Hungry for Truth, Peace and Justice

Rwanda: A Palace Revolution that may be more deadly than what happened after April 6, 1994

The rise to power and the revenge of the French-speaking members of the Tutsi clique in power over their English-speaking congeners from Uganda risks provoking an nth "genocide" that is far more deadly than the previous ones.

By Emmanuel Neretse
Brussels, Belgium
March 25, 2022

 

King Musinga and his Mother Kanjongera

Context

After the military conquest of the country by the Tutsi elements of the Ugandan regular Army in 1994, it was only logical that the new masters of the country were English-speaking Tutsis born and raised in Uganda. This was even more obvious since the new strongman and master of Rwanda was Paul Kagame, who did not know a French word in a French-speaking country that he had just conquered.

Burdened by this complex, he seized the first opportunity to get rid of this damned and difficult French language. This opportunity was offered to him by the French Justice, which was investigating the terrorist attack of April 6, 1994, the trigger of what was called "genocide". A dozen of his relatives were indicted, and international arrest warrants were issued in 2006. Paul Kagame took this opportunity to sever diplomatic relations with France, on the advice of his Anglo-Saxon masters. In the process, the autocrat Paul Kagame banned the French language from education in Rwanda, making thousands of intellectuals and teachers "illiterate" and excluding them from the educational system. To replace them, he hired massively vagabonds from Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe...with no other qualification than to understand English and to speak it approximately.

And to complete his relaxing cure, he requested to join the Commonwealth and was admitted with open arms thanks to the connections of his advisors and masters like Tonny Blair and Co...

New deal

Since the election of Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007 and especially the appointment of Paul Kagame's old friend, Bernard Kouchner as his Minister of Foreign Affairs, things were deemed to change because France was poised to do everything to coax the criminal Kagame without considering the elementary principles of human rights that France preaches. A love affair between Paul Kagame and French political decision-makers will then begin, starting with the first of them, Nicolas Sarkozy, advised by his minister Bernard Kouchner. The latter will do everything to fight the judicial decision aimed at launching arrest warrants against Kagame's relatives for the terrorist attack of April 6, 1994, which triggered what was called « a genocide ». After having schemed to allow those close to Kagame to scrutinize the contents of the judicial files of the Antiterrorist Judge Bruguière, (the Rose Kabuye episode) [1], and especially after the retirement of Judge Bruguière, the Kouchner-Sarkozy tendency will replace him by another more "understanding" judge, Marc Trévidic who will take over the investigation at zero but according to the orientations of Kigali [2]. In 2010, Sarkozy himself, in the perspective of his possible re-election for a new mandate in 2012, will make the trip to Kigali. On the spot, through his voice, France accused itself of all the evils and crimes it committed in Rwanda due to its "blindness" from 1975 to 1993, the date of the beginning of military cooperation with Rwanda and the withdrawal of all its troops in this country following the Arusha Agreements of August 1993.

In the meantime, the famous judge Trévidic had made public his investigation report which, as one might expect, no longer pointed the finger at those close to Paul Kagame as the perpetrators of the attack of April 6, 1994. On the other hand, he insinuated that those responsible for this terrorist attack could be radicals among the Hutus around Habyarimana, either himself or his own biological and political family.

This was mission accomplished for this zealous judge: He was appointed to a higher grade in the Magistracy (Presiding Judge of a High Court) and the case was entrusted to another investigating judge who also had to prove his loyalty.

After François Hollande’s lackluster term in office (2012-2017), to everyone's surprise, a young banking and business executive was elected President of the Republic. His priorities included loyalty to the powerful lobbies that created Paul Kagame and still support him. To do this, he not only had to "go to Canossa", but above all he, had to bury the case relating to the terrorist attack of April 6, 1994.

To begin with and to show his availability and his zeal to woo Kagame, the new President of France, Emmanuel Macron, offered as a wedding gift the International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF) with its headquarters in Paris to the Francophobe Paul Kagame who had just banned the French language in Rwanda. Kagame could appoint to the head of this Organization whoever he wanted among his close friends and Macron to impose them even if it meant dismissing a Canadian woman who was seeking a second term. This was done in Yerevan (Armenia) in 2018 with the appointment of Louise Mushikiwabo as the new Secretary-General of the OIF and a national of a country that has banned French in its education system.

