Press Release
FDU-Inkingi
Yesterday, the political trial of the opposition leader Madame Victoire
INGABIRE, FDU-INKINGI head, resumed. The hearing has been postponed since 25
November 2011 due to the presiding judge's sick leave. Today, it was adjourned
to 13 December 2011 due to extra-court activities of judges. For both days, the
high court heard defence conclusions on the contradictions and inconsistencies
observed in the oral answers from prosecutor's key witnesses and the defence
submissions on 5 counts of the indictment. The life of another opposition
leader, Mr. Bernard NTAGANDA, incarcerated in Kigali Central Prison as well and
serving a politically motivated 4 year sentence is supposedly in danger. His
political party, - Parti Social IMBERAKURI - informed the public that he was
tortured last week inside the penitential premises. Our government is
continuously crippling democracy. A nightmare usurping people's freedoms,
eavesdropping on phones or any other communications means and keeping
the judiciary under its control.
The status of the proceedings is
still. The High Court denied the defence the right to a direct cross-examination
of the prosecutor's key witnesses. They were given all the questions in order to
revise them, prepare their answers beforehand and filter which one they wanted
to take or not. Still their statements contradict in many parts both the
arranged police and prosecutor's interviews or accounts of the modus operandi.
Most of the police interrogations of the pleading guilty co-accused Tharcisse
NDITURENDE which occurred during the first 7 months of his detention in a
military isolation confinement are no where in the dossier. The prosecutor
stated that the 21st April 2010 first arrest of Madame Victoire INGABIRE came as
a result of overwhelming evidence provided by Lt Colonel Tharcisse NDITURENDE.
Curiously the first police written statement related to this co-accused are
dated after the arrest of INGABIRE. How could the prosecutor base the arrest
warrant on statements that did not exist that time? The defence analysis
of all the statements of the key witness Vital UWUMUREMYI, co-accused pleading
guilty in this case, reveal that he was closely working for intelligence
services under the supervision of CSP Tony KURAMBA of the Criminal Investigation
Department.
The evidence on the allegations - of genocide negation;
discrimination and sectarianism; and willingly disseminating rumours aimed at
inciting the public against the existing leadership - is based on the rights to
political activities, freedom of speech and freedom of association. The legal
instruments which the Prosecutor is founding his case on are controversial and
the government has already acknowledged the need to review them.
“The
prosecutor's case is full of flaws. From its inception to the indictment, it
shows a clear determination to silence the political leader . The constitution
of the Republic grants her the right to challenge governmental policies. The
criminal investigations did not precede but it seems they have been initiated to
justify or cover up the imprisonment of an opposition leader. The presumption of
innocence has been violated during the making of this case against my client”,
explained the lawyer GATERA GASHABANA. The defence has given details on the lack
of jurisdiction of the High court in this case to non avail: over 75% of
evidence is based on allegations that pre-dated the criminal laws in force. The
Rwandan criminal procedure does not accept any retro-activity of the criminal
law. The court does not have territorial jurisdiction to try the accused on the
counts of the indictment.
Your silence actually condones this
injustice.
Boniface Twagirimana
FDU-INKINGI
Interim Vice
President
T: (+250) 728636000
E: Fdu.inkingi.rwa@gmail.com.
08 December, 2011
07 December, 2011
DR Congo Goverment: Rein in Security Forces Committing Political Violence.
Human Rights Watch2 December 2011
The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo should immediately rein in its security forces, especially the Republican Guard, and prevent the targeting of political opponents and their supporters in the aftermath of the November 28, 2011 presidential and legislative elections, Human Rights Watch said today. Electoral violence between November 26 and 28 left at least 18 civilians dead and 100 seriously wounded, Human Rights Watch has confirmed.
According to Human Rights Watch research, the majority of those killed were shot dead by Republican Guard soldiers in Kinshasa. Other civilians were killed and wounded during clashes between rival political parties, attacks by armed groups, and mob violence. The announcement of results on December 6 could prompt further unrest, Human Rights Watch said.
“Tensions are running high given the logistical complications of organizing the election,” said Anneke Van Woudenberg, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Security forces should be protecting people, not fueling the violence.”
The United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials state that security forces shall apply nonviolent means before resorting to the use of force and firearms. They may use lethal force only when it is strictly necessary to protect life. The Basic Principles state that, “Governments shall ensure that arbitrary or abusive use of force and firearms by law enforcement officials is punished as a criminal offence under their law.”
The attacks were confirmed by seven international and national Human Rights Watch staff in Congo accredited as election observers, working with 17 Congolese human rights activists trained as election observers and deployed across the country.
Human Rights Watch also called on the government to take urgent steps to investigate and hold to account individuals, including members of the security services, who sought to intimidate voters, political party witnesses, and election officials engaged in compiling the results. The government should also hold to account those who attempted to commit election fraud.
Violence in Kinshasa
The worst incident occurred on November 26, the last day of the election campaign. Supporters of the opposition Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) party had gathered at Kinshasa’s N’djili airport to escort their leader, Etienne Tshisekedi, to an election rally. Just across from them were supporters of Joseph Kabila, the incumbent president, also awaiting their candidate’s arrival. Police tried to control tensions between the groups by firing teargas at the crowd of UDPS supporters. When the presidential convoy arrived with the Republican Guard to escort Kabila into town, some soldiers fired into the air while others fired directly at the crowd of opposition supporters.
