Victoire Ingabire in court

Kigali – Rwandan opposition leader Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza has been conditionally released after being arrested on Wednesday.

Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza who plans to challenge President Paul Kagame in August’s presidential election, is accused of collaborating with a terrorist group, divisionism and genocide ideology.

The Gasabo court ruled that Ms Ingabire is banned from leaving the capital city Kigali. Her passport has been seized and she has been ordered to report to the authorities twice a month.

Ms Ingabire, an ethnic Hutu, was said to be propagating genocide ideology after she called for remembrance to be organised for all rwandan victims – including Hutus – of the 1990-1994 conflict. She also called for action to be taken against those responsible for crimes against humanity perpretated by the RPF leaders, including President Paul Kagame inside Rwanda and in the neighbouring countries.

Ms Ingabire, who leads the Unified Democratic Forces party (UDF Inkingi), has been systematically harassed since returning from exile in January and has been barred from officially registering the party. Observers recognize now that the travel restrictions imposed on her could have a severe impact on her campaign.

A series of events in Rwanda confirm fears that Rwanda doesn’t meet the democracy and human rights standards expected from a country member of the Commonwealth.

In just a few days, while preparing for the presidential elections, President Paul Kagame has suspended two independent and outspoken newspapers, arrested two of his army generals and arrested the main opposition leader Victoire Ingabire.

KIGALI – Rwanda is among the fastest growing economies that have recorded sustained and widespread economic growth on the African Continent, a senior official at the World Bank (WB) has said.

In a video press conference held on Monday for journalists from across the continent, Shanta Devarajan, the Chief Economist for Africa at the WB, referred to Rwanda as one of Africa�s success stories due to existence of government accountability and implementation of good policies.

�The important characteristic of the recent growth experience of Africa is that it is quite broad-based that even landlocked countries, resource poor countries, were growing better than 4 percent. When you look at some of our fastest growing countries like Uganda and Rwanda, they are both landlocked and until recently, not very resource rich either,� Devarajan said.

The Economist also hailed the government for instituting programs that do not only generate more resources to social sectors such as health and education, but also make those resources more productive.

�Rwanda has this result-based financing programme that actually encourages and creates incentives for doctors to show up and availability of medicines� this can lead to faster progress,� he said.

Despite the impact of the global financial crisis, Rwanda maintained a positive economic growth at 5.5 percent last year, according to available information.

He urged other African countries to pursue such initiatives to facilitate them achieve rapid economic growth.

Devarajan also observed that economic growth does not lead to poverty reduction unless it is associated with growth in agriculture, productive jobs and human development.

�We know that 70 percent of the poor earn their living in one or another from Agriculture. And if we want to reduce poverty, we have to make sure that agricultural productivity grows. … We can achieve poverty reduction with faster economic growth, but we have to pay attention to these areas,�

For the first time in three decades, the economist said growth in Africa was equal to that of all developing countries (except China and India).

Until the global crisis of 2008-9, average economic growth had been accelerating from around 4 percent in the early part of the decade to 5.7 percent in 2006 to 6.1 percent in 2007 (with a pre-crisis forecast of 6.4 percent in 2008).

This growth, he said, was not just due to high oil prices either�22 non-oil-exporters sustained better-than-four-percent average annual growth between 1998 and 2008.
Speaking ahead of the Bank�s Spring Meetings due this weekend, Obiageli Ezekwesili, the World Bank Vice President, Africa Region, urged African countries to continue pursuing policy reforms to achieve fast economic growth.

Although Africa continues to have a massive infrastructure deficit, Ezekwesili underlined recent rapid growth of information and communications technology as a success story of policy reform.

�We are using the performance of the telecom sector to say that � in Africa you can actually model your behavior in terms of how you regulate a sector to be attractive�.

The number of mobile phone users on the continent rose from 10 million in 2000 to 180 million in 2007.

[The New Times]

Victoire Ingabire - challenges Gen. Paul Kagame and RPF

Kigali � Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, the leader of the yet-to-be registered political party, FDU-Inkingi, was yesterday arrested and arraigned before Gasabo Intermediate Court.

Ingabire is charged with association with a terrorist group, propagating the Genocide Ideology, Revisionism and Ethnic Division.

