SA-Rwanda links at risk if assassination attempt proved

Jun 20, 2010 11:44 PM | By The Editor, The Times Newspaper

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Times Editorial: The law enforcement agencies should do all in their power to arrest those involved in the attempted killing of former Rwandan army chief Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The exiled lieutenant-general, who fled Rwanda early this year following a fallout with President Paul Kagame, was returning from a shopping trip at noon on Saturday when he was shot and wounded.

His wife, Rosette, is convinced that the incident, which took place in the family's driveway, was an assassination attempt.

She has directly implicated Kagame, alleging that the president "said in Parliament that he will actually kill my husband; that wherever he is he will follow him and kill him".

Though the police are said to have detained a former Rwandan soldier in connection with the incident, it is not yet clear whether the attack was indeed politically motivated. If it is, and if it is found that the assailant was linked to the Rwandan government, this would spark a major diplomatic crisis between the small Great Lakes country and South Africa.

Over the past 16 years, the two countries have enjoyed a healthy working relationship. South Africa was heavily involved in Rwanda's reconstruction following that country's 1994 genocide.

But this should not mean that the South African government should turn a blind eye to criminal activities, especially political assassinations, possibly committed in the name of the Rwandan government.

The Rwandan government denied any involvement yesterday.

But if it is found that the shooting had to do with the fallout between Kagame and Nyamwasa, then our government would have to take strong action - including the expulsion of the Rwandan ambassador to South Africa