Gone or dead – Rwanda’s opposition party, the Forces Democratiques Unifiées “loses” its members mysteriously. The fate of government critics is unknown, but who is responsible?
Anselme Mutuyimana – dead, found in a forest. Boniface Twagirimana, Vice-President of the Forces Democratiques Unifiées (FDU-Inkingi) Rwanda – disappeared. Jean Damascene Habarugira – dead, mutilated found in a hospital. Illuminee Iragena – since 2016 to have disappeared.
Since a couple of years ago, a series of mysterious shaken Disappearance of the FDU-Inkingi, a coalition of opposition parties against Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame. The last case: Eugene Ndereyimana. Finally, you saw the 29-Year-old on the 15. July eighth in his home in the southeastern Ngoma district of Rwanda, as he in the northeastern city of Nyagatare to a FDU to Meet up. But the contact to him was lost only five miles from the venue, since then, lacking any trace of the two-fold father.
The FDU have already contacted the investigation Bureau Rwandas – without result. “The security service in Rwanda is so perfect, you can’t tell us that you know nothing. You have the information, but they don’t tell us,” says Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, Chairperson of FDU-Inkingi. Also, the government is not reporting itself emphasizes the second Vice President of the FDU, Justin Bahunga in a DW Interview, “but if this was a government-staged action to stop the Opposition in Rwanda, then we will not see him (Ndereyimana) in the worst case, again.”
President Paul Kagame is running Rwanda with an iron Hand
Silence out of fear
The opposition in Rwanda to see for a long time intimidation, violence, prison or the prospect of Disappearance exposed as soon as they Express an opinion critical of President Kagame and his ruling party, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF),. President Paul Kagame has ruled the country since the genocide in 1994. While the Regime has strengthened the peace and economic growth, it simultaneously suppresses political dissent through comprehensive Monitoring. On the democracy Index, in 2018, the “Economist” shows Rwanda’s position 128 of 167 – between Ethiopia and China.
“Hardly anyone in Rwanda speaks loudly or openly about the things that bother him, because he is otherwise an enemy of the state,” says a Rwandan human rights activist, whose identity the editors is known. “If you don’t want to survive, you can join them. Some people are silent, but not because you have nothing to say, but because they are afraid of problems,” says the activist.
Sarah Jackson, Deputy Director of Amnesty International for Africa, confirmed: “to be In the political Opposition in Rwanda is quite dangerous. Members have disappeared in the last few years, the cases remain unsolved, and this has a deterrent effect.” Amnesty International is urging the Rwandan government to make the Investigation public and credible. “It is incredibly worrying, what happens in Rwanda,” says Jackson.
Unexplained Fates
The FDU fall in a number of cases, in the dark, nor is it known who is behind it. Anselme Mutuyimana was strangled, his colleague, Boniface Twagirimana disappeared from a high security prison. He and eight other FDU party members served, according to an arrest in the year 2017, a penalty due to the formation of an armed group and attempting to overthrow the government, which rode Twagirimana, however, best.
The fate of many of disappeared critics of Rwanda remains uncertain
In may of 2017 Jean disappeared Damascene Habarugira, after he was summoned to a Meeting with a for the safety of his village officials. Three days later, they called his family to bring his body from a local hospital to pick up. FDU-Vice-President Bahunga declared, the eyes have been hollowed out and the head almost cut off. Habarugira would have spoken out against the agricultural policy of the municipality and the brutality of the police. And in March 2016, and opposition activist Illuminée Iragena is missing.
The government is silent
“Why should party members to the target, if it wasn’t politically motivated?”, Bahunga, the lives to his own safety in the UK says, after he was described by Rwanda’s foreign Minister as a “bothersome”. Kagame’s government wants to keep control in the country, therefore, any other political Power would have to be nipped in the Bud, so Bahunga. Also FDU Boss Umuhoza holds the government responsible for the. But, she says, it does not prohibit the mouth, “until there is democracy in the country”.
The government of Rwanda, which is considered the flagship of Africa for progress, covers himself against the accusations in Silence and not responded to Demands of the DW. The press Secretary of the investigation offices was not an opinion, “ready” and the Minister of justice was unable to reach.
FDU Boss Victoire Ingabire was itself a shortened prison sentence of 8 years, among other things, because of “cooperation with a terrorist organization, and genocide ideology”
The red line is exceeded
Critics have also over the borders of Rwanda, in addition to not easy. In 2014, Patrick Karegeya, Rwanda was strangled to death a former intelligence chief and later one of the founders of the Regime, critical of the Rwanda National Congress, in his hotel room in South Africa. He had referred to the Ugandan newspaper, The Observer, and the BBC in 2010, Kagame as a “dictator” who won’t relinquish Power. He accused Kagame continues to have a number of political assassinations arranged. As Kagame was asked after the death of Karegeyas to a possible involvement of the government, he said: “Rwanda did not kill this Person. But I wish Rwanda did it.” Kagame sent a warning to the population afterwards: “Every living Person that conspires against Rwanda, whoever she is, will have to pay the price.”
FDU-Vice-President Bahunga says: “The government has enacted laws that anyone who speaks against you and your opinion of the people, incites them to Criminals and terrorists.” The Opposition in Rwanda had to fear for their lives. “There is a red line, of which we know nothing. But once you exceed it, you’re marked for death.” But he sees a Chance for a change: “Ndereyimana is 29 years old, Mutuyimana was 30. The government sees young people as the biggest threat. “That’s precisely why Bahunga hopes that this Generation can not continue to suppress.