkurunziza announces the world’s trembling because of what will happen in Burundi, speaks of the fire of God which will destroy all that is superfluous, all useless and asks the Burundians to stand ready to assume this work of God. This speech is extremely serious and recalls that of a certain Bagosora announcing before the genocide of the Tutsis of Rwanda that he was going to “prepare the apocalypse”.}

Let all those who have the flag of Burundi raise it high; Raise the flags; That all those who are seated stand up, that those who write write, that the journalists who are at our side retain what we are going to say. What I’m going to tell you today, December 31, 2016, what I’m going to tell you, listen to and take it very seriously.

First. Write. The voice of the Almighty God, creator of the heavens and the earth; The voice of God Almighty, creator of the heavens and the earth will make earth and sky tremble because of Burundi. The voice of the Almighty God, creator of the heavens and the earth, will make earth and heaven tremble because of Burundi. That’s the first point.

Secondly: Almighty God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, will sweep away everything that is flawed, all that is not solid so that only that which does not tremble remains. That is the second point. Almighty God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, will sweep away everything that slips away so that only that which does not tremble remains.

Third: Burundians and foreigners will know that Burundi is the kingdom of God. Mount the flags. That’s number three. Burundians and foreigners will know that Burundi is the kingdom of God.

Fourthly: the fire of God will destroy, burn everything that is superfluous. Four: the fire of God will destroy all that is superfluous, all useless.

Prepare to assume and witness this in Africa and the world because it will be the work of the Almighty God, the guardian of peace in heaven and on earth.

{More than half (53 per cent) of women who suffer from sexual violence never tell anyone or seek help, reveals a Nation Newsplex review of domestic violence data.}

More than half of women who live in North Eastern region (57 per cent) and younger women aged between 15 and 19 are the most likely to keep mum, neither seeking help nor telling anyone about the assault.

That may help to explain why these communities report the lowest number of sexual assaults.

According to the latest Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS), 0.6 per cent of women in North Eastern said they experienced sexual violence. This was 36 times lower than the reported rates in Western and Nyanza. The two regions had the highest rates.

Seven per cent of the younger women reported experiencing sexual violence, compared with 18 per cent of women aged from 40-49. Older women were three times as likely as teenagers to report having been sexually assaulted.

Overall, one in seven women aged 15 to 49 said they had experienced sexual violence, with eight per cent saying they had experienced sexual violence in the 12 months preceding the survey.

For eight years, 22-year-old Mercy Chebet was scared of disclosing to anyone that she had been sexually and physically assaulted. She was afraid of her abuser and uncomfortable with sharing her ordeal experience with anyone.

SEEKING HELP
Like Chebet, half of women aged between 15 and 19 never seek help or tell anyone, compared with a third of those aged 40-49. But as women grow older they open up about their ordeal in greater numbers.

“We are on standby 24/7. They call us through a helpline 1195; it has come in handy for our women in this country,” Fanice Lisiagali, a helpline administrator, told Newsplex about the survivors of gender-based violence.

“The culture of these women, anything bordering on sexual violence, they don’t want to come out, the word rape is hard for them. The helpline is empowering them in terms of breaking the silence.”

One factor that influences how likely a survivor is to disclose violence or seek help, whether physical or sexual, is religion. Women with no religious affiliations are the likeliest to open up, at 75 per cent, more than Roman Catholics (61 per cent), and Muslims, Protestants or other Christians (59 per cent).

In August last year, Jackline Mwende, whose husband chopped off both her hands, told the Nation that her pastor advised her to pray for her abusive marriage when she sought advice.

By geography, more than half of women from Eastern, Central and Western regions reported seeking help after suffering violence, be it physical or sexual, at rates of 54, 53 and 52 per cent respectively. They were followed by Nairobi (42 per cent), Rift Valley (39 per cent), Nyanza and Coast (38 per cent). In the

North Eastern region, only 19 per cent, less than a fifth, seek help.

“The government has done a lot, we have gender recovery centres, safe spaces, a raft of laws and policies against gender-based violence,” says Zeinab Hussein, the principal secretary in the Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs.

But Gathoni Kimondo, a gender activist, says such help is not available to many women. “We found out there are many services for survivors of violence—medical, psycho-social—and these women do not know where to get the help they need. That is when we set up a link to breach the gap between the people who need the services and the people who offer these services. We inform, empower and empathise,” she says.

