AfroAmerica Network

According to the secrets documents leaked by WikiLeaks,  US State Department officials  and Diplomats in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo were asked in April 2009 about crop yields, H.I.V. rates and China’s quest for copper, cobalt and oil in Africa.

We can understand the concern about  China, copper,  cobalt and oil. But what is about the crop yields and HIV rates: to prepare for more aid the impoverished countries run by some of the most brutal dictators in the World?

©AfroAmerica Network, November 2010

©AfroAmerica Network, November 2010.

Photo: Ms. Victoire Ingabire, one of the opposition leader imprisoned in Rwanda.

The  US State Department’s secret documents leaked by WikiLeaks and obtained by AfroAmerica Network show that the US Embassy in Rwanda was asked to collect information on Rwandan political and military leaders and opposition figures and groups. The requested information in a memo from Secretary of State to the Embassies in Kampala, Bujumbura, Rwanda and Kinshasa sent on April 16, 2009, covered extensive areas, including divisions within Rwandan dictator General Paul Kagame’s inner circle and military, repression against dissenting Tutsis and opposition Hutu figures, links with terrorist networks and Chinese influence.

For more visit AfroAmerica Network World Events at http://www.afroamerica.net and check article: WikiLeaks’s Secret Documents Point to US Concerns over Divisions  Kagame’s Inner circle, Terrorism, Repression, and Chinese Influence

©AfroAmerica Network 2010.

Picture: Victor Bout and Rwandan soldiers

The Rwandan Government led by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a rebel group that eventually took power in Rwanda in July 1994 after one of the bloodiest conflicts of the 20th Century has been cited in the criminal probe against the alleged  Russian arms trafficker, Viktor Bout, sources tell AfroAmerica Network.

Viktor Bout, a former Soviet military intelligence officer was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand  in 2008. He was subsequently extradited to the US  on November 16, 2010 after a lengthy and arduous legal process. In the US, he faces the charges of arms trafficking, conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, conspiracy to kill Americans, conspiracy to kill US officers or employees and conspiracy to acquire and use an anti-aircraft missile.

Viktor Bout  created air transport companies in the 1990s and made a lot of money shipping cargo mostly in Africa and the Middle East during the 1990s and early 2000s,  sometimes working for the United Nations and  the US.

But eventually, he became too greedy.   Aside these legitimate businesses, he allegedly contracted with and worked for rogue groups and governments. These illegitimate businesses are at the root of his legal troubles.  He is accused of having worked for the former Liberian  warlord and president  Charles Taylor, the rebels of UNITA in Angola, and other rebel groups in Africa and Middle East, including terrorists.

However,  the serious accusations  are related to the work he did for Hezbollah in Lebanon and Al-Quaida in Afghanistan and the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA)  in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo  (DRC).

Already on August 10, 2002, AfroAmerica Network  reported on the links between the Rwandan Patriotic Front Government  and military intelligence and Viktor bout (see our August 10, 2002 article titled:  USA: Kagame links with Al-Qaeda probed by USA in African Great Lakes Archives, here)

The article was based on reliable sources that had told AfroAmerica Network that Kagame, his cronies, and the Rwandan Government’s   links with Al-Qaeda organization were being  probed by USA Intelligence services and the Justice Department . These links were found to date from the guerrilla war era against Habyalimana’s regime and had intensified with the illegal exploitation of natural resources in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and the fueling of  invasion  of the Congo.

In this web of international terrorism, arms trafficking, illegal mineral trade, invasion and civil wars, Paul Kagame himself  was allegedly found to be the central piece around which the following key figures  and organizations gravitated. The relations were allegedly handled by  Colonel Patrick Karegeya, then Kagame’s right hand man and Director of the infamous External Intelligence Office (ESO),  Colonel Jack Nziza, Kagame’s henchman and the Director of the notorious Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), Colonel  Dan Munyuza,Colonel Jack Nziza’s deputy in Congo and General Kabarebe, the Rwandan Army Chief of Staff.  Colonel Patrick Karegeya, Jack Nziza, and General Kabarebe were  said to be working with Viktor Bout (or Butt), Sanjivan Ruprah,  Faustin Mbundu, and Mugunga, Paul Kagame’s brother-in-law,  all allegedly  involved in  arms dealing and with close contacts with Al-Qeada.