Clad in a grey suit and holding a black handbag, Ingabire arrived in court at around 3.30pm and headed straight to a prosecution room where she stayed for about half an hour before appearing in the courtroom.

She and her lawyer, Protais Mutembe, listened attentively as the representative from the National Public Prosecution Authority read the three charges before the Vice President of the court, Maurice Mbishibishi.

Ingabire is also accused of promoting the genocide ideology through her declarations and speeches made while she was still living in Europe and upon arrival in the country, which contravenes articles 1-4 of the 2008 law against Genocide Ideology.

Prosecutor General, Martin Ngoga, dismissed claims from Ingabire’s camp that she was being persecuted for her political views.

“The prosecution’s case against Ms Ingabire is based on facts and evidence,” said Ngoga, adding that being a politician did not place her above the law.

“The actions that led to these charges against Ms Ingabire are extremely serious and cannot go unpunished”.

Prosecution pointed to a speech she delivered at Kigali Memorial Centre at Gisozi, upon her arrival, where she lamented that the memorial site only honours the Genocide against the Tutsis but Hutus were left out.

It added that through her declarations and utterances, Ingabire not only engaged in Genocide denial, but also promoted ethnic divisionism.

Since her arrival in January, Ingabire has uttered revisionist statements suggesting that there was double Genocide in 1994.

She has also, in her declarations, appealed for ethnic sentiments in her quest for political support.

It was revealed that Ingabire had been in constant contact with the rebels based in Eastern DRC with the aim of forming armed groups to attack Rwanda.

According to the Prosecution, Ingabire while still in Europe shuttled between Amsterdam and Kinshasa to meet top FDLR commanders who she was trying to convince to quit the militia and launch a new offensive under FDU Inkingi/CDF.

The prosecution maintains that Ingabire met Lt. Col Tharcisse Mutwende in 2008 to convince him to leave the rebel group, mainly Ex-FAR Interahamwe, and also sent him money through Western Union.Ingabire claimed she did not know the said FDLR officer or having travelled to Kinshasa to meet the group.

Her bail application will be decided today.

[TNT]

Five months after joining the Commonwealth, Rwanda has been selected to host the bloc�s Investment Forum slated for May10-11, 2010.

According to a statement posted on the organisation�s website, the forum �will be organised by the Commonwealth Business Council (CBC) in partnership with the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) in collaboration of the International Private Sector�.

The CBC was formed in 1997 to promote global trade and investment.

�This year�s forum aims to build on Rwanda�s expanding network of relationships created by joining the Commonwealth, and its reputation for stability and good economic management,� the statement reads.

It also states that the conference aims to enhance foreign direct investment by communicating national development goals and by bringing international investors and operators together.

In 2008, the CBC, in collaboration with the East African Business Council, organised a conference in Kigali that drew over 500 leaders of business and government with 250 delegates from over 30 countries outside the East African region.

The forthcoming conference will focus on business opportunities in sectors such as; Agriculture and Food Security, Banking and Financial Services, Investment in Energy and Power, Tourism, Mining and Natural Resources, ICT and Manufacturing.

[TNT]

Related article: Rwanda Investment Forum 2010 starts May 10th

Victoire Ingabire - opposition leader

Kigali: Police has finalized investigations on opposition politician Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza and will be produced in court Thursday, it was announced Wednesday afternoon as the United Democratic Forces Inkingi leader was arrested. Her arrest happened concurrently as President Kagame was meeting with visiting Canadian Governor General Micha�lle Jean.
Police spokesman Superintendent Eric Kayiranga told reporters at about mid-day after Ms. Ingabire had been taken into custody and transferred to the Kicukiro police station, that the investigations and dossier are complete.

He declined to give details as to the contents, saying only that the hard-talking Ingabire will be charged in court within the next seventy-two hours as stipulated by law.

The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) has since February been interrogating Ms. Ingabire over ethnic divisionism, negating the Tutsi Genocide and links to the Rwandan FDLR rebels holed up in the jungles of eastern DRC.