And to give a scientific and rational aspect to his approach of bowing to the Tutsi criminal Kagame, as president of France Emmanuel Macron appointed a Commission of historians to whom he promised to give access to all the Archives of the Republic to determine what was the role and responsibility of France in Rwanda. As “historians”, they were hand-picked personalities with the only criteria being their bias toward the Tutsis in the Rwandan conflict and the recommendation of the powerful pro-Tutsi lobbies in France (FIDH, SOS Racisme, Survie, MRAX, IBUKA France...) and the World. After two years of "work", the Commission submitted its "report" to President Macron in early 2021. As a report, it is a scandalously partial and biased document. Indeed, it is a collection of more than 1200 pages repeating the theses of pro-Tutsi propaganda in general and of the party-state that rules Rwanda since 1994, the RPF. [3]

The other important gesture that Macron had to make was to go and bow down to Kagame through his beloved Gisozi Genocide Memorial, from which he derives his impunity and legitimacy. This was done in May 2021. As for the cumbersome files on the terrorist attack of April 6, 1994, the Prosecutor, who receives the injunctions of the Minister of Justice, the Seals Keeper, proposed dismissal of the case, which was definitively pronounced in February 2022. As for the cumbersome file on the attack of April 06, 1994, the Prosecutor who receives the injunctions of the Minister of Justice, Keeper of the Seals, proposed a dismissal, which was definitively pronounced in February 2022.

In addition to these multiple knee-jerk reactions, Emmanuel Macron has taken on the role of the agent who must sell Kagame's image to dazzle the former (or still !) French colonies of West Africa. It is almost mission accomplished because from Dakar to Libreville through Niamey, Lome, Cotonou, etc. They swear by Kagame. And even the pseudo-intellectuals of these countries have wished to see Kagame come to reign in their country if they did not have a dictator of his caliber among their politicians or soldiers! At the same time, a campaign is led by the French media to promote Kagame as the new "gendarme" of the continent. [4]

Rise of French speakers among Tutsi conquerors

To understand the rise in power of the French-speaking Inkotanyi among the Tutsi clique in power, it is necessary to integrate the current role of the First Lady but above all to examine her childhood. The current First Lady Jeannette Nyiramongi, the wife of Kagame, was born and raised in Burundi, Rwanda's southern neighbor. But since the beginning of the 1980s, she lived between these two countries because she regularly stayed in Rwanda where her father Mulefu ran a bistro called "Eden Garden", which belonged to a senior official of the state and the single party MRND who had hired him after his expulsion from Burundi by the regime of Colonel Bagaza. Even when she went to Nairobi to be married to Paul Kagame in 1988, she left Kigali via Bujumbura and Kampala. As such, she knows all the young Rwandan Tutsis who lived in Burundi and who enlisted in the RPF political-military group that had just invaded the country and whose precursors were part of the Ugandan regular Army.

It was therefore logical that when these Tutsis conquered Rwanda in July 1994, the former soldiers of the Ugandan army and therefore English speakers (approximately) monopolize the essential political, military, and economical power

And certain circumstances will favor the rise of French-speaking Tutsis in the arena of power in Rwanda. First, 28 years of absolute power by a small group of the ruling clique not only generate wear and tear on this power, but also friction between lords. This is natural. Then there is the growing influence of the French-speaking First Lady herself, which allows her to place her pawns meticulously and patiently, namely her French-speaking Tutsi friends from childhood or youth, as we shall see.

-We note the case of Louise Mushikiwabo, a Tutsi who was never a refugee and therefore French-speaking because she was trained at the National University of Rwanda (Faculty of Letters) but became bilingual because she received a government grant in the 1980s to perfect her English in the United States. She is of the generation as Jeannette Nyiramongi, the wife of Kagame, and they knew each other in Kigali. Long time Minister of Foreign Affairs (more than 10 years) she is since 2018 Secretary-General of OIF in Paris with the rank of "head of state".

-There is also the case of Valentine Rugwabiza, a Tutsi who was born, raised, and educated in Zaire (now DRC). After representing Rwanda in Switzerland, she was appointed to the UN in New York. Now she has been appointed "Head of MINUSCA, the UN peacekeeping force in the Central African Republic with more than 15,000 military and police personnel, mostly Rwandans from Kagame's army.

-The current Chief of Staff of Kagame's army, Jean Bosco Kazura, is a childhood friend of Jeannette Nyiramongi, the wife of Kagame, as they grew up together in the outskirts of Bujumbura (Ngagara, Kamenge) in Burundi. He joined the RPF terrorist group in Uganda in 1991, abandoning the studies he had just begun on a UNHCR scholarship at the University of Bujumbura.

