Rwanda: Former Member of President Kagame's Presidential Guard Flees Alleged Torture and Executions

By Norman Miwambo
Modern Ghana
13 June 2010

A member of Rwanda’s elite Presidential Republican Guard (PPG) survived death in what could be compared to a Hollywood Movie.

One of President Paul Kagame’s bodyguard, Innocent Kalisa, who is used to travelling in a First Class if not on a presidential jet, for the first time was sealed in a vegetable container onto a plane and ferried to a safer country after escaping from a Safe House [illegal Torture Chamber] in Kigali, capital of Rwanda.

“I really don’t know how I got here, I must have been the luckiest person because the two days I spent in a Safe House, 20 people, which is an average of 10 per day, were executed,” the former Republic Guard member, Kalisa, [army No. AP98709] who had served in the unit since 2001, narrated to this reporter.

Like many army officers in Kigali, he was in great fear after President Kagame’s recent accusations against his former allies of being behind and of their involvement in subversive activities against the country.

Barely months before the country’s presidential elections, Kigali has remained hostile to both the opposition and members of the armed forces who are believed to have even the slightest knowledge about the renegade soldiers who fled the country into exile since last year. At one point, in a safe house at Kabeza, a Kigali suburb, with handcuffs still on Kalisa’s hands and feet, he sat with fear on his face and fresh wounds allegedly inflicted on him by his tormentors.

“There were blood stains on the carpet; I knew that any time I was going to be killed,” says Kagame’s former close bodyguard. Kalisa adds, “The next night in the safe house, one army Major came into one of the rooms and questioned me, he promised me the worst the following day if I don’t tell him the truth.”

“When he left that is when I started planning how I can get-out of this hell. Using the knowledge I got from various course I managed to escape,” Private Kalisa narrated his nightmare to this reporter.

According to Kalisa, the only clue to his suffering, he says, was when, “They started suspecting me when I was demobilized and visited my brother in Uganda where I was planning to get back for further studies.”

“My brother who was in the army and served in the same unit before me, advised me to go further studies like him,” says Kalisa, adding that: “Apart from visiting Uganda, I have no knowledge about those people [Lt. Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa and Col. Patrick Karegyeya], it is just because the president no longer trust anybody.”

“At the moment, he [president] may not even trust his own shadow,” says the former bodyguard.

Private Kalisa says his only problem was that he couldn’t give any information about the renegade army soldiers who recently fled the country to exile. Former Chief of Staff and Ambassador to India, Lt. Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa, fled the country in February and joined the former Rwandan Chief Spy, Col. Patrick Karegyeya, who fled in 2007. Others who recently fled the country include Theoneste Mushindashaka, Senator Stanley Safari, Lt. Col. Sam Baguma, Capt. Eliphaz Ndikuyezu, Capt. Claude Bizimungu, Capt. John Wuwintari, Capt. John-Bosco Muhizi, Capt. Theobal Gakumba, Capt. John Ontabuka and Jean Pierre Kagubare. All fled the country to seek refuge in exile.

Having served as a close bodyguard and with his vast knowledge of the regime, Kalisa’s fear could be seen on his face as he says he doesn’t know why he’s been tortured and linked to people he has no contact with. Kalisa wonders: “I started serving as bodyguard in 2001, I held responsibilities like close bodyguard for the family; ie the president, the First Lady and the children especially at school.

“I had never harboured any bad motive against them. But why now?” asks Kalisa, adding that: “I have in the past travelled with the President to African states like Tanzania, Mwanza, Zambia, South Africa, why me at this time?"

“Kalisa? If he is the Kalisa I know, he was working with us but he escaped from prison,” without giving a reason why Private Kalisa was arrested in the first place. Colonel Tom Byabagamba who is a high-ranking commander of President Kagame’s Republican Guard, spoke to this reporter in an exclusive telephone interview. Sounding familiar with the whole issue and giving no reasons why Kalisa was arrested, Col. Byabagamba added: “That guy is on a wanted list of our police, you can contact the Police spokesperson, and they are conversant with his case.” Col. Byabagamba neither did he mention or single out a single charge levelled against his former subordinate.

However, Col. Byabagamba referred this reporter to the country’s Police Spokesman, Eric Kayiranga, who said: “Right now I’m in a stadium, I’m following the defense processions, I can’t give the details.”

“Yes, he is a wanted person,” said Police spokesman Mr Kayiranga when asked if he was aware of Private Kalisa’s alleged criminal charges. Without giving the details of charges against Kalisa, the police spokesman claimed: “Even through our newspapers he has been mentioned as a criminal, he should be arrested and brought to face justice.”

“I’m not able to give the details, but there is a file in the criminal justice through the Interpol [International Police], he should appear before the court,” Mr Kayiranga told this reporter in a telephone interview, adding that: “I’m not in the office to tell you the case details. The country’s Police spokesman, who said that the man is a wanted person with already a file in the criminal justice through the Interpol, also couldn’t mention the nature of the charge saying that: “By the time you get back to me, I would have gathered all the information about him and I will provide you with the detailed information.”

President Kagame, who has been praised overseas for social and economic progress, has embarked on clamping down on opposition politicians and the media ahead of the August Presidential elections. Mrs. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza is under house arrest in Kigali after the court confiscated her passport and denied her any movement outside the country. Even an American Attorney, Peter Erlinder, who had come to represent Mrs Ingabire, was arrested and remains in detention on alleged crimes of ‘Genocide Denial’.

For what reason Rwandan security agents arrested Kalisa when he had been demobilized on 28 January 2010, according to the demobilization certificate, remains a mystery.

Contary to information given about Kalisa, this reporter has independently obtained a demobilisation certificate from the defense ministry which suggests that he was relieved of duties in January this year.

According to a certificate baring the signature of the country’s (then) Minister of Defense, General Marcel Gatsinzi, and written in Kinyarwanda, it reads: “Ministeri y’ingabo irashimira No. AP98709 Pte Kalisa Innocent akazi yakoreye igihugu mugihe yari akiri umusirikare akaba asezerewe kamugaragaro le 28th January 2010. (The Ministry of Defense would like to thank, No. AP98709 Pte [Private] Kalisa Innocent for serving his country whilst was a soldier. He has officially been relieved of his duties on 28th January, 2010.”