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Thursday, 31 October 2013

RWANDA: VERDICT IN VICTOIRE INGABIRE'S APPEAL POSTPONED AGAI


VERDICT IN VICTOIRE INGABIRE'S APPEAL POSTPONED AGAIN

ANN GARRISONOCTOBER 31,2013
Rwandan political prisoner Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza
The Rwandan Supreme Court's ruling on the appeal of imprisoned opposition leader Madame Victoire Ingabire has been postponed again, from November 1st to December 13th. Ingabire, leader of Rwanda's FDU-Inkingi Party, was arrested three years ago, in October 2010, after attempting to run for president against sitting President Paul Kagame. Bernard Ntaganda, leader of Rwanda's P.S.-Imberakuri Party has also been imprisoned since attempting to run against Kagame that year. 
 
Ingabire was charged with treason and genocide ideology, which means disagreeing with the official, Constitutionally codified history of the Rwandan Genocide, or, more broadly, disagreeing with the government, or making reference to ethnicity.
 
Another key leader of the FDU-Inkingi, Sylvain Sibomana, the party's Interim Secretary General, has been in prison since his arrest within the premises of the Supreme Court, where he had gone to observe Ingabire's trial, on the 25th of March 2013. The party reports that he has been tortured, and has lost at least one tooth, which was shattered and splintered into his jaw.
 
The FDU-Inking has called upon Rwanda's key partners, China, US, EU, UK, Germany and the Netherlands, to urge President Paul Kagame to immediately release these and other political prisoners, including journalist Deogratias Mushayidi, co-author of Les Secrètes du Genocide Rwandaise, and Dr. Theoneste Niyitegeka, a 2003 presidential candidate in 2003) and restore basic human rights in Rwanda. All day sit-ins outside the Rwandan Embassy in Brussels, and outside the Dutch Parliament in The Hague, will take place on November 1st, the date the verdict had been scheduled, despite the postponement.
- See more at: http://www.blackstarnews.com/global-politics/africa/verdict-in-victoire-ingabires-appeal-postponed-again.html#sthash.zF6c4kvT.dpuf

RWANDA: VERDICT IN VICTOIRE INGABIRE'S APPEAL POSTPONED AGAI


VERDICT IN VICTOIRE INGABIRE'S APPEAL POSTPONED AGAIN

ANN GARRISONOCTOBER 31,2013
Rwandan political prisoner Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza
The Rwandan Supreme Court's ruling on the appeal of imprisoned opposition leader Madame Victoire Ingabire has been postponed again, from November 1st to December 13th. Ingabire, leader of Rwanda's FDU-Inkingi Party, was arrested three years ago, in October 2010, after attempting to run for president against sitting President Paul Kagame. Bernard Ntaganda, leader of Rwanda's P.S.-Imberakuri Party has also been imprisoned since attempting to run against Kagame that year. 
 
Ingabire was charged with treason and genocide ideology, which means disagreeing with the official, Constitutionally codified history of the Rwandan Genocide, or, more broadly, disagreeing with the government, or making reference to ethnicity.
 
Another key leader of the FDU-Inkingi, Sylvain Sibomana, the party's Interim Secretary General, has been in prison since his arrest within the premises of the Supreme Court, where he had gone to observe Ingabire's trial, on the 25th of March 2013. The party reports that he has been tortured, and has lost at least one tooth, which was shattered and splintered into his jaw.
 
The FDU-Inking has called upon Rwanda's key partners, China, US, EU, UK, Germany and the Netherlands, to urge President Paul Kagame to immediately release these and other political prisoners, including journalist Deogratias Mushayidi, co-author of Les Secrètes du Genocide Rwandaise, and Dr. Theoneste Niyitegeka, a 2003 presidential candidate in 2003) and restore basic human rights in Rwanda. All day sit-ins outside the Rwandan Embassy in Brussels, and outside the Dutch Parliament in The Hague, will take place on November 1st, the date the verdict had been scheduled, despite the postponement.
- See more at: http://www.blackstarnews.com/global-politics/africa/verdict-in-victoire-ingabires-appeal-postponed-again.html#sthash.zF6c4kvT.dpuf

Rwanda: The postponement of the verdict in the trial of Victoire Ingabire amounts to a diversionary tactic


Rwanda: The postponement of the verdict in the trial of Victoire Ingabire amounts to a diversionary tactic

