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


Sunday, July 10, 2011

RWANDA:Ambassador of the Rwandan Republic In Canada

EDDA MUKABAGWIZA" MWENYEWE"
Ambassador de La REPUBLQUE OF RWANDA IN CANADA.
 
His childhood name "Mwenyewe" mean "prototype". Edda exhibits a "
look "of a good communicator, a diplomat, she who, through his
sequences to smile during the interview, the speaker feels the desire to
further questions! In his office, she told us about his journey
original: his childhood, his adult life and how she prepares her old age.
  
On June 12, 1968, the girl "Mwenyewe" was born in Gisakura in district
Administrative Nyamasheke in the province of Cyangugu. Married to Victor
Nkinzirembo, the couple gave birth to three children the eldest of whom is a
8 year old daughter and two kids.
  
Mwenyewe tasted early in the life of the boarding school. Considering that the
family was located more than 12 miles from her school, she was forced to
return to the boarding of the Congregation of s? sisters who ran the Catholic
school. Despite the advantage of being educated by nuns, Edda Mwenyewe
remained irreversible religion seventh day Adventist. She speaks
perfectly the liturgical ceremonies of the Catholic Church although it
adheres to the SDA religion. During the eight years of his primary,
Edda was side by side with s? Sisters religious, as his life from childhood
Was quite contrary to that of other children in the countryside.
  
In 1983, Mwenyewe entered high school. She could not endure the regime
Food in Gisenyi at the Lycée "Our Lady of Africa" ​​when it was registered.
She had contracted the stomach. Asked Mwenyewe transfer
to join the "Saint Andrew" in Nyamirambo to permanently leave
the life of the internship. His family was already installed in Nyamirambo, which was
a major asset for his health? So far, she has stressed, upset
stomach remains the only disease that marked my life. Fortunately
today, this evil has been eradicated
  
Become winner of the school, the faculty faced Edda Mukabagwiza
History at the University of Nyakinama (Ruhengeri province) against the c? heart.
She did not want that to law school. She tried to change faculties
but in vain. She ended the academic year? The following year, she
was fortunate to be directed to the said preferred option, but this time
based in Kigali on the hill "Mburabuturo".
  
In 1990, the Liberation War broke out. Edda was in second year. In
Consequently, the Government decreed that one year will also be white
converted several years. At the end of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Edda
moving at the National University of Rwanda in Butare to finish his studies.
  
She immediately picked up a lot of jobs mostly holiday
rights of man. It was in June 1996 within the legal
Ministry of Agriculture in charge of Legal Affairs in particular. Just a
year after November 1997, Ms. Edda came to the Ministry of Justice
(MINIJUST) for? Uvrer together with other lawyers in the Department of
Legislation. Edda Mukabagwiza did not stop at MINIJUST. The association
HAGURUKA recruited at the start as his lawyer and then as a particular
Executive Secretary in 1999. Edda MINIJUST to climb back to grade.
She became Secretary General in 2000 and Minister of Justice afterwards,?
  
Physical features
  
Weighing about 75 kg and ranging in size from more than 1.65 m, Edda
Mukabagwiza alias "Mwenyewe" is a practicing Seventh-day Adventist. No other
religion can not meet their expectations except Adventists
professional, she still dreams of promoting the rights of children
particular and human rights in general. According to her, "children
are friendly, vulnerable and therefore deserve their rights. "
It's perfect love to the children that motivated to make
his dissertation topic. At that time, the International Convention on
children's rights was in full swing in different countries around the world and Rwanda
had ratified the Convention. Basically, she says, "It was a subject
Topics. "
  
All its culinary preferences seem complicated, she said.
However, it is obliged to respect the taste or preferences of its
third family. Ill-prepared meal (casually) is not interested. It
challenges the cooked meals of seafood Edda Mukabagwiza not
accustomed to eating with the hand washed with soap, cassava dough. However,
equipped with a table knife with a fork, she eagerly gives away?
Entry into anger, she never Mukabagwiza soon to appear on his
face, as well as joy. It is very easy to decipher its morose
or its inverse.
  
His marriage at age 28 remains the most memorable of his life. For even
give great significance to this unique event, Edda Mukabagwiza
annually prepare a great feast on the occasion of his birthday
marriage, June 23
  
The death of his father in 1995 following a cardiac complication is the worst
event it has experienced. His mother is still alive. She lives in a state of
Old Age Nyamirambo.
  
