Louis Baziga, who has been the head of the Rwandan community in Mozambique was murdered Monday morning by a group of unidentified gunmen.
Baziga was reportedly killed in his car at around 11 am in Matola area in the Mozambican capital Maputo. Matola is the largest suburb of Maputo and it is home to the biggest industrial area in the southern African country.
Sources say that Baziga, who was a businessman in Mozambique, was blocked by two vehicles as he drove in the Maputo suburb, and gunmen from these cars pulled out guns and started shooting at his car. Baziga died on the spot.
Claude Nikobisanzwe, the Rwandan ambassador to Mozambique confirmed that Baziga was shot dead “by about three people”, citing accounts by eyewitnesses to the local police.
“It is true Louis Baziga was gunned down by about three people as he drove from his home to a garage to have his car fixed. No one knows who these people are but investigations by police here is underway,” he said.
Nikobisanzwe said the deceased’s body was taken to Hospital Provincial da Matola, adding that his family, which is also based in Maputo, had been informed about the development.
This is not the first attempt at Baziga’s life, according to media reports.
In 2016, Baziga told a Rwandan online news outlet that a group of his relatives tried to bribe the police to have him murdered before a close friend tipped him off him that something strange was going to happen.
That was in March and in September that year, three Rwandans were taken to Mozambican courts.
These are Diomède Tuganeyezu, Benjamin Ndagijimana, and Revocat Karemangingo. The trio is reportedly businessmen in Maputo.
During the hearings, it turned out that the three relatives had conflicts with Baziga over a church – Pentecostal Church in Revival Mozambique – that they claimed to have found together, but the latter wanted to own it alone.