The Rwandan government has rejected any form of threat over its citizens living in Britain as recently voiced by Metropolitan Police in London, noting that “unveiling identities of people whose lives are supposedly threatened without a shred of evidence, is both unfair and unjust. “
The British police informed two members of the Rwandan diaspora that their government may be trying to assassinate them, according to documents seen by various newspapers. The police visited Jonathan Musonera and Rene Mugenzi on May 12, officially informing them with letters. These letters were then apparently shown to various media outlets.
The Rwanda government’s response comes one week after the Britain-based The Times published an interview by a senior local police officer, who warned that a Rwandan suspected of being part of the assassination threat against his exiles counterparts (living in London) was stopped at the Eurotunnel terminal in Folkestone, Kent, with a mission to kill two alleged members of a Rwanda opposition group living in Britain.
According to a statement released by the government “These allegations are completely without foundation. The Government of Rwanda does not threaten the lives of its citizens, wherever they live,” the statement read.
Rwanda government further argues in the statement that the Metropolitan police has not approached them with evidence of these allegations but assured that they were ready as always to work with the British government to ensure that nobody, be they Rwandan or not, is the victim of violence on British soil”.
There are also questions on the credibility of MI 5 a security agency in the UK which has not performed brilliantly in recent years. For instance during the run up to the Iraq war. Hence, a ’warning’ from this secret service – in itself a strange thing to do for a secret service, to expose its knowledge and sources via the Metropolitan police – that is not of much value. They should be doing more since historically UK is home to dissidents from all over the world. As we speak the Queen is celebrating the Irish defeat of the British a century ago.
Meanwhile, this incident follows a warning to the Rwandan ambassador by the British intelligence that his embassy would have to stop harassing opposition members in England or risk losing $135 million in aid.
However, the British development agency DFID said that these developments would not affect their aid, which goes primarily toward helping poor people in Rwanda. Still, the incident has become politicized, with expressions of concern from all sides of the political spectrum in the UK.
The Rwandan government further states that such allegations are made by individuals who have genocide related cases, as well as exiled elements who have criminal cases to answer back home.
Excerpts from the government statement further points out that “What we know rather is that threats to our country’s security have been made from genocide-bent and disgruntled dissidents engaged in serious criminal activities, and we have shared this information with the UK”.
“The Government of Rwanda would expect the Metropolitan Police to make a full and public retraction of their previous statements,” end of the quote.
According to the same source, manipulation of media and opinion by individuals and groups engaged in criminal activities in Britain against Rwandan people and the “tarnishing of our nation’s image” should not be given any value.
Rene Mugenzi, aged 35, a survivor of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide who is a British citizen and now runs a London-based social exclusion think-tank, questioned the security warnings adding that he was bewildered that such a thing could be happening to him since he is not a political figure in Rwanda, he further argues that he Kigali when he was 17 and has no grudges against Kagame .
While Jonathan Musonera Mugenzi is also believed to be opposing the Kigali regime though he is a genocide survivor, a former member of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) army led by Mr Kagame which halted the genocide. He is one of the founding members of the Rwanda National Conference (RNC), a new political party led by exiled military officers which poses a threat to the president
Several questions arise : Providing the British intelligence service is right about this threat, why would Rwanda jeopardize its good relations with the UK – one of its closest allies and largest donors – over two minor opposition figures ? Mugenzi is a UK citizen who has dabbled in opposition politics, but also is active in British politics and a community NGO in London. Musonera is a former officer in the Rwandan army.
The most plausible explanation seems to be their link to the newly formed Rwandan National Congress (RNC), which is led by President Kagame’s former chief of staff Theogene Rudasingwa, the former head of the army and the head of the external intelligence service Kayumba Nyamwasa. Just a week before Mugenzi received the letter, he helped organize an RNC meeting in London with the leading members of the party present via Skype link, as well as opposition leaders such as Paul Rusesabagina (of Hotel Rwanda fame). Musonera is one of the founding members of the RNC.
Digging deeper into the characters of these dissidents the Rwanda Defense Forces (RDF) describe Kayumba for instance as a selfish opportunist who can join a war only when he is sure that there are other patriotic folks out there who will do the fighting and who will carry him along as a passive participant. This is precisely why Kayumba and his fellow renegades prefer rendering other forms of support to FDLR instead of being fully active members of the terrorist organization whom members took part in the 1994 genocide war.
Kayumba, his fellow FDRL members and their other recruits indiscriminately target innocent citizens simply because this is the only form of war that they can wage. This form of war is a true mirror image of their character and ideology.
Recently, the Rwanda Defence Force [RDF] through its Spokesperson Lt Col Jill Rutaremara announced that they have a clearer understanding and credible intelligence information of the criminal network of Kayumba Nyamwasa and his fellow fugitives including their links with FDLR, other negative forces and individuals as well as their supporters and sympathizers.
In addition, they cherish genocide ideology and are too weak to face the RDF leave alone the fact that they too have no justifiable cause. This is what unites the Kayumba group of renegades with the FDLR that Kayumba is busy defending and sanitizing and that’s why the Rwanda National Congress has again signed a compact for collaboration with another Rwandan opposition group (CNR-INTWARI). This follows another compact with FDU-Inkingi whos leader is currently detained to genocide ideology.
The allegation by Kayumba that the Government of Rwanda is the one behind assassinations and grenade attacks for instance is simply laughable particularly because this government has a clear and unquestionable track record. Since when did the current government and its security organs indiscriminately turn against the people that they are meant to protect ? Once again, this clearly exposes Kayumba’s weird character.
Another opposition member is fugitive Patrick Karegeya a former director External Security organization. who at one time ruled in favour of genocide mastermind Félicien Kabuga’s, property and bank accounts, that were fraudulently returned to the family but later re-frozen.
During the time, under the directive of Karegeya, Janvier Mabuye, an officer of External Security accredited to the Rwanda Embassy in Belgium gave powers of attorney to both Kabuga’s children. “The Prosecuration given to Nshimyumuremyi was signed by Josephine Mukazitoni, Kabuga’s wife, whereas the one given to Seraphine Uwimana was signed by Felicite Mukademali, one of Kabuga’s daughters,” reads part of the document obtained by IGIHE.com.
Greatly facilitated by Karegeya‘s direct intervention, they managed to regain rights to some of the property which include the building next to City Plaza in downtown Kigali, and the building that houses Banque Populaire, Muhima branch.
According to the report, while in Kigali, the two stayed at the Mille Collines and invoice No. 105620 was forwarded to National Security Service (NSS) External Security Organization (ESO) for payment. The payment was effected from Karegeya’s department account by cheque number 438099 dated February 25, 2004 and signed by Karegeya himself.