Kigali – Government announced on Friday that it has arrested three people said to be FDLR rebels and accomplices of opposition leader Victoire Ingabire.

Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga said the three were members of the Rwandan Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) rebels operating in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

“The three FDLR officers told us they had colluded with Ingabire to cause insecurity in Rwanda and destabilise the country,” Ngoga told AFP, referring to the opposition leader Victoire Ingabire who was conditionally freed on Thursday, a day after being arrested.

The three FDLR members were Lt. Col. Tharcisse Mbiturende, Lt. Col. Noel Habiyakare and Lt. Jean Marie Karuta, Ngoga said, explaining that the first two were arrested in a neighbouring country while the third was seized in Rwanda.

Ngoga said they “acknowledged having met with Ingabire several times in Kinshasa and at times she helped them, especially with money”.

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.

Ingabire, who leads the Unified Democratic Forces party (UDF Inkingi), has declared her intention to run for presidential polls in August to challenge President Paul Kagame, but has been systematically harassed since returning from exile in January and has been barred from officially registering the party.
She was accused of collaborating with rebel group FDLR, charges she denies.

Ingabire, whose passport has been seized, was ordered to report before a judge twice a month and prevented from travelling outside the capital Kigali.