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Kigali � A United Nations Security Council experts report on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has linked Rwandan fugitives, Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa and Patrick Karegeya to the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) rebels.

The report, submitted last week by the Security Council Committee established to look into rebel activities in the DRC, concluded that “independent sources” have linked the two renegades to the terrorist outfit in Eastern DRC.

“Several independent sources, including one in Kampala and one within FPLC (Forces Patriotiques pour la Lib�ration du Congo), informed the Group that FRF (Federal Republican Forces, a rebel group in DRC) had agreed to join the FPLC coalition, all alleging that those contacts may have been facilitated by Kayumba Nyamwasa, the dissident former Rwandan general,” excerpts from the report state.

“In addition, according to credible testimony from various sources, former CNDP officers have been in contact with Rwandan political dissidents in South Africa, including Patrick Karegeya, and Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa.”

The report further confirmed that the Group of Experts directly witnessed a conversation between Karegeya and former officers of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) reintegrated into the DRC national army (FARDC), suggesting that the former army officers are involved in divisive activities.

“The Group directly witnessed a conversation between Karegeya and former CNDP FARDC officers in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in September. According to United Nations sources and combatants interviewed by the Group, Kayumba may have sent an emissary to meet with FDLR, FPLC and Mai Mai leaders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in February,” the report adds.

Both Kayumba and Karegeya are believed to be the masterminds behind the grenade attacks that exploded in Kigali, early this year.

The fugitives have since been indicted and face various charges including forming a terrorist group, ethnic divisionism, threatening national security, undermining state authority, and spreading harmful propaganda.

“We are not surprised by the UN report. The information we have is that they are involved in criminal activities and they are busy forming alliances with criminal groups,” said Defence and military spokesperson, Lt. Col. Jill Rutaremara.

“Their alliances with criminals are different; some are Rwandan, others are not, but we know their leadership is based in the region. We know that these groups are bent on creating instability in the region.” Rutaremara told The New Times.

The same report revealed that the FDLR, which mainly comprises of Ex-FAR and Interahamwe genocidal forces, was in possession of a large stockpile of uranium, used to make nuclear weapons, which they have failed to sell for the last two years.

The FDLR rebels discovered a deposit six 70-kilogramme canisters of the mineral in Walikale territory of eastern DRC, after a tip-off by local chiefs.

The minerals were found in 2008 in a hidden underground vault.

[The New Times]

by Sylvain Sibomana
Secretary General, FDU-INKINGI.

Ms. Victoire Ingabire’s new bail appeal hearing: President Kagame meddling once again in the case, keeping the judiciary under a bayonet rule.

The bail appeal hearing of Democracy Leader, Ms. Victoire INGABIRE, Chair of FDU-INKINGI , is scheduled on Monday, 13th December 2010, at 8:00 am. She is under prison detention since 14th October 2010. As usual, President General Paul KAGAME unveiled the colour of the hearing. In a series of interviews recorded between 04-07 December 2010 in Brussels by Belgian journalists Colette BRAECKMAN and Fran�ois MISSER, he unleashed his anger at Ms. INGABIRE, labelling her as a “genocide ideological minded”, without adducing the slightest evidence. Some excerpts of that smear campaign have been aired by the BBC French on 08 December 2010.

If for political reasons he can’t let the justice do its work, why he does not go all the way and rule judicial sentences directly and openly from the State House?

Given the kind of allegiance that the judiciary has toward the executive, this utterances from the highest executive office bearer, is tantamount to interference in a judicial process.

The ever changing charge sheet, as well as the endless investigations betray a hidden political agenda of the regime, to perpetuate a climate of instability and instil fear among the opposition. By dragging on the case, the regime intends also to cripple financially the opposition, by engaging it in hefty lawyers’ fees, thereby tying their hands and paralysing other political activities. The trials of the other members of the FDU-INKINGI interim Executive Committee �are scheduled for 05th January 2011. While many other members throughout the country are facing muscled interrogations.

Meanwhile, in an effort to counter the growing protest among the Rwandan exile, president KAGAME called on the latter to return home and see for themselves “the change that his regime has ushered in”. �The president should know that refugees are not green pasture tourists. They fled the country out of genuine fears of persecution. Instead of inviting them to come home, his regime would better stop the influx of exodus abroad, by dealing with root causes behind.

The case of Ms. Victoire INGABIRE, who volunteered and returned home only to be jailed, shows beyond any doubt, that the regime is not ready for a political settlement of the crisis.

Sylvain Sibomana

Tel. +250728636000).