Africa Great Lakes Democracy Watch: FDU Inkingi

Africa Great Lakes Democracy Watch

Welcome to Africa Great Lakes Democracy Watch Blog. Our objective is to promote the institutions of democracy,social justice,Human Rights,Peace, Freedom of Expression, and Respect to humanity in Rwanda,Uganda,DR Congo, Burundi,Sudan, Tanzania, Kenya,Ethiopia, and Somalia. We strongly believe that Africa will develop if only our presidents stop being rulers of men and become leaders of citizens. We support Breaking the Silence Campaign for DR Congo since we believe the democracy in Rwanda means peace in DRC. Follow this link to learn more about the origin of the war in both Rwanda and DR Congo:http://www.rwandadocumentsproject.net/gsdl/cgi-bin/library

Showing posts with label FDU Inkingi. Show all posts

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Annual Report: Rwanda 2011

From Amnesty International
Head of state and government: Paul Kagame and Bernard Makuza
Death penalty: abolitionist for all crimes
Population: 10.3 million
Life expectancy: 51.1 years
Under-5 mortality (m/f): 167/143 per 1,000
Adult literacy: 70.3 per cent
The authorities restricted freedom of expression and association before presidential elections in August. Media outlets that criticized the government were closed down and editors fled Rwanda. Human rights defenders faced intimidation. Investigations into killings were inadequate. High-ranking military officers were detained without trial. Some improvements in the justice system were offset by laws criminalizing dissent. No country extradited genocide suspects to Rwanda.

Background

A clampdown on freedom of expression and association before August’s presidential elections prevented new opposition parties from fielding candidates. President Paul Kagame was re-elected with 93 per cent of the vote.
Growing splits emerged within the ruling party, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). The former head of the army, Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, fled to South Africa. Some senior military officers were arrested and held incommunicado. Others fled to neighbouring countries.
Tension grew between the government and supporters of Laurent Nkunda, the former leader of the Congolese armed group the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP). Arrested in January 2009, he remained under house arrest in Rwanda without charge or trial.
Grenade attacks in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, led to heightened security concerns.
Rwanda’s hostile response to a UN mapping report on human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between 1993 and 2003 drew attention to impunity for past abuses by the Rwandan Patriotic Army.
International donors grew increasingly concerned about the deteriorating human rights situation. The EU, France, Spain, the UN and the USA publicly expressed concern before the elections.

Freedom of expression

Freedom of expression was further restricted. The RPF became increasingly sensitive to criticism in advance of the presidential elections. Laws on ‘genocide ideology’ and ‘sectarianism’
The authorities continued to misuse broad and ill-defined laws on "genocide ideology" and "sectarianism". The laws prohibit hate speech, but also criminalize legitimate criticism of the government.
In April, the government announced a review of the "genocide ideology" law, and indicated that the "sectarianism" law might also be reviewed. However, the government continued to use these laws and the timeframe for review remained unclear.

Bernard Ntaganda, the leader of an opposition party, PS-Imberakuri, was arrested in June and remained in detention in December. Charges against him included inciting ethnic division in relation to statements criticizing government policies.
Victoire Ingabire, the leader of FDU-Inkingi, an opposition party seeking registration, was arrested in April and rearrested in October. Charges against her included "genocide ideology" and were based, in part, on her public call for the prosecution of RPF war crimes.

Journalists

The government used regulatory sanctions, restrictive laws and criminal defamation cases to close down media outlets critical of the government. In July, the government began to enforce certain aspects of a 2009 media law which maintains defamation as a criminal offence. Some leading editors and journalists fled the country after facing threats and harassment.

The Rwandan Media High Council (MHC), a regulatory body close to the ruling party, suspended two private Kinyarwanda newspapers, Umuseso and Umuvugizi, from April to October. The MHC alleged that the newspapers had insulted the President and caused trouble in the army.
Jean-Léonard Rugambage, a journalist working for Umuvugizi, was shot dead on 24 June outside his home in Kigali. He had been investigating the shooting in South Africa of Kayumba Nyamwasa, and his newspaper published a story alleging that Rwandan intelligence was involved. In October, two men were convicted of Jean-Léonard Rugambage’s murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. The convicted men claimed that Jean-Léonard Rugambage had killed a member of one of their families during the 1994 genocide, although he had previously been acquitted in gacaca proceedings.
Jean-Bosco Gasasira, editor of Umuvugizi and Didas Gasana, editor of Umuseso, fled Rwanda in April and May respectively after receiving threats.

Human rights defenders
Human rights defenders faced renewed threats, including from government representatives. They self-censored their work to avoid confrontation with the authorities.
The government expelled a staff member of Human Rights Watch from Rwanda. Other international NGOs reported increased constraints on their work. International human rights groups, including Amnesty International, were attacked in speeches by senior government officials.
A Rwandan government representative criticized Rwandan human rights organizations at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in May.

Freedom of association

Restrictions on freedom of association prevented new opposition parties from contesting the elections. FDU-Inkingi and the Democratic Green Party were unable to obtain security clearance to organize meetings needed for their registration. The only new party to secure registration, PS-Imberakuri, was infiltrated by dissident members and decided not to stand.
Opposition politicians were harassed and threatened. Investigations into threats were cursory and did not lead to prosecutions.

Prisoner of conscience

Charles Ntakirutinka, a former government minister, remained in Kigali Central Prison, serving a 10-year sentence due to end in 2012. He had been convicted, in an unfair trial, of inciting civil disobedience and association with criminal elements.

Justice system

Witness protection staff received training and kept better records. Concerns remained about the willingness of witnesses to testify, given restrictions on freedom of expression through laws on "genocide ideology" and "sectarianism".
In October, Rwanda promulgated a law on "life imprisonment with special provisions", the sentence which replaced the death penalty. The law requires prisoners to be kept in individual cells for up to 20 years, which could constitute prolonged solitary confinement for those whose family members are unwilling or unable to visit. Such prisoners would only have the right to communicate with a lawyer in the presence of a prison guard, violating their defence rights during appeal hearings and possibly preventing prisoners from reporting abuse. The sentence was not applied due to a lack of individual cells.
Prison overcrowding continued to be a problem.
The deadline to complete gacaca trials of genocide cases was postponed indefinitely in September.

Enforced disappearances

At least four individuals disappeared between March and May. Some were close to Laurent Nkunda’s wing of the CNDP or had past links to armed groups in the DRC. Their whereabouts remained unknown at the end of the year. At least one of these individuals, Robert Ndengeye Urayeneza, was believed to have been subjected to enforced disappearance and detained in Rwandan military custody.

Ill-treatment by police

Some members of PS-Imberakuri and FDU-Inkingi arrested in June and July were ill-treated by the police. They were beaten and were handcuffed to other prisoners, including while going to the toilet.

