Committee to Protect Journalists
Press Release
9 July 2010
Police in Rwanda arrested the editor of a private newspaper on Thursday in connection with a series of articles critical of the government, according to local journalists.
Agnès Uwimana was taken into custody in the capital, Kigali, over allegations that her Kinyarwanda-language weekly Umurabyo had published stories “inciting the public to disobey,” “articles related to division and ethnicity,” and “rumors that can cause disturbance in the country,” Rwandan National Police spokesman Eric Kayiranga told CPJ today. Kayiranga said police acted in the public interest and would take Uwimana to court next week.
Umurabyo, which rose to prominence in April following the government’s closure of leading private papers Umuseso and Umugizi, had in recent editions raised questions about a number of sensitive topics, including last month’s murder of journalist Jean-Léonard Rugambage, the fallout between President Paul Kagame and two now-exiled military leaders, and reports alleging lavish government spending on luxury jets, according to local journalists. One story criticizing the government was headlined, “The Hammer Has Begun Killing the Fly,” a reference to April remarks in which Kagame declared that, “if necessary, we will kill the fly with a hammer.” Kagame was discussing generals who fled after being accused of involvement in grenade attacks earlier this year.
“Once again, Rwandan authorities invoke national security and the legacy of the 1994 genocide to silence one of the few dissenting voices in the shrinking independent Rwandan press,” said CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita. “We call on authorities to release Agnès Uwimana immediately; she should not go to prison for expressing her views a month before presidential elections.”
Uwimana had been imprisoned in 2007-08, serving a one-year sentence on charges of ethnic divisionism and libel after she published an op-ed on the topic of ethnic violence in Rwanda, according to CPJ research. Last month, Rwanda’s Media High Council Board Chairman Arthur Asiimwe accused Uwimana of publishing “defamatory articles and falsehoods” in a story suggesting that all Rwandans were both victims and perpetrators of the 1994 genocide, according to news reports.
Only a handful of independent newspapers, including Rushyashya, Umusingi, and Gasabo, have continued to publish in Rwanda under increasing self-censorship, according to local journalists.
10 July, 2010
09 July, 2010
Update on Rwandan Opposition Party Members' Court Case.
Bail was denied for PS-Imburakuri President Bernard Ntaganda, who plans to appeal the decision. Five FDU members have been released on bail, two were released completely, however Alice Muhirwa did not appear in court and remains in the hospital. Among those who were released was FDU leader Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza's lawyer, Mr. Theogene Muhayeyezu.
Another Rwandan Media Editor Arrested Trying to Flee the Country.
256 News
9 July 2010
Barely a month after a Rwandan editor was assassinated in Kigali, another Rwandan editor was arrested last night trying to flee the country.
Agnes Uwimana Nkusi, editor of the local vernacular newspaper "Mulabyo" was arrested on charges of alleged sectarianism, discrimination, genocide denial and inciting hatred in the public.
Our sources have told us that Uwimana was arrested in the district of Rushashyi in Northern Province where she was trying to escape to DR Congo after a tip off that the security sources planned to arrest her.
This is the second time she has been arrested on similar charges. She was first arrested in 2007 and was sentenced to one year in Kigali's main prison, 1930.
A number of journalists have been arrested and illegally detained, forcing many into exile while many independent newspapers have been banned. The threat of imprisonment is by far the greatest threat to the independent journalists in Rwanda.
As we were compiling this report, our sources in Kigali told us that the Minister in of Information and Executive-Secretary, together with the Director of Information, are holding a press conference at the Media High Council Office in Kigali to brief journalists on a new executive order requiring that everyone acquire new press cards. To obtain the card, every journalist will first have to be interrogated by the CID.
In May of this year, the international watchdog group Reporters Without Borders branded Rwandan President Paul Kagame as a "media predator”.
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Editor's Note: In addition, Mr. Jason Sterns, blogger at "Congo Siasa (Politics)," discovered that, "David Himbara, the influential former Principle Private Secretary (PPS) to President Kagame, also left Rwanda in January for South Africa. The circumstances of his departure are, however, not clear. He has not made any declarations since his arrival in South Africa, although sources among the RPF dissenters suggest he might have fallen out with the powerful First Lady." (http://congosiasa.blogspot.com/2010/07/another-arrest-in-rwanda.html)
9 July 2010
Barely a month after a Rwandan editor was assassinated in Kigali, another Rwandan editor was arrested last night trying to flee the country.
Agnes Uwimana Nkusi, editor of the local vernacular newspaper "Mulabyo" was arrested on charges of alleged sectarianism, discrimination, genocide denial and inciting hatred in the public.
Our sources have told us that Uwimana was arrested in the district of Rushashyi in Northern Province where she was trying to escape to DR Congo after a tip off that the security sources planned to arrest her.
This is the second time she has been arrested on similar charges. She was first arrested in 2007 and was sentenced to one year in Kigali's main prison, 1930.
A number of journalists have been arrested and illegally detained, forcing many into exile while many independent newspapers have been banned. The threat of imprisonment is by far the greatest threat to the independent journalists in Rwanda.
As we were compiling this report, our sources in Kigali told us that the Minister in of Information and Executive-Secretary, together with the Director of Information, are holding a press conference at the Media High Council Office in Kigali to brief journalists on a new executive order requiring that everyone acquire new press cards. To obtain the card, every journalist will first have to be interrogated by the CID.
In May of this year, the international watchdog group Reporters Without Borders branded Rwandan President Paul Kagame as a "media predator”.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor's Note: In addition, Mr. Jason Sterns, blogger at "Congo Siasa (Politics)," discovered that, "David Himbara, the influential former Principle Private Secretary (PPS) to President Kagame, also left Rwanda in January for South Africa. The circumstances of his departure are, however, not clear. He has not made any declarations since his arrival in South Africa, although sources among the RPF dissenters suggest he might have fallen out with the powerful First Lady." (http://congosiasa.blogspot.com/2010/07/another-arrest-in-rwanda.html)
Human rights activist Floribert Chebeya Died From Physical Abuse.
SAPA
8 July 2010
Human rights activist Floribert Chebeya died of a heart attack after suffering physical abuse, said an autopsy released to his family in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday.
Chebeya's brother said the autopsy, carried out by Dutch doctors, confirmed that he had been murdered. His widow called for an international inquiry into his death.
Chebeya, 41, was found dead with his hands tied behind his back on June 2.
The autopsy, carried out by the doctors on June 11, noted superficial cuts and some bleeding around the wrists, forearms and the legs caused by an external source, the family said.
"The autopsy proves that the death of Floribert was caused by external actions," his brother Fidele Chebeya told reporters.
"That reinforces what we already thought. He was killed, we are talking about a killing by torture carried out by professionals," he added.
"Now we want to know what really happened," Chebeya's widow, Annie Mangbenga, said.
"For that, we are going to have to have an independent, impartial, transparent inquiry with specialists from abroad, as they did for the autopsy."
Chebeya and his driver disappeared while travelling to the police headquarters, where he had been called to a meeting with police chief John Numbi.
His body was found on the morning of June 2, tied up on the back seat of his car on a road on the outskirts of Kinshasa. The driver, Fidele Bazana, has not been found.
Nearly a thousand people, including foreign diplomats and government ministers attended last month's funeral for Chebeya, who was the president of La Voix des Sans-Voix (The Voice of the Voiceless).
His death had already prompted international criticism, notably from the United States and the European Union.
Since his death, the chief of police has been suspended and a dozen police officers arrested during an investigation that has been entrusted to the military.
8 July 2010
Human rights activist Floribert Chebeya died of a heart attack after suffering physical abuse, said an autopsy released to his family in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday.
Chebeya's brother said the autopsy, carried out by Dutch doctors, confirmed that he had been murdered. His widow called for an international inquiry into his death.
Chebeya, 41, was found dead with his hands tied behind his back on June 2.
The autopsy, carried out by the doctors on June 11, noted superficial cuts and some bleeding around the wrists, forearms and the legs caused by an external source, the family said.
"The autopsy proves that the death of Floribert was caused by external actions," his brother Fidele Chebeya told reporters.
"That reinforces what we already thought. He was killed, we are talking about a killing by torture carried out by professionals," he added.
"Now we want to know what really happened," Chebeya's widow, Annie Mangbenga, said.
"For that, we are going to have to have an independent, impartial, transparent inquiry with specialists from abroad, as they did for the autopsy."
Chebeya and his driver disappeared while travelling to the police headquarters, where he had been called to a meeting with police chief John Numbi.
His body was found on the morning of June 2, tied up on the back seat of his car on a road on the outskirts of Kinshasa. The driver, Fidele Bazana, has not been found.
Nearly a thousand people, including foreign diplomats and government ministers attended last month's funeral for Chebeya, who was the president of La Voix des Sans-Voix (The Voice of the Voiceless).
His death had already prompted international criticism, notably from the United States and the European Union.
Since his death, the chief of police has been suspended and a dozen police officers arrested during an investigation that has been entrusted to the military.
08 July, 2010
Spain and France Request Gen. Nyamwasa's Extradition.
Daily Monitor
8 July 2010
By Tabu Butagira
South Africa yesterday confirmed France and Spain have each issued fresh extradition requests for Lt. Gen. Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa in relation to the countries' respective arrest warrants for him.
“Yes, there are [new] extradition requests from those two countries that we are considering,” Mr Tlali Tlali, the spokesman for South Africa’s Foreign Ministry, told this newspaper by telephone last evening.
A French judge indicted Gen. Nyamwasa in 2006 for allegedly shooting down the plane carrying Rwanda’s President Juvenal Habyarimana and his Burundian counterpart Cyprian Ntaryamira.
Separately, Spain in 2008 accused him of having links to the death of Spanish nuns during the genocide. The fresh extradition requests, which together with that made by Rwanda now total three, came to light as Rwanda’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Ms Louise Mushikiwabo, on Tuesday summoned South Africa’s Ambassador, Gladstone Gwadiso, to protest the way investigation into Gen. Nyamwasa’s June 19 shooting is being handled.
8 July 2010
By Tabu Butagira
South Africa yesterday confirmed France and Spain have each issued fresh extradition requests for Lt. Gen. Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa in relation to the countries' respective arrest warrants for him.
“Yes, there are [new] extradition requests from those two countries that we are considering,” Mr Tlali Tlali, the spokesman for South Africa’s Foreign Ministry, told this newspaper by telephone last evening.
A French judge indicted Gen. Nyamwasa in 2006 for allegedly shooting down the plane carrying Rwanda’s President Juvenal Habyarimana and his Burundian counterpart Cyprian Ntaryamira.
Separately, Spain in 2008 accused him of having links to the death of Spanish nuns during the genocide. The fresh extradition requests, which together with that made by Rwanda now total three, came to light as Rwanda’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Ms Louise Mushikiwabo, on Tuesday summoned South Africa’s Ambassador, Gladstone Gwadiso, to protest the way investigation into Gen. Nyamwasa’s June 19 shooting is being handled.
UK's DFID to Revoke Funding for Oppressive Rwandan Media High Council.
The following was an exchange in the UK House of Commons on 7 July 2010
3. Mary Creagh (Wakefield) (Labour):
What funding his Department plans to allocate to the Media High Council in Rwanda in 2011-12. [6263]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Mr. Stephen O’Brien):
The UN-led programme of support to six oversight institutions in Rwanda, including the Media High Council, comes to an end in this financial year. There are no plans for further DFID support.
Mary Creagh:
I thank the Minister for that reply, and I am relieved to hear that we will not be funding the Media High Council given that it has recently suspended Rwanda’s two leading independent newspapers, Umuseso and Umuvugizi, and given that a leading Rwandan journalist, Jean-Léonard Rugambage, was murdered in Rwanda in June.
Will the Minister make urgent representations, through his Department, to the Rwandan authorities and make sure that we fund things that promote freedom of speech, particularly in the run-up to the elections?
Mr O’Brien:
I am grateful to the Hon. Lady for highlighting these issues. I assure her that when I visited Rwanda between 15 and 17 June I raised these very matters at all levels, including the very highest levels, in the various meetings I had. It is important that as part of the general support that DFID gives to help the Rwandan people, we press for the opening up of political space and that we make sure that pertains up to the election. My Right Hon. Friend the Secretary of State will take the opportunity, later this week in a meeting with the Rwandan High Commissioner, to press the issues that the Hon. Lady has rightly identified.
3. Mary Creagh (Wakefield) (Labour):
What funding his Department plans to allocate to the Media High Council in Rwanda in 2011-12. [6263]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Mr. Stephen O’Brien):
The UN-led programme of support to six oversight institutions in Rwanda, including the Media High Council, comes to an end in this financial year. There are no plans for further DFID support.