In his daily prayers, she asked the Almighty Creator
to grant a perfect love and the people of Rwanda itself tolerance,
as she says, "Rwandan society has had its ups and downs?"
  
Edda Mukabagwiza appreciates all styles of clothing as long as they
are well sewn and respectful. She likes to wear the trousers can be
as someone who grew up in the neighborhood context boiling
Kigali (Nyamirambo). The clothes that give off the size of a woman so
exaggerated by Ms. Mukabagwiza are hated. "A pair of trousers and a jacket worth
the trouble to wear ". miniskirts should be avoided as long skirts
that have nothing attractive as a model or style is not preferable. If
she had the chance, her children would be spared to grow up in a society
corrupt where girls and women wear clothes that undermines their
personality? "Must respect the feminine body, to be
But respect? "
  
Contemplating the street children, "one mother," Ms. Mukabagwiza clear
two diametrically opposed feelings. Obviously, she thinks first
with pity and fear what their future as they have not
benefited from the family affection. It is the most vulnerable children
degree. They should be listened to and supported by anyone with love
feeding. Second, Edda Mukabagwiza displays a sense of anger
to these street children who have irresponsible parents. Exactly
deeply when she internalizes the main causes of their
vulnerability, Ms. Mukabagwiza lost the courage to directly help them. For
to end the problem of street children, there is a law against
severely liable for such parents "street children", strongly
said the Minister of Justice, Edda Mukabagwiza.
  
Preparing for old age
  
Ms. Mukabagwiza thinks of his own home and continued his studies.
These two indicators will enable it to properly prepare its future days
old age. Today, she said, "the humanists have lost their
market with the new reform of the Civil Service, tomorrow will be the turn
bachelor's and then fired. It is therefore urgent and timely
weave mat that will be the future of bed mattresses. Otherwise,
no salvation! "
  
Ms. Mukabagwiza would acquire a technical breakthrough in the
law because it does not always remain a politician. It prepares
seriously his children (school) to become useful
themselves and their society membership.
  
A will be made as and when it will manage to organize
his life.
  
The Justice Minister Edda Mukabagwiza said yes to a divorce, not the
polygamy. If in Rwandan society sorcery, quarrels in the
homes leading to crime, delinquency, etc.. continue to progress,
because some Rwandans still do not understand that divorce is
a legal fact legally capable of resolving disputes to prevent
family dramas more substantial than expected! Side polygamy, Edda
Rwandan women asked to please understand that it is impossible to
a man to share his love of several women fairly. For
this, polygamy should be banned despite the remarkable imbalance between
the number of women (56% women) and male (44% of men)
currently make up the Rwandan population.
  
Ms. Mukabagwiza likes to stay with companion animals. It has its
home a dog (Boxing) who entertains her children. Formerly, she tamed a
cat, but unfortunately the children were allergic to the hairs as they
napped and spent the night under the same sheets that said cat?
  
Edda Mukabagwiza loves to suck sugar cane. All lots rods
sugar came from the town of Butamwa for sale in Nyamirambo
had to go through the family of parents Edda.

Safari Byuma

Friday, July 8, 2011

RWANDA:Rethinking Rwanda, 1994

Professor of Peace Studies, Political Science, and Sociology
Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies Click Here for the video

Click here to view the video of this lecture. 

10davenport.jpg

Christian Davenport

Sixteen years ago, the world watched as Rwanda descended into large-scale violence that left up to a million people dead. This was followed by massive out-migration (nearly half the country), untold amounts of internal displacement, and a deluge of articles, TV news features, movies, and commentary from human rights activists, political leaders, and ordinary people from around the world. 
Exactly what happened during Rwanda’s hundred days of horror?  Christian Davenport has spent more than a decade researching this question. His answer takes all the elements of what has become the conventional story — civil war, genocide, ethnic conflict, refugees, French UN missions, Tutsi rebels, the Hutu army — and combines them in unexpected ways.  His research turns on its head the way we understand Rwanda, political violence, intervention, and the study of conflict itself.
Christian Davenport is a scholar of political conflict, from genocide to domestic spying. He directs two research and action projects: the Radical Information Project and Stop Our States. He is the author or editor of four books: State Repression and the Domestic Democratic Peace, Media Bias, Perspective and State Repression, Repression and Mobilization, and Paths to State Repression.
Free and open to the public.
A light lunch will be available before the lecture.