Experts also say that problems will persist as long as male attitudes remain unchanged. “We don’t have enough mentors for our young men, we need to empower girls and sensitise boys at the same time. How can we empower girls and leave out the boys and then send them back to get married to them?” says Oscar Githua, a forensic psychologist.

{{Most at risk }}

According to the 2014 KDHS, which was released this year, the age group of 25 to 29 faces the most risk, with one in 10 women saying they experienced sexual violence in the 12 months preceding the survey.

The likelihood of being sexually assaulted increases with age among women. While about seven per cent of women aged 15 to 19 said they had experienced sexual violence, 18 per cent, almost triple that proportion, had been sexually assaulted among women aged 40 to 49.

This suggests that women become more vulnerable to sexual violence while living independently as adults.

While 93 per cent of women aged 15-19 have never experienced sexual violence, the percentage of the unscathed plunges to 87 per cent for women aged 20-24. That sudden dive shows this age group is particularly at risk.

Seven per cent of women aged 25-29 said they had been subjected to sexual violence by the time they were 22, while eight per cent of women aged 30-39 said they had already been sexually assaulted by the time they were 22.

{{Education and wealth }}

Better educated women seem to suffer less from sexual violence. While one in 10 (10 per cent) women who had at least completed secondary education reported ever having suffered sexual violence, nearly double the proportion (18 per cent) who had only completed primary education said they had been sexually assaulted.

In the 12 months preceding the survey, five per cent of women who had at least a secondary education reported sexual violence, compared with 11 per cent of those who had completed primary education, double the rate of better educated women.

The more money women have the less likely they are to face sexual violence. Just over one in nine of the wealthiest women (11 per cent) is likely to experience sexual violence, compared with 16 per cent of the poorest women.

While it is clear that having money does not keep women completely safe from sexual violence, it allows women to live in safer neighbourhoods, work during hours when chances of sexual violence outside the home are lower, and avoid jobs with a high risk of sexual violence. In addition to commercial sex work, jobs like street vending expose women to high risks of sexual violence.

{{The aggressor }}

“What do we mean when we say rape?” asks Stanley Githua, a psychologist. “Our society only classifies those who attack us in dark corners as rape. How about husbands not seeking consent from wives, parents abusing children, and friends and young people going on a drinking spree and not asking for consent?”

“I experienced rape when I was 19,” says Janes Amondi Owuor, 21. “I was having a get-together with my friends, whom I had known for quite a while. Little did I know that my drink was spiked that night until I woke up the next morning when I was alone and all sore.”

Mercy Chebet, 22, a university student, was raped by the manager of her family’s farm. Her parents were missionaries and were hardly available. The farm manager was her guardian, who was also responsible for managing the house when the parents were away.

“Parents must be there with their children. Most of the cases we are getting is that a very close relative who stays in that house is the one violating this child; it is up to their parents to become friends of their children,” says Lisiagali, the 1195 administrator.

More than half (55 per cent) of women who have been married in their lifetime and have experienced sexual violence said the perpetrators were their current husbands or partners, while more than a quarter (28 per cent) said the offenders were former husbands or partners.

Most of the time, these perpetrators tend to commit these acts in order to exercise control on their victims. “In the crime of rape, it’s a man trying to control a woman, or a woman trying to control a man without their consent for their power of control,” Mr Githua said.

Women who have never been married face greater risks of sexual violence from different groups of people, namely strangers and friends or acquaintances.

Whereas among women who are or have been married, only six per cent reported sexual violence by a stranger, 44 per cent of women who have never been married reported being sexually attacked by a stranger, nearly eight times the proportion of women who have been married in their lifetime. Fourteen per cent of never married women said they were attacked by a friend or acquaintance, more than three times the proportion of ever married women.

{Traffickers who smuggle Ugandan girls through Kenya to different destinations in the Middle East and South Africa have built a syndicate involving police officers, other security officers and immigration staff from Uganda and Kenya, an investigation by Sunday Monitor has revealed.}

Traffickers who smuggle Ugandan girls through Kenya to different destinations in the Middle East and South Africa have built a syndicate involving police officers, other security officers and immigration staff from Uganda and Kenya, an investigation by Sunday Monitor has revealed.

The syndicate secretly lures unemployed Ugandan girls with promises of lucrative pay especially in the Middle East, process passports for them, transport them to Uganda’s eastern borders, and then the games begin.