Her troubles started on January 16 � the day she returned from a 16-year exile, when she wondered why the Kigali Memorial site where some 250,000 Tutsis are laid to rest only honours Tutsis when even Hutus were massacred as well. Genocide survivors are bitter, demanding that a new mechanism for people visiting memorial sites be formulated.

A contentious UN report which President Kagame dismissed last week, also names Ms. Ingabire and her yet-to-be registered United Democratic Forces Inkingi party members as among the countries, multinationals and individuals supporting the FDLR rebels.

The UN and United States have declared the group a terrorist entity.

The CID summoned Ms. Ingabire on Tuesday evening as part of her continued interrogation. She appeared at Police Headquarters Wednesday at 9am as per summon.

However, a team of her staff and party colleagues escorting her were told they had to leave the large Police compound situated in Kacyiru � just within reach of the Office of the President and the American embassy. But the Police let Ingabire to stay with her lawyer Mr. Protais Mutembe.

A source told RNA that the FDU-Inkingi group was informed by the lawyer an hour and half later that Ms. Ingabire was now in detention at Kicukiro police station, which is in another party of Kigali. This essentially means, as party members waited close-by, their boss was transferred to jail.

�We are worried about her because we don�t know what is going on,� a party source said.

Last month, Police detectives refused Ms. Ingabire from leaving the country. She was at the Kanombe International Airport preparing to go to the Netherlands where her family is still staying. Police said she could not leave the country as there were investigations about her.

A top police detective Tony Kuramba handed Ms. Ingabire a written summon to appear in his office the following day for more interrogation, also informing her that she was not allowed to moved out of the country without assent from the authorities.

If found guilty, Ms. Ingabire risks dozens of years behind bars � thanks to a controversial Genocide Ideology law that promulgated three years ago. Under fire from donors and rights groups, government announced two weeks ago that it was reviewing the law.

Critics say the law is being used to stifle free press and silence the opposition. Other quarters say the same law, which came with a constitutional amendment, is vague.

[ARI-RNA]

Victoire Ingabire, Chair of FDU-Inkingi

Mrs. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza: icon of the struggle for freedom, democracy and justice in Rwanda arrested.

Brussels, 21st April 2010

Mrs. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza: icon of the struggle for freedom, democracy and justice in Rwanda arrested

UDF-Inkingi Support Committee demands her immediate and unconditional release.

The UDF � Inkingi Support Committee condemns in the strongest terms possible the arrest this morning of the party Chair, Mrs. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, for her views on how to bring about genuine national reconciliation and peace through the rule of law and equal opportunity and how to end the cycle of political violence through a non violent, peaceful democratic competition for and exercise of power.

We know that this violent arrest will not deter her determination, instead its prompts the struggle of this freedom icon to a higher level.

It is a tragedy for Rwanda that a call for justice for all Rwandans irrespective of political and ethnic affiliation and for an all inclusive national dialogue to give their views on how to put in place institutions that reassure every Rwandans is turned into accusations of: genocide ideology, divisionism and collaboration with a terrorist organisation FDLR.

Such a barbaric and unlawful act against a peace loving mother who braved the system to show that there is another way to bring about lasting peace and development in Rwanda is not only a challenge to the conscience and dignity of the Rwandan people but also to the international community, in particular foreign governments who are sponsoring the government.

It is an irony and a challenge to the international community that this is happening at a time when the Governor General of Canada, a lady herself and whose government was not only at the forefront of countries that sponsored Rwanda to join the commonwealth on the grounds that it meets democratic standards and other values of that organisation, is visiting the country.
During the visit she is scheduled to meet the women and men of Kibirizi and participate in a discussion on the growing participation of women in Rwandan society.

We call upon governments and peace loving people and organisations to support us in getting our chair immediately and unconditionally released.

For the UDF INKINGI Support Committee
Eugene Ndahayo, President.

Rwanda Defence Force: Stability is a key factor

Kigali – Repeating news confirm beyond any doubt a worrying state of instability and unrest within the high level of the RDF national army.
Some senior military officers and Commanders are either fleeing the homeland, others are arbitrary detained, and others are arrested, questioned or sacked. There is a problem.

