Press Release : – African SurViVors International (ASI) voices concerns about Déogratias Mushayidi Abduction

March 8,2010
ASI Calls for Immediate Release of Déogratias Mushayidi abducted by the Rwandan authorities in the neighboring Burundi.

[Since 1994, the world witnesses the horrifying Tutsi minority (14%) ethnic domination, the Tutsi minority ethnic rule, tyranny and corruption in Rwanda. The current government has been characterized by the total impunity of RPF criminals, the Tutsi economic monopoly, the Tutsi militaristic domination, and the brutal suppression of the rights of the majority of the Rwandan people (85% are Hutus), by the RPF criminal organization.=> ASIF]

Amsterdam. – ASI expresses its deepest concern about the kidnapping of the well-known Rwandan political opponent Mr. Déo Mushayidi by the Rwandan dictatorship regime in so far unclear conditions.
 ASI calls up on all democratic forces, Rwandan and International human rights organizations, advocates and supporters to take immediate action to secure the life and release of Mr. Déo Mushayidi , Chairperson of the PDP-IMANZI party.
ASI also urges the Burundian government not only to clarify the circumstances in which Mr. Déogratias Mushayidi has been abducted but also we insist on the Burundian authorities to investigate the case and find the perpetrators behind that shameful criminal act and bring them to justice in accordance with rights under Burundian and international law.



ASI notes that the situation of fundamental rights and freedoms in Rwanda is getting worse and worse while the August Elections approach. ASI entirely welcomes the US Senator Russ Feingold statement on Rwanda, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International declarations as they made a number of recommendations to the Rwandan government and to General Kagame himself on the situation of human rights violations and abuses in Rwanda. Instead of understanding remarks and implementing recommendations RECENTLY made by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, infringements of human rights standards persist, and, obviously, have intensified. Beside the fact that democracy and freedom values in this transitional period will hasten the fall of the RPF regime, there is lots of evidence that the current agonizing RPF regime is creating insecurity across the country while creating the enemies of peace namely political opponents. These RPF horrific atrocities need to be stopped.
Over the last few months, RPF leadership has indeed been increasingly trying to limit political opponents’ activities using all tricks and dirty tactics known as blocks and walls referring to General Kagame’s own words on BBC World. Such RPF vision adding to the dirty political and criminal games exert limits on freedom of speech and association. ASI states to the world community that Rwandans are than ever under disgraceful conditions created by the current RPF regime.
ASI notes with great concern that Rwandan individuals, who hold diverging opinions and or who criticize the RPF government and the RPF authorities about the existing dictatorship laws, the current unsatisfactory social and economic situation in Rwanda, are subjected to daily, weekly interrogations, RPF media propaganda, arbitrary arrests and detentions. Most of them are particularly charged with acts of terrorism, divisionism and genocidal ideology. General Paul Kagame uses these means of intimidation and harassment seeking his re-election.

In view of the above, Rwanda’s position is unacceptable. Therefore, the ASI urges the General Kagame and the RPF government:


• To immediate release Déo Mushayidi without any preconditions and on the contrary, to condemn, investigate the current case of insecurity, arrest and prosecute perpetrators inside the RPF organization with an exemplary punishment.
• To ensure that Déo Mushayidi is not subjected to torture and inhuman treatments, and to take the necessary steps to ensure that the perpetrators of those crimes are brought to justice before an independent and impartial court or tribunal.
• To ensure that the investigations concerning the abduction, arrest and imprisonment of Déo Mushayidi are carried out promptly, efficiently, and impartially;
• To cease harassment and intimidation of those Rwandans whose views are diverging from General Paul Kagame and his RPF ruling party;
• To cease harassment and intimidation of independent journalists (e.g. Umuseso), and to guarantee freedom of expression and freedom of the press;
• To refrain from creating new restrictions on the activities of political opposition parties, in order to respect and carry out freedom of association and freedom of speech.
• On International Women’s Day, as we celebrate the achievements of women and raise awareness of ongoing injustices against the Rwandan women particularly the presidential candidate Mrs. Ingabire Umuhoza Victoire, General Kagame should stop his ongoing harassment campaign against her before the country’s August 2010 presidential elections.