We have established that the traffickers use boda boda riders and travel agents to help the girls cross into Kenya through the official border points at Busia and Malaba, while some take advantage of the many unguarded crossings known as panyas to escape. It is lucrative business for those involved, our investigation shows.

Our investigations also show that the syndicate is accomplished by select officials at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) who ensure the girls fly out of Kenya to their respective destinations.

This investigation is based on information provided by girls who were intercepted in Kenya as they attempted to fly out to different destinations, two Ugandan resident district commissioners, parents of the girls, a labour “agent”, a Kenyan immigration official and an assortment of official documents and correspondences.

Some of the girls end up in South Africa, Middle East countries such as Oman, which are the most popular destinations in this case. Authorities believe some of the girls and young women are being sold into sex slavery.

To demonstrate the lucrative nature of the business, a boda boda ride earns between Shs100,000 to Shs200,000 for safely delivering a girl to the Kenyan side of the Ugandan border. This journey should ordinarily cost no more than Shs5,000.

We were unable to establish how much an “agent” makes if he/she successfully delivers a Ugandan girl to work as a domestic servant in Oman, for instance.

{{Charged}}

But even before the prospective employers pay the agent, some Ugandan girls are required to pay agents between Shs800,000 and Shs1.5 million and sometimes more.
The money facilitates the girls’ crossing at the border, their accommodation, fake stamps and movement to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. In some cases, girls destined to work as domestic servants are not required to pay any money.

The network that traffics girls through Kenya has existed for many years, but multiple sources show it intensified its operations after Kenya banned the export of domestic workers to the Middle East, leaving Uganda and neighbouring countries such as Burundi and the DR Congo as the major source.

Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is more popular than Entebbe International Airport in this regard, we have established, because the traffickers until recently, faced less scrutiny than they faced at Entebbe.

The traffickers also have agents in Kampala who help the girls and women to get passports in the shortest time possible. The trafficked range between 16 and 35 years of age, with 16 to 25 age category being the most sought after.

One of the girls, who we won’t name because she is still in custody of the traffickers, said she was trafficked from Kampala through Mbale up to Lwakaka from where she crossed into Kenya.

“We had to cross what looked like a river on foot. If someone had not been holding me I would have been swept away. I was scared and the water was very cold,” she said.

Another crossing exploited is the Malaba River. When the water levels drop, the girls are trafficked on foot. Some traffickers use small boats and canoes to move the girls at the border.

After crossing into Kenya, the girls’ passports are withheld and the girls are put on buses for the journey to Nairobi.

In Nairobi, they are kept at residences run by the traffickers as their documents are worked on. Sometimes the traffickers have to make do with fake stamps in the passports to facilitate the girls’ travel.

Some of the residences where the girls are kept are located in the Nairobi suburbs of Kasarani and Kayole. The name of a one Bosco features prominently as the facilitator at Busia border.

The traffickers keep 24-hour surveillance on the girls until after their flights take off.
When the girl arrives at the destination country in the Middle East, the trafficker receives their first pay cheque.

They continue to receive royalties throughout the girls’ stay and depending on the arrangement they have with the host family, business or individual.

{{Duped}}

To allay any fears among the girls being transported, the traffickers keep records of conversations with some of the girls doing well in the Middle East. They show these correspondences, photos and even make calls to the girls who talk of a good life where they live.

The traffickers also keep a tight grip on the families of the girls even after they are arrested and extort more money in some cases. A mother to a girl who is currently detained in Kenya had agreed to speak to this reporter but changed her mind after speaking to the agent who took her daughter.

“I am very busy and I don’t know how she travelled to Kenya. This is a small matter, I trust the people who took her and I have spoken to the other girls they took and they are happy where they are working,” the woman said. When we insisted on meeting her, she kept giving us wrong directions until we gave up.

One of the girls trafficked from Kampala but arrested before she headed to Oman told this newspaper that her mother had paid $200 (Shs720,000) to a fictitious lawyer who was supposed to represent her during trial at the JKIA Airport Court. The lawyer did not turn up on two occasions. The girl appeared in court alone.

Another woman said her agent has so far tried to smuggle her to Oman twice through JKIA. On both occasions, she has been arrested.

The first time, the Kenyan immigration officer who arrested her asked the agent to pay Kshs50,000 (Shs1.7m) for each of the girls to be allowed through. The agent did not have the money at that time but paid the officer Kshs1,000 (Shs35,000) for each of the girls not to be put in custody.