At least 12 opposition supporters and bystanders were fatally shot and 41 others suffered gunshot wounds during violence at the airport and as the Republican Guard drove back into the city center – without Kabila, who had changed his plans and landed at another airport. The soldiers fired indiscriminately into crowds of opposition supporters along the road near Arret Kingasani, Arret Pascal, Marché de Liberté, Pont Matete, and in the Limeté neighborhood.
Some witnesses said the soldiers may have been provoked by UDPS supporters along the road who threw rocks at the Republican Guard accompanying the presidential convoy.
Ndelela Aminata, a 27-year-old mother of five, was shot in the head and killed by alleged Republican Guard soldiers near Petro-Congo in Masina commune while she was walking home from the shop where she worked. Bukasa Tshimpanga, 22, was killed when alleged soldiers shot him in the head while he was outside the manioc granary where he worked in Kimbaseke commune, near the airport.
Republican Guard soldiers also shot and wounded a 21-year-old pregnant woman while she walked home from the market near Arret Pascal in the afternoon. “They [the soldiers] began shooting at everyone in the crowds on the side of the road,” she told Human Rights Watch. “I tried to run, but the soldiers shot me in the foot.”
Dozens of other people were wounded on November 26 when supporters of opposing political parties clashed in the streets of Kinshasa, attacking each other with machetes, rocks, and wooden bats.
“Elections don’t give soldiers an excuse to randomly shoot at crowds,” Van Woudenberg said. “The authorities should immediately suspend those responsible for this unnecessary bloodshed and hold them to account.”
Also on November 26, four armed men who have not been identified attacked a parliamentary candidate, Dieudonné Lowa Opombo, at his home in Kinshasa in the early morning hours. He is running with the opposition coalition led by Vital Kamerhe’s Union for the Congolese Nation (UNC). The assailants attacked him with knives and hammers, injected him with an unknown substance, and then dragged him to a waiting jeep. According to Opombo and other witnesses, noise from a neighboring house may have frightened the assailants, who left Opombo unconscious in a sewer a short distance from his home. He was hospitalized with serious wounds to the head, chest, and arms.
Violence against UDPS supporters and others continued in Kinshasa on voting day, November 28. At around 10 p.m. security forces fired into a crowd of opposition supporters in Matete neighborhood. Leandre Minga Mikobi, 18, was fatally shot in the chest.
A 13-year-old boy was wounded in the shoulder. One of the assailants emerged from a police jeep, came up to the boy, pointed his gun at the boy’s head and told him he was lucky to still be alive. The assailant then got back into the police jeep and drove off. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that the assailants were Republican Guard soldiers wearing police attire over their uniforms.
In total, at least 14 civilians were killed in Kinshasa during election-related violence on November 26 and 28.
Violence Related to Suspicions of Fraud
Across the country, suspicion of electoral fraud triggered anger that in a number of cases escalated into violence. People attacked polling places, election officials, or people they believed responsible for fraud. Confusion about voter registration lists, which had been distributed very late by electoral authorities and which did not reach many voting places or were incomplete, contributed to the suspicions. In many areas, voters and even electoral officials were uncertain whether people could vote if their name did not appear on the voting list. The late arrival of voting materials in many polling places also fed these suspicions.
Police stationed at polling places were either insufficient in number to deal with the violence or stood by and did nothing. In some instances they fired into the air, dispersing the crowd.
In Kananga, Kasai Occidental province, a Congolese election observer was badly beaten by a mob that accused her of carrying fraudulent ballots and had to be hospitalized. Three men were attacked and later hospitalized following similar incidents in other voting centers in Kananga. Also in Kananga, at least 15 polling places were burned with election materials inside because voters suspected the ballot boxes had been stuffed with ballots for Kabila.
In Matadi, Bas-Congo province, voters became suspicious and attacked a polling place and election officials after a political party candidate forced UDPS political party witnesses to leave. Angry voters beat the polling place director, who had to be hospitalized.
Also in Bas-Congo, in Lukula, residents stopped an election official carrying ballots on the back of a motorcycle. Suspicious that the official was attempting to commit fraud, the residents beat him severely. The police intervened and took him to the hospital.
At a polling station in Bamanya, Equateur province, armed assailants attacked voters and electoral staff in an apparent effort to subvert the results.
In some cases when election officials or others tried to stop apparent fraud, they were threatened or attacked by those committing the fraud, some of them members of the security forces.
Human Rights Watch also received credible reports about other election related violence in Kasai Occidental and Kasai Oriental provinces, including in Mbuji-Mayi, although further verification is required to determine the exact circumstances of the events.
“Suspicions of fraud, whether true or not, illustrate the growing concern among many voters about the credibility of the electoral process,” Van Woudenberg said. “As the vote counting continues, it is crucial for police to take added measures to protect election officials and stop fraud. Mob justice is no way to deal with election irregularities.”