Other people cited in the case were: Andre Bumaya, the Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs  and President of Islamic Democratic Party, Hadj Harelimana, the Representative of Muslims in Rwanda. Hadj Harelimana is on the record for supporting September 11, 2001 attacks against the USA, during a BBC interview, Major Karasira, Ernest Habimana, Emmanuel Kamanzi,  Francis Gakwerere (For more recent articles  on Francis Gakwerere see our August 5, 2010 article titled: “Captain Francis Gakwerere: Portrait of a Professional Assassin in World Events) , and Alfred Kalisa.

Colonel Patrick Karegeya, eventually fell out  with General Paul Kagame and  has been running for his life in the last couple of years (See articles on Patrick Karegeya and Kayumba Nyamwasa in AfroAmerica Network World Events archives)

Recently, AfroAmerica Network has obtained fresh information confirming that the Rwandan Patriotic Front and General Paul Kagame are at the center of Viktor Bout’s involvement in the Rwandan and Congolese wars. He is accused of supplying the weapons to the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) and its rebel proxies and obtained minerals and other natural resources in return (see picture of Viktor Bout interacting with Rwandan Patriotic Army operatives (see picture above).

According to the sources, Viktor Bout owned a air transport company Air Cess based in  Kigali Rwanda.  One of his aircrafts, with the plate number  3D-SBW,  was shot down by Zimbabwean and rwandan Hutu rebels in  Kalemie, Eastern DRC  in 2002.   The incident raised questions in the United Nations but Rwandan Paul Kagame, while accepting personally working with Viktor Bout in the past,  said he had severed the relationship. But it appeared that at the very moment, Viktor Bout was a personal guest of General Kagame and lived in Paul Kagame’s house.
From 2002 to 2006, General Paul Kagame and Viktor Bout allegedly created other companies, including Air Bus, based in Goma, and acquired multiple aircraft cargo carriers, three with the following plate numbers: 3C-KKL,  3C-KKJ, and 3C-KKR.
Finally, the relations between General Paul Kagame and Viktor Bout  soured when Paul Kagame failed to pay back a debt of  over US $ 20, 000, 000 owed to Viktor Bout. At that time, the international justice was catching up with Viktor Bout and he had to slip out of Rwanda quickly, leaving behind the fortune for Paul Kagame and his cronies to benefit.
Now, with Paul Kagame and the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA)  cited in the  Viktor Bout saga, it would be possible to finally uncover the can of worms, a dirty bag of blood money and  minerals and genocide in the Great Lakes region of Africa.

©AfroAmerica Network , November  2010

Photo: Rakiya Omaar.

German news media, Die Tageszeitung  or TAZ, has reported that after the demise of the FDLR political leadership, new alliances and coalitions may soon take place in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

According to TAZ, the most likely shift of alliances will involve  RUD-Urunana taking over the Rwandan rebels of the Forces Democratiques de Liberation du Rwanda (FDLR) and then forming a strategic coalition with the troops of the former  Rwandan Army Chief of Staff and Ambassador to India, General Kayumba Nyamwasa (see AfroAmerica Network articles on General Kayumba Nyamwasa in World Events archives).

In the October 13, 2010 article titled  “Der Krieg der Rebellen ist nicht vorbei (The War of the Rebels is not over, here ), TAZ reports that despite the recent arrests of the FDLR entire political  leadership based in Europe and high profile defections to Rwanda, FDLR remains a strong force and has massively recruited.

At the same, TAZ adds that for the first time in nine years, FDLLR troops have started to infiltrate troops into Rwanda and planning major operations, after reconquering the territories lost in 2009 and early 2010 to the FARDC.

TAZ appears to assert that to achieve success, two major alliances  are required: RUD-Urunana absorbing FDLR and then the new organization allying with General Kayumba Nyamwasa’s forces.

