Rwandan opposition leader found dead

Rwandan opposition leader found dead

Discovery of Andre Kagwa Rwisereka's body near river follows attacks on two other critics of President Paul Kagame

Xan Rice in Nairobi

Paul Kagame's government has been accused of clamping down on political opponents. Photograph: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters

A senior member of a Rwandan political party has been murdered in the third attack on a government critic in a month.

Andre Kagwa Rwisereka, vice-president of the Democratic Green party, which was unable to gain registration to contest next month's presidential election, was found near a river close to Butare, in southern Rwanda. He had been reported missing on Tuesday.

"His head was almost completely removed from his body. His brother, Antoine Haguma, confirms seeing the dead body," said Frank Habineza, the party president.

Police confirmed the death and said a machete was found near the victim, who had also suffered chest wounds.

Eric Kayiranga, a police spokesman, said Rwisereka had reportedly been carrying a lot of money and robbery may have been the motive.

The murder follows the killing in Rwanda on 24 June of Jean Leonard Rugambage, acting editor of the Umuvugizi newspaper.

The government suspended the paper for six months in April for "inciting insubordination in the army and police" and publishing "information that endangers public order". Five days earlier, the former Rwandan army chief Lieutenant General Kayumba Nyamwasa, who had fallen out with President Paul Kagame, was shot in the stomach in South Africa.

Both the exiled Umuvugizi editor and Nyamwasa's wife accused the Rwandan government of being behind the attacks. The government has vigorously denied this, and there is no evidence of its involvement.

But human rights groups have accused Kagame's regime of clamping down on political opponents and the independent media in recent months. On Tuesday, the press watchdog Reporters Without Borders called on the European Union and other donors to suspend financial support for the election because of "a series of grave press freedom violations".

"How much longer will the international community continue to endorse this repressive regime?" the organisation said.