Intimidation of Voters and Political Party Witnesses
In some areas there were attempts to intimidate voters to select a particular candidate. In Mpati and in neighboring villages in Masisi territory, North Kivu province, observers reported that a local strongman, Erasto Ntibaturama, compelled voters to vote for Kabila and for the strongman’s son, Bahati Ibatunganya, a parliamentary candidate from the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), a former rebel group now registered as a political party.
Local observers said that Ntibaturama blocked the delivery of election materials at Busumba destined for voting offices in Mpati, Nyange and Kivuye, saying he would release them only on the condition that people agreed to vote as he had instructed. On November 30, the materials for Mpati and Kivuye remained in Busumba. The materials for Nyange were released on November 29, after Ntibaturama received assurances that voters would do as he had instructed.
In Bweru village, near Mpati, Ntibaturama also sought to intimidate voters. He addressed a crowd on November 29 when the vote was still under way via a telephone attached to a loudspeaker instructing them to vote for Kabila and Ntibaturama’s son. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that a local government official accompanied by soldiers under the command of another of Ntibaturama’s sons, Lt. Col. Justin Gacheri, a former CNDP rebel, directed voters to follow Ntibaturama’s instructions.
In other parts of Masisi territory, North Kivu, former CNDP rebels who are now Congolese soldiers were at polling places in civilian clothes, acting as political party witnesses or even providing security, numerous witnesses told Human Rights Watch. Some voters told Human Rights Watch that they felt intimidated by their presence.
Political party witnesses, especially from opposition parties, accredited to monitor the electoral process, were also intimidated in a number of areas. Observers in Masisi territory said some partisan electoral officials and police barred opposition UNC witnesses from entering polling places on election day. Local observers and party witnesses also reported to Human Rights Watch that soldiers, some in uniform and others in civilian clothing, tried to intimidate or directly threatened opposition party witnesses.
Rebel Groups Impact Elections
Rebel armed groups also caused problems for voters on election day. Near Faradje, Orientale province, the Lord’s Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, attacked a small group of voters on their way to the polling place. Three men were killed, and ten women and three boys and young men were abducted. One of the women, who was six months’ pregnant, was raped and later released. She was taken to the hospital but lost her baby.
In Lubumbashi, Katanga province, armed assailants with reported links to a separatist movement attacked a polling place in the Belair neighborhood. One female voter was killed in the firefight between the assailants and the police and Republican Guard soldiers. Two policemen and seven of the assailants were also killed. Earlier that day, a group of assailants burned two vehicles with voting materials destined for polling places.
In the Waloayungu and Waloaluanda areas of Walikale territory, North Kivu province, thousands of people fled the threat of clashes in the days preceding the elections between the rebel armed groups Mai Mai Sheka and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a largely Rwandan Hutu militia group. It is not clear how many voters in the area were able to cast their ballots.
In Mutakato, also in Walikale territory, the reported arrival on election day of a senior militia commander of the Mai Mai Sheka, Commander Guidon, caused fear and panic. Hundreds of people fled the polling place to take refuge in the forest. Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka, the leader of the Mai Mai Sheka, is running for the national parliament. Sheka is wanted on a Congolese arrest warrant for crimes against humanity for mass rape committed in August 2010. On November 29, the UN Security Council added Sheka to the UN sanctions list, freezing his assets and imposing a worldwide travel ban.
“The Congolese people who turned out in large numbers to exercise their democratic rights deserve to have their votes count,” Van Woudenberg said. “As the announcement of election results nears, it is crucial for all leaders to act responsibly and peacefully, win or lose.”
The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo should immediately rein in its security forces, especially the Republican Guard, and prevent the targeting of political opponents and their supporters in the aftermath of the November 28, 2011 presidential and legislative elections, Human Rights Watch said today. Electoral violence between November 26 and 28 left at least 18 civilians dead and 100 seriously wounded, Human Rights Watch has confirmed.
According to Human Rights Watch research, the majority of those killed were shot dead by Republican Guard soldiers in Kinshasa. Other civilians were killed and wounded during clashes between rival political parties, attacks by armed groups, and mob violence. The announcement of results on December 6 could prompt further unrest, Human Rights Watch said.
“Tensions are running high given the logistical complications of organizing the election,” said Anneke Van Woudenberg, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Security forces should be protecting people, not fueling the violence.”
The United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials state that security forces shall apply nonviolent means before resorting to the use of force and firearms. They may use lethal force only when it is strictly necessary to protect life. The Basic Principles state that, “Governments shall ensure that arbitrary or abusive use of force and firearms by law enforcement officials is punished as a criminal offence under their law.”
The attacks were confirmed by seven international and national Human Rights Watch staff in Congo accredited as election observers, working with 17 Congolese human rights activists trained as election observers and deployed across the country.
Human Rights Watch also called on the government to take urgent steps to investigate and hold to account individuals, including members of the security services, who sought to intimidate voters, political party witnesses, and election officials engaged in compiling the results. The government should also hold to account those who attempted to commit election fraud.