The ASI also urges the RPF government and General Kagame to fully implement the recommendations of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International on the current situation of human rights in Rwanda, and to comply with its international obligations. It is also timely to formulate an appropriate vision that is viable in front of the world Community to restore peace and stability in Rwanda. Those thrown grenades are the believed acts of RPF sabotage of democratic process to shift the blame on the political opponent and at the same time the RPF way of threatening Rwandans willing and determined to live otherwise than under the RPF dictatorship.

“The international community should not shy away from pushing for greater democratic space in Rwanda, which is critical for the country’s lasting stability. We fail to be true friends to the Rwandan people if we do not stand with them in the fight against renewed abuse of civil and political rights. In the next few months in the run-up to the elections, it is a key time for international donors to raise these issues with Kigali”.

ASI advises President Kagame not to forcibly seek re-election (see Spanish and French Arrest warrants) for the sake of peace and hope of the Rwandan future generations and in furtherance of national harmony, democracy and peace for all Rwandans.


ASI advises President Kagame not to succeed himself as president by reforming the constitutional law on daily basis for another reason: The RPF rule has caused much hardship on the Rwandan people during the last 16 years.

African SurVivors International has seen nothing so pointedly creative, popular or captivating that can make General Paul Kagame and the RPF dictatorship any different from other existing or previous bloody dictatorship in similar circumstances. The truth and nothing but the whole truth is that until General Kagame successfully and peacefully hand-over the power to Rwandans through fair democratic elections, Rwandans will be grateful for his courage. We therefore stand firm for the military-civilian transition in Rwanda and not to the continuing RPF junta dictatorship, which has destroyed millions of Rwandans and Congolese neighbors.
ASI reminds the public and the World Community in particular that Rwandan voters, political parties, political analysts and a host of truthful international observers said and still reaffirm that 2003 Rwandan presidential elections were massively and shamefully rigged in favor of the RPF and Kagame himself. While President Kagame proclaimed himself as president of Rwanda with the ever-seen communist score of 96%, many observers noted intimidation, arbitrary arrests, imprisonment and enforced disappearances across the country;
Human rights organizations, the Rwandan civil society and Rwandan political opponents outside the country have denounced the 2003 elections, loudly and clearly, separately and or jointly. If the RPF Forum obligations are not dismissed and the RPF forum dismantled, the RPF election committee dissolved to be reformed and make it independent, ASI will see the coming elections as illegal, an unacceptable and unprecedented monumental fraud.


“When a people is constrained to obey, and does obey, it does well; but as soon as it can throw off its yoke, and does throw it off, it does better: for a people may certainly use for the recovery of their liberty, the same right that was used to deprive them of it; it was either justifiably recovered or unjustifiably torn from them”.

The Representatives of the United States of America in General Congress assembled in 1776 declared as follows:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it”.
There is no denying that the World Community and the UN Security Council in particular failed to protect Rwandans – on the contrary – has urged the UN peacekeeping to leave Rwandans alone with Interahamwe militias and RPF criminals in 1994.


The same UN failure was repeated with the 1995 mass-murder of internal displaced people (IDPs) at the Rwandan Auschwitz- Kibeho death camp.

To finish the job, the UN Security Council has encouraged and again allowed RPF criminals and General Paul Kagame in particular to kill, assassinate and rape in 1996 up to 1998 their fellow citizens who were refugees in Congo. General Kagame received at that moment a green card to mass murder children, women, and other innocent elder men and women, Rwandans, Congolese and some foreigners from Spain and other western countries only because victims happened to be Hutu refugees or were protecting them, a criminal act contrary to the Geneva conventions and Universal declaration on Human rights.

In the present critical climate in Kigali, African SurViVors International lastly urges the World Community and the Free World in particular NOT ANYMORE to abandon Rwandans this time during the period of turmoil expelled by the RPF tyrannical regime. In this context, the World Community should consider the best way of helping Rwandans by taking effective measures and treat the Rwandan crisis with the seriousness the problem requires. The ball is in your court.


Done in Amsterdam, March 10, 2010
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Jean-Christophe Nizeyimana
Chairperson
African SurVivors International
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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