Blood & terror in Kagame's Rwanda: why Colonel Patrick Karegeya had to flee

Last updated : 29 Nov 2007, Kampala

Many people define the problems of Africa in terms of ethnic, tribes fighting each other and so on. Uganda is often talked about in that way. And the most common example which everyone in the world knows is our friends and neighbors in Rwanda. Every problem there must be talked about using "Tutsi" vs "Hutu" and nothing else.

In our story today, we would like to present a simple thing which everyone knows, that in order to solve a problem, you must first understand it. This helps you to see things in a different way and the solution will become clearer. There is never going to come a time when people will stop being "Hutu" or "Tutsi". So if you think that is the problem, then it means we will be in problems for forever!

Any reasonable person will think deeply about our story of today and will see that the problem is not the tribe, race or history.

Instead of saying "Hutu killed Tutsi" which is true, or vice versa, why don't we start by asking, why should anyone be killed in the first place? Why should Rwandan blood be shed for political reasons? When will this barbaric method of solving our problems through killing stop?

We feel these are the big questions that todays story has brought. You will see that Kagame and other Tutsi officers, have no problems killing off their fellow Tutsis. So this means the problem is not tribe, the problem is the backward, evil mentality that if I have a quarrel with you, then you must be killed.

Why must Rwandans and Ugandans always be oppressed like this? Everywhere in the world, people have their differences and problems but you don't see them always being killed like flies. Now for us here, how many years must our people tolerate this stone-age method of solving problems by killing??? Why can't we get angry, argue, disagree but go back alive to our homes without fearing anyone like normal human beings?

Some of our readers maybe wondering why this story of Karegeya is being talked about on Radio Katwe. The background is the culture of killing. It shows that shedding blood creates problems that will follow you to the grave and beyond.

The problem is not because Karegeya fell out with President Kagame. That happens in all countries. You can't expect everyone in Rwanda to always agree with Kagame on each and every point. Even our friends the British and others, you hear of big security men publicly disagreeing with the government. In other countries like America, it happens. But you never hear that a certain army Major refused to support President George Bush so had to run away secretly and hide in India.

So why does it happen here in Rwanda? Because we have leaders who believe that killing is the "final solution" for problems. That is why the Karegeya's have to sneak here and there.

The other reason is that because of this culture of killing which has been there for so many years, people in high places live in fear. They do not want the public to know of their violent histories and crimes. So we are always held as hostages to leaders who can never ever leave power because they are aware that they have done so many crimes which will come back to haunt them. So they must keep the tight grip on power whatever the case.

The true test for Kagame and his regime is if people like Karegeya can come back, live in Rwanda, travel and speak freely. (Radio Katwe is not saying Karegeya is like an angel of heaven, he is not !!, but that is another issue)

NOTE. The story below has been redacted. Some very specific information is missing, this is to protect sources.

Many Ugandans and Rwandans have been trying to take in the news that one of President Paul Kagame's former close aides, Colonel Patrick Karegeya, fled to Uganda on Friday, during the Commonwealth summit in Kampala.

Karegeya is the most high profile defector of the RPA and tensions are running high in Kigali, as Radio Katwe has told you.

If you want to get the real picture of life in Rwanda under Kagame, you can check out this information of Tutsi officers who have been killed on orders of Kagame and other senior RPA officers since 1990, then you will see why Rwandan Tutsi fear Kagame more than they feared Habyarimana.

In 1991, one year into the RPF war against the regime of President Juvenal Habyarimana, the Department of Military Intelligence (DMI) of the Rwandan Patrotic Army (RPA) led by Brigadier-General Kayumba Nyamwasa, Lt.-Col. Jackson Rwahama, and Major Steven Balinda began ordering the killing of certain Tutsi soldiers who had come to join but were from Burundi and Rwanda.

Those Tutsi soldiers, most of them university or secondary school educated, arrived at the RPF military training wings from their original regions. After being checked by DMI officers and staff under the command of Major Dan Munyuza (former Director of Counter-Intelligence) some of them were killed by their military instructors and by DMI special agents. They killed them with small hoes or the 'Akafuni'. Others were killed by the special intelligence agents on the battlefield.

When their parents were informed about the murder of their children, they called on the RPA commander Major-General Paul Kagame to explain the killings. Kagame went to Bujumbura, Burundi, to meet the Rwandan community of Burundi and assured them that he would stop the murders.

When he went back to the battlefield, however, he did not make an investigation and nobody was sanctioned for the killings. The RPF kept on killing Tutsi from Rwanda. Why? That question still remains up to now.

Those killings of 1990 during the mutiny led by Major Peter Baingana and Major Chris Bunyenyezi and the killing of Tutsi soldiers by the RPF, are the real reason for the tensions within the RPF which have continued to this day when Colonel Patrick Karegeya defected.

In addition, Major John Birasa, a Rwandese who grew up in Burundi, was murdered by his fellow RPA officers from Uganda. His death raised a number of questions when the AKAZU required to keep it a secret.

