Kigali: Prof. Peter Erlinder, the American lawyer to opposition politician Ingabire Victoire has been arrested after a week in the country � over accusations related to negating the Tutsi Genocide, RNA can exclusively reveal.

Prof Erlinder arrived in the country on Sunday but has been under fire in the media from several sections including Genocide survivors on alleged denial of the mass slaughter. Sources have just confirmed to RNA that the controversial attorney is in police custody at the Force�s Kacyiru headquarters.

RNA has also established that the American embassy in Kigali has taken up the matter, but it is not yet clear in what form. The embassy is located just meters away from the Police Headquarters.

Sources also say he is being interrogated and will be handed to the prosecution department after the dossier is complete. It not yet clear when.

Source: ARI-RNA

In his testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health in Washington, DC, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State on African Affairs Johnnie Carson has assessed the situation in the pre-electoral Rwanda and has announced that the US Governement will send observers to the August presidential elections.
He says:

Rwanda

As I mentioned at the beginning of my testimony, the countries of the region are inextricably linked. Refugees from Rwanda�s genocide (as well as perpetrators of it) fled across the border into the DRC, and the FDLR, no longer able to flex its muscle in Rwanda, continues to plunder the DRC.

Our policy priority in Rwanda is to further internal stability and social cohesion by promoting national reconciliation, economic growth, good governance, justice, and democratic values. We appreciate, in the context of the most tragic event in recent history �the genocide � the need for security, stability, and reconciliation is critical. But long-term stability is best promoted by democratic governance and respect for human rights.

The presidential elections in Rwanda this August are expected to be peaceful and non-violent. However, the security environment ahead of the elections is of concern. We strongly condemn the series of recent grenade attacks in Kigali that have caused numerous casualties as well as anxiety and unease in the population in the run-up to the elections.

Read the full text of Johnnie Carson on the whole Great Lakes Region (Rwanda, Burundi and Republic Democratic of Congo):
The Great Lakes Region: Current Conditions and U.S. Policy

The political environment ahead of the election has been riddled by a series of worrying actions taken by the Government of Rwanda, which appear to be attempts to restrict the freedom of expression.
In a period of months, the Government of Rwanda has suspended two newspapers, revoked the work permit and denied the visa of a Human Rights Watch researcher, and arrested (and subsequently released on bail) opposition leader Victoire Ingabire, who has been linked to the FDLR.
Despite multiple attempts, two political parties � the Green Party and FDU Inkingi � have still been unable to register.
Dissention within the ruling party also appears to have surfaced.
We have relayed our concerns about these developments to the Government of Rwanda, urging senior government leaders to respect freedoms of expression, press, association, and assembly.
In particular, we have pressed leaders to allow all international and domestic non-governmental organizations and media to operate and report freely.
We have also urged leaders to treat Victoire Ingabire in accordance with international law, ensure due process, and give her a speedy, fair, and transparent trial.
We have urged the Government of Rwanda and all regional and international partners to work together to achieve free, fair, and peaceful elections that the people of Rwanda deserve.
Leading up to the elections, the United States Government has supported a program that provides organizational and policy-development skills to political party leaders from all ten parties in Rwanda. The USG also plans to send approximately a dozen teams to observe the elections.

Johnnie Carson: The US top diplomat for Africa Johnnie Carson also told lawmakers that the Obama administration wants a �speedy, fair, and transparent trial� for opposition politician Victoire Ingabire

Kigali: Seventy-four days to the presidential polls, the United States government wants the authorities here to allow all media, international campaign groups and opposition critics to operate freely in the country. But Kigali described that attacks as �an out-of-Rwanda reading of the situation in Rwanda�.

The Obama administration�s senior diplomat for Africa Johnnie Carson says the political environment ahead of the poll �has been riddled by a series of worrying actions taken� by the government. He told a congressional hearing that such moves �appear to be attempts to restrict the freedom of expression�.

�We have relayed our concerns about these developments to the Government of Rwanda, urging senior government leaders to respect freedoms of expression, press, association, and assembly,� Carson said Tuesday before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health.

