Your source for credible news Issue no 016
October, 2020
Whether it is Mugenzi, Rusesabagina, “RedCom” Rudasingwa and others; Rwandans know them Better!
NEWS
Genocidaire Joseph Mugenzi gets busted in the Netherlands a few days after a UK judge sentences his son to jail for theft Page 3
OP - ED
The trick behind the fake lawsuit to the EACJ by Rusesabagina’s unaccredited lawyer Page 7
PROFILE
In Rwanda, it is no secret that most anti-Rwanda activists abroad have committed some crime, or crimes back home. The biggest is genocide. But others can be just fraudsters, thieves and conmen who flee from justice to seek asylum under the pretense of “seeking political asylum.” Page 2 Radio station in France provides platform to notorious genocide revisionist and denier Judi Rever
When overseas lawyers or scholars defend criminal suspects by blaming Rwanda
Judi Rever, a Canadian freelance journalist who has gained a reputation as a deranged revisionist of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, recently appeared on a French radio station, Sud Radio, to promote her negation book, in praise of blood.
The narrative pushed by some commentators and lawyers around the crimes committed by self-styled critics of the government of Rwanda has reached unprecedented levels of ridiculousness.
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Profile: meet Cassien Ntamuhanga, the man that fires with his mouth Page 9
REGIONAL
Mwenda’s Independent can’t explain why Rwanda should emulate museveni’s failures Page 10
OP-ED
Issue no 016 October 2020
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Whether it is Mugenzi, Rusesabagina, “RedCom” Rudasingwa and others; Rwandans know them Better!
L-R: Rene Mugenzi, Terror suspect Paul Rusesabagina and fugitive Theogene Rudasingwa have for years been conning the West, regardless the warnings of Rwandans about them.
When a Norwich (UK) courtroom convicted Rene Mugenzi of stealing 220,000 pounds from a church, most Rwandans were not surprised.
zi are lying to you. In fact one time Mugenzi even got himself UK security protection with the story that “Rwanda had sent assassins after him.” Rwandan authorities told the UK this simply wasn’t true.
In Rwanda, it is no secret that most anti-Rwanda activists abroad have committed some crime, or crimes back home. The biggest is genocide.
But UK media, even big media like the Guardian of London preferred to believe Mugenzi, and published his tall tale of “assassins sent from Kigali.”
But others can be just fraudsters, thieves and conmen who flee from justice to seek asylum under the pretense of “seeking political asylum.”
Genocide suspects like Vincent Bajinya have been telling the same stories of “threats from Kigali”. The authorities in the UK preferred to believe what the likes of the Bajinyas said, despite all evidence presented to show these people were suspects in crimes against humanity.
By Jean Gatera
Rene Mugenzi, Theogene Rudasingwa, Paul Rusesabagina and many more others that have conned host countries that they are “democracy” or “human rights” activists have histories of theft and fraud. Mugenzi, for example, is more of a genocide ideologue that blends faux human rights credentials with a penchant for theft. Rwandans know these characters best. However, many in the West or elsewhere, say Australia, prefer to turn a deaf ear when Rwandans tell them of the true characters of these fellows. So they are allowed, in Europe, North America, Australia to reinvent themselves as “human rights campaigners,” or “opposition and democracy activists,” even “humanitarians.” Rwandans will tell a country like the UK: these people like Mugen-
In Mugenzi’s case, he at last has been caught red-handed, committing crimes against citizens of the UK by stealing their money – and they have taken that seriously! They have slapped a two-year jail term on him for stealing church money. Any Rwandan will be justified to smile and say: “we told you so. We know these people far better than you! According to sources Mugenzi at one time was being hunted by some Kurdish people in London whom he had fleeced £50,000 (Rwf 63m) from. “That was when he fled London, and came up with the lie that he was being hunted by the Rwan-
dan government,” said a member of the Rwandan community in UK. One Leonard Rukundo who has known Mugenzi for over 20 years said, “It was the only way he could get protection. He has taken a lot of money from people, including many Rwandans. He got to the extent of threatening to report whomever demanded their money to the (UK) Home Office.” These pseudo-activist do not just swindle money from unsuspecting innocents, however. They also mercilessly target each other. For example, Theogene Rudasingwa, whose old nickname is Redcom which he acquired ages ago for a notorious scam while a young student at Uganda’s Makerere University, swindled some 357,300 euros from Paulin Murayi, the son-in-law of Genocide financier Felicien Kabuga. Rudasingwa conned Murayi into handing the money to him in the guise of contributing to the Rwanda National Congress terrorist organization. But as soon as Rudasingwa received the cash, he quit the terrorist organization. Murayi’s money disappeared with him. Murayi filed a lawsuit against Rudasingwa in Belgium. RNC top honcho Kayumba Nyamwasa himself has siphoned contributions to the terrorist agenda, something that led to acrimonious accusations of
embezzlements from the likes of Ben Rutabana (formerly RNC “commissioner for capacity building”). The accusations were so acrimonious that apparently Nyamwasa plotted with Ugandan Military Intelligence (CMI) to abduct Rutabana. South Africa, meanwhile, seems to have been taken in by the tall tale that Nyamwasa is a “democracy activist”, despite everything Rwanda has said about the man’s criminal acts that have led to the deaths of many Rwandans and so many others injured. But a special mention is due to Paul Rusesabagina of MRCD-FLN. Just like Rene Mugenzi, Rwandan warnings about Rusesabagina were completely ignored. Rusesabagina began his long con in the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi where he was charging and extorting money from frightened refugees as the manager of the Milles Collines Hotel. Later, with the help of Hollywood, his “new identity” as a “hero” and “humanitarian” was created. A very fraudulent one. Rwandans told the world this wasn’t true and that the man was a poseur.