The Rwanda Defence Force is a key factor for the stability of this country. Many Rwandans respect the motto saying: �In the RDF, good leadership; discipline; mutual trust and respect between members; respect for the law and enduring loyalty to the constitution, are the cornerstone of our success and constant ability to be a force for good�.
In this respect, we strongly advocate for professionalism, carrier stability and leadership empowerment.

As the presidential election looms, Rwandans can not afford a never ending political and military crisis. The shrinking tiny political space, the harassment of opposition leaders, the censorship of newspapers and uncertainty within the army leadership are serious red-flags for an urgent talk between all the stakeholders.

Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza,
UDF INKINGI, Chair.
April 21, 2010.

Victoire Ingabire, chair of opposition party FDU-Inkingi

Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, the leader of the yet-to-be-registered FDU-Inkingi, has been arrested this morning April 21st. She has been taken to the Kicukiro Police station.
More details later…

The Governor General of Canada, Michaelle Jean, greeting Rwandan officials on her arrival. She was received by Prime Minister Bernard Makuza and a host of senior government officials. (Photo J Mbanda

KIGALI – The Canada�s Governor General, Micha�lle Jean, last evening arrived in the country for a 3-day State visit.
Jean was received by the Prime Minister, Bernard Makuza, Foreign Affairs Minister, Louise Mushikiwabo, the Minister in the President�s office Solina Nyirahabimana and Rwanda�s High Commissioner to Canada, Edda Mukabagwiza.

Also present to receive the Governor General was Canada�s High Commissioner to Rwanda, Ross Hynes and the Mayor of Kigali, Dr. Aisa Kirabo Kacyira.

The Haitian-born Governor General is expected to visit Kigali Memorial Centre at Gisozi this morning to pay her respects to the remains of over 250,000 laid to rest before heading to Urugwiro Village where she will hold talks with President Paul Kagame.

Jean, will also participate in interactive sessions with young Rwandans on the Genocide, human rights and reconciliation among other topics.

Tomorrow she will visit the National University of Rwanda where she will lay a wreath at the Genocide Monument the University.

She will then deliver the opening speech at a discussion on the role of the media in a democracy. The panel is organized by the NUR in co-operation with the Office of the High Commissioner of Canada to Rwanda.

The Governor General will also visit Nyamagabe to check on the Programme d�Appui � la Gouvernance locale du Rwanda (PAGOR), a project funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) which supports the Rwandan decentralization policy by strengthening local governance in two districts of the Southern Province; Nyamagabe and Nyaruguru.

Jean will meet the women and men of Kibirizi and participate in a discussion on the growing participation of women in Rwandan society and the challenges they face.

[TNT]

The last covers of Umuseso and Umuvugizi, for a while

On Tuesday, April 13, 2010, the Board of the Media High Council held an extraordinary meeting at its headquarters. This Meeting was aimed at Analyzing various articles published in the newspapers Umuseso and Umuvugizi.

As evidenced by a detailed analysis of these articles published in those two newspapers since the beginning of 2010 and in the previous years, it was found out that these newspapers have persistently violated the laws governing the media and adamantly refused to adhere to ethical demands of the industry.

Many of the articles published in these two newspapers did not meet professional standards as they continuously reflected false and inciting reporting aimed at creating a sense of fear amongst the Rwandan people.

Some of the material published was intended to undermine the reputation of the Head of State and polarize the national security organs, which evidently endangers public law and order. They have been characterized by inaccuracies, seditious material, use of abusive language, insulting and damaging reputation of individuals and calling for use of violent means to address problems facing Rwandans.

This is evidenced in the different issues of these papers some of whose articles are outlined here under:

01. UMUSESO N� 397 of March 01-08, 2010, UMUSESO N�398 of March 08-15, 2010, UMUSESO N� 399 of April 15-22, 2010, UMUSESO N� 403 of April 12-19, 2010, and others highlighted here under.