Mary Creagh:
I thank the Minister for that reply, and I am relieved to hear that we will not be funding the Media High Council given that it has recently suspended Rwanda’s two leading independent newspapers, Umuseso and Umuvugizi, and given that a leading Rwandan journalist, Jean-Léonard Rugambage, was murdered in Rwanda in June.
Will the Minister make urgent representations, through his Department, to the Rwandan authorities and make sure that we fund things that promote freedom of speech, particularly in the run-up to the elections?
Mr O’Brien:
I am grateful to the Hon. Lady for highlighting these issues. I assure her that when I visited Rwanda between 15 and 17 June I raised these very matters at all levels, including the very highest levels, in the various meetings I had. It is important that as part of the general support that DFID gives to help the Rwandan people, we press for the opening up of political space and that we make sure that pertains up to the election. My Right Hon. Friend the Secretary of State will take the opportunity, later this week in a meeting with the Rwandan High Commissioner, to press the issues that the Hon. Lady has rightly identified.
Ntaganda says he’s not slept or eaten, just drinking water.
Rwanda News Agency
8 July 2010
The Nyamirambo district court trying nine opposition party members ruled on Thursday that it will decide Friday as to whether they will be granted bail. Meanwhile, FDU-Inkingi party Treasurer Alice Muhirwa, who collapsed and fainted yesterday, remains in the hospital. She was absent from the Nyamirambo Court of First Instance today following her sudden collapse during her lengthy trial hearing yesterday. After some deliberation, the judges agreed Muhirwa’s case will resume after her recovery, whenever that may be. The other eight defendants in the case will receive their bail verdicts tomorrow at 3:00 pm in the Nyamirambo district court.
“We think there is no reasonable ground for their detention so we requested their release on bail,” said the defendants’ attorney, Maitre Gatera Gashabana today.
The other eight people in the case, including Bernard Ntaganda, head of the PS-Imberakuri party and a lawyer, were all present. Ntaganda is the only defendant representing himself. Looking frail and tired, he asked permission from the judge to sit during mid-trial instead of standing so he wouldn’t collapse. Though he has been offered food, he said he hasn’t been able to sleep or eat, only drink water.
Along with accusations of committing terrorism and organizing an unlawful public assembly, Ntaganda is also charged with promoting ethnic division and genocide ideology. He has pled not guilty to all charges.
The nine defendants were arrested June 24, the day they had planned to lead a protest in Kigali against the oppression experienced by their respective political parties. Ntaganda, allegedly the main organizer, and the other defendants were arrested in the morning before the event began. They have been in custody ever since and have always maintained their innocence. Ntaganda argues he should be tried in the high court since he’s the head of a political party.
The people charged include: Theobald Mutarambirwa, Alice Muhirwa, FDU-Inkingi’s treasurer, as well as Sylvain Sibomana, the Secretary-General. Others include Theogene Muhayeyezu, a lawyer, Martin Ntavuka an FDU member, Jean Baptiste Icyitonderwa, a student of KIST and member of PS-Imberakuri, and Sylvere Mwizerwa.
8 July 2010
The Nyamirambo district court trying nine opposition party members ruled on Thursday that it will decide Friday as to whether they will be granted bail. Meanwhile, FDU-Inkingi party Treasurer Alice Muhirwa, who collapsed and fainted yesterday, remains in the hospital. She was absent from the Nyamirambo Court of First Instance today following her sudden collapse during her lengthy trial hearing yesterday. After some deliberation, the judges agreed Muhirwa’s case will resume after her recovery, whenever that may be. The other eight defendants in the case will receive their bail verdicts tomorrow at 3:00 pm in the Nyamirambo district court.
“We think there is no reasonable ground for their detention so we requested their release on bail,” said the defendants’ attorney, Maitre Gatera Gashabana today.
The other eight people in the case, including Bernard Ntaganda, head of the PS-Imberakuri party and a lawyer, were all present. Ntaganda is the only defendant representing himself. Looking frail and tired, he asked permission from the judge to sit during mid-trial instead of standing so he wouldn’t collapse. Though he has been offered food, he said he hasn’t been able to sleep or eat, only drink water.
Along with accusations of committing terrorism and organizing an unlawful public assembly, Ntaganda is also charged with promoting ethnic division and genocide ideology. He has pled not guilty to all charges.
The nine defendants were arrested June 24, the day they had planned to lead a protest in Kigali against the oppression experienced by their respective political parties. Ntaganda, allegedly the main organizer, and the other defendants were arrested in the morning before the event began. They have been in custody ever since and have always maintained their innocence. Ntaganda argues he should be tried in the high court since he’s the head of a political party.
The people charged include: Theobald Mutarambirwa, Alice Muhirwa, FDU-Inkingi’s treasurer, as well as Sylvain Sibomana, the Secretary-General. Others include Theogene Muhayeyezu, a lawyer, Martin Ntavuka an FDU member, Jean Baptiste Icyitonderwa, a student of KIST and member of PS-Imberakuri, and Sylvere Mwizerwa.
Total to resume soon oil exploration in Sudan’s Jonglei – minister.
Sudan Tribune
8 July 2010
By Alsir Sidahmed
The French oil company Total SA (TOT) is expected to announce any time this month its plans as far as work resumption in block (B) in Southern Sudan State of Jonglei.
"I’ve asked them to sit with our staff in the (petroleum) ministry and put a resumption of work date sometime after the joint session," Dr. Lual Deng, the federal minister of oil told Sudan Tribune and the independent Arabic daily Al-Akbar in a wide ranging interview conducted in a plane on the way to Thar Jath oil field last week.
He said that such a decision is expected to be announced this month after the joint session. "Total wants assurances from the SPLM that they’ll continue work (in the future even if the South secedes) and I gave them those assurances," he further added.
Total entered Sudan in 1980 when it formed a consortium with Texas-based Marathon Inc. and the Kuwait Petroleum Co. to explore a 110,000 square kilometers block about 5% of Sudan’s area. Total began seismic tests in 1983, only to see its operation engulfed by an outbreak of Sudan’s long-simmering war. The French giant oil company pulled out in 1984 after one of its subcontractors was gunned down. During the next 20 years the consortium held onto its lease, citing the war as the reason it couldn’t move ahead.
In 2004 and as concluding the Comprehensive Peace Agreement seemed imminent it renewed its right to the concession, but by that time, the SPLM had brought in the tiny U.K. upstart, White Nile Co. (WNL.LN) to work in the same block (B) and a legal battle ensued. In July 2007 the National Petroleum Commission (NPC) confirmed that Total has the right to operate, but the company did little or no activity over the past two years since the NPC decision was enacted.
Part of the problem is to replace US company Marathon, which is forbidden under American sanctions to work in Sudan. NPC decision included restructuring the consortium shares leaving 20 percent for public bidders. At one point Mubadala company of the UAE showed interest, but nothing materialized.
Asking Total to resume work is one of the steps the new minister is taking to help push production figures up. Output has been hovering around 485,000 barrels per day (bpd) for more than three years.
He attributed that to a number of reasons. On the top comes security concerns at the local level, where communities ask for compensations, services etc to the extent that these moves lead to either shelving some expansion plans or worse production stoppage. One of the first visits to make was to Heglig to have first hand impression, hold meetings with officials that were attended by the governors of the two neighboring states of Southern Kordofan Ahmed Haroun and that of Unity states Taban Deng.
In these meetings it was agreed that security officers of the two states meet monthly to evaluate the situation and keep on improving it, to adopt the approach of communal compensation instead of individual one. Part of the deal Unity state dropped its opposition to some expansion plans that are going to add a new 5,000 bpd in blocks 1, 2, and 4, which is not much, but will help the state which is getting 2 percent out of what it produces.
The minister also revealed that the consortium of White Nile Petroleum Operating Company (WNPOC) led by the Malaysian Petronas has notified the ministry that it is relinquishing its rights in Block 5-B, which has shown poor results following drilling a number of wells that came out dry. Moreover, the minister said that he has given Moldovan company Ascom a 30-day warning up to the end of this month either to regulate its presence of leave the concession.
The second factor affecting production levels has to do with the low quality of some crudes like Dar produced out of blocks (3&7), which has been finding difficulty to attract refiners given the fact that its main market is US and Japan and the American sanctions are affecting its marketing, though China has been taking increasing amounts of this low quality, acidic crude of late.
The quality problem is affecting also crude produced out of block 5-A and is keeping a cap on plans to increase its volume from 17,000 bpd pumped currently. Crude is shipped via a 176km, 24 inch spur to tie with the pipeline carrying Nile Blend, which is Sudan’s top selling crude. Increased amounts from Thar Jath are bound to affect the quality of the Nile Blend. One of the ideas being floated is to set up a small refinery that can meet the domestic needs of the Unity state and help pump more oil of Thar Jath, which is estimated to have close to 200 million barrels reserve and double its current production easily.
Also part of the technical problems that need to be addressed is the growing percentage of water cuts in blocks 1, 2 and 4 run by Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Co. reaching up 80 percent in some cases.
Asked about the idea of an alternative pipeline to carry oil from the South through Kenya, Dr. Deng described it as, "uneconomical and expensive." Moreover, in a peaceful situation, the South sill continues to use existing downstream facilities in the North, "but if you are forced economy does not make sense".
Japan’s Toyota Co. has been floating an idea to build an alternative pipeline at an estimated cost of $1.5 billion, though other experts argue that such pipeline needs several years and multi billions of dollars to construct and in the end does not make economic sense as it competes with an existing pipeline.
8 July 2010
By Alsir Sidahmed
The French oil company Total SA (TOT) is expected to announce any time this month its plans as far as work resumption in block (B) in Southern Sudan State of Jonglei.
"I’ve asked them to sit with our staff in the (petroleum) ministry and put a resumption of work date sometime after the joint session," Dr. Lual Deng, the federal minister of oil told Sudan Tribune and the independent Arabic daily Al-Akbar in a wide ranging interview conducted in a plane on the way to Thar Jath oil field last week.
He said that such a decision is expected to be announced this month after the joint session. "Total wants assurances from the SPLM that they’ll continue work (in the future even if the South secedes) and I gave them those assurances," he further added.
Total entered Sudan in 1980 when it formed a consortium with Texas-based Marathon Inc. and the Kuwait Petroleum Co. to explore a 110,000 square kilometers block about 5% of Sudan’s area. Total began seismic tests in 1983, only to see its operation engulfed by an outbreak of Sudan’s long-simmering war. The French giant oil company pulled out in 1984 after one of its subcontractors was gunned down. During the next 20 years the consortium held onto its lease, citing the war as the reason it couldn’t move ahead.
In 2004 and as concluding the Comprehensive Peace Agreement seemed imminent it renewed its right to the concession, but by that time, the SPLM had brought in the tiny U.K. upstart, White Nile Co. (WNL.LN) to work in the same block (B) and a legal battle ensued. In July 2007 the National Petroleum Commission (NPC) confirmed that Total has the right to operate, but the company did little or no activity over the past two years since the NPC decision was enacted.
Part of the problem is to replace US company Marathon, which is forbidden under American sanctions to work in Sudan. NPC decision included restructuring the consortium shares leaving 20 percent for public bidders. At one point Mubadala company of the UAE showed interest, but nothing materialized.
Asking Total to resume work is one of the steps the new minister is taking to help push production figures up. Output has been hovering around 485,000 barrels per day (bpd) for more than three years.
He attributed that to a number of reasons. On the top comes security concerns at the local level, where communities ask for compensations, services etc to the extent that these moves lead to either shelving some expansion plans or worse production stoppage. One of the first visits to make was to Heglig to have first hand impression, hold meetings with officials that were attended by the governors of the two neighboring states of Southern Kordofan Ahmed Haroun and that of Unity states Taban Deng.
In these meetings it was agreed that security officers of the two states meet monthly to evaluate the situation and keep on improving it, to adopt the approach of communal compensation instead of individual one. Part of the deal Unity state dropped its opposition to some expansion plans that are going to add a new 5,000 bpd in blocks 1, 2, and 4, which is not much, but will help the state which is getting 2 percent out of what it produces.
The minister also revealed that the consortium of White Nile Petroleum Operating Company (WNPOC) led by the Malaysian Petronas has notified the ministry that it is relinquishing its rights in Block 5-B, which has shown poor results following drilling a number of wells that came out dry. Moreover, the minister said that he has given Moldovan company Ascom a 30-day warning up to the end of this month either to regulate its presence of leave the concession.
The second factor affecting production levels has to do with the low quality of some crudes like Dar produced out of blocks (3&7), which has been finding difficulty to attract refiners given the fact that its main market is US and Japan and the American sanctions are affecting its marketing, though China has been taking increasing amounts of this low quality, acidic crude of late.