RWANDA:RWANDA: VISITORS TO POLITICAL PRISONERS KIDNAPPED TODAY NEAR KIMORONKO PRISON.

Kigali 08th  July 2011

VISITORS TO POLITICAL PRISONERS KIDNAPPED TODAY NEAR KIMORONKO PRISON.

Deo Mushyahidi After being kidnapped by RPF in 2010
Today 13 visitors registered with the Kigali maximum prison for a chance to catch a glimpse of Democracy prisoners Madame Victoire Ingabire, Chair of FDU-INKINGI; Bernard Ntaganda of PS Imberakuri; Deo Mushayidi of PDP Imanzi and Charles Ntakirutinka of PDR Ubuyanja. They were ignored for hours until they silently decided to vacate. The opposition members who went to Kimironko prison where another political prisonner, Mr. Sylvère Mwizerwa (Permanent Secretary of Parti Social Imberakuri) is detained disappeared.  From the prison, they were rammed by tailing intelligence operatives.  5 visitors including Mr. Martin Ntavuka, FDU-INKINGI Kigali city leader, were hijacked from Kimironko bus stage. His wife, Mrs. Illuminée Iragena rushed to Kimironko detention facility to inquire the whereabouts of her husband and was arrested together with an old mother.

A lawyer who followed up the case with Kimironko prison administration was told that all the suspects were evacuated by the criminal police for further investigations. Their whereabouts and charges are unknown.  In total 7 opposition members and another person have been transferred to unknown destination: Alexis Bakunzibake, Secretary General of PS Imberakuri in charge of Youth; Jean Baptiste Ikitonderwa (PS Imberakuri); Martin Ntavuka (FDU-INKINGI) and his wife Illuminée Iragena; Ngwabije; Tite Joyeux; Eric; Madame Collette (aged over 60 years old).

After the government decided to isolate all political prisoners since April 2011, their visitors have been intimidated and threatened every single visiting day. The arbitrary arrest is a strong signal to demoralise and abash opposition members so they can leave their leaders in the lurch.

We urge the government to release all political prisoners and to put an end to arbitrary detentions of innocent people.

FDU-INKINGI
Boniface Twagirimana
Interim Vice President.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

RWANDA: This Is an Unexhaustive List of Catholic Youth Killied in Kabilizi Catholic Church by Kagame's Soldiers


Here Is the Name List of the Hutu Youth from Kabilizi Catholic Church who Were Killed by the Rwanda Patriotic Forces in 1996 While They Gathered for Prayers in RUHENGERI-RWANDA. Majority of these youth were my age-mates, Colleagues from the School, We used to play Football together. They are now gone and their bones are in display at GISOZI Genocide Memorial Hill. 
 
1) Gacunduri Charles together with his wife Nyiramateka Anastasie
3) Nsigayehe Gaspard
4) Marie Louise Ayinkamiye
5) Nyirandekeyaho Febrinille
6) Ndacyayisenga Vedaste
7) Nkurunziza Claude n’umuvandimwe we
9) Nicoribera Epipfanie
10) Macengu Kibebe
11) Alphonsine Uwamahoro
12) Fidele Manzi
13) Kiliseliya Umukunzi
14) Vincent Nshimiyimana
15) Melanie Uwumutoni
16) Munyembanza Jean Paul
17) Sibomana JEAN Paul
18) Nzabahimana Joseph
19) FEBORONIYA Mukandutiye
20) Gapitolina Nyirakamanzi
21) Estherie Mukandinda
22) Kabakera Antoinette
23) Odette Nyirandegeya
24) Nizeyimana Fabien
25) Vicencie Nyirakamongi
26) PAPIAS Muhayimana
27) ANDEREYA Rutambuka
28) GABRIEL Bucyanayandi
29) SERUGENDO Leonidas
30) Nyirakamanzi Alphonsine
31) Agnes Mukantabana
32) The Wife of  ALOYS Mbihoyiki
33) KABAGABE MADELEINE from RUGESHI
34) Mugiraneza Valens from Rubange
 
NB : The exact figure of the Hutu youth killed by RPF is more than 105 in one night. They are others were just dragged into the near by caves. However some of those whom the villagers managed to cover with some soil as they dodged Kagame's bullets, have some names of the soldiers who slaughtered them. 
 
The people of Ruhengeri still have hope that one day, only one day they culprits will be brought to justice in due time. When Rwanda will have a functioning justice without the interference of the superpower countries which are greedy of minerals in Africa.
 Please be careful about the names wrapped up in plastic bags so that you do not destroy them. 
 
