Updated Monday, December 16th 2013 at 14:09 GMT +3
By David Odongo
Three years after an assassination attempt on his life in South Africa and an unconventional escape from Rwanda, former Rwanda’s army chief of staff has finally broken his silence. GEN. KAYUMBA NYAMWASA has spoken about his assassination ordeal, bush war memories, and how President Paul Kagame has betrayed the purpose for Rwanda’s liberation struggle. He spoke to Standard’s senior investigative reporter DAVID ODONGO in an exclusive interview.
Mr Nyamwasa thank you for granting us audience to chat with you amidst tight security caution from the South African government. Could you please tell us briefly about yourself and the different positions you held in the Rwanda since the liberation struggle until 2010 when you fled the country?
You are welcome. I am Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa and I am a refugee here in South Africa. I left my country on the 25 July 2010. In the government of Rwanda I served as the army chief of staff and the Ambassador of Rwanda to India. Prior to that I also served as the deputy chief of staff of the National Gendarmerie (a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations) and the Director of military intelligence throughout the struggle from 1990 to 1994.
The world was shocked when the news of your shooting broke out during the world cup.
Could you please tell us what exactly happened on that fateful day?
What happened is that I was coming from a shopping mall and somebody waylaid us across the apartment where I was staying. When we were entering the gate I saw somebody with a gun and the driver opened the window on his side and the person quickly cocked the pistol and shot me in the stomach and thereafter there was a scuffle between him and me and I was able to survive the assassination because during the scuffle the gun jammed. Thereafter I was taken to hospital and the rest is history.
I have followed legal proceedings about your case in court and it is shocking to hear from prosecution how some of the staff in your household were carefully involved in this seemingly well planned assassination attempt. Did you have any suspicions about any of them before the incident?
Not at all, I really had full trust in all my staff members especially one of the accused number four who was my driver. On the day I fled Rwanda he is the one who drove me across the border into Uganda and I trusted him. He stayed in Uganda while I proceeded to South Africa. Eventually when he told me that his life is in danger in Kampala like many other Rwandan refugees who have been abducted from Uganda indeed I facilitated him to come over (to South Africa) just like I would facilitate anybody now who is in danger in Uganda or any neighbouring country.
Thereafter he stayed with us and I trusted him entirely. We treated him as part of our family like we had treated him Rwanda but it turned out that he had been bought as part of the evidence shows in the trial and he had actually been bought by the government of Rwanda specifically under the command and instructions of Col. Emmanuel Ndahiro who was the Director General of the National Security Service (NSS) at the time.
It was totally out of monetary or pecuniary inducement that he decided to turn against us. It is a shock that betrayals always happen and this happens to have been one of those.
And there is widespread speculation that Col. Ndahiro may have also been working under President Paul Kagame’s instructions on this assassination mission. Do you think it is probable?
Entirely, I served in that system and I know what takes places. Nothing of that magnitude can be an individual endeavour. It is definitely a design and turn of President Kagame. Nobody in Rwanda had any differences with me; I didn’t run away from a local officer, I didn’t run away from any military officer… I ran away specifically from the President. In any case in April 2010, he addressed the Rwandan parliament and in reference to me and Col. Patrick Karegyeya (former chief of External intelligence services also exiled in South Africa) he indicated that if it requires him to use a hammer to kill the fly he will do it and that was in reference to us. So I wasn’t surprised that when that happened in June he could have been involved.
Furthermore, in the government of Rwanda nobody could have picked money from his/her own pocket to finance an operation like that. These people did not know me and I did not know them either. So for them to have carried out that operation against someone they did not know then they must have acted on behalf of someone else and that must be the government from which I run away from. But most important now is that these people are using very expensive lawyers in this country who meets the bill because before their involvement in this assassination attempt against my life they cannot show that they had any business or have a job and yet they able to meet very expensive legal fees now who pays the legal bill?
After the botched attempt on your life do you feel safe here?
I am not the only one who is under threat from Rwanda all the time. If you read newspapers in Uganda and if you can talk to my compatriots there some of them have been abducted, others have been executed while others are hidden safe houses. It is really a fight for most Rwandese in exile so mine is not an exception; it is a situation that I share with all Rwandese who are in exile.
