CALL FOR AN INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATION INTO ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT OF THE RWANDAN GENERAL KAYUMBA NYAMWASA

By Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza
FDU-INKINGI, Chair
June 21, 2010

On 19th June 2010, General Kayumba Nyamwasa, a former Rwandan Army chief of staff and High Commissioner to India, survived a planned assassination attempt in Johannesburg, South Africa. This is not the first time, Rwandan opponents are executed inside or outside Rwanda, and until now the hand behind has never been named. There will be no reconciliation, no stability, and no relief as long as those crimes remain unpunished.

General Kayumba fled Rwanda in February 2010 and since then has been abused and demonised by the ruling party while he is publicly denouncing the dictatorship marred by corruption, intrigues, lack of justice, absence of the rule of law and a one-man rule.

According to eye witnesses the life attack was carried out by a professional hit man who shot him at close range and in a matter of seconds retreated to a waiting car. The General sustained serious injuries. The modus operandi revives the assassinations of other Rwandan opponents inside the country or in exile. All have in common the fall-out with the current regime and curiously they are killed by an invisible hand using unidentified professional gunmen in similar conditions. For example, the murder of Colonel Theoneste Lizinde in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1996 and the assassination of Mr. Seth Sendashonga, former Interior Minister in Nairobi on 16th May 1998 have never been thoroughly investigated.

This brings up a host of questions, a task for the investigators to pursue in coming months. It is the reason why we call upon an independent international inquiry into those extra-territorial executions of Rwandan opponents. The international community and host governments have the responsibility to protect refugees and asylum seekers. This incident is a nefarious conspiracy for disruption of peace in Rwanda, a country sinking deeply into a political and military crisis. The lack of political space, the arrest of opposition leaders, lawyers and senior military officers, the use of violence and all kind of intimidation of dissenting voices are obvious signs of a country on the brink of chaos.

Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza
FDU INKINGI, Chair.