Violence in Kinshasa
The worst incident occurred on November 26, the last day of the election campaign. Supporters of the opposition Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) party had gathered at Kinshasa’s N’djili airport to escort their leader, Etienne Tshisekedi, to an election rally. Just across from them were supporters of Joseph Kabila, the incumbent president, also awaiting their candidate’s arrival. Police tried to control tensions between the groups by firing teargas at the crowd of UDPS supporters. When the presidential convoy arrived with the Republican Guard to escort Kabila into town, some soldiers fired into the air while others fired directly at the crowd of opposition supporters.
At least 12 opposition supporters and bystanders were fatally shot and 41 others suffered gunshot wounds during violence at the airport and as the Republican Guard drove back into the city center – without Kabila, who had changed his plans and landed at another airport. The soldiers fired indiscriminately into crowds of opposition supporters along the road near Arret Kingasani, Arret Pascal, Marché de Liberté, Pont Matete, and in the Limeté neighborhood.
Some witnesses said the soldiers may have been provoked by UDPS supporters along the road who threw rocks at the Republican Guard accompanying the presidential convoy.
Ndelela Aminata, a 27-year-old mother of five, was shot in the head and killed by alleged Republican Guard soldiers near Petro-Congo in Masina commune while she was walking home from the shop where she worked. Bukasa Tshimpanga, 22, was killed when alleged soldiers shot him in the head while he was outside the manioc granary where he worked in Kimbaseke commune, near the airport.
Republican Guard soldiers also shot and wounded a 21-year-old pregnant woman while she walked home from the market near Arret Pascal in the afternoon. “They [the soldiers] began shooting at everyone in the crowds on the side of the road,” she told Human Rights Watch. “I tried to run, but the soldiers shot me in the foot.”
Dozens of other people were wounded on November 26 when supporters of opposing political parties clashed in the streets of Kinshasa, attacking each other with machetes, rocks, and wooden bats.
“Elections don’t give soldiers an excuse to randomly shoot at crowds,” Van Woudenberg said. “The authorities should immediately suspend those responsible for this unnecessary bloodshed and hold them to account.”
Also on November 26, four armed men who have not been identified attacked a parliamentary candidate, Dieudonné Lowa Opombo, at his home in Kinshasa in the early morning hours. He is running with the opposition coalition led by Vital Kamerhe’s Union for the Congolese Nation (UNC). The assailants attacked him with knives and hammers, injected him with an unknown substance, and then dragged him to a waiting jeep. According to Opombo and other witnesses, noise from a neighboring house may have frightened the assailants, who left Opombo unconscious in a sewer a short distance from his home. He was hospitalized with serious wounds to the head, chest, and arms.
Violence against UDPS supporters and others continued in Kinshasa on voting day, November 28. At around 10 p.m. security forces fired into a crowd of opposition supporters in Matete neighborhood. Leandre Minga Mikobi, 18, was fatally shot in the chest.
A 13-year-old boy was wounded in the shoulder. One of the assailants emerged from a police jeep, came up to the boy, pointed his gun at the boy’s head and told him he was lucky to still be alive. The assailant then got back into the police jeep and drove off. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that the assailants were Republican Guard soldiers wearing police attire over their uniforms.
In total, at least 14 civilians were killed in Kinshasa during election-related violence on November 26 and 28.
Violence Related to Suspicions of Fraud
Across the country, suspicion of electoral fraud triggered anger that in a number of cases escalated into violence. People attacked polling places, election officials, or people they believed responsible for fraud. Confusion about voter registration lists, which had been distributed very late by electoral authorities and which did not reach many voting places or were incomplete, contributed to the suspicions. In many areas, voters and even electoral officials were uncertain whether people could vote if their name did not appear on the voting list. The late arrival of voting materials in many polling places also fed these suspicions.
Police stationed at polling places were either insufficient in number to deal with the violence or stood by and did nothing. In some instances they fired into the air, dispersing the crowd.
In Kananga, Kasai Occidental province, a Congolese election observer was badly beaten by a mob that accused her of carrying fraudulent ballots and had to be hospitalized. Three men were attacked and later hospitalized following similar incidents in other voting centers in Kananga. Also in Kananga, at least 15 polling places were burned with election materials inside because voters suspected the ballot boxes had been stuffed with ballots for Kabila.
In Matadi, Bas-Congo province, voters became suspicious and attacked a polling place and election officials after a political party candidate forced UDPS political party witnesses to leave. Angry voters beat the polling place director, who had to be hospitalized.
Also in Bas-Congo, in Lukula, residents stopped an election official carrying ballots on the back of a motorcycle. Suspicious that the official was attempting to commit fraud, the residents beat him severely. The police intervened and took him to the hospital.
At a polling station in Bamanya, Equateur province, armed assailants attacked voters and electoral staff in an apparent effort to subvert the results.
In some cases when election officials or others tried to stop apparent fraud, they were threatened or attacked by those committing the fraud, some of them members of the security forces.
Human Rights Watch also received credible reports about other election related violence in Kasai Occidental and Kasai Oriental provinces, including in Mbuji-Mayi, although further verification is required to determine the exact circumstances of the events.