Now the world is finding out the man never was a hero. He was an extortionist at best. And he has evolved into a terrorist mastermind. Rwanda knows these individuals better than anyone else.
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NEWS
Issue no 016 October 2020
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Genocidaire Joseph Mugenzi gets busted in the Netherlands a few days after a UK judge sentences his son to jail for theft
After years evading justice, Joseph Mugenzi too has been nabbed
By Jean Gatera Dutch Public Prosecution has announced the arrest of Joseph Mugenzi this Monday by a special Dutch Police team for International Crimes, prompting jubilation from survivors of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Dutch authorities did not immediately disclose from which part of the Netherlands Mugenzi, 71, was apprehended. “This is such great news!” Rwandans on Twitter jubilated upon the news hitting social media Tuesday morning. According to sources, while in exile Mugenzi has always presented himself as “a mere bank clerk and a pharmacy owner”. But in reality he and his wife Speciosa Nyirankuriza were close associates of the government of Habyarimana and his MRND, and eyewitnesses testified that they were heavily complicit in the genocide.
Mugenzi was tried and convicted by a Gacaca court in absentia but evaded justice with a false asylum claim in the Netherlands where he fled after a brief stay in Kenya following defeat of the genocidal regime. After close to a decade in exile, however, he was to be hit by legal troubles in the Netherlands where he had sought and got asylum in 2000. In 2003 the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned its immigration services of Mugenzi’s possible role in the Genocide. Then in 2013, Dutch authorities revoked his resident permit based on information that he had lied in his asylum claim. While in exile Joseph Mugenzi had become an active member of groups espousing the extremist genocidal ideology that were offshoots of the MRND. These were groups such as RDR and later in 2000, around the time he was seeking asylum in Europe, he became president of
FDU-Inkingi which was based in The Netherlands. Meanwhile his son, Rene Mugenzi, masqueraded as a Genocide survivor in UK. Members of the Rwandan diaspora in UK were shocked by such claims that usurped an identity of the very victims of the crimes of his father. A few days ago, however, in a case that legions of Rwandans on social media are celebrating as “a case of poetic justice”, Rene Mugenzi was busted for theft, and sent to prison in the UK. The younger Mugenzi, who fleeced a growing number of people, including Ukrainian loan sharks in London, was on the run. It has been disclosed that he kept coming up with a number of hoaxes, using Rwanda as a scapegoat, to evade his increasingly angry creditors. One of his biggest, oldest, hoax stories was that he was a “human
rights” activist that “feared for his life because of Rwanda government threats.” The lie enabled him protection by British authorities that relocated him from London to Norwich. This got him out of the clutches of his creditors. UK media, however, broke the news four days ago that Rene Mugenzi had been convicted of stealing 220,000 pounds from a Catholic Church based in Norwich. He pleaded guilty and it was disclosed he stole the money to finance his gambling addiction. He was sentenced to 27 months for his theft. While his father’s legal battles continue, genocide survivors are relieved that they have been caught up by the law. Kigali is requesting that Joseph Mugenzi be extradited to face justice in Rwanda.
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NEWS
Issue no 016 October 2020
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Rene Mugenzi discovers Karma what human rights and ‘political space’ campaigners are like? Many are asking now. A thief that steals from a church is the person promoting so-called democracy in Rwanda! One can hear the gnashing of teeth in embarrassment.
Rene Mugenzi’s forty days of a thief are over. He won’t be conning any more people.
