Your source for credible news Issue no 009
September, 2020
Karega clears allegations against Rwanda
NEWS
Where is baby Joanna? Uganda has kept ignoring Rwandan mother’s pleas to reunite with her child Page 4
OP - ED
It’s a grotesque shame that Human Rights Watch is exploiting a dead man Page 7 Rwandan envoy to DR Congo, Amb Vincent Karega speaks to the press after meeting President Felix Tshisekedi in Kinshasa on August 25, 2020
The Rwandan envoy to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ambassador Vincent Karega has refuted recent allegations pinning the Rwandan government on the 1998 massacres in Kasika in the South Kivu region, as unfounded and politically motivated. Page 2
“Father” Nahimana’s abandoned women call upon him to own up to his many children
Gatebuke and group hold virtual meet to incite anti-Rwanda violence
To know “Father” Thomas Nahimana is to be aware that the man is not only good at starting fake news. Nahimana, whose utterances recently that “the president of Rwanda is dead”, have left many thinking the man is no longer sane, is also known for the number of children he has fathered and abandoned.
A genocide denialism virtual event known as “Ribara Uwariraye” was held on Sunday, and it was coordinated by Claude Gatebuke, the founder of a group known as African Great Lakes Action Network, AGLAN, infamous for its commitment to revisionism of the Genocide Against the Tutsi.
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PROFILE: Mukarugomwa a genocide perpetrator that freely disseminates the poison of genocide ideology from Belgium Page 6
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Uganda blame games on Covid-19 shift to target Kenya Page 9
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Issue no 009 September 2020
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Karega clears allegations against Rwanda
Rwandan envoy to DR Congo, Amb Vincent Karega speaks to the press after meeting President Felix Tshisekedi in Kinshasa on August 25, 2020
By Moses Gisa The Rwandan envoy to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ambassador Vincent Karega has refuted recent allegations pinning the Rwandan government on the 1998 massacres in Kasika in the South Kivu region, as unfounded and politically motivated. Speaking to renowned African News Magazine, Jeune Afrique on August 28, 2020, Karega discussed a range of issues between the two countries. He dismissed the accusations as propaganda orchestrated and amplified by the group of individuals and organizations that have never wished to see Rwanda and DRC living in peace and harmony. “I didn’t deny the fact that there were killings in this country, I responded to a tweet that blamed Rwanda for killing 1100 people and torching 6 villages. During that period the DRC army-FARDC and countries like Burundi, Angola, Uganda, and rebel groups such as Mai Mai
were present and operating in that region, why would these people single out Rwanda? Why blame Rwanda? Is it related to these groups’ renowned track record of hating Rwanda? Of course, I could not sit back and relax without refuting such baseless allegations against a country I represent,” Ambassador Karega told Jeune Afrique. The ambassador reiterated that there is a propaganda campaign being sponsored by a group of individuals including failed opposition politicians who, from the onset, have been fighting President Felix Tshisekedi’s foreign policy and his quest to pacify his country and the Great lakes region at large. “There is overwhelming evidence proving that a group of people and foreign-backed NGOs intend to discourage President Tshisekedi’s commitment to cooperate with foreign state actors both in the region and beyond to strengthen relations and ensure good neighborliness. His decisions have irked his political rivals,” Karega stressed.
About the Mapping report and Mukwege Denis’s alleged death threats, the ambassador said Rwanda has never threatened him, besides Mukwege and Co have failed to substantiate their allegations. Karega said: “during celebration of Rwanda’s 26th Liberation anniversary, Gen Kabarebe made a call to the Rwandan Youth in the diaspora to return home. He urged them to disregard the lies being peddled by special interest groups and the so-called ‘Mapping Report’ of which Mukwege poses as its spokesperson. He mentioned that people who have interests in holding Rwandan refugees hostage are the ones promoting such reports. I want to remind people that the ‘Mapping Report’ was never adopted by the United Nations on inauthenticity grounds.” Karega added that the so-called mapping report merely was a preliminary investigative report which was subjected to intense scrutiny by countries implicated in it. They evidently argued their
cases which led to its flopping and getting discredited. “It’s inaccuracies and illegalities were exposed,” Karega said. Speaking about the ongoing online campaigns by agitators calling on the DRC Government to expel him, Karega underscored that he presented his credentials to the Head of State allowing him to represent his country. “If the DRC leadership finds it necessary to expel me and of course basing on sufficient grounds then they will act in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.” Asked about his previous meeting with President Tshisekedi, Karega told the Jeune Afrique journalist that the meeting was in line with deepening already existing relations between the two countries. Previously Rwanda’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Ambassador Karega was, in July 2019, appointed Rwanda’s Ambassador to DR Congo.
