Rwanda asks South Africa to arrest Nyamwasa

Gen. Nyamwasa is wanted in Kigali to answer various criminal charges among them allegations that he was involved in a plot to topple President Paul Kagame.

Kampala

The Rwandan government has asked South Africa to arrest renegade Lt Gen Kayumba Nyamwasa, a diplomat has said. Mr Frank Mugambage, the Rwandan envoy to Uganda, told Daily Monitor on Friday in Kampala that Kigali has negotiated with South African authorities to arrest and extradite Gen. Nyamwasa.

“Although we do not have an extradition treaty with South Africa, they have agreed to cooperate with us to arrest him,” Mr Mugambage said, “In fact we have also alerted Interpol to arrest him whenever he is sighted and we hope very soon we shall catch up with him.”

Daily Monitor could not establish whether the South African embassy had officially received Rwanda’s diplomatic request as known mobile phone lines of most officials were switched off.
Gen. Nyamwasa is wanted in Kigali to answer various criminal charges among them allegations that he was involved in a plot to topple President Paul Kagame.

Refugees to return
Mr Mugambage also said the United Nations High Commission for Refugees has declared that by next year, all Rwandan refugees in Uganda and other countries will be returned home saying Rwanda is now safe. Most Rwandans fled their country during the 1994 genocide, described as the worst humanitarian catastrophe in Africa in recent history. About 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in the 100-day mayhem. Meanwhile, Mr Mugambage has said there was no contradiction in Rwanda joining the Commonwealth and while staying as a member of the Francophone society.

Commonwealth dilemma
He insisted that joining the Commonwealth, a loose grouping of former British colonies, is a mere lingua-franca issue rather than political. “We view language as a tool that helps Rwandans to engage in search for knowledge, technology and economic growth,” Mr Mugambage said, “We shall participate fully in the 40th anniversary of Francophone Day on March 20.”

Francophone Day brings together the 56 member states and governments and 14 observer countries that have close or colonial ties with France. The French ambassador in Uganda Mr Rene Forceville said the Francophone Day is open to any country that wants to associate with France. Although Rwanda was colonised by Belgium and has been using French as an official and instruction language, it was last November admitted to the Commonwealth community.

Recently, Rwanda adopted English as language of instruction in learning institutions, and is slowly on the path to dump French. The move is understood to stem from a French judge’s implication of President Kagame in the Rwandan genocide of 1994, an accusation which he rejected.