Charles Ingabire, let down fatally by Uganda & UNHCR

By Kiflu Hussain
Salem-News.com
December 13, 2011

Given the track record of Paul Kagame; and emerging evidences that exposed Kagame’s evil facade... it is simple to conclude that he’s behind the murder of Charles Ingabire.

Mourners at Charles Ingabire's requiem service. Most of those attending the funeral hid their faces. Courtesy: Daily Nation

(UGANDA) - 

Rwandan Journalist Charles Ingabire Political refugee Murdered in Uganda.

In July, I was invited to make a presentation to a panel at the 13th International Association for the Study of Migration/IASFM/ Conference held in Kampala.

East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project(EHAHRDP), sponsored my participation in the conference. Hence, I presented a paper titled “The double jeopardy Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) in exile suffer.”

As I have been a human rights defender in exile since 2007; and since I hold a refugee ID card that contains fancy words such as “issued by the Republic of Uganda in line with the 1951 UN Convention relating to the status of refugees as well as the OAU convention,” the staff at EHAHRDP from top to bottom encouraged me to use the platform by highlighting real issues HRDs in exile endure day in and day out.

Thus, overcoming the cynicism that has gripped me ever since I came to know how the “international community” extends international “protection” to the likes of me, I decided to come out from my gloom and hand in the paper that conveyed my cynicism in no uncertain terms.

During the presentation of my paper which I sub-titled in five parts and which indicted UNHCR (the UN agency for refugees), I expected to be challenged on factual grounds by one of its highly paid staff. It not only did not happen.

During the week long conference, I haven’t heard a single word uttered by the UNHCR that is supposed to be concerned directly with issues of migration. Doubting whether the agency had any idea that such a conference is taking place or even cared, I asked a fellow refugee whom I thought was Congolese as to whether he had seen any representative of UNHCR that he knows. He pointed out one to me.

Incidentally; the fellow who answered my question was from Rwanda.

Unless informed beforehand, the common features that Congolese and Rwandese refugees share have always led me to assume that any refugee I meet from the Great Lakes region is from that hapless country called DR Congo. Until I saw the photograph of Charles Ingabire who was shot last week and whom I met on different occasions in places where refugees congregate, I assumed that he too was Congolese.

Making mistaken assumption on identity is not only confined on refugees from the Great Lakes region. I myself encountered countless times erroneous assumptions that dubbed me as a refugee from Eritrea while some of my compatriots have been assumed to be Somalis.

Unfortunately, this sweet similarity of identity from which we Africans failed to benefit ignominiously, has also been used as a tool to violate the sanctity of asylum. Promising to elaborate on this, provided it won’t boringly lengthen my theme; let me now complete recapping the panel discussion.

Among the sub-title I used to partition my paper was a question that went like “Is Uganda a safe country for refugees?”

Answering my own question, I expounded that “some in the refugee communities are safer than the others. Whatever problem they suffer such as economic woes is not that different from the nationals of the host country. There is no discriminatory policy that forces refugees to be quarantined in camps. Yet, not all refugees or all refugee communities can claim equal enjoyment of protection. Depending upon their country of origin and the contiguity of their host country, some faced danger in the past and still do.”

I cited as example various reports on the forcible repatriation of Rwandese and Congolese refugees against the principle of non-refoulment while UNHCR just looked on. I highlighted the situation of refugees from distant places, namely Ethiopians and Eritreans in comparison with their counterparts from Rwanda and DR Congo. I said that these can only be safe so long as they turn themselves into a vegetative being in tandem with the Refugee Act 2006. This piece of legislation enacted in 2009 denies the right of any refugee to involve in “any kind of political activities in Uganda against any country including their own.” I berated and mocked the UN refugee agency “experts” for praising this draconian bill on various occasions as a “role model for Africa.”

In the preceding chapter sub-titled “How asylum & migration issues are undermined in realpolitik,” I equally condemned the Western world that invariably lectures others condescendingly on universal human rights while it’s not keen itself to share the burden of refugee crisis with less fortunate continents such as Africa. I pointed out the tightening of borders and immigration rules that turn away asylum seekers in need of international protection.

I also drew attention to the subtle method the Western world applies during resettlement process to cherry pick only those refugees it deems would fit in after weighing their longevity vis-à-vis the potential to be exploited via inhumane medical examination under the guise of humanitarian assistance. While making no overt recommendation to alleviate the plight of castaways from failed states like me, I concluded by hinting to those discerning that the root cause of all this problem is hypocrisy and double standard that characterizes the global politics.

