Kigali – President Kagame said Tuesday that it was not his responsibility to create an opposition � but also lashed out at foreign forces that he accused of trying to establish opposition parties in Rwanda, RNA reports.

�Let me tell you this. Some people think it is their job to create the oppositions in Rwanda � and that is the biggest mistake they are making,� Kagame told journalists before he headed to the National Stadium to launch his election campaign.

�You may create an opposition, but who manages it: will you create it from outside and keep managing it from inside? It will be difficult for you and those you have created,� said Kagame.

�First of all, as an outsider, you have no business creating anything political in another country.�

The President was responding to questions by a Kenyan and Ugandan journalist who had asked whether the parties which are taking part in the presidential polls were the �legitimate opposition�. Critics have branded the three parties competing against the RPF in the polls which started Tuesday, as stooges of the ruling party.

In raised tone, and gesturing in seeming irritation, the President dismissed the use of the description �legitimate opposition� to refer to groups such as the FDU-Inkingi and its leader Victoire Ingabire.

�A legitimate opposition is that which develops by itself through the conditions that exist. Not the opposition you create in your mind or practically�then that is not a legitimate opposition,� said the President, who at some point seemed to be enjoying the questions the foreign journalists were putting to him.

Rights organizations and international media say by charging Ingabire and Bernard Ntaganda of PS Imberakuri, government is silencing the real opposition.

The President instead accused Europe and other countries he did not name of being the ones which are delaying the speedy trail of Ingabire, against who, he said government had overwhelming evidence.

The firry politician is facing some three counts including links to the FDLR rebels and Genocide ideology, but the Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga said in June that countries holding crucial evidence were not coming forth despite formal requests.

Ngoga named Holland, United States, Belgium, Switzerland, DR Congo and Burundi � as the countries where Ingabire networked with the FDLR militias.

[ARI-RNA]

by Rwanda People’s Party – Imvura.

The Rwanda People’s Party � IMVURA (RPP � IMVURA) is concerned about the state of Rwandan refugees in Uganda, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Cameroon, UK etc. We are also concerned about the intentions of the Rwanda and Uganda governments, together with UNHCR, aimed at forcing refugees to return to Rwanda where they are at a threat of being persecuted.

While the Rwandan refugees have been wanting to go home peacefully since 1959, Rwanda is now a besieged country where bombs have been going off almost every day with the intention of scaring Rwandan refugees who want to return home to participate in the coming general elections.
Likewise these bombs have also been used to scare members of the opposition to leave the country as well as a pretext to persecute those who dare express their concern about seeing Rwanda heading into a sinking titanic boat.

Kigali is now full of plain-clothed Presidential Guard Unit (PGU) terrorising the community whom they are supposed to protect.

Every day on average, 90 Rwandans are being forced to flee their country for fear of persecution.

The regime has failed to protect the Rwandan people and their properties.

Prisons are full of political prisoners; vulnerable children are physically and mentally abused and then rounded up and taken into prison on AN ISLAND OF THE UNWANTED CHILDREN as stated by New York Times of April 30, 2010.

The situation in Rwanda is quite worse today than it was during the terror regimes of IDI Amin and Obote II of Uganda.

The genocide survivors (IBUKA) are currently living very unspeakable lives under Kagame�s regime than before the 1990 invasion.

We have chilling reports on how Rwandan are being deliberately subjected to horrendous daily attacks. There are evidences of assassinations, kidnappings, mysterious disappearance and harassments by the Rwandan government.

The detailed account cannot be exhausted; but they include:

- 1995: Journalist Manasseh Bugaboo disappeared in Kigali has not been seen since;
- 1996: First post-genocide Interior Minister Seth Sendashonga and businessman Augustin Bugirimfura; shot dead in Nairobi;
- 1998: Journalist Emmanuel Munyemanzi disappeared in Kigali; body spotted in city but not returned to family;
- 1998: Theoneste Lizinde, RPF MP and government intelligence chief before the genocide; was assassinated in Nairobi;
- 2000: First post-genocide President Pasteur Bizimungu’s adviser, Asiel Kabera, shot dead in Kigali;
- 2003: EX-RPF officer and top judge Augustin Cyiza and magistrate Eliezar Runyaruka and opposition MP Leonard Hitimana disappeared from Kigali and have not been seen again;
- 2010: Ex-RPF officer Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa shot and wounded in Johannesburg;
- 2010: Journalist Jean-Leonard Rugambage gunned down in Kigali
- 2010: Denis Semadwinga gunned down in Gisenyi;
- 2010: Sheik Idi Abas, Gen Robert Urayineza alias Zuru Uraye, and Imena Banana, all disappeared in Kigali;
- 2010: Deo Mushayidi kidnapped from Burundi currently in prison in Rwanda;
- 2010: Reporter Dominique Makeli survived abduction in Kampala-Uganda;
- 2010: Dozens of Journalists including Jean Bosco Gasasira � live in fear of abduction in Kampala;
- 2010: Members of the RPP � IMVURA are living under constant threats in the UK, Rwanda and in other countries
- 2010: Journalists � John Edie Mugabi, Ismail Mbonigaba, Charles Kabonera, Robert Sebufirira and many others have fled the country

The Kagame terror regime has no boundaries. It has even extended it�s unashamed attacks and degrading treatments to friends of Rwanda such as foreign journalists, lawyers, NGO agencies; human rights groups, to mention but a few.

All of these atrocities and degradation of the Rwandan people are carried out before the eyes of the international community in particular the UK and US governments and the UNHCR, an umbrella organisation that is supposed to protect these refugees.

It seems as if the international community is aiding the terror regime in Rwanda to continue committing these indescribable atrocities and force Rwandan refugees to return to a country where their lives are at risk.

The RPP – IMVURA believes that the lack of action from UK and US governments has been interpreted by Kagame as his license to kill fellow Rwandans with impunity.

The RPP � IMVURA strongly condemns the barbaric acts, uncultured and cowardly atrocities and inhuman or degrading treatments of the people of Rwanda, both at home and in their countries of asylum by Kagame�s regime.

The RPP � IMVURA calls up the Kigali regime to desist any further temptations on its policy of assassinating, summary execution, kidnapping and the harassment of the Rwandan people.

These barbaric activities by Kigali are very provocative, dangerous and must stop immediately. It is unacceptable.

The RPP – IMVURA calls upon the UN and its agencies to re-enforce the protection of safety and wellbeing of the Rwandan refugees from persistence persecutions by the Kagame terror groups.

We appeal to the international community to bring to account whoever is responsible for inflicting these horrific and disgraceful memories to the people of Rwanda.

The RPP � IMVURA is calling for an intervention from the UK and US governments to force Kagame to step down and to bring to justices those responsible for these horrific crimes.

The political turmoil in Rwanda has been explained by the two independent human rights agencies who affirmed in Uganda�s Daily Monitor 29/06/2010 that it�s unsafe for Rwandan refugees in Uganda or elsewhere to return home.

The reports were commissioned by Refugee Law Project and International Refugees Rights Initiatives. The report is in clear confirmation of the RPP – IMVURA claims about the degrading treatments of Rwandan refugees who return home only to face discrimination, disappearances, imprisonment, xenophobia and political persecution.
This has also been articulated by the King of Rwanda, The King Kigeli Ndahindwa (V) in his interviews in the UMUVUGIZI Newspaper of 5/7/10 and on the BBC Great Lakes news 6/7/10.
In summary the King stated that he abandoned his hopes of return to Rwanda because of Rwanda�s political turmoil and went on to clarify in UMUVUGIZI that it is not advisable to go into a house which is on fire. The question is, if the King of Rwanda cannot return to his own country, what chances are there for the ordinary men and women who have been called �flies� by President Kagame? President Kagame promised to crush these �Flies� with his hammer.

The RPP � IMVURA is still not sure whether the UNHCR and other supporting agencies are there to safeguard the wellbeing of the vulnerable ones or whether they are trying to re-write the 1951 UN Convention on refugees and /or whether the Convention is no longer applicable to vulnerable Rwandan refugees?

