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By Rosina John and Agencies
Dar es Salaam. Tanzanian police yesterday freed a Burundian Opposition leader, Mr Alexis Sinduhije, who was arrested two weeks ago in Dar es Salaam at his government’s request, a senior security official from the neighbouring country said.
"We have just learned that Tanzanian authorities did not want to follow up on our extradition request for Alexis Sinduhije to Burundi and preferred to expel him to Uganda this morning," the official said."At this hour, Sinduhije has already arrived in Uganda on a plane that left Dar es Salaam early this morning," he said, adding that Burundi "regrets this unfriendly gesture by a neighbouring country, which is committed to helping us fight troublemakers."
Sinduhije's flight was confirmed by Tanzanian police and one of his lawyers, Bernard Maingain, reached by telephone in Brussels by AFP."I am happy to confirm that my client, Alexis Sinduhije, was freed early this morning, but I am not authorised to tell you where he is at the moment for security reasons," the Belgian lawyer said.
A former journalist, Sinduhije is the leader of the opposition Movement for Solidarity and Development (MSD) in Burundi, but he fled the small central African country after general elections in 2010 when violence broke out as the opposition contested the results. He lives in exile in France. Earlier yesterday, the High Court in Dar es Salaam ordered the Inspector General of Police(IGP) and the Attorney General (AG) to show why they have arrested and are holding Sinduhije without charging him.
The order by Judge Lawrence Kaduri followed an application by advocate Herbert Nyange who represents Mr Sinduhije, seeking the court to summon the two to state why they were still holding his client. Sinduhije, 42, was arrested on January 11 at the Julius Nyerere International Airport on arrival from Kampala, Uganda, for allegedly murdering several people in Burundi.
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