Fugitive Gen Kayumba Nyamwasa, accused of crimes against humanity

JOHANNESBURG � Former Rwandan army chief Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa was shot outside his South African home on Saturday in what his wife called an assassination attempt, the Sapa news agency reported.

Nyamwasa’s wife Rosette said the former army chief of staff was shot outside the gate of the upmarket complex where they lived in Johannesburg.

“When we got to the gate, a black man with a pistol came to the driver’s window… The window was half open… And he fired a shot,” she told Sapa.

“The driver obstructed the assassin… My husband leaned forward. He was shot in the stomach.”

The former army chief was involved in a scuffle with the shooter after the gunman walked around the car to the passenger seat and apparently tried to fire another shot and the gun jammed.

Nyamwasa’s wife said that she believed Rwandan President Paul Kagame was responsible for the shooting.

“I think it was our government, Kagame our president,” Sapa quoted her as saying.

“He said in parliament that he would follow my husband and shoot him.”

Nyamwasa was taken to the private Morningside Clinic, where he was in stable condition.

“I can confirm that he is a patient,” hospital spokeswoman Natalie Jackson told AFP.

Nyamwasa fled to South Africa after abandoning his post as Rwanda’s envoy to India.

The Rwandan government has accused him, and former army colonel Patrick Karegeya, of masterminding grenade attacks earlier this year in the run-up to presidential elections in August.

[AFP]