THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN RWANDA IS EXPLOSIVE

PRESS RELEASE 010/2017

The Steering Committee of the P5 Platform, the executive body, met on 08
October 2017. After reviewing the political and security situation in
Rwanda and in the Great Lakes Africa sub-region, the Steering Committee
would like to inform Rwandans, friends of Rwanda and the International
Community:

1. Platform P5 remains concerned about the explosive political situation
in Rwanda;

2. The political Platform P5 denounces the clique in power which uses
its power to repress and oppress its own people by hiding behind the
laws and institutions designed and put in place to protect itself. The
way in which President Kagame put all his institutions against Diane
Rwigara during the swearing in ceremony of the new government is still
fresh in our minds. It is because things are just improvised that more
than a month after she was being dragged in court day and night, the
Public Prosecutor does not yet have any concrete evidence to charge her.
Besides when she was brought to appear in court on the 6/10, she had not
been able to speak with her counsel, the most basic right in court;

3. The political Platform P5 would like to remind the public that the
current machinations of the regime of President Kagame against members
of the opposition are not new. They were used against Mrs. Victoire
Ingabire Umuhoza, President of the FDU – Inkingi before her
imprisonment. President Kagame had declared publicly that she would run
up against a wall of laws that he has put in place;

4. In relation to the accusations made against the FDU-Inkingi
officials, the Steering Committee would like to inform the public that
in the first place the Public Prosecutor has deliberately lied about the
composition of the Platform P5 with the sole purpose of making it fit
into the label of being an armed group. The same tactic was used in the
case of Victoire Ingabire. An RPF agent was infiltrated among the
accused only to be released later and rewarded for his services. In the
same way, an RPF agent has been infiltrated to accuse his colleagues and
he is now a free man waiting to return as prosecution witness against
the political platform when the trial starts.

5. The Platform P5 would like to reiterate that democratic competition
for and peaceful transfer of power offers the best guarantee for peace
and sustainable development in Rwanda. In this regard, it calls on the
international community to link cooperation with Rwanda to its respect
for human rights particularly the freedom of expression, association and
assembly.

Done in Brussels October 9, 2017

Jean-Baptiste Ryumugabe
Chair Plateforme P5
[email protected]