Assassination of Apostolic Nuncio blamed on FNL/Palipehutu

The Burundian president, Domitien Ndayizeye, has blamed the killing on Monday of Apostolic Nuncio Michael Courtney on a faction of the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL/Palipehutu), the only rebel group not to have signed up to the peace process in Burundi. The rebels have denied responsibility. Courtney died in the hands of a team of surgeons, including the minister of health, at Prince Louis Rwagasore hospital in the capital, Bujumbura, where he was admitted late on Monday afternoon after his car was ambushed at Shanga, near the town of Minago about 50 km to the south. The director of the hospital, Dr Tharcisse Nzeyimana, told reporters that Courtney was hit by several bullets. "A bullet hit him in the head over the right ear, another in the chest and several others in the right limb," he said. In a condolence message to the bereaved family and to the Catholic community in Burundi, Ndayizeye blamed the FNL/Palipehutu group of Agathon Rwasa for the assassination. "We should perhaps wait for the enquiry to determine the responsibilities, but we all know that Minago and Bujumbura Rural are an FNL/Palipehutu stronghold," Ndayizeye said from the hospital on Monday evening. "The person or persons who assassinated him were absolutely sure of his identity. Many visible signs identified him, his car, his clothes," he said. The vice-chairman of the Catholic Bishops' Conference, and Bishop of the southern province of Bururi, Bernard Bududira, also accused FNL/Palipehutu of the killing. "There is no doubt, it is the FNL," Bududira told Radio Burundi Tuesday morning. "On Saturday and Sunday, it [the rebels] attacked Minago, and we received intelligence from residents who were told to leave the area because it will be operating there during these days," he said. Bududira said that Courtney had had a kind of premonition and had put on his apostolic clothes, saying "if they kill me they will not pretend that they did not recognise me". An FNL/Palipehutu spokesman, Pasteur Habimana, denying responsibility, told IRIN on Tuesday it had become a habit for the government to blame the group for any embarrassing event. "The FNL troops were 15 km [away] as the crow flies, there is no way they can be held responsible for it," Habimana said. He added that FNL considered the Nuncio as a friend, for being one of the rare persons "to have understood" what FNL proposed as solutions to Burundi's problems. Among them, Habimana said, were forgiveness and repentance. On Sunday, Courtney had attended in Minago the funeral of a priest who died in Italy. He had recently called on FNL/Palipehutu to join in peace negotiations in a message he read out in the national language at Mont Zion church of Gikungu, in Bujumbura. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Monday through his spokesman that Courtney had been helping the peace process in a "quiet and effective manner".