Military justice

Several high-ranking military officials were arrested and detained without charge. They were denied access to legal counsel and held under house arrest or incommunicado in military detention for several months.

Lt. Col. Rugigana Ngabo, the younger brother of Kayumba Nyamwasa, was arrested in August on allegations of destabilizing national security. He was held incommunicado without charge.

International justice

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
The mandate of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was extended until the end of 2011 for first-instance trials and to the end of 2012 for appeals. Ten suspects subject to arrest warrants by the ICTR remained at large. The ICTR Prosecutor made new applications in November to transfer cases to Rwanda. Past applications failed after Trial Chambers decided that the accused would not receive fair trials.
Universal jurisdiction – genocide suspects living abroad
Judicial proceedings against genocide suspects took place in Belgium, Finland, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and the USA. Sweden consented to extradition in 2009, but the case has yet to be decided before the European Court of Human Rights. No country extradited genocide suspects to Rwanda due to fair trial concerns.
International Criminal Court
The Rwandan executive secretary of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), Callixte Mbarushimana, was arrested in October in France after an arrest warrant was issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in eastern DRC in 2009. France had granted him refugee status in 2003 and French prosecuting authorities had declined to open criminal investigations into earlier allegations of his involvement in the Rwandan genocide. In November, his surrender to the ICC was ordered by the Paris Appeal Court.
Impunity for war crimes and crimes against humanity

A Spanish judge requested the extradition of Kayumba Nyamwasa from South Africa, where he fled from Rwanda in February. He was indicted by Spain in 2008 on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in 1994, as well as the murder of three Spanish aid workers in 1997 in Rwanda. Rwanda also requested his extradition on charges of threatening state security. South Africa had not acted on either request by the end of the year.
French magistrates conducted investigations in Rwanda in September into the shooting down of the plane in April 1994 which killed Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and sparked the genocide. It was the first time that French magistrates had visited Rwanda as part of their investigations. French judges dropped international arrest warrants issued in November 2006 against nine senior RPF members for shooting down the plane, in which French nationals were also killed, and instead placed some of these individuals under investigation.

Failure to investigate and prosecute killings
Rwandan authorities failed to adequately investigate and prosecute killings before the elections.

André Kagwa Rwisereka, Vice President of the opposition Democratic Green Party, was found dead in Butare on 14 July. André Rwisereka, who left the RPF to create the Democratic Green Party, had been concerned for his security in the weeks before his murder. The police opened investigations, but the prosecution claimed to have insufficient evidence to press charges.
Denis Ntare Semadwinga was stabbed to death at his home in Gisenyi on 20 June. Before his murder, he had been questioned by Rwandan security services about his relationship with Laurent Nkunda

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

The Interim Executive Committee of FDU-INKINGI welcomes the resolutions of the general assembly of representatives of overseas members and is fully committed.

Boniface Twagirimana,
Vice President.

Upon thorough examination of the declaration of the recent general assembly of representatives of overseas members, the Interim Executive Committee of FDU-INKINGI would like to inform all Rwandans and friends of Rwanda that it welcomes the general assembly of representatives of overseas members and is fully committed to the conclusions reached in Brussels, Belgium, on February 26, 2011.

The Interim Executive Committee of FDU-INKINGI would also like to renew its confidence in the Coordination Committee, which is the sole official channel operating in exile that bridges the gap between FDU-INKINGI in Rwanda and its members still in exile. We reiterate our total commitment to continue to work together for a peaceful democratic change in Rwanda.

We seize this opportunity to denounce the ongoing joint operations between the regime’s secret services and the prosecution aimed at training and coercing 29 men suspected of being behind grenade attacks that rocked the country last year in Kigali and other parts of the country to hatch false testimonies against incarcerated and exiled political opponents. These suspects are accused of supporting a terrorist network, recruiting and belonging to a terrorist group, planning and executing activities aimed at causing state insecurity and mass murder. They are being trained to bargain guilty pleas and volunteer false accusations against all opposition leaders of being the virtual leaders of such a terrorist network. The leaders on the hit-list include Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, Mr. Bernard Ntaganda, Deo Mushayidi, Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa, Col. Patrick Karegeya, Dr. Theogene Rudasingwa, Dr. Gerald Gahima, Mr. Paul Rusesabagina, Col. Rugigana Ngabo and many others.

On the other side, some of those grenades suspects claim to act on behalf of FDLR rebellion and surprisingly repatriated key FDLR leaders are given free press to abuse the opposition leaders linking them to their deeds and are never officially charged with those acts.

We remind all Rwandans in general and members of FDU-INKINGI in particular to be aware of the malicious nature of the regime’s meddling into our internal affairs in order to sow divisions aimed at splitting the party into two rival factions similar to what happened within the party PS-IMBERAKURI where some party leaders got bribed to destroy the party. The same tactics have been used against the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda where some party leaders left the party with comments against the leadership of Mr. Frank Habineza. Those manoeuvrings are now used to derail wayward and vacillating party members. The public should be aware of those practices and dismiss any publication from other people claiming to be FDU-Inkingi Executive Bureau in exile or any remote-controlled ghost branch to operate soon in Rwanda. We can't hold political meetings in Rwanda as the government has banned the registration of our political party and instead is keeping our leader, Ms. Victoire Ingabire, in maximum prison.

The Interim Executive Committee elected in Kigali on 12 March 2010 and led by Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza is the only official organ of the FDU-INKINGI. The use of the party logo and emails by some dissents is not acceptable. We kindly demand them to halt those habits aiming to tarnish the party's good image before we consider legal settlements in their host countries for false impersonation.

For the Interim Executive Committee of FDU-INKINGI

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Kagame court again denies bail to Victoire Ingabire

On Jan. 20, Rwanda’s High Court once again rejected the bail appeal of Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, chair of Rwanda’s FDU-Inkingi coalition of opposition parties.

Opposition leader Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza is led from prison to court in handcuffs, wearing pink prison garb, with her head shaved by prison authorities

Her preventive detention order had expired during the Christmas holidays, but the judge ruled that her case had been transmitted to the court for the evidence stage thereafter. Ingabire remains in Kigali’s infamous 1930 maximum security prison. On Jan. 18, two days before the verdict, President Paul Kagame informed a press conference that Ingabire will face the laws up to the exhaustion of the process.
“Who is the judge strong enough to contradict him in Rwanda?” asked FDU’s spokesperson Sixbert Musangamfura, writing from exile in Finland. “Only God.”
Jan. 16 was the anniversary of Ingabire’s return to Rwanda to attempt to run for president against incumbent and staunch U.S. ally Paul Kagame. She was arrested in April and charged with “genocide ideology,” a speech crime unique to Rwanda, which means disagreeing with the received history of Rwanda’s epic 1994 massacres known as the Rwanda Genocide and/or disagreeing with the Rwandan government. She was then confined to Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, and her party was not allowed to register or register her candidacy. On Oct. 14, she was arrested again and she has remained incarcerated since.
Bernard Ntaganda, another Rwandan presidential candidate who might have had a chance to win had he been allowed to run, also remains in Kigali’s 1930 maximum security prison while a judge considers the prosecution’s plea that he be sentenced to more than 10 years in prison.
San Francisco writer Ann Garrison writes for the San Francisco Bay View, Global Research, Colored Opinions, Black Star News, the Newsline EA (East Africa) and her own blog, Ann Garrison, and produces for AfrobeatRadio on WBAI-NYC, Weekend News on KPFA and her own YouTube Channel, AnnieGetYourGang. She can be reached at ann@afrobeatcom. This story first appeared on Digital Journal.

Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza in Rwanda: Year one of the struggle for democracy and dignity

by Eugene Ndahayo, Chair of the Support Committee for FDU-Inkingi
Brussels – It’s already a year ago when Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, chairperson of the United Democratic Forces, FDU-Inkingi, knelt down for the first time and kissed her homeland that she had left 16 years before.

It’s been a year of achievements, dedication and courage – a real struggle for democracy, for freedom, for the right to life and personal security, the right of association, freedom of expression, for political rights. The iron fist of the dictatorship has been challenged.

Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, leader of Rwanda’s FDU-Inkingi coalition of opposition political parties, stands with her family prior to leaving Brussels for her return to Rwanda to run for president: from left, her husband, Lin Muyizere, their daughter, Raissa Ujeneza, Victoire, their younger son, Rist Shimwa, and their older son, Remy Ndizeye Niyigena

It’s been a year of solidarity with Rwandans in the country for the right of remembrance for all victims of the Rwandan genocide and other crimes against humanity, for all victims’ rights, for all the voiceless, for the rehabilitation of second class citizens. It’s been a real struggle for equal access, equal opportunities for all the children of our homeland.
It’s been a wrestling against an unfair justice that has deprived Rwandans of the right to a defense of one’s choice and the right to due process. The controversial “Gacaca” justice parody has thrown hundreds of thousands of litigants into humiliating community service with no hope of return.
It’s been a year of solidarity with the people of Congo (DRC) facing the consequences of military invasions responsible of over 5 million victims and the plundering of the country’s natural resources. Since 1990, the whole region has been engulfed in endless turmoil.
The Rwandan president, praised by some people and some partisan media to be a champion, a super star, a development success story, believed himself to be politically invincible.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame was sworn in for another seven-year term after the explosive Aug. 26 leak of a U.N. report documenting genocidal massacres of Rwandan Hutu refugees and Congolese Hutus by his army in the Democratic Republic of Congo

By her presence in Rwanda, Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza has brought to light the true dimensions of the dictatorship: a totalitarian regime monopolized by a handful of military and ethnocentric militants who, by the means of political police and a sprawling network of secret services, has an upper hand over all public institutions, the judicial and civil society.
In just one year, the regime has accumulated political errors and serious violations of human rights:
- Assassination of André Kagwa Rwisereka, deputy chair of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, on July 13, 2010

- Assassination of the journalist Jean-Léonard Rugambage, editor of Umuvugizi newspaper, on June 24, 2010 - An attempt against the life of Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa on June 19, 2010
- Kidnapping and arrest of Deogratias Mushayidi, chair of PDP-Imanzi on March 3, 2010
- Arrest of Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, chair of FDU-Inkingi on April 21, 2010; she was bailed out, placed under house arrest the next day and rearrested on Oct. 14, 2010
- Arrest of Professor Peter Erlinder, a U.S. attorney, defense lawyer for Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, on June 17; he was bailed out after several weeks
- Arrest of Bernard Ntaganda, chair of PS-Imberakuri on June 24, 2010
- Arrest and detention of journalists Agnes Uwimana Nkusi and Saidati Mukakibibiof the Umurabyo newspaper, on July 8-10, 2010
- Arrest of a dozen of party leaders of FDU-Inkingi and PS-Imberakuri on June 24, 2010, who were then released on bail
- Arrest of Theogene Muhayeyezu, Rwandan lawyer for FDU-Inkingi, on June 24, 2010; he was released 15 days later
- Rigged presidential elections on Aug. 9, 2010, with total exclusion of the opposition
- Arrest of several high-ranking officers in the Rwandan Army: Gen. Charles Muhire, Maj. Gen. Karenzi Karake, Col. Rugigana Ngabo etc.

Bernard Ntaganda, founder and presidential candidate of Rwanda’s Parti Social-Imberakuri, greets Victoire at the Kigali Airport on her return to Rwanda Jan. 17, 2010. Rwandan police arrested him on June 24 after he called for a protest of the opposition’s exclusion from the election, saying, “Silence is acceptance.”

- Publication on Oct. 1, 2010, of the U.N. Mapping Report on war crimes, crimes against humanity and a possible genocide committed in Congo mainly by the Rwandan army
Yes, in less than a year, the superstar Paul Kagame has faded from the limelight! The touted and self-portrayed “African new generation leader” is merely a tyrant to avoid.
His apologists are confused and on the brink of losing credibility. How do they justify the total sealing off of political space, assassinations, arbitrary arrests and detentions of democracy leaders? How do they explain the landslide Stalin-style election score of 93 percent?

And gradually the economic miracle of sustained growth is appearing to be the result of an unfortunate combination of a criminal economy, unbalanced, uneven and sorry. The Congolese blood minerals and other natural resources have contributed to the miracle. The gap caused by uneven national income distribution is very deep. According to the U.N. Development Program reports, 10 percent of Rwandans own over 50 percent of the national wealth, while 50 percent own less than 10 percent of the national wealth.
That is the record of a year of achievements of our chairperson, a record of FDU-Inkingi. Together with all our supporters, we are proud.
Our leader has been held in a maximum security prison since Oct. 14, 2010. We all keep in our minds her words, just a few days after she returned to our homeland:
“I believe in the political project that I share with my colleagues in this struggle, I love my country and all its inhabitants and I know I am not alone in this and Rwandans from all social classes, ethnic backgrounds and generations are with us. It is my source of strength and an oath that I would never betray. I will not waver in my dedication as I promised my colleagues and friends. I know and I have thoroughly thought about it, the regime may persecute me, imprison me. Let me say in conclusion that I am ready to face and endure all the difficulties and obstacles in my way until the final victory. And in case the regime attempts to take my life, I trust you shall continue from where I will fall.”
In prison, where she is incarcerated, the morale of our Chairperson Victoire Ingabire is high. She is free in her mind and soul. Not because of her innocence and belief that the justice system will set her free. No, she does not believe at all in the dictator’s justice. She saw how his judiciary works: trumped up accusations, fake witnesses, witness preparation and rehearsals, lack of independence, interference and orders taken from the State House.
No, she is simply strong because she is courageous and trusts that we shall empower the momentum of the wind of freedom and the seeds of democracy she already sowed.
It is the correctness of her political struggle that will set her free. It is the faith in our political project, it is our ability to organize, it is the strength and impact of our current and future political rationale and alliances that will set her free.
Thus, our determination, our consistency in the political struggle shall overcome the dictatorship and its international backers or lobbying organizations.
Together, we will set free the chairperson of FDU-Inkingi and, beyond that, we will set free our people.
To learn more, visit http://www.fdu-rwanda.org/and look for Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza and FDU-Inkingi on Facebook.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

