Rwandan Editor Who Accused Officials in Shooting Is Killed

By JOSH KRON
The New York Times
June 25, 2010
 
KIGALI, Rwanda — A Rwandan journalist who accused the Rwandan government of trying to assassinate a dissident in South Africa was himself killed Thursday night in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali.

Jean-Leonard Rugambage, 34, an editor and reporter for a suspended private tabloid, was shot twice and killed late Thursday night near his home, police officials said. Violent crime is exceedingly rare in Kigali, which is known as one of the safest and most orderly capitals in Africa.

The shooting is the latest in a string of deadly episodes in the Rwandan capital as the country approaches presidential elections this August. Although investigations were continuing and no arrests had been made, authorities had dismissed the possibility of foul play.

“It is very unfortunate,” said a police spokesperson, Eric Kayiranga. “He was an ordinary man. At his level, I don’t think he can be a threat.”

But Jean-Bosco Gasasira, the senior editor of the local-language tabloid Umuvugizi, where Mr. Rugambage worked, claims that the Rwandan government was behind the killing and that intelligence services had been trailing his colleague for days.

“This was not an accident,” said Mr. Gasasira, who himself fled Rwanda earlier this year. “He had spoken to me all week, informing me about surveillance on him.”

Mr. Gasasira said that he and Mr. Rugambage had published an article on Thursday linking Rwandan government military and intelligence officers to the recent shooting of Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, a former high-ranking Rwandan general who recently defected to South Africa. Mr. Nyamwasa was shot and wounded by a lone gunman, who did not steal anything, on the streets of Johannesburg last Saturday.

Umuvugizi’s article claimed that a senior intelligence officer close to President Paul Kagame had telephoned orders to kill Mr. Nyamwasa, and that a former presidential guard was among the four suspects arrested in the past week in connection with the shooting.

“They knew he was becoming another source of information,” Mr. Gasasira said of Mr. Rugambage.

Since the end of its genocide in 1994, Rwanda has become one of the safest and most orderly countries in Africa. But earlier this year, a series of grenade explosions shook Rwanda’s tidy capital, and the government blamed the dissident former general, Mr. Nyamwasa.

Since then, politicians have been arrested, newspapers closed, and an increasing number of soldiers and government officials have defected.

Umuvugizi had published a number of articles documenting the attacks and their aftermath, alleging a growing divide in the military and ruling party.

The Rwandan government suspended Umuvugizi, saying that it was a sensationalist newspaper that had spread false information on hearsay. While it publishes an online edition, where Mr. Rugambage’s article about Mr. Nyamwasa’s shooting appeared, the Web site has been blocked by a number of Rwanda’s Internet service providers.

Mr. Gasasira said the death of his colleague was proof his newspaper was telling the truth.

“If we make things up, is it worth shooting someone?” said Mr. Gasasira in a telephone interview.

Frank Habineza, one aspiring presidential candidate whose party has been blocked from registering, said that the killing had raised more concerns and confusion. “This is a government that has tried to restrict freedoms of expression, but I don’t think it’s a government that can kill people,” he said. “All these happenings started after the grenades.”