Niyonkuru Malakiyasi. Ruhengeri- Rwanda.

RWANDA: WE CAN SMELL CHANGE

From Rwandan Youth For Change (RY4C) 
RY4C is a movement that emerged in response to the grave violations of Human Rights in Rwanda. This movement is meant not only for Rwandan Youths but for anyone who wishes to be part of this struggle for Freedom, Justice and Democracy.
RY4C acknowledges that Rwandans have suffered and that they are still suffering from all kinds of killings, oppression, living in exile and from other violations of Human Rights such as Right to life, to family, freedoms of speech, thinking and many more.
The Rwandans, condemned to remain silent, held like prisoners in their own country, found themselves in between the International Community which privileges their economical interests and a dictatorial regime. We believe it is time for every Rwandan to take his/her responsibility and do something about it.
RY4C is not a political party but a movement that is devoted to bring awareness through conferences and social networks to stimulate Young boys and girls to have a critical mind. Here is a forum which provides you with information, analyses, critics related to Rwandan politics. You shall find images, texts, videos and links meant to inspire you to be the change you want to see. RY4C promotes, supports and coordinates, if necessary, all initiatives of those who want change in Rwanda.
Young people are known to be creative and enthousiastic, we encourage you to create NGOs, videos, blogs, etc. and to communicate the TRUTH about our History. Thus, If you are passionated by music, sports, arts or you are an expert in any other domain we encourage all of you to use your knowledge wherever you are as a contribution to this change.

For advices and further support, please contact us at:
email: rwandanyouthforchange@gmail.com
Twitter: RY4Change
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RwandanYouthforChange

