RWANDA TRIBUNE IBUKABOSE

VERSION ANGLAISE
Last updated : 30 June 2007, Kampala

AfroAmerica Network

The failed assassination attempt on Rwanda president General Paul Kagame last January fueled rumors in Kigali of the collaboration between Gerard Gahima, the former Vice-President of the Rwandan Supreme Court and attorney general, his brother Theogene Rudasingwa the former Chief of Staff of General Paul Kagame and General Kayumba Nyamwasa, the Ambassador of Rwanda in India, to overthrow General Paul Kagame.

Gerard Gahima and Theogene Rudasingwa fled Rwanda about two years ago and have been living in the United States of America.
The assassins had ambushed General Kagame's convoy in the foothills of Kinyinya, on his way back from the military camp of Kami to Kigali city. The timed event failed because General Kagame took an unexpected turn to visit one his advisors while some of his guards continued to Kigali City with a car similar to the one used by Kagame, 15 minutes ahead of Kagame's convoy proper. The assassins mistook the driver and a bodyguard for Kagame and sprayed them with bullets, killing them instantly.

The assassins had awaited in a marshland between Kinyinya and Nyarutarama hills, near a fish pond. After the attempt, some assassins fled, hugging the foothills of Kinyinya near the marshland and others disappeared in a housing project to the East of the pond. General Kagame's second convoy was approaching the marshland and was about to reach the new development project at the foot of Kinyinya hills when they heard the shots. They immediately turned back to Kami, took back roads all way to the dictator's private residence to the shores of Lake Muhazi. He ordered his guard to cordon off the areas of the failed attempt and arrest anyone suspected of involvement.

The persistent rumor in Kigali is that the attempt was staged by the French intelligence service DGSE working out of Uganda, with General Kayumba Nyamwasa and the brothers Gahima and Rudasingwa to preempt the inquiry of Judge Brugiere against Kagame and his cronies by eliminating the ultimate target of the inquiry.
Before they fled Rwanda, Gerard Gahima and Theogene Rudasingwa were at the core of Kagame's inner circle. Their sister Beatrice Mukabaranga served as Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Education shortly after the Rwandan Patriotic Front overthrew the former government.
General Kayumba Nyamwasa is one of Ugandan returnees within the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). One of the few intellectuals within RPF, he is one of the Ugandan National Resistance Army (NRA) officers who terrorized Northern Uganda during Museveni's the early years of reign. The methods of killing he learned in Uganda helped him brutally repress the insurgency in North Western Rwanda in 1996-1998.
A witness who saw these officers in action in Gulu suggests that it is during that military campaign that RPA offcers perfected their methods of killing. When he repressed the rebellion in Rwanda, the then Colonel Kayumba Nyamwasa was the commander of Brigade 221. In January 1998, Colonel Kayumba Nyamwasa was appointed army chief of staff and replaced Colonel Samuel Kanyemera. Brigade 221 which Nyamwasa headed was then divided, with separate commands based in Gisenyi and Ruhengeri prefectures. As a reward for putting down the budding insurgency, Kayumba Nyamwasa was appointed Rwandan Patriotic Army Chief of Staff. This was inspite of massive war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Brigade 221 against the Hutus of Ruhengeri and Gisenyi, and on several occasions, the Tutsis of these regions. These were good years for General Kayumba Nyamwasa. The popularity he gained among the Tutsis extremist circles and especially those surrounding Kagame himself grew day by day. Then came persistent rumors of coup d'etat against Kagame. And the name of Nyamwasa kept popping up. Meanwhile, General Nyamwasa had managed to get the attention of British Intelligence Services.
When General Kagame grew too impatient with General Nyamwasa, Nyamwasa usually turned to the British for temporary relief. Nyamwasa was sent to England, officially for training, but in reality it was to isolate him politically. He was replaced by General Emnanuel Habyarimana, a Hutu and ex-FAR who was also later replaced by General Kabarebe when he become Minister of Defense. 

During the two years of Nyamwasa's political isolation, Kabarebe spent most of the time and energy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and his looting businesses. The Rwandan army was left in the hands of people who did not care much about RPF's ideology and of General Emmanuel Habyarimana. Hutus were recruited in droves. By the time Kagame's cronies realized the "mistake", General Habyarimana as Army Chief of Staff and Minister of Defence, had increased the proportion of Hutus within the RPA from 10% to 60%. There was uproar within the Tutsis extremists "family" who demanded the firing of Emmanuel Habyarimana and the return of Kayumba Nyamwasa. Some Hutu, such as General Marcel Gatsinzi, who wanted Habyarimana's position also added their voice to the malcontents'. General Emmanuel Habyarimana eventually fled Rwanda to Uganda, then to Switzerland and was replaced by General Marcel Gatsinzi.

In November 2002, a government reshuffle consecrated the return of General Nyamwasa as Head of Security Services, to please Tutsi extremists. However, according to people close to him, the General Kayumba Nyamwasa who returned from Britain was not the same General Nyamwasa of the 1996-1998 Ruhengeri and Gisenyi massacres. He had matured politically.Confidents say he was a man haunted by the horrible crimes he committed. They added that he even once suggested to Kagame and his cronies to admit the crimes committed by RPF and proposed a general amnesty for all crimes committed in Rwanda from 1990 onwards. Since then, the Dictator of Rwanda viewed General Kayumba Nyamwasa as a serious contender and dangerous rival, i.e. an enemy to watch day and night, and eventually eliminate by all means.

When General Kayumba Nyamwasa disappeared from the public for a few days, people in Kigali were quick to point to the worst : the imprisonment for a failed coup. Kagame found an ingenious solution : he appointed General Nyamwasa ambassador far from Rwanda and in a country without geopolitical influence in the Great Lakes Region : India.
In the article " Kigali : Does Kagame finally get Kayumba Nyamwasa ?" of October 17, 2004, AfroAmerica Network wrote : "The appointment as an Ambassador to India is viewed as a waiting game as AfroAmerica Network had predicted: either Nyamwasa, tired and forgotten, will slowly and surely fade away, or he will do the unthinkable: try a coup de force. " The recent indictments of the French Judge Brugiere against General Kagame's comrades in crimes, including General Kayumba Nyamwasa heightened the stakes in the cat and mouse game. Being an ambassador, hated by General Kagame, almost banned from Rwanda, General Kayumba Nyamwasa was, among the indicted, the most vulnerable. While others could hide inside Rwanda, General Nyamwasa will eventually have to leave India, and hence expose himself either to arrest or to being once again in Kagame's sight. Hence, he is left with two choices : collaborate with the French Judge or stage a coup against Kagame, and deal with the French later. He may have chosen the later, in collaboration with disgruntled people among who know Kagame the best: The Gahima Rudasingwa brothers. Whether French intelligence services knew about the attempt or not, the perspective of their involvement is even more ominous that the involvement itself.
Regardless, the failure of the attempt may leave indelible marks on Dictator Kagame. He recently postponed his planned trip to USA to sort out the mess. Whatever comes from the mess may be even messier. Rwandans hope that the mess will not splash beyond those who created it.