The journalist and former Burundian Minister of Information, Hafsa Mossi, was killed Wednesday by gunfire in Bujumbura, the BBC reported on its website.
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Mossi, a former journalist in her 50s who previously worked for the BBC’s Swahili Service, was a member of President Pierre Nkurunziza’s ruling CNDD-FDD party.
A witness, who did not wish to be identified, said Mossi was shot as she was leaving her home in the Mutanga-Nord neighbourhood of the capital.
“The assassination of Hafsa Mossi is a despicable and cowardly act”, Nkurunziza tweeted.
He added that she was killed by two criminals in a vehicle at Gihosha, which is in the east of Bujumbura.
The Secretary-General in his statement reiterated the need to intensify efforts to find a negotiated settlement to the crisis in Burundi and called on all parties concerned to engage fully and in good faith in the peace process led by the East African Community (EAC).
The killing is the latest in a series of targeted assassinations of top government officers by unknown armed groups.
Landlocked Burundi has been gripped by violence that’s left more than 470 people dead since President Pierre Nkurunziza decided in April 2015 to run for a third term, a move his opponents said was unconstitutional.
She had stayed very quiet since the beginning of the crisis and the motive for her murder remained unclear.
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Grieving for my Burundian friend, Hafsa Mossi, just assassinated in Bujumbura!
