Mahama (Rwanda): a young Burundian refugee found dead

Lazare Ndayishimiye, 25, was found dead, his body decomposing in his room this Friday. At least five suspects were arrested following the macabre discovery which occured at Mahama camp located further east in Rwanda.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

Lazare Ndayishimiye was originally from Ruyigi province (eastern Burundi). A refugee since 2015, he lived in village 3, community 11, number 6 (V3C11 P6/b). He was selling food in the camp and outside Mahama.

His neighbors were alerted by a bad smell as his room’s door remained closed since last Monday, we learned.

“I decided to break down the door to his room because I already suspected something abnormal following the bad smell that I smelled,” says a neighbor of the deceased.

“And then, we were worried about this bachelor because he was usually visible in the community every day, even if he went from time to time to do his business outside the camp.”

The neighbor then alerted the administration and the police who quickly began investigations. Neighbors told SOS Médias Burundi that the body was already decomposing.

The first leads show that he was strangled in his house.

“His two phones were found by the police at one of his neighbors’ house. And then, a group of young people who lived in a room not far from his fled, we don’t know when. Everything that was in his house was stolen – two bicycles, a gas bottle, his clothes…”, add refugees who were on the scene, stressing that he was killed by bandits at his home.

A local refugee representative confirms that among these young people who fled, there were those suspected of banditry.

“Often stolen items are found in their house, they are known here,” he says, to support that they could also be investigated in this case.

Burundians regret that Lazare’s assassination was planned.

“His body was burned, his arms and legs were tied and bound,” say witnesses to the macabre discovery.

Lazare Ndayishimiye’s killers packed his body in a bag that they put in a large cardboard box.

The body was placed in the Kirehe district hospital where the Mahama camp is located, while awaiting the results of an autopsy to determine the causes of death of this young Burundian refugee.

The police and the administration reassure the population of the Mahama camp and reassure that “this crime will not go unpunished.”

Several partnersincluding the UNHCR and the Ministry in charge of refugees, Minema, were involved in this affair.

Mahama is home to more than 63,000 refugees, including more than 40,000 Burundians.

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Young Burundian refugee Lazare Ndayishimiye found dead in his room at Mahama camp in Rwanda, DR