The possible poisoning of Victoire Ingabire read the official press release:

By Maurice Mwizerwa
The conditions of detention of Ms. Victoire INGABIRE UMUHOZA, Chair of FDU INKINGI, are intolerable and immoral. (16.10.10)

A well informed source confirmed that the conditions of detention of Ms. Victoire INGABIRE UMUHOZA, Chair of FDU INKINGI, are intolerable and immoral.

- Last night the jailers kept her mattress and linens away from her and she spent the whole night seated and handcuffed. In the morning they refused to give her hygienic stuff (tooth brush, toothpaste and towel)taken for her use.
- The food taken to her for lunch was returned untouched in the evening. We don't know if the jailers took the food to her or not.
- The water and the bucket were refused.
The government does not provide any food and our people are not allowed to reach her. The jailers seam to follow very strict orders.

The lawyer and the Red cross were informed this evening and the chief of the detention facility promised to discuss the issue with the people who determined the detention conditions. It's intolerable and immoral to keep a detainee in such conditions.

As for rumors of a possible poisoning, the detainee is in the hands of the regime. They will be accountable.

FDU INKINGI
KIGALI.
15.10.2010.

http://www.fdu-rwanda.org/fr/rwanda/detail/article/the-conditions-of-detention-of-ms-victoire-ingabire-umuhoza-chair-of-fdu-inkingi-are-intolerable/index.html

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Statement by Rwandan Presidential Aspirant Madame Victoire Ingabire

Rwanda: The bell tolls for change

Kigali, July 20th 2010.

Fellow countrymen,

Friends of Rwanda and of Rwandans,

After 16years in exile, I came back peacefully to my motherland. Peace will be my guiding light in my political activities and the activities of my political organisation, FDU INKINGI in our endeavour to end injustice and remove all barriers to the people’s full enjoyment of their inalienable political and civil rights.

The Rwandan people are now living in anxiety and fear and are longing and yearning for a genuine policy of national unity and reconciliation.

My party and I are engaged in a political struggle which will lead us to victory against all forms of injustice and genuine democracy based on the freedom of each and everyone. We will soon witness sham elections in which election results are already established to hoodwink the world that the people have been given a choice. The main preoccupation is to cling to power that has been seized through the force of arms.

Dear fellow countrymen,

The bell tolls for the chains of the dictatorship. It is time to claim your inalienable rights, to refuse the abject feeling of being despised. Our response to sham elections is a non violent resistance to challenge the legitimacy of the looming masquerade and its subsequent results.

1. Our political struggle.

Objective:

Our core objective is to put a permanent end to dictatorship and put in place a political system that respects and protects all the components of the Rwandan society to make sure that nobody loses life because of one’s ethnic or regional affiliation or because of one’s political opinion.
This has been our political objective since the creation of our party FDU INKINGI. This has been the guiding principle of my political engagement since I arrived until now. We must tame fear in order to liberate ourselves. We want to eradicate poverty, hunger, nepotism, corruption and clientelism which have become the hallmark of the regime. We want to put an end to social inequalities, to discrimination as well as to confiscation of other people’s property and land.

We are fighting against dictatorship, generalised injustices, the iniquitous Gacaca courts, community work punishments imposed without due process of the law.

We want that each Rwandan walks with his head high, with dignity; we want to break all the barriers that prevent us from feeling full citizens of our country.

With regard to education, we want to improve the quality, to match the curriculum of education to the real needs of the country and our region, and that enhances the competitiveness of the country vis-à-vis other countries, the respect of the teacher, availability of school material and equal access to education irrespective of social class, ethnicity or region.

In the field of Health, our motto will be « health for all »by improving the healthcare infrastructure, access to medical care, the availability and quality of health personnel, equipment and medicine.

The welfare of the population will be our priority in our programme. Every job must regain its value and provide a decent salary. In the rural areas, people must get decent shelter and safe drinking water.

The agricultural policy must ensure that people get enough food security and give more value and dignity to farmers.

Our political programme has a national reach.

Our political programme is a matter of every Rwandan, irrespective of his ethnic origin, regional, gender, religion, profession or social class. Our vision of a reconciled people involves the necessity to remember our loved ones, mutual respect, national dialogue, the protection of minorities and equal opportunity. We call on each one of us to empathise with victims of genocide and crimes against humanity.

We encourage the members of the Rwandan Defence Forces, Police and security forces to remain professional in their work and to desist from getting involved in partisan politics. Our call goes also to the public media, to the public service, to local administration and to members of the judiciary.

2. Captivity and persecution.

Even in my captivity, six months after my arrival in the country, my experience on the ground has given more meaning to my political conviction and commitment for fundamental political change. I am convinced more than ever before that Rwanda needs a different kind of leadership and political direction for the best interest and welfare of all Rwandan citizens.

I witnessed with my own eyes, humiliation, injustices, iniquity, dictatorship and the arrogance of the party in power that its zealots and allies impose on the citizens. My comrades in the struggle and myself have endured and still endure both moral and physical abuses from the regime of Kagame. Our rights and rights of many others have been violated.

Despite the climate of political assassinations, sufferings, humiliations, lack of respect for fundamental human rights, muzzling the opposition and the media, intimidations, arbitrary arrests and torture, our determination is still intact.

2.1. Opposition muzzled

The 3 political parties, members of the Permanent Consultative Council of the Opposition have been subjected to an increasing persecution.

The Democratic Green Party of Rwanda is still mourning the assassination of its Vice President M. André KAGWA RWISEREKA that took place on the 13th of July 2010 and his beheaded body found on the 14th July 2010. The party has been thwarted in its attempts to register and its leadership has been receiving death threats.

The Parti Social IMBERAKURI, although it has been registered, has been split into two wings, with one splinter group allied to the regime in power. The founder President Bernard NTAGANDA is in detention since the 24th June 2010, charged with negation of genocide, divisionism and formation of a terrorist group. His private secretary, M. Aimable SIBOMANA RUSANGWA has disappeared since the 13th of June 2010.

