Rwanda News Agency/Agence Rwandaise d'Information (Kigali)
28 August 2007
Kigali — As Tripartite Plus army chiefs map out strategies to do away with Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) guerrillas in D R Congo, political opposition parties in Europe have announced a plan to cooperate with the rebels, RNA reports.
Brussels based Paternariat Intwari of CNA-Ubumwe, FDRL-CMC and PDN of former Rwandan Defense Minister Gen. Ben Habyalimana and journalist Deo Mushayidi say they want to merge with the guerrillas to oust the Kigali government.
"Those people (FDLR) are fighting because they have a reason. So because we all have the same case we want to come together to solve the same cause", Mushayidi said yesterday on a BBC great lakes program.
The FDLR are Rwandans, the RPF are also Rwandans and all the parties you hear about are Rwandans as well - so all we are saying is that we have the right to meet, he said.
Army chiefs from the four-member countries under the tripartite plus commission framework are in Kigali for a two-day meet. The countries are Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and DR Congo.
"More pressure is needed to flush out FRDL and ex-FAR insurgents that are undermining peace and security not only in Rwanda but also the Great Lakes Region," Dr Charles Murigande - Rwandan Foreign Affairs Minister told delegates that included US Defence and Military Attache in Kigali Maj. Ronald Miller.
"Although we have much success to celebrate in the joint effort to end insurgency in the region, ex-FAR/Interahamwe that participated in the 1994 Rwandan genocide in which about a million people were massacred are very active in the DRC."
In attendance are Rwandan army chief Gen. James Kabareebe, DRCs Gen. Deodone Kayembe and the Burundian army boss Godfrey Niyombare and the DRC UN mission - Monuc - Liason Officer in Kigali Mr. Joe Felli.
The Ugandan Chief of Defence Forces Gen. Aronda Nyakairima was represented by the Ambassador to Rwanda Richard Kabonero.
In the previous meeting in April, Rwandan officials managed to get agreement giving Congo two months to crack down on a host of FDLR forces, Uganda militia groups and Burundian Hutu forces roaming free in the dense forests of its mineral-rich east.
In early August, a senior DRC army officer said military operations against FDLR were to be suspended in an effort to avoid further ethnic tension in the lawless Kivu region. Following an outcry from Rwanda, another the DRC army officer said the comments had been misquoted out of context. Instead, DRC says it is only units combining Hutus and Tutsis that will be used to fight the rebels.
Put to Mr. Deo Mushayidi why - he a "Tutsi" was merging with a "Hutu" group, he said: "The problem is not whether a Tutsi is cooperating with a Hutu group - instead the issue is when a Tutsi political group becomes party to the killing of Tutsis".
"Otherwise when the RPF creates the impression that they are the saints by demonizing other will not work".
Return home
The public record of these parties operating outside the country - Alliance for Democracy and the National Reconciliation (ADRN Igihango), Initiative for Dialogue (GID), Union of Rwandese Democratic Forces (UFDR) and the Rwanda Democratic Alliance - RDA Isangano - has been tarnished by the conduct of their leaders, a 2006 Great Lakes Center for Strategic Studies (GLCSS) assessment of the region says.
The UK-based think-tank says most of them worked with the government after the 1994 genocide and were engaged in gross misconduct. Government has also publicly accused some of them of incompetence, corruption and divisionism.
The center says the only viable option for these parties operating outside Rwanda is to return and help in the reconstruction of their nation. However, the groups have vowed to return to a "liberated" Rwanda.
"Their continued rhetoric as a means of gaining sympathy from the international community will only serve to negate positive policies the government of Rwanda is initiating as well as tarnishing its image", the assessment released July 14 2006 notes.
The Executive Secretary, Rwandan Consultative Forum of Political Organization Mr. Anicet Kayigema has accused opposition political parties operating outside the country of basing their political platform on ethnic ties and promoting one group over another.
"Our political organizations are prohibited from basing themselves on race, ethnic group, tribe, clan, region, sex, religion or any other division which may give rise to discrimination," GLCSS quotes him and he recalls that that this was one of the causes of the 1994 genocide.
Fugitive from Justice
According to numerous accounts, some of these individuals have run away from responsibility as well as justice.
As former head of the Rwanda Journalists Association (ARJ), Mr. Deo Mushayidi stands accused to have fled the country in the year 2000 with funds meant for the organisation. The UN agency UNESCO had been funding the organisation along with the Press house in Kigali.
President Paul Kagame told journalists in June last year that opposition parties and individuals operating abroad have not got any potential to jeopardize Rwanda's relations with the donor community.
And indeed, contrary to threats to withdraw aid as is the case when donor countries are unhappy with the course of events in any country, Rwanda is tapping massive monetary support generously with praises of superb performance.
"Let me hope you know all these people who claim to have fled political persecution; don't you know that (Deo) Mushayidi run away with money of his colleagues in the media organizations? And for Rwigema, don't you remember him stealing people's cattle? How about his scandals when he was still the Minister of Education?" he asked, and added: "for Habyarimana I don't really know why he escaped."
Mr. Rwigema Celestin was a former Prime Minister and Gen. Ben Habyarimana acted as Defence Minister before fleeing claiming witch-hunt.
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