Call on Paul Kagame, the head of the Rwandan military junta, to immediately release Ms. Ingabire Victoire and all political prisoners.
Police say she is implicated in an investigation into the activities of an ex-commander of a Hutu militia group.
Ms Ingabire returned from exile in January to challenge President Kagame but she was barred from standing in the August election. Ms Ingabire has spent 5 months under house arrest since April 2010. Since Ms Ingabire returned from exile in January to challenge President Kagame, she was barred from standing in the August presidential election as RPF and Paul Kagame know she has all support of the majority of Rwandans.
Three months ago, Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza has always been subjected to constant threats and humiliation; she got the shock of her life after being released from detention on bail. After arriving at her home, she reportedly found her house ransacked by Rwandan state security personnel. Her personal documents and other items including computers and telephones were missing. Mrs. Ingabire s passport was also confiscated by police. It was reported that there was tight security deployed at her home located in the Gacukiro, a Kigali suburb inhabited mainly by the upper class of Rwanda.
African SurViVors International is calling on the Security Council, the UN and the world community to draw their attention and especially the attention of the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, and Netherlands from the intolerable conditions that the RPF regime has created for the Rwandan people. Taking into consideration of what is going on in Rwanda, there is no denying that the opposition leaders and all Rwandans are legally deprived of the right to elementary rights. The freedom of speech and freedom of the press are indispensable tenets of democracy. The RPF regime and government are decided to repress the Rwandan Opposition leaders, the civil society and massively violate human rights against Rwandans.
African SurViVors International organization expresses its deepest concern about the appalling health conditions of Me Ntaganda Bernard the founding president of the PS Imberakuli detained since 3 months in retaliation to his political activities.
Her second detention, and that several political prisoners throughout the country including hundreds of thousands prisoners mainly from the Hutu ethnic group wrongly accused of genocide and genocide ideology , contravenes international human rights law and casts a long shadow over reconciliation in the country. African SurViVors International urges the RPF military junta and Kagame’s government to release all political prisoners immediately and unconditionally, and respect the human rights of Rwandans’ people.
As we call on the perpetrators for Ms Ingabire Umuhoza Victoire immediate-unconditional release, she has made clear her commitment to working with all parties to achieve national reconciliation. It is high time the regime released her and accepted her offer of dialogue instead of fabricating charges of terrorism while linking her to inexistent terrorist organizations.
ASI foundation reminds the UN Security Council, the European Union and world community in particular that, after the crimes of Rwandan and the genocide in Congo, there is more than a human tragedy, a tragic waste of talent, vision and leadership for a country that desperately needs all three.
Since 1990, the Rwandan people have suffered enough. A genuine transition to civilian and accountable government is long overdue. African SurViVors International is committed to making sure the European Union plays a part in helping Rwandans to achieve this so that Rwanda can be part of countries thriving democracies.
African SurVivors International is also inviting people around the world to post the illegal arrest messages for Ms. Ingabire Umuhoza Victoire on its Facebook wall.
African SurViVors International has received alarming information about the health condition of Mr. Bernard Ntaganda detained in Kigali prison.
Mr. Bernard Ntaganda is suffering a serious deterioration of his health due to the poor conditions of detention and the ill-treatments he has been subjected to in prison. However, his family and PS Imberakuli leadership and members reported to BBC that his health continues to deteriorate and notably reported that he had lost weight, he feels constantly tired and has difficulty to walk.
African SurViVors International further recalls that a number of Rwandan political leaders remain arbitrarily detained because of their legitimate political activities.
African SurViVors International is calling for immediate and unconditional release of Ms. Ingabire Umuhoza Victoire together with all detained political leaders and journalists.
African SurViVors International joins in the vehement condemnation of Ms.Victoire Ingabire abduction in the highest terms, we are very much saddened by the fact that, the condemnation of the oppression, murder and intimidation of the political opponents inside Rwanda has remained inefficient to protect and preserve the safety of the citizenry whether Hutus or Tutsis. The abduction of Ms. Ingabire Victoire is a classic example of this, as it happens at the very heart of Western supporters and backers of the dictator Kagame where democracy and freedom are supposed to be fully respected.