We are looking forward to working with you all,

RWANDA:HISTORY OF RWANDA FROM 1800 TO 1962:TIMELINE HISTORY OF RWANDA


From the first contact with Europeans in Rwanda to Rwanda's Independence:
1860: John Speke in his writings mentions the existence of Rwanda that he could see the shore Tanzanian Kagera.
1863: In his book "Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile", the same John Speke, after a brief stint in Burundi makes his theory about Batutsi: this would be "Hamitic-Semite" from Ethiopia. .. This theory has a hard life ...
1876: Henry Morton Stanley bypasses Rwanda from the north, but is not able to enter. It describes the Rwandans as a people of warriors resisting attempts by Arab and Swahili slave.
1884/1885: At the Berlin conference, the region including Tanganyika, Rwanda and Burundi was awarded to Germany.
1892: Dr Oscar Baumann, Ph.D. and Austrian geographer, is the first European to enter Rwanda. He stayed there from September 11 to 15.
1894: A German officer, Count Von Götzen, crosses the east-west Rwanda at the head of a column of 620 soldiers and askaris. He meets the Mwami Kigeri IV Rwabugiri May 29 to Kageyo (current prefecture of Gisenyi).
1895: IV Kigeri Rwabugiri died in November. He is succeeded by his son who took the name Rutarindwa dynastic Mibambwe Rutarindwa IV.
1896: Coup of Rucunshu: Musinga Mwami's half-brother and the Queen Mother Kanjogera Rutarindwa are murdered and other nobles. Musinga is named Yuhi V Musinga. It also decides to "trust" the external relations of the kingdom to the German Empire which recognizes the de facto protectorate.
1900: The White Fathers of Cardinal Lavigerie settle in Rwanda under the leadership of Bishop Hirth. On 4 February, the Mission of Save is created.
1907: The Germans settled in Rwanda. They open a military command in Kigali they have chosen as the "capital".
1911: Ratification in Brussels on July 27 of the Convention signed between Germany and Belgium May 14, 1910, fixing the borders "final" between the Belgian Congo and Rwanda.
1912: The Germans Yuhi V Musinga help to conquer the north.
1916: War of 1914-1918: the Allies fighting Germany in East Africa. Belgians drove the Germans out of Rwanda and occupied the country.
1922: Appointed first Bishop of Rwanda in the person of Bishop class.
1924: Belgium formally accepts the mandate of the Trusteeship "Ruanda-Urundi" entrusted by the League of Nations (LN) following the participation of Belgium to victory against Germany.
1926: The mandate of the League in Belgium provides a "mission of civilization based on a system of indirect rule."
1931: November 12, Belgium dismisses Yuhi V Musinga "selfishness and lust" among others. On 14 November, the fallen leaves mwami Nyanza. November 16, his son Charles was inducted Rudahigwa Mwami of Rwanda under the dynastic name Mutara III Rudahigwa, name chosen by Bishop class.
1933: Marriage of Mutara III Rudahigwa October 15 with Nyiromakomali.
1935: Mutara III Rudahigwa offers the Catholic church land situated in Nyanza property from his father. This land will become "the Church and the mission of Nyanza.
1941/1945: While World War II raging in Europe, Rwanda suffered a terrible famine caused by drought from 1941 to 1945 and cost 300,000 lives in Rwanda (which account at that time 2,000,000 inhabitants). Following the famine, new cultures are emerging in Rwanda: sweet potato, bean, pea and potatoes.
1942: Second marriage Mutara III Rudahigwa January 13 Gicanda with Rosalie.
Highlights of the history of Rwanda to the independence of Rwanda
1944: Musinga, exiled by Belgium in Moba (Belgian Congo), dies January 13.
1945: Disappearance of Bishop Class in Bujumbura on January 31 following a compound fracture of the femoral neck and pelvis.
1946:
Rwanda is enshrined in the Mwami "Christ the King" at a ceremony Oct. 27 in Nyanza.
The Rwanda spends defunct League of Nations mandate to the tutelage of the United Nations (UN).
1949: Travel triumphant Mutara III Rudahigwa in Belgium at the end of the year.
1954: Mutara III Rudahigwa decreed the abolition of feudalism on April 1.
1955: The Belgian King, Baudouin first visit to Rwanda.
1956: Archbishop Perraudin was appointed bishop of Rwanda.
1957: On March 24, publication of the "Hutu Manifesto" in which the Catholic Church and the Belgian rule is not implicated.
King Kigeli.
1959: The letter published in Lent February 11 by Bishop Perraudin and read in many churches attacked violently policy Mwami.
July 25 Mutara III Rudahigwa dies under mysterious circumstances Bujumbura: therapeutic accident or murder?
July 28, Mwami deceased's funeral held in Nyanza. The same day, the leading monarchist F. Rukeba, A. Kayumba, M. and M. Rwagasana Kayihura gaining speed the Belgian authorities and designate one of the halves of Rudahigwa brothers, Jean-Baptiste Ndahindurwa, as his successor under the dynastic name of Kigeri V Ndahindurwa.
Takes place in November "Toussaint Rwandan" tens of thousands of Tutsi were driven from their hills, and had to go into exiled, they moved to Zaire, Burundi and Uganda. This is the beginning of the "social revolution" of the Hutu.
1960: Municipal elections organized by the colonial authorities from 26 June to 30 July. They give a landslide victory in PARMEHUTU party Kayibanda.
1961: In elections on Sept. 25 in Rwanda, PARMEHUTU totals 78% of the vote and 17% UNAR.
1962: On July 1, the independence of Rwanda is given by Belgium. The republic is proclaimed and Kayibanda became the first President of the Republic of Rwanda

Original source: rwanda.free.fr
Related Keywords:
history of Rwanda, Rwanda's independence, Oscar Baumann Kigeri, Rwabugiri, Musinga Rucunshu, White Fathers in Rwanda, in Rwanda Lavigerie Germans in Rwanda, Yuhi V Musinga Kayibanda, northern Rwanda, Bishop of Rwanda, Mutara Rudahigwa, Nyiromakomali King Mutara Rudahigwa King, Rosalie Gicanda, Gicanda, Mwami, Nyanza, Baudoin in Rwanda, UN Rwanda, the Belgians in Rwanda, Perraudin Rwanda, Hutu Manifesto, Catholic Church of Rwanda, elections in Rwanda, PARMEHUTU, legislative Rwanda, UNAR Rwanda independence, Kayibanda

