In a robustly expressed statement, signed by Col. Patrick Karegeya, a former Rwanda's Intelligence Chief of Terrorism, on behalf of Lt Gen. Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa and others, it says: "While we have no reason to question the good faith of the authors of the Experts Report on the DRC, we would wish to put it on record that the extensive allegations contained in the Rwanda Government...and the more limited allegations set out in the Experts' Report on the DRC are all absolutely false and unfounded."
The duo, who were once close allies of President Paul Kagame, were prompted by a December 6, 2010 article in The New Times entitled, "UN Report Pins Kayumba, Karegeya on FDLR", that alleges "independent sources" had linked Gen. Nyamwasa to the Rwandan armed rebel group known as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (the FDLR). The article also claims that Gen. Nyamwasa has facilitated contacts between the Forces Patriotique pour la Liberation du Congo (the FPLC) and the Federal Republican Forces (the FRF) rebel groups.
The UN report also confirmed that the Group of Experts directly witnessed a conversation between Karegeya and former officers of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) who have been reintegrated into the DRC national army (FARDC), suggesting that the former army officers are involved in divisive activities.
"The Group directly witnessed a conversation between Karegeya and former CNDP FARDC officers in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in September. According to United Nations sources and combatants interviewed by the Group, Kayumba may have sent an emissary to meet with FDLR, FPLC and Mai Mai leaders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in February," the report adds.
Both Kayumba and Karegeya are believed to be the masterminds behind the grenade attacks that exploded in Kigali, early this year and the men have since been charged with forming a terrorist group, ethnic divisionism, threatening national security, undermining state authority, and spreading harmful propaganda.
In February, Gen. Nyamwasa fled the country when he was a serving Rwanda ambassador to India. This was followed by then serving ambassador to the Netherland, Jean Pierre Bizimana, who fled to Ireland after it was alleged that he had refused to help Kigali government assassinate FDU-Inkingi leader Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza. The former ambassador to the Netherland is believed to have facilitated Ingabire's return to Rwanda in January 2010.
Theonesta Mushindashaka, Senator Stanley Safari, Lt. Col. Sam baguma, Capt. Eliphaz Ndikuyezu, Capt. Claude Bizimungu, Capt. John Wuwintari, CFapt. John Bosco Muhizi, Capt. Theobal Gakumba, Capt. John Ontabuka and Jean Pierre Kagubare, are some of the other prominent names that have fled Rwanda. All now live in exile.
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"By virtue of his unapologetic attempt to destabilize sister states through the use of proxy rebel groups, President Kagame is one of the major (if not the principal) stumbling block to peace and stability in this fragile region."
Lt. Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa and Col. Karegeya both reside in South Africa. On June 19, Gen. Nyamwasa narrowly survived an assassination which his wife publically attributed to the Rwandan regime
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