Below are some of the articles published by these two papers with inciting information:

1. �As predicted: General Kayumba has also fled the country�,

Examples:

* “Considering the love he enjoys with the army, for some of them this is an important reason to desert and group together and eventually fight Kagame.��;
* “I swear to you that many of these soldiers will desert Kagame because of the good initiative Kayumba has taken�;
* “Secondly, those still pampered, particularly Ndahiro or Kabarebe must start thinking about their eventual end.��,

2. �The reasons why Rwanda is drifting into darkness�

Examples:

* � He who refuses a peaceful political revolution makes a bloody revolution necessary;
* � The queue of those who want change in the governance of this country, (and not a peaceful one since all avenues for peaceful revolution can no longer work) is growing by the day. This is leading Rwanda into total darkness.
* � Anyone who wishes to analyze Kagame�s policies and opinions since 1994 to date can never fail to conclude that Rwanda future is doomed;
* Even if Kagame cannot admit it openly, but anyone who concludes that Kagame leaves in fear of being overthrown anytime, would not be lying himself at all;
* If Kagame was capable, he would protect us from darkness; otherwise we are getting closer and closer to it (dark days);

Chronology of Umuseso�s mistakes since 2004

On 13/09/2004, the MHC made a decision to ask the Minister of Information to suspend the newspaper Umuseso for four months. This decision was taken after the MHC had realised that the Management of the newspaper did not comply with the formal notice of August 20, 2004, which followed the hearing of august 18, 2004 relating to the articles of Umuseso�s issue No. 186 of August 01-07, 2004.

The formal notice requested Umuseso Management to accept these errors, to apologize, and to correct them in the issue that was to follow the above-mentioned hearing. Nevertheless, the issues that followed never complied with all these requirements[1].

On receiving a complaint from the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning on 12/09/2008, the MHC wrote to the Management of the newspaper Umuseso, requiring them to explain the information they had published in their issue No 308 of August 4-14, 2008. This information related to the errors that the aforementioned Minister made according to the Newspaper[2].

The Management of the newspaper Umuseso wrote to the MHC on 18/09/2008, providing explanations[3].

After examining the explanations that had been provided by the management of the newspaper Umuseso on 31/10/2008, the MHC once again wrote to them requesting them to rectify the slanderous information and to run an apology in their next issue.

The MHC had found out that the article “Minister Musoni disobeyed the Prime Minister” was erroneous (incorrect) and did not comply with the laws and ethics governing the profession of journalism in Rwanda.

The newspaper Umuseso was unable to provide explanations or give evidence for it[4].

All the issues of the newspaper that followed, this correction demanded by MHC was not made.

On 16/12/2008, the members of the Board of the MHC held a meeting with the Minister of Information and discussed the state of the media in Rwanda and jointly sought ways of finding lasting solutions to the problems facing it. Within the framework of promoting Media Freedom in the country MHC followed up the issue of some newspapers including Umuseso and Umuvugizi boycotted by government because of their continuous publication of fabricated material.

On 10/03/2009, the MHC wrote to the boycotted newspapers particularly Umuseso, Umuvugizi, and Rushyashya, to review together their working methods and to adopt new resolutions that would encourage the MHC to help them out of the boycott. A meeting for this discussion was held on 13/03/2009 between the Managements of these newspapers and the MHC

In this meeting, the MHC showed Umuseso a detailed analysis of its errors which appeared in its 14 issues between 2007 and 2008. In short, the most outstanding of those errors are as follows:

* Publishing false news with the intention of inciting or discouraging security organs.
* News that are detrimental to public order and the security of the country
* Insulting, slandering, defaming innocent individuals
* Interfering in other people�s private lives without good reasons;
* Publishing photographs without any relationship with the news published, without caption, or without indicating their source;
* Publishing biased information;
* Using journalism as a means of confrontation and intimidation;
* Abusing and insulting the President of the Republic of Rwanda.

Umuvugizi newspaper

Just like the Umuseso newspaper, the articles appearing in the Umuvugizi newspaper are also characterized by violation of laws and principles governing journalists and the journalism profession, particularly in the following issues:

Umuvugizi n� 74 of Mata 9-20, 2010, n� 67 of January 8-16, 2010, n� 69 of February 14-25, 2010, n� 66 of December 18-27, 2009, Umuvugizi n� 23 of 23 February-March, 2007, Umuvugizi n� 38 of February 23-8, March 2008, Umuvugizi n� 41 of February 17-28, 2008, Umuvugizi n� 59 of July 16-30, 2009, Ikinyamakuru n� 60 of 26 July, 2008-August 2009.

