AfroAmerica Network

Sources close to Ugandan Intelligence Services have informed AfroAmerica Network that General Sylvestre Mudacumura the overall Commander of the troops of a Rwandan rebel organization based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR-FOCA), is negotiating his surrender to Rwanda Defense Forces.
According to the same sources and information leaked to the Ugandan news media, the contacts with General Mudacumura have been going on for a while, but have been dragging along due to guaranties and assurances requested by General Mudacumura.

The contacts were initiated by General Jerome Ngendahimana, but the negotiations are conducted by General James Kabarebe. Over the last two weeks, the alleged contacts between General Mudacumura and the Rwanda Military leaders have created rifts within FDLR military leadership. The rifts have slowed or put an end to two major initiatives underway:

FDLR and MONUSCO sources in Eastern Congo contacted by AfroAmerica Network confirmed that the tensions among the FDLR high ranking military were very high, especially after Ugandan news media published over the weekend of July 29-31, 2011 the information about the ongoing negotiations between General Mudacumura and General James Kabarebe. The information was allegedly leaked to the Ugandan media by Ugandan intelligence services and timed to be published during the visit to Rwanda by the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. General Mudacumura has allegedly called an urgent meeting of the High Command to dispute the information.

These alleged negotiations happen when an armed insurgency is reported in areas in Northwestern and Southwestern Rwanda. In Southwest, insurgents, believed to be Rwandan rebels based in DRC attacked a Rwandan army post, killed or captured most of the occupants and seized weapons. A few days earlier, grenades were throw on police patrolling an open market.

In Northwestern Rwanda, on July 10, 2011 insurgents shot on a local leader, Agnes Nyirasafari the village chief of Cyamabuye in Busasamana, an area bordering the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and barely missed her. Her house was destroyed by grenades thrown by the suspected insurgents, who also managed to kill a dozen of cows distributed by the government to local Hutu villagers.

The insurgents left pamphlets accusing the Rwandan government led by a small clique of aristocrats within the Tutsi minority ethnic group of “trying to transform the Hutu ethnic majority into Tutsis.”

©2011 AfroAmerica Network. All Rights Reserved.

Sources in Brazzaville, the Republic of the Congo inform AfroAmerica Network that the embattled leader of the Rwandan Refugees Community in the Republic of Congo has resigned from her position, given up her refugees status and is getting ready to return to Rwanda.
The leader of the Refugees, Ms. Seraphine Mukantabana has been presiding over the community of the refugees since its creation in 1997-1998. She was instrumental in the creation of the Rwandan rebel organization Democratic Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) in 2000. In that role, she recruited the youth among the refugees who crossed to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to fight along Laurent Desire Kabila’s and Angolan troops against his Rwandan allies turned foes. With the help of Seraphine Mukantabana’s recruits, Laurent Desire Kabila was able to avert the coup plot by Rwandan troops led by the current Rwandan Minister of Defense James Kabarebe, then Colonel and the first Chief of Staff of Laurent Desire Kabila’s army.
Refugees within the Community led by MS. Seraphine Mukantabana were also instrumental in helping the current Congolese President Dennis Sassou Nguesso to conquer power after a bitter civil war opposing his militias, known as “Cobras”, to those of his predecessor Pascal Lissouba. It is the Rwandan refugees, enrolled within Sassou Nguesso’s “Cobras” who eventually captured the city of Pointe Noire, the airport of Brazzaville, and the presidential palace and forced the Congolese president Pascal Lissouba to flee the country.

After the creation of FDLR, infightings among FDLR military and civilian leaders based in Brazzaville became common and forced Ms. Seraphine Mukantabana to focus on civilian refugees matters. in 2003-2004, she traveled to Rwanda on United Nations High Commission for Refugees sponsored trips and has since hosted Rwandan government ministers and other officials on their visits to Brazzaville to lure refugees to return home unconditionally.

Her contacts with the Rwandan government created serious rifts within the Community of Refugees and made her job untenable. One faction condemned these contacts and labeled them “treason”, while another group welcomed them, as “opening.”