However, Foreign Affairs Minister and Government Spokesman Louise Mushikiwabo dismissed the concerns.

�The concerns expressed by the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs over the state of rights and freedoms in Rwanda at this particular time need to be contextualized: it is a result of an out-of-Rwanda reading of the situation in Rwanda, with added election hype,� she said in an email message.

�Rwandans in Rwanda, for whom this Government works hard for, don’t have any anxiety; they are at a very exciting time of their history.�

The American diplomat for Africa also made reference to the suspended tabloids UMUVUGIZI and UMUSESO, as well as the Human Rights Watch researcher Carina Tertsakian who was refused a work permit in April. He also informed the lawmakers of the progress of the imminent trail of government critic Victoire Ingabire, as well as the registration of the two opposition parties.

�In particular, we have pressed leaders to allow all international and domestic non-governmental organizations and media to operate and report freely,� said Mr. Carson.

�We have also urged leaders to treat Victoire Ingabire in accordance with international law, ensure due process, and give her a speedy, fair, and transparent trial.�

Discussing: �The Great Lakes Region: Current Conditions and U.S. Policy�, Mr. Carson said in just the past two months, dozens of senior officials from his office have traveled to Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and DR Congo.

�These visits underline our commitment to helping regional governments, both individually and in cooperation with one another, resolve the domestic and cross-border issues that challenge regional security and stability and continue to place millions of civilians at risk,� he said.

However, Mr. Carson admitted before the lawmakers that addressing these issues �has been, and continues to be, a slow and daunting process�.

From a positive perspective, the Obama administration expects the August 09 polls will be �peaceful and non-violent.� The US government also �strongly� condemned the series of grenade attacks � with the recent ones killing two and injuring more than 30.

For Minister Mushikiwabo: �Rwandans of course still face daunting challenges such as significantly lowering levels of poverty but they’re looking forward to peaceful elections and continued struggle for a better life.�

On DRC, where President Joseph Kabila wants the 22,000 UN forces to leave his country by June next year, the US says it would be �premature and unwise� for MONUC to depart.

�I am pleased to report that President Kabila was receptive to my concerns and has softened his tone in demanding MONUC�s withdrawal,� said Mr. Carson.

Burundi also came under scrutiny for expelling Ms Neela Ghoshal, the Human Rights Watch Researcher from the country last week. The Obama administration says the act is �disturbing�.

�It appears to be another step on the part of the Government and ruling party to clamp down on foreign and domestic NGOs that it considers to be a form of unwelcome political opposition,� said Mr. Carson.

�We have conveyed our concerns to Burundian officials in both Washington and Bujumbura, and have urged the Government to reconsider its decisions and to engage in constructive dialogue with NGOs and civil society.�

Source: ARI-RNA.

Rwanda News Agency reports the arrestation by Rwandan police of a young man who had allegedly planned to set ablaze the house of Christine Mukabunane, chair of the dissident faction of the opposition party PS Imberakuri.
RNA writes:

Kigali: Police has arrested a man who had allegedly planned to set ablaze the house of Ms. Christine Mukabonane � who heads a splinter faction of the opposition PS Imberakuri party, RNA reports.

VP Pasteur Pastor Noel Hakizimfura is accused of hatching the assassination plan on his boss

The youthful man Theophile Uwayezu was arrested Monday night in possession of five litters of petrol, five litters for acid, candles, lighters and a rope – after his plan fell-through as he ran short of fire materials. The house did not catch fire.

The suspect has told police that the entire plan was hatched by party VP Pastor Noel Hakizimfura, who had wanted to replace his boss – to be the one carrying the party flag in the August 09 presidential polls.

In March, Mr. Hakizimfura connived with then PS Imberakuri VP Ms. Mukabunane and another official Mr. Augustin Niyitegeka to defect from the party leader Bernard Ntaganda. The three held an impromptu delegates conference where they ousted Mr. Bernard Ntaganda, and setting up new structures.

