On April 19, 2000 Mayi Mayi troops shot down a
Russian-built Antonov-8 aircraft, killing several Rwandan Patriotic
Army officers. More troops sent in for reinforcement to recover the
aircraft debris and the bodies of the officers were killed in an ambush.
Relatives of the officers killed told AfroAmerica Network in Kigali that they received the news from some injured officers who participated in the rescue mission.
Officially, the Rwandan Patriotic Army spokesperson said the plane crashed when a bird flew into one of the engines. Later, the army claimed these Russian planes are not well serviced.
"It depends on how you look at it. If an anti-air bullet is a bird, then the air-craft crashed with a bird", said the relative in jest.
Official reports put the death toll at 57 Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) officers. Relatives of the officers put the death toll a at least 100 officers, including crew members. They also add that more than 50 soldiers were killed in an ambush during the operation to retrieve the bodies.
Among those killed are Major Claver Rugambwa in the crash, RPA's brigade commander in Pepa, southeast of Congo, near the Zambian border. Both Paul Kagame and Claver Rugambwa studied few years of secondary school in Mbarara, Uganda and served in the Ugandan Army. Claver Rugambwa continued to serve in the Ugandan Army up to 1993 before being transfered to the Rwandan Patriotic Army, in preparation of 1994 battle.
The Rwandan Patriotic Army admitted that, apart from the Major, 17 captains, about 20 lieutenants and ordinary soldiers and Russian crew perished.
The injured officers, from the Southern Battle Front, confirmed that the toll is even higher, with most officers from Kagame's own entourage. Closest friends to Paul Kagame, the current President of Rwanda, killed in the plane crash include Captain David Safari and Captain Bayingana, a brother of the late Claude Dusaidi, Kagame's political adviser. Claude Dusaidi, a former Representative of the Rwandan Patriotic Front to the UN, mysteriously died in South Africa.
The officers were being flown to Kigali to attend the April 22 swearing-in ceremony of Paul Kagame as president of Rwanda.
The mayi-mayi fighters claim to have shot down, including this plane, three military planes in less than a month. One plane was shot down over the Kakuzi Biega National Park near Pepa and another one over Lake Tanganyika.
@AfroAmerica Network, May 6, 2000.
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