Paul Kagame accused of ordering Patrick Karegeya's assassination

The man who was last seen with the Rwandan ex-spymaster killed in a South African hotel was a Rwandan businessman who befriended the victim in jail and whom he trusted "absolutely," said a former Rwandan general who has survived two assassination attempts.

Police say former colonel Patrick Karegeya's body, apparently strangled, was found on Wednesday in Michelangelo Towers hotel in the Johannesburg suburb of Sandton, along with a bloodied towel and rope.

Former Rwandan army chief-of-staff lieutenant general Kayumba Nyamwasa accuses Rwandan President Paul Kagame of ordering Karegeya's assassination and two 2010 attempts on his own life in Johannesburg. Officials in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, have made no comment since Karegeya's death but have previously vehemently denied charges they target opponents of the government.

Nyamwasa said Karegeya, 53, was last seen at the hotel with Apollo Ismael Kiririsi.

Nyamwasa said he had twice met Karegeya with Kiririsi: "I think [Karegeya] trusted him absolutely but they were together in the [hotel] room and now one is killed the other has not been able to give any account of himself."

Karegeya's nephew, David Batenga, had been the last family member to see the former spy chief. Batenga and Karegeya picked up Kiririsi from the train station last Sunday.