Kagame: Ravaging DR Congo?
 |
| Kabila and Kagame: Genuine smiles? Photo courtesy |
It was supposed to be very significant when Kigali politicos were glued behind the head of state as he advanced to lay a wreath on the tomb of the unknown Soldier during Nation Heroes Day Ceremony on February 1, 2012. Instead, Kagame’s footsteps to the tomb of the “the unknown soldier” representing all combatants put out of action during the 1990-1994 RPF war simply left behind footprints of disdain.
Apart from him still being the subject of the shooting of Falcon 50, which was carrying former Rwandan President Juvenile Habyarimana’s plane sparking off the 1994 massacres, his fellow fighters and their families are neither finding a place in today’s Rwanda.
It is critical at this point in time therefore, to take particular interest in Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s critical challenge dealing with the shifting loyalty of the Rwanda Defense Forces.
The RDF mouthpiece took pride in announcing that three of its top generals and a colonel, all of whom led battles in the liberation struggle, were to be confined ahead of hero’s day. All the army could provide, as usual, is the scanty and vague charge of indiscipline slapped against military officers; Lt. Gen. Fred Ibingira, the chief of staff of the Reserve Forces; Brig. Gen. Richard Rutatina, the military intelligence chief; Brig. Gen. Wilson Gumisiriza, commander of the RDF's 3rd Division and Col. Dan Munyuza, head of external Intelligence.
It was supposed to be a normal day for the families, friends and sympathisers of these officers as they attended events marking heroes’ day.
Mr Kagame is charging these commanders with involvement in alleged questionable businesses dealings in the DR Congo. This is not the first time such a vague charge has been placed against senior military officers in Kigali. In 2007 for instance, Generals Frank Rusagara and Sam Kanyemera Kaka were jailed. Both army officers were simply thrown in to jail for allegedly interfering with police officers. In fact, Kaka, retired from the military, was a member of parliament representing RPF but his immunity was improperly lifted.
When asked about their unfair confinement, Kagame did not have any regrets over the action. They were simply acquitted.
Later, the heat was turned against another two of Rwanda's most senior army officials, Lt. Gen. Charles Muhire and Maj. Gen. Emmanuel Karenzi Karake. They were suspended from duty and arrested on Kagame’s orders and fabricated charges of corruption and misuse of office were placed against them. At his own will, Kagame pardoned and re-deployed the two generals as he sanctioned the suspension of Brig Gen. S. Karyango and Lt Col Marc Sebaganji for allegedly unprofessional conduct as they dispensed their services in the trial of Col. Deogene Mudenge in the military court.
It was a politically motivated trial and the officers were struggling to keep in balance their ethical standards in the military court, which angered Kagame. Their fate remains very bleak -and their future and safety uncertain.
Col. Rugigana Ngabo’s case is even more disturbing. Until today, Kagame jailed this officer for just being a brother to exiled former chief of staff, Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa whose popularity amongst both civilians and the army in Rwanda is overwhelming.
Such events are a piece that sheds some light on how Mr Kagame has become an enemy of his own shadow. He is managing the army, which is a critical institution in the country, like a warehouse of toys.
“It is pathetic that Kagame is locking up Generals like someone simply shutting his own windows and doors. The issue is not about their indiscipline and illegal businesses in DR Congo but safeguarding his own interests,” Gen. Nyanwasa said recently.
Well. It is easy for Gen. Nyamwasa’s critics to dismiss his opinion as an unsubstantiated view of an indifferent military general but suspending serving senior military intelligence officers over ‘dubious business deals’ in DR Congo is vague.
It has even exposed the vagueness of the appointing authority, Mr Kagame as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Unfortunately, he can’t go beyond his accountability cliché.
Accountability for what? Kagame himself has been stealing from DR Congo for many years. The United Nations team of experts reports on on DR Congo have implicated him more than once. Actually, the UN’s 2002 report casts light on President Kagame’s hand in the plunder of the vast central African country’s natural resources. It mentions Col. Dan Munyuza as his main conduit. And until recently, he was a free man. Why didn’t he arrest him (Col. Munyuza) in 2002?
These are the same reasons why the case of arrested RDF officers; Lt. Gen. Fred Ibingira, the chief of staff of the Reserve Forces; Brig. Gen. Richard Rutatina, the military intelligence chief; Brig. Gen. Wilson Gumisiriza, commander of the RDF's 3rd Division and Col. Dan Munyuza, head of external Intelligence are beyond illegal businesses in DR Congo because Mr Kagame has no moral confidence to arrest them on this basis.
For many years, he has been very active in DR Congo. The RPF government has been involved in secret efforts to secede Kivu region from Congo. He sent the RDF to train soldiers of renegade Congolese general Laurent Nkunda, the former leader of National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP). Disagreements between Gen. Nkunda and Kagame forced the Rwandan President to arrest him, transferring power of CNDP to fellow general Bosco Ntaganda, former north kivu governor, Eugene Serufuli and Nvunabandi who are part of Kagame’s grand plan to secede Kivu from DRCongo.
Until today, RDF has a brigade of troops training Gen. Ntaganda’s rebels in military bases of Masisi, Kichanga, Ntumbi, Gatoyi, Bukavu and Walungu. These soldiers are often deployed on rotational basis.
As a commander-in-chief of the armed forces of DR Congo, Mr Joseph Kabila can’t transfer any soldier in the Kivu region. He is not in control of the army in this region. And when he recently learnt of the conspiracy to secede Kivu from DR Congo hatched by Kagame himself, the latter moved fast to lock up his senior officers on the basis that they were operating military campaigns in DR Congo illegally.
Apart from looting DR Congo of her mineral resources for over a decade and conspiring to slice the country into two, Kagame’s own private home was built with government construction material, turned government investments into a family business-the infamous tri-star-and illegally owns the country’s embassy premises in the United Kingdom among other illegal deals.
It is evident that he only wants to stamp his authority in the face of the army. Mr. Kagame can now thrive on intimidation. And because he is the only one that knows the cases of the recently arrested generals, he will have no option but to caution and release them unconditionally. Like the biblical prodigal son, they will be expected to assure him of their loyalty and he will decide whether or not they need a lease of freedom, their ranks-and of course their jobs.
It’s not a matter of having clean integrity credentials in Kagame’s government. Rather, it is the willingness to worship him and maintain ultimate loyalty especially at this time when his regime has become extremely fragile. As his leadership becomes rapidly unpopular and his legacy left in tatters, he is trying to find solace in Canada’s deportation of Leon Mugesera, ICTR’s hand over of one case and the infamous Trévidic Report.
These have created false hopes for him and his establishment as he tries to forget the Spanish and French indictments, ICC exoneration of FDLR leadership, ICTR silence on more case transfers and Europe and U.S scepticism against performance of institutions in Rwanda. Sadly, Mr Kagame is convinced that the international community is finally buying into his propaganda.
This “visionary leader” of Africa considers those developments from Canada, ICTR and France as a yardstick of the west’s increasing willingness to collaborate with Rwanda in her pursuit for justice and addressing the problem posed by the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) militia. Such are vivid signs of a government especially whose leader has lost hope in realities and therefore foresees no prospects in their future other than living on false hope.
By Robert Mukombozi
The author is an Australian based Journalist. He is a holder of a Masters in Journalism and Mass Communication.