“Suspicions of fraud, whether true or not, illustrate the growing concern among many voters about the credibility of the electoral process,” Van Woudenberg said. “As the vote counting continues, it is crucial for police to take added measures to protect election officials and stop fraud. Mob justice is no way to deal with election irregularities.”
Intimidation of Voters and Political Party Witnesses
In some areas there were attempts to intimidate voters to select a particular candidate. In Mpati and in neighboring villages in Masisi territory, North Kivu province, observers reported that a local strongman, Erasto Ntibaturama, compelled voters to vote for Kabila and for the strongman’s son, Bahati Ibatunganya, a parliamentary candidate from the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), a former rebel group now registered as a political party.
Local observers said that Ntibaturama blocked the delivery of election materials at Busumba destined for voting offices in Mpati, Nyange and Kivuye, saying he would release them only on the condition that people agreed to vote as he had instructed. On November 30, the materials for Mpati and Kivuye remained in Busumba. The materials for Nyange were released on November 29, after Ntibaturama received assurances that voters would do as he had instructed.
In Bweru village, near Mpati, Ntibaturama also sought to intimidate voters. He addressed a crowd on November 29 when the vote was still under way via a telephone attached to a loudspeaker instructing them to vote for Kabila and Ntibaturama’s son. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that a local government official accompanied by soldiers under the command of another of Ntibaturama’s sons, Lt. Col. Justin Gacheri, a former CNDP rebel, directed voters to follow Ntibaturama’s instructions.
In other parts of Masisi territory, North Kivu, former CNDP rebels who are now Congolese soldiers were at polling places in civilian clothes, acting as political party witnesses or even providing security, numerous witnesses told Human Rights Watch. Some voters told Human Rights Watch that they felt intimidated by their presence.
Political party witnesses, especially from opposition parties, accredited to monitor the electoral process, were also intimidated in a number of areas. Observers in Masisi territory said some partisan electoral officials and police barred opposition UNC witnesses from entering polling places on election day. Local observers and party witnesses also reported to Human Rights Watch that soldiers, some in uniform and others in civilian clothing, tried to intimidate or directly threatened opposition party witnesses.
Rebel Groups Impact Elections
Rebel armed groups also caused problems for voters on election day. Near Faradje, Orientale province, the Lord’s Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, attacked a small group of voters on their way to the polling place. Three men were killed, and ten women and three boys and young men were abducted. One of the women, who was six months’ pregnant, was raped and later released. She was taken to the hospital but lost her baby.
In Lubumbashi, Katanga province, armed assailants with reported links to a separatist movement attacked a polling place in the Belair neighborhood. One female voter was killed in the firefight between the assailants and the police and Republican Guard soldiers. Two policemen and seven of the assailants were also killed. Earlier that day, a group of assailants burned two vehicles with voting materials destined for polling places.
In the Waloayungu and Waloaluanda areas of Walikale territory, North Kivu province, thousands of people fled the threat of clashes in the days preceding the elections between the rebel armed groups Mai Mai Sheka and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a largely Rwandan Hutu militia group. It is not clear how many voters in the area were able to cast their ballots.
In Mutakato, also in Walikale territory, the reported arrival on election day of a senior militia commander of the Mai Mai Sheka, Commander Guidon, caused fear and panic. Hundreds of people fled the polling place to take refuge in the forest. Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka, the leader of the Mai Mai Sheka, is running for the national parliament. Sheka is wanted on a Congolese arrest warrant for crimes against humanity for mass rape committed in August 2010. On November 29, the UN Security Council added Sheka to the UN sanctions list, freezing his assets and imposing a worldwide travel ban.
“The Congolese people who turned out in large numbers to exercise their democratic rights deserve to have their votes count,” Van Woudenberg said. “As the announcement of election results nears, it is crucial for all leaders to act responsibly and peacefully, win or lose.”
How Dare you Accuse our Client of Genocide.
The Independent7 December 2011
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/rwanda-how-dare-you-accuse-our-client-of-genocide-6273284.html
By Melanie Newman and Oliver Wright
A public relations firm whose senior management has close links to the Liberal Democrats said they had created an internet "attack site" for the government of Rwanda over accusations it had been involved in genocide.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/rwanda-how-dare-you-accuse-our-client-of-genocide-6273284.html
By Melanie Newman and Oliver Wright
A public relations firm whose senior management has close links to the Liberal Democrats said they had created an internet "attack site" for the government of Rwanda over accusations it had been involved in genocide.
A public relations firm whose senior management has close links to the Liberal Democrats said they had created an internet "attack site" for the government of Rwanda over accusations it had been involved in genocide.
Mark Pursey, head of BTP Advisers, was secretly recorded saying that the site was targeted at people who "over-criticised" over "who did what in the genocide". A 2009 report from the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative said Rwanda's "excellent public relations machinery" had succeeded in hiding "the exclusionary and repressive nature of the regime".
Mr Pursey, who was the voluntary head of the Liberal Democrats' National Media Intelligence Unit during the 2010 election, suggested his firm could create a similar site for the Uzbeks – who were in fact undercover reporters working for the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. Such a site, he added, could be "aggressive" in terms of putting across figures showing that things were "moving in the right direction". Also at the meeting was Edward Lord, a member of the City of London Corporation, who attended at Mr Pursey's request.
