Rwandan long term opposition leader and ex-Prime Minister Faustine Twagiramungu did not return from his 10-year exile as he had promised. Officially, he said he was refused, by the Rwandan government, a visa to return to his homeland. Rwandan Government officials denied refusing him a visa and instead, through the government owned medias, called him an “ethnist bald-headed clown”, with others calling him an “eternal comedian” or a “joke”.
Photo: Faustine Twagiramungu running for Rwandan president office in September 2003
Since earlier this year, Faustine Twagiramungu has declared that he would soon, no later than end of June 2013, return from exile and lead his political activities in Rwanda. A controversial political figure, he is the son-in-law of the first Rwandan post-independence President Gregoire Kayibanda. Until a couple of years before the 1990′s Rwandan civil war, he was a top official within the MRND one-party ruling system of President Juvenal Habyarimana, who, in 1973, had overthrown Gregoire Kayibanda in a bloodless coup. He fell out favor in late 1980s and was briefly detained over corruption charges. He denied the charges that, he said, were politically motivated.
He then joined the pro-Rwandan Patriotic Front opposition faction, MDR, an acronym of his father-in-law’s political party. During the Arusha Accord negations between the Rwandan Government and the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) to end the Rwandan civil war, he joined forces with RPF and managed to get his name put in the final Accord document as the nominated Prime Minister.
When RPF took power in 1994 after the assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana, Faustine Twagiramungu was appointed Prime Minister by the ruling RPF elite. In less that two years, he had quickly fallen out with RPF leadership and returned into exile. In 2003, he returned to Rwanda to contest elections against the current Rwandan dictator General Paul Kagame. He lost the elections, managing to garner less than 5%. See AfroAmerica Network articles on Faustine Twagiramungu’s 2003 campaign on the following links:
Kigali: Twagiramungu’s acceptance of defeat puzzles Rwandans. September 15, 2003- Kigali: Ex-FAR forced into quarters; Twagiramungu to create a party of September 07, 2003
- Twagiramungu’s daughter’s dates with Karegeya worry Rwandan exiles of September 03, 2003
- Rwanda: Twagiramungu’s campaign marred with defections and backstabbing of August 20, 2003
and here.
After the elections, he fled the country, stating that General Paul Kagame has stolen the election. He has been into exile since, creating or joining several political parties. His latest political party is known as “Rwandan Dream Initiative – RDI”.
The fact that he failed to return from exile despite his promises has, in itself become a controversial issue. On one hand, he recently told the media that he has dual citizenship: Belgian and Rwandan and hence does not need visa to return to Rwanda. On the other, he said he was refused visa, which the Rwandan government officials contacted by AfroAmerica Network denied.
“He is a joke, a political clown. He never intended to return,” the Rwandan officials told AfroAmerica Network.
One Rwandan Intelligence Services owned tabloid called him “The aging political failure-bold-headed comedian [with] extremist and ethnic political agenda, [but] no rape cases, no corruption cases, and no record of mass murder.”
The question from some politicians in Kigali is: “why is the Rwandan Government so tough on him and yet belittles his potential political clout?”
Faustine Twagiramungu was expected to travel with another political figure, Gerard Karangwa Semushi, a former elite within the RPF, who also has been in exile since 10 years. Gerard Karangwa Semushi has arrived in Kigali today Friday. In a meeting with journalists, he said he still expects Faustine Twagiramungu to join him sooner than later.
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