The embattled Ntaganda fought back reaffirming control over the PS Imberakuri by firing Ms. Mukabunane from the post of Vice president and expelling her from the party.

What was then PS Imberakuri now has two extreme factions � with that of Ms. Mukabunane being accused of leaning towards the ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF).

However, reports arose recently suggesting that Ms. Mukabunane could be on the verge of being thrown out by the faction by her two male party colleagues.

The latest arsonist attack according to the arrested Uwayezu was meant to get rid of the woman politician. The alleged arsonist claims that Mr. Hakizimfura had promised to pay for him tuition to attend university education in Burundi if the plan was successfully executed.

As part of the deal to execute the attack, Mr. Hakizimfura apparently provided cash of 30,000 Francs (Approx. $52) which Uwayezu used to by the materials in Kayonza district of eastern Rwanda.

Police said investigations are still ongoing � suggesting he may not have acted alone. Mr. Hakizimfura was also arrested Tuesday.

The authorities say the men will be handed to prosecution, and could soon be paraded in court.

Source: ARI-RNA.

Rwandan politics are always full of theatrical suprises. We have to wait and see what is behind this incident!

Related:

• Rwanda: Dissident PS Imberakuri Leadership Appeals To Authorities Over �Ousted� Chair Ntaganda
• Rwanda Ruling Party RPF Orchestrated Destabilisation Of Opposition Party PS-Imberakuri
• Bernard Ntaganda ousted in PS-Imberakuri

Olivier Nyirubugara (23 May 2010)- Professor Peter Erlinder flew to Kigali last Saturday 22 May to meet Ms Victoire Ingabire, an opposition leader currently under arrest on charges of denying the genocide against the Tutsi and collaborating with terrorist groups.

Ingabire returned home earlier this year after 16 years of exile in the Netherlands. She was then hoping to register her party, the United Democratic Forces and to run for presidency in coming August. All seems to be turning in a nightmare for her as her passport, computer and mobile phone were seized.

I met professor Erlinder in Brussels a few hours before his flight to Kigali. He was attending a conference on the legacy and lessons from the UN Tribunal for Rwanda. The mission will certainly be difficult as local pro-government media have portrayed him as a genocide �minimizer�. In this interview, Professor Erlinder gives his point of view on the road ahead.

Dictator Kagame should own up to his recklessness

Paul Kagame must be held accountable for what happened in Rwanda since 1990

This is in response to Kagame�s continued heartless denial and insensitivity in an exclusive interview with the Monitor Managing Editor Daniel Kalinaki in Kigali last week (Monitor of 23/05/2010). See Rwanda�s president Kagame wants accountability.
It is so unfortunate that this well known killer has continued to shield his murderous side instead of coming out and admitting the truth as a cornerstone for the reconciliation urgently needed in the Rwandese people.

Firstly, Kagame talks of accountability as an element that holds everybody, every individual, leaders, the senior, the junior, even the systems. He says that it is lack of accountability that makes the Kayumbas, the Karegeyas and others to behave recklessly.
How about him?

Kagame is believed today to be the most reckless person the world has seen in recent times for causing the deaths of millions of innocent civilians in the Great lakes region of Central and Eastern Africa.

It all started by Kagame, Museveni and their cohorts militarily attacking a peaceful nation of Rwanda in 1990.
Then it climaxed when Kagame himself ordered the shooting down of President Habyarimana�s plane killing him instantly together with the president of Burundi in April 1994.
This reckless act by Kagame caused the civil unrest that resulted in the death of more than a million innocent civilians being massacred in the country Rwanda he claims to love.

He did not stop in Rwanda.
In 1996 he extended his bloody hand in Congo (DRC) where more than six million Congolese and Hutu refugees perished under his command and watch.

It was not at all by accident that the genocide happened in Rwanda in 1994 because Kagame knew very well what would happen if Habyarimana who was at that time seen as the only shield of the Hutus and other peace loving Rwandese in Rwanda was mysteriously killed.
However, Kagame went ahead and killed Habyarimana anyway because he knew very well that he could not gain any political power in Rwanda unless there was chaos. And it is through this chaos created by the reckless Kagame that handed the RPF military victory and political power he has continued to enjoy in Rwanda 16 years later.

