AfroAmerica Network
Kigali
06.10.01
On May 2, 2001 AfroAMerica Network wrote in the article titled "Rwanda: Rwaka, victim of Kagame crackdown on dissenting Hutu and Tutsi", the following: "a group of Hutu felt the necessity to launch an internal political party that would relay external opposition to the RPF regime. Rwaka is the first member of this group to disappear. Others are likely to follow suit soon. Others individuals who the RPF suspect of harboring political ambitions are former Transportation Minister, Charles Ntakirutinka and former Rwandan President, Pasteur Bizimungu. According to a rumor, both politicians are considering launching a political party. A campaign is already under way to prepare public opinion for the arrest of Ntakirutinka on genocide charges."
Less than a month after the publication of the article, the former Rwandan President Pasteur Bizimungu was summoned by the Rwandan Patriotic Army, stripped of his privileges and put under housed arrest, for attempts to create a political party.
AfroAmerica Network has also learned that a Rwandan Prosecutor, Ruganza Ben Seba, organized a meeting of prisoners from Rukondo Commune of Gikongoro and asked them to be ready to testify that Charles Ntakirutinka set up a road block in 1994 to identify Tutsis and get them killed. The prosecutor also accused Charles Ntakirutinka of supporting the former Burgomaster of Rukondo, Mr. Muganza and to have sponsored a conference by a religious minister who spoke against the RPF. A certain prisoner called Rubaya, volunteered to lead the witnesses.
Relatives of Charles Ntakirutinka confided to AfroAmerica Network that he is awaiting arrest, assassination, or a possible accident anytime now. He is closely watched and witnesses have noticed members of the notorious RPF Directorate of Military Intelligence around Charles Ntakirutinka's residence.
Meanwhile, Rwandan Patriotic Army has sent thousands of troops, armored vehicles, helicopters and heavy artillery to Northwestern Rwanda and across the border into the Democratic Republic of the Congo from Masisi region all way to Fidzi. The RPF claimed to have killed more than 200 Hutu rebels within two weeks.
Military observers discount these numbers. They say that unless there were heavy military engagements it is impossible that RPA kills 200 Hutu rebels. They point to the fact that RPF confirmed that the rebels never engaged or sought to engage the army and thus never concentrated. Witnesses of the RPA military operations in Mutura told AfroAmerica Network that actually the RPA used helicopters to indiscriminately bombs villages when they suspected that Rebels were close.
"I have seen Rebels in action at several occasions. Rebels concentrate only when they attack. This time that was not the case. People who were killed are definitely civilians", said a resident of Mutura contacted in Gisenyi.
Kigali residents told AfroAmerica Network that since the latest operations and the current political crackdown and political uncertainty, fear has gripped everybody. "Basically we go to work, but nobody really works. We wait for our turn to be either arrested or killed for supporting opposition. At the same time, people talk of armed rebels presence everywhere across the country. We are again back to the Rwanda towards the end of 1993. We are scared. There is no shame saying that. I am scared. My neighbors are scared. Worse the RPF is also scared."
"No high officer within RPA trust anyone anymore. The RPA is a divided army under siege, yes. The RPA hardliners will fight, that is not a problem. The problem is that within RPA itself there is a serious rift. Those who are ready to die for Kagame and those who are tired of war. Genocide survivors do not want to fight. Those who support the former King Kigeli do not want to fight. The RPF can no longer use the fear of another genocide after it was discovered that most crimes against Tutsi in 1997-1998, that were initially attributed to Hutu rebels, were the work of the Rwandan Patriotic Army after all. Besides, there is no secret that RPA troops include a large number of Hutu prisoners accused of genocide. That is where the major problem for RPA is. And remember, the new Rebels may not be the old. Everybody concurs that they have become after all these years, a better army, well trained, more disciplined, and can better articulate their ideas", AfroAmerica Network was told by a former Rwandan Patriotic Army officer now exiled in Uganda.
Meanwhile, AfroAmerica Network learned that Kagame is visting the United Nations and the United States Administration on June 24, 2001. Reliable sources told AfroAmerica Network Kagame is going to Washington to maintain pressure on the Bush Administration officials and ask them to renew military programs the Rwandan Patriotic Army (APR) received during the Clinton Administration. These programs included military training in counter insurgency operations and psychological warfare. The U.S. also provided ammunition and up to date communications equipment to the APR. Kagame is expected to argue that these programs are necessary to defeat Hutu rebels.
(c)AfroAmerica Network, June 2001.
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