Russian diplomat fatally shot outside Burundi capital, army says
BUJUMBURA, Burundi (AP) -- A Russian diplomat was shot to death outside Burundi's capital when he tried to drive through a roadblock and refused to stop, the Burundi army said Saturday.
Vladimir Rushtiko was killed at dawn as soldiers shot at his car to flatten the tires, said Burundi army spokesman Lt. Col. Adolphe Manirakiza.
"Unfortunately a bullet hit him and he died," Manirakiza said. "We regret such a sad incident."
A Russian Embassy official in Bujumbura who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation said Rushtiko had just completed his mission and was due to leave the country in a week. His exact position at the embassy was not immediately known.
Burundi, a tiny country in central Africa, is still reeling from a 12-year civil war and is trying to maintain a fragile peace. The country has long been riven by tensions between the majority Hutus and minority Tutsis, who have dominated the government, economy and military since independence from Belgium in 1962.
Hutu-Tutsi animosities have brought bloodshed elsewhere in the region, including the 1994 slaughter of a half-million Tutsis and moderate Hutus by militant Hutus in neighboring Rwanda.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