As part of its investigation into lobbying for The Independent, reporters from the BIJ posed as agents for the government of Uzbekistan and representatives of the country's cotton industry, to discover what promises British lobbying and PR firms were prepared to make when pitching to clients. Mr Pursey said his firm was working for the government of Azerbaijan, which he described as having "its own set of very complex issues" and appeared to revel in the controversial nature of his accounts. "We already work for other governments as well ... Azerbaijan, Rwanda, we also do work for the Ivory Coast – the new one, not the old one . We also do work for – just started, in fact – the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in Zimbabwe.
"The issues of what's happening for instance in Ivory Coast is very controversial with accusations of genocide on both sides. The government of Rwanda is itself enormously controversial, it's very uncertain what their role was in the deaths that occurred around the time of the genocide."
He later added: "If I wanted an easy life I'd do PR for housing associations."
Mr Pursey suggested setting up an internet site "like an Uzbek fact-check about the industry", adding that he could also create attack sites aimed at critics. He said: "I think articles saying how marvellous everything is [is] jumping the gun because it's not true and they [people] won't accept it. So I think that things such as working through the internet, setting up things like an Uzbek fact-check about the industry, could be a resource for people online that could render better articles.
"Then a separate site, this is a similar sort of work we've done with the Rwandans, for instance. We had a very controversial issue over who did what in the genocide. So the second site being much more a kind of attack site on people who over-criticise."
Mr Pursey suggested recruiting Uzbek students to comment on articles critical of the regime. "What we would need to do is find a group of people who have an interest in this subject that would include us, that would include Uzbek students living in London ... who, when an article comes up that's wrong, could be alerted about it. We could suggest to them what they might want to say in response to an article through a post, a suggestion." He added that this could affect newspaper coverage.
"Once we've started to nudge up some of the stories to become not so damning, more positive, then we can start looking at addressing issues such as going to the newspapers and saying that people are saying rather different things about this issue than they were six months ago."
Contacted by the Bureau yesterday, Mr Pursey said: "We helped create a site that outlined facts about the government of Rwanda, and most governments have them. This [sic] UN published a report that many academics and commentators agreed was extremely poorly researched yet made very alarming allegations ... its accusations towards others should be scrutinised."
On the company's work in Azerbaijan, he said: "An issue such as the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh that cost 80,000 lives and the internal displacement of over 1 million refugees is one of these very complexities, yet rarely reported. Rebuilding the lives and families of the survivors has been a massive financial and social challenge, and one that should be given the understanding and support it deserves."
No thanks: Firms that rejected the job
During the undercover investigation into lobbying, 10 firms were contacted. Two of these, Morris International Associates and Ogilvy, immediately refused to accept the business from the Uzbek regime, which is responsible for grave human rights abuses.
An hour-long meeting with Ann Morris, director of Morris International, where the undercover reporters tried to convince the company it should represent Uzbekistan, ended in a formal rejection.
No official response to The Independent's exposé yesterday was made by Morris International. But an account of the meeting by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism reveals that it took less than 10 minutes for the firm to make it clear that they were unwilling to take on the regime as their client.
It was explained during the hour-long meeting that one ofthe requirements was online "reputational management" – to which Bell Pottinger agreed in its own meetings with the reporters. Morris International made itclear this was something theywere not prepared to engage in.
The approach to a second firm, Ogilvy PR, never turned into an actual meeting. An initial connection was made by email and subsequently followed up with a telephone call. This lasted less than two minutes and the rejection of the request was quick and clear.
The BIJ said that at no point did either of the two companies make it known that they felt a "sting" was in operation. Their rejection was based on what they were being asked to do.
James Cusick
Mark Pursey, head of BTP Advisers, was secretly recorded saying that the site was targeted at people who "over-criticised" over "who did what in the genocide". A 2009 report from the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative said Rwanda's "excellent public relations machinery" had succeeded in hiding "the exclusionary and repressive nature of the regime".
Mr Pursey, who was the voluntary head of the Liberal Democrats' National Media Intelligence Unit during the 2010 election, suggested his firm could create a similar site for the Uzbeks – who were in fact undercover reporters working for the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. Such a site, he added, could be "aggressive" in terms of putting across figures showing that things were "moving in the right direction". Also at the meeting was Edward Lord, a member of the City of London Corporation, who attended at Mr Pursey's request.
As part of its investigation into lobbying for The Independent, reporters from the BIJ posed as agents for the government of Uzbekistan and representatives of the country's cotton industry, to discover what promises British lobbying and PR firms were prepared to make when pitching to clients. Mr Pursey said his firm was working for the government of Azerbaijan, which he described as having "its own set of very complex issues" and appeared to revel in the controversial nature of his accounts. "We already work for other governments as well ... Azerbaijan, Rwanda, we also do work for the Ivory Coast – the new one, not the old one . We also do work for – just started, in fact – the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in Zimbabwe.