According to the sources in Brazzaville, it is these rifts that have forced Ms. Mukantabana to resign. In her July 17, 2011 resignation statement, Ms. Mukantabana explained that she has decided to give up her “refugee status” based on the June 6, 2003 United Nations High Commission of Refugees’ position on the status of Rwandan Refugees in Congo and the August 20, 2010 meeting between the UNHCR and the Rwandan Refugees Community during which Rwandan refugees were given four options:

Ms. Mukantabana did not specify her choice among the four options, although it is widely believed she will get the Congolese citizenship and get residences in both Brazzaville, Republic of Congo and Kigali, Rwanda, hence maintaining the two citizenships.

She was replaced by the Rwandan Refugees Community first Vice-president, Pierre Claver Ndahayo.

©2011 AfroAmerica Network. All Rights Reserved.

Libyan Colonel Muamar Gaddafi and Rwandan General Paul Kagame of Rwanda: The Parable of the Mote and the Beam

On July 22, 2011 Rwandan President General Paul Kagame addressed a youth militia in Gako, a dusty town in South Central Rwanda. The town is mostly occupied by a huge high security military academy known as Gako Military Training Center. The youth militia had just finished a compulsory military training, required for all the kids of the ruling Tutsi elite about to travel abroad to pursue government sponsored studies.

The composition of the audience was not surprising: the youth was mostly from the Rwandan Tutsi elite ruling the country. Rarely kids from the Hutu ethnic majority do qualify for the priviledge.
The place was also not a surprise: This is where General Paul Kagame feels comfortable among his heavy security services and in the middle of the almost completely military Tutsi officers who hailed from Uganda.
The surprise of the day was the topic: the uprising against the Libyan Colonel Muamar Gaddafi.
In his discourse, General Paul Kagame told the sons and daughters of his nepotistic regime how he supports the Libyan rebels.
The motivations for his support to the rebels are, he said,”the fact that some African leaders, including Colonel Muammar Gaddafi cling to power until the people have no other choices than armed rebellion.”
He also added that in Gaddafi’s Libya, several Libyans had taken the road of exile to poorer countries, instead of being subjected to repression, oppression, and dire economic inequalities, because the power and riches were concentrated among the few people among the elite around Colonel Gaddafi and his family.”

Some people in audience that subsequently contacted by AfroAmerica Network appeared puzzled by General Paul Kagame’s discourse. It appeared that whatever General Paul Kagame was talking about was exactly what is happening in Rwanda.

First, if there is a country with a lot of political refugees, it is Rwanda. According to the UNHCR, Rwanda is among the countries with large Refugees proportions. As of the end of 2010, the number Rwandan refugees recorded by UNHCR was 136,036. This does not include hundreds of thousands of Rwandan refugees roaming the jungles of the Democratic Republic of the Congo or those who have chosen to remain undocumented in countries like Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, the Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Central African Republic, Zambia, and Mozambique. Independent sources put the number of Rwandan refugees between 500,000 and 1,500,000, or between 5% and 15% of the entire Rwandan population.

Second, General Paul Kagame has been in power, meaning effectively, for the last 17 years. More than most of African dictators, 3 years less than his predecessor General Habyarimana, whom he is accused of assassinating and 6 years more than the first Rwandan president Gregory Kayibanda. By the end of his current term, he will have stayed in power for close to a quarter century.

Third, there is a overwhelming consensus that the last two elections from which he claims to draw his legitimacy were the typical gimmicks by African dictators: General Paul Kagame barred his opposition from running and threw them in jail along with their lawyers, his intelligence operatives assassinated other opposition leaders, and he has been accused of ordering assignation of exiled opposition leaders in South Africa, United Kingdom, United States of America, and elsewhere, including Europe. Result: a score of more than 90%.

Fourth, one small clique within the minority Tutsi ethnic group, the core of which is composed of the relatives of General Paul Kagame and his wife Janet Kagame dominates if not completely owns the following:

,

Even the few ethnic hutu in the government must meet nepotistic criteria. For example, the Prime Minister Makuza is a first cousin of General Paul Kagame. Others must be related through marriages or others to the clique ruling the country.

Now, if all the power, including the military, judiciary, security, economical is concentrated in the hands of a small clique from the minority Tutsi elite ruling Rwanda, if Rwandan wealth is controlled by the relatives of General Paul Kagame and his wife, if General Paul Kagame is oppressing and repressing dissenting voices and assassinating opposition leaders, if people chose to roam the jungles that returning home, one may wonder what is the difference between him and Colonel Muammar Gadhaffi.

