Rwandan students seek asylum in Uganda over insecurity claims

http://www.africareview.com/News/Rwandan-students-seek-asylum-in-Uganda/-/979180/1877832/-/t49pi0z/-/index.html

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Rwandan students seek asylum in Uganda over insecurity claimsBy ERIASA MUKIIBI SSERUNJOGI | Monday, June 10   

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An empty classroom. Rwandan students who entered Uganda citing security threats back home say they are also being harassed by officials from the High Commission in Uganda at their camp at Old Kampala Police Station. FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

Rwandan students who entered Uganda citing security threats back home say they are also being intimidated by officials from the High Commission in Uganda at their camp at Old Kampala Police Station.

Speaking to the Daily Monitor at Old Kampala yesterday, the 16, (14 boys and two girls) said the process of applying for refugee status in Uganda had been going on smoothly until a "top" official from the Rwandan High Commission intervened.

The spokesperson of the group who asked not to be named citing security reasons, said on arrival in Kampala on Monday evening and reporting at the offices of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Kololo, they were advised to go to Old Kampala Police Station to start processing their asylum papers.

An official at UNHR said he is aware of the group's case, but said the issue is still within the hands of the government of Uganda.

At Old Kampala, the group's spokesperson says, they filled asylum registration cards but Rwanda High Commission officials intervened. "A man who identified himself as Ngarambe from the Rwanda High Commission asked to go with two of us to the Rwanda High Commission but we refused," he said.

The Rwandan High Commissioner to Uganda, Maj Gen Frank Mugambagye, who we first contacted for a comment on Saturday, told us last evening that he needed more time to find out about the case. Mr Ibin Ssenkumbi, the police spokesperson for Kampala Metropolitan area, said he was not aware of the case.

The students' leader said the police officer at the refugee desk then changed his mind and told the group that there was no use continuing with the process because they were going to be returned to their country anyway. The group also say they encountered hostile reception by some officials at the Office of the Prime Minister in-charge of refugees.

The group says the officer from the Rwandan High Commission threatened to pick them up from Nakivale Refugee Camp in Mbarara, if they are ever taken there, and return them to Rwanda.

Earlier threats

It is such threats which the 16 say forced them out of Rwanda. They say the problem started when results for a total of 574 students who sat for the National Examinations 2012 were withheld by the Rwanda Examinations Board (REB).

Some of the affected students took up the matter with REB, to the Ministry of Education in Rwanda, Transparency Rwanda, the Prime Minister's Office and finally the President's office, all in vain.

At the President's Office, they say, they were promised feedback in three or four days of filing their complaint. When they went back on April 18, they say 48 of them were arrested and detained by the police for "illegal gathering." The next morning, they picked 20 of them to take up the matter with the Ombudsman, who promised to resolve the matter.

On Saturday June 1, the spokesperson said, one of the girls told the group that she had decided to run away due to the threats. "It was then that all of us discovered that we had all been threatened individually," the spokesperson said.

By that time, they say, four of the 20 members were "no longer seen" and when they called one of them, the group spokesperson says he said, "You should leave those things." They suspect they had given in due to threats.

emukiibi@ug.nationmedia.com

Rwandan students seek asylum in Uganda over insecurity claims

http://www.africareview.com/News/Rwandan-students-seek-asylum-in-Uganda/-/979180/1877832/-/t49pi0z/-/index.html

-- 

Rwandan students seek asylum in Uganda over insecurity claimsBy ERIASA MUKIIBI SSERUNJOGI | Monday, June 10   

• Font size:   A+ | Reset | A-

An empty classroom. Rwandan students who entered Uganda citing security threats back home say they are also being harassed by officials from the High Commission in Uganda at their camp at Old Kampala Police Station. FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

Rwandan students who entered Uganda citing security threats back home say they are also being intimidated by officials from the High Commission in Uganda at their camp at Old Kampala Police Station.