OCTOBER 29, 2013  
We learned without a big surprise that the Rwandan judicial authorities have decided not to announce the long-awaited verdict in the trial of FDU-Inkingi's Chair, Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, and her four co-defendants.
This maneuver which aims to maintain an innocent person in prison is unacceptable. Indeed, Ms. Victoire Ingabire has just spent three years and two weeks in the Kigali maximum security prison solely because she dared to demand the opening of political space until now padlocked by the RPF regime which does not allow any political party that is not beholden to the RPF to operate freely. Only organizations that have pledged allegiance to the RPF can aspire to the status of political party in Rwanda; all others are either prohibited or persecuted or subjected to internal divisions orchestrated by the regime.
Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza returned from an over 16-year exile in the Netherlands to register her political party, FDU- Inkingi, in Rwanda and participate in the presidential election of August 2010. Upon her arrival she was treated as an "enemy" of the country; she was persecuted by both authorities and the media close to the regime, before security services, the police and the courts got involved to fabricate trumped-up charges against her, which, as the trial has revealed, turned out to be politically motivated.
At the end of the trial before the High Court of Kigali, in which the rights of the accused and her defense counsel were violated in broad daylight, Ms. Victoire Ingabire was sentenced to eight years in prison, the sentence against which she appealed to the Supreme Court. The prosecution also appealed that court's decision along with the other one relating to the four co-accused of Victoire Ingabire.
The Supreme Court told Ms. Ingabire's lawyers that should the verdict have to be postponed for one reason or another, all of the parties would be notified at least one week before the scheduled date for the verdict. We now note that the postponement of this verdict comes just three days before the previously announced date.
FDU-Inkingi condemns this procrastination of the verdict by the Rwandan regime and deplores the court's contempt against the imprisoned person and her defense counsel that has to pull together before it can attend the verdict.
FDU-Inkingi notes with regret that the Rwandan regime is trying to buy time when all the people and non-governmental organizations that followed the trial closely attest that the charges preferred against Ms. Ingabire are unfounded. Most of the prosecution's witnesses have recanted or retracted. In a normal judicial system, such a fact would have led to the dismissal of all the charges and to the immediate release of the accused.
FDU-Inkingi is dismayed by reports that the co-accused of Ms. Ingabire may have been released on the sly before knowing the verdict on the main accused, against whom these co-defendants have testified before retracting for most of them.
It is time to render justice to the FDU-Inkingi's Chair. It is in the Rwandan regime's interest to release an innocent person and accept the opening of political space, the only way conducive to sustainable development and progress much needed for our people.
FDU- Inkingi demands the immediate release of its Chair, Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, its Secretary General, Sylvain Sibomana, all of its other members, as well as all political opponents who are languishing in prison without having committed any crime.
Done in Paris, on October 29, 2013
Dr. Emmanuel Mwiseneza
Commissioner in Charge of Information and Communication

Rwanda: The postponement of the verdict in the trial of Victoire Ingabire amounts to a diversionary tactic


Rwanda: The postponement of the verdict in the trial of Victoire Ingabire amounts to a diversionary tactic

OCTOBER 29, 2013  
We learned without a big surprise that the Rwandan judicial authorities have decided not to announce the long-awaited verdict in the trial of FDU-Inkingi's Chair, Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, and her four co-defendants.
This maneuver which aims to maintain an innocent person in prison is unacceptable. Indeed, Ms. Victoire Ingabire has just spent three years and two weeks in the Kigali maximum security prison solely because she dared to demand the opening of political space until now padlocked by the RPF regime which does not allow any political party that is not beholden to the RPF to operate freely. Only organizations that have pledged allegiance to the RPF can aspire to the status of political party in Rwanda; all others are either prohibited or persecuted or subjected to internal divisions orchestrated by the regime.
Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza returned from an over 16-year exile in the Netherlands to register her political party, FDU- Inkingi, in Rwanda and participate in the presidential election of August 2010. Upon her arrival she was treated as an "enemy" of the country; she was persecuted by both authorities and the media close to the regime, before security services, the police and the courts got involved to fabricate trumped-up charges against her, which, as the trial has revealed, turned out to be politically motivated.
At the end of the trial before the High Court of Kigali, in which the rights of the accused and her defense counsel were violated in broad daylight, Ms. Victoire Ingabire was sentenced to eight years in prison, the sentence against which she appealed to the Supreme Court. The prosecution also appealed that court's decision along with the other one relating to the four co-accused of Victoire Ingabire.
The Supreme Court told Ms. Ingabire's lawyers that should the verdict have to be postponed for one reason or another, all of the parties would be notified at least one week before the scheduled date for the verdict. We now note that the postponement of this verdict comes just three days before the previously announced date.
FDU-Inkingi condemns this procrastination of the verdict by the Rwandan regime and deplores the court's contempt against the imprisoned person and her defense counsel that has to pull together before it can attend the verdict.
FDU-Inkingi notes with regret that the Rwandan regime is trying to buy time when all the people and non-governmental organizations that followed the trial closely attest that the charges preferred against Ms. Ingabire are unfounded. Most of the prosecution's witnesses have recanted or retracted. In a normal judicial system, such a fact would have led to the dismissal of all the charges and to the immediate release of the accused.
FDU-Inkingi is dismayed by reports that the co-accused of Ms. Ingabire may have been released on the sly before knowing the verdict on the main accused, against whom these co-defendants have testified before retracting for most of them.
It is time to render justice to the FDU-Inkingi's Chair. It is in the Rwandan regime's interest to release an innocent person and accept the opening of political space, the only way conducive to sustainable development and progress much needed for our people.
FDU- Inkingi demands the immediate release of its Chair, Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, its Secretary General, Sylvain Sibomana, all of its other members, as well as all political opponents who are languishing in prison without having committed any crime.
Done in Paris, on October 29, 2013
Dr. Emmanuel Mwiseneza
Commissioner in Charge of Information and Communication

