Arrest warrant issued against former Burundi president Buyoya

Burundi has issued an international warrant of arrest against former president Pierre Buyoya and 16 other former senior government and military officials.

The arrest warrants stem from the group’s alleged role in the 1993 assassination of Burundi’s first elected Hutu leader, Melchior Ndadaye.

According to the country’s Attorney General Slyvestre Nyandwi, the suspects were found culpable of the crime and there need for their immediate arrest to face charges.

"The findings of the inquiry show that these people were involved in this crime - its planning and preparation and execution," Nyandwi said.

Buyoya is currently the African Union's representative in Mali and the Sahel region.

However, Burundi asked the various countries where the wanted men are living to extradite them arguing that it was imperative that they are questioned over their role in the murder of Ndadaye.

Major Pierre Buyoya is Burundi’s longest serving president having led the country for 13 years twice between 1987 to 1993 and 1996 to 2005.

A Tutsi, Buyoya with the help of the army came to power in 1987 before stepping down in 1993 for Ndadaye who had been democratically elected.

Ndadaye was four months later killed by Tutsi soldiers in an attempted coup that ushered in a civil war in Burundi between the Tutsi and Hutu for many years in which a number of people were killed.