-Willy Rwagasana, who currently commands Kagame's formidable Close Guard unit, is also an ex-Burundian who joined the RPF only after its victory.

-The same is true of Vincent Nyakarundi, the current head of Military Intelligence (G2) in Kagame's army. As his name does not indicate, he was born and educated in Bujumbura and only came to Rwanda to help the RPF win!

-The case of Albert Murasira, the current Minister of Defense (in charge!) is of particular interest. This Tutsi Mugogwe, whose parents had fled to the Congo in 1959, thus before he was born, returned to Rwanda in the late 1970s. He had then completed his high school education before obtaining a government scholarship to go to UNR-Butare, Faculty of Sciences, where he graduated in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics. In 1986, when the military needed to have specialized and trained officers, the FAR Command recruited about thirty academics (Doctors, Engineers, Jurists, Economists, Language graduates, Historians, etc.) who, after a short military training of three years, were able to join the FAR) who, after a short military training of 18 months, became officers but had to work in their fields of competence. Albert Murasira had a double advantage: besides being qualified, he was a Tutsi and his recruitment was able to challenge the received idea that Tutsis were not recruited into the FAR. [5]

Unfortunately, in 1994, while working at the Ministry of Defense, Directorate of Supply and Management, at the first opportunity, he joined the RPF with all the documents and computer data he had access to.

This is how the First Lady, Jeannette Nyiramongi, wife of Kagame, has methodically and patiently woven her web, which today covers the entire security and repressive system of the RPF, which was once dominated by English-speaking "Ugandan" Tutsis, and is now in the hands of French-speaking Tutsis, especially from Burundi, like her.

The frustration of English-speaking "Ugandan

As methodically as the rise to power of the French-speaking Tutsis from Burundi was achieved, the fall and frustration of the English-speaking Tutsis from Uganda are also methodical and progressive. The latter could be divided into two categories:

-Those who are sent to the sidelines: in bogus and undefinable functions or in such a way that nobody will neither hear them nor know their situation anymore.

This is the case of General James Kabarebe who was Chief of Staff of the DRC Armed Forces before becoming Chief of Staff of Kagame's Army in Rwanda (RPF). He was then Minister of Defense for more than 10 years. Today, he is called "Advisor to the President on Defense and Security" but it is not known what his duties are or where his offices are located.

Others have simply disappeared from the radar without leaving any trace. This is the case of Generals Charles Kayonga, Karenzi-Karake, Cesar Kayizari, Richard Rutatina, or the illiterate killer Fred Ibingira...

-Then some have fallen out of favor and are either imprisoned or under house arrest and deprived of all freedom or even economically ruined. This is the case of General Patrick Nyamvumba and his younger brothers, also former RPA officials.

Others, such as General Frank Rusagara and Colonel Byabagamba, are serving heavy prison sentences, up to life imprisonment, for trivial reasons such as: not having saluted at the raising of the national colors!

Risk and consequences

To understand the extent of the catastrophe that the country will undergo during the next and very likely Palace Revolution, two parameters must be integrated. First, it must be recognized that the regime in power in Rwanda since 1994 is an implacable military regime, in which all the levers of political, economic, and of course military power are held by army officers, the first of whom is Paul Kagame.

Secondly, the culture of massacres during each palace revolution is inscribed in the genes of the reigning Tutsi caste; without going back to the ante-diluvian era, we can note that since 1886 (Rucunshu), it has been the same pattern until today. [6]

But the next palace revolution in Rwanda is likely to be much more deadly than the previous ones, as the circumstances are far more deadly than those that prevailed in Rucunshu in 1886.

-Aggravating circumstances

 Currently, in Rwanda, firearms (Kalashnikovs, pistols) are scattered all over the hills and villages since every able-bodied Tutsi is a military man or a former RPA Inkotanyi who is authorized to hold a firearm. In addition, the troops of Kagame's army (more than 120,000) are not stationed in camps but live among the population with their weapons and ammunition.

It is obvious that in the event of a palace revolution in Kigali, this dissemination of firearms among the population would not only be unmanageable but also a major factor in determining which of the protagonists would have the upper hand.

Another aggravating circumstance in the event of a predictable and inevitable palace revolution is that the Tutsi ruling families and clans are inextricably intertwined. A Tutsi officer who falls from grace takes with him not only his biological family members but also his business associates and their connections. Thus, when a Tutsi officer of the RPA is assassinated or imprisoned, he falls with at least a dozen other military or civilian personalities of the system. And by a chain reaction, it becomes difficult to assess the number of those affected by the fall of one of their own. 