Correlation of the above with the gunning down of Charles Ingabire

Before I reflect on the sad event that took away the life of a young exiled Rwandese journalist named Charles Ingabire on November 30, it’s imperative that I make a connection between his assassination and the IASFM conference I recalled above. During discussion time, a sharp young lady who is a law student at Makerere University asked me as to what extent we want Uganda to embrace us. I perceived that she asked the question in a somewhat patriotic tone that misunderstood my presentation.

I thought she thought that I also expressed dissatisfaction with the Ugandan society on the whole for failing to be hospitable to us. Nothing is further from the truth. If anything, I along with many other refugees from different countries have nothing but praise for the warm hospitality we have been receiving from ordinary Ugandans and for the culture that is unreservedly ready to embrace members from other communities. Even the official Uganda, when compared to our own respective dictatorships is by far the best which compels me to agree with the assessment of one blogger named Abbey Kibirige Semwemba.

In a piece titled The murder of Charles Ingabire reminded me of my grandparents ordeal in Bugerere in the 1990's, Semwemba drew a comparison between Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Paul Kagame of Rwanda. While he portrayed the latter as one coming from a culture of impunity in addition to the recent traumatizing history of genocide that might have worsened his disregard for life, he drew a pretty picture for Museveni.

Museveni and Meles Zenawis

He made him out to be one who prefers to use all other means such as afalanga (money) to cool down his critics and opponents before resorting to killing. Though, unethical, the blogger maintained, it’s effective and saves lives.

Indeed, Museveni doesn’t waste time with killing or slapping all his critics with trumped up charges by taking offence from every unflattering word printed on obscure papers. Unlike the Meles Zenawis of this world who suffer from irresistible urge to round up every dissenting person from far and near, in Uganda you can express yourself most obnoxiously against the establishment on air, online and on paper and still get away with it.

Yet, as contradictory as it sounds, it’s still a dangerous system in its own way like the one in Kigali or Addis Ababa. The bribery mechanism Museveni allegedly put in place is so widespread that one cannot be blamed to think that he can buy anything and anyone in Uganda provided he has afalanga.

Institutions supposed to be the epitome of integrity are mired in all kinds of corruption including petty thefts. So in addition to being harassed by state agents, you may also find yourself being bullied by organized crime and their hoodlums who in turn have put all the relevant institutions in their pocket. There is also no guarantee that the state itself will not use this crime syndicates it nurtured so well to liquidate its opponents and make it look like accident or an ordinary crime that has nothing to do with one’s political conviction. After all, the big wigs of the ruling party itself have told us countless times about the existence of a mafia style group operating within the system.

Against this backdrop, therefore, came the assassination of Charles Ingabire who fled from his country in the same year I sought asylum in Uganda. Given the track record of Paul Kagame in which his regime was accused of an attempt on the life of his former comrade, Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa who sought refuge in another sovereign country, namely South Africa; and given emerging evidences that exposed Kagame’s evil facade, not to speak of the warning issued to him by the Brits on the basis of information that he was trying to be an African Vladimir Putin who bumped off one called Alexander Litvinenko, I’ve already concluded that he’s behind the murder of Ingabire.

And although despite the knowledge in higher circles as to how thin skinned Kagame is, thus might react most irrationally against any dissent since the two strongmen were cozily comrade-in-arms during their time in the bush; and also despite the information obtained by the Internal Security Organization (ISO) on the Rwandan intelligence operatives having infiltrated the refugee community following Kayumba’s and Col. Patrick Karegyeya’s first defection to Uganda, the Ugandan Police Force (UPF) along with the intelligence unit failed abysmally to protect Charles Ingabire.

In light of this along with the well recorded rotten state of the UPF, I am under no illusion that Ugandan detectives or intelligence officers would solve the murder of Ingabire through proper investigation. On the contrary, I suspect a massive cover up that would give real politiking precedence over the life of a poor exiled journalist in a bid not to spoil the two strongmen’s overtures to one another.

They may even go to the extent of making Ingabire’s murder a product of a barroom brawl or a secret romance gone sour. If and when that happens, it would be the second assassination of the young Rwandese journalist.

One should not take lightly either the fact that Ingabire was murdered a few days before Paul Kagame landed in Kampala. He arrived on the 12th of December to receive a 'Life Achievement Award' for his contribution towards “the empowerment of youth in Africa” irrespective of the fact that Ingabire was also young, African and Rwandese... whose life was brutally snuffed out.

Speaking of brutality, one might wonder that if the intention was to silence Ingabire, why other innocent methods that made it look like accident or natural cause had not been used instead of a submachine gun that drew the focus of negative publicity.

