Rwanda: Journalist confirms meeting fugitive army officers

By Rwanda News Agency
Thursday, 11 March 2010

Mr. Kabonero (right) is also alleged to have planed to “launch a wave of bombings in Kigali and bring down the Government” with fugitive junior officer Lt. Abdul Joshua Ruzibiza (left).

Kigali: Under fire from President Paul Kagame who accused unnamed journalists of being party to plots to cause “state instability” in the country, the supposed journalist in question has confirmed that he indeed met the wanted army officers, RNA reports.

At a press conference last week, President Kagame accused Lt. Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa, a former ambassador to India and chief of staff, and another senior ex-military officer, Col. Patrick Karegyeya of plotting grenade attacks which have killed and injured many.

Without being specific, the President said some journalists have been in contact with Col. Karegyeya in South Africa. He also said some members of the media were party to destabilization plans.

“There are those [journalists] who found Karegeya in South Africa and spoke to him. There are even those who went there, but have not returned,” he said.

Now the controversial journalist suspected to have been the one the President was referring to, has come out, but also defending why he met the alleged officer. He is the exiled publisher of troubled tabloid UMUSESO, Mr. Charles Kabonero.

He says he indeed met Col. Karegeya, the ex-chief of the External Security Organisation (ESO) but does not reveal where.

"I believe that [President] Kagame is educated enough to know that, as a journalist, if I had a chance to meet [Osama] bin Laden I would not hesitate to do it [in order to] to get news. It’s the job,” he told media rights Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

“So, yes, I met Karegyeya for journalism-related purposes.”

However, that is not the end of Mr. Kabonero’s alleged links to fugitive army officers. In 2006, a local weekly Rwanda FOCUS published a series of articles sourced from email communications between Mr. Kabonero and Lt. Joshua Abdul Ruzibiza – wanted in Kigali for desertion.

In the printout of the emails by FOCUS, the two men seemed to have been planning to “launch a wave of bombings in Kigali and bring down the Government”. Media rights groups quickly came to the defense of Mr. Kabonero accusing FOCUS of forging the messages.

The revelations were not publicly followed up any authority. However, when President Kagame was addressing reporters last week, he did not allude to either of the two circumstances but said he thought investigations were still ongoing.

Lt. Ruzibiza was until November 2008, a key witness in the contested French indictments against nine Rwandan officials. He retracted his testimony – but has remained exiled.