Government in Quandary Over Shot Rwandan General Nyamwasa Mystery Killings
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8 News THE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT JULY 4 2010 “ASSASSINATION”: GENERAL FAUSTIN KAYUMBA NYAMWASA Government in quandary over shot Rwandan General Nyamwasa PETER FABRICIUS amnesty under South African law ing a request from the Rwandan Pretoria to deal with Nyamwasa. Africans, Pretoria is unlikely to da Ntsaluba, director-general of relations” had asked for him to be because of major atrocities he government to the South African One option could be to agree to give up Nyamwasa to a European international relations and co- extradited. allegedly committed in the 1990s, government to extradite him to extradite him to Spain or France to court. operation, said that Nyamwasa’s Nyamwasa’s wife told the media OUTH African legal watch- largely against the ethnic Hutu face terrorism and other charges face the war crimes charges since The NGOs have instead pro- status would become clear within after her husband was shot that he dogs have urged the South majority of Rwanda in the after- related to grenade blasts in the cap- the courts there would be likely to posed to the South African govern- two days. suspected Kagame’s agents were SAfrican government not to math of the Hutu genocide against ital Kigali earlier this year. grant him fairer hearings than the ment that it offer Nyamwasa per- But this week he told a media responsible. Six suspects have been grant amnesty to General Faustin the Tutsis. They suspect these charges may courts in Rwanda, the NGOs manent residence but on condition briefing he was still not in a posi- arrested and four of them have Kayumba Nyamwasa – the for- French and Spanish courts have have been trumped up and that believe. that he fully confess his part in the tion to comment on Nyamwasa’s appeared in court. mer Rwandan army chief who issued arrest warrants against Nyamwasa might face persecution But they realise that, in the light alleged atrocities which the French fate. Neither Ntsaluba nor any other was shot and wounded in Joburg Nyamwasa on these charges and or torture if Pretoria delivers him of its philosophy of African solu- and Spanish courts have charged Ntsaluba said the Nyamwasa government officials have ruled on June 19 – or to withdraw are believed to be preparing back to President Paul Kagame’s tions for African problems and also him with. problem was “very complicated” out the possibility that the Rwan- amnesty if he already has it. requests to their governments to government. in the light of the huge African The government has apparently for the South African government dan government was behind the They have advised the govern- ask the South African government Since neither amnesty nor resentment about the Netherlands- not yet responded. But it appears to as he had applied for asylum yet shooting, though Ntsaluba said the ment that the ethnic Tutsi to extradite him. extradition to Rwandan are based International Criminal be in a dilemma over what to do Rwanda, a country with which government was not yet in a posi- Nyamwasa is not eligible for The legal NGOs are also oppos- options, this leaves little space for Court prosecuting so many with Nyamwasa. On June 24, Ayan- South Africa had “good, strong tion to point fingers at any country. Joburg shooting linked to rebels ‘Assassination attempt’on ex-army chief raises questions, writes De Wet Potgieter HE SOLUTIONS to the saying “foreign security opera- mystery shooting of tives” were involved in the attack, Rwandan dissident Lieu- and that the shooting “involves a T tenant General Faustin country with which we have good Kayumba Nyamwasa could lie and strong diplomatic relations”. thousands of miles away from Ntsaluba declined to name the Joburg, where it occurred last country involved. month. Meanwhile, now disaffected The answers could lie in a bur- Nyamwasa, a former chief of staff geoning insurgency against the in the Rwandan military, has regime of Paul Kagame in Rwanda emerged as a key conspirator and its influence in the mineral- behind a new militia led by Con- and timber-rich North Kivu golese Tutsi Gad Ngabo. province of the Democratic Repub- Styled as the Front Patriotique lic of Congo, intelligence sources pour la Liberation du Congo told Indpendent Newspapers. (FPLC), the Ngabo militia, in the IN TANDEM: Rwandan President Paul Kagame, left, and his former army chief of staff Kayumba Nyamwasa consult their watches after addressing a gathering of soldiers in 2001. Nyamwasa, who Nyamwasa was shot in the latest cycle in a seemingly was shot near his Joburg home last month, has emerged as the force behind a new militia in Rwanda, which has sworn to unseat Kagame. PICTURE:AP stomach by a lone gunman close to intractable conflict in the Great his Joburg home on June 2 in what Lakes region, is sworn to unseat his