Hungry for Truth, Peace and Justice

FFDR: Open Letter to Honorable President William Jefferson Clinton

By Theophile Murayi, PhD
Chairman
FFDR, Inc.
April 1, 2011



Honorable President William J. Clinton                                       April 1, 2011
Clinton Global Initiative                                                              No 01/TM/P/401
1301 Avenue des Americas, 37th Floor
New York, NY 10019
Fax: (212) 397-2256

Excellency Mr. President Clinton:

Please allow us to write you this letter imploring your kindness to help us give a second chance to a friend and a leader for the Rwandan people imprisoned in Rwanda for her political views.

We are a non-profit organization of Rwandan-Americans falling under the IRS 503(c) Exempt Status, Code 910: “Domestic organization with activities outside the U.S, Subtitle Q35: “International Democracy & Civil Society Development”. These are Organizations whose primary purpose is to carry out programs that support the development of democracy and civil society in countries outside of the United States to help promote democracy in foreign land and avoid the spread of failed states.

As our name says “Foundation for Freedom and Democracy in Rwanda”, we are deeply invested in helping the pro-democracy movement in Rwanda mostly by providing needed infrastructures for democracy to take place in Rwanda. We got particularly involved during the last presidential election campaign and have substantially worked alongside FDU-INKINGI, Green Party, and PS-IMBERAKURI opposition parties all of which unfortunately either failed to get registered or were simply barred from participating in the race for one reason or the other.

Of particular concern is the incarceration of Ms Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, the Chairperson of FDU-INKINGI who is in jail since October 2010. As you may know, Ms. Ingabire was charged with harboring genocide ideology, a thought crime according to the Rwandan law, inciting unsubstantiated divisionism and alleged collaboration with inexistent terrorist organization called Coalition of Democratic Forces (CDF) which no one has knowledge of except the Rwandan government. Suffice to say that the Rwandan prosecution came up with such a terrorist organization on the basis of e-mails that were presumably intercepted in the hands of Vital Uwumuremyi, a fugitive who happened to have worked for Ms. Victoire Ingabire as a real estate service broker. However, we also know that prior to that, the prosecution had confiscated Ms. Victoire Ingabire’s computers and all her other means of communication. They may therefore have tampered with them to come up with those e-mails.

Ms. Victoire Ingabire is a professional accountant and a mother of three who just misinterpreted false signs of human rights and civil liberties improvement in Rwanda deceivingly purported by the prevailing official narrative on Rwanda in the international media. She went back to Rwanda after 16 years in exile in the Netherlands because she thought that it was time for her to join other Rwandan politicians engaged in the pro-democracy movement and to give her contribution to the consolidation of political institutions in Rwanda. She only noticed that she had fallen victim of her high civility when her party was barred from registering for elections and she was subjected to mistreatment, intimidation, and ultimately was put in jail.

However, we all know that nobody on this planet has as much influence and respect with so many foreign leaders in general, and with President Kagame in particular, than you President Clinton. We've tried everything to help Ms Victoire Ingabire in vain and today we ask you Mr. President to help free an innocent woman who got taken in by RPF propaganda and has now unjustly lost the ability to go about her ordinary citizen business. Your influence has worked for so many people in so many places that we are confident it can also work in this case. Please intercede with President Paul Kagame on the behalf of Ms. Ingabire for all her supporters, her children and family to once again enjoy her inspiring, charismatic, caring and loving fellowship out of detention. The first Rwandan woman ever to attempt running for President of Rwanda in the Rwandan history, Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, deserves a second chance. May we also request Mr. President that you give us a date and time at your own convenience we can meet you to give you more information on her case?

Your help will be highly appreciated.

Respectfully,

Theophile Murayi, PhD
Chairman
FFDR, Inc.

posted by Mamadou Kouyate @ 12:22 AM