By Robert Rutoma Rene Mugenzi is finally busted. As the old saying goes, the days of a thief are 40. Mugenzi’s fortieth caught up with him in very humiliating circumstances recently, when the man falsely propped up as a “UK-based Rwandan human rights crusader” was arrested for stealing church funds! Comeuppance has never found a more deserving mark. The scandal has served not only to expose Rene Mugenzi as an individual but has also blown the cover off the entire cartel of Western-based Rwandans and their allies that peddle the fraudulent bill of goods known as
“campaigners for political space and human rights in Rwanda.” Rene Mugenzi has been part of a steadily growing lucrative anti-Rwanda movement whose business model is to exploit the naivety and ignorance of some, and the known complicity of others in the West that want nothing more than destabilizing Rwanda. The well-meaning but ignorant have been duped out of their funds. The devious ones provide the likes of Mugenzi the validating propaganda they require. But with Mugenzi the eyes of even the most credulous or gullible have been opened. Is this
Rene Mugenzi, a notorious genocide denier and revisionist has been active in the UK for decades where he succeeded at disguising his malicious designs against Rwanda. He succeeded at promoting his genocide denialism, and his agenda of sowing divisionism amongst Rwandans. The son of a radical genocidaire, Mugenzi employed his deceptive expertise to position himself as the voice of “the Rwandan opposition”, which earned him much airtime on mainstream Western media like the BBC where he used the platform to disseminate thinly veiled messages of the genocide ideology, and amplifying the revisionist narrative. Until the veil fell off, Mugenzi had perfected the art of playing victim. One time he managed to send UK security agencies on a wild goose chase after he made them believe “his life was in danger,” with the allegation that “Rwandan state operatives were
after him.” The deception was so potent he was provided security protection. By the same methods of deception, Mugenzi almost managed to succeed into coercing the Norwich court that jailed him for theft, from publicizing the details of the case. But the end of the road came when vigilant media houses rubbished the injunction, presenting evidence that Mugenzi’s claims had no basis whatsoever. The truth, however, has a way of catching up on someone, however long it takes. And the truth has caught up with Rene Claudel Mugenzi, big time. And as if the fates are throwing a big bonus to Rwanda, Rene Mugenzi’s genocidaire father, Joseph Mugenzi too is in custody. The law has caught up with him decades after he duped the authorities in Holland into granting him asylum. They’ve finally come to their senses, that the man is a top-level criminal that has to face justice. Karma indeed is at work.
Radio station in France provides platform to notorious genocide revisionist and denier Judi Rever gotten “confidential reports” from the former International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), from which she claims to have read that “RPA soldiers were in trainings since 1992, and that they were deployed in all prefectures of the country in January 1994 for them to infiltrate in Interahamwe and join them in killing Tutsi during the genocide”.
By Joan Karera Judi Rever, a Canadian freelance journalist who has gained a reputation as a deranged revisionist of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, recently appeared on a French radio station, Sud Radio, to promote her negation book, in praise of blood, which has been debunked as full of falsehoods by respected researchers. Observers are shocked that “a self-respecting radio station could offer a well-known genocide denier like Rever airtime to air her revisionist theories.” In the interview, Rever repeated her usual claims that she had
“This is the kind of crazy claptrap that should never be aired on a serious radio platform!” exclaimed a Rwandan Facebook commentator.
Notorious genocide apologist Judi Rever. She’s recently been peddling her deranged views on a French radio station
According to commentators that were following the interview, the
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NEWS
Issue no 016 October 2020
>> From page 4
so-called “confidential reports” Rever keeps talking about never existed. Rever has proved for long that she is not a reputable person, with her ambition to falsify the history of the genocide against Tutsi having long been exposed, many researchers, including the renowned genocide scholar Linda Melvern. Recently Judi Rever was even rejected by the Bayeux Calvados-Normandy
Award organizers, due to her continuous involvement in the denialism of the genocide, which she does in the name of journalism. Among her claims in the radio interview was that “France acted in good faith on Rwanda”, a statement that is the exact opposite of the truth, history shows. France was a staunch ally of the Habyarimana regime and provided military support to fight the liberating forces of the RPA.
“Such facts are beyond dispute, but trust genocide apologists to keep trying to change history,” a social media commentator said. “Rever is just cynically committed to making money out of her revisionist theories about Rwanda’s history, which she energetically does because she has a true affiliation to genocidaires,” said an official in Kigali that requested privacy.
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giving a platform to someone like Rever supports the continuation of genocide, since denial actually is its last stage. “Now that the French government issued a decree to recognize the genocide against Tutsi, that country should also take a step ahead and ban deniers getting public platforms, like they do with deniers of the Jewish Holocaust,” a commentator observed.