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Issue no 009 September 2020
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“Father” Nahimana’s abandoned women call upon him to own up to his many children By Mary Cyusa To know “Father” Thomas Nahimana is to be aware that the man is not only good at starting fake news. Nahimana, whose utterances recently that “the president of Rwanda is dead”, have left many thinking the man is no longer sane, is also known for the number of children he has fathered and abandoned. For instance one Maritha Muragijimana, 44, a resident of Gasabo District in Kigali has been all over the news calling upon Thomas Nahimana to help her raise their 16-year-old child. She is saying Nahimane “should show up from wherever he is, be a man” and help raise the child they had together years ago, “when he still was a so-called man of God!” Maritha is very angry that “Nahimana has been living a life of luxury” in France while she has been suffering raising the child alone. “This man completely abandoned me and his own child!” However, Maritha Muragijimana is only one in dozens of known women that Nahimana impregnated, or sexually abused. It is believed that there are more that chose to not report him, but have raised his children, now teenagers or older. “Imagine someone who took an oath to never commit adultery but is a habitual rapist and defiler”, many who know him have wondered.
Nahimana was born in 1971 to Nkejuwimye and Claudia lyamubonye in Rusizi District, Nzahaha Sector. He attended his primary at Nzahaha and Shaka Primary School. In 1986, he joined Grand Seminaire de Rutongo, Kabgayi, for secondary studies. “There he started to display his habits of always putting his hands on women,” according to a source familiar with his earlier life. The first women to suffer were those that worked at the chapel, something that badly scared the women. “The administration did not take the allegations of the women seriously. They refused to believe them! Every time a shocking story reached their ears, they chose not to confront him,” a former classmate of Nahimana’s said. In 1992, Nahimana joined Nyakibanda where he would receive his priesthood on July 18, 1999. Little did the Catholic Church know it was the beginning of an unstoppable catastrophe wrapped up in just one man. Rwanda, being an overly religious state in that time, “men of God” were genuinely thought “to be holy”. The priesthood title earned Nahimana leadership in all aspects. In 2003, he was appointed an observer of the Presidential elections and Gacaca courts. He was also deployed to Church missions in Prisons. That is not all! He also worked with the Commission for Justice and Peace.
Failed “Priest” Thomas Nahimana
He performed all the above tasks while a Parish Principal of Nyamasheke, Hanika and Muyange from 1999 to 2005. He also taught at Petit Seminaire St Aloys in Cyangugu from 2002 to 2004. At that time his genocide ideology began to manifest itself, according to people that heard this priest. As a teacher, he was always summoned for making hate speeches in class, like when he gave his students an assignment to prepare a presentation “to show how Rwanda’s leadership was bad”. One of his students wrote a presentation titled, “la mauvaise gouvernance qui règne au Rwanda”, translated as “the bad governance that reigns in Rwanda”. He ordered all his students to follow attentively. The presentation was very hateful and full of falsehoods and distortions, and could have gotten Nahimana into the courts of law. “The student’s presentation was hateful, but Nahimana made it worse with his inputs. He, for instance, put in that “the leadership was bad because it oppressed people of Hutu ethnicity,” a former student said. The hate incident caused an outburst that saw Nahimana deployed to Muyange Parish, but while there his other habit reared its ugly head. Nahimana impregnated a minor, someone below 18. He knew what the law stipulated – statutory rape! Nahimana decided to flee.
