Despite claims that Rwandan spies could have been planning on murdering two opposition politicians in Britain, London says the millions of pounds in annual funding from there will keep flowing.
The UK Department for International Development (DFID) says it has no intention of scaling back its average annual aid payment of 83m pounds to Rwanda. The contribution which comes mainly in direct budget support has benefited 135,200 of the country’s poorest people, said DFID in statement.
On Thursday, several western media were abuzz with reports suggesting that Rwandans Rene Claude Mugenzi and Jonathan Musonera had been warned by UK police to watch their steps as intelligence pointed to fears for their lives.
In hand-delivered letters dated May 12, the UK Metropolitan Police Service warned the dissidents that the threat on their lives “could come in any form” and that “unconventional means” had been used before.
Kigali for its part is demanding an investigation, which should be followed with a public apology from the UK Police. Government has demanded in a statement that British police “make a full and public retraction of their previous statements”.
Rwanda response comes one week after the Britain-based The Times published an interview by a senior local police officer, who warned that a Rwandan suspected of being part of the assassination threat against his exiles counterparts (living in London) was stopped at the Eurotunnel terminal in Folkestone, Kent, with a mission to execute the murders. The man was not allowed into the country.
In Britain, Rwanda’s single largest financier, British opposition voices have called for a full investigation and the findings be made public. Eric Joyce, chairman of the All-Parliamentary Group on the Great Lakes Region of Africa, urged ministers to regard it “as a priority” to investigate the allegations.
“I have a lot respect for what President Kagame has done, but the Rwandan government has a reputation for not brooking any opposition,” Mr Joyce told The Independent newspaper.
As for the two men whose life is supposedly in danger, Rwanda believes they do not even merit to be called “dissidents” or opposition.
“Media should take note that the two individuals warned by the Metropolitan Police are practically unknown in Rwanda Government circles and most certainly do not qualify in Kigali as “political dissidents”,” said the government response.
“Manipulation of media and opinion by individuals and groups engaged in criminal activities against Rwandan people and the tarnishing of our nation’s image should not be given any value.”
Who are the two Rwandans threatened ?
Rene Claudel Mugenzi narrates that in March he asked a pointed question to President Paul Kagame, during a BBC call-in show about whether Mr. Kagame believed an Egypt-style revolution could happen in Rwanda. He also helped organize a recent meeting of exiled Rwandans in London.
He has been living in Britain since 1997 and has frequently criticized Rwanda’s government for rights abuses. Mr. Mugenzi, who says he holds British as well as Rwandan citizenship, also works as a director at the London Center for Social Impact.
Jonathan Musonera, for his part claims he was a former Rwandan Army captain who fled to Britain in 2001 after defecting while the army was fighting in Congo. He said he was subsequently tortured by the Rwandan government. Now a critic of the government, he said the British police visited his home about an hour before the visit to Mr. Mugenzi.
Full Government statement :
Following press reports that the lives of Rwandan citizens living in the UK were in danger, the Government of Rwanda has issued the following statement :The Government of Rwanda rejects in the strongest terms the allegations of an assassination plot against two Rwandans living in the UK. Never does the Government of Rwanda threaten the lives of its citizens, nor use violence against its people, wherever they live. Unveiling identities of people whose lives are supposedly threatened and then calling the alleged culprits “Government of Rwanda” without a shred of evidence, is both unfair and unjust. The Metropolitan Police have not approached us with any evidence of these allegations. However, we are ready as always to work with them to ensure that nobody, be they Rwandan or not, is the victim of violence on British soil. The Government of Rwanda welcomes requests by UK Members of Parliament Douglas Alexander and Eric Joyce, to shed light on this whole affair, and should these allegations be shown to be false, the Government of Rwanda would expect the Metropolitan Police to make a full and public retraction of their previous statements. Media should take note that the two individuals warned by the Metropolitan Police are practically unknown in Rwanda Government circles and most certainly do not qualify in Kigali as “political dissidents”. Manipulation of media and opinion by individuals and groups engaged in criminal activities against Rwandan people and the tarnishing of our nation’s image should not be given any value.