Experts on genocide observe that
FDLR in limbo as another of its top “general”, Secyugu is gunned down By Moses Gisa Anti-Rwanda terrorist group FDLR has lost another of its top “Generals”, Venuste Nsengiyunva, alias Gabral Secyugu, who was in charge of its military operations (G3). Secyugu was gunned down on 23 this month in Tongo area within Rutshuru territory in the Northern Kivu. According to reliable sources from Rutshuru where FDLR is headquartered, Secyugu was shot dead by his escort on orders of “Gen.” Pacifique Ntawunguka alias ‘Omega’ – FDRL/FOCA’s chief of staff. The source further disclosed that Ntawunguka has
mounted a purge to eliminate rivals for his position, especially close allies of his predecessor, the deceased “Gen” Sylvestre Mudacumura that was killed in a military operation in DRC last year. Reports show that since Mudacumura’s death, the genocidal outfit has been engulfed by power struggles, betrayal, accusations and counteraccusations which have left it very divided. Prior to Secyugu’s death, a week ago another FDLR general Vedaste Hatanguramye aka ‘Kalebu’ was shot and killed in what’s reported as fierce power
struggles within the Hutu extremist group. He died in the same circumstances as Secyugu, according to sources. The slain terrorist played a key role in the indoctrination of fighters and recruits, given his experience as a military school graduate. “Secyugu’s death leaves a big gap in FDLR,” analysts say. “His death is indeed a heavy blow to the terror outfit’s capacity building and training department,” the sources add. As a military school graduate, Secyugu spearheaded the indoctrination of young combatants and developed syllabi on FDLR’s core mission of ethnic based hatred, a security observer commented on Twitter. It is also reported that Secyugu was charged with designing the training manuals for both fresh recruits and senior combatants’ courses. “It is a measure of how far into disintegration FDLR is that ‘Omega’ can purge such a person, given the significant gap his death will leave,” security analysts say.
Deceased FDLR “General” Venuste Nsengiyunva ‘Secyugu’ (left). He was killed in an ongoing purge of none “northerners” by his boss “Gen” Pacifique Natwunguka ‘Omega’
Rwanda Tribune, a local online news outlet’s correspondent in Rutshuru, confirmed fierce, factionalist tensions in the terror group whereby those that hail from Byumba, i.e. of the northern region are pitted against the “southerners”; the Nduga faction. The latter are being purged by
“Gen.” Ntawunguka (Omega) who feels “leadership is only for the Bakiga!” The factional infighting has been ongoing for a long time in FDLR and it is the factor that caused groups such as FLN and RUD-Urunana to break away. The factionalism pitted close allies of “Gen.” Mudacumura against the current FDLR president, “Lt. Gen.” Iyamuremye Gaston alias Rumuri. Iyamuremye and Ntawunguka’s feuds reached a breaking point when the latter learnt of a planned coup, to dethrone him as FDLR/FOCA’s chief of staff. This website understands that FDLR has also been struck by financial crisis after losing many of its territories to the Congolese forces. “It has now become extremely difficult to raise funds for sustaining its operations, another factor exacerbating the power struggles as they fight for dwindling resources,” added our source. The current rapprochement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo-DRC ultimately has led to the disintegration of the terror group, observers comment. So far the Kinshasa leadership has repatriated over 10,000 terrorist combatants and their dependents to Rwanda and operations are underway to smoke out the remnants from Congolese territories.
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OP-ED
Issue no 016 October 2020
36
Observers cast more concerns about what “professor of hate” Kambanda teaches in the US By Fred Gashema Informed commentators have been questioning the lectures of Charles Kambanda, a well-known genocide apologist who currently is a professor of law at the New York-based Saint John’s University. Kambanda persistently denies the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and his numerous posts on Facebook have been revealed to be of a nature to incite acts of terrorism in Rwanda. Kambanda, who left Rwanda in 2009 for the U.S. after learning that law enforcers were investigating him over genocide ideology, is infamously known for concealing himself behind the mask of academia to misrepresent, and deliberately manipulate history to feed a revisionist narrative of the Genocide on social media platforms, mainly Facebook and Twitter. For instance, when Rwanda was marking the Twentieth Commemoration of the Genocide in 2014, Kambanda uttered words that amounted to rubbing salt in the wounds of genocide survivors. This was during an interview with a renowned genocide negationist Ann Garrison, when Kambanda implied that the massacres of the Tutsi “were not genocide but rather a military tactic!”
Charles Kambanda, a genocide apologist that’s a lecturer in a US university. Many wonder what poisons he sows in innocent young students
He then added that, “the Hutus were eliminating the Tutsi because they didn’t want the Tutsi to support their fellow Tutsis who were fighting the Government!”
“take up arms to overthrow Rwanda’s authorities.” Kambada is well known as a member of the RNC terrorist group who is also very adept at disseminating the ideology of genocide.
What kind of poison then is this man feeding his students in America on a daily basis? Kigali-based social media commentators ask.
“It is incredible that such a person should be allowed in an academic milieu, to poison the minds of innocent, young, students,” a Rwandan on Facebook wrote, adding, “Kambanda has to really come under scrutiny by his employer.”