The quality problem is affecting also crude produced out of block 5-A and is keeping a cap on plans to increase its volume from 17,000 bpd pumped currently. Crude is shipped via a 176km, 24 inch spur to tie with the pipeline carrying Nile Blend, which is Sudan’s top selling crude. Increased amounts from Thar Jath are bound to affect the quality of the Nile Blend. One of the ideas being floated is to set up a small refinery that can meet the domestic needs of the Unity state and help pump more oil of Thar Jath, which is estimated to have close to 200 million barrels reserve and double its current production easily.
Also part of the technical problems that need to be addressed is the growing percentage of water cuts in blocks 1, 2 and 4 run by Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Co. reaching up 80 percent in some cases.
Asked about the idea of an alternative pipeline to carry oil from the South through Kenya, Dr. Deng described it as, "uneconomical and expensive." Moreover, in a peaceful situation, the South sill continues to use existing downstream facilities in the North, "but if you are forced economy does not make sense".
Japan’s Toyota Co. has been floating an idea to build an alternative pipeline at an estimated cost of $1.5 billion, though other experts argue that such pipeline needs several years and multi billions of dollars to construct and in the end does not make economic sense as it competes with an existing pipeline.
Rwandan Female opposition politician falls unconscious in court.
Rwanda News Agency
7 July 2010
More than 10 hours of court proceedings left a female politician of the yet-to-be registered FDU-Inkingi group unconscious as her health deteriorated in court on Wednesday, RNA reports.
Alice Muhirwa, the treasurer of the FDU-Inkingi party of Victoire Ingabire fell to the ground and collapsed as she and seven other co-accused stood in the dock accused by the state of terrorism and taking part in an unlawful gathering on June 24.
Ms Muhirwa is part of the case in which ex-head of PS-Imberakuri, Bernard Ntaganda, have been dragged to court. Mr. Ntaganda is facing four counts including terrorism and ethnic divisionism.
They were paraded in court after being arrested on June 24, as they demonstrated at the US embassy against the electoral commission. Police said on the same day that it had rounded up some 30 people, including senior leaders of the three troubled opposition groups.
On Tuesday, prosecution brought the nine to court – but with Ntaganda charged separately from the other eight. He spent most of Tuesday defending himself – which was often countered by vigorous prosecution submissions. He has pleaded not guilty and instead wants bail.
On Wednesday, it had been expected that the eight co-accused would have their cases settled, but since 9 am local time till late in the evening, the two sides did not finalise their arguments.
During the morning session, the eight took turns denying any links to terrorism and dismissed prosecution claims that they had take part in the June protests. Prosecution had boxes of protest posters and crude weapons which were supposedly to be used to cause chaos on that day. According to a source, Ms. Muhirwa's lawyer tried to get a quick bail decision to let her see the doctor, but this was turned down by the judge.
In the afternoon session, Alice Muhirwa, a mother of two, collapsed. Prosecution says she has been admitted at the newly constructed state-of-the-art Police Hospital in Kacyiru. Her supporters are concerned that the police will falsify the medical report to cover up the alleged torture she claims to have endured.
A fellow party member claimed in a statement last week that she had been “bleeding due to kicks to her stomach”. They also said she has been denied access to a medical doctor.
Police dismissed the accusation claiming the International Committee of the Red Crescent (ICRC) had visited the suspects and that their family members were regularly visiting them.
Opposition leaders Frank Habineza and Victoire Ingabire looked on in court as their members faced hours of grilling.
The court ruled that it will wait to hear the defense of Alice Muhirwa on Thursday morning before making any decision on the bail application of all the accused.
Their main defense in court was showing they had been tortured in police custody and want medical help. The prosecution claims they are making up the medical concerns and wants them to stay in jail for another month as investigations continue.
7 July 2010
More than 10 hours of court proceedings left a female politician of the yet-to-be registered FDU-Inkingi group unconscious as her health deteriorated in court on Wednesday, RNA reports.
Alice Muhirwa, the treasurer of the FDU-Inkingi party of Victoire Ingabire fell to the ground and collapsed as she and seven other co-accused stood in the dock accused by the state of terrorism and taking part in an unlawful gathering on June 24.
Ms Muhirwa is part of the case in which ex-head of PS-Imberakuri, Bernard Ntaganda, have been dragged to court. Mr. Ntaganda is facing four counts including terrorism and ethnic divisionism.
They were paraded in court after being arrested on June 24, as they demonstrated at the US embassy against the electoral commission. Police said on the same day that it had rounded up some 30 people, including senior leaders of the three troubled opposition groups.
On Tuesday, prosecution brought the nine to court – but with Ntaganda charged separately from the other eight. He spent most of Tuesday defending himself – which was often countered by vigorous prosecution submissions. He has pleaded not guilty and instead wants bail.
On Wednesday, it had been expected that the eight co-accused would have their cases settled, but since 9 am local time till late in the evening, the two sides did not finalise their arguments.
During the morning session, the eight took turns denying any links to terrorism and dismissed prosecution claims that they had take part in the June protests. Prosecution had boxes of protest posters and crude weapons which were supposedly to be used to cause chaos on that day. According to a source, Ms. Muhirwa's lawyer tried to get a quick bail decision to let her see the doctor, but this was turned down by the judge.
In the afternoon session, Alice Muhirwa, a mother of two, collapsed. Prosecution says she has been admitted at the newly constructed state-of-the-art Police Hospital in Kacyiru. Her supporters are concerned that the police will falsify the medical report to cover up the alleged torture she claims to have endured.
A fellow party member claimed in a statement last week that she had been “bleeding due to kicks to her stomach”. They also said she has been denied access to a medical doctor.
Police dismissed the accusation claiming the International Committee of the Red Crescent (ICRC) had visited the suspects and that their family members were regularly visiting them.
Opposition leaders Frank Habineza and Victoire Ingabire looked on in court as their members faced hours of grilling.
The court ruled that it will wait to hear the defense of Alice Muhirwa on Thursday morning before making any decision on the bail application of all the accused.
Their main defense in court was showing they had been tortured in police custody and want medical help. The prosecution claims they are making up the medical concerns and wants them to stay in jail for another month as investigations continue.
Opposition members claim they were tortured by Rwandan police.
Rwandan News Agency
7 July 2010
Appearing in court today, eight opposition party members claimed they were tortured while in police custody as their trial on two counts including terrorism continued, RNA reports. They are charged with taking part in an unlawful gathering on June 24. Prosecution also accuses them of belonging to a terrorist organisation set up by Ntaganda.
In the five-hour court session, they pleaded not guilty on all the charges and are seeking bail. The court is scheduled to decide on the bail application later today on Wednesday afternoon.
The eight, with co-accused PS-Imberakuri party founder Bernard Ntaganda, told the court they wanted bail due to injuries they suffered from torture while in police custody and medical conditions they want treated.
7 July 2010
Appearing in court today, eight opposition party members claimed they were tortured while in police custody as their trial on two counts including terrorism continued, RNA reports. They are charged with taking part in an unlawful gathering on June 24. Prosecution also accuses them of belonging to a terrorist organisation set up by Ntaganda.
In the five-hour court session, they pleaded not guilty on all the charges and are seeking bail. The court is scheduled to decide on the bail application later today on Wednesday afternoon.
The eight, with co-accused PS-Imberakuri party founder Bernard Ntaganda, told the court they wanted bail due to injuries they suffered from torture while in police custody and medical conditions they want treated.
07 July, 2010
Al Qaeda presence in Maghreb-Sahel "exaggerated."
Afrol News
7 July 2010
Researchers hold that the threat of Al Qaeda in the Maghreb and Sahel regions is willingly exaggerated by governments to legitimise strong armies, limited democracy and US military presence.
Researcher Muhammad Darif, in an interview with the UK-based 'Quds Press' this week, confirms what many analysts have held earlier. The so-called Al Qaeda in the Maghreb terrorist group is basically defined to Algeria and not a real threat to the region at large.
While Mr Darif confirms the existence of the terrorist group, he reminds that it is rooted in the Algerian civil war in the 1990s. The Algerian Islamist terror group "Salafi Group for Preaching and Combat" in 2006 allegedly sought contact with Al Qaeda and in 2007 was admitted as a regional member group.
Rather than questioning the groups existence, Mr Darif told 'Quds Press' the real question concerned "its size and whether it presents a threat to the existing regimes in the Arab Maghreb states or not."
The Moroccan researcher rather downplayed the terrorist group's regional size and presence, saying it was still mainly engaged in Algeria's vast territory. Only the strength of the Algerian army had led it to occasional border crossings.
Mr Darif told 'Quds Press' that Algeria's Al Qaeda group's "forced presence" abroad further had benefited from "existing tribal contradictions. Many cases of kidnapping of foreign nationals happened through tribal militias, which handed them over to Al Qaeda in return for huge amounts of money." Also, the talk about Al Qaeda establishing camps in several Sahel countries was a mere rumour, he said.
He further questioned who was benefiting from the exaggerations of the terrorist group's size and impact. Both regional governments and the US had an interest in this rumour, Mr Darif held.
"We know that many influential security and political agencies in the Arab Maghreb states utilise the card of terrorism, represented by Al Qaeda, for their own purposes," he said, pointing to the external pressure for democratisation.
"The scattered terrorist operations in a number of countries" had been used to explain that security needed to have a higher priority than democratisation and human rights, he told 'Quds Press'. Al Qaeda in reality however not was threatening the balance of power in any Maghreb or Sahelian state, he emphasised.
Finally, also the US government had an interest in the Al Qaeda rumours, Mr Darif held. In its ongoing efforts to re-establish a strong military presence in Africa, the perceived Al Qaeda threat strongly served to legitimise the establishment of new military bases in Africa among governments and the population.
Mr Darif is far from the first researcher to question the Maghrebi Al Qaeda group's importance. Earlier speculations have pointed towards Algerian authorities exaggerating Al Qaeda's impact in their quest for US and international support. More and more of the terrorist group's alleged operations outside Algeria have been called into question during the last few years.
7 July 2010
Researchers hold that the threat of Al Qaeda in the Maghreb and Sahel regions is willingly exaggerated by governments to legitimise strong armies, limited democracy and US military presence.
Researcher Muhammad Darif, in an interview with the UK-based 'Quds Press' this week, confirms what many analysts have held earlier. The so-called Al Qaeda in the Maghreb terrorist group is basically defined to Algeria and not a real threat to the region at large.
While Mr Darif confirms the existence of the terrorist group, he reminds that it is rooted in the Algerian civil war in the 1990s. The Algerian Islamist terror group "Salafi Group for Preaching and Combat" in 2006 allegedly sought contact with Al Qaeda and in 2007 was admitted as a regional member group.
Rather than questioning the groups existence, Mr Darif told 'Quds Press' the real question concerned "its size and whether it presents a threat to the existing regimes in the Arab Maghreb states or not."
The Moroccan researcher rather downplayed the terrorist group's regional size and presence, saying it was still mainly engaged in Algeria's vast territory. Only the strength of the Algerian army had led it to occasional border crossings.
Mr Darif told 'Quds Press' that Algeria's Al Qaeda group's "forced presence" abroad further had benefited from "existing tribal contradictions. Many cases of kidnapping of foreign nationals happened through tribal militias, which handed them over to Al Qaeda in return for huge amounts of money." Also, the talk about Al Qaeda establishing camps in several Sahel countries was a mere rumour, he said.
He further questioned who was benefiting from the exaggerations of the terrorist group's size and impact. Both regional governments and the US had an interest in this rumour, Mr Darif held.
"We know that many influential security and political agencies in the Arab Maghreb states utilise the card of terrorism, represented by Al Qaeda, for their own purposes," he said, pointing to the external pressure for democratisation.
"The scattered terrorist operations in a number of countries" had been used to explain that security needed to have a higher priority than democratisation and human rights, he told 'Quds Press'. Al Qaeda in reality however not was threatening the balance of power in any Maghreb or Sahelian state, he emphasised.
Finally, also the US government had an interest in the Al Qaeda rumours, Mr Darif held. In its ongoing efforts to re-establish a strong military presence in Africa, the perceived Al Qaeda threat strongly served to legitimise the establishment of new military bases in Africa among governments and the population.
Mr Darif is far from the first researcher to question the Maghrebi Al Qaeda group's importance. Earlier speculations have pointed towards Algerian authorities exaggerating Al Qaeda's impact in their quest for US and international support. More and more of the terrorist group's alleged operations outside Algeria have been called into question during the last few years.
France seeks extradition of dissident ex-Rwandan General.
Zee News
7 July 2010
France has requested South Africa to extradite a Rwandan general, who was once a high commissioner to India, to face charges related to his alleged role in the 1994 assassination of the leaders of Rwanda and Burundi.