Or is General Paul Kagame seeing the mote in Gadaffi’s eyes when his eyes are blinded by huge beams?
For a related article read: Museveni: Dictators Must Negotiate and The Dilemma of Dictators

©2011, AfroAmerica Network. All Rights Reserved.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has canceled his leg to Rwanda, which was scheduled after his tour in South Africa. The sudden cancellation of the long planned trip to Rwanda has created speculations in Johannesburg, Kigali, and London.

In fact, the British Government, one of the few remaining supporters of the Rwandan Dictator General Paul Kagame has been unhappy with him recently after the British MI5 and Scotland Yard uncovered plots by Rwandan Intelligence operatives to assassinate Rwandan-British and Rwandan-American citizens living in UK and United States of America. The British police eventually warned Rwandans living in UK and arrested and deported one of the Rwandan Intelligence operatives involved in the assassination plots.

Meanwhile, in South Africa, an on-going trial involves Rwandan intelligence operatives who attempted a failed assassination on the Rwandan exiled general Kayumba Nyamwasa (See our previous articles on the subjects).

Concordant sources have confirmed to AfroAmerica Network that the sudden cancellation may be to the two events and that these events have soured the already tense relations between the Rwandan Government and the UK, one of the few remaining General Paul Kagame’s Western backers.
Earlier this month, General Paul Kagame traveled to UK to receive an award arranged by his fried and personal adviser, the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. His attempts to connect with British officials were snubbed; he left UK without meeting with government officials.

After enjoying widespread sympathy and support after the 1994 Rwandan tragedy, General Paul Kagame has seen his stock of credentials and goodwill dwindle due to his ruthless repression of the opposition, the marginalization of the Rwandan Hutu ethnic majority, and his campaigns of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide committed by his army and militias in Rwandan and in the Democratic Republic of the COngo (DRC).

Speaking in Johannesburg at the Union Buildings on Monday, the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, expressed the commitment of UK to helping African nations, especially in promoting the new African tripartite Free Trade Area (T-FTA). Accompanied by prominent British business representatives, David Cameron stressed the importance of the T-FTA and its potential to grow gross domestic product (GDP) on the continent by $62 billion a year, hence diminishing the need for aid, now estimated at $20 billion a year

The British Prime Minister told the media that his trip was included in the overall British policy of getting out there and encouraging trade and investment with African nations in the interest of both the British and the African people, in order to create jobs and growth.
He nuanced the policy though, when he stated that the UK will focus on fast expanding developing regions and countries such as South Africa, India, China, and Brazil.

David Cameron made the comments after visiting with the South African President Jacob Zuma.

[Update I]
The controversial Rwandan Colonel Emmanuel Ndahiro, who led the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) has been fired by the Rwandan dictator General Paul Kagame. Generals Emmanuel Ndahiro along with Jack Nziza have been accused, since least year, of assassination attempts against Rwandan exiled opposition leaders, especially General Kayumba Nyamwasa, British-Rwandan and American citizens.
Based on sources close to the Rwandan Intelligence services, the sudden replacements of Colonel Emmanuel Ndahiro is consecutive to the trials in South Africa where they are targeted by South Africa prosecution. Both Colonel Emmanuel Ndahiro and General Jack Nziza, who led the Department of Military Intelligence and is current the Permanent Secretary within the Ministry of Defense are specifically accused of being the Rwandan officials who ordered the failed assassination of General Kayumba Nyamwasa.
Last month, leaked tapes of the conversations allegedly among General Jack Nziza, Colonel Emmanuel Ndahiro, Captain Francis Gakwerere and Pascal Kanyandekwe, the alleged assassins, and General Kayumba Nyamwasa’s personal driver surfaced (See South African Security Services Hunt Down Rwandan Operatives.)
Also, the Rwandan sources confirm to AfroAmerica Network that the British Intelligence Services have opened an inquiry against Colonel Emmanuel Ndahiro and General Jack Nziza. The two are suspected of ordering the assassination of Rwandan-British citizens living in United Kingdom and American and Rwandan-American citizens. The British Security services found out about the plot and formally warned Rwandan-British citizens and detained and deported a Rwandan operative who had tried to infiltrate the British territory.

Colonel Emmanuel Ndahiro is being replaced by Major General Emmanuel Karenzi Karake, whereas General Jack Nziza is being replaced by Colonel Dan Munyuza.