RWANDA:THE RPF INKOTANYI ITINERARY OF BLOODSHED

PAUL KAGAME KILLED MORE PEOPLE THAN ANYBODY ELSE
by Habimana Rukundo on Wednesday, July 6, 2011 at 10:24am
THE RPF INKOTANYI ITINERARY OF BLOODSHED Starting from KAGITUMBA all the way to MBANADAKA
  • Massacre in Kagitumba on October 1, 1990
  • Ngarama massacre in 1991
  • Massacre in Kiyombe and Butaro in 1991
  • Massacre in Kigombe and Kinigi on January 22,1991 in Ruhengeri
  • Massacre in Bwisige-Kivuye-Kibali-Muvumba in 1992
  • Massacre in Gatsibo-Neke-Muhura in 1993
  • Massacre of Nyacyonga in 1994
  • Kibeho Massacre in 1995
  • Massacre in Kinigi,Mukingo
  • Nkuli, Nyamutera, Ndusu-Burringa, Satinskyi, Gaseke-
  • Nyakizu,Mutura,Jenda,Kabatwa,Kabumba, Gatovu in 1996-1998
  • DRC Hutu massacre of Kibumba, Kahindo,Katale, Lac Vert,Mugunga, NRA,Kavumu, Nyangezi in 1996-97
  • Massacre in SAKE-KIBABI-WALIKALE-AMISI-TINGITINGI-LUBUTU RIVER-OBUNDU-KALEMI-KISANGANI-IKELLA, Opala-Ikela-Bokungu-Boende Mandaka

RWANDA:Rwandan refugees 'reluctant to leave Zimbabwe'

From the AFRICAN REVIEW

Asylum seekers waiting for help. Zimbabwe's Labour and Social Services minister Paurina Mupariwa has said Rwandan refugees in the southern African nation are reluctant to return home. FILE | AFRICA REVIEW |
By KITSEPILE NYATHI in HararePosted Wednesday, July 6 2011 at 08:57
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Refugees from Rwanda who settled in Zimbabwe are reluctant to return home despite efforts by President Paul Kagame’s government to persuade them to return home.
Thousands of refugees who fled the 1994 genocide in Rwanda found refugee in Zimbabwe.
Rwanda last month sent a delegation that visited Zimbabwe’s biggest refugee camp in Manicaland Province to encourage the refugees to return home.
Zimbabwe’s Labour and Social Services minister Paurina Mupariwa told the refugees at the Tongogara refugee camp that it was now safe to return to their country.
"You would agree with me that there is no place like home and refugee life cannot continue forever,” she was quoted as having said by the state owned Herald newspaper.
Mr Marcelline Hepie, the United Nations High ommission for Refugees (UNCHR) country representative, said more than a quarter of the 5,000 refugees in Zimbabwe originated from the Great Lakes region but the majority were not willing to return home.
Voluntary repatriation
"Rwanda is the only country insisting on the return of all its citizens before the cessation clause befalls on them by the end of the year," Mr Hepie was also quoted by the Herald as having said.
"Following a high level delegation from Rwanda to Zimbabwe to sensitise their citizens on voluntary repatriation, the community is in the process of setting up a commission to join UNHCR and Zimbabwe for a "go and see" visit to Rwanda to ascertain on the conditions of voluntary repatriation in safety and dignity.

KAGAME:South Africa tries 6 for allegedly trying to kill Rwandan critic

From the GLOBAL POST
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — A politically charged trial here is drawing new attention to explosive allegations that the Rwandan government sent out agents to assassinate critics in foreign countries.
The case centers on the attempted murder of a former Rwandan military general who fled into exile in South Africa after falling out with Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
Lt. Gen. Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa was shot in June 2010, as he returned to his home in an affluent Johannesburg suburb, in an ambush that had all the hallmarks of an assassination attempt.
One of the witnesses, a Rwandan who emigrated to South Africa in 2003, testified that the men who plotted to kill Nyamwasa were soldiers in the Rwandan army, flush with cash and cars.
Nyamwasa’s wife, Rosette, said a gunman approached their black BMW as they waited to pass through a security entrance to their gated community in the Johannesburg's Melrose Arch area. The gunman shot once through the window, hitting Nyamwasa in the stomach, and then reportedly tried to finish the job with a second shot — but the gun jammed and the shooter fled.
The story didn’t end there: South African prosecutors say the people who wanted Nyamwasa dead plotted to strangle him in his hospital bed as he recovered from the gunshot wound.
Standing trial in a Johannesburg court are three Rwandans and three Tanzanians, all of whom have pleaded not guilty to the charges. They include a former Rwandan soldier, and Nyamwasa’s chauffeur, Rwandan Richard Bachisha, who was driving the BMW at the time of the attack.
Pascal Kanyandekwe, a Rwandan businessman with a Belgian passport, has been accused of plotting to kill Nyamwasa while he was hospitalized after the shooting, and has also been charged with corruption after allegedly trying to bribe his way to freedom by offering $1 million to two police officers.
Key state witnesses in the case have received special protection from South African authorities because they fear being attacked by the Rwandan government, according to media reports here.