The abandoned Maritha Muragijimana calling upon Nahimana to show up and raise their 16-year-old child.
He left the country on 17 December 2005, after stealing church money.
While in France, he moved in with a French woman but kept serving as a priest in Rouen and Le Havre Diocese. They even had children. In 2010, he defended Genocidaire Yussuf Munyakazi at the ICTR, where the latter was handed a 25-year in jail sentence for Genocide, Complicity in Genocide as an alternative to Genocide, and Extermination as a Crime against Humanity. This made Nahimana lose even the little credibility he had from the people who knew the crimes of Munyakazi. In 2011, together with his friend Fortunatus Rudakemwa started a website called ‘Le prophete-Umuhanuzi’, which was quickly seen as a scandal monger dedicated to spreading the ideology of genocide, and concocted scandals about leadership figures in Rwanda. Yet this is the same fellow that one time claimed he wanted “to contest for presidency of Rwanda.” He even created a “party” in exile with a platform of hate. “This rapist, and irresponsible man that has impregnated so many women only to abandon them and their children is the same person that thought he could use genocide ideology to rule Rwandans!” a Facebook commentator said. “Now the only weapon he has left is fabricating ridiculous stories that the president is dead, what a fool!” laughed the commentator.
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Issue no 009 September 2020
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Where is baby Joanna? Uganda has kept ignoring Rwandan mother’s pleas to reunite with her child
Julienne Kayirere, the grieving mother of a baby, Joanna, who was stolen from her in Uganda.
By Patience Kirabo It is now one month shy of baby Joanna’s second birthday. The then one-month-old baby who was snatched from her mother Julienne Kayirere before her arbitrary arrest in Mubende District-Uganda in late 2018 is still nowhere to be seen as Uganda has kept her and her mother apart. This is despite her endless pleas, and the Rwanda Government’s tireless efforts to reunite the mother and her child. Baby Joanna Manirakiza, born in
October 2018 will be turning two very soon. It leaves her mother dejected, missing out on her child’s growth milestones, and stuck in limbo not knowing when and if she will ever be reunited with her. Uganda has forcibly separated a mother and her child and has refused to address her issue or reunite them both. “It is unconscionably cruel, something like this happening from so-called neighbors,” commented a neighbor to Kayirere. According to Kayirere, her baby was taken away by the Mubende
District Police Commander (DPC) on November 29, 2018, while being arrested. However, on her release, the authorities in Uganda refused to return her baby but rather re-arrested her after her own attempts to find her child were futile. Instead, after 11 months in illegal detention, she was forcefully deported and dumped at the border with Rwanda. Her plight and cries to be reunited with her baby have up until now failed. Efforts by the government of Rwanda to help retrieve baby Joanna from Uganda through diplomatic channels have not ceased. Rwandan authorities have provided all the necessary details of Kayirere’s case to their counterparts, and followed up. Early this year in February, during talks to bring back normal relations between the two countries in Gatuna, Rwanda requested Uganda to allow the mother, Julienne Kayirere to be reunited with her child. And yet, Uganda chooses to keep the child and mother apart after all this while.
Like any parent, Kayirere cannot stop thinking and worrying about her child. “I keep wondering where she could be. Is she being fed? How is she being treated? Is she okay? And most frightening of all, is she alive?” wonders the mother immediately bursting into tears. Kayirere has not only been physically tortured by Uganda security agents, she has endured the psychological torture of being separated from her child for years. It is only fair and required of Uganda to help Kayirere who is in constant agony to get her baby back. “Uganda should do the right thing and trace the policeman, a DPC of Mubende, that took the woman’s baby away from her, and make him produce the child,” said a Kigali official that requested confidentiality. Why should the political hostilities of Kampala go to the extent of having a mother’s child snatched away?, he asked.