The current political turmoil is not so much to do with Rwandan refugees being followed in exile by Kigali terror groups but the circumstances and the manner in which the Rwandan people are being forced to flee their country to become refugees.

The RPP – IMVURA, would like to remind the Uganda government that according to Article 33, para 1 of the Convention of 1951 relating to the status of refugees where Uganda acceded in 1976 as well as the protocol of 1967 that:

�No contracting state shall expel or return (�refouler�) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion�

We are sure that there is rule of law and order in Uganda. We are sure that the Uganda government will honour its engagement on this matter and we are kindly requesting the Uganda government not force Rwandan refugees to return Rwanda where they lives are at threat.

The RPP-IMVURA is particularly concerned about the fate of Rwandan refugees currently living in Zambia.
Zambia has around 88000 refugees of which 5010 are Rwandans. Zambia has given Rwandan refugees until December 31st, 2011 to go back to Rwanda otherwise their rights to be refugees and reside in the safety of Zambia will be confiscated.
The ultimatum was made to them by the boss of the UNHCR, Joyce Cole in conjunction with Zambian government officials.

The RPP � IMVURA believes that the Zambian government is not exceptional when it comes to its obligation in upholding Article 33 para 1 of the Convention of 1951 relating to the status of refugees of which Zambia is also a signatory.

If the situation was condusive in Rwanda, indeed, no one would long more to go back to Rwanda than the Rwandan refugees, because that is where they belong.
No one was born or created to be subjected to the test of living the life of a refugee and or of Rwandans in Diaspora. It was not our mistake to be forced to leave our country. It is therefore wrong to condemn Rwandan refugees for their refusal to return home where their lives are deemed to be in danger. It is imperative, one must look at the continued circumstances that are forcing them to flee their homeland and condemn it in the strongest terms.

Refugees of Rwandan origin make up to around 2.5 million refugees who have fled the country since 1959 and to date. Of these, 1.2 million live in Uganda. The RPP � IMVURA has been advocating for a direct and meaningful dialogues that would involve a wider consultations as a parameter to resolve all issues that affect Rwandan refugees since 1959 to date.

We need to work out a clear mechanism required to facilitate a �peaceful and meaningful repatriation and permanent resettlement� of all Rwandan refugees.

There is need for a negotiated and enforceable agreement where the wellbeing of all refugees returning home would be guaranteed by the international community as a confidence-building exercise.

The RPP � IMVURA has communicated to the Rwandan government and to the United Nations about the readiness and unreserved willingness of Rwandan refugees to return home.

The party has also requested the postponement of the 9th August 2010 elections to next August 2011, so as to give appropriate opportunities to millions of Rwandan refugees to become part of the democratic process to elect leaders of their own choose.

The RPP – IMVURA has been urging the international community to support this peaceful idea and there has been no response of any sorts from either Rwanda or the international community.

The RPP � IMVURA, wishes to take this opportunity once again to call upon the Rwandan government to enter direct Peace Talks to resolve the questions of Rwandan refugees once and for all.

The RPP – IMVURA also calls upon the regional leaders in particular the President of the Republic of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, the African Union and the international community, more importantly, �the Five plus One�, that is; the US, UK, France, Russia, China and German, to facilitate direct and meaningful dialogues and support the implementation of any agreed frameworks.

The RPP – IMVURA is open to work with the international community and other supporting agencies to ensure a peaceful return of all Rwandan refugees as soon as it becomes possible.

The RPP � IMVURA requests the international community to support its efforts to engage in direct negotiations with the Kigali regime.
�We would also seek direct guarantees from the international community that we shall not be treated like Deo Mushayidi, Ms Victoire Ingabire and others who have returned home and found themselves in the Kangaroo courts,�

The RPP – IMVURA appeals to the international community to view and see Rwanda as a state beyond Rwandan President Paul Kagame, rather than viewing and seeing President Kagame beyond the state of Rwanda. It is therefore, wrong for anyone to think, suggest or even to believe that there would be no Rwanda without President Kagame.

