Exiled Rwandan opposition figure shot dead in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG (AP) - South African police are investigating the death of exiled Rwandan opposition politician Seif Bamporiki who was killed in Cape Town.

Bamporiki, the Rwanda National Congress party’s coordinator in South Africa, was shot dead on Sunday in Nyanga township near Cape Town.

According to police, Bamporiki owned a bed business and was delivering a bed in the township when he was attacked by two men.

“It is alleged that the deceased and another male, aged 50, were doing a delivery of a bed in the area when they were approached by two unknown suspects,” said a statement from the Western Cape province’s police.

“The deceased was pulled from his vehicle and shot, while the 50-year-old male who accompanied him managed to escape unharmed. The suspects, who are yet to be arrested, fled with the deceased’s vehicle,” said the statement. The attackers also took Bamporiki’s wallet and cell phone, said the police.

Other Rwandan opposition politicians have been killed or attacked in South Africa, leading to strained diplomatic relations between the two countries.

In 2010, former Rwanda army chief Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa survived an assassination attempt when shots were fired at his car in the driveway of his Johannesburg home. In 2014 his house was broken into, leading South Africa to expel Rwandan diplomats from the country after linking its intelligence agents to the raid.

In retaliation, Rwanda expelled six South African diplomats and accused the country of harboring Rwandan dissidents whom it accused of terrorism.

In 2013, Rwandan opposition politician Patrick Karegeya was found dead at an upmarket Johannesburg hotel where he had gone for a meeting. He was one of the founders of the Rwanda National Congress and his killing was widely suspected to have been politically motivated.

Rwandan opposition activists exiled in South Africa have long accused President Paul Kagame’s government of ordering the attacks on its leaders in South Africa, accusations that have been denied by the government.