AfroAmerica Network
Kigali, Rwanda
01.04.01
Rwandan President General Paul Kagame has ordered three members of the National Transitional Assembly (NTA) to resign.
Kagame gave the order at the last meeting of the Forum of Rwandan Political Parties, a structure created by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) to oversee what is left as political parties in Rwanda.
The three members of the NTA who were ordered to resign are Rose Kabuye, Rose Mukankomeje, and Emilie Kayitesi Rusera. All three are RPF ideologues who actively sought the resignation of three prominent politicians: former President Pasteur Bizimungu, former NTA Speaker Joseph Sebarenzi Kabuye, and former Prime Minister Pierre Celestin Rwigema. Informed sources told AfroAmerica Network that whenever Kagame wanted to get rid of somebody, he used Kabuye, Mukankomeje and Kayitesi. They will soon get new government positions for their dedicated services to Kagame.
The resignation of Kabuye, Mukankomeje and Kayitesi is apparently part of large public relations offensive to convince Hutu that the RPF has shifted away from its policy of violence and ethnic supremacy. "Kagame will be elected by Hutu, our strategy should be to demonstrate that we do not tolerate those of us who are tough on them", an RPF source said.
The same source said that Kagame had already reached out to former President Bizimungu who fled to South Africa and returned to Rwanda after receiving assurances regarding his security and properties.
A relative who visited him recently said that he still lives in a mansion owned by late President Juvenal Habyarimana near Kanombe International Airport. The former president has no staff to maintain the mansion and has not received his pension since he left office. The mansion looks like an abandoned palace being swallowed up by trees and grass. Meanwhile the Rwandan government has sent him a letter informing him that the house belongs to a local commercial bank because of an unpaid loan and may be up for sale soon.
A source also told AfroAmerica Network that Kagame became very angry when international media published stories suggesting that he ordered the shooting down of the plane carrying President Juvenal Habyarimana and his Burundi counterpart Cyprien Ntaryamira. To maintain his image of a hero, who put an end to the genocide of Tutsi, he has agreed to cooperate with the International Criminal tribunal (ICTR) when it indicts Tutsi army officers. According to this source, indicted Tutsi army officers will be low ranking officers and all the proceedings will be held in Kigali, Rwanda. If convicted these low ranking officers will serve their sentence in Rwanda. The trials will allow ICTR Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte to prove to the world the fairness and impartiality of the tribunal.
This source also said that if ICTR indicts high-ranking Tutsi officers, Kagame might send them to friendly countries where they will never be found. Such countries are Ethiopia, Eritrea, and South Africa. The source mentioned that Colonel Dan Munyuza, a Tutsi officer close to Kagame known for carrying out summary executions may have left for Ghana, another friendly country.
"We are implementing a strategy adopted during the RPF convention held in Mulindi, Byumba at the end of 1999", an RPF source said. "We think it is working".
Copyright, 2001, AfroAmerica Network.
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