The RPP � IMVURA believes that forcing Rwandans to return home where their lives are in danger may trigger violence like that of 1981 when former Ugandan President Milton Obote regime in the 1980s, forced thousands of Tutsi refugees to return home against their wishes. The forceful repatriation led to over 4500 Rwandan refugees loosing their lives when they were returned to Rwanda into yet another hostile environment without any due regards of their safety and wellbeing.

LONDON 11/07/2010.
RWANDA PEOPLE�S PARTY � IMVURA
(RPP-I) – RPP079/07/I-03J/RR/10/U.
www.rwandapeopleparty.org
[email protected]
[email protected]
Tel: 447985663922

Controversy has surrounded a UN meeting in Madrid.

The Spanish Prime Minister met separately with UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon, leaving the other dignitaries to attend a meeting hosted by a government minister.

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero pulled out of the UN meeting due to political pressure over the presence of Paul Kagame, the President of Rwanda.

Parties had asked Zapatero not to meet Kagame due to ongoing Spanish legal proceedings linked to the 1994 genocide.

Rwanda�s presidential election is also due in August and last week a prominent opposition politician was found murdered.

The EU has called for a full investigation into the death of Andre Kagwa Rwisereka.

Watch video at Euronews

Kendall Brown Demonstrator outside Oklahoma Christian University, protested not only Kagame’s role in the Rwanda Genocide, but also his invasions of neighboring D.R. Congo, to plunder its mineral wealth. The lawsuit also alleges that Kagame and his officers and officials are guilty of racketeering to control the resources of eastern Congo. see: Lawsuit alleges Rwandan President triggered Rwanda Genocide

Mineral exports from Rwanda will have to be proved with certificates that they are not from the DR Congo before they are bought by American companies, according to new regulations passed by the US Senate on Thursday.

The financial industry reform bill, passed in Senate July 15, requires companies buying coltan, cassiterite, wolframite and gold from Congo and its neighbors to certify the purchases aren�t funding armed groups.

Minerals from Rwanda require certification that they are �DRC conflict free,� according to the bill. The regulation also affects eight other countries neighbouring Congo including Angola, Tanzania and Uganda.

War in Congo killed more than 3 million people from 1998 to 2007, says the International Rescue Committee, and rebels still roam the mineral-rich east of the country.

This section of the U.S. bill is aimed at preventing armed groups such as the Rwandan FDLR rebels from enriching themselves and funding conflict through the sale of minerals, say the Americans.

However, despite being applauded by global campaign groups, mineral exporters in Congo say it is effectively an embargo on the whole of DR Congo.

�We are totally shocked by the passing of this bill which is in spirit an embargo on materials from DRC and adjoining countries,� said John Kanyoni, head of the Association of Mineral Exporters in Congo�s eastern North Kivu province.

The demands of the bill are infeasible, Kanyoni wrote yesterday in an open letter to the U.S. embassy�s economic consular in Congo. The requirements will also undermine efforts to increase transparency in the trade, he said.

Congo is Africa�s largest producer of cassiterite, or tin ore, making up 6 percent of world output. It�s also home to the biggest undeveloped gold deposit on the continent, held by a joint venture between Randgold Resources Ltd. and AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. More than 80 percent of the country�s gold trade is unregistered, according to mines ministry estimates.

Human Rights

Activists and humanitarian groups applauded the amendment, which gives the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission nine months to come up with an implementation plan.

U.K.-based Global Witness called the bill�s passage a �breakthrough against conflict and corruption,� according to an e-mailed statement. U.S.-based Catholic Relief Services said on its website that the bill was a �huge victory for those ravaged by conflict.�

�The world moved a step closer to ensuring that the supply chains for our laptops and cell phones do not finance violence in eastern Congo,� John Prendergast, co-founder of the U.S.- based Enough Project, said in an e-mailed statement July 15.

The New York-based Jewelers of America trade group was �very concerned� the bill �could encourage jewelry companies to avoid trading in gold from the region, in order to bypass the issue completely,� it said yesterday on its website.

The amendment, introduced by Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), is expected to be signed into law by President Barack Obama next week along with the financial reform bill.