"The issues of what's happening for instance in Ivory Coast is very controversial with accusations of genocide on both sides. The government of Rwanda is itself enormously controversial, it's very uncertain what their role was in the deaths that occurred around the time of the genocide."
He later added: "If I wanted an easy life I'd do PR for housing associations."
Mr Pursey suggested setting up an internet site "like an Uzbek fact-check about the industry", adding that he could also create attack sites aimed at critics. He said: "I think articles saying how marvellous everything is [is] jumping the gun because it's not true and they [people] won't accept it. So I think that things such as working through the internet, setting up things like an Uzbek fact-check about the industry, could be a resource for people online that could render better articles.
"Then a separate site, this is a similar sort of work we've done with the Rwandans, for instance. We had a very controversial issue over who did what in the genocide. So the second site being much more a kind of attack site on people who over-criticise."
Mr Pursey suggested recruiting Uzbek students to comment on articles critical of the regime. "What we would need to do is find a group of people who have an interest in this subject that would include us, that would include Uzbek students living in London ... who, when an article comes up that's wrong, could be alerted about it. We could suggest to them what they might want to say in response to an article through a post, a suggestion." He added that this could affect newspaper coverage.
"Once we've started to nudge up some of the stories to become not so damning, more positive, then we can start looking at addressing issues such as going to the newspapers and saying that people are saying rather different things about this issue than they were six months ago."
Contacted by the Bureau yesterday, Mr Pursey said: "We helped create a site that outlined facts about the government of Rwanda, and most governments have them. This [sic] UN published a report that many academics and commentators agreed was extremely poorly researched yet made very alarming allegations ... its accusations towards others should be scrutinised."
On the company's work in Azerbaijan, he said: "An issue such as the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh that cost 80,000 lives and the internal displacement of over 1 million refugees is one of these very complexities, yet rarely reported. Rebuilding the lives and families of the survivors has been a massive financial and social challenge, and one that should be given the understanding and support it deserves."
No thanks: Firms that rejected the job
During the undercover investigation into lobbying, 10 firms were contacted. Two of these, Morris International Associates and Ogilvy, immediately refused to accept the business from the Uzbek regime, which is responsible for grave human rights abuses.
An hour-long meeting with Ann Morris, director of Morris International, where the undercover reporters tried to convince the company it should represent Uzbekistan, ended in a formal rejection.
No official response to The Independent's exposé yesterday was made by Morris International. But an account of the meeting by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism reveals that it took less than 10 minutes for the firm to make it clear that they were unwilling to take on the regime as their client.
It was explained during the hour-long meeting that one ofthe requirements was online "reputational management" – to which Bell Pottinger agreed in its own meetings with the reporters. Morris International made itclear this was something theywere not prepared to engage in.
The approach to a second firm, Ogilvy PR, never turned into an actual meeting. An initial connection was made by email and subsequently followed up with a telephone call. This lasted less than two minutes and the rejection of the request was quick and clear.
The BIJ said that at no point did either of the two companies make it known that they felt a "sting" was in operation. Their rejection was based on what they were being asked to do.
James Cusick
Uganda/Rwanda: Investigate Journalist’s Murder.
Human Rights Watch6 December 2011
The Ugandan authorities should open an effective and transparent investigation into the murder of a Rwandan journalist on November 30, 2011, and identify and bring those responsible to justice, Human Rights Watch said today. The Ugandan government should also provide protection for Rwandan journalists and other critics of the Rwandan government who are living in Uganda, Human Rights Watch said.
Charles Ingabire, editor of the online publication Inyenyeri News and a vocal critic of the Rwandan government, was shot twice in the chest as he was leaving a bar in the Bukesa-Kikoni Makerere area of Kampala late at night. Friends told Human Rights Watch that he frequently went to that bar and had gone there that evening to meet some friends.
A spokesman for the Ugandan police told the media that the police had opened an investigation into Ingabire's death and that two people were being held for questioning.
“The persecution of government critics can reach beyond Rwanda’s borders,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “We fear for the safety of other exiled journalists and government opponents in the aftermath of Ingabire's murder.”
The Ugandan police should explore every lead in the search for Ingabire's killers and intensify protective measures for other Rwandan refugees, Human Rights Watch said.
Ingabire, who was 31 years old, was a survivor of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. He had worked as a journalist in Rwanda, but left in 2007 and obtained refugee status in Uganda. While in Uganda, he contributed to Umuvugizi newspaper, one of Rwanda’s most outspoken publications.
Umuvugiziwas suspended in 2010 by the Media High Council, a Rwandan government-controlled institution. Jean-Léonard Rugambage, another Umuvugizi journalist, was murdered in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, in June 2010. Its editor, Jean-Bosco Gasasira, fled Rwanda in 2010 after numerous threats to his safety.
After the suspension of Umuvugizi, Ingabire became the editor of an online newspaper, Inyenyeri News, which often published articles critical of President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and of the Rwandan government and army. Within a short time, the website appeared to have been infiltrated, and its contents suddenly changed, portraying the government in a favorable light. Ingabire's friends said they suspected it had been taken over by elements close to the government. Ingabire and his colleagues moved Inyenyeri News to a new web location and it resumed its critical reporting.
