PRESS STATEMENT: ATTACKS AT GENERAL KAYUMBA NYAMWASA RESIDENCE

Johannesburg 05 March 2014- The Rwanda National Congress (RNC), a political movement against the dictatorship in Rwanda, is deeply concerned to inform the public and its members that in the night of Monday to Tuesday 3 to 4 March 2014 an armed group of men broke into General Kayumba Nyamwas’s residence in Johannesburg looking for him. General Nyamwasa and his family survived because at the time of the attack they were not in the house.

While the motive of the intrusion is still investigated by the South African Police Services, RNC has no doubt that those who have always attempted to get rid of General Nyamwasa may also be behind the attack. RNC reminds the public of an assassination attempt against General Nyamwasa on 19 June 2010 and subsequent such attempts that RNC has continuously recorded.

The public should recall President Paul Kagame saying on 12 January 2014, following the murder of Colonel Patrick Karegeya at the Michelangelo Hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg that: “You cannot betray Rwanda and get away with it. There are consequences for betraying your country.” “It’s a matter of time, whoever betrayed the nation cannot escape the consequences,” Kagame said in Kinyarwanda during a national prayer breakfast meeting. President Kagame informed that all those opposing his regime should be treated the same way, and that nobody in his government should be apologetic about the fate of his enemies.

The presidential confession strengthened similar statements made earlier by other Rwandan government officials. Rwandan Prime Minister Pierre Habumuremyi tweeted on Monday, 6th January, 2014: “Betraying citizens and their country that made you a man shall always bear consequences to you.” Foreign Affairs Minister, Madam Louise Mushikiwabo tweeted and later confirmed in an interview that Karegeya was a “self-declared enemy” of her government and that what happens to its enemies should not make it lose sleep. In her interview, she insisted that late Patrick deserved to be killed because of betraying the country that created him. Speaking at a governmental controversial “Ndi Umunyarwanda” campaign in Rubavu district on 11th January, 2014, the Defence Minister, General James Kabarebe, joined other officials in confirming the regime’s role in the assassination. “Do not waste your time on reports that so and so was strangled with a rope on the 7th floor in whatever country.” “When you choose to be a dog, you die like a dog, and the cleaners will wipe away the trash so that it does not stink for them. Actually, such consequences are faced by those who have chosen such a path. There is nothing we can do about it, and we should not be interrogated over it.”

The Rwandan Ambassadors to the United Nations and Washington, the United Kingdom and particularly the one to South Africa, Mr. Vincent Karega echoed the harsh and strong words. He stated that: “we don’t regret his death, we don’t have sympathy…we don’t miss him.”

These words sufficiently prove a strong link between an enunciated Rwandan policy against its opponents and the instant attack at General Kayumba’s residence.

For further details:
Dr Theogene Rudasingwa, Coordinator, Rwanda National Congress
Email: [email protected]

Mr Frank Ntwali, Chairman, Rwanda National Congress South Africa
Tel: +27767778735, Email: [email protected]

Mr Etienne Mutabazi, Deputy Chairman, Rwanda National Congress South Africa
Tel: +27827273756, Email: [email protected]