Well, this has been aptly explained by the people who know Kagame better than anyone else in a press releasesigned by Dr. Theogene Rudasingwa on behalf of the Rwanda National Congress.

... failure to find out honestly as to who is behind this heinous crime will not only reflect badly on the sovereignty of Uganda. According to various reports, the criminal element in Kigali would also be emboldened to turn its wrath on those Ugandans known for their criticism of Kagame’s regime.

The press release maintained that the message is meant to instill fear on all Rwandans and impress upon them that there is no safe place where they can hide except submitting to Kagame’s rule. And the best way to send this message is through a diabolical act that reverberates throughout the Rwandan Diaspora.

As per the saying "familiarity breeds contempt", Kagame knows very well that Uganda is conducive to send this message without any hindrance. Since corruption is attested to be endemic throughout the Ugandan police force by both local and external watchdogs, he might even have bought some elements from within to eliminate Ingabire in such a macabre fashion. He might have felt too that he could nip any serious investigation in the bud, if there ever is going to be one.

The body of murdered Rwandan journalist Charles Ingabire is taken for burial at Lusaze Cemetery near Kampala. Courtesy: The London Evening Post

All in all, the regime in Kigali calculated well. As has been observed by the Rwanda National Congress, there was no single statement from the Ugandan officials, or message of condolences to his bereaved family and the community at large that sought protection from the government of Uganda.

Ingabire died violently on Ugandan soil while supposedly under its protection like the six Eritrean refugees and one Ethiopian who perished in the 2010 July bombing. Unlike them, however, whose family and their respective community received message of condolences from the Office of the Prime Minister, no such courtesy was extended over Ingabire’s loss.

On top of the official Uganda having failed to protect him from such a violent end, it has also indicated that it’s not committed to the task of finding out who gunned down the young exiled journalist.

Meanwhile, failure to find out honestly who is behind this heinous crime will not only reflect badly on the sovereignty of Uganda. According to various reports, the criminal element in Kigali would also be emboldened to turn its wrath on those Ugandans known for their criticism of Kagame’s regime.

UNHCR, exalted institution of human trafficking or protector of refugees?

Obviously, mocking a mammoth organization with such an unorthodox question while one is still totally dependent on the very organization known for its vindictiveness as depicted on the movie “Whistleblower” on the basis of a true story, is not only politically incorrect but foolhardiness.

Yet, there are times that one should fling caution to the wind. And this is one of them. So I would begin by quoting an insightful remark from Girma Tesfaw, my compatriot who also presented a paper with me at the IASFM conference as another Ethiopian journalist who joined the long list of exiles from the same profession in 2009.

He said “The international community largely focuses on individual heroes, not exiled HRDs as a phenomenon.”

That’s right. To get proper protection and a durable solution for your plight as a refugee in which resettlement to a third country is one of them, you need to be a refugee whose persecution as an individual or plight as a group is well publicized by the media.

Meles Zenawi

In 2005, when the incumbent in Ethiopia at the behest of Meles Zenawi rigged election an big time and opened a floodgate of bloodshed, the international community toughened its stance against the régime. It even entertained the idea of passing sanctions.

Meanwhile; those who fled from that situation to neighboring countries such as Kenya and Uganda had been received well by the UNHCR. Some of them, in fact, were treated as celebrities. The security risk they faced due to their seeking sanctuary to a nearby country under a political system that is no better than the one from which they fled, was also taken into consideration.

Thus, UNHCR expedited their resettlement process. Even young Ethiopian combat pilots with no known political conviction, not to mention their military background that’s supposed to cast a shadow on their eligibility as refugees, got resettled in the United States from Uganda right after their defection. The four pilots among whom one was a young lady, chose to defect following a qualification on a high-tech supersonic jet aircraft in the former Soviet Union.

Unfortunately, it didn’t stay that way for long. Following the incursion of Meles Zenawi’s henchmen in Somalia and his success on cutting a dashing image as an “ally on the war on terror,” we began to see serious anomalies in the affairs of refugees all over the international community.

The United States government that was quick to resettle the young Ethiopian combat pilots rejected an asylum request of an elderly Ethiopian lady named Negest who has been listed as prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. We also got a new senior protection officer in Uganda around 2009 who kept on discouraging us from considering resettlement as one of the durable solutions by drawing a gloomy picture on the ulterior motive of the first world. Although, what he keeps on harping on regarding the ulterior motives of the first world is true, we nevertheless expected him as a senior protection officer to combat this double standard and ensure the protection of refugees with no discrimination.