Whether these sudden replacements will appease the British Security Services and the South African prosecution will remain to be seen. At the moment they only appear to confirm that the Rwandan Government has for the first time acknowledged the implication of its security services in the campaign of assassinating opposition leaders.

In this update: Jack Nziza as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Defense and Colonel Emmanuel Ndahiro. Thanks to readers who pointed out the error.

©AfroAmerica Network. 1997-2011. All rights reserved.

The UN body, UN Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO), has published an extensive report on the mass rapes and other human rights violations committed from July 30 to August 2, 2010 in 13 villages in the Kibua-Mpofi axis, Walikale territory, North Kivu, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The report, titled “FINAL REPORT OF THE FACT-FINDING MISSIONS OF THE UNITED NATIONS JOINT HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICE INTO THE MASS RAPES AND OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS COMMITTED BY A COALITION OF ARMED GROUPS ALONG THE KIBUA-MPOFI AXIS IN WALIKALE TERRITORY, NORTH KIVU, FROM 30 JULY TO 2 AUGUST 2010″ and published on July 6, 2011, documents the alleged crimes which include 116 abductions and 965 houses and shops pillaged and 387 rapes by a coalition of armed groups.
Among the 387 victims of rape, 300 were women, 23 men, 55 girls and 9 boys.


The armed groups cited in the reports are FDLR-FOCA, Nduma Defense of Congo, Mayi-Mayi Sheka and CNDP troops. The report singled out the following people accusing them of the potentially primary responsibility for the crimes: Captain Sérafin Lionso of the FDLR-FOCA, Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka as the Commander in Chief of the Nduma Defense of Congo, the political branch of the Mayi Mayi Sheka, and Lieutenant Colonel Emmanuel Nsengiyumva. All three are accused of the crimes committed by their subordinates during these attacks, in accordance with Article 28 of the Rome Statute.
The report also mentioned another FDLR-FOCA commander, Lieutenant Colonel Evariste Kanzeguhera “Sadiki Soleil,” the commander of the Montana battalion within the FDLR-FOCA which controls several axes in Walikale territory. According to the report, this battalion is divided into companies, the most influential of which in the area attacked is the one commanded by Captain Sérafin Lionso.
However, Lieutenant Colonel Evariste Kanzeguhera is not particularly targeted by the Report for his responsibility for the crimes. In fact, the report mentions on paragraph 20:
“FDLR troops involved in this attack were under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Evariste Kanzeguhera, better known as “Sadiki Soleil” and the commander of the Montana battalion of the FDLR-FOCA, whose respective bases were in Chalingwangwa and Maningwi, near Mutongo, the chef-lieu of the groupement of Ihana. Although they had planned and ordered the attacks along the Kibua-Mpofi axis, Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka, “Sadiki Soleil” and Emmanuel Nsengiyumva remained at their respective bases and did not directly participate in the attacks. Credible sources have indicated that, from May to October 2010, this tripartite coalition carried out attacks on the villages of Biruwe, Mabenga, Osokari, Kilambo, Kailenge, Boboro, Omate, Mubi, and those along the Kibua-Mpofi axis. Some of the attacks, such as the one in Mubi, were directly led by Sheka himself.

The report also notes that: “While emphasizing that the primary responsibility for protecting civilians lies with the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the UNJHRO staff observed the difficulties encountered by the soldiers of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) based in Kibua in their mission to protect civilians, the core element of the MONUSCO mandate”

©AfroAmerica Network 1997- 2011.

Sources close to Rwandan, Tanzanian, and South African Intelligence services inform AfroAmerica Network that the military wings of the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR -FOCA) and Rwandan National Congress (RNC) have merged and created one armed branch.

The branch is led by General Kayumba Nyamwasa as the overall Commander. General Sylvestre Mudacumura is the second in command and Chief of Staff and Colonel Patrick Karegeya, allegedly promoted to General is the Chief of Military Intelligence. Another leading military officer is General Stanislas Nizeyimana, from FDLR-FOCA.


According to the same sources, the other Rwandan armed organizations, Rally for Unity and Democracy (RUD-Urunana) and Rally of the Rwandan People ( RPR-Inkeragutabara) have declined the invitation to join the new military organization.

Instead they have formed their own military coalition, Armee Nationale (AN) Imbonezagutabara which regroups, Armee Nationale – Imboneza from RUD-Urunana and Armee of RPR-Inkeragutabara.