The party FDU INKINGI, not yet registered, is also facing the fury of the dictatorship and three members of its executive committee are either under house arrest or out on bail.

2.2. An all out war against FDU INKINGI.

Our efforts to legally register the party have been crushed. The regime erected administrative and legal barriers in order to ensure that genuine opposition is left in the cold. FDU INKINGI is too big to go through the net set by the regime in power. The fear of a serious competition for power has led the regime to reinforce its dictatorial machinery. An arsenal of anti democratic laws has been put in place to seal off the political space.

Since January 2010, FDU INKINGI has submitted unsuccessfully 6 requests to organise its constituent assembly. The government refused. The official reason has always been based on the politically motivated criminal charges concocted against its Chair and presidential candidate.

2.3. House arrest

During the last five months, the regime has not been able to bring to court the full details of the charges brought against Ms. Victoire INGABIRE UMUHOZA, Chair of FDU INKINGI. The allegations of denial of genocide, divisionism and collaboration with a terrorist organisation are nothing more than a pretext to block all political activities. This is why I was arrested on the 21st of April 2010 and kept under house arrest since the following day. The zealots of the regime and the government press or partisan media have been feeding a lynching campaign.

My lawyers were put in detention. This was the case with Prof. Peter Erlinder, defence lawyer at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda who spent 3 weeks in prison and Mr. Theogene Muhayeyezu who spent two weeks in prison.

2.4. Arrests, torture and death threats.

On the 24th of June 2010, a police swoop was carried out against members of the opposition who wanted to demonstrate peacefully. Many members of the FDU INKINGI were arrested. M. Sylvain SIBOMANA, provisional secretary general of the party; Ms. Alice MUHIRWA, Treasurer, M. Théoneste SIBOMANA, responsible for the Party in Kigali and M. Martin NTAVUKA, FDU Nyarugenge. All of them were tortured.

Ms. Alice Muhirwa endured internal bleeding following hits with boots on her stomach. She was denied medical attention until she fainted in court. During torture sessions, she was subjected to a tirade of verbal abuses relating to ethnic hatred. In the same way, the torturers blackmailed in exchange for signing false pre-established accusations against Ms. Victoire INGABIRE UMUHOZA and M. Bernard NTAGANDA for collaboration with rebels of FDLR and for having received funding via accomplices network operating in Kigali capital city. In his testimony in court, the Permanent Secretary of PS IMBERAKURI confirmed that he was subjected to the same blackmail during the torture sessions. These manœuvres confirm the wave of mass arrests in preparation in Kigali.

FDU INKINGI is yet investigating the disappearance and whereabouts of one of its members in a Kigali suburb since the 24th June 2010.

Death threats were made against Executive members of FDU INKINGI during their detention.
We call on the government of General Kagame to ensure the security of people is guaranteed and to bring to justice those responsible for torture, degrading and inhumane treatment of people as well as the use of racist and hateful language during torments.

3. Call for a non violent resistance.

The sham electoral process must stop without delay and the date of presidential election postponed paving the way to opposition political parties to register and participate; and for the political leaders to be cleared of the trumped criminal charges. An independent national electoral commission agreed on by all the stakeholders is a must.

If the election calendar is maintained and the muzzling and decapitation of opposition political parties remain then the presence of international observers is a useless exercise. The regime will rig the whole process and manipulate election registry, the turnout, the management of poll stations, the counting of votes and obviously will decide the results it wants.

Under these conditions, the Rwandan people must denounce the legitimacy of this masquerade until proper, transparent and equitable electoral process is conducted.

The Rwandan people have been put under so much duress but are still very resilient. They are still alive.
Resistance is not only an organisation but the determination of a people to resist a dictatorship.
Non-violence: resisting state repression.

We asked in vain the postponement of presidential elections in order to level the playing field for a transparent, fair and timely election. We need an open public debate on national issues and different political programmes. Under the present circumstances, we reject beforehand election results because they will not reflect the will of the people, due to lack of a democratic and transparent process. It is nothing more than a stage managed exercise meant to hoodwink.

This escalation of political repression taking place marked by assassinations of political leaders and journalists, arrests and torture of political figures, the closure of newspapers, death threats cannot allow credible elections.

As I said when I arrived in Rwanda, our political struggle does not end with elections. On the contrary, we have reasons more than ever before to continue our struggle.

It’s time to face again our conscience and responsibilities towards our beloved country and our people.
I expect our friends not to fail Rwanda again. We are a nation and not a private property of one man. Calmly and with determination we shall resist the violence and intimidation of the regime of General Paul Kagame.

We shall make sure that the efforts of subjugating by force fail. We shall resist the efforts used to tarnish our image in order to exclude us. We shall resist the efforts to divide us and in order to subjugate us. We refuse to be taken hostages of the past of our country.

Rwandans are aspiring for genuine reconciliation. They want to tell the truth to each other on the tragedy that befell our country. They want to end exclusion. We must do it for ourselves, for our children and for the future of our country.

Write in full letters, be it in your hand, in your head, in your heart, in your actions of everyday, in your small gestures, everywhere and every time.

“I want to resist, I resist for the welfare of my people”

Each one of you has something he/she can do to make the change possible. What we need is courage and to accept to take charge of our destiny.

Let us all be the tools for that change that we want by resisting the dictatorship. The bell tolls for change.

God bless you all.

Ms. Victoire INGABIRE UMUHOZA
FDU INKINGI
Chair

FDU INKINGI Call for resistance against state repression.

Press release. Rwanda: The bell tolls for change

Sunday, July 18, 2010

RWANDAN REFUGEES IN UGANDA IN GREAT DANGER (17.07.10)

According to international media, Non governmental organisations and humanitarian organizations, since 14th June 2010, three refugees died, 26 others were injured and hospitalized during gunpoint massive deportations of over 1,700 Rwandan refugees from Nakivale and Kyaka refugees' camps.

The United Democratic Forces, FDU INKINGI, express outrage and firm condemnation of this gross violation, by the government of UGANDA, of its own Citizenship and Immigration Act, as well as international laws pertaining to the protection of asylum seekers and genuine refugees. The situation is more worrisome, considering that the UNHCR distanced itself from this operation and that both governments of Uganda and Rwanda partly acknowledged their absolute dealings in this show of force.

The FDU INKINGI is surprised by the timing of this deportation of Rwandan refugees. Indeed, it comes amid reports of deepening insecurity in Rwanda, which culminated in an assassination spree targeting a party leader Mr. André Kagwa Rwisereka, vice president of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda murdered in Butare on 14th July; an acting Editor, Mr. Jean-Léonard Rugambage, Reporter of censored independent Magazine UMUVUGIZI shot dead in Kigali on 24th June ; the disappearance of the private secretary of the president of the Parti Social Imberakuri, as well as a crackdown on opposition leaders and their subsequent torture during their detention.