Itahuka, RNC’s hate radio slanders a former victim of CMI and RNC By Joan Karera The US-based Rwanda National Congress (RNC)’s Itahuka online Radio, infamous for peddling lies about Rwanda, in their news on August 26, 2020, “warned” Rwandans living abroad whom it calls “opposition” to supposedly be more vigilant allegedly because “Rwanda has sent agents to hunt and kill them in countries where they are”. While talking about the so called “agents” sent by Rwanda, the presenter who continuously referred to himself as a “politician” said: “Rev. Jean de Dieu Singirankabo who was detained last year at the CMI in Uganda arrived in the US-Washington DC few days ago. I am not Ugandan security personnel to know what continue to page 5 >>
CMI torture victim, Pastor Jean De Dieu Singirankabo whom RNC agents are now smearing.
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Issue no 009 September 2020
>> from page 4 he was convicted of, but if Uganda accuses you of spying or working with Rwanda, we should put God aside and treat you as an enemy and a criminal!” Rev. Jean de Dieu Singirankabo is one of the many Rwandan victims of Ugandan Military Intelligence, CMI, who were dumped at Kagitumba One Stop Border Post on June 12, 2019, after six weeks of intense torture at Mbuya Military Barracks to the point that they tried to cut off his manhood, and all this was a result of his refusal to join RNC. He was living in Uganda ever since 2006 as he had begun to
do missionary work on the behalf of the ADEPR Pentecostal Church International. Itahuka which has now earned the moniker “hate radio” continued attacking the victim of CMI: “So I warn you people that go to church, mostly people in RNC and in the opposition, this pastor is one of the agents Rwanda is sending in countries where there are many people in the opposition and ‘Rwandan refugees’ to hunt and kill them as Rwanda’s leadership is very scared of the opposition.” It is ironic to hear anyone from RNC accuse someone of being a
criminal, many have remarked. “Is there is anyone more criminal than these RNC terrorists who have perpetrated so much atrocities, in Congo, in Uganda against innocent Rwandans, and in Rwanda with their grenades?” asked a Twitter account. “They torture innocent Rwandans in CMI safe houses, but then try to convince anyone who doesn’t know them that those that who refused to join their terrorist network are the criminals,” the commentator said. RNC agents in Uganda like one Kayumba Rugema, a nephew of Kayumba Nyamwasa, have been
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implicated in the torture of Rwandan citizens in Kampala, arbitrarily arrested and taken away on accusations of “espionage” that they never prove. “When CMI agents arrested Singirankabo it was their usual methods of illegal abduction, they had no evidence of the alleged spying. To informed listeners this so called journalist at RNC’s Itahuka saying that Singirankabo was convicted of being a spy is just repetition of baseless propaganda, carrying out a vendetta against someone because he refused to join their terror network.
Gatebuke and group hold virtual meet to incite anti-Rwanda violence one of the other speakers, Jean Ngendahimana, said: “I think to solve the problem of Rwanda’s refugees there need to be RPF’s political will, otherwise it will inevitably lead to taking up arms by the refugees, to wage war on Rwanda for us to return home,”
By Joan Karera A genocide denialism virtual event known as “Ribara Uwariraye” was held on Sunday, and it was coordinated by Claude Gatebuke, the founder of a group known as African Great Lakes Action Network, AGLAN, infamous for its commitment to revisionism of the Genocide Against the Tutsi. The event was purportedly aimed at finding a solution to what Gatebuke and others allege to be “increasing numbers of Rwandan refugees”. Other organizers of this event were Amahoro Iwacu, a group headed by one Peter Mutabaruka in exile, and Centre de Lutte contre l’Impunité et l’Injustice au Rwanda (CLIIR), an alleged civil society group owned by a fugitive called Joseph Matata. A number of well-known genocide revisionists that have committed their lives to destabilizing Rwanda such as Claude Gatebuke, Bikorwa Singirankabo Freeman, Rene Claudel Mugenzi, Jean Ngendahimana, Denise Zaneza, were the other participants. “Smears and unfounded allegations against Rwanda was the order of the day,” according to a source aware of the proceedings. The speakers claimed to share “testimonies” with proven falsehoods by some of them that they
“These anti-Rwanda campaigners never fail to show their true colors,” said an observer. “Let them incite violence but one day they too will find themselves in Rwanda, facing the law.” Informed readers will know that claims such as that “Rwanda isn’t welcoming refugees” are completely false, as officials have been indicating for a long time.
