FNL Leader Goes into Exile in Congo, may Take up Arms Again.

FNL Leader Goes into Exile in Congo, may Take up Arms Again.
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AFP
23 June 2010

Burundi's opposition leader and former rebel chief has vanished and is believed to have gone into hiding in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, officials said on Wednesday.

Agathon Rwasa - leader of the National Liberation Forces (FNL), which laid down its weapons in 2009 - had led opposition allegations that the government had been rigging the ongoing election process.

A high-ranking security official said that Rwasa was last seen leaving his home in Bujumbura's Kiriri neighbourhood before dawn, claiming to be on his way to church.

"He is then reported to have boarded a vehicle that was waiting for him and we have no idea where he is now," he said.

Rwasa usually has a security detail of around 10 men, but on Wednesday he made sure that he was accompanied by only one plainclothes police officer, the official added.

Political crisis

"He is reported to have crossed into the DR Congo with the assistance of a local Mai-Mai group," another security official said, referring to one of several rebel groups in the neighbouring country.

Several Bujumbura-based diplomats confirmed Rwasa's disappearance.

"All the information we're receiving points to the fact that Rwasa has gone into hiding," said one diplomat on condition of anonymity.