Thousands attend funerals of Burundi's former intelligence chief

Thousands of people Saturday attended the funerals of Lieutenant General Adolphe Nshimirimana, former Burundian intelligence chief, assassinated by gunmen in an ambush early this month.

Ceremonies started with a church service in memory of the late general at Regina Mundi Cathedral in the capital Bujumbura.

Then, ceremonies continued in Kamenge, a neighborhood where he was killed, where he was buried. Burundi's newly-appointed First Vice-President Gaston Sindimwo, Second Vice-President Joseph Butore, National Assembly Speaker Pascal Nyabenda and Senate President Reverien Ndikuriyo attended the ceremonies.

As a Xinhua reporter witnessed, security was tight in the capital such that traffic was restricted for more than 10 hours in major streets.

"Lieutenant General Adolphe Nshimirimana was a good and a kind man. He was a reconciler and he was courageous," said Alain Guillaume Bunyoni, Permanent Secretary of the National Security Council.

Bunyoni recalled that Nshimirimana was, in April 1994, one of the founders of the Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD), the army branch of the former National Council for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD) political wing of the then rebel group.

When the CNDD-FDD signed a ceasefire with the Burundian government in 2003, Lieutenant General Adolphe Nshimirimana became the Burundian army deputy-chief of staff and from September 2005 to November 2014, he was the east African country's intelligence chief.

After that, he became a senior official in charge of missions at the Office of the Burundian President until he was killed in an ambush in Kamenge in the capital Bujumbura on August 2.

During the gunmen's ambush against his car, Nshimirimana was killed along with two of his guards.

Nshimirimana was known to have played a key role in neutralizing protests against President Pierre Nkurunziza's third term bid from late April to June.

He also played a key role in battling coup plotters who attempted to overthrow Nkurunziza and his government on May 13.