This happens also barely a few days after an attempt kidnapping of former journalist and detainee, Dominique Makeli in the Uganda capital city and the attempt assassination of the former Rwandan army chief of staff, Lieutenant General Kayumba Nyamwasa in South Africa. The Ugandan government is very well aware of widespread violations of human rights in Rwanda, which legitimate the fears of refugees to return home. The Ugandan based International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) and the Refugee Law Project (RLP) had warned Uganda not to yield to Rwandan government pressure and grant protection to asylum seekers. According to the UNHCR, since the beginning of 2010, 3,320 Rwandans have filed for asylum in Uganda.

The FDU INKINGI recalls that this is not the first time Rwandan refugees are forcibly banished. This was the case in Kibeho in 1995, in DRC in 1996-1997, in Burundi and in Tanzania. History shows that these push measures never solved the refugees’ problem, because they elude the root causes of the worriment.

The FDU INKINGI is particularly concerned about the secrecy of the operation. What kind of measures put in place by the Rwandan government to ensure a peaceful, humane and transparent resettlement of those returnees? Are they going to languish in camps inside Rwanda, or have their homes been secured prior to their deportation? Returnees are gathered in Rukomo camp where visibly there is no adequate transit infrastructure.

We call upon the governments of Uganda and Rwanda to suspend those operations. We expect the Human Rights and International organisations to go beyond mere condemnation of this blatant violation of international conventions, but also to follow up the process of resettlement of deportees inside Rwanda.

Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza

FDU INKINGI

Chair.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Rwanda:PCC: Call for International Inquiry into the assassination of the First

PCC: Call for International Inquiry into the assassination of the First Vice-President of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda

PCC Press Release

Call for International Inquiry into the assassination of Mr. Andre KAGWA RWISEREKA, the First Vice-President of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda.

The Permanent Consultative Council of opposition parties in Rwanda (PCC), is deeply concerned and shocked on the death of the First Vice President of the Democratic Green Party of Rwannda, Mr.Andre KAGWA RWISEREKA. We strongly condemn this inhuman action. We call upon the Rwandan Government to quicken its investigations and bring these criminals to justice. We also call for an international independent inquiry over the assassination of a key opposition leader.

The First Vice President of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, Mr.Andre KAGWA RWISEREKA who went missing yesterday 13th July 2010, was found dead on 14th July 2010. His head was almost completely removed from his body. He was born on 31st Dec 1949, in Rusenge, Nyaruguru, Southern Province, Republic of Rwanda. He went into political exile in the early 1960’s. He stayed in DRC, where he obtained a degree of Education, while in DRC he was one of the senior members of the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front, especially in its struggle to liberate Rwanda. He has been a prominent businessman in Butare town. He was among the founding members of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, founded on 14th August 2009, at Hotel ex-Novotel in Kigali. He is survived by four children.

In less than a month, the repression spree is alarmingly high rocketing: on 24th June 2010, Mr. Jean-Léonard RUGAMBAGE, a Rwandan Editor of UMUVUGIZI Newspaper, a critical voice, was shot dead in front of his home. Earlier that day, opposition members including Mr.Andre Kagwa RWISEREKA were arrested, many stayed in police custody for over a week, they revealed to the Judge serious marks of torture, ill-treatments and abusive hate language. On 19th June 2010, in Johannesburg, a Rwandan former Army Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General KAYUMBA NYAMWASA survived an assassination attempt.

Another assassination case, was reported on 21st June 2010, in Gisenyi, Northern Rwanda of Denis Ntare SEMADWINGA, former Chief of Staff to General Laurent NKUNDA. SIBOMANA RUSANGWA Aimable Private Secretary for the Founder President of PS Imberakuri, was reported missing since 13th June whereabouts are completely unknown. Two local newspapers UMUSESO and UMUVUGIZI have been suspended while all the editing team of UMURABYO newspaper are now in police custody.

Only a few days ahead of the presidential election, the Rwandan opposition is in a very sorry state:

* The Parti Social IMBERAKURI, has been split into two factions, a pro-government wing and another one represented by Maitre Bernard NTAGANDA, the founding President of PS Imberakuri, currently in a Kigali maximum prison for politically motivated crimes. Most of his
colleagues were also arrested and released on bail. They told court and prosecution that they had been tortured while in detention.

* The Democratic Green Party of Rwanda , has been prevented from registering after trying several times, its recent attempt was when it requested the Government to grant it permission to have a founding congress on 4th June 2010, so that is able to participate in the elections, but it never received any response from Gasabo District. Earlier alone it had officially requested the Ministry of Local Government which is in charge of political parties to intervene in its situation. It never received any official response, despite after having been invited to one meeting with Ministry officials. The Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, still hopes that the Government will respond positively to its earlier requests.

* The FDU INKINGI, not yet registered as well, is facing a critical situation. It’s Chair, Ms Victoire INGABIRE UMUHOZA is still under extended house arrest; Mr. Sylvain SIBOMANA, the party Secretary General and Ms. Alice MUHIRWA, the party Treasurer, have been released
on bail. FDU Inkingi has tried several times to get registered but could not be allowed. The FDU-Inkingi had officially requested the Ministry of Local Government which is in charge of political parties to intervene in its situation, despite after having been invited to a meeting with Ministry officials. It never received any official response.

The Permanent Consultative Council of opposition Parties in Rwanda (PCC) calls for an independent international investigations on the assassination of the opposition key figure Mr. Andre KAGWA RWISEREKA, the murder of the journalist Jean-Léonard RUGAMBAGE and other allegations of tortures or death threats to opposition members.

We call upon the Government of Rwanda to use all means possible to ensure that there is peace and tranquillity in Rwanda, especially before and after the August Presidential elections. We also call upon the Rwandan Government to allow the opposition parties get registered and work freely, release Maitre Bernard NTAGANDA of PS Imberakuri and waive all criminal charges levelled against opposition
members.

Issued at Kigali, 15th July 2010

Mrs. Victoire INGABIRE UMUHOZA
Chairperson, United Democratic Forces, FDU INKINGI

Mr. Frank HABINEZA
Chairman, Democratic Green Party of Rwanda

Mr. Theobald MUTARAMBIRWA
Secretary General, PS Imberakuri

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Rwandan opposition leader found dead

Rwandan opposition leader found dead

Discovery of Andre Kagwa Rwisereka's body near river follows attacks on two other critics of President Paul Kagame

Xan Rice in Nairobi

Paul Kagame's government has been accused of clamping down on political opponents. Photograph: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters

A senior member of a Rwandan political party has been murdered in the third attack on a government critic in a month.

Andre Kagwa Rwisereka, vice-president of the Democratic Green party, which was unable to gain registration to contest next month's presidential election, was found near a river close to Butare, in southern Rwanda. He had been reported missing on Tuesday.

