AfroAmerica Network
Kigali
04.10.01
Rwandan Attorney General Gerard Gahima and his brother Theogene Rudasingwa, President Kagame's Chief of Staff are about to finish the construction of a hotel using money extorted from wealthy Hutu accused of genocide.
The two brothers are building a hotel behind the Rwandan Supreme Court building in Kigali. This hotel will be as big as Hotel Meridien or Hotel des Mille Collines.
The Commercial Bank of Development and Investments (BCDI) provided the funds to start the construction of the hotel. This bank which belongs to the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) granted a loan to the two brothers hoping that the loan would be passed on to the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) through negotiations. However, PTA refused this transfer of loan for two reasons. First two Rwandan businessmen who received loans from PTA never reimbursed them. One of the two businessmen who received two million dollars is a strong supporter of the RPF and lives undisturbed in Kigali. Second PTA argued that corruption and the mismanagement of the Rwandan economy do not offer a favorable environment to investors.
The construction of the hotel suddenly stopped when PTA rejected BCDI's request for the transfer of the loan. Construction resumed after Gahima started freeing wealthy Hutu genocide suspects after their relatives had paid money to him. Among these Hutu genocide suspects are former MRND Secretary General Bonaventure Habimana, former Ambassador Bonaventure Ubalijoro, and the former mayor of commune Nyakabanda.
This is the same Gahima whose office has issued an international arrest warrant against former Prime Minister Rwigema who fled to the United States last year. According to Gahima, "Charges against Rwigema include genocide and crimes against humanity." Rwigema served six years as Prime Minister and resigned before fleeing to the United States.
Political sources in Kigali say the international warrant is part of Rwandan President Kagame's strategy to silence political opposition. Genocide is an odious crime and whoever is accused of it is hunted down by all nations who signed the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948.
A close relative of former Speaker Joseph Sebarenzi Kabuye quoted him as saying: "Kagame is afraid that Rwigema might join ARENA's struggle to remove him from power. When Rwigema was Prime Minister, Kagame himself declared that Rwigema was innocent." ARENA means the Rwandan Alliance for the Renaissance of the Nation, a political party that includes Sebarenzi, former RPF members and other opponents to Kagame's regime.
Opposition to Kagame's regime has been growing in recent months. After the FDLR (the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda) announced last week its determination to liberate Rwanda many Rwandans have urged this organization to act quickly to remove the RPF and Kagame from office. The AfroAmerica Network correspondent in Kigali reports that many young people joined this liberation movement last year and their military readiness has been under way for more than a year now.
AfroAmerica Network has obtained two video tapes showing FDLR troops in military camps said to be in Butare and Gikongoro in Southern Rwanda. One tape shows thousands of young people in ragged clothes and poor health fresh from their villages during orientation in FDLR camps. Another video tape shows the young men, months after, in crisp military uniforms, with shining automatic weapons. Some of those young men are training in martial arts, while others are manning a Russian made "Orgue de Staline" or Katyusha. The second video even shows an ambush on Rwandan Patriotic Army column.
Meanwhile AfroAmerica Network has learned that Kagame might appoint Justice Minister Captain Jean de Dieu Mucyo to the Rwandan Supreme Court to replace Supreme Court President Simeon Rwagasore. Rwagasore is a wealthy Tutsi who earned a lot of money in Burundi, practicing law. During the RPF struggle, he served as its representative in Burundi. Over the last seven years of the RPF rule, he has become disenchanted with the RPF. Sources say he now perceives the RPF as a criminal organization.
(c)AfroAmerica Network,April, 2001.
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