Rwanda’s killings of president’s critics

The investigation by The Globe and Mail‘s two journalists involved them interviewing Rwandan exiles in South Africa who claim to have been recruited to do the dirty work for Rwanda’s military intelligence.

The investigation claims to provide the strongest evidence yet that Kigali is behind attacks in South Africa, Britain, Sweden, Belgium, Uganda, Kenya and Mozambique.

This being the year that Rwanda and Africa remembers the 20th anniversary of the horrific genocide, the investigation raises questions on how the world sees Paul Kagame and his regime.
Kagame has been largely seen as a hero for his role in ending the war between the Tutsis and the Hutus. Rwanda’s environmental cleanliness, near-absence of corruption and business-orientation has been lauded but, with this investigation, he does not appear to  be untainted.

The report cites a recording of a 2011 telephone conversation in which it says Rwanda’s then intelligence chief, Colonel Dan Munyuza, discusses the murder of two of Kagame’s former aides with former soldier Major Robert Higiro.

“The price is not a problem,” he is quoted as saying, referring to the $1 million (about R10 million) being offered for a contract to kill Johannesburg-based ex-army general Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa and former intelligence chief Patrick Karegeya.

Living in South Africa at the time, Karageya was found strangled in a posh Johannesburg hotel on New Year’s Day. Nyamwasa, on the other hand, has survived multiple assassination attempts.

This comes just over a month after South Africa’s Justice Minister, Jeff Radebe, issued a strong warning to Rwanda about waging attacks on government dissidents on South African soil.

Source: The Globe and Mail, Independent Online