Lieutenant-General Kayumba Nyamwasa was the chief of the Rwandan Army until 2010, when he fled to South Africa after falling out with Rwandan president Paul Kagame and is seeking asylum in South Africa.
Justice ministry spokesman Tlali Tlali confirmed that France had requested South Africa to extradite lieutenant-general Kayumba Nyamwasa, adding to a similar request by Rwanda to do the same.
Nyamwasa is wanted in Rwanda to address allegations of his involvement in mortar attacks in the country in February this year before he fled to South Africa, where his application for refugee status is still pending.
The former military head was also found guilty in 2006 France for his involvement in shooting down an aircraft in 1994, killing the former presidents of Rwanda and Burundi and sparking a civil war in Rwanda which left hundreds of thousands dead.
In 2008, Nyamwasa was found guilty in Spain for complicity in the murder of nine Spanish nuns and emergency workers.
Meanwhile, experts have said that the South African government would have to first consider the extradition requests from Rwanda before that of France.
"He will have to provide evidence that his life would be in danger if he is extradited. The recent attempt on his life will probably be part thereof," said Prof Andre Thomashausen of the Centre for International Studies at the University of South Africa.
Nyamwasa survived an alleged assassination attempt recently outside his house in Johannesburg, for which four men are currently facing charges.
He served as Rwanda's High Commissioner to India from 2004-2010.
7 July 2010
France has requested South Africa to extradite a Rwandan general, who was once a high commissioner to India, to face charges related to his alleged role in the 1994 assassination of the leaders of Rwanda and Burundi.
Lieutenant-General Kayumba Nyamwasa was the chief of the Rwandan Army until 2010, when he fled to South Africa after falling out with Rwandan president Paul Kagame and is seeking asylum in South Africa.
Justice ministry spokesman Tlali Tlali confirmed that France had requested South Africa to extradite lieutenant-general Kayumba Nyamwasa, adding to a similar request by Rwanda to do the same.
Nyamwasa is wanted in Rwanda to address allegations of his involvement in mortar attacks in the country in February this year before he fled to South Africa, where his application for refugee status is still pending.
The former military head was also found guilty in 2006 France for his involvement in shooting down an aircraft in 1994, killing the former presidents of Rwanda and Burundi and sparking a civil war in Rwanda which left hundreds of thousands dead.
In 2008, Nyamwasa was found guilty in Spain for complicity in the murder of nine Spanish nuns and emergency workers.
Meanwhile, experts have said that the South African government would have to first consider the extradition requests from Rwanda before that of France.
"He will have to provide evidence that his life would be in danger if he is extradited. The recent attempt on his life will probably be part thereof," said Prof Andre Thomashausen of the Centre for International Studies at the University of South Africa.
Nyamwasa survived an alleged assassination attempt recently outside his house in Johannesburg, for which four men are currently facing charges.
He served as Rwanda's High Commissioner to India from 2004-2010.
Another Rwandan colonel arrested.
AFP
7 July 2010
Editor's Note: Col. Mudenge is married to the sister of Minister of Defense James Kabarebe, who is one of several military officers who have fallen out with President Kagame.
The Rwandan army has arrested a colonel and senior civil servant for allegedly threatening a civilian with a gun, the latest in a string of arrests of Rwandan top brass, a spokesman said Wednesday.
Colonel Diogene Mudenge, who also heads the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency, is being held at Kanombe military prison in Kigali, army spokesperson Jill Ruteramara told Radio Rwanda.
The senior officer is accused of "using his gun to threaten a citizen with whom he is involved in a land dispute", the spokesperson said.
In June, Genereal Jean-Bosco Kazura, in charge of training for the Rwandan army and heads the country's amateur football federation, was detained for travelling to South Africa without permission from his bosses.
In April, two other senior army officers were detained, including Emmanuel Karenzi Karake, the former deputy commander of the international Unamid mission in Darfur, the world's largest peacekeeping deployment.
Rwanda has accused two former top military officials of masterminding a string of grenade attacks in the capital. One of them, General Faustin Kayumba Nyamasa, was shot and seriously wounded in Johannesburg last month.
Nyamasa's wife and opposition media have charged Rwandan President Paul Kagame's regime was behind the failed assassination attempt, an allegation denied by the government.
7 July 2010
Editor's Note: Col. Mudenge is married to the sister of Minister of Defense James Kabarebe, who is one of several military officers who have fallen out with President Kagame.
The Rwandan army has arrested a colonel and senior civil servant for allegedly threatening a civilian with a gun, the latest in a string of arrests of Rwandan top brass, a spokesman said Wednesday.
Colonel Diogene Mudenge, who also heads the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency, is being held at Kanombe military prison in Kigali, army spokesperson Jill Ruteramara told Radio Rwanda.
The senior officer is accused of "using his gun to threaten a citizen with whom he is involved in a land dispute", the spokesperson said.
In June, Genereal Jean-Bosco Kazura, in charge of training for the Rwandan army and heads the country's amateur football federation, was detained for travelling to South Africa without permission from his bosses.
In April, two other senior army officers were detained, including Emmanuel Karenzi Karake, the former deputy commander of the international Unamid mission in Darfur, the world's largest peacekeeping deployment.
Rwanda has accused two former top military officials of masterminding a string of grenade attacks in the capital. One of them, General Faustin Kayumba Nyamasa, was shot and seriously wounded in Johannesburg last month.
Nyamasa's wife and opposition media have charged Rwandan President Paul Kagame's regime was behind the failed assassination attempt, an allegation denied by the government.
Sarkozy 'campaign donation' probe opened.
BBC News
7 July 2010
Prosecutors have launched an investigation into claims of illegal campaign funding for French President Nicolas Sarkozy, officials say.
The move follows allegations by a former accountant for France's richest woman, Liliane Bettencourt.
The accountant reportedly told police she was involved in channelling 150,000 euros (£124,000) to Mr Sarkozy's presidential campaign in 2007.
Mr Sarkozy dismissed claims surrounding the case as a "smear".
The money was to be handed over to Eric Woerth, who ran Mr Sarkozy's campaign, according to Mrs Bettencourt's former accountant, Claire Thibout.
Her allegations were reported by the French website Mediapart after she made a statement to police on Monday.
The limit for donations to political parties is set at 7,500 euros in France.
'Political plot'
Mr Sarkozy has been facing growing pressure over the affair, which is linked to a trial over the 87-year-old Mrs Bettencourt's estimated 17bn euro fortune. The trial opened briefly last week before being adjourned.
So far President Sarkozy has tried to dismiss the allegations he is facing as a political smear. But every day there is a new revelation and suddenly he is facing some very difficult questions.
The allegations are serious given that Mrs Bettencourt is facing investigation into claims she was hiding money from the tax man in a Swiss bank account.
The president has denounced "libel without the slightest basis in reality".
Politically this is wreaking enormous damage. The president's approval ratings are now at 26% - rock bottom - and the allegations keep on coming.
Mr Woerth, who has denied the allegations, is currently minister for labour in Mr Sarkozy's government and is leading efforts to push through a major pension reform.
He has rejected calls for his resignation.
In a television interview on Tuesday he dismissed what he called "a political plot orchestrated by the Socialist Party".
Earlier that day, opposition MPs had walked out of the French parliament after a minister accused them of extreme-right tactics for repeatedly asking about the allegations.
The comments were a reference to extreme-right newspapers that denounced the French political class in the 1930s.
Mr Woerth, who is treasurer for Mr Sarkozy's UMP party, has also come under scrutiny because his wife worked for the company that managed Mrs Bettencourt's fortune, and their names emerged in tapes secretly recorded by Mrs Bettencourt's butler.
The tapes suggest that Mrs Bettencourt had been making cash donations to members of the UMP including Mr Woerth, and that she had been avoiding taxes.
Mrs Woerth recently resigned from her position, and the couple have denied any conflict of interests.
Withdrawal 'confirmed'
The recordings have been offered as evidence in the trial that opened last week.
In the trial, Mrs Bettencourt's daughter Francoise is suing celebrity photographer Francois-Marie Banier, a close friend of her mother's, for allegedly exploiting her mental fragility to gain access to her fortune.
In her allegations, Ms Thibout told Mediapart that she had been ordered to withdraw the 150,000 euros in March 2007 but only withdrew 50,000 euros, her authorised limit.
Police said on Wednesday they had confiscated records from the BNP Paribas Bank where Mrs Bettencourt's account is held and confirmed the withdrawal, Le Monde newspaper reported.
Ms Thibout has said another employee then went to Switzerland to collect the rest of the money.
She also claimed that Mr Sarkozy was one of a number of centre-right politicians who received regular envelopes of cash after dinners at a house where Mrs Bettencourt and her husband lived in Neuilly-sur-Seine, where Mr Sarkozy used to be mayor.
An aide to Mr Sarkozy dismissed the claim as "totally false".
7 July 2010
Prosecutors have launched an investigation into claims of illegal campaign funding for French President Nicolas Sarkozy, officials say.
The move follows allegations by a former accountant for France's richest woman, Liliane Bettencourt.
The accountant reportedly told police she was involved in channelling 150,000 euros (£124,000) to Mr Sarkozy's presidential campaign in 2007.
Mr Sarkozy dismissed claims surrounding the case as a "smear".
The money was to be handed over to Eric Woerth, who ran Mr Sarkozy's campaign, according to Mrs Bettencourt's former accountant, Claire Thibout.
Her allegations were reported by the French website Mediapart after she made a statement to police on Monday.
The limit for donations to political parties is set at 7,500 euros in France.
'Political plot'
Mr Sarkozy has been facing growing pressure over the affair, which is linked to a trial over the 87-year-old Mrs Bettencourt's estimated 17bn euro fortune. The trial opened briefly last week before being adjourned.
So far President Sarkozy has tried to dismiss the allegations he is facing as a political smear. But every day there is a new revelation and suddenly he is facing some very difficult questions.
The allegations are serious given that Mrs Bettencourt is facing investigation into claims she was hiding money from the tax man in a Swiss bank account.
The president has denounced "libel without the slightest basis in reality".
Politically this is wreaking enormous damage. The president's approval ratings are now at 26% - rock bottom - and the allegations keep on coming.
Mr Woerth, who has denied the allegations, is currently minister for labour in Mr Sarkozy's government and is leading efforts to push through a major pension reform.
He has rejected calls for his resignation.
In a television interview on Tuesday he dismissed what he called "a political plot orchestrated by the Socialist Party".
Earlier that day, opposition MPs had walked out of the French parliament after a minister accused them of extreme-right tactics for repeatedly asking about the allegations.
The comments were a reference to extreme-right newspapers that denounced the French political class in the 1930s.
Mr Woerth, who is treasurer for Mr Sarkozy's UMP party, has also come under scrutiny because his wife worked for the company that managed Mrs Bettencourt's fortune, and their names emerged in tapes secretly recorded by Mrs Bettencourt's butler.
The tapes suggest that Mrs Bettencourt had been making cash donations to members of the UMP including Mr Woerth, and that she had been avoiding taxes.
Mrs Woerth recently resigned from her position, and the couple have denied any conflict of interests.
Withdrawal 'confirmed'
The recordings have been offered as evidence in the trial that opened last week.
In the trial, Mrs Bettencourt's daughter Francoise is suing celebrity photographer Francois-Marie Banier, a close friend of her mother's, for allegedly exploiting her mental fragility to gain access to her fortune.
In her allegations, Ms Thibout told Mediapart that she had been ordered to withdraw the 150,000 euros in March 2007 but only withdrew 50,000 euros, her authorised limit.
Police said on Wednesday they had confiscated records from the BNP Paribas Bank where Mrs Bettencourt's account is held and confirmed the withdrawal, Le Monde newspaper reported.
Ms Thibout has said another employee then went to Switzerland to collect the rest of the money.
She also claimed that Mr Sarkozy was one of a number of centre-right politicians who received regular envelopes of cash after dinners at a house where Mrs Bettencourt and her husband lived in Neuilly-sur-Seine, where Mr Sarkozy used to be mayor.
An aide to Mr Sarkozy dismissed the claim as "totally false".
Noriega given seven-year sentence.
Al-Jazeera
7 July 2010
A French court has sentenced Manuel Noriega, the former military leader of Panama, to seven years in jail for laundering drug money.
The court also ordered on Wednesday the seizing of $2.9m in frozen French accounts held in the 76-year-old general's name.
Prosecutors had sought the maximum 10-year jail sentence for Noriega, who was extradited from the United States to France in April to face trial on charges of laundering money from Colombian drug lords through French banks.
A lawyer for Noriega told reporters after the sentencing that he judged the seven-year sentence "extremely severe".