Do you hope to fight back?
Well we are already fighting back only that we are not using the means that our adversary is using. For us we are using peaceful means of change and we believe that Rwandans will come together and fight a dictatorship and it is not a peculiar or unique situation. It has happened everywhere else in world where people have come up to fight the regime that is dictatorial in nature and killing people. So yeah we are fighting back. We also formed an organisation called the Rwanda National Congress and together with others we formed an alliance with the United Democratic Forces of Rwanda (FDU-Inkingi) and Amahoro and we believe together we will be able to galvanise efforts of Rwandese and remove the regime.
It is clearly spelt out in all terms that you are opting for all possible means of peaceful change of the regime in Kigali but have you drawn any military plan as contingency what we have in Kigali today is a military government?
No. But that will be a result of probably a situation that would generate into a kind of situation that has happened in other countries where peaceful means have been employed but the dictatorship pushes people in a different direction. We have not come to that; it is not part of our strategy. Our strategy is to change the regime by peaceful means.
There is an increasing spate of kidnappings of Rwandan refugees especially students and former soldiers exiled especially in East Africa on accusations that they are working for you to distabilise the tiny country. How true are these accusations?
The accusations are not true. I would first of all begin with my own brother who has been in prison for the last three years. If I was working with anybody in Rwanda the first person probably I would have worked with would have been my own brother but when I fled I did not take him along with me and I would have gone to his house and picked him even when I left it took them about six months after which he was arrested and incarcerated. So all these people they can’t say that they are working for me. What are doing essentially? What we are doing is being done outside but there is no doubt that there could be some people in Rwanda who support the Rwanda National Congress not necessarily Kayumba but supporting our cause and not the individual.
According to sources in the Rwanda Defence Forces Mr Kagame is paranoid about you controlling some factions of the army. Do you think this fear legitimate?
Well I commanded the army there is no doubt about that. I was a very influential member within the Rwanda Patriotic Front. I had very good friends and the plight that visited me is also a plight that also other people in Rwanda are meeting today. Essentially it is not about me, it is about the cause for which I am fighting and I know essentially within the Rwanda Patriotic Front and within the army there are people who support what I do not because of me but because of what I stand for and that is why I think it is the main reason for the support. What we want is liberation; if it comes from me well and good but even if it comes from a different side I am sure they will be able to embrace it.
Talking about liberation. That reminds me of your cordial relationship with the Rwandan President during the RPF bush war and subsequent years in his government? Mr Kagame says you were terrorising his country and lacked accountability. What exactly broke this rapport?
President Paul Kagame knows that we did a lot of things together and a lot of my colleagues but between me and him yes there were as a deep relationship. At one point in time I think I helped him when everybody else would not have wanted to and that is a fact. I wrote about it twice.
He is aware of the situation and that is probable why we had a strong relationship.
I saved him out of a situation where people would have probably wanted him to perish. He (Kagame) is aware of the situation may be that was the beginning of the closeness. But as far as I am concerned and as far as the relationship kept deteriorating it was about the ideological thinking of the RPF. At one time it came to a point where the RPF ceased to market and publicise and promote itself as an organisation and had to be substituted by popularising and campaigning for an individual who is Paul Kagame and that was something I never believed in.
Secondly, there was the issue of Dr Joseph Sebarenzi (former Secretary General of RPF) who was persecuted using fabricated charges. I refused to support that trend and Paul Kagame was not happy about it.
Then there were extrajudicial killings, which were being carried out around Rwanda using the Directorate of Military Intelligence under Jack Nziza and the Republican Guard and Kagame would be in the know and I was not aware about what was going on because he knew I would not support him in those extrajudicial killings.
After committing those extrajudicial killings they would come out and falsely implicate other people. There some cases where Gen. Jack Nziza was implicated in those case but Kagame actually defended him and protected him. I detested that.
