Rwanda: The Sinister Offensive of a Regime in Decline

Rwanda: The Sinister Offensive of a Regime in Decline

Emmanuel Hakizimana, Ph.D.

President of the Rwandan Congress of Canada

On May 13, 2011, BBC Radio broadcast information according to which two Rwandan nationals living in London had just been warned by British police that their lives were in danger. In a warning notice sent to each of them, police wrote: “Reliable intelligence states that the Rwandan Government poses an imminent threat to your life. The threat could come in any form.” Two weeks earlier, the London newspaper The Independent published an article stating that the British intelligence service MI5 had issued an advisory notice to the Ambassador of Rwanda to the United Kingdom, Ernest Rwamucyo, warning him that British aid to Rwanda would be cut if he did not cease to threaten and intimidate Rwandan nationals living in Great Britain. That aid amounts to more than CAN$130 million.

The reports have caused considerable concern among members of the Rwandan community living in the West and more particularly those residing in Commonwealth countries including Canada. Indeed, they never imagined that the Kigali regime would dare to export insecurity to countries that are its biggest supporters. It will be remembered that those countries disregarded the recommendations put forward in a report by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and agreed to allow Rwanda to join the Commonwealth a little over a year ago.

The campaign of terror further illustrated by the events in London seems to be part of a strategy that was initiated by General Paul Kagame a few months before the presidential elections of August 2010 and was escalated following the release in October 2010 of the United Nations mapping report on crimes committed in Congo between 1993 and 2003. According to the report, the army of President General Paul Kagame committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and possibly crimes of genocide against Hutu refugees in Congo and Congolese citizens.

The strategy basically has two concomitant areas of focus. The first is a vast diplomatic campaign in Western countries primarily intended to demonize opponents of the current Rwandan regime and denounce the UN mapping report. The second is the assassination of opponents, real or imagined, as well as independent journalists who reveal the criminal activities of the Kigali regime.

As part of the diplomatic offensive, a large Rwandan delegation led by Senator Aloysie Inyumba (recently appointed Minister of Gender and Family) toured Europe in November 2010. Another arrived in Canada in the second half of May 2011 for a series of conferences organized in conjunction with the Embassy of Rwanda in Ottawa. At the same time, Paul Kagame is scheduled to personally visit Chicago in the United States from June 10 to 12, 2011.

The recent events in Great Britain fall within the political assassinations component of the strategy, which was revived a few months before the presidential elections of August 2010 and continues to this day. It began with the decapitation of Green Party Vice-President André Kagwa Rwisereka, the assassination of independent journalist Léonard Rugambage and the assassination attempt in South Africa on General Kayumba Nyamwasa. It has now spread to Western countries.

Rwandan nationals who fled General Paul Kagame’s regime and settled in Canada take the recent events in London very seriously. They now know that the Rwandan regime can also carry out a campaign of terror in Canada and elements abound to indicate that their fear is not unfounded. First, there are precedents on Canadian soil. In 1998, a former Red Cross employee was the victim of an attempted murder because he had witnessed massacres perpetrated against Rwandan Hutu refugees by Paul Kagame's army. The incident was made public in an article published in La Presse on January 29, 1998. Next, the fact that Canada is the only Western country not to take legal action against the killers of Canadian citizens living in Rwanda (including Father Claude Simard and Father Guy Pinard) is not likely to deter Paul Kagame from sowing terror on Canadian soil. Finally, the initiative by Rwandan authorities to carry out a campaign of terror in Great Britain when that country ranks first among providers of aid to Rwanda shows that no country, not even Canada, can delude itself into believing that the Kigali regime will not dare to carry out terrorist attacks on its territory.

Many members of the Rwandan community in Canada fled Paul Kagame’s regime for different reasons. Some are survivors of his crimes against humanity, as revealed by the UN mapping report referred to above. Others, including journalists, jurists and human rights activists, were singled out because they denounced human rights violations and other abuses. All arrived broken-hearted and wanted nothing more than to live in peace and thrive in their host countries. The campaign of terror waged today by the Kigali regime is plunging them back into the world of terror they fled. Canada should take action immediately and warn Rwandan authorities against organizing terrorist activities on Canadian territory. At stake are the safety and security of all Canadians.