Sadly, it didn’t take us much time to realize that this is a subtle mechanism the first world employs to promote discrimination through one of our own via the payment of hefty emolument. What’s more, any resettlement consideration supposedly resolved after a careful deliberation by a panel of protection officers as per the criteria of UNHCR seem to be decided arbitrarily by an individual that dominates the scene.

While one of the criteria to make a refugee eligible for resettlement is security risk, as Mr. Godwin Buwa, a legal adviser at the Refugee Law Project office under the faculty of law of Makerere told us on BBC, UNHCR rejected Charles Ingabire’s resettlement request despite “ample evidence” that proved clear and present danger concerning his safety in Uganda.

Since I am familiar with similar stories of unfair decisions issued by the signature of the one and the same “senior protection officer” from UNHCR, I wasn’t surprised.

After escaping a bogus charge of terrorism, four Ethiopian journalists experienced detention and harassment by the Ugandan police in the wake of the 2010 July bombing. One of them named Mesfin Negash, told us the following on Sampsonia Way, an online magazine that provides global leadership in support of the value of freedom of speech and creative expression as well as a forum for writers in exile:

“The Ugandans had invited the Ethiopian government into the investigations of that attack and Ethiopian security agents were in full force in Uganda. It became very simple for the Ethiopian force to arrest and in some cases torture Ethiopian refugees in Uganda under the guise of ‘investigation’ and combating ‘terrorism.”

Citing the recent agreement between member states of the IGAD on extradition and how the Ethiopian regime hopes to track down exiled journalists and dissidents alike with bogus terrorism charges, Mesfin added that it was very likely that he would be sent back to Ethiopia from Uganda.

Though Mesfin got partially lucky by relocating to Sweden on his own, the rest of the Ethiopian refugees have since been accused of a trumped up charge of terrorism, high treason and espionage. Thus, as they are most “wanted” men in the book of the Ethiopian regime that enjoys cozy relationship with its counterpart in Uganda; they await their possible extradition with trepidation, even - God forbid - assassination! Meanwhile, UNHCR have rejected them as candidates for resettlement.

The story in the Rwandese refugee community is worse than the Ethiopian one.

Prior to obtaining an objective information on Rwanda before invoking the “cessation clause” for the purpose of returning Rwandese refugees, UNHCR collaborated in the forcible repatriation of these refugees with the government of Rwanda and the host country. It has also turned its back on tangible concerns of security issues such as Charles Ingabire’s.

Meanwhile, due to the endemic corruption in Uganda and the total indifference of UNHCR, bogus refugees are able to abuse the system thereby reaping benefits ranging from resettlement to the “greener pasture” to infiltrating the bona fide refugee community as agent provocateurs and security agents.

One of the common methods used by these imposters is fraud on citizenship, i.e while one is Rwandese he claims to be Congolese or while one is Ethiopian he claims to be Eritrean. This writer has never heard of an instance where an Eritrean claimed to be Ethiopian or a Congolese to be Rwandese.

Since DR Congo earned the unflattering name of a perennial conflict zone; and since the Eritrean strongman has fallen from favor in the global scheme of things, every refugee, bona fide or bogus know that the “international community” through its agency is more receptive to these groups of people than the others. In a nutshell, the agency that I have long ago concluded to be an exalted institution of human trafficking have now fatally let down one of its clients through sheer indifference, to say the least.

An Ethiopian human rights defender exiled in Uganda

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Kiflu Hussain is an attorney based in Uganda. He says his passion for writing came from reading, and that it’s inevitable that the more one reads, the more one develops the urge to write. Kiflu has published articles in Ethiopia on the English Reporter, then a weekly newspaper along with a few Amharic articles on the defunct Addis Zena. It was after he and his family found refuge in Uganda, that he began contributing writings to the local papers and various websites such as Daily Monitor, Uganda Record, The New Vision, Ethioquestnews, Garowe Online, WardheerNews etc.

The reason for this is clear. Ethiopia, despite being a seat of the African Union had never produced a regime that allows even the minimum space for dialogue that other people in Africa enjoy so naturally. So Kiflu's ending up as a refugee in Uganda is a blessing in disguise for it accorded him with the opportunity to write. He says at the same time he learned, unfortunately, that his refugee status would be what showed how deep the hypocrisy of the “international community” goes. We at Salem-News.com are honored to carry this gentleman's work and we hope that in the process, western people may come to appreciate the struggle of refugees throughout the world.

You can write to Kiflu at this address: E-mail;kiflukam@yahoo.com