Gatebuke, a genocide denier who masquerades as a survivor has been inciting anti-Rwanda violence.
“are survivors of the 1994 Genocide”. The most infamous at pretending to be a survivor is Gatebuke, who has been exposed many times by Rwandans on Twitter. Gatebuke, who shared his “testimony” during the event, was again repeating his claims, long exposed as false, that he was asked to dig his own grave during the Genocide. A lie that brings anger to genocide survivors and
that has been long-disproved by CNLG as Gatebuke and his family are not, and never were victims. Gatebuke, speaking at the recent virtual meeting of negationists, alleged: “When you look at what the RPF is doing it is the same as what MRND did when it refused that Tutsi refugees come back in their country.” Proceeding to incite violence,
Ever since the cessation clause came into force from January 1, 2018, no Rwandan should be called a refugee. The United Nations itself, through UNHCR, the UN agency for refugees long ago conducted its thorough investigations and was satisfied that Rwanda was safe for all Rwandans. “Why would it surprise anyone what criminals like the Gatebukes, or those that fear to be answerable for their crimes, don’t want to return home?” asked a Kigali official that preferred to speak off the record.
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PROFILE
Issue no 009 September 2020
6
PROFILE: Mukarugomwa a genocide perpetrator that freely disseminates the poison of genocide ideology from Belgium them to ‘flush out, stop and combat the enemy’ in collaboration with the ‘youth wings’ of the other parties,” reads his ICTR indictment. Some speeches were rebroadcast by Radio Rwanda. But according to Mukarugomwa, Karemera “preached solidarity and unity”, and that “Karemera always told people to help each other”, or that “he never preached discrimination, never, never.” These are the things this woman uttered in defense of Karemera during his trial at the ICTR. Nevertheless, the court trashed her testimony and handed each one of them life sentences.
Agnes Mukarugomwa, a former official in the genocidal regime of Sindikubwabo, Kambanda now spends her days disseminating poisonous message on an online hate organ.
By Mary Cyusa When the name Agnes Mukarugomwa is mentioned, whoever knows it remembers the owner’s undying enthusiasm whenever MRND-Hutu power held meetings and anything about exterminating (kurimbura) the Tutsis was said in the early 90s. The name also speaks volumes of the obsessed old woman who will do everything to negate the Genocide that she had wished and supported wholeheartedly. Mukarugomwa – currently a resident of Denderleeuw, Belgium – who is also known as Murebwayire was in charge of information in the Ministry of Internal Security during the so-called interim government that implemented the Genocide Against the Tutsi. She had been working for Caritas Rwanda since 1992. Now, she runs an online radio, Ikondera Libre, an organ dedicated to disseminating the poisonous genocide ideology, and to denying and trivializing the Genocide. Anyone that has heard even a segment of the talk shows immediately sees this is a replica of the infamous RTLM which incited hate and encouraged Hutus to commit massacres and other atrocities against Tutsis.
Ikondere Libre has been described first and foremost as a platform for Genocide deniers and extremists who encourage people to hate the current administration of the RPF in Rwanda. But how did all this start? Born on September 2, 1955, Mukarugomwa was the child of Theoneste Munyurwa and Scholastique Nyirabatutsi in the former Kibayi Commune, Shyombo Sector. Later on after the Genocide Against the Tutsi her husband, Athanase Nkundakozera was convicted by a Gacaca Court for his role in the massacres, but with the help of his wife and other relatives, he fled justice. He now describes himself as a “Hutu genocide survivor”. It is said that the duo inspired many Hutu couples to highly support the planning and execution of the Genocide against Tutsi. “No Tutsi person would step at their compound. Also, because Agnes was among a few women who were employed, she was so arrogant and would say Tutsi women were meant to be poor,” one of her former close colleagues recounted. Apparently, Mukarugomwa not only “reports news” on her hate radio, she actively fakes news.