From the day President Obama signs the bill, the Securities and Exchange Commission will have nine months to develop regulations implementing the new law. It will be up to all of us to ensure that these regulations are as strong as possible, writes Dr Victoria Bentley on her blog.

This legislation is a piece of the broader solution. We now have to turn our attention from the legislative branch of our government to the executive branch, to ensure that the Obama administration helps lead an international effort to create what we call a “trace, audit, and certify” regime to ensure that the raw materials that go into our cell phones and laptops are not fueling conflict.

Senators Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Russ Feingold (D-WI), and Reps. Jim McDermott (D-WA), Howard Berman (D-CA), and Barney Frank (D-MA), along with many other upstanding members of Congress, deserve special praise for leading this battle over the past two years.

Demonstrators in Madrid protest against Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame.

Ban Ki-moon demands full investigation amid claims of crackdown before next month’s poll

The United Nations has demanded a full investigation into allegations of politically motivated killings of opposition figures in Rwanda in the run-up to the country’s election next month.

The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon demanded the inquiry in a meeting with Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame, after a series of attacks on figures unpopular with the regime in Rwanda and in several other African states.

Last week a senior opposition figure was beheaded near the southern Rwandan city of Butare, while a lawyer who had participated in genocide trials at a UN tribunal was shot dead in Dar es Salaam. Last week’s killings come hard on the heels of the attempted murder in Pretoria, South Africa, of a former senior Rwandan general who had fallen out with Kagame, and the murder in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, of a journalist investigating that shooting.

Two opposition newspapers in Rwanda have been banned from publishing, while opposition politicians and human rights organisations have been harassed by the authorities.

A spokesman for Ban said: “The secretary-general?�?noted the upcoming elections in Rwanda and expressed concern about recent incidents causing political tensions. He stressed the need to uphold human rights. The secretary-general encouraged the Rwandan authorities to take immediate action, including a thorough investigation into the latest incidents, and to bring the perpetrators to justice.”

The Spanish prime minister, Jos� Luis Rodr�guez Zapatero, pulled out of a scheduled meeting with Kagame on Friday after receiving a petition alleging he had violated human rights. The meeting in Spain was the first to be held by a group of experts named last month by Ban to supervise the UN’s Millenium Development Goals, which aim to halve extreme poverty by 2015. Ban had prompted protests by naming Kagame and Zapatero as his co-chairmen.

“The prime minister yesterday received a petition from various political groups saying that they didn’t think it was appropriate for the meeting to take place,” the deputy prime minister, Mar�a Teresa Fern�ndez de la Vega, told Spanish television.

Rwandan government figures have strenuously denied orchestrating a campaign of violence and intimidation and offered alternative explanations for several of the attacks, including robbery and a vengeance killing related to the genocide trial.

The 1994 genocide � the murder of an estimated 800,000 Rwandans, ended by a Tutsi military intervention headed by Kagame � has continued to dominate the politics of the still fragile country.

After ending the genocide, Kagame was hailed as a hero, but critics have since accused him of trampling on political and press freedoms.

Despite remarkable progress in stabilising the country, tension has been growing in Rwanda since 19 February, when a series of grenade explosions killed three people and injured 30 more in Kigali. Some analysts attributed those attacks not to Hutu extremists but to Tutsi dissidents within Kagame’s own party.

The former general who was wounded in Pretoria, Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, was publicly accused by Rwanda’s chief prosecutor of being behind the grenade attacks, while the journalist murdered in Kigali, Jean Leonard Rugambage, was investigating government links to his attempted murder.

Since then, however, a number of other senior military figures have been arrested � allegedly those harbouring rival political ambitions to Kagame � suggesting splits within Kagame’s regime. Among them was Brigadier-General Jean Bosco Kazura, the head of the country’s football federation, who was taken into custody for making an “unauthorised” trip to South Africa. The government reportedly suspected that he had travelled to meet prominent Rwandan exiles living there.

The case of the decapitated politician, Andr� Kagwa Rwisereka, is also instructive. He belonged to Rwanda’s Green party, which was set up by Frank Habineza, a Tutsi exile from Uganda, like Kagame, who is also a former member of Kagame’s RPF. The party was prevented from running in the elections.