Speaking to the Daily Monitor at Old Kampala yesterday, the 16, (14 boys and two girls) said the process of applying for refugee status in Uganda had been going on smoothly until a "top" official from the Rwandan High Commission intervened.

The spokesperson of the group who asked not to be named citing security reasons, said on arrival in Kampala on Monday evening and reporting at the offices of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Kololo, they were advised to go to Old Kampala Police Station to start processing their asylum papers.

An official at UNHR said he is aware of the group's case, but said the issue is still within the hands of the government of Uganda.

At Old Kampala, the group's spokesperson says, they filled asylum registration cards but Rwanda High Commission officials intervened. "A man who identified himself as Ngarambe from the Rwanda High Commission asked to go with two of us to the Rwanda High Commission but we refused," he said.

The Rwandan High Commissioner to Uganda, Maj Gen Frank Mugambagye, who we first contacted for a comment on Saturday, told us last evening that he needed more time to find out about the case. Mr Ibin Ssenkumbi, the police spokesperson for Kampala Metropolitan area, said he was not aware of the case.

The students' leader said the police officer at the refugee desk then changed his mind and told the group that there was no use continuing with the process because they were going to be returned to their country anyway. The group also say they encountered hostile reception by some officials at the Office of the Prime Minister in-charge of refugees.

The group says the officer from the Rwandan High Commission threatened to pick them up from Nakivale Refugee Camp in Mbarara, if they are ever taken there, and return them to Rwanda.

Earlier threats

It is such threats which the 16 say forced them out of Rwanda. They say the problem started when results for a total of 574 students who sat for the National Examinations 2012 were withheld by the Rwanda Examinations Board (REB).

Some of the affected students took up the matter with REB, to the Ministry of Education in Rwanda, Transparency Rwanda, the Prime Minister's Office and finally the President's office, all in vain.

At the President's Office, they say, they were promised feedback in three or four days of filing their complaint. When they went back on April 18, they say 48 of them were arrested and detained by the police for "illegal gathering." The next morning, they picked 20 of them to take up the matter with the Ombudsman, who promised to resolve the matter.

On Saturday June 1, the spokesperson said, one of the girls told the group that she had decided to run away due to the threats. "It was then that all of us discovered that we had all been threatened individually," the spokesperson said.

By that time, they say, four of the 20 members were "no longer seen" and when they called one of them, the group spokesperson says he said, "You should leave those things." They suspect they had given in due to threats.

emukiibi@ug.nationmedia.com

video: "Le régime rwandais pousse aux faux témoignages"

http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.francais/videotheque/fra_130406_faux_temoignages_rwanda

Le régime rwandais pousse aux faux témoignages

Le génocide du Rwanda a été perpétré il y a 19 ans, causant la mort de plus d'un million de personnes. Depuis, plusieurs procès se sont tenus en Belgique. Lors de l'émission Terzake (VRT) d'hier soir, l'un des témoins entendus a admis avoir livré de faux témoignages, sous la pression du régime rwandais. L'homme tient à garder l'anonymat, par peur de représailles envers sa famille restée au Rwanda

Kagame's response to Kikwete on FDLR

http://chimpreports.com/index.php/regional-news/rwanda/10636-kagame-blasts-kikwete-on-fdlr.html

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Kagame Blasts Kikwete On FDLR

President Paul Kagame has blasted his Tanzanian counterpart Jakaya Kikwete's views that Rwanda should hold talks with FDLR, a DRC-based militia responsible for the 1994 genocide, Chimp Corps report.

By Giles Muhame 53 minutes ago

Kagame (C) and senior army officials at a recent ceremony in Rwanda

Kagame said "speaking casually and calling on us to negotiate with the killers of our people is utter nonsense."

Speaking at the graduation ceremony of 45 army officers at the Rwanda Defence Forces Staff and Command College on Monday, the President described Kikwete's idea as dancing on the "mass graves of our people."

