Burundi’s top opposition leader says he fears for his life as violence escalates in the East African country following President Pierre Nkurunziza disputed election for a third term in office.
Reuters reorts that Agathon Rwasa, a former rebel leader said that he constantly fears ambush and had to regularly change his travel plans.
“I personally am targeted from everywhere. I don’t know who can hit me first and I’m sure that the one who succeeds in doing so will try to blame it on someone else,” he said while attending a conference in Cape Town.
“My safety and the safety of many Burundians is not guaranteed,” he said, stressing that he would not seek asylum in South Africa but would return home to his family.
Burundi’s capital Bujumbura is patrolled by armed vigilantes at night.
The simmering violence in the country has sparked international concerns about a new conflict erupting in a country where an ethnically-charged civil war ended just a decade ago after 300,000 people were killed.
Rwasa said Burundi was in danger of descending into chaos.
“Either we are wise enough and accept genuine dialogue or we become stubborn, and one may rely on his weapons or his money or whatever, then there is a high risk of Burundi becoming like Somalia of the 90’s,” he said.
