Burundi Hutu rebels freed on Thursday the Roman Catholic Bishop of Ruyigi, Monsignor Joseph Nduhirubusa, whom they seized in an ambush six days ago, the Missionary Service News Agency, MISNA, reported.
He was freed to the papal nuncio in Burundi, Monsignor Michael Courtney, in a village near to the city of Bubanza, some 31 km north of Bujumbura. Courtney described Nduhirubusa as being exhausted, but "in good condition".
The rebels, the Forces pour la defence de la democratie, seized Nduhirubusa and his driver on Saturday as they drove through the Kabire forest toward Ruyigi, in the east of the country. The rebels shot dead two government army escorts. However, in a communiqué announcing the abduction, the FDD said they had taken Nduhirubusa "to guarantee his safety" since there was a war on in the country.
Earlier this week, MISNA quoted Western diplomats in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, as saying that Nduhirubusa's abduction was most likely as a result of mistaken identity. The Associated Press reported that he was the second high-ranking Roman Catholic cleric the rebels had abducted since 1996, when they killed the archbishop of Gitega, Joachim Ruhuna.