Rwandan Dictator General Paul Kagame has been conspicuously missing from the public eye since April 2020. His absence has sparked and fueled rumors about declining health and even incapacitation. Sources within the Rwandan Department of Military Intelligence confirm to an AfroAmerica Network correspondent in Kigali that, given the deteriorating health conditions of General Paul Kagame and the infighting among his closest aides (see here: Ailing Rwandan Paul Kagame's Attempts to Cling to Power Through His Daughter Ange Kagame) and his family on the succession, the military leaders supporting Ms. Ange Kagame, have asked General Paul Kagame to impose a country lockdown to be able to better watch the movement of unreliable top military leaders. According to the sources, the current Minister of Defense, Maj. Gen. Albert Murasira, is one, among many, being kept under close watch.
Gen. Albert Murasira is being kept under a close watch after information was obtained that he was planning to flee the country. He is accused of being too close to the key top military officers arrested last year and opposed to the planned takeover of power by military leaders supporting Ange Kagame. Ange Kagame's faction is composed of former refugees who came from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo and led by General Jean Bosco Kazura, Chief of Defense Staff in Rwandan Defense Forces and head of Burundi desk.
The top military leaders detained in safe houses, under close watch, or under house arrest now include General James Kabarebe, General Patrick Nyamvumba, General Charles Kayonga, Lieutenant General Karake Karenzi, and Maj. Gen Albert Murasira.
General Paul Kagame got gravelly ill in late March 2020. He had ongoing conditions but the situation became suddenly critical. Initially, the severe conditions were attributed to potential COVID-19 infection. In April 2020 he was rushed to London, United Kingdom for further medical tests including cells and tissues examination to determine the presence or the extent of the cancer, a process known as biopsy. A brain cancer was confirmed. An initial operation to remove the brain cancer was scheduled for and conducted in May 2020. In early January 2021, sources close to General Paul Kagame's entourage told AfroAmerica Network that he travelled to Houston, Texas, US for an urgent medical exam to assess the progress of the brain cancer and the warning signs that had started to show in late December 2020.
The lockdown decision was signed by the Prime Minister Dr Edouard Ngirente, also known as General Paul Kagame's "Glorified Administrative Assistant", given that he has no real power, despite his position. Dr Eduard Ngirente, also known as "No Way Out", from his name, has been signing the government acts and executive orders, since General Paul Kagame became ill.
Other sources have told AfroAmerica Network that another objective of the lockdown is to be able to secure funds from World Health Organization and other institutions. The money will partially be used to pay the increasing unhappy and frustrated low ranking military and soldiers wha have not been paid for months, due to the economic crisis in Rwanda, and hence present the risk of joining the opposing faction with the military.
Persistent Rumors of Coup and Military Takeover, As General Paul Kagame's Health Declines.
Maj. Gen. Albert Murasira was initialy put under house arrest in early May 2020, when General Nyamvumba, Gen.Charles Kayonga, and Lieutenant General Karake Karenzi were also arrested. However, he was briefly released on May 28, 2020, to witness the signing ceremony of a military cooperation between Rwanda and the United States. He was briefly released because his name was on the draft of the military cooperation between the two countries, known as "Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA)" . Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Dr Vincent Biruta, and he US envoy to Rwanda, Ambassador Peter Vrooman, signed the agreement. Gen Murasira also participated in a ceremony on June 13, 2020 in Tabagwe Sector, Nyagatare District, during a visit of Gishuro IDP Model Village, expected to be inaugurated on July 4, 2020. Since then, he was allowed to attend several high profiles meeting, but kept under virtual house arrest.
As reported earlier (see here: Rwandan Top Military Leaders, Suspected of Planning a Coup, Arrested in Kigali, Rwanda or here:Update: Another Rwandan Top Military Leader, Suspected of Planning a Coup, Arrested in Kigali, Rwanda ) those arrested were accused of planning a coup and of stealing advanced weapons from the army top secret arsenal depots, for the preparation.
Who is Gen Albert Murasira?
Maj. Gen. Albert Murasira was an army officer under the Forces Armees Rwandaises, known as ex-FAR, defeated by the current ruling military regime in Rwanda, led by the Rwandan Patriotic Army.
He quickly rose through the ranks, when he joined the ex-FAR in 1988 after completing a Bachelor's degree at the Rwandan National University (UNR) and completing advanced military courses.
According to a source whose parents were close to Albert Murasira's parents, in late 1950's and 1960s, his parents fled to Congo in 1959-1960 and settled as refugees, first in Kibumba, Rutshuru North-Kivu. The parents of the source had fled to Kibumba earlier and welcomed them in their home. Albert Murasira's parents then later moved to Maniema Province. Born in Maniema Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he repatriated to Rwanda after his father passed away in Zaire, in the early 1970s.
When the FAR were defeated in 1994, he fled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, then Zaire along with the ex-FAR officers. He was later recruited by Rwandan Patriotic Front and repatriated to join the current Rwandan Defense Forces, along with a few other ex-FAR officers. Most of those who repatriated with him were later arrested or killed.
In a meeting of Rwandan top leaders on May 9, 2020, Rwandan dictator General Paul Kagame publicly singled out Maj. Gen. Albert Murasira, accusing him of being involved in corruption, in collaboration with Gen. Patrick Nyamvumba
AfroAmerica Network is still closey following up on the story and the lockdown motives.
@AfroAmerica Network