Kagame observes, �The challenges left behind by divisive politics left behind by colonialists, and then totally mismanaged by the leaders who followed independence.�

Surely why does Kagame want the Rwandan history of divisive politics and segregation to begin in 1962 when Rwanda got its independence? As a good leader who has Rwanda at heart, why does he address the Rwandan history right from the days even before colonialists came to colonise Rwanda and address the oppression the Tutsis were subjecting the Hutus and Twas to?

Certainly, it is this ugly truth that will help the Rwandese to confront their past as a way of reaching sincere reconciliation with the sole purpose of forging a modern and a more respectful, peaceful way of coexistence.

Again, did Kagame�s reckless act of starting a bloody civil war in Rwanda in 1990 help in the Rwandan political challenges after independence?

Kagame rightly emphasises that one should never use his or her being a muHutu, muTutsi, or muTwa to hurt others, or to the detriment of others; but surely why doesn�t Kagame start with himself?
When he and Museveni led a Tutsi dominated armed group to attack Rwanda and force himself on the political leadership of a Hutu dominated population with peace loving Tutsis, what did he expect? Didn�t he do it to the detriment of others?

Kagame has tried to justify the arrest of Victoire Ingabire simply because that Ingabire had connections with the FDLR who are genocidaires living in Congo; surely if Kagame also believes that Ingabire was abroad when the genocide happened and that she is not accused of any genocide crime, why is it criminal for Ingabire to talk to any Rwandese in exile as a way of seeking reconciliation and avoid further bloodshed on the Rwandese people? I am not Ingabire�s spokesperson but I can see where political witch hunt is being maliciously executed.

As far as the facts on the ground are concerned, Kagame caused the formation of the FDLR in Congo when he ordered the murderous shelling of the Hutu refugee camps in Congo as a way of forcing these refugees who were rightly scared of Kagame and his RPF government back into Rwanda in 1995.
More than 400,000 innocent Hutu refugees were massacred by this reckless RPF act.
Though other refugees were killed or herded into Rwanda, some escaped and scattered in the jungles of the vast Congo forests. It is from these groups that FDLR was formed.

So Kagame if I may ask, �does that make them less Rwandese?� If at all Kagame has Rwanda and Rwandese at heart as he would want us to believe, why has he decided to deceive the whole world that there are no more Rwandese refugees in Congo?
He should know and appreciate that there are some who cannot come to Rwanda to be ruled by Kagame, a notorious killer who killed their parents, brothers and sisters in cold blood in Congo refugee camps in 1995 and 1996!

Kagame even quotes that even the UN itself has information how Ingabire has connections with FDLR in Congo!
Is it now that Kagame has decided to respect the UN concerns on Rwanda issues?
Gersony was a UN expert who was mandated to investigate Kagame/RPF�s crimes against humanity in Rwanda way back in 1997. His report revealed how Kagame and his RPF killed many more innocent Hutu civilians before and after the start of the genocide.
�What happened to this report Mr.Kagame sir?� if I may ask?

Finally Kagame claims that Ingabire is being confronted in the Rwandan Courts of Justice in broad day light.
Why is Kagame then now telling the world in this interview that Ingabire has cases to answer as if Kagame is the judge in these cases?
Kagame says, �Yes we have earned a bad name for no good reason, but this woman Ingabire will certainly be put where she belongs.� JAIL!
Anyone can see that Ingabire�s case is a well predetermined one by no other than �pilato� Kagame himself, and it is a waste of time to wait for the outcomes of the Ingabire case in Rwanda as many had predicted.
However, I would like to warn Kagame, his cohorts and henchmen that all peace loving people of this world are watching this injustice being executed on the innocent people of Rwanda, and God did not create them to be killed or abused with impunity.

�Kagame, where is your accountability then?� I conclude today.