Considering the world's many crises, this week's winner asks, is the trouble worse than we think? Check back in mid-July for the story.
Rwandan dissidents have accused Kagame’s government of involvement in the attack. Prosecutors won’t say whether they think Kagame’s government was behind the attack, and Rwandan authorities have angrily denied the allegations of involvement in the ambush and hired a South African lawyer to monitor the court proceedings in Johannesburg.
"The government of Rwanda doesn't have anything to hide. They're not involved in this," their lawyer Gerhard van der Merwe told the Associated Press.
Kagame and his Rwandan Patriotic Front party have been in power since the end of the 1994 genocide that killed 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus, when he led a rebel army into the capital to expel a Hutu-led government. It is this history that Kagame uses to justify his continuing authoritarian rule.
But Kagame’s government is accused of becoming increasingly despotic. Human rights groups say opposition politicians, journalists and civil society activists in Rwanda have been subjected to growing crackdowns.
In May, British police warned some Rwandan exiles living in the U.K. that their lives were in danger, and the threat is believed to have come from the Rwandan government.
In the lead-up to the presidential election last year, there were mysterious deadly grenade attacks in the capital, Kigali, and a crackdown by government on opposition politicians and journalists.
Nyamwasa, who was most recently Rwandan ambassador to India, has become an outspoken critic of Kagame, but has kept a low profile since the apparent assassination attempt last June.
Nyamwasa and Patrick Karegeya, a former intelligence chief, were blamed in the grenade attacks. Both men fled to South Africa, joining the dozens of once high-ranking exiles who have defected to neighboring countries since Kagame came to power.
“The regime in Kigali is really descending into total dictatorship and you know absolute power corrupts absolutely,” Nyamwasa told Voice of America last year. “You are not supposed to debate and if you are perceived to have a different opinion on anything, then you are an enemy. That’s what happened to me.”
In Rwanda, Nyamwasa and other former top Kagame aides have been convicted in absentia on charges that include threatening state security.
Nyamwasa, who received refugee status in South Africa in 2010, faces international war crimes charges linked to the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide —allegations he denies.
A Spanish judge in 2008 charged Nyamwasa and 39 other members of the Rwandan military with the mass killings of Hutu civilians after they seized power in Rwanda.
Rights groups have demanded that South Africa strip Nyamwasa of his refugee status because of these allegations.

Rwanda - Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza's Baptism of Fire

