Call to stop Rwandan aid over death threats to exiles

Kim Howells fears Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s government is   becoming more autocratic

The UK should withdraw aid from Rwanda if its government is threatening opponents living here, says the former Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells.
The BBC has learned at least three exiled Rwandans have been told their lives are at risk from the Rwandan government.
The UK is Rwanda‘s biggest direct aid donor, giving £83m a year.

The Rwandan High Commissioner in London has dismissed the allegations as “bogus”.
Earlier this year two Rwandans living in London received warnings from the Metropolitan Police that the Rwandan government posed an imminent threat to their lives.

The two men, Jonathan Musonera and Rene Mugenzi, have been openly critical of Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who has been in power since establishing peace after the 1994 genocide.
Jonathan Musonera is a founding member of the Rwanda National Congress, an organisation launched last year in opposition to President Kagame’s government, which is accused of carrying out human rights abuses, and suppressing political freedom.
The BBC has now identified a third UK resident who has also been notified of a similar threat. This third man, Noble Marara, says he is aware of two others who have also been warned of danger, suggesting at least five Rwandans may be at risk.

Mr Marara believes he is in danger because he gave evidence to a French judicial enquiry that was detrimental to Mr Kagame.
Since arriving in the UK in 2005, Mr Marara has moved house more than seven times, and changed his car three times. He will not eat in restaurants for fear of being poisoned.
“I stay away from the Rwandese community,” he says. “I may speak to them, but not meet them or show my address, and I cook for myself because I cannot trust anybody – that’s for sure.
“Many people have been poisoned.”
Since receiving the warning that his life is in danger, Jonathan Musonera has doubled the locks on his door, changed his daily routine, and forbidden his wife and daughter to leave the house unaccompanied.
“I was very scared. The Rwandan government, they can use anything, they can use anyone.”
The British government is a strong supporter of Rwanda, and one of its biggest direct aid donors – giving the country £83m a year.
Network of spies
But former Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells, who was head of the Intelligence and Security Committee until last year, says President Kagame is becoming increasingly autocratic.
He argues these death threats are the latest in a series of events that raise a question mark over Britain’s continued support: “If there’s any hint at all that these people are threatening people whether they’re British citizens or residents, then we must say to them ‘I’m sorry this aid is going to be cut off immediately’, and that’s a threat they certainly could not afford to ignore.” Paul Rusesabagina of Hotel Rwanda fame was honoured for sheltering more than 1,000 Rwandans during the genocide.

Now living in exile, he has become one of President Kagame’s most high-profile critics. While he welcomes the humanitarian aid provided by the international community, he argues that Britain is wrong to give the Rwandan government direct financial support:
“My message to the British people, the British administration would be to stop what they call direct aid, this money injected into nation’s budgets.
“Since the UK is among the few nations which are giving cash to today’s Rwandan government, I would advise [them] to stop”.
The BBC understands that British ministers are taking the death threats extremely seriously and they called in the Rwandan High Commissioner in London, Ernest Rwamucyo, to give an explanation.
The Foreign Office refused to comment on the outcome of those discussions, but made it clear that the UK does not tolerate such activity.
However, Mr Rwamucyo told the BBC: “We were really quite shocked and found the Metropolitan Police warnings are bogus, baseless and absolutely untrue.”
“There’s no way Rwanda would ever think of doing such a thing, and of all places, in the UK. We have such a strong relationship, one of confidence and trust, with the UK. We don’t have any reason whatsoever to even think of doing such a thing.”
Despite those denials, many of those File on 4 spoke to believe there is a network of spies at the heart of the Rwandan refugee community in Britain, and claim it includes students, asylum seekers and former Rwandan Patriotic Front soldiers.
Mr Mugenzi used to work for a refugee organisation in London and says he has seen the documents of individuals who claim to be fleeing the Rwandan government but then become fervent supporters. ‘Candid relationship’.

 African SurViVors International (ASI) is an international nonpartisan charity organization devoted to defending human rights. It’s an organization working to promote democracy and national reconciliation, inside countries of the African Great lakes Region.

ASI centers its work on the twin concepts of freedom of self-determination and freedom from tyranny. These ideals include the belief that all human beings have the rights to speak freely, to associate with those of like mind, and to leave and enter their countries. Individuals in a free society must be accorded equal treatment and due process under law, and must have the opportunity to participate in the governments of their countries;

ASI’s ideals likewise find expression in the conviction that all human beings have the right to be free from arbitrary detainment or exile and from interference and coercion in matters of conscience. ASI does not support nor condone violence.

 
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