In an interview with Monitor newspaper, President Paul Kagame gives a monologue as a wise and honest person about accountability. Irony and extreme duplicity!
Here is what he says:

Kagame on accountability

�In addressing the problems of Rwanda that we have faced and I think which extend beyond our borders in politics or in our social and economic lives I believe strongly, I have a conviction, that there is one element that needs to be adhered to and always needs to guide us; this is the issue of accountability.

Can we create a system that fairly or even that democratically or whichever way you look at it, that will hold everybody, every individual, leaders- the senior the junior, even the systems accountable?

Read reaction reader’s reaction in the article:
�Kagame, where is your accountability?“

The issue of accountability for me, the life I�ve lived, how I have seen things, the way I�ve studied them, you won�t get anything right � the politics, development � unless you have accountability because lack of accountability is what makes the Kayumbas, the Karegeyas and others to behave so recklessly.
They have maybe certain desires they want to satisfy and they�d want to do it anyhow, they want to do it using their positions, they feel they are entitled and in many ways they infringe on the rights of the majority of these people they are supposed to lead.

There should be accountability at every level; it doesn�t matter whether you�re a general, a president, an ordinary citizen, an MP or a minister; there should be a sense of accountability and that�s what has killed this country before and that�s probably what kills many other countries on the continent.�

Excerpt from article ‘Why I fell out with Generals, says Kagame’ by Monitor Managing Editor Daniel Kalinaki – May 23rd, 2010.

The Permanent Consultative Council of Opposition Parties in Rwanda which brings together, the United Democratic Forces (FDU�Inkingi), the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, the Parti Social IMBERAKURI, is very disturbed and deeply concerned with the new RPF strategy of doing away with the real political opposition and embrace its coalition partners for the last 16 years as the Political Opposition.

This comes just a few weeks after the public Request by President Kagame in one of his Press Conferences held in April 2010, telling Liberal Party-PL and Social Democratic Party-PSD to start claiming for the political space the opposition has been calling for.

Dr. Jean Damascene Ntawukuriryayo, Rwanda�s Deputy Speaker of Parliament, cannot challenge President Paul Kagame and the RPF in the upcoming August presidential elections.

Dr. Ntawukuriryayo is a former Health Minister and his Social Democratic Party (PSD) have been sleeping in the same bed with RPF since 1994 and in 2003 elections, PSD backed the RPF candidate. The President of PSD, Dr. Vincent BIRUTA, became the Speaker of Parliament then and there-after, till now the Speaker of the Rwandan Senate-the second Supreme Organ in the Country and Number two in hierarchy according to the Rwandan Constitution and also the Deputy Speaker of Parliament is not far away from the top hierarchy and decision makers of the Land.

The usual master plan is already known: the right time the stooge candidate urges his supporters to vote for the incumbent.

It�s very clear that PSD is an RPF satellite and affiliated Party and has never been in opposition since 1994.
It is just coming in to escort and give legitimacy to the RPF Candidate and hoodwink the international community that the elections are free and fair.

The Permanent Consultative Council of Opposition Parties in Rwanda strongly condemns this new RPF strategy of doing away with the real and genuine political opposition by embracing its coalition Partners, PSD and PL as its new opposition.

PSD and PL have never stood up publically to challenge the RPF regime, they have never denounced the injustices of the RPF against the population, they have never confronted the RPF for the democratization of the country, they have always been comfortable with the RPF-established clientele system and they have always supported all RPF activities without giving any critic publically.

An election, where the real opposition is not allowed to participate in, is just a wastage of national resources and wastage of time.

We once again call for a level playing field for the 2010 presidential election; the legitimacy of the results will remain a big problem if the real opposition is closed out.

We also once again call the Rwandan Government to register the real opposition parties: FDU INKINGI and the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda without any further hurdles.

Issued at Kigali, 24th May 2010

Signed by:
Ms Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza
Chairperson, United Democratic Forces

Mr. Frank Habineza
Chairman, Democratic Green Party of Rwanda

Me. Bernard Ntaganda
Chairman, Parti Social IMBERAKURI

President Paul Kagame expresses again how he sees opposition leader Ms Victoire Ingabire.
Here is an excerpt of the interview he had last week with The Monitor Managing Editor Daniel Kalinaki:

Daniel Kalinaki:
Q:/The election seems to be a straightforward affair. Do you feel that it is simply a referendum on your regime?