From Africa Confidential
She will be just 43 years old in a few months - precisely on October 3 - but she already possesses a resume literally a mile long! I am speaking of Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, married mother of three children, prodigious author, and accomplished grassroots organizer. Now, why would such a woman of substance resign her high-profile job at a Netherlands-based international accounting firm, where she superintended the accounting departments in 25 branches in Africa, Asia and Europe - thus giving up her comfort zone - and return home in 2009, after spending 16 years in self-exile, to dedicate herself to the rough and tumble of politics?
I mulled this poser over and over in my mind as I keenly studied newspaper photographs of the bespectacled leading Rwandan opposition figure, wearing a simple prison frock, with a bag slung over her right shoulder, as she sat pensively in court - her wrists in handcuffs - during a preliminary hearing of a treasonable felony charge leveled against her by the government. The sorry sight reduced me to tears.
It was English statesman and man of letters John Morley who intoned that "Where it is a duty to worship the sun, it is pretty sure to be a crime to examine the laws of heat." But although few would argue with the proposition that the travails of Umuhoza, an outspoken critic of Paul Kigame, have the imprimatur the Rwandan president scrawled all over, it would be extremely naïve not to take into cognizance the nuances and complexities of a multi-caste society like Rwanda. The Hutu, Tutsi and Twa ethnic nationalities that principally make up Rwanda share a common culture and language - Kinyarwanda - and are classified by anthropologists as social groups rather than separate tribes.
The odyssey of how the Hutus became what can be likened to 'Untouchables' in the Hindi (Indian) caste system - hewers of wood and fetchers of water - or 'Osu' in Igboland, while the Tutsis constitute the nobility (Brahmins in India) and 'Nwafo' ('pure-bred' in Igboland), has its origins in the mid-18th Century, when the Tutsi Nyiginya dynasty straddled the ancient Kingdom of Rwanda. King Kigeli Rwabugiri was undoubtedly the greatest of the Tutsi monarchs. The reforms he introduced included ububake - a cattle clientship that granted privileged status to a limited number of Hutus - and uburetwa - a system of Hutu forced labor. First, Germany and, later, Belgium, as colonial powers, maintained the existing class system by promoting Tutsi supremacy and hegemony.
The Belgians, in particular, lit the fuse of an incendiary discriminatory time bomb with their introduction of identity cards (precursor of apartheid South Africa's obnoxious 'Pass Law') labeling each Rwandan as either Hutu, Tutsi or Twa. Before this time, it was possible for a wealthy Hutu to purchase the higher title of 'honorary Tutsi.' Political correctness might have succeeded in preventing Tutsi politicians from openly baring their minds, but empirical evidence indicates that no member of a privileged class readily gives up the associated perks of power just at the asking.
Umuhoza's story closely mirrors that of Aung Sang Suu Kyi, the beleaguered but irrepressible leader of the Burmese pro-democracy movement. Both of them were barred from contesting the presidential elections in their respective countries. The political parties on whose popular platforms they both wanted to contest elections - the National League for Democracy (NLD) for Suu Kyi, and the United Democratic Forces (FDU), the main coalition of opposition groups, in the case of Umuhoza - were proscribed/denied accreditation by powers-that-be. They are both victims of a serial persecutory abuse of court processes. By the end of today, Umuhoza would have spent her 265th day in solitary confinement at the Kigali Maximum Security Prison.
Kigame, a Tutsi, assumed office under the transitional government arrangements in 2000, after dispensing with the charade of propping up the 'coalition government' led by Pasteur Bizimungu, a Hutu, who was starting to 'irritably' get too big for his breeches! He subsequently won presidential elections in 2003 and 2007. To be fair to Kigame, the Rwandan economy has been on overdrive under his charge. He also introduced novel constitutional changes, such as the one that reserves 24 seats and three seats for women and youths and physically-challenged persons respectively, in the 80-member Chamber of Deputies. Following the 2008 election, there are 45 female deputies in the Lower House, making Rwanda the only country in the world with a female majority in the national parliament.
But these achievements constitute no more than white sepulchers. Those that occupy the reserved seats in the Lower Chamber and all the 26 seats in the Senate are selected by a variety of bodies - not by universal suffrage - rendering the electoral process very susceptible to all kinds of manipulations designed to achieve a predetermined outcome. The Kigame-led Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), which shot its way to power in 1994, remains the dominant political party. It has cornered the presidency and the parliament in national elections, with the party's vote consistently exceeding 70%.
RPF remains a Tutsi-dominated political party, although it claims to receive broad support from across the country. So did late Gen. Sani Abacha with the 'five fingers of a leprous hand' he approved in the name of political parties. And so did the 'new Germany' fashioned by Hitler's fascist Nazi Party. The point being made is that it is relatively easy to record whatever 'positive achievements' a leadership fancies - whether real or phantom - when it controls all the levers of coercive force.
There is ample evidence to prove that the system whereby a privileged minority lords it over a deprived and docile majority - a clear case of the tail wagging the dog, be it white on black or black on black - has a sell-by date, as demonstrated in Angola, Haiti, Jamaica, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, among others. The electoral victories of Barack Obama (in the USA) and Goodluck Jonathan (in Nigeria) clearly show that it is still possible for a candidate from a minority class or ethnic nationality to assume the highest political office in an electoral process devoid of debauchery.

It is either Kigame and his henchmen expand the political space now by engaging credible Hutu leaders in meaningful discussions to reshape Rwanda's collective destiny - just as white supremacist Prime Minister F.W. de Clerk finally did with ANC's Nelson Mandela in South Africa - or live in self-delusion by continuing to deal with Hutu quislings. If he chooses the path of honor, he should immediately release all Hutu prisoners of conscience, starting with Umuhoza, and engage all rebel/emancipation groups without preconditions. He must also resolve - with the same enthusiasm he is hunting former government officials of Hutu extraction alleged to have abetted the 1994 Tutsi genocide - lingering question marks over the cold-blooded murder of President Juvenal Habyarimana to give a sense of closure to a large segment of Rwandan society.
While there should be no let up in the intensity and consistency of pressure being brought to bear on Kigame by the international community to quickly release Umuhoza and provide her a level playing field to fully participate in Rwandan politics, I appeal to those concerned to equally push her candidacy for such eminent international awards as the Nobel Peace Prize, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and the Olof Palme Prize, among others, for her role as an icon of the struggle for freedom, democracy and justice - both political and social - in Rwanda and Africa.