7 July 2010
A French court has sentenced Manuel Noriega, the former military leader of Panama, to seven years in jail for laundering drug money.
The court also ordered on Wednesday the seizing of $2.9m in frozen French accounts held in the 76-year-old general's name.
Prosecutors had sought the maximum 10-year jail sentence for Noriega, who was extradited from the United States to France in April to face trial on charges of laundering money from Colombian drug lords through French banks.
A lawyer for Noriega told reporters after the sentencing that he judged the seven-year sentence "extremely severe".
Great Britain Presses Rwanda Government on Human Rights.
6 July 2010
By David O'Brien
In a tense exchange today Tuesday July 6, 2010, the British House of the Commons has quizzed officials of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (British Ministry of Foreign Affairs) regarding the on-going repression and assassinations in Rwanda and the role the British Government has played or is expected to play. The FCO officials included the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Mr William Hague, The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Mr Jeremy Browne, The Minister for Europe, Mr David Lidington, and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Mr Henry Bellingham.
Henry Belligham said during the hearing: “We have already made our views clear to the Rwandan Government, and we will continue with that dialogue, putting pressure on them. As I said a moment ago, it is essential that there should be not only a free election, but one with proper opposition and open and transparent media reporting it.”
Following is the entire hearing about Rwanda’s human rights and ongoing repression against and assassination of opposition figures and journalists (Photo: Mary Helen Creagh, Labor Party):
Ann McKechin (Glasgow North) (Lab): What recent discussions he has had with the Rwandan National Election Commission on the forthcoming presidential elections in that country.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr Henry Bellingham): We are working with the National Election Commission, encouraging it to implement recommendations of previous EU election observer missions. The recent electoral code addresses most recommendations, but it is important that the presidential elections in August comply with international norms.
Ann McKechin: I am sure that the Minister will share my concerns about the increasing reports of incidents of harassment and intimidation of opposition leaders, including the arrest of one of the leaders of the opposition party just less than two weeks ago. Will he impress it on the National Election Commission and the Rwandan Government that such continued reports will stain Rwandan’s reputation, which has made much progress in the past decade, and that it is vital that they show real signs of ensuring that democracy is fully protected?
Mr Bellingham: I am grateful to the hon. Lady for that constructive question. I share her concern about the arrest of Victoire Ingabire, who is a prominent opposition leader, and about the fact that her American lawyer, Professor Erlinder, was also arrested on what were basically trumped-up charges. We are also concerned that so far just one party outside the ruling coalition has been registered, and we are applying as much pressure as we can.
Stuart Andrew (Pudsey) (Con) rose—
Mr Speaker: I call Andrew Stephenson—[Interruption.] He is not Andrew Stephenson, but he is very welcome. Let us hear from him.
Stuart Andrew: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Given that top military officials have also been arrested, does my hon. Friend the Minister see any danger of interference in the elections by the Rwandan army?
Mr Bellingham: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that question. To say that Rwanda has come back from the abyss would be an understatement. We should pay tribute to the extraordinary progress that Rwanda has made. What we want to do the day after the election is call the new President of Rwanda, congratulate him on his election and say that he has enhanced credibility and trust with the world community by winning a completely free and fair election against proper opposition.
Mr Speaker: My apologies to Stuart Andrew.
Mary Creagh (Wakefield) (Lab): Does the Minister share my concern about the murder of Jean-Léonard Rugambage, a journalist on the Umuvugizi newspaper—I will pass that name up to Hansard afterwards—who was shot on Friday 25 June? Does he agree that having free, fair and open newspapers is an essential part of ensuring a civil space where democracy can work, and will he do everything he can to press the Rwandan Government to bring that man’s murderers to justice?
Mr Bellingham: We have already made our views clear to the Rwandan Government, and we will continue with that dialogue, putting pressure on them. As I said a moment ago, it is essential that there should be not only a free election, but one with proper opposition and open and transparent media reporting it.
By David O'Brien
In a tense exchange today Tuesday July 6, 2010, the British House of the Commons has quizzed officials of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (British Ministry of Foreign Affairs) regarding the on-going repression and assassinations in Rwanda and the role the British Government has played or is expected to play. The FCO officials included the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Mr William Hague, The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Mr Jeremy Browne, The Minister for Europe, Mr David Lidington, and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Mr Henry Bellingham.
Henry Belligham said during the hearing: “We have already made our views clear to the Rwandan Government, and we will continue with that dialogue, putting pressure on them. As I said a moment ago, it is essential that there should be not only a free election, but one with proper opposition and open and transparent media reporting it.”
Following is the entire hearing about Rwanda’s human rights and ongoing repression against and assassination of opposition figures and journalists (Photo: Mary Helen Creagh, Labor Party):
Ann McKechin (Glasgow North) (Lab): What recent discussions he has had with the Rwandan National Election Commission on the forthcoming presidential elections in that country.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr Henry Bellingham): We are working with the National Election Commission, encouraging it to implement recommendations of previous EU election observer missions. The recent electoral code addresses most recommendations, but it is important that the presidential elections in August comply with international norms.
Ann McKechin: I am sure that the Minister will share my concerns about the increasing reports of incidents of harassment and intimidation of opposition leaders, including the arrest of one of the leaders of the opposition party just less than two weeks ago. Will he impress it on the National Election Commission and the Rwandan Government that such continued reports will stain Rwandan’s reputation, which has made much progress in the past decade, and that it is vital that they show real signs of ensuring that democracy is fully protected?
Mr Bellingham: I am grateful to the hon. Lady for that constructive question. I share her concern about the arrest of Victoire Ingabire, who is a prominent opposition leader, and about the fact that her American lawyer, Professor Erlinder, was also arrested on what were basically trumped-up charges. We are also concerned that so far just one party outside the ruling coalition has been registered, and we are applying as much pressure as we can.
Stuart Andrew (Pudsey) (Con) rose—
Mr Speaker: I call Andrew Stephenson—[Interruption.] He is not Andrew Stephenson, but he is very welcome. Let us hear from him.
Stuart Andrew: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Given that top military officials have also been arrested, does my hon. Friend the Minister see any danger of interference in the elections by the Rwandan army?
Mr Bellingham: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that question. To say that Rwanda has come back from the abyss would be an understatement. We should pay tribute to the extraordinary progress that Rwanda has made. What we want to do the day after the election is call the new President of Rwanda, congratulate him on his election and say that he has enhanced credibility and trust with the world community by winning a completely free and fair election against proper opposition.
Mr Speaker: My apologies to Stuart Andrew.
Mary Creagh (Wakefield) (Lab): Does the Minister share my concern about the murder of Jean-Léonard Rugambage, a journalist on the Umuvugizi newspaper—I will pass that name up to Hansard afterwards—who was shot on Friday 25 June? Does he agree that having free, fair and open newspapers is an essential part of ensuring a civil space where democracy can work, and will he do everything he can to press the Rwandan Government to bring that man’s murderers to justice?
Mr Bellingham: We have already made our views clear to the Rwandan Government, and we will continue with that dialogue, putting pressure on them. As I said a moment ago, it is essential that there should be not only a free election, but one with proper opposition and open and transparent media reporting it.
VICTIMS OF “THE WAR ON THE OPPOSITION” WAGED BY THE RWANDAN GOVERNMENT ARE POLITICAL PRISONERS.
UDF/FDU-Inkingi
PRESS RELEASE
Opposition leaders arrested on 24th June 2010, in an operation called the “war on the opposition” were paraded in a Rwandan court today. It was an opportunity for both their families and the population to know the official charges leveled by the RPF regime’s judiciary: criminal association by responding to calls for protest against the government; and allegedly being a threat to national security because of participation in this allegedly illegal protest. The reality is that Rwandans don’t have the right to peacefully demonstration thanks to anti-democracy and anti-protest laws tailored by the regime in order to remain in power with an iron fist. The government has just confirmed that these victims are nothing less than prisoners of conscience.
They have been locked up for speaking out using non-violent means against the dictatorship of the RPF. The schism between the government and the population has pushed the country to the brink of chaos through arbitrary arrests, torture, summary executions, and a set of oppressive laws are commonly used against those branded as enemies who are opposed to the diktat of the ruling party. Rwandans have only one choice: follow or suffer.
A de facto definition of a political prisoner is provided by the human rights organization Amnesty International, "Any prisoner whose case has a significant political element: whether the motivation of the prisoner's acts, the acts themselves, or the motivation of the authorities." The repression and torture of members of the opposition parties is justified by anti-protest laws protecting the ruling party and its leader, current President Paul Kagame. According to the incumbent (press conference, Kigali, 29th June 2010), critics are only “a barking dog while the worryless train is speeding up”. The arrest of peaceful demonstrators is not only an infringement of the Rwandan Constitution but an open violation of the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights ratified by every country in 1948, meaning that political, religious and cultural freedoms are supposed to be upheld by every country’s laws. However, political prisoners continue to be taken every day, with alarmingly large numbers of these arrests being legalized by various anti-terrorism, anti-protest, anti-genocide, divisionism and political party laws.
We call upon the government of President Paul Kagame not to disregard the political status of these prisoners of conscience i.e. opposition party leaders Sylvain Sibomana (FDU Secretary-General), Ms. Alice Muhirwa (FDU Treasurer), Theoneste Sibomana (FDU Kigali), Martin Ntavuka (FDU Nyarugenge) and Bernard Ntaganda (PSI Chair), Jean Baptiste Icyitonderwa, Theobald Mutarambirwa, and Sylvere Mwizerwa of the PS-Imberakuri. The scandalous incarceration of lawyer Theogene Muhayeyezu shows the true face of a leadership that oppresses lawyers because of the non-violent political views of their clients. All these innocent people should be allowed to go back home without further delay.
Done in Kigali,
6 July 2010
Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza,
FDU-Inkingi
Chairperson
PRESS RELEASE
Opposition leaders arrested on 24th June 2010, in an operation called the “war on the opposition” were paraded in a Rwandan court today. It was an opportunity for both their families and the population to know the official charges leveled by the RPF regime’s judiciary: criminal association by responding to calls for protest against the government; and allegedly being a threat to national security because of participation in this allegedly illegal protest. The reality is that Rwandans don’t have the right to peacefully demonstration thanks to anti-democracy and anti-protest laws tailored by the regime in order to remain in power with an iron fist. The government has just confirmed that these victims are nothing less than prisoners of conscience.
They have been locked up for speaking out using non-violent means against the dictatorship of the RPF. The schism between the government and the population has pushed the country to the brink of chaos through arbitrary arrests, torture, summary executions, and a set of oppressive laws are commonly used against those branded as enemies who are opposed to the diktat of the ruling party. Rwandans have only one choice: follow or suffer.
A de facto definition of a political prisoner is provided by the human rights organization Amnesty International, "Any prisoner whose case has a significant political element: whether the motivation of the prisoner's acts, the acts themselves, or the motivation of the authorities." The repression and torture of members of the opposition parties is justified by anti-protest laws protecting the ruling party and its leader, current President Paul Kagame. According to the incumbent (press conference, Kigali, 29th June 2010), critics are only “a barking dog while the worryless train is speeding up”. The arrest of peaceful demonstrators is not only an infringement of the Rwandan Constitution but an open violation of the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights ratified by every country in 1948, meaning that political, religious and cultural freedoms are supposed to be upheld by every country’s laws. However, political prisoners continue to be taken every day, with alarmingly large numbers of these arrests being legalized by various anti-terrorism, anti-protest, anti-genocide, divisionism and political party laws.
We call upon the government of President Paul Kagame not to disregard the political status of these prisoners of conscience i.e. opposition party leaders Sylvain Sibomana (FDU Secretary-General), Ms. Alice Muhirwa (FDU Treasurer), Theoneste Sibomana (FDU Kigali), Martin Ntavuka (FDU Nyarugenge) and Bernard Ntaganda (PSI Chair), Jean Baptiste Icyitonderwa, Theobald Mutarambirwa, and Sylvere Mwizerwa of the PS-Imberakuri. The scandalous incarceration of lawyer Theogene Muhayeyezu shows the true face of a leadership that oppresses lawyers because of the non-violent political views of their clients. All these innocent people should be allowed to go back home without further delay.
Done in Kigali,
6 July 2010
Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza,
FDU-Inkingi
Chairperson
06 July, 2010
Bernard Ntaganda charged but he dismisses the court's competence to hear the trial.
Rwandan News Agency
6 July 2010
Opposition politician Bernard Ntaganda, along with other opposition party members, were charged on Tuesday with four counts, including terrorism, after 10 days in custody without an initial court hearing, RNA reports.
Appearing before the Nyamirambo court of first instance, Ntaganda and eight others are charged among other cases trying to cause instability in the country. In his defense, Mr. Ntaganda instead says this court in incompetent to handle his case as a senior political figure in the country.