Illustrative examples are given in the information below:

1. “A colonel and three (3) captains of RDF degraded due to intrigues�

Examples of offensive statements:

� � As for colonel Semana, after his seven (7) month suspension, he was arrested after having been attributed gratuitously crimes like those of Lucifer, and later on, the J7 stick was inflicted to him. � (MHC�s comment: J7 is not a true or correct division, unit or real thing but a creation of this newspaper often used to negatively portray some RDF official).

� � He was accused of having disobeyed his superiors, a shadow position was given to him, and since 1993 to date, he kept the rank of major� a part from his great heart, anyone else in his place would apply for retirement instead of being abused unceasingly and would leave for private business, given that he is a doctor, and he was a doctor when he joined the rebellion and he was in a better situation. � (For the MHC, this is an open call and encouragement to the military to disobedience and to desert the army.)

Examples of questionable sentences:

2. � List of RPF Inkotanyi sycophants said to be behind the move to overthrow Kagame�s government! �

Examples:

�The truth behind what is said of this report is that most people confirm that this report is an act intended to have some among RPF Inkotanyi members killed. To that end there are some who are on the said list due to their misunderstanding with the �clique of hunters� �

� Our dear readers, information reaching us, confirms that this report is likely not reliable given that the people mentioned therein were the first to speak against Kabanda Charles and the resolutions of the said meeting were submitted to their superiors.�

3. ��RPF Inkotanyi dogs Mugabe�s Zanu-PF party footsteps�,

Examples:

- ��Others too, namely those girls and young men wishing to work out side the RPF Inkotanyi are most likely suicide prone in a country like Rwanda, where no one would come running to join politics. If you are not careful you would fall down and die but if you are so lucky you hurt yourself�;

��They begun to wonder whether what was done by Mugabe�s Zanu-PF is likely to be replicated by RPF Inkotanyi �

4. �They vowed to kill him, but alas they missed�

Examples:

* ��Jack Nziza who is notorious for committing such practices of human rights abuse and Musoni James alike�.
* �There is much more information pointing to the failure of the Police in its intervention for they covered up the killers.�
* �Umuyanja Kanuma who comes from unknown family and unknown village in Rwanda and who is dwelling in Rwanda as a mercenary�.

5. ��Journalists interfered in the Prosecutor Mutangana and Dr Diane Gashumba�s adultery published in the newspaper number 59 of 16-30 July 2009�;

Examples:

* �… So she met with the Prosecutor Mutangana the skirt-hunter with no border, who is like a Commune�s bull �;
* -�� but had the bad luck to marry an adultery woman�.
* � The Prosecutor Mutangana used the public powers in his own interest �;
* �The Prosecutor has forsaken his legal spouse and took one else�s wife�;

6. Scandal: Police, Prosecutor Mutangana and Dr Diane in the plot to sweep off adultery related information Umuvugizi number 60, of 16-30 July 2009

Examples:

* � � Such men destructors of other people�s households due to adultery would be called �the Commune�s bull � ;
* � Information reaching the newspaper UMUVUGIZI shows that Prosecutor ended to destroy his family in order to enjoy sex with Kanyamahanga�s wife without pain �.
* � Information we hold, is from women friends of Prosecutor Mutangana Jean Bosco telling that they express concern about the way he destroys other people�s households� � ;
* Information we hold affirms that the Prosecutor would have just prepared the to blast UMUVUGIZI, by force and different ways � �.

7. “Misunderstanding, greed and opulence can destroy RPF-Inkotanyi�

Examples:

* “Our dear readers, RPF situation is so horrible, that many of those men count among greedy people [to insult] not committed to the benebifit of the party in particular and that of the country in general�.
* “And this reminds me the proverb which goes like this ” `[Tutsis]`share blood, they do not share milk”

And apart from this, this newspaper from time to time did not respect laws and principles governing the profession in their publications issued from 2006, in addition to this it does not respect authorities responsible for law application.

Umuvugizi newspaper offences as presented by MHC

As shown above, on 13 March 2009, the Media High Council held a meeting with the newspapers said to be isolated by Government which included Umuvugizi. In that meeting, the Umuvugizi management, after being shown different offences it committed, it was advised to be careful and to change its publication by avoiding offences against the dispositions in the law on information and principles ruling the profession of journalism.