For More visit AfroAmerica Network World Events Pages: Possible International Collaboration Between RUD-Urunana and General Kayumba Nyamwasa, Reports German News Media Taz at htpp:/www.afroamerica.net

©AfroAmerica Network, 2010.

Soldiers of the Congolese Defense Forces (FARDC) have been  battling attacks launched by  coalition of Rwandan Hutu, Burundian Hutu, and Congolese  rebels  for the last three days. The attackers from the Tutsi Force Republican Federalist (FRF), the Rwandan Hutu of the  FDLR and Burundian  Hutu of the FNL (Front
National Liberation)  lanched their operations over the weekend, killing more  dozens of FARDC soldiers and wounding a score.

The fighting have been going on in the Minembwe, Fizi, and Uvira area, in South Kivu. This follows the recent series of defections by Tutsi of CNDP to form  new rebellions (See our recent article: CNDP Troops Desert FARDC; General Kayumba Suspected in AfroAmerica Network World Events)

©AfroAmerica Network, 2010

Photo:  Late Ms. Emmerita Munyeshuri

Sources in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) tell AfroAmerica Network that  troops from the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) recently integrated within Congolese Government Armed Forces (FARDC) have started to defect to form a new armed rebellion.  According to the same sources,  the Rwandan Department of Military Intelligence suspect General Kayumba Nyamwasa to be behind the desertions.

The CDNP was headed by  the renegade Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda who is in jail in Rwanda. General Nkunda was funded and supported by the Rwanda Government in his bloody armed rebellion against the DRC government over half a decade. He fell out with Rwanda when he dared to criticize Rwandan President General Paul Kagame, accusing him of using Congolese Tutsis to achieve his goals of looting the DRC. He was arrested in January 2009 while a guest of the Rwandan Government. He has been in jail awaiting
trial since then.

For more visit AfroAmerica Network (http://www.afroamerica.net) in World Events Pages)

©AfroAmerica Network, 2010. All Rights Reserved.

Photo: Hutu Young Men Massacred

According to sources at the United Nations, the UN Security Council is under pressure to examine the UN Mapping Report in the month of November 2010.  However, the sources add that the chances of the UN Security Council, led by the United Kingdom for November 2010, will is unlikely. The UN Mapping Exercise reports published on October 1, 2010 documents war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed by the Tutsi minority  Rwandan Patriotic army against the Ethnic Rwanda Hutus refugees and Congolese Hutu in Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1993-2003.

The report has raised controversy, but is widely accepted as the most objective detailed account to date of the crimes of genocide committed against the Hutus by the Rwandan Tutsi army.

Over the month, November 2010, The UN Security Council is expected to renew the DRC Sanctions regime and the mandate of the group of experts . The resolutions concerning the two bodies expire on November 30, 2010.

For More Read on on AfroAmerica Network (http://www.afroamerica.net) in our World Events Pages

©AfroAmerica Network, 2010. All Rights Reserved.

Photo: Rakiya Omaar, Jean De Dieu Mucyo and Gerald Gahima

The Norwegian  Royal Attorney/Prosecutor  Marit Formo has dismissed a criminal  case leveled by the Rwandan Government against a former Rwandan high ranking military officer, Major Emmanuel Munyaruguru. In the October 10, 2010 letter notifying the Prosecutor’s decision to Norwegian authorities,  a copy of which AfroAmerica Network has received, the Royal Prosecutor judged that all the charges of crimes committed in Rwanda contained in the case 891050 opened against Major Emmanuel Munyaruguru following the charges filed by the Rwandan Government have been dismissed on the grounds that no crime has been proven [NDLR: Statement by Royal Attorney Marit Formo for those who understand the Norwegian language: “ Kripos Underretter med dette om at forholdet i straffesak 8910580 (mistanke om straffbare forhold i Rwanda i 1994) for deres vedkommende er henlagt på grunnlag av at intent straffbart forhold anses bevist.”]

For More on the case, the actors involved, and the implications, visit AfroAmerica Network (http://www.afroamerica.net) in World Events Pages and read the article: Rwandan Accusations Against Major Munyaruguru Dismissed by Norwegian Royal Prosecutor

©AfroAmerica Network, October 2010