The prosecution claims the PS-Imberakuri founder – now controlling a specific PS faction-is a threat to national security because of the protests he allegedly organised on June 24. The state also charged him with allegedly forming a "terrorist organisation."
The state claims Mr. Ntaganda tried to hold an illegal gathering without the permission of the authorities.
Carrying boxes of documents including protest posters and crude weapons allegedly which were to be used to cause chaos in the June protests, prosecution claims Ntaganda has been trying to destabilize the harmony in the country.
However, court was forced to adjourn after it was challenged that it was not the appropriate place to try him because he is the leader of a registered political party. The court over-ruled him later and claimed that he was being tried as an individual for crimes committed personally.
For these cases, prosecution wants Ntaganda to stay in custody for the next month as investigations continue.
In lengthy submissions, Mr. Ntaganda, himself a lawyer, denied all the charges and dismissed all the prosecution's claims as politically motivated. He said it is only the high court which can handle his case as an opposition party leader.
The other co-accused, including the FDU-Inkingi's vice president and other top members, are charged with two counts including allegedly forming a terrorist group and organizing unlawful gatherings.
Some 30 people were arrested on June 24 at the US embassy as they prepared to demonstrate against the National Electoral Commission. Incidentally, the protests happened as President Kagame was submitting his papers at the commission to vie for the August 09 polls.
Court adjourned the case for Wednesday morning. 8 other detained opposition party members will plead their case tomorrow and all will seek bail.
6 July 2010
Opposition politician Bernard Ntaganda, along with other opposition party members, were charged on Tuesday with four counts, including terrorism, after 10 days in custody without an initial court hearing, RNA reports.
Appearing before the Nyamirambo court of first instance, Ntaganda and eight others are charged among other cases trying to cause instability in the country. In his defense, Mr. Ntaganda instead says this court in incompetent to handle his case as a senior political figure in the country.
The prosecution claims the PS-Imberakuri founder – now controlling a specific PS faction-is a threat to national security because of the protests he allegedly organised on June 24. The state also charged him with allegedly forming a "terrorist organisation."
The state claims Mr. Ntaganda tried to hold an illegal gathering without the permission of the authorities.
Carrying boxes of documents including protest posters and crude weapons allegedly which were to be used to cause chaos in the June protests, prosecution claims Ntaganda has been trying to destabilize the harmony in the country.
However, court was forced to adjourn after it was challenged that it was not the appropriate place to try him because he is the leader of a registered political party. The court over-ruled him later and claimed that he was being tried as an individual for crimes committed personally.
For these cases, prosecution wants Ntaganda to stay in custody for the next month as investigations continue.
In lengthy submissions, Mr. Ntaganda, himself a lawyer, denied all the charges and dismissed all the prosecution's claims as politically motivated. He said it is only the high court which can handle his case as an opposition party leader.
The other co-accused, including the FDU-Inkingi's vice president and other top members, are charged with two counts including allegedly forming a terrorist group and organizing unlawful gatherings.
Some 30 people were arrested on June 24 at the US embassy as they prepared to demonstrate against the National Electoral Commission. Incidentally, the protests happened as President Kagame was submitting his papers at the commission to vie for the August 09 polls.
Court adjourned the case for Wednesday morning. 8 other detained opposition party members will plead their case tomorrow and all will seek bail.
Correction: South Africa-Rwandan General story.
AP
6 July 2010
In a story July 2 about an investigation into the shooting of an exiled Rwandan general in South Africa, The Associated Press, relying on a South Africa Press Association report, erroneously reported that South Africa's foreign ministry said foreign "security operatives" were involved. The foreign ministry now says it never made such an allegation. SAPA has filed a corrected version of the story.
6 July 2010
In a story July 2 about an investigation into the shooting of an exiled Rwandan general in South Africa, The Associated Press, relying on a South Africa Press Association report, erroneously reported that South Africa's foreign ministry said foreign "security operatives" were involved. The foreign ministry now says it never made such an allegation. SAPA has filed a corrected version of the story.
Northrop Grumman wins shameful contract to continue training Rwandan soldiers.
Rwandan News Agency
6 July 2010
Defense firm Northrop Grumman Corporation on Tuesday won the extension of its contract to continue training Rwandan soldiers, the U.S. Department of State announced.
6 July 2010
Defense firm Northrop Grumman Corporation on Tuesday won the extension of its contract to continue training Rwandan soldiers, the U.S. Department of State announced.
U.S. Department of State Awards Northrop Grumman African (ACOTA) Military "Training" Contract.
Global Newswire
6 July 2010
The U.S. Department of State has awarded a contract to Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC - News) to continue providing staff to conduct peacekeeping operations and humanitarianism assistance training for the African Contingency Operations Training and Assistance (ACOTA) program.
The contract has a potential value of $150 million over five years.
"The ACOTA program is to arguably the most successful engagement program that the U.S. State Department has had in Africa. The objective is to enable participating nations' militaries to develop their own trained unit capacity to provide peacekeeping support operations where required," said Mike Devlin, Northrop Grumman Technical Services International Program Director. "We are most pleased that we have been again selected to continue successfully supporting the ACOTA mission."
"International collaboration is a crucial component to peacekeeping efforts," said Tom Vice, corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman Technical Services. "We've been supporting the ACOTA program for more than 11 years in 22 countries, and we embrace the opportunity to spend another 5 years supporting these African nations."
Northrop Grumman provides the staff and training to select African Nations through seminars, instruction, simulation-supported exercises and field training. Nations currently participating in the ACOTA program include Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Rwanda, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia. Northrop Grumman has supported the African Crisis Response Initiative/African Contingency Operations Training and Assistance (ACRI/ACOTA) program since its inception in 1998 and designed the initial training materials and conducted computer-assisted peacekeeping exercises for African Partner Nations.
Work on the ACOTA program will be performed on site in the participating African nations and from Northrop Grumman's Leavenworth, Kan., facility, where Northrop Grumman supports several other military training contracts.
6 July 2010
The U.S. Department of State has awarded a contract to Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC - News) to continue providing staff to conduct peacekeeping operations and humanitarianism assistance training for the African Contingency Operations Training and Assistance (ACOTA) program.
The contract has a potential value of $150 million over five years.
"The ACOTA program is to arguably the most successful engagement program that the U.S. State Department has had in Africa. The objective is to enable participating nations' militaries to develop their own trained unit capacity to provide peacekeeping support operations where required," said Mike Devlin, Northrop Grumman Technical Services International Program Director. "We are most pleased that we have been again selected to continue successfully supporting the ACOTA mission."
"International collaboration is a crucial component to peacekeeping efforts," said Tom Vice, corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman Technical Services. "We've been supporting the ACOTA program for more than 11 years in 22 countries, and we embrace the opportunity to spend another 5 years supporting these African nations."
Northrop Grumman provides the staff and training to select African Nations through seminars, instruction, simulation-supported exercises and field training. Nations currently participating in the ACOTA program include Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Rwanda, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia. Northrop Grumman has supported the African Crisis Response Initiative/African Contingency Operations Training and Assistance (ACRI/ACOTA) program since its inception in 1998 and designed the initial training materials and conducted computer-assisted peacekeeping exercises for African Partner Nations.
Work on the ACOTA program will be performed on site in the participating African nations and from Northrop Grumman's Leavenworth, Kan., facility, where Northrop Grumman supports several other military training contracts.
05 July, 2010
Kosovo Serb MP shot in flashpoint town.
Reuters
5 July 2010
An unidentified gunman shot and slightly hurt an ethnic Serb member of the Kosovo parliament in a fresh incident in the divided northern town of Mitrovica, police said on Monday.
It was the second act of political violence in Mitrovica in the past week, highlighting continuing tensions in the former Serb province, whose Albanian majority declared independence from Belgrade in 2008.
"The incident occurred at 8.20 (0620 GMT) when Petar Miletic was leaving his home in northern Mitrovica to go to work in Pristina," said Ergin Medic, deputy regional police chief.
He said Miletic, one of 10 Serb deputies in the 120-seat Kosovo parliament, was shot in the leg and his injuries were not life-threatening.
Mitrovica remains divided along the Ibar river between Albanians in the south and Serbs in north.
Half of Kosovo's 120,000 Serbs, including 20,000 in Mitrovica, live north of the Ibar, which is linked with Serbia by roads. They refuse to deal with Kosovon institutions and regard Belgrade as their capital.
Serbia's President Boris Tadic will attend a United Nations Security Council session in New York this week to discuss the security situation in Mitrovica, after one person was killed in a blast during a Serb protest rally on Friday. [IDnLDE6611K2].
Belgrade lost control of Kosovo in 1999 when NATO bombing of against Serbia ended the killing of ethnic Albanians by Serbs during a two-year counter-insurgency war.
Kosovo declared independence in 2008, but Serbia asked the International Court of Justice to rule on the legality of the move. The ruling is expected later in July.
In May, NATO peacekeepers and police had to intervene to separate thousands of Serbs and Albanians who clashed over the Belgrade-organised local election in the north. [IDnLDE64T06W]
Some 10,000 NATO peacekeepers along with European Union police and justice missions keep the fragile peace in Kosovo.
(Reporting by Branislav Krstic. Additional reporting by Fatos Bytyci in Pristina. Writing by Ivana Sekularac; editing by Zoran Radosavljevic and Matthew Jones)
5 July 2010
An unidentified gunman shot and slightly hurt an ethnic Serb member of the Kosovo parliament in a fresh incident in the divided northern town of Mitrovica, police said on Monday.
It was the second act of political violence in Mitrovica in the past week, highlighting continuing tensions in the former Serb province, whose Albanian majority declared independence from Belgrade in 2008.
"The incident occurred at 8.20 (0620 GMT) when Petar Miletic was leaving his home in northern Mitrovica to go to work in Pristina," said Ergin Medic, deputy regional police chief.
He said Miletic, one of 10 Serb deputies in the 120-seat Kosovo parliament, was shot in the leg and his injuries were not life-threatening.
Mitrovica remains divided along the Ibar river between Albanians in the south and Serbs in north.
Half of Kosovo's 120,000 Serbs, including 20,000 in Mitrovica, live north of the Ibar, which is linked with Serbia by roads. They refuse to deal with Kosovon institutions and regard Belgrade as their capital.
Serbia's President Boris Tadic will attend a United Nations Security Council session in New York this week to discuss the security situation in Mitrovica, after one person was killed in a blast during a Serb protest rally on Friday. [IDnLDE6611K2].
Belgrade lost control of Kosovo in 1999 when NATO bombing of against Serbia ended the killing of ethnic Albanians by Serbs during a two-year counter-insurgency war.
Kosovo declared independence in 2008, but Serbia asked the International Court of Justice to rule on the legality of the move. The ruling is expected later in July.
In May, NATO peacekeepers and police had to intervene to separate thousands of Serbs and Albanians who clashed over the Belgrade-organised local election in the north. [IDnLDE64T06W]
Some 10,000 NATO peacekeepers along with European Union police and justice missions keep the fragile peace in Kosovo.
(Reporting by Branislav Krstic. Additional reporting by Fatos Bytyci in Pristina. Writing by Ivana Sekularac; editing by Zoran Radosavljevic and Matthew Jones)
04 July, 2010
Rwanda is Nearing a Political Precipice.
By Deo Lukyamuzi
July 4, 2010
Between February and April, 198 I met the late Seth Sendashonga on two occasions both, in Nairobi, Kenya. On my first visit, we met at the Regency Hotel. I have a vivid memory of that occasion. I remember the Hotel had a pellish pink paint –at least the terrace where we sat. Seth was wearing a golden suite, red necktie white shirt and black shoes, and he had a somewhat oversized moustache. I on the other hand, had a light blue shirt, black trousers and shoes. I also had on a bleu jean jacket and a Rastafarian hat–evidently, la mode has never been my forté. As a by-the-way, I later lost my jean jacket to a comrade in Havana and gave as souvenir, my rasta hat to an Eritrean lady friend at Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg.
The second time we met with Seth Sendashonga, we drove around town talking in the car, the same in which he was later assassinated, a beige Toyota Corolla with red UN number plate, and we ended at his home for lunch where I met his wife and a teenage girl, I believe, his daughter.
There was a scheduled third meeting on the 24th of May, 1998. He was assassinated on the 22nd of May while I was in Zanzibar where I had gone to do some work concerning preparatory meetings the Pan African Movement Secretariat was organizing across Africa to create awareness of the campaign for the creation of the African Union. These meetings were being sponsored by the Libyan government and being implemented by the Pan African Movement Secretariat. As his Assistant on the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa regions, the General Secretary, the late Dr. Tajudeen Abdul Rahim had entrusted me with the duty of being the point person on conducting these meetings.
