[AfricaRealities] Fw: *DHR* The Independent - UK - 1 hour ago: Assassins linked to Kagame regime.

 

From: "Jean Bosco Sibomana sibomanaxyz999@gmail.com [Democracy_Human_Rights]" 
Subject: *DHR* The Independent - UK - 1 hour ago: Assassins linked to Kagame regime.

 

Assassins linked to Kagame regime.

The Independent - UK - 1 hour ago.
By Ian Birrell
Friday 29 August 2014

Rwandan president is implicated in funding hit squad of four men
convicted of trying to kill his exiled army chief in South Africa.
Yet Western countries, including Britain, continue to pander to the
murderous despot


Six men charged with attempting to kill Rwanda's former army chief
Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa sit in court in Johannesburg. Four of them
were convicted of attempted assassination yesterday

Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa had only been in South Africa for a few
months when, returning home from a shopping trip with his wife and
children, a gunman tried to kill him.

The Rwandan general, exiled after falling out with President Paul
Kagame, survived after being rushed to intensive care. Yesterday he
saw four men convicted of trying to assassinate him.

"The magistrate has correctly observed that the conspiracy to kill me
was politically motivated," said Mr Nyamwasa, after the verdict in
Kagiso, near Johannesburg.

The resolution of this 2010 case is a landmark moment. It is the first
time a Rwandan hit squad has been caught and convicted after leaving a
trail of blood and terror around the world.

Army chief of staff Mr Nyamwasa fled to South Africa after joining in
opposition with three other former close allies of Kagame. Another was
Patrick Karegeya, an ex-spy chief found strangled in a Johannesburg
hotel this year.

Stanley Mkhair, the magistrate, said it was clear the four convicted
men – one Rwandan and three Tanzanians – met several times to plan the
Nyamwasa assassination attempt and were paid 80,000 Rand (£4,540) in
cash by "people in Rwanda". A 33-year-old Rwandan businessman named
Pascal Kanyandekwe was cleared of offering big bribes to South African
police after they arrested him. Items found in his possession proved
his links to the plot but there was insufficient evidence to convict
him, said Mr Mkhair.

The general's driver was also cleared after prosecutors failed to
prove beyond doubt he was involved.

Significantly, Mr Mkhair concluded the plot to kill Mr Nyamwasa came
"from a certain group of people from Rwanda". Clearly he was pointing
at the regime of Kagame, who holds his nation in a vice-like grip.

Yet still this repressive ruler remains the darling of many Western
admirers, despite never hiding his lethal contempt for critics.

Days after Karegeya's killing, the Rwandan Defence Minister –
referring to the strangling – said: "When you choose to be a dog, you
die like a dog, and the cleaners will wipe away the trash so that it
does not stink for them."

The following day President Kagame himself came close to condoning the
murder. "Whoever betrays the country will pay the price, I assure
you," he told a rally. "Whoever it is, it is a matter of time."

The tragedy of Rwanda is how this deluded despot sees himself as the
embodiment of his nation – and how he is egged on by fawning Western
advisers such as Tony Blair and aid donors who prop up his murderous
regime by providing 40 per cent of its budget.

"This is a significant case because the victim was such a high-profile
opponent," said Carina Tertsakian, senior researcher on Rwanda at
Human Rights Watch. "It fits a well-documented pattern against
opponents and critics that has gone on as long as this government has
been in power."

Of course Rwanda denied involvement in the attempt on Mr Nyamwasa's
life, just as it always does when dissidents die in mysterious
circumstances. "The Rwandan government does not go around shooting
innocent citizens," said Louise Mushikiwabo, the Foreign Minister.

But such claims look absurd when a steady succession of critics,
judges and journalists have been threatened, harassed and murdered
after crossing Kagame. Victims have been beaten, beheaded, shot,
stabbed and strangled both at home and abroad.

Even Paul Rusesabagina, whose brave stance during the 1994 genocide
saved so many lives and led to the film Hotel Rwanda, was intimidated
after speaking out against Kagame's misrule.

Human Rights Watch has documented arbitrary arrests, detentions,
killings, torture and enforced disappearances since Kagame took power.
Many cases are similar in style.

In 1998 a former Minister of Interior who criticised human rights
abuses was shot dead in Kenya, having survived a previous murder
attempt. A high court judge in Nairobi found the killing was political
– but Rwanda frustrated investigations by refusing to waive diplomatic
immunity for a suspect working at its embassy.

Latest victims include Kagame's former bodyguard Joel Mutabazi, who
survived both assassination and abduction attempts before being
snatched from Uganda and put on trial for "terrorism" in Kigali.
Prosecutors are demanding a life sentence.


South Africa has refused a French request to extradite Mr Nyamwasa to
answer questions over Kagame's alleged order to shoot down a plane
carrying the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi, which sparked the 1994
genocide.

After another attempt on Mr Nyamwasa's life in March, South African
Justice Minister Jeff Radebe warned Rwanda that his nation "will not
be used as a springboard to do illegal activities". This led to a
spate of tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats.

Even the US, for so long turning a blind eye to Kagame's atrocities
and his pillaging of the Democratic Republic of Congo, has hit out at
"politically motivated murders of prominent Rwandan exiles".

Yet Britain welcomed this war criminal into the Commonwealth and
continues to pump huge sums of aid into his country – nearly £400m
over the course of the coalition – while hypocritically talking of
promoting democracy and human rights.

Even a warning from Scotland Yard in 2011 that a Rwandan hit squad had
been sent to murder two exiles living in Britain failed to stop the
torrent of aid into this regime's pocket.

"This is a very important verdict," said Rene Mugenzi, a Liberal
Democrat activist who was one of the targets. "Anyone opposed to
Kagame and doing anything to raise awareness about what is happening
in Rwanda has a death sentence put on them."

The Independent
2 Derry Street London W8 5TT
© independent.co.uk

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/assassins-linked-to-kagame-regime-9700529.html

--
SIBOMANA Jean Bosco
Google+: https://plus.google.com/110493390983174363421/posts
YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9B4024D0AE764F3D
http://www.youtube.com/user/sibomanaxyz999
***Online Time:15H30-20H30, heure de Montréal.***Fuseau horaire domestique:
heure normale de la côte Est des Etats-Unis et Canada (GMT-05:00)***

---

Envoyé par : Jean Bosco Sibomana <sibomanaxyz999@gmail.com>

---

__._,_.___

---

Posted by: Samuel Desire <sam4des@yahoo.com>

---

Reply via web post

•

Reply to sender

•

Reply to group

•

Start a New Topic

•

Messages in this topic (1)

----------------------------------------------------------
The Voice of the Poor, the Weak and Powerless.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Post message:  AfricaRealities@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe: AfricaRealities-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Unsubscribe: AfricaRealities-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
List owner: AfricaRealities-owner@yahoogroups.com
__________________________________________________________________

Please consider the environment before printing this email or any attachments.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-http://www.africarealities.com/

-https://www.facebook.com/africarealities

Visit Your Group

• Privacy • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use

.

__,_._,___