wife, Rosette, described as a Rwandan President Kagame, and botched assassination attempt. wrest control of Kivu from the Rwanda has denied that it had Rwandans and its military surro- anything to do with the incident. gates in the DRC. Four suspects – identified as Ngabo is believed to be backed Mystery killings: fingers point at government being from Tanzania, Somalia and by Kagame’s former ally and one- Mozambique – appeared briefly in time military patron, Uganda’s court this week charged with the Yoweri Museveni. DE WET POTGIETER ing the country, was murdered in gunmen wielding AK-47 rifles ing with General Salim Saleh, the ga assassination, Karegyeya was attack. All, it emerged, had prior As tensions in the Great Lakes Kenya. His killers have yet to be opened fire at the car, killing him younger brother of President director of Rwanda’s external criminal records in South Africa – regions enter a new phase of insta- brought to book. and his driver. Sendashonga’s Yoweri Museveni. Saleh con- security while Kayumba was and had clearly been in the country bility, the FPLC has moved to fill a THE SHOOTING of Kayumba More notorious is the killing wife blamed the assassination on firmed this information. Immedi- army chiefofstaff. for some time. vaccuum left by the detention Nyamwasa is not the first inci- two years later of senior Rwan- the Kigali government. ately Saleh walked out of the During Karegyeya’s reign at Two other suspects, at least one under house arrest of Kivu’s for- dent that has led to accusations of dan Patriotic Front member and Sendashonga’s assassination meeting, Sendashonga left for external security, the government of them a Rwandan military oper- mer top-dog insurgent Laurent dirty tricks against the regime of Minister of Interior Seth also had all the hallmarks of home. He was shot on the way. in Kigali was accused of kidnap- ative, according to intelligence Nkunda. Paul Kagame in Rwanda. As long Sendashonga in Nairobi. international intrigue. Sources At the time, tensions between ping several exiled Rwandan sources, were arrested in the wake Animosity between Uganda and ago as 1996, Rwandan dissident Sendashonga was being driven say he was killed exactly 30 min- Uganda and Rwanda were high. dissidents and spiriting them off of the attack, but subsequently Rwanda can be traced back to 2001 Colonel Alex Rezinde, after flee- home in his wife’s car when two utes after he had been in a meet- At the time of the Sendashon- to Kigali. released without charge. when Kampala accused Rwanda of It remains unclear whether the rendering financial support to released suspects are continuing to Museveni’s main political oppo- assist investigators with their nent, Kizza Besigiye and also sup- passports for European travel. Ngabo also enjoys the support of fellow dissident, Patrick Karegya, a An immigration law specialist such warrants against Nyamwasa inquiries. porting the Ugandan dissident In the current climate, with a cadre of former military and prominent former colonel in the consulted by Independent News- for alleged involvement in atroci- Amid growing speculation that group, the People’s Redemption internal resistance growing intelligence commanders, alienat- intelligence of the Rwandan army. papers described the granting of ties on the Tutsi side at the time of the alleged triggerman was a mem- Army, operating from the DRC. against the increasingly autocratic ed from their former leader. Controversially, South Africa’s asylum “highly irregular” since the 1994 genocide. ber of a hit squad for hire, this In 2005 and 2006 the Rwandan Kagame regime, substantial sec- Thousands of miles away, sever- Foreign Affairs department stated South African refugee legislation South Africa has also failed to week Foreign Affairs spokesman government in turn accused Ugan- tions of the newly integrated DRC al Rwandan hawks are now clus- in the fallout from the attack that specifically prohibits the granting accede to calls from the Kagame Ayanda Ntsaluba confirmed there da of harbouring, and supporting defence force – cobbled together tered – seemingly with the blessing Nyamwasa had sought and been of asylm to applicants who are regime to extradite Nyamwasa and was more to the shooting than the passage of, Kagame’s enemies from the various formerly warring of the South African authorities – granted asylum in South Africa the subject of international arrest Karegya on suspicion being behind random street crime. in the badlands of the DRC, and splinter groups in the DRC – have in a shadowy grouping in Joburg. after arriving in the country earli- warrants. grenade attacks in Kigali in Febru- Ntsaluba was quoted by Sapa as providing them with Ugandan defected to Ngabo’s FPLC. Its number includes, along with er this year. Both Belgium and France have ary this year. Massacre of endangered rhino continues as two more butchered animals found DE WET POTGIETER has put the figure at 124.