JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Rwandan opposition leaders say the country’s former spy chief has been found strangled in a hotel in South Africa and accused President Paul Kagame of ordering his assassination.
The opposition coalition Rwandan National Congress said Thursday that Patrick Karegeya, a former colonel and longtime ally in war who turned against Kagame in peace, was found strangled in a room at Johannesburg’s plush Michelangelo Towers hotel.
Congress coordinator Theogene Rudasingwa told The Associated Press in a telephone call from Washington that it was unclear if Karegeya was killed on Tuesday or Wednesday.
He said the death follows a pattern of attacks ordered by Kagame — accusations the Rwandan government vehemently denies.
Gunmen twice tried to kill Lt. Gen. Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa while he was living in exile in Johannesburg.