DR Congo: M23 rebels close to defeat after US and Britain urge Rwanda to stay out


DR Congo: M23 rebels close to defeat after US and Britain urge Rwanda to stay out

Congolese soldiers and rebel forces suffered heavy casualties as they fought for a fifth day near the city of Goma in the country's volatile east, a doctor near the front line said.
The M23 rebel group is made up of hundreds of Congolese soldiers mostly from the Tutsi ethnic group who deserted the national army last year
Picture: Reuters
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Foreign ministers of America and Britain called president of neighbouring Rwanda to ask him to cut ties with rebels

Rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo are close to defeat after the foreign ministers of both America and Britain called the president of neighbouring Rwanda and urged him not to intervene to support them, The Daily Telegraph has learned.

John Kerry, the US secretary of state, and William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, telephoned Paul Kagame separately last Friday and told him to stay out of the conflict.

Congo's M23 guerrillas were powerful enough just a year ago to capture Goma, the largest city in the east. But they are now facing military collapse after a week of fighting.

The United Nations has accused Rwanda of supplying the rebels with weapons and ammunition - and even deploying combat troops in their support.

This helped them to seize Goma, a city of almost one million people, and hold it for several weeks in 2012.

A lack of Rwandan back-up to previously allied rebels allows Congo's army and United Nations troops to force a previously powerful militia from its strongholds. Congolese soldiers rearm as they arrive in Bunagana, north of Goma (REUTERS)

But Mr Kagame, a close ally of America and Britain, has come under intense pressure to cut his links with M23. This appears to have had an effect: Rwanda seems to have stayed out of the recent fighting, helping to explain why M23 has suffered a series of defeats, losing a string of towns to Congo's national army.

Jason Stearns, an expert on Central Africa, said that Mr Kerry rang President Kagame to "impress how important it was for Rwanda to sit this out". He added: "While similar pressure has been applied before — President Obama called his Rwandan counterpart with a similar message last December — this time it may have just been the final straw for the Rwandan leaders."

A Foreign Office spokesman confirmed that Mr Hague also spoke to Mr Kagame on the same day to urge "restraint in relation to the renewed fighting" in Congo.

Last month, the US cancelled some new military aid for Rwanda because of its alliance with M23, which is accused of recruiting child soldiers. Britain and other Western donors stopped bilateral aid for Rwanda's government for the same reason last year.

The most recent offensive began last Friday when Congolese army units, aided by UN peacekeeping troops, advanced into territory north of Goma held by M23. Beyond the lack of Rwandan interference, an overhaul of Congo's notoriously ill-disciplined army was a key explanation for the mission's success, added Mr Stearns.

A new regional commander, Major-General Bahuma Ambamba, has boosted morale by improving training and paying soldiers' salaries on time.

The UN also has a new Force Intervention Brigade with a robust mandate allowing them to take the offensive. This supported the Congolese troops with helicopters and infantry units.

The offensive began with the explusion of the rebels from the towns of Kibumba, Rutshuru, Kiwanja and Rumungabo, all situated on a 60-mile stretch of highway heading north from Goma.

By Wednesday, the M23 had been forced out of Bunagana, their operational headquarters near the border with Uganda.

The rump of the rebel force is now thought to be contained in a small area of rainforest where Congo, Rwanda and Uganda meet. Gerard Araud, the French Ambassador to the UN, said the Security Council had been briefed that "we are witnessing the military end of the M23".

The complete destruction of the rebels remains unlikely, however. "Politically, it will be important to bring what's left of the M23 back to peace talks so that a final negotiated treaty can be hammered out to try to lock them into a permanent ceasefire," said one Western diplomat in Rwanda's capital, Kigali.

The guerrilla movement - named after the failure of a previous peace agreement signed on March 23 2009 - was formed when soldiers mutinied in April 2012. They were largely drawn from the same Tutsi tribe as Rwanda's president and leadership. M23's military aim appeared to be to control territory previously held by a rival rebel group, the FDLR, originally led by Rwandan Hutus who carried out the genocide in their homeland in 1994. The rebellion soon became an effort loot the mineral riches of eastern Congo.

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-“The root cause of the Rwandan tragedy of 1994 is the long and past historical ethnic dominance of one minority ethnic group to the other majority ethnic group. Ignoring this reality is giving a black cheque for the Rwandan people’s future and deepening resentment, hostility and hatred between the two groups.”

-« Ce dont j’ai le plus peur, c’est des gens qui croient que, du jour au lendemain, on peut prendre une société, lui tordre le cou et en faire une autre ».

-“The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.”

-“I have loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore I die in exile.

-“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”

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