Thirdly, there was the issue of Pasteur Bizimungu (for Rwandan President). Mr Bizimungu (when he was still President) was persecuted and lots of charges were fabricated against him. The Directorate of Military Intelligence, which was under Jack Nziza and others that time they thought they should have him imprisoned and I challenged them until I went to the United Kingdom for a course and eventually the man was taken to prison.
Basically the relationship between me and Kagame started souring from 1997 and by 2003 it completely broke down.
And you saved Mr Kagame’s life several times during the Bush war struggle. How did you do that?
At one point in time we were at one place called Nkana (northern Rwanda in current Byumba district) and I think it was in December 1990 and we had lost a battle. When we lost the battle the forces withdrew, Kagame did not know that the forces had withdrawn and they had actually withdrawn to Uganda.
I went there and had gone to collect casualties. When I went back I was able to know that there was nobody who was to remain in Rwanda. That time I found Kagame hiding in a banana plantation and I convinced some of our friends that we should go and rescue him and get him from there but because if his nature and after the death of Maj. Gen. Fred Rwigema, people did not like and they were saying just ignore that fool. I thought that was not the right thing to do and I took it upon myself to go back.
I went back and collected him. He was there confused; he did not know where the forces were and he did not know where to go himself. I took personal initiative and risk to bring him back.
Then the next day in another place called Nkanyantanga (Also in northern Rwanda). In the night the enemy was surrounding us. He was sleeping in the tent and of course he did not know what was going on and of course I had information and intelligence and we were able to fight our way out and the next day we lost the battle. I came back and picked him from the tent and hid him in Uganda in someone’s home. He did not know that person and did not know what was going on and indeed the next day we lost the battle.
Some of the officers we had in NKanyantanga subjected him to a lot of open ridicule; that they do not want him. They were telling him openly how they are fed up with him and he is a very poor commander and recessive character. And some of the officers who ridiculed him that time are still serving in the Rwandan army as senior officers today but I will not mention their names for their security but they know themselves.
Had it not been for me and late Col. William Bagire they would have beaten him thoroughly.
When you look at Mr Kagame’s failures right from the Bush War. Would you say his subsequent leadership of the Rwandan Patriotic Arm/Front was an accident?
Definitely it was an accident. The legitimate leader was late Maj. Gen. Fred Rwigema. We lost a person, we lost a leader, and we lost a charismatic person. Obviously if Kagame was so crucial in the planning and execution of the Rwandan liberation, Maj. Gen. Rwigema would not have allowed to go for the course in the United States of America but he instigated and made sure Kagame leaves because if Kagame had been around in the planning process he would have been a hindrance-an obstacle.
At one point in a meeting we used to have a heated argument between late Maj. Gen. Rwigema and Kagame mostly matters hinging on Kagame’s divisive character and persecution of his comrades so there is no doubt about the fact that his leadership was an accident. We lost leaders in quick succession and eventually Rwanda and our people got subjected to a person who does not deserve it at all.
Are there better officers you think would have been in a better position to steer Rwanda to real liberation? And is there a possibility they could take the wheel of power in Rwanda and change the country’s course?
There are very many of them but they are completely marginalised. You can never find them now in the political establishment of Rwanda so it’s a tragedy. That it’s true we have so many people would have led that country in the right direction-Yes. Unfortunately, as we speak now you cannot even trace them. It is a tragedy.
Mr Kagame has maintained in the face of the public that the bitterness between both of you is based entirely on your undermining of his government and lack of accountability.
What do you have to say about that?
What else can he say? He has said that about everybody who has fled the country. He uses mainly charges against people who are opposed to his dictatorial leadership. Either you are a genocidaire, terrorist or corrupt. That is standard procedure and I happen to be part of that victimisation. When you look at the sentencing that was meted to the four of us; sentencing me for 24 years in prison in absentia it is not a charge of corruption. There is nothing because I was not corrupt and in any case if I had been corrupt they would have charged me in a court of law when I was still in government but calling someone corrupt because he has left the country is ridiculous, it is simply something to laugh at. In as far as the case of terrorism is concerned that is the case they label against all people opposed to the regime in Kigali such as jailed opposition politicians; Victoire Ingabire and Bernard Ntaganda and Deo Mushayidi. It is obviously a lie and Kagame has always lived by deceit but time is running out.
