AfroAmerica Network
Kigali, Rwanda
03.16.01
Rwandan President General Paul Kagame has fired a Hutu minister who refused to be a zombie.
Internal Affairs Minister Theobald Rwaka lost his job because he refused to join the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). Rwaka belongs to the Christian Democratic Party. He has connection with human rights activists. Kagame's regime had accused him of passing on information to human rights organizations and to his friends from Cyangugu.
Some of his friends are Francois Xavier Ndeze, President of ADL, a human rights organization, Colonel Augustin Cyiza, a former judge, and Pasteur Nsabimana, a former member of the National transitional Assembly (NTA). The tree people are Hutu who decided to collaborate with the RPF after its military takeover in 1994. The RPF used them for a while then demoted them.
Rwaka served as Internal Affairs Minister but in fact he had to oversee a department entirely controlled by RPF political cadres known in Rwanda as abakada who report to the RPF apparatus.
Kagame has appointed Jean de Dieu Ntiruhungwa as his replacement. Ntiruhungwa joined the RPF in a secret ritual last year. He must submit to RPF rules and practices. Any violation of those rules and practices is punished by the death penalty. Ntiruhungwa was replaced by Silas Kanamugire. Changes have also affected major parastatal companies including Sonarwa, Electrogaz, Caisse Hypothecaire and Postal Services. Three hutu in similar situation were sworn in as members of parliement: Jean Damascene Nayinzira, Augustin Iyamuremye and Etienne Magari.
Other individuals who have joined the RPF but who still carry the political label of a different political party are Bernard Makuza, Amandin Rugira, Stanley Safari, and Anastase Gasana. Many Hutu who have refused to join the RPF have either left the country or been demoted.
Political sources say early this week General Kagame held a crisis meeting with Justice Minister Captain Jean de Dieu Mucyo and Attorney General Gahima to discuss how to stop the disclosure of confidential information regarding RPF covert activities. According to these sources Kagame is worried that former Prime Minister Rwigema might have revealed information that came across his desk while he was in office.
The three officials apparently discussed measures to discredit and weaken growing political opposition based in North America and Western Europe. A source says Kagame promised to give all necessary means to the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), the Ministry of Justice, and the Rwandan Information Office (ORINFOR).
Most Rwandans do know that their Minister of Justice is a captain in the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA). He underwent military training shortly after the RPF takeover. Kagame does not allow the disclosure of the names and ranks of some (RPA) members. A military source says there are many officers like Mucyo who serve in the RPA.
A senior Interior Ministry official told AfroAmerica Network that municipal elections held last week gave a mandate to 80 percent of the mayors who were already in office. More than 90 percent of these mayors and other elected officers are Tutsi. The few Hutu who accepted to run for office had to join the RPF in a secret ritual.
Meanwhile, Major Kabuye, the former Prefect of Kigali City is under house arrest after being evicted from the house of former Director of Electrogaz, Donat Munyanganizi, a hutu, whose family is exiled in Europe. The RPF recently expelled Kabuye from the National Transitional Assembly (NTA) and there is rumor that she might have been expelled from the RPF and the APR. According to Jean-Pierre Mugabe, a former RPF intelligence officer, she is implicated in the assassination of former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana. Many believe that Major Kabuye is targeted for knowing too much on the assassination and the perspectives for her testimony.
(c)AfroAmerica Network, March, 2001.
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