"His head was almost completely removed from his body. His brother, Antoine Haguma, confirms seeing the dead body," said Frank Habineza, the party president.

Police confirmed the death and said a machete was found near the victim, who had also suffered chest wounds.

Eric Kayiranga, a police spokesman, said Rwisereka had reportedly been carrying a lot of money and robbery may have been the motive.

The murder follows the killing in Rwanda on 24 June of Jean Leonard Rugambage, acting editor of the Umuvugizi newspaper.

The government suspended the paper for six months in April for "inciting insubordination in the army and police" and publishing "information that endangers public order". Five days earlier, the former Rwandan army chief Lieutenant General Kayumba Nyamwasa, who had fallen out with President Paul Kagame, was shot in the stomach in South Africa.

Both the exiled Umuvugizi editor and Nyamwasa's wife accused the Rwandan government of being behind the attacks. The government has vigorously denied this, and there is no evidence of its involvement.

But human rights groups have accused Kagame's regime of clamping down on political opponents and the independent media in recent months. On Tuesday, the press watchdog Reporters Without Borders called on the European Union and other donors to suspend financial support for the election because of "a series of grave press freedom violations".

"How much longer will the international community continue to endorse this repressive regime?" the organisation said.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Rwanda president Paul Kagame tiptoes around democracy

Gwynne Dyer: Rwanda president Paul Kagame tiptoes around democracy
By Gwynne Dyer

First Published by Straight.com

Rwanda president Paul Kagame will not risk real democracy, despite a remarkable economic growth rate of 11 percent last year.

Did Paul Kagame really stop the genocide in Rwanda 16 years ago, or did he just interrupt it for a while?

That question frightens him so much that he will not risk everything on the outcome of a democratic election.

Kagame is running for reelection to the presidency of the traumatised central African country next month. If economic success automatically brought political success, he would be a shoo-in: Rwanda’s economy grew by 11 percent last year.

But in fact, his resounding election victory in 2003 was the result of ruthless manipulation, and this one will be the same.

In recent months, opposition party leaders in Rwanda have been arrested and charged with denying the genocide.

An opposition newspaper was banned and its co-editors attacked. (One died, one survived.)

Leading generals in the Rwandan army have been arrested or have fled into exile. (One was wounded last month in an attempted hit in South Africa.)

So is Kagame over-reacting? Maybe.

If you cut Kagame open, you would find engraved on his heart William Faulkner’s terrible truth: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”

One-tenth of Rwanda’s population–at least 800,000 people, Tutsis and those who tried to protect them–were murdered by their neighbours, mostly with machetes, only sixteen years ago.

Not nearly enough time has passed yet for generational turnover to take the edge off the grief and the hate. Everybody pretends it’s over, but of course it isn’t. How could it be?

Kagame’s whole life has been shaped by genocide. He grew up in Uganda, where his parents fled when an earlier wave of violence killed about 100,000 Tutsis in Rwanda in the early 1960s.

He became the leader of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, a mainly Tutsi exile organisation dedicated to overthrowing the Hutu extremists who ruled the country, and he led the RPF army that marched in to stop the great genocide of 1994.

He knows, of course, that Tutsis and Hutus are not really separate ethnic groups.

All of Rwanda’s 19 major clans includes both Tutsis and Hutus. They speak the same language and they live in the same villages.

The term once distinguished cattle-herders from farmers, and later the wealthy from the poor. Rich Hutus could become Tutsis–but the Tutsis naturally always remained a minority of the population.

He also knows, however, that the colonial authorities exploited those class differences and gave the Tutsis political authority over the Hutus in return for their loyalty.

By the later 20th century the Tutsis and Hutus had become ethnic groups for all practical purposes, with a constant undercurrent of resentment by the Hutus against the Tutsis.

After independence in 1960, the killing got underway very quickly. It peaked in 1994.

This past will not leave Rwanda alone. The very words “Tutsi” and “Hutu” have now been banned in Rwanda, but a ministerial investigation in 2008 found anti-Tutsi graffiti and harassment of Tutsi students in most of the schools that were visited.

The army is exclusively Tutsi and the government almost entirely so, because Kagame does not really believe that this generation of Hutus can be trusted.

To make his position even more precarious, Tutsi solidarity is breaking down.

The arrests, exile and attempted assassination of various generals may be in response to real plots.

Most Tutsi generals belong to the Nyiginya clan, which traditionally provided the country’s king. Kagame is from the Umwega clan, and some of the Nyiginya think that power has remained in the wrong hands for too long.

It is an awful situation, and Kagame has only one strategy for avoiding a return to genocide: hang on to power, and hope that rapid economic growth and the passage of time will eventually blur the identities and blunt the reflexes that have made this generation of Rwandans so dangerous to one another.

His model is Singapore, an ethnically complex state that avoided too much democracy during the early decades of its dash for growth.

If Rwanda could become the Singapore of central Africa, then maybe its citizens would eventually come to believe that their stake in the country’s new stability and prosperity was more important than the history.

But Singapore did not have so far to travel, and its history was not drowned in blood.

The logic of Kagame’s strategy obliges him to stay in power: his first duty is to Rwanda’s Tutsis, at least half of whom have already been murdered.

But he must provide prosperity to the Hutu majority too, in order to reconcile them to Tutsi survival, and his relatively corruption-free government has made impressive progress towards that goal.

Nevertheless, in a free election, most Rwandans would vote along ethnic lines.

His Rwandan Patriotic Front would instantly be replaced by a Hutu-led regime of unknowable character and purpose. He dares not risk it, so real democracy is not an option.

If Kagame is now killing opposition journalists and dissident generals, then he is making a dreadful and probably fatal mistake, but it may not be him.

In the ruthlessly Machiavellian world of Rwandan politics, other possibilities also exist. Either way, he has the loneliest, scariest job in the world, and he must know that the odds are long against him.