“The world will never forget when she testified in defense of the former MRND vice-president, saying that the man was innocent and nice,” our source added. Indeed, Mukarugomwa created a scene when she defended Edouard Karemera who was tried together with Mathieu Ngirumpatse and Joseph Nzirorera – notorious genocidaires – by the ICTR. They were charged on seven counts of the Genocide; conspiracy with intent to commit genocide, direct and public incitation to commit genocide, genocide, complicity in the crime of genocide, rape as a crime against humanity, extermination as a crime against humanity, and war crimes.
“Everyone knew she was lying. I heard she was paid off to do it,” an informed reader told us. “To Mukarugomwa, everything against the Tutsi that Karemera said and did, about killing them; about raping them, Mukarugomwa wholeheartedly defended, because to her, that was the right thing,” said a source. Loyal MRND member she was, she took an extra mile to teach her children of hate, and Genocide negationism. Now one of her children, Laure Uwase, is a committed top member of Jambo ASBL, an organization comprised of the children of Genocide suspects and accomplices. Their mission is to sanitize their parents, and to add salt to the wounds of Genocide survivors, where the group claims they themselves are “Genocide survivors”.
From January through July of 1994, the three criminals had effective control over the Interahamwe Militias, principally the National Committee of the Interahamwe that were already in place by April 6, 1994. They were also in control of the préfets, bourgmestres and conseillers that were members of the MRND, among others.
Following defeat of the genocidal regime in 1994, Mukarugomwa fled to DR Congo where she briefly worked for Caritas Goma before she went to Europe. She now has dedicated her elderly years to continuing the “Hutu Power” agenda through her hate radio. She is also active in organizing anti-Rwanda demonstrations.
From April to June in 1994 Karemera who also served as the Minister of the Interior in the interim government, addressed gatherings praising the Interahamwe. He would then “call upon
“This woman will never stop! She invested her youthful years into hate and killing. And she feels she must teach the same,” said a source in Belgium.
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OP-ED
Issue no 009 September 2020
7
It’s a grotesque shame that Human Rights Watch is exploiting a dead man By Jason Muhire On August 17, 2020, the organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a document (in reality a tract) in which it states: “Rwandan authorities have not conducted a credible and transparent investigation into the suspicious death in police custody of Kizito Mihigo, a well-known singer. It is essential to carry out an effective, independent investigation with the involvement of foreign experts, including the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions.” One might be tempted not to pay attention to this umpteenth manipulation by HRW which seems to have a vested interest in discrediting Rwanda’s institutions, but it is always important to bring clarity and shed light on the manipulative processes that characterize some of these so-called organizations for human rights whose political agendas are becoming harder and harder to hide. The first manipulation is to take Kizito’s statements at face value and to present them as indisputable truths while, at the same time, outrightly rejecting the Rwandan government’s statements. Thus, a recording of Kizito Mihigo allegedly made on October 6, 2016, is put forward to support HRW’s allegations. Here, it would be warranted to ask the question as to how Kizito Mihigo was able to obtain a telephone inside prison in order to make the recording despite the fact that telephones are prohibited there. This raises questions about the actual date on which the recording was made and the credibility of the testimony given by the deceased. Second, HRW does not seem to care about the substance of the trial in which the singer pleaded guilty, engaging instead in a sleight of hand to push baseless accusations of torture in its attempt to erase Kizito’s guilty plea from the records. Here again, the possibility that the deceased lied about the torture has no bearing on HRW’s positioning. No tangible proof and no third party to corroborate the statements of the deceased.
Kizito Mihigo committed suicide on February 17.
Nothing but Kizito’s word.
innocent people.