-Collateral damage: the Hutus

In the event of a confrontation between the Tutsi clans that have been in power since 1994, the damage would be enormous and would exceed that of 1994. Indeed, the FARs, faced with the invasion of Tutsi elements of the Uganda Army, were much weaker in terms of numbers. In addition, in 1994 they had no arms and ammunition to disseminate among the population, while even the military units were in short supply. This is to say that the next palace revolution in Rwanda will have many victims, namely the Hutu population because they will be caught in the crossfire. But they will be presented as "collateral damage" in a war between Tutsis for power that will be more deadly than that of the final assault by the RPF from April to July 1994 to complete its military conquest that had begun in October 1990 for reasons we have mentioned.

Conclusion

The struggle for power in Rwanda is still likely to cause more bloodshed than the palace revolutions the country has seen each time within the ruling Tutsi caste. The only way to avert this misfortune is to tell (or demand) the regime of Paul Kagame to open the political space and allow the population to choose who they prefer between the protagonists Tutsi clans, which are called to rule Rwanda for a long time to come; they have so much accumulated arms and wealth at the expense of the lowly people who are languishing in misery. And those who can demand it are known. The Frenchman Emmanuel Macron should not sell Paul Kagame to his former (and current) colonies of France of the AOF by imitating Bill Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Tony Blair, Linda Chalker, and other Bill Gates... as they have done it for the same Kagame since 1990.  He risks being caught up by history and would be obliged to answer for his compromise with a criminal like Kagame, even after leaving power. He is still too young (44 years old) unlike those he is copying who are out (70-80 years and more).

Notes:

[1] Bernard Kouchner himself admitted that he had advised Kagame to let one of his relatives who had been indicted come to Europe to be arrested. This was to allow Kagame's lawyers, recommended by Kouchner, to have access to the court file to see how to counter-attack. This is how Rose Kabuye came to be arrested in Germany and transferred to France before being released and returning to Rwanda as a "hero".

[2] Judge Trévidic pushed the ridiculousness to the point of asserting that following the "acoustic" experts and his visit to the scene in Rwanda, the missiles that shot down the presidential Falcon 50 were fired from the FAR military camp in Kanombe. What he did not dare to say is that in Kigali he was just a tourist and received from Kagame's services the outline of the report he was to produce. Moreover, by way of acoustic expertise, he was recommended to the British who would come to France to carry out a simulation that would prove "scientifically" that the missiles were fired from Camp Kanombe.

[3] RWANDA - Partial and biased, the Duclert report.

http://www.echosdafrique.com/20210411-rwanda-partiel-et-partial-le-rapport-duclert  

[4] Rwanda, Mozambique's new policeman:

https://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20210711-le-rwanda-nouveau-gendarme-du-mozambique

[5] See the list of the Special Class of the ESM known as "Technicians". Class known as "Technicians" (1989) 1. Murasira Albert 2. Twagiramungu Théophile 3. Hategekimana Gaspard 4. Munyaneza Augustin 5. Katoto Straton 6. Niyotwagira Valens 7. Rusigi Alfred 8. Bwanakweli Isidore 9. Bikweno Celestin 10. Ntibakunze Gaspard 11. Munyaneza Denis 12. Mwumvaneza 13. Nsengiyumva Schadrack 14. Nzabonimpa T 15. Hategekimana 16. Ngororabanga S 17. Nkizamacumu Désiré 18. Sebaganwa Déo 29. Nsabimana Mathias.

[6] Rucunshu: Rucunshu is a locality in the center of the country (Gitarama). It was home to one of the many residences of the royal court. When King Kigeli IV Rwabugili died in 1885, one of his sons, Mibambwe IV Rutalindwa, was enthroned as the new king. But the clan struggle between the Abega and the Abanyiginya (through whom the king chose his wives) led to a bloody palace revolution.  Finally, in 1886, the royal court was attacked. The king and all his descendants perished in the fire. The Abega clan, led by Kabare, exterminated all the Abanyiginya to take away their power forever. The most faithful lieutenants of Rutalindwa were sought out and killed atrociously. All the holders of the esoteric code on Mibambwe's side perished with him in the fire. The survivors were hunted down for several years.

posted by Mamadou Kouyate @ 10:31 PM