CEO of Rwandan Intelligence Media, New Times, Joseph Bideri Flees to Canada
Monday, October 4, 2010
Joseph Bideri, the Chief Executive Officer and Editor-in-Chief of Rwandan Intelligence Services’ news media group, New Times, has fled to Canada, sources from Rwanda tell AfroAmerica Network.
The New Times is an umbrella of news media controlled by Rwandan Intelligence services. It includes, the New Times English daily newspaper, the Sunday Times English weekly newspaper, Izuba Rirashe Rwanda newspaper, The New Times English Online, and Izuba Rirashe Rwanda Online. They all serve as a mouthpiece of the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front and the Rwandan Dictator Paul Kagame. Joseph Bideri was a front man, while the Rwandan Intelligence Chief, Dr. Emmanuel Ndahiro is the “eminence grise”, the behind the scenes boss.
Officially Joseph Bideri is accused of mismanagement, tax evasion, mail fraud, and money laundering. His actions have allegedly caused financial strains within the New Times group. However, sources say his problems rather come from long te
rm differences with the Rwandan Intelligence chief, Dr. Emmanuel Ndahiro and the current tension within Paul Kagame’s inner circle.
Last year, Emmanuel Ndahiro fired the Zimbabwean Grace Kwinjeh, a member of the MDC party of the Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai from the position of Managing Editor. She was unceremoniously fired when she refused to publish some of the propaganda pieces submitted to her by Dr. Emmanuel Ndahiro and Joseph Bideri. Some of the pieces accused the Zimbabwean Government of harboring Rwandan accused criminals. Grace Kwinjeh was replaced by Collin Haba.
The rivalry between Dr. Emmanuel Ndahiro and Joseph Bideri date from when they were both special advisors to the Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame (see our article “Rwanda: Mbaraga divides Kagame’s top advisors of August 29, 2002 here). At that time, the conflicts and fights for influence were frequent among the four advisors: Emmanuel Ndahiro, Theogene Rudasingwa, Kagame’s Chief of Staff and Joseph Nsengimana.
Eventually Theogene Rudasingwa fled the country and has been a vocal critic of Paul Kagame. Now it appears to be Joseph Bideri’s turn.
©AfroAmerica Network, 2010. All Rights Reserved.
©AfroAmerica Network, All Rights Reserved, August 2010.
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