Sources within MONUSCO, Rutshuru inform AfroAmerica Network that a Rwandan rebel Colonel Wenceslas Nizeyimana has surrendered to MUNUSCO and is on his way to Rwanda. The colonel surrendered after Rwandan troops who, in past month, have crossed in large numbers into the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have been fighting soldiers of the breakaway group of CNDP in the Territory of Rutshuru (see our April 2, article “Rwandan Troops Attack CNDP offshoot linked to General Kayumba Nyamwasa”).
The troops crossed into DRC since early March 2011 (see our March 21, 2011 article – Rwandan Troops Reinforced by FDLR Deserters Reenter East-DRC). According to the sources, the secret mission of Rwandan troops is to hunt down CNDP dissenters suspected of trying to link up with Rwandan exiled General and Colonel Kayumba Nyamwasa. They also have a mission to preempt any link between General Kayumba Nyamwasa and FDLR or RUD-Urunana troops based in Eastern DRC.
Colonel Wenceslas Nizeyimana, alias Kit, once an FDLR spokesperson based in Kampala, was imprisoned in Uganda in 2006. He was allegedly freed from prison following the intervention of RUD-Urunana leadership and intense lobbying with the Ugandan Government. He subsequently joined RUD-Urunana armed wing, the National Army (AN-Imboneza) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). However, in 2010, RUD-Urunana leaders expelled him from AN-Imboneza for unspecified reasons along with 10 people, including dependents.
He joined an armed group being sett up by Colonel Gaheza, also expelled from RUD-Urunana in 2008 and Colonel Sok, expelled from FDLR-FOCA in around 2006. Both Colonel Gaheza and Colonel Sok have been accused by the Rwandan government of working with the Rwandan dissident General Kayumba Nyamwasa.
The sources within MONUSCO and contacts in Rwanda have told AfroAmerica Network that recently Rwandan intelligence services were tipped of a meeting by operatives within ex-CNDP and General Kayumba Nyamwasa’s representatives. A network of the same Rwandan operatives assassinated the former leader of the ex-CNDP (see our February 26, 2011: Congolese Colonel Linked to General Kayumba Assassinated). Working on this intelligence, Rwandan troops attacked the meeting attendees, killing most of them and seizing weapons.
However, after the defection of Colonel Nizeyimana, sources in Goma have told AfroAmerica Network that Colonel Gaheza and Colonel Sok are accusing the wife of Colonel Wenceslas Nizeyimana of having provided the intelligence to the Rwandan operatives. Before the defection, the wife of Wenceslas Nizeyimana had been crisscrossing between Rwanda and the DRC, and had recently spent two weeks visiting with her husband from her residence in Northwestern Rwanda and staying with the troops. According to the sources, Colonel Gaheza and Colonel Sok are alleging that the wife could not have been allowed by the Rwandan security services to visit her husband in the rebel held areas, unless she worked as an informant for the Rwandan government.
However, during interviews aired on local radios in Goma, Colonel Wenceslas Nizeyimana alleges that the reasons for his repatriation to Rwanda are related to how he and his wife were treated by RUD-Urunana military leaders. He does not specifies why he waited for several months after being expelled from RUD-Urunana before repatriating.
©AfroAmerica Network, April 2011
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