Talking about time running out for the Kigali establishment. You have commanded Rwandan troops in DRCongo before.
Do you think Rwanda is involved in DRCongo (M23 war) and what do you think are the consequences?
True, I was involved in the DRCongo war in 1997-2002 and yes the Rwandan troops were ands are still heavily involved in the war there. Even today Rwandan soldiers are still in DRCongo. And the other thing that is very important is that there is nothing like M23. M23 does not exist; it is the concoction of the government of Rwanda. Just like the ADFL, the RCD and CND, M23 is not different. The Rwandan government is using a few unfortunate souls that have been taken hostage just to give the image but otherwise it the Rwandan army’ which is there.
Are you optimistic the stabilisation force in DRCongo now boosted by Tanzania and South Africa could eventually bring Rwanda to account for her atrocities committed there?
You can never lie to the world forever. Kagame’s lies have now come to the fore. He can no longer hide so the international community, Southern African Development Community (SADC) and everybody else have come to the realisation that Paul Kagame has always used genocide as pretext.
Instead of using it (genocide) as a tragedy that befell Rwandese, it has become a political and diplomatic weapon. He has used it to invade DRCongo and also using it against his neighbours. The lie is now over and it time to call a spade a spade and I applaud the international community to have come to the realisation. It may be late but as the adage says better late than never. I think it is now time to call Kagame to order and actually ask him to account for what he has done in DRCongo and also what he doing now in Rwanda.
Some of the South African based Rwandan multimillionaire Tribert Rujugiro’s assets such as the $20million Union Trade Centre are being frozen by the Rwandan government on allegations he could be supporting your cause? How true is this allegation?
Nyamwasa is being used as a pretext for eliminating all those people whom Paul Kagame does not want. In the 1990s it was Mr Sebarenzi; they would kill anybody who is associated to him. Later on it became Pasteur Bizimungu and then Tribert Rujugiro. Actually Rujugiro ran away from Rwanda before me and then later on it is me. So for anyone to ask me do I have a relationship with Rujugiro; go and ask him why did he run away from Rwanda? He did not run away from Rwanda because I ran away nor did I leave Rwanda because Rujugiro is out. We do not need to have a relationship but Rujugiro can explain his plight just like I am explaining my own.
And what do you think about the return of exiled Rwandan King Kigeli Ndahindurwa?
I am pro-Rwanda and I believe the people of Rwanda need to be given chance to make a decision. The fact of the matter is that you cannot deny the kingdom would want an institution in Rwanda. In any case that institution would not be unique in Rwanda, they happen everywhere. Even in South Africa you will find a King of the Zulu, king of the Xhosa and kings of different tribes in this great country. It is not a diversion from the norm that is happening elsewhere. If the Rwandan king returns and is respected by the people of Rwanda like it happens here in South Africa, like it happens elsewhere in the world. They have kings in Belgium, Spain and Holland among other parts of the developed world. It is not barbaric old fashion We need to have a new Rwanda where the kingdom as an institution is catered for but obviously I believe Rwanda is a Republic and that is irreversible.
Is there anything you would like to add that I might have missed before we conclude the conversation?
Yes. I would like to inform Rwandans and friends of Rwanda across Africa and the international community that we will be driving real liberation to the country soon. Institutions of government in Rwanda have been hijacked. The judiciary does not functional, it has been compromised. The Parliament is owned and serves the interests of only one man and that is Paul Kagame. The government in Rwanda is an institution that is completely owned by one man and he does what he wants. He fires Ministers as he pleases actually more than he fires his domestic servants. Now if you don’t institutions of government that should protect the people then what do you have? What you have is dictatorship. Now dictatorship has its own expiry date and I think the Rwandan people are now disgusted, they are disgruntled and they are disappointed. At one point in time this situation will burst and when it bursts it will burst with its perpetuator who is Paul Kagame. I would like to assure Rwandans and friends of our cause that dictatorship is going to be removed in Rwanda soon.