After the victory of 1994, army officers continued to be murdered in serious numbers. Here are some examples:

Colonel Charles Ngoga was killed on orders of Kagame because of his business interests in the dairy industry where Kagame had an interest.

Colonel Ngoga was murdered using poison poured into his beer glass by Colonel Dan Gapfizi.

Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson Rutayisire, nicknamed 'Shaban', was shot by Lieutenant-Colonel Mulisa on the order of the then Vice President Major General Paul Kagame. Kagame saw Rutayisire as part of "the Uganda group" which did not accept some things he did. Kagame learned the lesson of Fred Rwigyema's shocking death and moved fast to eliminate perceived rivals.

Major Rachid Mugisha, nicknamed 'Kyojo', was killed by a poison injection administered by Major Dr Joseph Ntarindwa at the military hospital in Kanombe. The execution order came from the DMI which received its order from Major General Kagame in person. He was murdered because of his friendship with Captain Serwanda, himself assassinated under the pretext he was preparing a war against the RPF.

Major Alex Ruzindana was murdered following his demobilization from the RPA, and he was seen as a threat and one of the officers planning a coup.

Major Dr Yoweri Ndahiro and Dr. Jean Gahungu were assassinated toward the end of July 1994, near Rwamagana in the direction of Kayonza.

Major John Birasa was killed in an ambush which was set up by Birasa's deputy. The major was killed because he did not accept the methods of the RPF.

In 1993 to 1994, Birasa was the commander of the PRA soldiers whose mission was to infiltrate Kigali and sow insecurity in all corners of the country. He also took part in the attack against President Juvenal Habyarimana's plane and knew a lot.

Captain Hubert Kamugisha was used by Major General Paul Kagame to commit several atrocities, in particular the assassinations of politicians, including Minister Felicien Gatabazi of the Social Democtratic Party (PSD), Martin Bucyana of the CDR (Coalition pour la Defence, a Hutu 'extremist' party) and others. He was also used to place mines in Rwanda, particularly in the town of Kigali at the beginning of the year 1994.

He gathered intelligence in the days just before Habyarimana's plane was shot down.

He was shot dead in a DMI conspiracy on order of Paul Kagame and it was reported he had committed suicide.

Captain S. Kavuma was demobilized from the RPA because he did not get along any more with the RPF's methods. On the way to Uganda, he was stopped at the frontier station at Gatuna. He was taken to the DMI in Kami and killed using a blunt hoe ('agafuni'or 'akafuni').

Captain David Sabuni also disagreed with the RPF's murderous methods and defected to Uganda. Colonel Mubarakh Muganga was sent by Kagame to try and convince him to return. When he arrived at Gatuna, Captain Sabuni was tied up with ropes by the DMI and murdered after painful torture.

Lieutenant Aloys Rupari was killed at Mulindi (Kanombe) by soldiers of the Republican Guard commanded by Lieutenant Bosco Ndayisaba on orders of Captain Silas Udahemuka. He was killed after opposing the brutality and terror of the RPF under Kagame.

Second Lieutenant Dan Ndaruhutse, a bodyguard of Paul Kagame in the Republican Guard, was killed at the same time as another soldier who was suspected of having taken part in a coup plot. The order was also from Captain Silas Udahemuka.

Lieutenant Karegeya, who was in the 3rd battalion with the NDT during the war of 1994, was killed by Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Kayonga in Kigali sometime after the end of the war.

This soldier, originating in Kibungo, had lived a long time in Kigali before joining the RPA. He was used in espionage carried out in Rwanda and in Kigali in particular. He helped to obtain Rwandan indentity cards for RPA soldiers who infiltrated Kigali before the genocide. He did it in collaboration with Captain Charles Karamba, Colonel Theoneste Lizinde and close relations of the first RPF Chairman Colonel Alexis Kanyarengwe who were in the administration.

Lieutenant Rwagasana, a Hutu who spoke English and French, was used a translator for Major General Paul Kagame in the 1990-94 war. He was murdered by Captain Jimmy Muyango of the 101st Battalion.

His death was described as accidental. He was replaced by Lieutenant Jean-Bosco Kazura as the translator-interpreter.

Lieutenant Dan Twahirwa was liquidated following the bitter remarks he expressed while at Kibungo military prison concerning the high command of the RPA, the DMI, and the legal military services that imprisoned soldiers unjustly.

Lieutenant Fred Gatumbura was the driver of Paul Kagame for several years and thus knew many secrets. After loosing his credibility in the army following rumours he had a direct family ties with a Hutu (and after these rumours were reinforced by his relations with a Hutu woman with whom he was even going to marry in Kibuye) He was poisoned and everyone was led to believe that he had died of AIDS.

Deputy-Lieutenent Jean-Claude Ruraza of the DMI who did not support the killing of Hutu civilians was also killed.

First Sergeant Nyirumuringa was shot in Kigali at the place where he often went to drink. He had been used against his will to transport corpses and people to be taken out to Nyungwe Forest where they were incinerated. He was killed to prevent him from disclosing the truth.

So dear readers, you can see the terror in Rwanda under Kagame. Colonel Patrick Karegeya was part of it and it has now caught up with him and he had to flee death.