Ingabire confided to friends that he had been threatened several times in the months leading up to his death, they told Human Rights Watch. About two months before his murder, he was attacked and beaten in Kampala, and his computer stolen. The assailants – whom he did not recognize – told him they wanted him to close down his website. He also received anonymous telephone death threats warning him to stop writing articles critical of the government.
While it is too early to draw conclusions about the motive for Ingabire's murder, his death takes place in the context of a well documented pattern of repression of independent journalists, opposition party members, and civil society activists in Rwanda, Human Rights Watch said. Several journalists, critics, and opponents of the government in Rwanda have been arrested and detained or prosecuted in 2010 and 2011, and others outside the country have been threatened repeatedly.
Rwandans living in Uganda are at particular risk, given the geographical proximity and close links between the two countries, Human Rights Watch said. Rwandan refugees in Kampala frequently report being threatened and followed by people they believe are Rwandan intelligence agents.
Attacks on opponents and critics have also taken place further afield. In June 2010, General Kayumba Nyamwasa narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in South Africa. Nyamwasa is a former chief-of-staff of the Rwandan army and was once a close ally of Kagame, but is now an outspoken government opponent in exile. In May, two Rwandans living in the UK were warned by the London Metropolitan Police that there were threats to their safety emanating from the Rwandan government.
“The Rwandan government frequently states its commitment to democracy and free speech,” Bekele said, “but such statements are hollow when critics are threatened and attacked. The Rwandan judicial authorities should cooperate fully with their Ugandan counterparts in unearthing the truth about Ingabire’s murder.”
The Ugandan authorities should open an effective and transparent investigation into the murder of a Rwandan journalist on November 30, 2011, and identify and bring those responsible to justice, Human Rights Watch said today. The Ugandan government should also provide protection for Rwandan journalists and other critics of the Rwandan government who are living in Uganda, Human Rights Watch said.
Charles Ingabire, editor of the online publication Inyenyeri News and a vocal critic of the Rwandan government, was shot twice in the chest as he was leaving a bar in the Bukesa-Kikoni Makerere area of Kampala late at night. Friends told Human Rights Watch that he frequently went to that bar and had gone there that evening to meet some friends.
A spokesman for the Ugandan police told the media that the police had opened an investigation into Ingabire's death and that two people were being held for questioning.
“The persecution of government critics can reach beyond Rwanda’s borders,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “We fear for the safety of other exiled journalists and government opponents in the aftermath of Ingabire's murder.”
The Ugandan police should explore every lead in the search for Ingabire's killers and intensify protective measures for other Rwandan refugees, Human Rights Watch said.
Ingabire, who was 31 years old, was a survivor of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. He had worked as a journalist in Rwanda, but left in 2007 and obtained refugee status in Uganda. While in Uganda, he contributed to Umuvugizi newspaper, one of Rwanda’s most outspoken publications.
Umuvugiziwas suspended in 2010 by the Media High Council, a Rwandan government-controlled institution. Jean-Léonard Rugambage, another Umuvugizi journalist, was murdered in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, in June 2010. Its editor, Jean-Bosco Gasasira, fled Rwanda in 2010 after numerous threats to his safety.
After the suspension of Umuvugizi, Ingabire became the editor of an online newspaper, Inyenyeri News, which often published articles critical of President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and of the Rwandan government and army. Within a short time, the website appeared to have been infiltrated, and its contents suddenly changed, portraying the government in a favorable light. Ingabire's friends said they suspected it had been taken over by elements close to the government. Ingabire and his colleagues moved Inyenyeri News to a new web location and it resumed its critical reporting.
Ingabire confided to friends that he had been threatened several times in the months leading up to his death, they told Human Rights Watch. About two months before his murder, he was attacked and beaten in Kampala, and his computer stolen. The assailants – whom he did not recognize – told him they wanted him to close down his website. He also received anonymous telephone death threats warning him to stop writing articles critical of the government.
While it is too early to draw conclusions about the motive for Ingabire's murder, his death takes place in the context of a well documented pattern of repression of independent journalists, opposition party members, and civil society activists in Rwanda, Human Rights Watch said. Several journalists, critics, and opponents of the government in Rwanda have been arrested and detained or prosecuted in 2010 and 2011, and others outside the country have been threatened repeatedly.
Rwandans living in Uganda are at particular risk, given the geographical proximity and close links between the two countries, Human Rights Watch said. Rwandan refugees in Kampala frequently report being threatened and followed by people they believe are Rwandan intelligence agents.
Attacks on opponents and critics have also taken place further afield. In June 2010, General Kayumba Nyamwasa narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in South Africa. Nyamwasa is a former chief-of-staff of the Rwandan army and was once a close ally of Kagame, but is now an outspoken government opponent in exile. In May, two Rwandans living in the UK were warned by the London Metropolitan Police that there were threats to their safety emanating from the Rwandan government.
“The Rwandan government frequently states its commitment to democracy and free speech,” Bekele said, “but such statements are hollow when critics are threatened and attacked. The Rwandan judicial authorities should cooperate fully with their Ugandan counterparts in unearthing the truth about Ingabire’s murder.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