Kambanda who has gained the sobriquet, “professor of hate” is also known for consistent attempts at inciting peaceful Rwandans to insurrection against their elected leadership. Last week Kambanda took to Twitter and wrote that Rwandans from across the country should
Saint John’s University that Kambanda works for says on its website that it never tolerates “discrimination on the basis of ethnicity.” Observers point out that this should lead the university to act accordingly and “closely examine its relationship with this
noted apologist, negationist, and denier of the genocide,” renowned genocide scholar Tom Ndahiro said. In a similar case in 2016, Oberlin College, also from the US, dismissed one Professor Joy Karega, the then assistant professor of rhetoric and composition, following her inappropriate opinions on Facebook. These include assertions that ISIS is an arm of Israel and U.S intelligence agencies. Her statements were considered “anti-Semitic and anti-Israel”. Kiwanuka Lawrence Nsereko, an analyst and blogger, has joined those that petition the dismissal of Kambanda from academic duties. In an article Kiwanuka published in the blacknews.com
on 01 August this year he questioned the reason deliberate misrepresentations and manipulation of evidence of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi by Kambanda, are not scrutinized and lawfully challenged. The analyst further urged that, “A simple investigation of his (Kambanda) academic credentials will unearth for any interested party a checkered past and may even result in the unveiling of his complicit involvement.” Kiwanuka writes: “Prof. Kambanda is a genocide ideologue hiding behind academic freedom to distill his hateful ideology. He defends his fellow genocidaires as he blames the victims, and that is unacceptable and should be disqualifying.”
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OP-ED
Issue no 016 October 2020
7
The trick behind the fake lawsuit to the EACJ by Rusesabagina’s unaccredited lawyer By Jean Gatera The Hotel Rwanda Foundation of terror suspect Paul Rusesabagina has released a press statement announcing that its lawyer will resort to the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) to file a suit against Rwanda with the central claim being that their client was “kidnapped.” Rusesabagina who himself confessed he voluntarily boarded the aircraft that brought him to Kigali in his initial court hearing earlier last month, is facing 13 counts of terrorism-related charges (along with 16 other co-conspirators). Rusesabagina’s Foundation has deliberately dispatched a lawyer to the wrong court (EACJ) in a desperate attempt to generate some media attention to deflect attention from the very real accusations of terrorism against Rusesabagina that Rwandan Prosecution brought against him, backed by documentary and audio-video proof. However as if indeed propaganda media was in on the game, a blog affiliated to Rusesabagina’s foundation, PRLog.org immediately jumped on the smokescreen lawsuit, to attempt to give it the oxygen of attention. In an article published this Tuesday it pushed the assertions of kidnap, however completely discrediting itself as it failed to mention the facts of how their patron ended up in Kigali, or the charges Prosecution in Kigali has mounted against him. As if taking its cues from this blog – run by Rusesabagina’s publicists in the US – Ugandan misinformation organ Chimpreports picked the article and parroted it, word for word, complete with assertions that “Rusesabagina is innocent”, that he is “a hero”, that “he was kidnapped” and every other propaganda talking point. But Rusesabagina’s lawyer, who according to the blog is Philippe Larochelle – who however isn’t on the suspect’s legal team in Kigali – is on very flimsy ground, legal experts say. “Rusesabagina has himself in a high-profile
media interview said he flew to Kigali thinking he was headed to Bujumbura,” one legal analyst said. “So how can that be kidnap, which is defined as the forceful taking of someone? Furthermore, Rusesabagina has appeared in three courtroom sessions assisted, with two lawyers, and never questioned the legality of his arrest. “But even if one assumed that their kidnapping tall tales were true, do they expect the EACJ to adjudicate on an incident that allegedly happened in Dubai?
Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan). Also, more saliently, the court cannot, and does not substitute itself to national courts. Yet in their press release, Rusesabagina’s campaigners arrogantly write from Chicago: “The East African Community exists to ensure that its member States cannot be allowed to act like this.”
The lawsuit is even more bizarre since Rusesabagina did appoint a legal team to represent him who are not the ones petitioning EACJ. “How will a court recognize self-appointed crusaders acting on behalf of Rusesabagina?” the legal analyst asked with amusement.
According to our research, the EAC treaty, in its Article 30, limits those whose cases can be heard in the EACJ court, which means EAC residents. “Yet they keep saying Rusesabagina is a Belgian national, and a resident in the US; so why are they filing a complaint in the EACJ? Why not in Dubai, in Belgium or in the US? They probably think they can bully an African court with propaganda!”
