AfroAmerica Network
Kigali, Rwanda
02.25.01
The Republican Democratic Movement (MDR) has once again split up into two factions: one led by Celestin Kabanda, Acting MDR President and the second led by Former Rwandan Foreign Minister Anastase Gasana.
According to a press release obtained by AfroAmerica Network, Gasana called a meeting of some members of the political bureau who elected a new executive committee.
Reliable sources told AfroAmerica Network correspondent that before calling this meeting Anastase Gasana, Transportation Minister Jean de Dieu Ntiruhungwa, and National Transitional member Stanley Safari published a document in Imvaho Nshya nš 1376 of February 19, 2001 accusing Kabanda, Faustin Minani, Pierre Gakwandi, Leonard Kavutse, Theobald Rutihunza, and other MDR member of participating in the genocide of Tutsi in 1994, hating Tutsi, and spreading the ideology of MDR PARMEHUTU. These sources say the publication of this document by a government news organization is an indication that Anastase Gasana's and his colleagues' move received the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF)'s blessing.
In a letter addressed to the Rwandan Attorney General the accused are asking him to bring charges for defamation against people who signed the document.
Political sources told AfroAmerica Network that the RPF's ultimate objective is to destroy and outlaw MDR because it is associated with the popular uprising that culminated in the Social Revolution of 1959. To achieve that objective the RPF has enlisted three politicians: Gasana, Safari, and Ntiruhungwa.
As soon as Kabanda learned of his demise as acting president of MDR from Radio Rwanda, a state-run radio station, he issued a press release urging his supporters to ignore the decisions taken by the faction led by Gasana, Ntiruhungwa, Ntwarabakiga, and Christian Marara. Ntwarabakiga is a member of the Transitional Assembly while Christian Marara is the former RPF representative in Paris.
Kabanda has called a meeting of the political bureau for March 04, 2001 to discuss internal squabbling within MDR. It is unclear whether the RPF Tutsi-led government will allow this meeting to take place. Most observers in Kigali believe that Rwandan President General Paul Kagame masterminded the split of MDR.
Celestin Kabanda hails from Kibuye. His father was a godson of Gregoire Kayibanda, the first President of independent Rwanda and was an influential leader of MDR-PARMEHUTU under Kayibanda's regime.
The MDR first split into two factions in 1994 over the peace negotiations of Arusha and the implementation of the Arusha Accord signed between the RPF and the Rwandan Government. In 1994 most of its members either fled the country or were killed. The few members who accepted to collaborate with the RPF regime have been silenced or have fled the country or secretly joined the RPF.
Bernard Makuza joined the RPF in 1992 but until his nomination as Prime Minister very few people knew he was a member of the RPF. Ntiruhungwa joined the RPF in 2000. Every RPF member swears to uphold the rules and practices of the RPF. A member who violates these rules is hunted down and executed.
After the RPF victory in 1994, it suspended all political parties' activities. The RPF is the only political organization allowed to carry out political activities. A western diplomat says the current Rwandan political parties are labels. No one really knows the strengths of political parties in Rwanda. The RPF tolerates these labels to hide the totalitarian nature of the regime.
(c)AfroAmerica Network, February, 2001.
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