I was to proceed to Nairobi from Zanzibar, again, on instructions from Dr. Tajudeen to carry his message to his friend Seth Sendashonga.
At that time, there was an effort (basing on the information I had, I am not sure whose initiative it was) to patch the ruptured relationship between Seth and his former colleagues in the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF). I know for a fact, that Dr. Tajudeen and PAM was not the only line by which information was being passed to and from RPF and Seth. There was another initiative that involved Maj. Gen. Salim Saleh. We talked about it with Seth but I also heard it through other avenues.
When Sendashonga was assassinated, I was heart- broken. I had developed a certain appreciation of him as a decent person, genuinely honest and inspiring. We may not have shared the same political philosophy, him being a liberal democrat and I leaning towards social democratic but there was more that we shared than we did not.
Sendashonga was killed because of his political stand and nothing else. All those phony constructs that he was involved in a business deal which went bad are irritating to say the least. As it so happened, he became a bona fide poster boy for the countless political figures Rwanda has lost over these past two decades. There are never any investigations, no public inquiries to shed light as to what may or may not have happened, only the usual casual who cares explanation of ‘it was an accident’, ‘suicide’, ‘business deal gone bad’, and so on.
Among the many topics we discussed was Kagame’s personality because even as Vice President, it was always known and rightly so, that he was more important than the actual President Bizimungu. The later was more of a unity symbol to comfort the Hutu population and show the rest of the world that it was not all about Tutsi victors and Hutu vanquished. Sendashonga’s opinion of Kagame was mixed and shifting. He told me that during the earlier days the two men met and started working together, he saw Kagame as a disciplined person and a listener. He saw him as some he could ‘work with’. However, in Sendashonga’s words, ‘Kagame overnight developed an almost ready-made mistrust of his Hutu colleagues in government and the rest was a matter of time that the rupture occurred”. He recounted to me how in the earlier days of RPF taking power, the used to have frank meetings and discuss openly and criticize each other where need was. He said however, as grave errors started to be committed by RPA soldiers killing civilians at any flimsy excuse, Kagame started to be defensive along fellow RPA officers and he and others in the army side started skipping the consultation meetings and eventually they ceased taking place.
I sat in President Pasteur Bizimungu’s press briefing on 22nd April, 1995 at Hotel Meridien Umubano at Kacyiru across the New times Offices. He had come to explain the massacre or tell if u will, the International Community what happened at the Kibeho camp of internally displaced people (IDP). The President came to that meeting with an air of self-importance that I had not seen about him before. He asked the international community to accept the official figure of 300 people as being the victims of that massacre. This was after, he and Vice President Kagame, had flown over the destroyed camps in a helicopter to see for themselves the extent of the catastrophe. It is worth noting that before the President and Vice President, the Minister of Internal Affairs had been denied entry into the camps by the RPF soldiers guarding the camps.
UNAMIR, on the same night of the massacre gave an estimate of the dead to be about 4000 which it later revised to between 1500-2000 people. Even considering the UNAMIR’s lower figure of 1500 and compare it with that of the government of 300, leads to the conclusion that either both sides were not referring to the same incident or one of them is not being sincere. It is u and I to tell in our opinion who was telling the truth and who was not and who had the motive to lie.
It is my opinion, I may be wrong, that the then Vice President and Minister of Defense Kagame was not aware of all the details of what went on in the Kibeho camp, especially the days leading to the massacre, but still I find him, together with the then President Bizimungu, responsible for their conduct after the massacre where no efforts were spared in covering up the extent of the tragedy.
Rutayisire’s Death and General Kayumba’s Presence
In his recent interviews, exiled General Kayumba talks about the loneliness he felt when he lost his parent and none of his comrades showed up at the burial nor call him to offer condolences. I am sure this came as no surprise to the good General since it was not the first time it was happening. When Lt. Col. Wilson Rutayisire (Shaban) was murdered in Congo, in June, 2000, I was in Kigali. I say murdered in spite of the official version that he killed himself, because I have very good reasons to counter the official story:
For those who knew Shaban as a friend knew that one of his daughters, Hope or Charity, I cannot recall her exact name, was to undergo a medical procedure in a week’s time. We had met at the Meridien Hotel where I was staying doing preparatory work for a Justice Africa project, the Peoples Panel. He told me he was leaving for DRC but that he would be back to be present when his daughter underwent the procedure;
Having seen him less than one week before his death, having talked to him on phone from DRC two days before his death, not having seen, sensed, felt, heard of any indicator of fore-bearance, I have no choice but to conclude that Shaban did not take his own life but those who were quick to concoct a suicide story, know better of who killed Shaban.
It is only Gen. Kayumba, who represented the government and army at the burial. Those who were present can attest to the anger or fury on Kayumba’s face at the unceremonious ceremony. The interpretation we all had was that nobody should dare question the government version of events since shortly after his death and at burial it was a known secret that it was not suicide but murder. Any doubts were quickly removed by the way his wife and children were treated thereafter. Perhaps Kayumba is in a better position to explain his posture at his Comrade’s burial.
In Rwanda, since the coming into power by RPF, once you are perceived to be on Kagame’s watch list, you are treated like a leper even your close friends cannot get distance themselves as much as they can the best you can expect from them are warning messages through third or fourth parties advising you to run for dear life. That explains why there is not a single person, former RPF or not, having disagreed with President Kagame, is still living in Rwanda. They are all dead, in prison, under house arrest or in exile.
President Kagame, during an interview with Daniel Kalinaki of the Daily Monitor, posed a rhetorical question as to why all people who don’t agree with him decide to run into exile. I am not sure he did not know the answer to his question but if indeed he did not, the only possible answer is in the immediate above paragraph.
President Kagame’s government is allergic to opposition even if some two years ago he declared that it is not him to do the job of the opposition but the opposition itself. It is an impossible mission to be an opposition in Rwanda and not be called a genocidaire, negationist, revisionist, genocide denier. You are lucky if you are a Tutsi because you cannot fit into these categories. You are instead a thief, corrupt, terrorist and or treacherous. You can be all those depending on the mood of your accuser since prosecution is at the pleasure of the powers that be. Genocide is less of a national tragedy than it is a political tool used to ensnare genuine opposition in the Country.
Politics in Africa is dangerous business but it is also more dangerous in some countries that in others. Rwanda is an extreme case. Having gone through genocide, you would think that the leaders would do whatever it is in their powers to avoid war ever happening again in that country. What the RPF government is doing to its political opponents leaves no room even to the ultra-pacifist to conclude that the only avenue left to oppose President Kagame, is through violent means. War is not an avenue that any responsible right thinking person should encourage but, there are circumstances that dictate there to be war in order to have peace –paradoxical as it sounds.
Why is it a crime to have a different opinion, differ politically, opt out of a political formation or even dislike your political leader, yet all the above constitute a grave misconduct in the eyes of RPF regime and endangers anyone who habours or is perceived to have such sentiments . This is not limited to politicians but even to civil society like non-governmental organisations and journalists and newspapers. Rwanda is cleaned of any independent minded opinion leaders and all we have today is an array of government NGOs, and government newspapers and journalists –talk about nationalization engineering, this is futuristic in style only if we were dealing with comedy.
In economics there is what we call the ‘law of diminishing returns’. Simply stated, the law of diminishing returns refers to how the marginal production of a factor of production starts to progressively decrease as the factor is increased, in contrast to the increase that would otherwise be normally expected. This law is as true in economics as is in realpolitik.
The RPF government made a strategic choice that being feared than being loved will keep them in power and in my opinion, they were right, if one considers being in power as an end in itself –in which case you factor out transformation of society as not having been part of their ‘patriotic’ agenda. Rwanda under President Kagame, is a classic police state where intelligence is more important than defense. The enemy of the state is defined as more internal than external and the regime has crafted an atmosphere where nobody can trust anybody therefore organizing dissent within and/or without the system is a challenge for those who would want to see change.
The result of the above policy choice has been sledge-hammering of whoever does not worship the General of Generals, Kagame.
But as with all policy choices, there are limitations and so has RPF’s. Going after the regimes opponents with all fury, leaving nothing to chance, in the end leaving a trail of murders, arrests and imprisonment, herding others in exile, has its own limitations. This is where the law of diminishing returns comes in. State terrorism is gradually falling short of its desired effects. It has instead awakened up the regimes’ friends from their slumber of denial to realize the regime in Kigali is not the victim but a villain when it comes to human rights violations.
Many cold-blooded actions can no longer be explained or spinned or denied, not all and certainly, not for ever. The guilt-tripping of the west has come become stereo-typical and its weight has lessened, due to time and the regimes own crimes.
Since at least 1997, opposition to RPF regime has been growing in different forms and shape but most importantly, this opposition internal or external, has been democratic and pacifist (save for FDLR which never accepted RPF from the onset). The experience of this political opposition can be compared to tilling a rock –you certainly do not get anywhere. As much undesired as it is, violent opposition is going to be the next phase of opposing RPF regime. It is simply a law of natural progression. Contesting RPF’s monopoly of the means of violence is a very tempting thought.
July 4, 2010
Between February and April, 198 I met the late Seth Sendashonga on two occasions both, in Nairobi, Kenya. On my first visit, we met at the Regency Hotel. I have a vivid memory of that occasion. I remember the Hotel had a pellish pink paint –at least the terrace where we sat. Seth was wearing a golden suite, red necktie white shirt and black shoes, and he had a somewhat oversized moustache. I on the other hand, had a light blue shirt, black trousers and shoes. I also had on a bleu jean jacket and a Rastafarian hat–evidently, la mode has never been my forté. As a by-the-way, I later lost my jean jacket to a comrade in Havana and gave as souvenir, my rasta hat to an Eritrean lady friend at Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg.
The second time we met with Seth Sendashonga, we drove around town talking in the car, the same in which he was later assassinated, a beige Toyota Corolla with red UN number plate, and we ended at his home for lunch where I met his wife and a teenage girl, I believe, his daughter.
There was a scheduled third meeting on the 24th of May, 1998. He was assassinated on the 22nd of May while I was in Zanzibar where I had gone to do some work concerning preparatory meetings the Pan African Movement Secretariat was organizing across Africa to create awareness of the campaign for the creation of the African Union. These meetings were being sponsored by the Libyan government and being implemented by the Pan African Movement Secretariat. As his Assistant on the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa regions, the General Secretary, the late Dr. Tajudeen Abdul Rahim had entrusted me with the duty of being the point person on conducting these meetings.
I was to proceed to Nairobi from Zanzibar, again, on instructions from Dr. Tajudeen to carry his message to his friend Seth Sendashonga.
At that time, there was an effort (basing on the information I had, I am not sure whose initiative it was) to patch the ruptured relationship between Seth and his former colleagues in the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF). I know for a fact, that Dr. Tajudeen and PAM was not the only line by which information was being passed to and from RPF and Seth. There was another initiative that involved Maj. Gen. Salim Saleh. We talked about it with Seth but I also heard it through other avenues.
When Sendashonga was assassinated, I was heart- broken. I had developed a certain appreciation of him as a decent person, genuinely honest and inspiring. We may not have shared the same political philosophy, him being a liberal democrat and I leaning towards social democratic but there was more that we shared than we did not.
Sendashonga was killed because of his political stand and nothing else. All those phony constructs that he was involved in a business deal which went bad are irritating to say the least. As it so happened, he became a bona fide poster boy for the countless political figures Rwanda has lost over these past two decades. There are never any investigations, no public inquiries to shed light as to what may or may not have happened, only the usual casual who cares explanation of ‘it was an accident’, ‘suicide’, ‘business deal gone bad’, and so on.
Among the many topics we discussed was Kagame’s personality because even as Vice President, it was always known and rightly so, that he was more important than the actual President Bizimungu. The later was more of a unity symbol to comfort the Hutu population and show the rest of the world that it was not all about Tutsi victors and Hutu vanquished. Sendashonga’s opinion of Kagame was mixed and shifting. He told me that during the earlier days the two men met and started working together, he saw Kagame as a disciplined person and a listener. He saw him as some he could ‘work with’. However, in Sendashonga’s words, ‘Kagame overnight developed an almost ready-made mistrust of his Hutu colleagues in government and the rest was a matter of time that the rupture occurred”. He recounted to me how in the earlier days of RPF taking power, the used to have frank meetings and discuss openly and criticize each other where need was. He said however, as grave errors started to be committed by RPA soldiers killing civilians at any flimsy excuse, Kagame started to be defensive along fellow RPA officers and he and others in the army side started skipping the consultation meetings and eventually they ceased taking place.