The new edition of Gwynne Dyer's latest book, Climate Wars, has just been published in Canada by Random House.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

ITANGAZO RIGENEWE ABIFURIZA U RWANDA AMAHORO BOSE

ITANGAZO RIGENEWE ABIFURIZA U RWANDA AMAHORO BOSE

ITANGAZO RIGENEWE ABANYAMAKURU N° 011/P.S.IMB/010:
ITANGAZO RIGENEWE ABIFURIZA U RWANDA AMAHORO BOSE

Rishingiye ku cyemezo cy’Urukiko rwisumbuye rwa Nyarugenge cyo kuwa 9 Nyakanga 2010 kirebana n’ibyemezo byafatiwe Prezida Fondateri w’Ishyaka P.S.IMBERAKURI nabo bita ko bafatanyije icyaha, rigarutse kandi kwikubitwa rikomeye ryakorewe abakomeje kugaragaza ibitekerezo binyuranye nibya Leta ya Kigali; Ishyaka ry’IMBERAKURI riharanira Imibereho myiza riramenyesha Abanyarwanda, Inshuti z’u Rwanda, Abahagarariye Ibihugu byabo mu Rwanda, n’Imberakuri by’umwihariko, ibi bikurikira;

Ingingo ya mbere :

Ishyaka P.S.IMBERAKURI rikomeje gushimangira ko Me NTAGANDA Bernard; Prezida Fondateri wa P.S.IMBERAKURI ariwe Muyobozi w’Ishyaka nk’uko biteganywa n’amategeko agenga Imitwe ya Politiki n’Abanyapolitiki n’Itegeko Shingiro ry’Ishyaka P.S.IMBERAKURI. Bityo Ishyaka P.S IMBERAKURI rikaba rishimangira ko ifungwa rya Me NTAGANDA Bernard rigamije kuburizamo ko yazitabira Amatora ya Prezida wa Repubulika nkuko ariwe Mukandida rukumbi w’Ishyaka P.S.IMBERAKURI wemejwe kuzahangana mu matora ya Prezida wa Repubulika yo kuwa 9 Kanama 2010.

Ingingo 2 :

Ishyaka P.S.IMBERAKURI rirasanga icyemezo cy’Urukiko rwisumbuye rwa Nyarugenge cyo gufunga Umuyobozi w’Ishyaka P.S IMBERAKURI byagateganyo iminsi mirongo itatu muri gereza nkuru ya Kigali (1930) giciye ukubiri n’amategeko agenga Imitwe ya Politiki n’Abanyapolitiki n’Itegeko Nshinga ry’u Rwanda tutibagiwe n’Itegeko Shingiro ry’Ishyaka P.S.IMBERAKURI, cyane cyane ko ibirego aregwa ari ibyagiye bicurwa n’abambari b’Ishyaka FPR- Inkotanyi, riramenyesha police y’igihugu ko ifungwa rya prezida fondateri ko ntaho byakagombye guhurira no kwamburwa ibiro n’ibirango by’ishyaka, ibi bikaba bishimangira umugambi wa FPR- Inkotanyi wo gusenya burundu Ishyaka P.S IMBERAKURI.

Ingingo 3 :

Ishyaka P.S.IMBERAKURI riramaganira kure icyemezo cyafatiwe abandi bareganwaga na Nyakubahwa Me NTAGANDA Bernard cyo kubafungira mu gihugu, kuko bigaragarira bose ko ibi bigamije kubabuza uburenganzira bwabo cyane cyane kujya gushakira aho bakwivuriza nkuko byagaragaye cyane ko bahohotewe bikomeye. Ishyaka P.S IMBERAKURI rikomeje gushimangira ko ritazajya mu matora mu gihe cyose leta ikomeje kuniga ubwisanzure bwa politiki mu gihugu no kwangira Amashyaka atavuga rumwe nayo kugira ijambo muri komisiyo y’igihugu y’amatora.

Ingingo 4 :

Ishyaka P.S IMBERAKURI rirasaba Leta ya Kigali kurekura ntamananiza umukandida waryo ku mwanya w’Umukuru w’Igihugu akaba na Prezida Fondateri Me NTAGANDA Bernard n’Abarwanashyaka bayo bose, ndetse n’abandi banyarwanda bafunze bazira ibitekerezo byabo bya politike. Rishingiye kandi ku ingingo zashyizwe mu cyezi, Ishyaka P.S.IMBERAKURI rirashimangira ko ibi bikorwa by’urukozasoni bikomeje kwibasira abatavuga rumwe na Leta ya Kigali, ari ibikorwa bigamije guca intege umuntu wese ugerageza kunenga ubutegetsi bw’ u Rwanda, bityo Leta ikaba ishakira insinzi mu rucantege.

Ingingo 5 :

Ishyaka P.S.IMBERAKURI rirahamagarira amahanga kudatererana Abanyarwanda, kandi bigaragara ko u Rwanda ruri kugana habi aho Abanyarwanda bakomeje gucurwa bufuni nk’uko Imiryango Mpuzamahanga ndetse n’Abatavugarumwe na Leta ya Kigali bakomeje kubyerekana, bityo rikaba risaba buri wese gukora ubuvugizi kukibazo cyugarije Abanyarwanda.

Ingingo 6 :

Ishyaka P.S.IMBERAKURI rirasaba Abanyarwanda, Inshuti z’u Rwanda, IMBERAKURI by’umwihariko kudacika intege kuko uburenganzira buraharanirwa ntawe ubukurambikira ku mashyi.

MUZABA MUBAYE IMBERAKURI.

Bikorewe i Kigali, kuwa 11 Nyakanga 2010

Umunyamabanga Mukuru w’Ishyaka P.S IMBERAKURI
Theobald MUTARAMBIRWA
(Sé)

Saturday, July 10, 2010

FDU:Bail granted to some opposition members, but silence on torture inquiry

Bail granted to some opposition members, but silence on torture inquiry.

FDU:PRESS RELEASE, Kigali, July 09th 2010.

Today, a Kigali Court freed on bail some opposition members but remained silent on calls for torture inquiry. Mr. Bernard Ntaganda, the founding President of PS Imberakuri is denied bail while Ms. Alice Muhirwa, FDU-INKINGI Treasurer, is to appear again.

Two days ago, the national electoral commission released its official list of 4 presidential candidates, all members of the ruling system. We wonder why they spend national resources in such an obvious masquerade instead of informing Rwandans and the international community that the incumbent is not ready for any serious election.

The regime is not ready for fair and transparent elections: opposition parties are crushed; their leaders are jailed and tortured; lawyers are incarcerated; two independent newspapers are banned; the journalist Jean Léonard Rugambage was murdered on 24th June 2010 and the journalist Nkusi Uwimana Agnes (Umurabyo newspaper) was arrested yesterday.

During the court hearings, incarcerated members of the opposition have shown wounds and marks of torture left on their skins, heads, arms and legs. Meanwhile Ms. Alice Muhirwa, kicked many times in the stomach by police officers and denied until medical care was rushed to a police hospital after she collapsed in front of the judge. This did not spare her from a governmental media lynching aired by a police spokesperson accusing her to fake horrific torture and bleeding.

All the victims of this police brutality spree have informed the court about hate ethnic and racist abuses screamed by some enraged police officers. The government of Paul Kagame, if it did not order the torment, should provisionally suspend from their duties the officers involved in the torture allegations and pave the way to an independent inquiry.

For the sake of the stability and democratisation of our country, they have to drop all politically motivated charges against opposition members, register our political parties, postpone the election and allow us to take part in the process.

Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza
FDU INKINGI, Chair.