The members of RNC and RPR are mostly from Tutsi ethnic group, whereas those of FDLR and RUD-Urunana are mostly from Hutu ethnic group.

The two military coalitions have basically reduced the number of armed groups opposed to Rwanda from four to two.

© AfroAmerica Network, 2007-2011

On Friday, July 1, 2011, a Rwandan prosecutor witness, one of six Rwandans and Tanzanians suspected of being the alleged assassins working for the Rwandan Intelligence services has told the court that he fears for his and his pregnant wife’s life after being attacked by Rwandan Intelligence Operatives.
The now former Rwandan Intelligence operative, known as Mubarak Kalisa, made the statements at the witness stand while testifying against his former associate, known as Amani Uriwani in the trial for the shooting of Rwanda’s exiled former army chief General Kayumba Nyamwasa.

The prosecutor’s lead witness broke in tears while describing how he feared for his family’s, especially his pregnant wife’s lives after the failed assassination attempt in South Africa.
Amani Uriwani, along with five co-accused: the ringleader and businessman Pascal Kanyandekwe, the alleged gunman Hemedi Denengo Sefu, Sady Abdou, General Kanyumba Nyamwasa’s chauffeur Richard Bachisa, and Hassann Mohammedi Nduli have denied their implication in the failed assassination attempt. However, the South African Prosecutor told the could that the evidences and testimonies against the suspected murderers and the intelligence services of the country that sponsored them are overwhelming. Another suspect, Francis Gakwere managed to slip through the police net and fled back to Rwanda after the shooting.


The witness told the court that after the assassination attempt he called his handler, Amani Uriwani to complain about the possible implications on his own security. Amani Uriwani, allegedly very scared and confused, told him that they should keep it a secret otherwise Pascal Kanyandekwe may kill them both.
He also told the court that he, himself has already been a victim of attacks by alleged Rwandan intelligence operatives after he agreed to cooperate with the prosecution. His beauty salon in Johannesburg was ransacked by five gunmen. He has since been on run, before being granted the witness protection status.

The prosecution has rested the case to allow the defense to review the evidences. The trial will resume on October 24, 2011.

©AfroAmerica Network, July 2011.

The trial against Rwandan operatives suspected of double assassination attempt against a Rwandan exiled general Kayumba Nyamwasa opened in Johannesburg, South Africa on Tuesday, June 28, 2011.
Six alleged assassins, three Rwandans and three Tanzanians stood in court where they heard the prosecution develop the case and tell the story of an assassination plot by Rwandan spies who had infiltrated South Africa.
There are overwhelming evidences that the alleged Rwandan operatives may be connected to Rwandan intelligence services and all way to Rwandan Intelligence Chief General Jack Nziza and General Dan Munyuza, the Security Advisers of the Rwandan president General Paul Kagame (see our article South African Security Services Hunt Down Rwandan Operatives

According to prosecutors, assassins, allegedly from the six co-accused shot General Kayumba Nyamwsa but failed to kill him. He was rushed to a hospital. The assassins followed him there and tried to strangle him in his hospital bed, but could not allude the tight security.

The Rwandan government has denied its involvement but sent legal counsels to observe the trial. Sitting in the court and looking intently, sometimes gravely, the lawyers of the Rwandan government did not say anything both in and outside the court.
Prosecutors, led by the renowned Prosecutor Shaun Abrahams, expressed their confidence in winning the case and disclosed that there is overwhelming evidence that implicates the accused.
They also added that key witnesses under the special protection of South African security services will shed more light and provide irrefutable testimonies against the accused.

The trial is conducted in English with translation into two African languages: Kinyarwanda and Swahili, both spoken in Rwanda and Tanzania, and into French.
Just after the first session, the Prosecutor Shaun Abrahms alluded to the fact that testimonies may implicate the Rwandan government, whereas the lawyer of the accused confirmed the Rwandan Government version of denying the participation.

The suspects are accused of conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, attempted kidnapping, illegal possession of firearms, attempted bribery of government officials and several other crimes punishable under South African laws.

The three accused Rwandans include Pascal Kanyandekwe (see our multiple article by searching Pascal Kanyandekwe) and Kayumba Nyamwasa’s personal driver. Another suspect, Francis Gakwaya managed to escape when he was arrested after the assassination attempt, then temporary released pending investigations. All the accused pleaded not guilty.

The trial continues.

©AfroAmerica Network, June 2011.