The people of Rwanda are experiencing difficult times domestically: Criminals and genocidaire on power, the RPF military junta, a despotic state which is – through constant and organized repression – sending to prison all the proponents of freedom and democracy. In this particular case, Ms. Ingabire Umuhoza Victoire has been arbitrary arrested before yesterday on the pretext that she is organizing acts of terrorism aimed to destabilize the country. However, all Rwandans and the world observers remain convinced that Ms. Ingabire Umuhoza Victoire is arbitrarily detained because of her legitimate political and human rights activities.
More recently, Me Ntaganda Berndard has been accused for the same baseless charges. We have recieved reliable and alarming information that she does not receive appropriate medical care, as the Rwandan prison serves bad, insufficient food and salted water to the detainee.
African SurViVors International is extremely worrying about daily intimidations by the police and RPF and government agents against its members. To make more pressure on the West, the RPF regime and President Kagame have made internal conditions very difficult for the opposition leadership and members together with the proponents of freedom and human rights throughout the country.
The European Union, for its part, by approving a fund for the recent August 2010 elections in Rwanda, which has in fact being largely spent on RPF and Paul Kagame’s campaign, has made it easy for the RPF junta to make pressure, torture, send to prison and refuse to investigate assassinations of journalist and the VP of the Rwandan Greens, crimes that are done with total impunity.
We believe that RPF creation of the permanent enemy inside and outside Rwanda, the imprisonment of Ms Ingabire Umuhoza Victoire, the oppression of the Rwandan people, the physical and moral torture of the political opponents (FDU, Rwandan Greens, PS Imberakuli) and journalists will fuel, widespread and prolong tensions between Rwandans.
At the same time, even speaking about “the coup d’état” , the terrorist acts in Rwanda make things extremely difficult for us as the opponents of the current RPF regime and of course much more difficult for all of those human rights and pro-democracy activists in and outside Rwanda. No single Rwandan from all ethnic groups wants to see what happened to Rwanda in the February 28th 1993, April 6th 1994, 1995 Kibeho extermination of Hutus,1996 up to 1998 extermination of Rwandan and Congolese Hutu repeated.
We want Justice, democracy and peace for Rwanda and for all Rwandans… In order to help the process of democratization in this country, the western countries should best help by promoting dialogue between all parties in the conflict and pave the way for the creation of a truly stability in Rwanda through reconciliation. The impunity and repression should not be the basis of economic development in any country nor in Rwanda.
The opposition leaders are facing more deplorable conditions with every passing day. We do hope that the world community and all the forums that defend democracy and human rights will be unflinching in their support for such a regime quest for freedom and democracy.
The Rwandan people are entitled to freedom, democracy, reconciliation and human rights respect.
Therefore, we demand the immediate release of the FDU-Inkingi chairperson whose detention has only served to show the RPF’s intolerance of real democratic debate. It is prime time for the Kagame and RPF government to show leadership and to end the climate of fear, intimidation assassinations and imprisonment, which still surround the work of the opposition and of all Rwandans who differently think otherwise about the current socio-political situation in Rwanda.
Thank you for your attention to this pressing issue. We trust that you and appreciate its importance and that you will help to do what is right. The rest of world is watching.
Adopted and signed in Amsterdam this 16th October 2010
Very sincerely,
Jean-Christophe Nizeyimana
Founding Chairperson
African SurViVors International
Email : contactsurvivors@yahoo.com
Tel.: +31684030562
The Truth can be buried and stomped into the ground where none can see, yet eventually it will, like a seed, break through the surface once again far more potent than ever, and Nothing can stop it. Truth can be suppressed for a “time”, yet It cannot be destroyed. ==> Wolverine