Kikwete's eyebrow-raising comments about Rwanda holding talks with FDLR during the recently-concluded African union Summit in Ethiopia not only ruffled feathers in Kigali but also triggered a wave of anger across Rwanda.

According to a press statement from Tanzania President's office, Kikwete said, "ADF is attacking Uganda and FDRL is doing the same to Rwanda so efforts should be made to end such attacks."

"Talks should be held between governments and rebels hiding in the DRC where they launch attacks against their countries of origin. Military operations against the rebels will not yield fruit," added Kikwete.

Rwanda's Foreign Affairs Minister swiftly made a counterattack, describing Kikwete's statements as "aberrant" and "shocking."

"Those who think that Rwanda today should sit down at the negotiating table with FDLR simply don't know what they are talking about," charged Mushikiwabo in an interview with Radio France Internationale (RFI) last week.

Genocide survivors, whose parents and relatives were slaughtered by the Hutu militia group in the 1994 genocide, accused Kikwete of being revisionist and a supporter of "a wider plan to exterminate us once and for all."

"In making his negationist statement, President Kikwete has not only dishonored Nyerere's Vision but also dehumanized the Tanzanian peoples as unconditional accomplices to his genocide denial and revisionist comments," the survivors said in a joint petition to United Nations, US and several international bodies.

KAGAME SPITS FIRE

This is the first time Kagame is pouring out his heart on Kikwete's suggestions.

Though he did not mention Kikwete, Kagame maintained proposals that Rwanda should hold talks with FDLR are premised on "ignorance" and "ideological problems."

"I kept quiet for the contempt I have for it (FDLR talks) because I thought it was utter nonsense spoken out of ignorance. We must be left to live our lives the way Rwandans want to live them," charged Kagame.

He further said "RPF did not seek revenge when it had every reason to be tempted...I don't think anybody should be having issues with us." Kagame was referring to the post-genocide era after RPF had defeated and overthrown the regime of Juvenal Habyarimana.

The President's statement marks a further deterioration of relations between the two countries as fears hit boiling levels that Tanzania government officials have been in talks with FDLR militants.

Meanwhile, Kagame urged the graduands to "operate with the spirit of defiance," insisting "we have the strength that speaks on the will of our people."

"Those who tamper with us should be made to understand that who we are and what we stand for is real Rwanda…we are too subservient, as if we also believe we are second rate human beings that must be driven by others," he added.

Kagame did not spare the United Nations, accusing the Group of Experts that compiles regular reports on regional conflicts, particularly DRC. The UN investigators in 2012 accused Rwanda of backing the M23 rebellion, a charge Kigali vehemently denies. 

Kagame said, UN investigators "are called UN Group of experts because they come from our colonial masters," adding, "The same people who wrote Rwanda's story in 2012 are the same people waiting to do the same this year."

"We can't have people running around saying all sorts of things… some still believe we must be held on a leash by colonial masters," he added.

The President told graduands that "this course and you who attended it should help this nation to continue on the journey of defining itself," adding, "you now have the leadership credentials to understand this nation's larger vision of transforming our people."

He said home-grown solutions are not only efficient, but also more operational and sustainable.

Kagame emphasized RDF is "not a myth...it's real and does not depend on sweeteners."

 

He observed that Rwanda's constitution is the ultimate law of the land: "The will of our people is the will of our people and cannot be dictated."

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Kagame's response to Kikwete on FDLR

http://chimpreports.com/index.php/regional-news/rwanda/10636-kagame-blasts-kikwete-on-fdlr.html

•  Print version
•  Plain text

Kagame Blasts Kikwete On FDLR

President Paul Kagame has blasted his Tanzanian counterpart Jakaya Kikwete's views that Rwanda should hold talks with FDLR, a DRC-based militia responsible for the 1994 genocide, Chimp Corps report.