Better yet, in the said recording, Kizito Mihigo shifts the debate to his controversial song with genocide revisionist overtones to explain the situation in which he had put himself. And yet, he himself admits that this song did not appear anywhere in the indictment or during the trial. What does appear in the indictment, however, is a conversation he had with an opponent of the Rwandan government; a conversation in which he advised his accomplices not to provoke war in Rwanda, but rather to target the person of the President of the Republic. In Kizito’s opinion, such an action would have solved Rwanda’s “problems” without spilling the blood of too many
Kizito knew and didn’t want to expand on the fact that the indictment concerned his conspiracies to form a criminal gang and to murder, and conspiracy against the established government or the president of Rwanda. Instead, in the recording sent to HRW, Kizito Mihigo, though not usually stingy with details, admits to having had a conversation on whatsapp in which he strongly criticized the government, but remains silent on the identity of his interlocutor and the precise content of the conversation that led him to prison. And yet again, HRW feigns to be oblivious to these facts. One may be forgiven to even wonder if it isn’t HRW itself that advised him not to
expand on such incriminating facts. This would make the organization an accessory to criminal conspiracy. To make the whole case seem credible, Kizito Mihigo draws up an implausible list of Rwandan government officials he would have met in 2014 during his first detention and who would have uttered threats against his life in case he did not apologize. Here again, one may wonder why a man like Kizito, even as popular as he was, would claim the President’s cabinet director, the then vice president of the Senate and the then Deputy Police inspector general among others to meet him for the sole purpose of issuing threats. Assuming that
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OP-ED
Issue no 009 September 2020
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In other words, rather than apply for review based on the accusations he made in the so-called evidence he sent to HRW, Kizito decided to apply for clemency. Not even HRW is suggesting that any pressure was exerted on Kizito Mihigo for him to make that decision. It is obvious that HWR does not want to mention the testimony of Me Mukamusoni because this testimony sheds a disturbing light on Kizito’s state of mind, describing him as a very despondent man, capable of doing himself the worst.
Human Rights Watch boss Ken Roth, his sham concerns about Mihigo conceal other motives.
>> from page 8 threats were needed to force him to renounce on the message in his song, those threats wouldn’t require the intervention of such important figures of Rwanda’s institutions. Any person of common sense would have noticed the megalomaniacal tendencies in the character of Kizito Mihigo; a man who allegedly forced the highest State officials to parade before him. But, HRW is not comprised of sane people able to think through the implications of their politically-driven advocacy. The organisation is composed – especially in its leadership – by people no less megalomaniac as Kizito Mihigo. HRW is also not concerned with
the circumstances surrounding Kizito Mihigo’s death. His attempt to bribe people to help him cross the border, thus violating the conditions of his release; his talks with his lawyer or with members of his family during their visits to him during his second and last detention – all pointing to a highly disturbed person. In order to make its contentious case, HRW dismisses all these inconvenient facts as mere government propaganda. However, Kizito Mihigo’s lawyer, Me Antoinette Mukamusoni – a reputable lawyer that also represented members of FDU-Inkingi charged with terror crimes and whose integrity is undisputed in Rwanda – has given several interviews in which she provided details about these circumstances that HRW sweeps away with the back of the hand
and in which it has no interest whatsoever. In one of her interviews, Kizito’s lawyer explains the extreme despondency of Kizito confronted with the reality of a new conviction, the fact that at the time she talked to him, meaning the day before his suicide, he recognized the new charges likely to be brought against him, namely the attempt to bribe and attempt to cross the border illegally despite the restrictive conditions of his release, and the implications that all these would almost all lead to a very long incarceration. Moreover, Me Mukamusoni, who assisted the deceased on the appellate level in his first trial, affirms that Kizito, on his own, decided to withdraw his appeal.