On 16 July 2009, the High Council of the Press received the complainant of people accusing the newspaper Umuvugizi of slandering, being hurtful and interfering in the privacy of other people with no grounds. On assessing the charges it received, MHC requested the newspaper Umuvugizi authority to provide explanations but that newspaper had never answered about the offences it was accused of. Furthermore, it had never presented any grounds to the MHC. Considering that it was found guilty of all the faults and that newspaper is characterized by not abiding to applying laws and principles on the journalits and their profession in Rwanda, MHC requested the authority of that newspaper to correct those errors of slandering which appeared in the number 60 of 26 Jully-8 August 2009 and concerning them it did not show any reaction.

Generally, the various frequent faults in the writings of the Umuvugizi are as follows:

* Publishing false news with the intention of inciting or demoralizing security organs.
* Publishing news that are detrimental to public order and the security of the country
* Publishing stories that are insulting, slandering and defaming innocent individuals
* to spread rumours, to amplify them Groundless information containing exaggerated language;
* To disseminate partisan information
* to insult to slander, to hurt any body and to threaten authorities and national institutions
* to interfere in the privacy of people with no reason;
* Not to present information source;
* To support riots;
* Mixing news and a journalist�s own thoughts and opinions.

Conclusion

Considering that those media organizations have been advised and warned many times but did not pay attention to such advice, the MHC decided to react to this situation because they are knowingly not observing laws, moreover such publications where they would keep on being released through media organizations, they could bring about destabilization of security of the country as a whole and they are aimed at dividing institutions responsible for national security.

The MHC considering that it has been warning those media organizations very often at different times but they did not change attitudes, pursuant to Article 83 of Law n�22/2009 of 12/08/2009, decides as follows:

To temporarily suspend both Umuseso and Umuvugizi newspapers for a six-month period starting from this 13th day of April 2010.

Since the offenses committed by these newspapers are serious and constitute offenses punishable by criminal laws, the MHC requests the judicial institutions concerned to follow up it up.

Articles of Law n? 22/2009 on media in Rwanda violated by the two newspapers

Article 12:

A journalist shall have the following main responsibilities:

1� to publish authentic and verified information;

2� to give all parties subject of news and information an opportunity to respond to allegations made against them;

Article 13:

A journalist shall be prohibited from:

5. Slander, libel or defamation;

9. Pass judgment while publishing information.

Article 83:

Without prejudice to provisions of Article 82 of this Law, the following crimes committed through the media are punishable with penalties provided for by the Criminal Law, and so notwithstanding their suspension by the Media High Council:

3. Contempt to the Head of State of Rwanda, the Head of a foreign State, Ambassadors and representatives of countries and international organizations accredited to Rwanda;

4. Inciting the army or the national police to insubordination;

5. Publication of false information intended to undermine the moral of Rwanda Defense Forces and the National Police and to endanger national security;

Articles of the professional code of ethics violated

Article 5: Avoid rumors, amplifying or keeping it alive, speculation, staged news events, falsification of documents or suppression of essential information.

Article 11: Always question the motive of, and identify sources. The only exception to this rule shall be in relation to information given in confidence. Before making any promises, always clarify conditions attached. Whenever such a pledge is made, keep the promise.

Article 20: Avoid intrusion and inquiries into an individual�s private life without the person�s consent unless public interest overrides.

Article 22: Respect the presumption of innocence for suspects and cases until concluded by competent courts or tribunals. This shall include avoiding implicating innocent persons not involved in the case but who may be directly related to the suspect or referring to his/her ethnicity, tribe, religion, sex, family or friends, unless their mention would serve public interest.

[1]Formal notice of 13/09/2004 to journalists

[2]Letter no 475/HCP/08 of 12/09/2008 requesting written explanations from Umuseso.

[3] Letter no 009/RMG/04 from RIMEG to MHC exculpating against the complaint of the Ministry of Economy and Economic Planning.

[4] Letter no 529/MHC/08 of 31/10/2008 requesting the newspaper Umuseso to correct slandering news and to apologize for it in the next issue