Habineza, who says he has also received death threats, complained last week that the government had refused to give opposition leaders protection.

“It is very sad and shocking that we heard that our vice-president was murdered. His head was almost cut off and he was also stabbed in the chest. We would like now to call upon the Rwandan government and the national police to carry out a thorough investigation,” he said.

Amnesty International set out concerns in April, echoing the view of other human rights organisations. “Recent months have seen a number of government measures against critics and opponents of the government, including restrictions on freedom of expression and association,” it said. “Amnesty International urges the Rwandan government to respect freedom of expression and association, including by allowing space for human rights work.”

Source: The Guardian – Deadly attacks on Rwandan opposition spark warning by UN.

Caroline Lucas, with other Green Party leaders in the Commonwealth, is urging action after the killing of the deputy leader of the Rwandan Green Party, Andre Kagwa Rwisereka.

In the lead-up to Rwanda�s presidential vote on the 9th August, the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda has been subject to harassment, intimidation, and death threats. Police have broken up party meetings, and the party has been barred from registering or putting up candidates for the election. (1)

A letter was sent yesterday to the Commonwealth�s Secretary-General, Kamalesh Sharma, co-signed by Green Party leader Caroline Lucas, Sen. Bob Brown (leader of the Australian Greens) and Russel Norman (leader, New Zealand Greens).

It calls on Sharma to take urgent steps to enforce the Commonwealth�s standards of human rights and democracy in Rwanda. (2)

In part, the joint-letter from Lucas, Brown and Norman reads:

“The death of Green Party Vice President, Mr. Andre Kagwa Rwisereka, who was found dead on 14th July 2010, is a tragic event and we are extremely concerned for the other members of the Rwandan Green Party.

“Mr. Rwisereka�s death follows on from a series of events in the last few months that suggest that the Rwandan government is creating or allowing an extremely hostile environment for opposition political parties in the run up to Presidential elections on 9 August.

“Rwanda�s membership of the Commonwealth requires that it honors and complies with the Commonwealth�s fundamental political principles which include respect for civil society and human rights.

“We urge you to immediately send a team of Commonwealth representatives to Rwanda to ensure the Government is taking all steps possible to ensure respect for rights to freedom of expression, freedom of association and peaceful assembly of opposition parties.”

Notes

1) 15th July 2010, The Independent

2) This week, Reporters Without Borders also called on the European Union and other donors to suspend financial support for the election because of “a series of grave press freedom violations.”

Jwani Mwaikusa, law professor at the University of Dar es Salaam and defense lawyer at the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda, was gunned down outside his home in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on July 13.

July 16 –ARUSHA, TZ -The Bureau of the ICTR Association des Avocats de la Defense (ADAD), notes with sadness and alarm the murder of our ICTR colleague University of Dar es Salaam Law Professor Jwani Mwaikusa, who was shot to death at his home on July 14. Professor Mwaikusa had recently prevented the transfer of ICTR defendants to Rwanda on �lack of fair� trial grounds, and recently annnounced the appeal of his client�s July 3 conviction.

Our colleague�s murder is not an isolated incident. Within the past month, a prominent Rwandan opposition journalist was also shot to death in front of his home; a former Rwandan general survived an apparent assassination attempt in South Africa, where he is seeking asylum; the de-capitated body of the Rwandan Green Party Vice-president was found near his car two days ago, and, the Green Party�s President has been publicly threatened with assassination.

Hundreds of potential opposition candidates and supporters have been arrested or disappeared. Presidential candidate Victoire Ingabire was arrested on �genocide denial� charges for suggesting that both Tutsi and Hutu were victims during the 1990-94 civil war and genocide, as were her Dutch, U.S. and Rwandan lawyers.

The murder of Dr. Mwaikusa also follows the illegal arrest of other lawyers representing alleged opponents of the Rwandan government. U.S. Law Professor Peter Erlinder on �genocide denial� criminal charges, arising from his work in the ICTR Military 1 Trial, which acquitted four senior military officers on �genocide conspiracy� charges in February 2009, and his representation of Madame Ingabire. After Erlinder�s arrest, ICTR defense lawyers refusing to participate in proceedings and he was released in June after an international campaign.