EACJ Court has jurisdiction over the interpretation and application of the EAC Treaty establishing a regional intergovernmental organization of 6 Partner States (Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi,
The maneuver to file with the EACJ has been exposed as nothing more than a smokescreen. The options of Rusesabagina’s campaigners are dwindling. The man himself acknowl-
edged creating the FLN armed terror group, and confessed to raising funds, and sending money to it. Observers note that Rusesabagina as much as pleaded guilty when he apologized to victims of his sponsored terrorist attacks. A judge summarized the situation: “all sides agree that crimes were committed. The question now is to determine individual responsibilities”. With 16 co-accused, it will be very difficult for Rusesabagina to avoid responsibility for ordering terrorist attacks. He is facing trial along with other senior FLN officials including his Vice-President, his spokesperson, and senior commanders but he is the highest ranked FLN official and admitted to be the founder. Moreover, with a viral video that circulating on social media where Rusesabagina openly rallied for armed militia attacks against Rwanda, his foundation lawyers must have realized that their client was basically “between a rock and a hard place,” legally speaking.
Rusesabagina who is facing a fair trial in Rwanda, regardless what his propagandists say
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OP-ED
Issue no 016 October 2020
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When overseas lawyers or scholars defend criminal suspects by blaming Rwanda By Jason Muhire When reading news articles on Rwanda that were published in the past few weeks, one cannot help but be reminded of a famous stand-up comedian’s words: “the problem is that people with the most ridiculous ideas are always the people who are most certain of them!” Indeed, the narrative pushed by some commentators and lawyers around the crimes committed by self-styled critics of the government of Rwanda has reached unprecedented levels of ridiculousness. The ridiculousness itself is pronounced in such an authoritative and assured manner that an uncritical reader would buy into it. Consider for instance the narrative adopted by the lawyer of one of those so-called critics, Andrew Oliver, who goes to great lengths to justify the crimes of his client, Rene Mugenzi. Oliver’s assertions were given space in a recent article in The Daily Mail, a mass circulation paper in the UK that reported on the conviction of the Rwandan for stealing 220,000 pounds from Norwich Roman Catholic Cathedral.
According to Andrew, his client, who is described in the article as “a human rights activist” and an “outspoken critic of the Rwandan government”, was under threat. “He (Mugenzi) believed he was under threat from the Rwandan government and this made him anxious and fearful and he had struggled to work,” the lawyer said. Oliver further asserted that Mugenzi used gambling to deal with mental health issues stemming from the fear and anxiety generated by the so-called threat, suggesting that the gambling addiction made Mugenzi become a thief. In other words, the Rwandan government, whose alleged threats are at the origin of the gambling addiction, was somehow to blame for the crime committed by one of its ‘critics’. But the ridiculousness of this position was exposed by the Eastern Daily Press’s commitment to expose Mugenzi. As members of the Eastern Daily Press successfully fought to overturn a court decision that banned publication of Mugenzi’s story, the journalists demonstrated how Mugenzi himself had
repeatedly appeared in the media, published photos of his location on social media, revealed his work addresses online, and even stood to become an MP in 2015. Evidently, Mugenzi’s actions were absolutely not those of a person under threat – even less so a person experiencing anxiety and fear who supposedly was hiding from a government targeting him for assassination. Confronted with reality, Judge Katharine Moore had no other choice but to overturn the decision, noting that Mugenzi’s fears were “not well founded” and had “no reliable support.” However, the case of Mugenzi is not the only one where ridiculous claims that attempt to diminish the criminal responsibility, or justify the crimes of so-called critics of Rwanda by blaming Rwanda have been pushed by commentators abroad. Almost two months ago, Timothy Longman, a professor of political science and international relations at Boston University, argued in an article, that Paul Rusesabagina “became more radical because of unrelenting attacks on his character”; attacks that Longman claims were “coordinated by the government” of Rwanda. “We cannot know for certain whether Rusesabagina provided material support to armed groups and supported terrorism, as he is accused of,” Longman added in his attempted justifications of Rusesabagina’s crimes. The surprising thing is that Longman could claim uncertainty about Rusesabagina’s support of terrorism despite the existence of videos proving the fact. Yet Longman could forward theories, supported with nothing, that “radicalization of Rusesabagina was caused by Kigali.”
Advocates for Rene Mugenzi, left, and Rusesabagina are bizarrely blaming Rwanda for their crime
From Longman’s perspective, the self-incriminating videos are not sufficient proof against the terror suspect, while mere psychobabble should exonerate “the Hotel Rwanda hero.”
Paul Rusesabagina
Longman proceeded to advance an exculpatory narrative in the public opinion for the terror suspect. He invited the public to temper its anger towards a terrorist, to extend empathy to his bruised ego and purportedly tarnished reputation, all to blame Rwanda (“the intolerant government”) for crimes the suspect committed! It is not surprising for a lawyer to resort to all sorts of tricks to defend his or her client. To achieve their objectives, lawyers enjoy more freedom of speech in courts than the common man or woman and as a consequence defend positions that may not only be offensive to the aggrieved party and the bereaved families, but blatantly ridiculous to Rwandans. But Longman is not a lawyer. He arrogates himself the right to intervene “as a scholar”, although his pursuit of an elusive “bothsidesim” clearly hinders his clarity of thought. Similarly, if commentators like him don’t want to review their questionable standards of proof when accusing Rwanda, they should at the very least be reasonable enough not to mislead the public but ascribe responsibility for crimes where it properly belongs: the perpetrators themselves.