I sat in President Pasteur Bizimungu’s press briefing on 22nd April, 1995 at Hotel Meridien Umubano at Kacyiru across the New times Offices. He had come to explain the massacre or tell if u will, the International Community what happened at the Kibeho camp of internally displaced people (IDP). The President came to that meeting with an air of self-importance that I had not seen about him before. He asked the international community to accept the official figure of 300 people as being the victims of that massacre. This was after, he and Vice President Kagame, had flown over the destroyed camps in a helicopter to see for themselves the extent of the catastrophe. It is worth noting that before the President and Vice President, the Minister of Internal Affairs had been denied entry into the camps by the RPF soldiers guarding the camps.
UNAMIR, on the same night of the massacre gave an estimate of the dead to be about 4000 which it later revised to between 1500-2000 people. Even considering the UNAMIR’s lower figure of 1500 and compare it with that of the government of 300, leads to the conclusion that either both sides were not referring to the same incident or one of them is not being sincere. It is u and I to tell in our opinion who was telling the truth and who was not and who had the motive to lie.
It is my opinion, I may be wrong, that the then Vice President and Minister of Defense Kagame was not aware of all the details of what went on in the Kibeho camp, especially the days leading to the massacre, but still I find him, together with the then President Bizimungu, responsible for their conduct after the massacre where no efforts were spared in covering up the extent of the tragedy.
Rutayisire’s Death and General Kayumba’s Presence
In his recent interviews, exiled General Kayumba talks about the loneliness he felt when he lost his parent and none of his comrades showed up at the burial nor call him to offer condolences. I am sure this came as no surprise to the good General since it was not the first time it was happening. When Lt. Col. Wilson Rutayisire (Shaban) was murdered in Congo, in June, 2000, I was in Kigali. I say murdered in spite of the official version that he killed himself, because I have very good reasons to counter the official story:
For those who knew Shaban as a friend knew that one of his daughters, Hope or Charity, I cannot recall her exact name, was to undergo a medical procedure in a week’s time. We had met at the Meridien Hotel where I was staying doing preparatory work for a Justice Africa project, the Peoples Panel. He told me he was leaving for DRC but that he would be back to be present when his daughter underwent the procedure;
Having seen him less than one week before his death, having talked to him on phone from DRC two days before his death, not having seen, sensed, felt, heard of any indicator of fore-bearance, I have no choice but to conclude that Shaban did not take his own life but those who were quick to concoct a suicide story, know better of who killed Shaban.
It is only Gen. Kayumba, who represented the government and army at the burial. Those who were present can attest to the anger or fury on Kayumba’s face at the unceremonious ceremony. The interpretation we all had was that nobody should dare question the government version of events since shortly after his death and at burial it was a known secret that it was not suicide but murder. Any doubts were quickly removed by the way his wife and children were treated thereafter. Perhaps Kayumba is in a better position to explain his posture at his Comrade’s burial.
In Rwanda, since the coming into power by RPF, once you are perceived to be on Kagame’s watch list, you are treated like a leper even your close friends cannot get distance themselves as much as they can the best you can expect from them are warning messages through third or fourth parties advising you to run for dear life. That explains why there is not a single person, former RPF or not, having disagreed with President Kagame, is still living in Rwanda. They are all dead, in prison, under house arrest or in exile.
President Kagame, during an interview with Daniel Kalinaki of the Daily Monitor, posed a rhetorical question as to why all people who don’t agree with him decide to run into exile. I am not sure he did not know the answer to his question but if indeed he did not, the only possible answer is in the immediate above paragraph.
President Kagame’s government is allergic to opposition even if some two years ago he declared that it is not him to do the job of the opposition but the opposition itself. It is an impossible mission to be an opposition in Rwanda and not be called a genocidaire, negationist, revisionist, genocide denier. You are lucky if you are a Tutsi because you cannot fit into these categories. You are instead a thief, corrupt, terrorist and or treacherous. You can be all those depending on the mood of your accuser since prosecution is at the pleasure of the powers that be. Genocide is less of a national tragedy than it is a political tool used to ensnare genuine opposition in the Country.
Politics in Africa is dangerous business but it is also more dangerous in some countries that in others. Rwanda is an extreme case. Having gone through genocide, you would think that the leaders would do whatever it is in their powers to avoid war ever happening again in that country. What the RPF government is doing to its political opponents leaves no room even to the ultra-pacifist to conclude that the only avenue left to oppose President Kagame, is through violent means. War is not an avenue that any responsible right thinking person should encourage but, there are circumstances that dictate there to be war in order to have peace –paradoxical as it sounds.
Why is it a crime to have a different opinion, differ politically, opt out of a political formation or even dislike your political leader, yet all the above constitute a grave misconduct in the eyes of RPF regime and endangers anyone who habours or is perceived to have such sentiments . This is not limited to politicians but even to civil society like non-governmental organisations and journalists and newspapers. Rwanda is cleaned of any independent minded opinion leaders and all we have today is an array of government NGOs, and government newspapers and journalists –talk about nationalization engineering, this is futuristic in style only if we were dealing with comedy.
In economics there is what we call the ‘law of diminishing returns’. Simply stated, the law of diminishing returns refers to how the marginal production of a factor of production starts to progressively decrease as the factor is increased, in contrast to the increase that would otherwise be normally expected. This law is as true in economics as is in realpolitik.
The RPF government made a strategic choice that being feared than being loved will keep them in power and in my opinion, they were right, if one considers being in power as an end in itself –in which case you factor out transformation of society as not having been part of their ‘patriotic’ agenda. Rwanda under President Kagame, is a classic police state where intelligence is more important than defense. The enemy of the state is defined as more internal than external and the regime has crafted an atmosphere where nobody can trust anybody therefore organizing dissent within and/or without the system is a challenge for those who would want to see change.
The result of the above policy choice has been sledge-hammering of whoever does not worship the General of Generals, Kagame.
But as with all policy choices, there are limitations and so has RPF’s. Going after the regimes opponents with all fury, leaving nothing to chance, in the end leaving a trail of murders, arrests and imprisonment, herding others in exile, has its own limitations. This is where the law of diminishing returns comes in. State terrorism is gradually falling short of its desired effects. It has instead awakened up the regimes’ friends from their slumber of denial to realize the regime in Kigali is not the victim but a villain when it comes to human rights violations.
Many cold-blooded actions can no longer be explained or spinned or denied, not all and certainly, not for ever. The guilt-tripping of the west has come become stereo-typical and its weight has lessened, due to time and the regimes own crimes.
Since at least 1997, opposition to RPF regime has been growing in different forms and shape but most importantly, this opposition internal or external, has been democratic and pacifist (save for FDLR which never accepted RPF from the onset). The experience of this political opposition can be compared to tilling a rock –you certainly do not get anywhere. As much undesired as it is, violent opposition is going to be the next phase of opposing RPF regime. It is simply a law of natural progression. Contesting RPF’s monopoly of the means of violence is a very tempting thought.
EurAc is concerned about the violence and the democratic deficit in the run up to presidential elections in Rwanda.
Eurac
Press Release
3 July 2010
EurAc, the network of European NGOs that lobby for Central Africa, has since the beginning of 2010 been following which great attention and concern the preparations for the presidential elections in Rwanda, planned to be held on 9 August.
We have seen how the opposition parties that were getting ready for the campaign have been excluded of the process and how the political playing field has been closed off by:
• the régime’s monopoly of the media which have never stopped demonising the opposition parties and their leaders;
• verbal and physical intimidation of opposition parties, their leaders, officials and activists;
• the creation of a legal framework which enables the régime very quickly to start legal proceedings which are very difficult for the opposition to counter (based on accusations of spreading “genocidal ideology and divisionism”, very vague notions which have deliberately been left imprecise in law). This framework paralyses the opposition leaders when they try to carry out their daily activities and is used to prevent them from exercising their political rights;
• an administrative policy aimed at preventing opposition parties from registering, taking root, organising meetings or making themselves known to the general public;
• the infiltration of opposition parties to destabilise them from inside.
In addition we have noticed a considerable degree of nervousness in the inner cicles of power in Rwanda, not least in the army. The flight of General Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa to South Africa and the arrest of Generals Emmanuel Karenzi Karake and Charles Muhire have demonstrated that by attempting to keep society under complete control in this pre-electoral period the Rwandan régime has begun to lose its cool and its cohesion.
In recent weeks EurAc has noted increasing insecurity and more acts of violence as shown in these examples:
• the attempt to assassinate General Kayumba Nyamwasa on 19 June 2010 in Johannesburg. Since his arrival in South Africa at the end of February the General has expressed very explicit public criticism on President Kagame and his government;
• the assassination on 24 June at Nyamirambo (Kigali) of the journalist Jean-Léonard Rugambage. He worked for the independent newspaper. Umuvugizi, publication of which was suspended in April 2010. Umuvugizi had reported that the government had a hand in the attempt to kill Nyamwasa and that Jean-Léonard Rugambare was leading the investigations;
• the intimidation, arrest and ill-treatment on 24 and 25 June of officials, activists and leaders of two opposition parties, PS-Imberakuri and FDU-Inkingini.
EurAc is especially concerned about the actual and potential violence in the run-up to the Rwandan elections. EurAc recommends that the European Union, in the framework of its political dialogue with Rwanda, should give a strong and clear signal to the Rwanda government and recommend that it should take steps to ensure political stability and the holding of free and transparent elections. It should:
• respect democratic principles prior to the elections, allow opposition parties to register and to carry out their work at grass root level, and finally stop dismantling them;
• stop political and police harassment of leaders and members of the opposition;
• not use the media to demonise its opponents;
• respect and protect the space for free expression and diversity of opinion by civil society and an independent press.
EurAc hopes that the European Union will express its worries about the current situation and that it will react to the killing of Jean-Léopold Rugambare with as much indignation and consternation as it did to the announcement of the death of Floribert Chebeya.
Kris Berwouts,
Director of EurAc
Press Release
3 July 2010
EurAc, the network of European NGOs that lobby for Central Africa, has since the beginning of 2010 been following which great attention and concern the preparations for the presidential elections in Rwanda, planned to be held on 9 August.
We have seen how the opposition parties that were getting ready for the campaign have been excluded of the process and how the political playing field has been closed off by:
• the régime’s monopoly of the media which have never stopped demonising the opposition parties and their leaders;
• verbal and physical intimidation of opposition parties, their leaders, officials and activists;
• the creation of a legal framework which enables the régime very quickly to start legal proceedings which are very difficult for the opposition to counter (based on accusations of spreading “genocidal ideology and divisionism”, very vague notions which have deliberately been left imprecise in law). This framework paralyses the opposition leaders when they try to carry out their daily activities and is used to prevent them from exercising their political rights;
• an administrative policy aimed at preventing opposition parties from registering, taking root, organising meetings or making themselves known to the general public;
• the infiltration of opposition parties to destabilise them from inside.
In addition we have noticed a considerable degree of nervousness in the inner cicles of power in Rwanda, not least in the army. The flight of General Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa to South Africa and the arrest of Generals Emmanuel Karenzi Karake and Charles Muhire have demonstrated that by attempting to keep society under complete control in this pre-electoral period the Rwandan régime has begun to lose its cool and its cohesion.
In recent weeks EurAc has noted increasing insecurity and more acts of violence as shown in these examples:
• the attempt to assassinate General Kayumba Nyamwasa on 19 June 2010 in Johannesburg. Since his arrival in South Africa at the end of February the General has expressed very explicit public criticism on President Kagame and his government;
• the assassination on 24 June at Nyamirambo (Kigali) of the journalist Jean-Léonard Rugambage. He worked for the independent newspaper. Umuvugizi, publication of which was suspended in April 2010. Umuvugizi had reported that the government had a hand in the attempt to kill Nyamwasa and that Jean-Léonard Rugambare was leading the investigations;
• the intimidation, arrest and ill-treatment on 24 and 25 June of officials, activists and leaders of two opposition parties, PS-Imberakuri and FDU-Inkingini.
EurAc is especially concerned about the actual and potential violence in the run-up to the Rwandan elections. EurAc recommends that the European Union, in the framework of its political dialogue with Rwanda, should give a strong and clear signal to the Rwanda government and recommend that it should take steps to ensure political stability and the holding of free and transparent elections. It should:
• respect democratic principles prior to the elections, allow opposition parties to register and to carry out their work at grass root level, and finally stop dismantling them;
• stop political and police harassment of leaders and members of the opposition;
• not use the media to demonise its opponents;
• respect and protect the space for free expression and diversity of opinion by civil society and an independent press.
EurAc hopes that the European Union will express its worries about the current situation and that it will react to the killing of Jean-Léopold Rugambare with as much indignation and consternation as it did to the announcement of the death of Floribert Chebeya.
Kris Berwouts,
Director of EurAc
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