But, the Rwandan government continues to refuse to recognize UN-granted immunity for Erlinder or other ICTR defense counsel. ICTR defense lawyer Peter Robinson (a former Assistant U.S. Attorney) has notified the court that meaningful defense of ICTR clients is not possible and he has asked to withdraw. Other ICTR defense attorneys are considering similar measures.

Rwandan government threats to ICTR defense counsel are also not isolated incidents. In 2006 ICTR defense lawyer Me. Gakwaya was arrested on a Rwandan �genocide� warrant when he arrived at the ICTR and he was forced to end his ICTR work. Many other defense team members have also been forced to give up the ICTR work, because of threats or arrest by the Rwanda government. The charges against Erlinder, the Mwaikusa murder and continuing threats against ICTR defense teams make in clear that ICTR defense team members cannot take their safety for granted anywhere in Africa.

In addition, during the past-2 months credible media reports have documented the systematic withholding of evidence helpful to the defense by the ICTR Prosecutor, which further deepens our concern because only the losing side in the Rwanda civil war has been prosecuted at the ICTR. The ADAD Bureau is deeply concerned that the impossibility of meaningful defense at the ICTR has now made the legitimacy of the ICTR, itself, an open question.

The ADAD Bureau calls on the UN Security Council to ensure the safety of ICTR defense teams, to undertake an independent of the Mwaikusa murder, and to re-establish the integrity of the Tribunal by fully disclosing evidence of crimes committed in Rwanda in 1994 by both the former and the current government of Rwanda.

NEWS ADVISORY:
Contact: ICTR-ADAD Bureau, Arusha, TZ
Pres: Prof. Peter Erlinder ([email protected]) E
Beth Lyons ([email protected] ) Fr/E
John Philpot ([email protected]) Fr/E

by Victoire Ingabire.

Rwandan Refugees in Uganda in great danger

According to international media, non governmental organisations and humanitarian organizations, since 14th June 2010, three refugees died, 26 others were injured and hospitalized during gunpoint massive deportations of over 1,700 Rwandan refugees from Nakivale and Kyaka refugees’ camps.

The United Democratic Forces, FDU INKINGI, express outrage and firm condemnation of this gross violation, by the government of UGANDA, of its own Citizenship and Immigration Act, as well as international laws pertaining to the protection of asylum seekers and genuine refugees. The situation is more worrisome, considering that the UNHCR distanced itself from this operation and that both governments of Uganda and Rwanda partly acknowledged their absolute dealings in this show of force.

The FDU INKINGI is surprised by the timing of this deportation of Rwandan refugees. Indeed, it comes amid reports of deepening insecurity in Rwanda, which culminated in an assassination spree targeting a party leader Mr. Andr� Kagwa Rwisereka, vice president of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda murdered in Butare on 14th July; an acting Editor, Mr. Jean-L�onard Rugambage, Reporter of censored independent Magazine UMUVUGIZI shot dead in Kigali on 24th June ; the disappearance of the private secretary of the president of the Parti Social Imberakuri, as well as a crackdown on opposition leaders and their subsequent torture during their detention.

This happens also barely a few days after an attempt kidnapping of former journalist and detainee, Dominique Makeli in the Uganda capital city and the attempt assassination of the former Rwandan army chief of staff, Lieutenant General Kayumba Nyamwasa in South Africa. The Ugandan government is very well aware of widespread violations of human rights in Rwanda, which legitimate the fears of refugees to return home. The Ugandan based International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) and the Refugee Law Project (RLP) had warned Uganda not to yield to Rwandan government pressure and grant protection to asylum seekers. According to the UNHCR, since the beginning of 2010, 3,320 Rwandans have filed for asylum in Uganda.

The FDU INKINGI recalls that this is not the first time Rwandan refugees are forcibly banished. This was the case in Kibeho in 1995, in DRC in 1996-1997, in Burundi and in Tanzania. History shows that these push measures never solved the refugees� problem, because they elude the root causes of the worriment.