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PROFILE
Issue no 016 October 2020
9
Profile: meet Cassien Ntamuhanga, the man that fires with his mouth teacher in his neighbourhood, at Jali Primary School. In that same year, he became an English-Kinyarwanda translator at a Christian Radio Station, Amazing Grace, which was broadcasting from Kigali, and in 2009 was promoted to the Managing Director of the radio. It was while at Amazing Grace that he got lured into subversive groups.
By Mary Cyusa It has been over a week after the Rwanda High Court, the Chamber of International Crimes in Nyanza District tried 13 terror suspects who are charged with conspiracy to cause insecurity, belonging to a criminal enterprise, conspiracy to commit terrorism, and Illegal use and handling explosives.
In 2013 someone he calls an “old classmate”, and “a best friend” who had fled Rwanda to South Africa contacted him. This was none other than Callixte Nsabimana alias Sankara and he introduced him to the idea of violence as a means to take power. It was like a god-send to Ntamuhanga. “The fellow took to terrorism like a duck takes to water!” said the official that requested anonymity.
All the suspects would definitely be in a better position now hadn’t they met one Cassien Ntamuhanga who was well known for his religiosity, but later switched to terrorism. He recruited them into terrorism and their lives will never be the same ever since. In November 2018, these youth were arrested for terror related charges. In their statement during their initial appearance in court in May this year they unanimously pointed the finger at Ntamuhanga. For instance, through one Phocas Ndayizera, he recruited an electronics expert named Eliakim Karangwa, who would manufacture a remote-control system that would ignite dynamite explosives to destroy key installations in Kigali including power plants and other high value targets. Yet Ntamuhanga, who escaped from prison in 2017, is now firing against Rwanda from Mozambique, with the aim to overthrow the Kigali administration. But the only bullets and missiles he fires are those coming from his mouth! All his comrades in terrorism plots, the “Sankaras”, the Rusesabaginas and others are behind bars. All terror plots have been rooted out. But Ntamuhanga fires with his mouth as an official of something called Rwandan Alliance for National Pact (RANP-Abaryankuna). From this “party” he runs social media accounts from which he throws verbal missiles at Rwanda. “We are very organized! We shall overthrow Kigali!” But even his Abaryankuna is just a façade behind which he works
Ntamuhanga in prison attire during his trial. The fellow has always been an ambitious terrorist.
for Kayumba Nyamwasa’s Rwanda National Congress, with Uganda’s Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence, CMI, as the facilitator. Ntamuhanga in fact was in Uganda buying equipment for RNC’s radio that was yet to be established. “He talks a big game but he doesn’t know the team he is up against,” laughed a commentator on Facebook. This is an apt observation. If one asks what Ntamuhanga thinks he can do better than his friend Sankara, or LaForge Fils, Mushayidi, Rusesabagina and others, who in fact were throwing real grenades, one can’t see it. But Ntamuhanga has always been an ambitious terrorist, and despite all his failures he still is an ambitious terrorist. It was learnt in 2014 that he was working for RNC to set off explosives in vital infrastructure like RPF headquarters in Rusororo, fuel depots, and cargo trucks in
Rusororo and Gatsata parking yards among others. The terrorist assault they planned included high profile assassinations. Such are the plots of RNC that were thwarted, and Ntamuhanga and his accomplices arrested but of course he is out there getting attention from enemies of Rwanda that he is a “campaigner for democracy!” said an official that preferred to speak off the record. Ntamuhanga, who is now a fugitive in Mozambique, was once an “earnest Christian” always in bible gatherings. Some think that probably was a cover for subversive activities. Ntamuhanga hails from a humble background, having been born in 1982 in the Jali area. He completed his Secondary education at St. Alloys Rwamagana, and joined the then National University of Rwanda in the school of Journalism and Communication, but he dropped out before he finished his first year.
From then he became the agent of “Sankara” and his groups in Rwanda. He clandestinely recruited young men and women together with whom they were involved in the plots of subversion, sabotage and terrorism that they planned to perpetrate in Rwanda. But it wouldn’t be long before Ntamuhanga was arrested in April 2014 on charges of forming a criminal gang, conspiracy against the established government and complicity in committing a terrorist act. He was tried in court, convicted of the crimes and sentenced to 25 years in prison. After 3 years, in October 2017 the man escaped from Nyanza Prison with the complicity of criminal elements, and went to Uganda, where that country’s military intelligence, CMI, sought “asylum” for him, and he went to South Africa. He then became even more active from there trying to lure people into terrorism. But just like all his fellow plotters of terrorism that now are behind bars on terrorism charges, sooner or later Ntamuhanga will find himself in the same place.