Kagame:
“There are people going to stand. There are other candidates [from] parties that are allied to us that have decided to front their candidates. And I respect that. It is healthy. It will make it more lively and competitive. They have occupied their better place than being always tied with us or even than allowing the likes of Ingabires to occupy the vacuum.

For just exercising some argument, imagine if Alice Lakwena was still alive and she offered herself as a presidential candidate in Uganda! I wonder if the laws and rules would have let her be. This whole attitude, I link it to how people see us; [that] the Ingabires and Lakwenas are African leaders, fit to lead Africa� We should have better people coming up as opposition. Let opposition or the ones in power be the right people, the right Africans to compete for power and to help the countries move forward. I find it cynical and sarcastic for Africa to be reduced to this.”

Related:
– Rwanda: �This woman will be where she belongs�, says Kagame about opposition leader Victoire Ingabire
– Rwanda: Victoire Ingabire to Paul Kagame: �Do not hold in contempt your own justice system
– Rwanda: Opposition leader Victoire Ingabire has confessed, says President Kagame

In his exclusive interview with Monitor Managing Editor Daniel Kalinaki, President Paul Kagame shows, in strong terms, that he is determined to bar opposition leader Ms Victoire Ingabire from running for presidential office.
Here is what The Monitor reports:

Daniel Kalinaki:
Q/ How do you respond to criticism that the arrest of Victoire Ingabire has been done to try and prevent her from establishing a political party and running against you as a candidate, that you are using genocide laws to clamp down on political dissent…

Kagame:
“First, Ingabire is not accused of having been involved in the genocide because she was not here. She was abroad. She�s actually been out of the country for 17 years but that�s not the problem.

But while she was there, before she came to contest in these elections, she had been doing things that, in the end, would put her into trouble and she knew about it but of course these people always operate under the assumption that, you know, �we can do all this but when we come for things like elections in the country the international community will not allow these people to [do anything about it]� even when they know they have been involved in wrong doing.

Even the UN itself has information; they wrote about this person, giving details about how she was connected with the FDLR, these genocidaires who live in the Congo and who have been killing Congolese and our own people.

On our side we have evidence, which has been brought to her attention, and about 10 things she has been denying. Now she�s saying that seven of them are actually true and this has come as a result of the overwhelming evidence that was put in front of her including the people she was working with, the former soldiers in the FDLR who are here in our hands, who are testifying to these accusations.”

Daniel Kalinaki:
Q/ What are the accusations?

Kagame:
“First of all that she had been visiting FDLR in the Congo just before she came.
Initially she had denied, that she only used to just give supportive comments. Then the evidence of these FDLR colonels who are here with us and when they confronted her they said �you were with us� and she said �yeah, I�m sorry I visited you so many times�. This is in court of law.

Then they said you were contributing money, supplied money to FDLR she was saying no. In our collaboration in the Congo and so on, through their justice institutions and ours, they now have bank documents which prove that she actually supplied money, not once, not twice, but several times.

She visited them, not once, not twice. When initially she was being accused, she did not know that we had these people in our custody.

When we confronted her afterwards she almost collapsed. This is in broad daylight, in courts of law.

This is somebody, a candidate, a so-praised opposition leader, yes, but wait a minute; if there are cases to answer, you answer them.
It doesn�t matter how outsiders talk about it and insult us and abuse us and all sorts of things and praise her for being so Godly and being a very powerful opposition leader but there are cases here to answer.

Yes we�ve earned a bad name for no good reason but issues are being sorted out. This woman will certainly be where she belongs.
She was charged in the court of law, she�s now out on bail but the matters are serious and are there as a matter of fact.

How then do I explain myself or for this country beyond that? Now the outsiders who want so badly Ingabire to be an opposition leader here or later on be our president, well, they may wait for a while.”