The reason of course HRW does not is that, much to its dismay, this testimony conforms to the police investigation that concluded that Kizito Mihigo’s death was by suicide; conclusions that HRW, with its usual contempt for Rwandan institutions, rejects out of hand. Not only is it ludiculous to expect the Government of Rwanda to comment or investigate allegations trafficked illegally out of a detention facility – assuming they were even made in 2016 – but it is also absurd and very revealing for a so-called human rights organization to criticize the government of Rwanda for not publicly releasing the post-mortem report, considering a copy was given to his family who have issued a public request that people stop politicising their relativ’s death, to no avail as is evident with this HRW campaign. To whom does HRW want the report shared beyond Kizito’s family, and who out there loved Kizito and had his best interest at heart more than family, unless the aim is to exploit a dead man against the very wishes of his family. It should also be noted that HRW admitted to being informed beforehand of Kizito Mihigo’s plan and attempt to violate the conditions of his presidential pardon and probably played a role in facilitating it. This fact and the admission of illegal correspondence with inmates in Rwandan prisons proves that Rwanda was right to suspend its cooperation with an organization that has no regard for the law of the country and which clearly lacks any ethics in its so-called investigations.
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Issue no 009 September 2020
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Uganda blame games on Covid-19 shift to target Kenya Coronavirus”, subsequently proved to be fake information. Faced with undeniable scientific evidence that Rwanda was tackling the pandemic in a more effective way, they simply moved to other countries in the region. Independent analyst estimated that over 17,000 travelers entered Uganda untested and warned that Uganda would inevitably become a Covid-19 hotspot. “Even Covid-19 statistics have been modified to be politically correct”, a source said as he recalled President Museveni unilateral decision to reduce figures in one of his 17 televised addresses. “From nowhere, he decided to strike out Covid-19 infected foreigners truck drivers by throwing them out of the country”, the health expert pointed out. In a similar fashion the Ugandan president, unable answer to a question about his policy on truck drivers said, “We need the cargo. We need the goods”, he responded,“But at the same time we don’t want the disease!” This to many summed up “the government’s incoherent response to the pandemic.”
Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni, proving to be a master of the blame game.
By Jean Gatera According to Chimpreports —a Ugandan outlet under CMI control— President Museveni blames Kenya for Covid-19 deaths of Ugandans in Mbale and Namisindwa. He made the accusation during the National Prayer Day at his Entebbe State House last Saturday, and it was relayed by Chimpreports on Sunday. The declaration made no sense to sources in the country who pointed to a pattern of blaming others for ones failure. “Ever since the pandemic [Covid-19] began, the government keeps shifting blame to others but ignores its fatal
failures”, a Ugandan writer on health issues that didn’t want his name revealed said. “At the beginning, Uganda tried to blame Rwanda and Tanzania, now it is Kenya’s turn!”, the source as he divulged some fatal failures in the handling of Covid-19 in Uganda. The analyst explained that right from the start, when Uganda announced a lockdowns and quarantine, corruption hobbled the intent of the crucial measures. “Who doesn’t remember people sneaking out of quarantine or skipping all procedures at the airport?” expert asked. A video that went viral on social media in April showing foreigners and Ugandans skipping mandatory quarantine.
The Observer, a Ugandan paper, reported that some travelers accused government of extortion and torture in the quarantine facilities, something that explained why most simply preferred to bribe their way out. A Kampala source explained that the handling of Covid-19 was so appalling that the pandemic pushed the Ugandan health system to the brick of collapse. Throughout the pandemic, blame games prominently featured in Uganda. As early as March, Chimpreports had begun the hunt for scapegoats. At the time, the outlet targeted Rwanda with rumors such as that “Rwanda bats were found to be carriers of
The endless search for a scapegoat led to xenophobic acts. In one such incident, over 300 Rwandans were expelled by Uganda on the excuse that “they spreading the novel coronavirus”. Asia, Europe were not spared either from the blame rhetoric. The Ugandan President is quoted as saying, “ The external friends, if they are friends at all, should cancel all the multi-lateral and bilateral loans because this problem (coronavirus) has been created for Africa by Asia and regularly blames the European and American lifestyle (Air conditioning, metro, etc) for spreading the pandemic “Kenya should know that unfortunately the Ugandan government has been blaming everyone. Even local opposition groups are accused of spreading Covid-19”, analysts observer. “For the last three decades, insecurity, corruption, poverty have been blamed on others. Covid-19 is no exception”, he said the analyst.
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