By Giles Muhame 53 minutes ago

Kagame (C) and senior army officials at a recent ceremony in Rwanda

Kagame said "speaking casually and calling on us to negotiate with the killers of our people is utter nonsense."

Speaking at the graduation ceremony of 45 army officers at the Rwanda Defence Forces Staff and Command College on Monday, the President described Kikwete's idea as dancing on the "mass graves of our people."

Kikwete's eyebrow-raising comments about Rwanda holding talks with FDLR during the recently-concluded African union Summit in Ethiopia not only ruffled feathers in Kigali but also triggered a wave of anger across Rwanda.

According to a press statement from Tanzania President's office, Kikwete said, "ADF is attacking Uganda and FDRL is doing the same to Rwanda so efforts should be made to end such attacks."

"Talks should be held between governments and rebels hiding in the DRC where they launch attacks against their countries of origin. Military operations against the rebels will not yield fruit," added Kikwete.

Rwanda's Foreign Affairs Minister swiftly made a counterattack, describing Kikwete's statements as "aberrant" and "shocking."

"Those who think that Rwanda today should sit down at the negotiating table with FDLR simply don't know what they are talking about," charged Mushikiwabo in an interview with Radio France Internationale (RFI) last week.

Genocide survivors, whose parents and relatives were slaughtered by the Hutu militia group in the 1994 genocide, accused Kikwete of being revisionist and a supporter of "a wider plan to exterminate us once and for all."

"In making his negationist statement, President Kikwete has not only dishonored Nyerere's Vision but also dehumanized the Tanzanian peoples as unconditional accomplices to his genocide denial and revisionist comments," the survivors said in a joint petition to United Nations, US and several international bodies.

KAGAME SPITS FIRE

This is the first time Kagame is pouring out his heart on Kikwete's suggestions.

Though he did not mention Kikwete, Kagame maintained proposals that Rwanda should hold talks with FDLR are premised on "ignorance" and "ideological problems."

"I kept quiet for the contempt I have for it (FDLR talks) because I thought it was utter nonsense spoken out of ignorance. We must be left to live our lives the way Rwandans want to live them," charged Kagame.

He further said "RPF did not seek revenge when it had every reason to be tempted...I don't think anybody should be having issues with us." Kagame was referring to the post-genocide era after RPF had defeated and overthrown the regime of Juvenal Habyarimana.

The President's statement marks a further deterioration of relations between the two countries as fears hit boiling levels that Tanzania government officials have been in talks with FDLR militants.

Meanwhile, Kagame urged the graduands to "operate with the spirit of defiance," insisting "we have the strength that speaks on the will of our people."

"Those who tamper with us should be made to understand that who we are and what we stand for is real Rwanda…we are too subservient, as if we also believe we are second rate human beings that must be driven by others," he added.

Kagame did not spare the United Nations, accusing the Group of Experts that compiles regular reports on regional conflicts, particularly DRC. The UN investigators in 2012 accused Rwanda of backing the M23 rebellion, a charge Kigali vehemently denies. 

Kagame said, UN investigators "are called UN Group of experts because they come from our colonial masters," adding, "The same people who wrote Rwanda's story in 2012 are the same people waiting to do the same this year."

"We can't have people running around saying all sorts of things… some still believe we must be held on a leash by colonial masters," he added.

The President told graduands that "this course and you who attended it should help this nation to continue on the journey of defining itself," adding, "you now have the leadership credentials to understand this nation's larger vision of transforming our people."

He said home-grown solutions are not only efficient, but also more operational and sustainable.

Kagame emphasized RDF is "not a myth...it's real and does not depend on sweeteners."

 

He observed that Rwanda's constitution is the ultimate law of the land: "The will of our people is the will of our people and cannot be dictated."

 7  9 Google +0  0

- See more at: http://chimpreports.com/index.php/regional-news/rwanda/10636-kagame-blasts-kikwete-on-fdlr.html#sthash.ctfhd1O1.dpuf