The Observer - 16 February 2014 - 7
Column
Rwandan hit-men foray into Zimbabwe
Former Rwandan spy chief Patrick Karegeya was murdered in Johannesburg
Special
correspondents
in
Johannesburg, Nairobi
he Rwandan security
agents, who have been
fingered in the murder
of former Rwandan
intelligence chief, Patrick Karegeya,
are part of group that sneaked into
Zimbabwe hunting for a Rwandan
genocide fugitive believed to be
holed up in the country.
Three of the men have
been reportedly arrested in the
Mozambican
capital
Maputo
and are in custody. Three more
Rwandan suspects are on the run.
Information suggests that Karegeya
was murdered by men who hold
high positions in Rwanda’s military
and intelligence units.
Details of the intricate operation
that led to the murder of one of
Kigali’s most wanted men in a plush
hotel in Sandton have been given
to this newspaper. Of interest,
however, is that the Rwandan
“hitmen” appear to be the same
T
team that reportedly sneaked into
Zimbabwe two years ago trekking
Potrias Mprianya, a fugitive of the
1994 Rwandan genocide.
Mpiranya, a former commander
of the Presidential Guard during the
Hutu led regime, which is accused
of executing the genocide, is
believed to be staying in Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwe government
says Mpiranya is not in the country
although the Zimbabwe Republic
Police has put public notices urging
the public to help in apprehending
Mpiranya. Reports that emanated
from Rwanda in 2012 suggested
that the country’s agents spent two
weeks in Zimbabwe on the mission
to find Mpiranya, but the team
returned empty handed.
It emerged that time that the
Zimbabwean government was not
aware that agents from Rwanda had
sneaked in and out of the country.
Mpiranya, a Hutu, appears on the
list of most-wanted persons for
genocide and war crimes, under the
United States Rewards for Justice
Programme, with a $5m bounty.
Information of Mpiranya’s presence
on Zimbabwean soil was passed on
to the Tutsi-led regime in Rwanda
by the Belgian government.
The Observer has been told
that some of the “hitmen” who
tracked down and murdered the
exiled Rwandan former top spy in
Sandton, are now believed to be
the same men that made forays into
Zimbabwe in 2012.
They have been identified as
Brigadier General Faustin Kalisa,
from the external intelligence
under President Paul Kagame’s
office, Colonel Francis Mutiganda,
the head of Rwanda’s external
intelligence, a Major Matungo, from
the presidential guard, Captain
Tuyisenge, from the presidential
guard and Lieutenant Colonel
Charles Shema from the external
intelligence.
Another top soldier is Lieutenant
Colonel Francis Gakwerere, again
an external intelligence operative.
Lt Col Gakwerere was reportedly
arrested together with other two
Rwandan men in Maputo.
The South African Hawks and
the Mozambicans have denied
reports of the arrests saying the
case was at a ‘sensitive stage’
Lt Col Gakwerere is also being
reported to be the person who led
the attempted assassination of an
exiled Rwandan senior army officer,
General Kayumba Nyamwasa in
South Africa in 2010. The same
man has been fingered as being the
brains behind the assassination of
DRC president, Laurent Kabila.
Lt Col Gakwerere worked as
a security aide for the late Kabila
before Rwandans were kicked out
of Kinshasa in 1997 when they
revolted against the DRC leader.
Details given to this newspaper
are suggesting that the first group
of the hit squad that allegedly
murdered the Rwandan former spy
chief, Karegeya in South Africa left
Rwanda a board Kenya Airways to
Lilongwe and then to Mozambique.
The second group left Rwanda on
the 26th December 2013 aboard
Ethiopian Airways to Lusaka,
Zambia.
The information reaching The
Observer says these men have
carried out similar missions in
Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique,
Zimbabwe and South Africa itself.
They are alleged to be also behind
the murder of another prominent
Rwandan
dissident
Theogene
Turatsinze, the former Director of
Rwanda Development Bank (BRD),
who was found dead in a Maputo
hotel .
His murder came as the bank
shareholders were conducting
an independent investigation to
establish the creditors of the Bank.
Top officials in Kagame’s Rwandan
Patriotic Front government had
secured huge loans from the bank
under
unclear
circumstances.
Information is also suggesting the
hit squad travel using Ugandan
passports and has now started using
those from Congo Brazzaville and
Nigeria.
The Rwandan government has
increasingly come under criticism
for tracking down dissidents on
foreign soil. There are an estimated
4,000 Rwandan refugees living in
Zimbabwe, most of them suspected
of taking part in the 1994 genocide.
The refugees are refusing to go back
to Rwanda under the Cessation
Clause which came into effect in
June last year. Under the Clause,
Rwandans who fled their country
between 1959 and 1998 have lost
their refugee status across the world.
But those staying in Zimbabwe
and many countries are refusing
to go back. Rwandans opposed to
Kagame in the United States, the
United Kingdom and Sweden have
complained to the hosting countries
that they are not safe even in these
far-flung countries.
In 2011 the UK government
warned the then Rwandan High
Commissioner Erenest Rwamucyo
that the Foreign Office was aware
of reports of harassment of the
Rwandan Diaspora. A spokesperson
of the Foreign Office in London,
said: “We take all such credible
reports seriously.”
The UK threatened to withdraw
its 83 million pound aid to Rwanda
unless the secret activities against
members of the Rwandan Diaspora
were stopped. Last year there were
reports that Sweden ha