The FDU INKINGI is particularly concerned about the secrecy of the operation. What kind of measures put in place by the Rwandan government to ensure a peaceful, humane and transparent resettlement of those returnees? Are they going to languish in camps inside Rwanda, or have their homes been secured prior to their deportation? Returnees are gathered in Rukomo camp where visibly there is no adequate transit infrastructure.

We call upon the governments of Uganda and Rwanda to suspend those operations. We expect the Human Rights and International organisations to go beyond mere condemnation of this blatant violation of international conventions, but also to follow up the process of resettlement of deportees inside Rwanda.

Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza
FDU INKINGI
Chair.
Related:
SOS for Rwandan refugees facing forced repatriation

Uganda has begun �forcibly� deporting hundreds of Rwandans from two southwestern refugee camps, at gunpoint according to one witness, prompting the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to call for a suspension of the operation.

Both countries have long tried to rid Uganda of Rwandan refugees who for their part say they do not feel safe going home.

Tarsis Kabwegyere, the Ugandan minister in charge of disaster preparedness and refugees, said the operation, which started on 14 July, targeted illegal immigrants “who had no good reason to stay here”.

“They had no documents and over 1,700 were taken back,� he added.

�The UNHCR knows about it. It was not done in secrecy; the government of Rwanda provided transport, food and water to us. They only took their people home. They are responsible for their citizens.”

But UNHCR distanced itself from the operation.

“We are not involved,” UNHCR resident representative in Uganda Kai Nielsen told IRIN on 15 July.

“It is a bilateral arrangement between the two governments of Uganda and Rwanda. We have appealed to the Ugandan government to suspend the police operation which is taking place in the refugee camps of Nakivale and Kyaka without UNHCR involvement to forcibly return Rwandans back to their country.”

�Not given a fair chance�

“While we fully respect the government�s right to deal with rejected asylum-seekers after they have exhausted the legal appeal process, we are gravely concerned that some of those targeted for deportation to Rwanda were not given a fair chance to have their asylum claims examined. Any forcible repatriation constitutes a breach of international as well as Ugandan asylum laws.”

International Refugee Rights Initiative and the Refugee Law Project also condemned the operation, saying it violated Uganda�s constitution, and, because families were allegedly separated, the Children�s Statute and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Nielsen said: “Police cordoned off the camp. We have been told that the refugees were gathered to be briefed about the results of their [asylum] appeal process, while others were told that they were going to receive food rations.”

“Instead, they were rounded up and bundled on to waiting trucks that drove them towards Rwanda. Between 1,000 and 2,000 were repatriated,” he said.

Rwanda�s Minister of Disaster Preparedness and Refugee Affairs told IRIN that those repatriated, �around 2,000� were now in a transit camp in Gicumbi district �so we can see which district they are coming from.�

�We are arranging to give them some requirements needed for one month, food or kitchen items and so on, and we have arranged transport to let them go back to their district of origin,� he added.

Tricked

A Rwandan community leader among the refugees in Juru A camp – one of the settlements in Nakivale predominantly occupied by Rwandans – told IRIN on the telephone: �When we were called to the camp offices [on 14 July], we thought it was for a meeting but when we got there we found the police and camp commanders and about 12 trucks.

�The situation was very bad; we were held at gunpoint as the police and the commanders tied people�s hands and forced them into the trucks; those who escaped were shot at. I understand several people were injured in the chaos,” the community leader, who requested anonymity, said.

He said some of those who were being herded into the vehicles were beaten up when they tried to resist.

�Right now there are very few Rwandans in Nakivale camp. Many have fled into the bush or among the host community. Those left are mostly children and the aged who cannot run,” the community leader said. “I have heard that some of those who have fled are in very bad conditions in the bush.”

Another Rwandan refugee in Nakivale, said: �They took many of my neighbours yesterday; I am too old to run or to return to Rwanda. What will happen to me? I am worried for my grandson who I take care of and who is in high school. I fear they might catch him and force him to go to Rwanda yet he was born here. My son, his father, is dead, he knows no other home. What will happen to us?�

[IRIN]