On the next attempt, however, the girl was not lucky. She had been cleared and was moving her luggage when a JKIA officer became suspicious. She was arrested and detained before being released. By the time of our interview, she was contemplating a third attempt.

{{The cases}}

Some of the girls are released after they plead guilty; others are sentenced to fines or short prison terms. Impersonation, however, attracts the largest fine with those convicted sent to more than a year in prison and more than Kshs200,000 or Shs7m in fines. Two Ugandan women are doing time at Lang’ata Women’s Maximum Prison. There are currently 44 Ugandan women incarcerated at the prison with more believed to be in other detention centres. Of these, 22 have already been convicted. The rest are still appearing before court.

{Spices grown in Zanzibar, including cloves, are set to increase their competitiveness in the world market following the inauguration of its branding under the name ‘Zanzibar Exotic Original.’}

Isles President Ali Mohamed Shein graced the inauguration of the branded spices, noting that Zanzibar cloves remain the world’s best, asking the people to maintain the standard.

“We took the best decision not to privatise cloves; it would be under threat of collapse with low price. Branding will definitely raise their standard, farmers’ income and protect our property,” said Dr Shein.

The inauguration of the branding exercise was among activities lined-up to mark this year’s 53rd anniversary of the Zanzibar Revolution. The event was held at Saateni, which is Zanzibar State Trading Corporation (ZSTC) protected area zone, where black pepper, cinnamon, and chilli are also parked and branded.

President Shein said Zanzibar has been facing competition from other clove-producing countries; “and, therefore, we have to work hard to improve quality and production to win the market,” Dr Shein reiterated the government’s position that it will not privatise the top cash crop, asking respective authorities to curb illegal exports or smuggling of the spice to neighbouring countries as well as educating growers on the branding aspect.

Following the recent agreement (MoU) between ZSTC and GANEFRYD Company of Denmark, organic cloves and selected spices will be branded for export to Europe. It is a pilot, three-year project “anticipated to give admirable results’’.

According to the Minister for Trade, Industries, and Marketing, Ms Ambassador Amina Salum Ali, the ‘Organic Cloves’ project involves the whole process — from planting, growing, harvesting, drying, storage,

sorting and packaging, adding that each step will be carefully supervised and certified before delivery. “I urge farmers and Zanzibaris to support the government’s efforts to boost cloves and other spices, by observing growing guidelines, and protection from illegal exports. We are happy with the new market in Europe; Ms Ali said.

She encouraged farmers to get into organic farming because it pays. For, example, she noted, farmers fetch 14,000/- per kilo of convectional cloves while earning 17,000/- per kilogramme of organic ones.

{Burundi authorities have arrested six people in connection with the murder of the country’s environment minister, the prosecutor general said Saturday.}

Emmanuel Niyonkuru, 54, the country’s water, environment and planning minister, was shot dead shortly after midnight on New Year’s Eve in the most high-profile killing since Burundi’s political crisis began nearly two years ago.

Police were quick to term the killing an “assassination” although the motive for the attack was not immediately clear.

Prosecutor general Sylvestre Nyandwi told journalists that the minister had been shot in the head as he returned home in the capital Bujumbura.

“After this foul act, investigations began quickly and six suspected perpetrators were apprehended, including four men and two women,” he said.

Nyandwi said investigations were still ongoing and did not reveal the identities of those arrested nor their alleged motives.

Niyonkuru is the first cabinet minister to be killed but other senior regime figures have been targeted since the crisis erupted over President Pierre Nkurunziza’s bid to run for a third term in April 2015.

General Adolphe Nshimirimana, considered Nkurunziza’s right-hand man, was killed in August 2015. Almost a year later former government minister and spokeswoman Hafsa Mossi was killed by gunmen in her car.

Other attacks have failed, with senior presidential advisor Willy Nyamitwe, a spokesman widely regarded as the public face of the government, escaping an ambush by a group of gunmen as he returned to his Bujumbura home in November.

Burundi has commonly blamed neighbouring Rwanda for the attacks.

At least 500 people have been killed and 300,000 have fled the country since the unrest began as protesters — and then military coup-plotters — fought against Nkurunziza’s third mandate.

UN and NGO human rights reports have raised fears that Burundi’s political crisis might take on an ethnic dimension, warning of the potential for genocide.