Rwandan general shooting orchestrated in Europe’

The attempted killing in Johannesburg of Rwanda's exiled former army chief was orchestrated by well-heeled Rwandan soldiers living in Europe, a witness told a South African court on Wednesday.

Six men went on trial Wednesday for the shooting of Faustin Nyamwasa, Rwanda's former top general, at his home in Johannesburg in June 2010.

Nyamwasa had arrived in South Africa four months earlier, after abandoning his post as ambassador to India, amid allegations of corruption and a falling-out with Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

A week before the shooting, one of the accused, Rwandan national Amani Uriwani, said that Rwandan “military men” from Europe with lots of cash and cars had asked for his help “to shoot at a military person”, according to witness Kalisa Mubarak.

“He said they are Rwandese from Europe. They also want to shoot another Rwandese,” said Mubarak, an immigrant who runs a hair salon in central Johannesburg.

Mubarak told the court that Uriwani said he had been offered 10,000 rand ($1,500, 1,000 euros) to take part in the attack.

Three Tanzanians and three Rwandans have been charged with attempted murder. All six have pleaded not guilty.

The case has strained relations between South Africa and Rwanda, which wants to bring Nyamwasa home to serve a 24-year prison sentence after a military court tried him in absentia on charges of desertion, defamation and threatening state security.

Nyamwasa was tried with three other former top officials who co-authored a document slamming what they said was the repression of freedoms in Rwanda since Kagame's arrival in power in 1994.

He also faces terrorism charges for allegedly masterminding grenade attacks last year in Kigali in the run-up to presidential elections.

Nyamwasa's presence in South Africa has caused diplomatic headaches for Pretoria.

Spain and France are both seeking to extradite him for his alleged role in the Rwandan genocide, in which 800,000 people were killed. He has denied the charges. -

A Shabel reportage

Responsabilities of genocide in Rwanda have to be shared, beetween hutu and tutsi. The new UN report, published the 1st october 2010 is a step in the right direction. We ask for justice, we ask to make clear what happened in Rwanda. Until that, we will continue to fight to protect our people".

We meet Mister Laforge, the spokesman of FDLR (Democratic forces for the liberation of Rwanda) and his general staff, after two days walking in the forest, in a little thatched hut. The long path starting from the little village of Niabyondo is sometimes like a river because of the torrential rain. The front line, a part of an impenetrable forest, is disputed by the congolese Fardc and the Mai Mai militias, allied with the Fdlr.



We are in the Masisi region, north Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo.



On the "Goma - Walikale" axis, many military operations are leaded by the governemental forces Fardc. The target are the Fldr forces, and the hutu rwandan refugees. Especially now, after the Un Report, they are a serious threat to the geopolitical stability of the entire region.



So dozens of Fardc platoons with tutsi commanders are moving on the axis, with no veichles, no food, no water, no logistics. By foot.



In this axis, the villages are every day under attack of unknown militia: rapes, killings, robberies. Mass rape is the new trend here. The victims are women. It is hard to understand who are the responsibles. Here, every armed or bandit group, often made of deserters, wear the same uniform, use the same Ak 47 kalashnikov, speak swahili or kinyaruanda.



They armed groups historically fight in the region to control a vaste mining area full of cassiterite and nobium. And they use the mass rape as a terrible new weapon.



But Fdlr (and the rwandais) are always the first guilties: they are the ennemy here, since 1996 when they arrived. And now it's very easy to blame them for every accident, every action, every crime. So it's easier for the Fardc to hunt them.



The only hope for the civilians here is the Monusco, the United Nations mission: the paecekeepers patrol the axis, build camps and bases near the villages to protect the population. But the number of blue helmets is not enough.



"Since few months ago, we stop to support the Fardc operations in the area" reaveals Hirut the chief in charge of Monusco. "We cannot support who is also a threat for the population".



An exclusive reportage from the heart of Congo and from the core of a new devastating war.

President Kagame meets Rwanda Diaspora in Chicago, 11 June 2011

Witness: Rwandan soldiers behind SAfrica shooting

Witness: Rwandan soldiers behind SAfrica shooting
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — One of the men accused of trying to kill a former Rwandan general exiled in South Africa said that Rwandan soldiers with plenty of cash and cars were behind the plot, a friend testified Wednesday.

The testimony came on the second day of trial in the June 2010 shooting of Lt. Gen. Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa. The former Rwandan military chief went into exile just months before he was attacked in Johannesburg.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame's government has denied allegations of involvement in the case. However, witnesses in the trial have asked for special protection, saying they fear the Rwandan government.
Kalisa Mubarak, a 36-year-old Rwandan who immigrated to South Africa in 2003, testified Wednesday that he has known one of the six suspects since they were children.
He said that former Rwandan soldier Amani Uriwani told him about being recruited by some European-based Rwandans to help with a job in Johannesburg.
Mubarak said his friend would only say the target was also a soldier, and he tried to talk Uriwani out of taking part. Uriwani was offered 10,000 rand (about $1,400) for his part in the attack, according to his friend's testimony.
Prosecutors say Mubarak has been moved with his wife and three children to a secret location under a witness protection program.
Two body guards sat nearby as he testified in English and Kinyarwanda. He wore dark glasses and sat in the witness stand with his chin sunk in a black-and-white checked scarf draped around his neck.



Three Rwandans and three Tanzanians are accused of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder and other charges in Nyamwasa's shooting.
Nyamwasa and other Rwandans living abroad have accused the president of crushing dissent and democracy after he helped to end the 1994 genocide that left more than 500,000 people dead in Rwanda.

In May, British police warned some Rwandan exiles living in the U.K. that their lives were in danger, and the threat is believed to have emanated from the Rwandan government.
Human rights groups say opposition politicians, journalists and civil society activists have been subjected to crackdowns inside Rwanda as well.
The key suspect in the South Africa case is Pascal Kanyandekwe, a Rwandan businessman. He's also accused of plotting to kill Nyamwasa while the general was hospitalized after the shooting.
Kanyandekwe and four men not linked to the shooting are to stand trial in the hospital plot later this month. He also is accused of bribery after two police officers said he offered them $1 million to let him go when they arrested him in July 2010.

The shooting victim, who has kept a low profile since the June 2010 attack, also faces international war crimes charges linked to the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide — allegations he denies.
Nyamwasa and other senior Tutsis are accused of waging an extermination campaign against Hutus in the chaotic aftermath of Rwanda's genocide — charges that Nyamwasa denies.

A Spanish judge in 2008 charged Nyamwasa and 39 other members of the Rwandan military with the mass killings of civilians after they seized power in Rwanda.

A U.N. report last year echoed the 2008 Spanish charges, accusing invading Rwandan troops of killing tens of thousands of Hutus in 1996 and 1997 in neighboring Congo