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From: mpinganzima2005
Sent: Friday, March 31, 2006 3:12 AM
Subject: [fondationbanyarwanda] Media disinformation campaign
hurting Rwanda-Uganda relations Kigali A number of articles have consistently appeared in the Ugandan press alleging that Rwanda is behind armed rebel groups opposed to the Government of Uganda. Some of the articles, in addition to being false, are deeply offensive to the Rwandan people and their leadership. For example, the Red Pepper of the 23rd of March carried a story claiming that following a meeting in Kabuga, Rwanda, with Rwandan officials, the PRA, ADF, and the LRA agreed to collectively attack Uganda and overthrow its leadership. The army spokesman, Major Felix Kulayigye reportedly said he had received similar information. This Red Pepper story is not an isolated one. It is part of a series of this genre. Now, as anybody with a modicum of decency would know, to link Rwanda to terrorist organizations like the LRA and the ADF is not only despicable, but is deeply offensive. Moreover the stories are simply untrue. I have waited for a denial from the relevant Ugandan security agencies quoted as sources for the articles in vain. Instead, information linking specific very senior Ugandan security officials to this campaign of disinformation is becoming too persistent to ignore. The smear campaign against Rwanda is apparently directed and managed by a few officers of the Ugandan security apparatus. Agreement For some time now, most of us in Rwanda have considered the stories extremely absurd, and not worth the dignity of a reply. Furthermore, in respect of the London Understanding between the two countries, Rwanda has refrained from public comments on matters under discussion between our two countries. It might be time, however for the citizens of Rwanda and Uganda, to be updated on what has been happening, as is their right. It is not proper that wanainchi continue to be subjected to a piece meal doling out of fabrications probably intended to cloud very real issues that Rwanda has raised with the relevant Ugandan authorities. Public debate on the truth is much better than cynical manipulation of the masses. This article lays out the real issues as Rwanda sees them. These issues have been communicated to the leadership of Uganda with the full expectation and confidence that they will be addressed. In November 2005, President Paul Kagame sent a delegation led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation to President Yoweri K Museveni to share and discuss disturbing reports that Rwandan dissidents were benefiting from the hospitality of Uganda. That their activities were being organized and funded by Ugandan State organs, and that they were being coordinated by senior Ugandan officials, both in government and the security organs. Information on specific individuals involved in these activities was shared. Dissidents One such group of dissidents, calling themselves the RPR, actually publicly announced its aim to start an armed rebellion against the government of Rwanda. Some of the leaders of this group are based in, or operate from Uganda, with the assistance of Ugandan officials. The names of these officials have been communicated to the Ugandan leadership. While they plan to sow mayhem in Rwanda, RPR leaders, including Rucyeba, continue to move undisturbed in Kampala. Available information indicates that they are guests of senior Ugandan officials. More disturbingly, these Kampala based dissidents continue to hold meetings and planning sessions with EXFAR/Interahamwe leaders and some of their supporters unmolested. For anybody to be in cahoots with these genocidal killers is unacceptable. For Ugandan territory and facilities to be availed these groups is unfathomable. And yet, these extremists have indeed benefited from the largesse of, if not active cooperation from Ugandan officials. The leaders of these genocidal forces, including Ignace MURWANASHYAKA, Col Aloys Ntiwiragaba alias Omar wanted by the ICTR I Arusha, Christophe Hakizabera, and Rafiki Nsengiyumva a.k.a John Muhindo have, on many occasions, passed through Uganda to organize their troops in Eastern DRC. Some other leaders, including Safari Aimable and Peter Kabasha with their many aliases are permanently based in Kampala, from where they coordinate the logistics and mobilisation required to destabilize Rwanda and plunge the region into conflict. Some of the leaders of the genocidal forces are the subjects of a manhunt by the International Crimes Tribunal for Rwanda based in Arusha Tanzania, for the heinous crimes committed in 1994. Yet, they currently travel around the region, on Ugandan passports. The most prominent example is Maj Protais Mpiranyi, a former close bodyguard to former President Habyalimana, whose name evokes horror in Rwanda for his role in the genocide. He has been known to travel on Ugandan passport number B0511266, under the names James Kakule. As we all know, such documents request and require, in