In 2005, he got a job as a school-
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REGIONAL
Issue no 016 October 2020
10
Mwenda’s Independent can’t explain why Rwanda should emulate museveni’s failures against another country without his express wishes. It is, therefore, preposterous to try to absolve Museveni of responsibility in the crisis and placing it entirely on his subordinates, as The Independent attempts to do when it writes that “to resolve the conflict one needs to deprive its perpetrators the opportunity of misusing Uganda’s facilities and resources to their advantage.” Reading this one would think that Uganda is a failed state on autopilot without clear lines of authority. Otherwise it wouldn’t make sense to claim that the conflict between the two countries is due to “private individuals” who seek to opportunistically profit from the crisis.
Ugandan journalist Andrew Mwenda of The Independent attempted to distort facts on Rwanda-Uganda issues
By Alain Mucyo On October 22, 2020, Andrew Mwenda’s The Independent published an article titled “How ISO boss sack helps Museveni, Kagame”. In the article the author contorts to try to pull Rwanda into Uganda’s internal affairs. It suggests that purely internal changes within the Ugandan government are beneficial to President Kagame, which is yet another example of the paternalistic attitude that has fed the crisis between the two countries. ISO is the organ in charge of internal security in Uganda. Its boss, Col Kaka Bagyenda, was recently fired as the culmination of competition among Uganda’s security agencies. This internal rivalry is about access to power, resources (who works harder and is, therefore, more deserving of a bigger chunk of the country’s security budget) and opportunity, having proven to be the most loyal, to whisper in Museveni’s ear. In otherwise, to manipulate him and exploit his legendary paranoia.
The most recent casualty of this rivalry, Kaka Bagyenda, had himself colluded with Gen Abel Kandiho, head of CMI, to outmaneuver and get rid of Gen Kale Kayihura, the former head of the Uganda Police Force. Kandiho is, for now, the last man standing due to his close ties with Gen Salim Saleh, Museveni’s young brother and Uganda’s de-facto Vice President and overseer of its security services. Therefore, the suggestion that Kaka was fired “to respond to Rwanda’s conditions for reopening the common border” is simply preposterous. Rwanda’s main problem with Uganda is not with individuals; it is with Uganda’s policy to destabilize Rwanda with the aim of installing a puppet regime that is the cause of the crisis. In fact, it is up to President Museveni to abandon that fruitless ambition; otherwise, who he appoints to, or fires from, different positions of government and security are his prerogative and of no concern to Rwanda. These are mere subordinates who take instructions from him; they would never take a hostile position
Otherwise, why waste time on concluding a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and adopting various resolutions on a roadmap to improved bilateral relations when the party responsible for implementing them claims it lacks authority to rein in the culprits within its own security agencies? Does Uganda need an external force to come in to help it neutralize the activities of Kayumba Nyamwasa’s Rwanda
National Congress (RNC) or RUD-Urunana; to stop officials in its immigration services from issuing travel documents to RNC representatives, like Charlotte Mukankusi; to prevent CMI from deploying armed escorts for RNC operatives; to dismantle the RNC training center in Kireka (located at Bugolobi, Mpanga Close, Street 21, Kampala); and to set free innocent Rwandans who have been abducted, detained, tortured, and continue to be held incommunicado in CMI dungeons to this day? Even after harassing Rwandans, Ugandan authorities seem to assume and expect that the border will open just in time for Rwandans to cross to vote for the very person on whose orders Rwandans have been and continue to be illegally detained and tortured en masse. “In the current circumstances both Museveni and Kagame are desperate to see the common border reopened soon. One, it boosts Museveni’s election fortunes with the highly anticipated flooding in of Rwandans,” The Independent writes, channeling the entitlement that the authorities in that country have against Rwanda and its people. Imagine thinking that Rwandans are eager to return to Uganda to vote for Museveni! Along with entitlement is the patronizing of Rwandans. So if Museveni is “desperate” for the votes of his victims, what is Kagame “desperate” for? Kagame will “softly begin to benchmark from Uganda’s experience and participation in organizing the Rwanda CHOGM-21 due mid next year.”
Col (Rtd) Kaka Bagyenda, the sacked ISO boss
Imagine Rwanda learning organization from Uganda! But if the “individual attitudes” that exist in Uganda “towards the question of Rwanda” are people who exploit disorganization, then what is it that Rwanda is supposed to learn from Uganda on how to be organized? Unless The Independent meant, as a wag once said, that nothing is completely useless and that Uganda can serve as an example of how to not be organized.
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