the name of the President of the Republic of Uganda, all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance and to afford the bearer such assistance and protection as may be necessary. That a man like Mpiranyi should benefit from such protection is shocking to say the least. Many other dissident officials carry Ugandan documents. Some of the passports and other documents have been acquired though Ugandan security companies closely associated with senior Ugandan officials. Their names and details have either been communicated to officials in Uganda, or will be. Rebels without borders In the past, a number of groups have been formed in Kampala to try and destabilise Rwanda. Groups like the Indahangarwa, Inkeragutabara and others have seen the light of day with the active participation, or tacit understanding of Ugandan officials. Some of these groups seem to behave like rebels without borders. They have not only designed plans against Rwanda, but some of their members have reportedly lost life and limb in the Ituri region of the DRC. For example, Captain Rwija was killed in a fire fight with MONUC at Burasi in the DRC. At the time of the fire fight, Rwija's group was under the tutelage of Uganda's 507 brigade. At this juncture, it is worth recalling that the two countries had agreed to relocate dissidents to third countries with the assistance and support of partners in the International community. While Ugandan dissidents in Kigali were relocated, the process was not completed in Kampala. Instead, some were sent to DRC areas adjacent to the Semliki valley and a number of other dissidents have set up shop in the Ugandan capital. Some Rwandans who had been lured to Uganda with promises of either State protection or assistance in their plans to overthrow the elected government of Rwanda have since returned to their motherland. They include senior military figures like Ltc. ( rtd) Gashugi. Revelations On their return they revealed shocking details of murky dissident activities in Kampala, with different groups and organisations that have an agenda for violence planning and scheming against the peace that is slowly returning to the Great Lakes Region. They also revealed a bewildering kaleidoscope of mergers between dissident groups with differing agendas in a bid to find an acceptable political platform for their violent agenda. The latest such attempt involves the RUD-Urunana, an FDLR faction led by JMV Higiro, and the RPR. The Mixed Military Committee meetings of the two groups that prepared the merger document were held in Kampala. The two groups have invited others with a violent agenda to join them. Rwanda will share information on these other groups with Uganda. The Urunana faction has been involved in trying to convince break away FDLR field commanders in the DRC like Maj. Musale to form a new armed rebellion, instead of joining the UN led Demobilization, Disarmament and Repatriation process currently underway in that country. Indeed, instead of encouraging these groups to disarm, the leaders of RUD-Urunana and the RPR have made attempts to acquire additional arms to wage war against the people of Rwanda. An important tool in the arsenal of these people and their supporters is constant disinformation. They are past masters at promoting hate and popular anger through a sustained campaign of lies. They whisper and they write. Suspicion and innuendo are their stock in trade. In 1994 in Rwanda, some of the individuals now involved in this latest dance of death convinced hundred of thousands of ordinary Rwandans to massacre their compatriots in an orgy of violence disguised as self defense. As we all know, the results of their ignoble politics were reflected in the bloated bodies of innocent Rwandan that ended up in Lake Victoria. The current continued activities of these dissident groups and their supporters are inimical to regional peace and security. Nascent democratic processes in Burundi and the DRC are raising hopes for a more stable region. In Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya democratic processes are being consolidated. Through consultative mechanisms such as the Tripartite Plus mechanism that brings together Burundi, the DRC, Rwanda and Uganda, outstanding security issues are being dealt with. Rwanda and Uganda have developed a wide ranging agenda for cooperation through the Joint Permanent Commission between the two countries. We should not allow this agenda to be derailed by individuals nostalgic of war, mayhem and anarchy. Adventurists, terrorists, war mongers and those with a seemingly permanent infatuation with rebellion should not be allowed to set the tone for relations between the two sister Republics. For her part, Rwanda has not, cannot and will not be used as a base to destabilise Uganda. It is in this spirit that I submit these issues for consideration by the people of both countries. Dr Richard Sezibera is Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region |
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