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The East African : Jul 5th 2015
4 CHALLENGE IN COURT Rwanda now makes plans to fight all indictments by Spanish court 40 senio≥ milita≥y o∞cials we≥e indicted by Spanish cou≥t in 2008 By EDMUND KAGIRE The EastAfrican R wanda is working on a plan to challenge indictments by a Spanish judge against 40 senior Rwandan military officials following the recent arrest of the country’s head of intelligence and security services in London. Even as the government called off protests outside the British High Commission in Kigali, where Rwandans were demanding the release of Lt Gen Emmanuel Karenzi Karake, it said it will now use the court case against the intelligence chief to fight the February 2008 indictments. Rwanda’s Justice Minister Johnston Busingye told The EastAfrican on Friday that they will seek to disprove the legitimacy of the indictments. “The way forward for us now is to challenge this injustice in court. We trust that the British courts will do what is needful. We will also do our best not only to prove Gen Karenzi Karake’s innocence, but also challenge the grounds on which he was arrested,” said Mr Busingye, who also doubles up as the Attorney General. An internal document circu- lated to senior government officials, and seen by The EastAfrican, indicates that Rwanda intends to challenge the legitimacy of the Spanish indictments on the grounds that they had been overruled by another judge in the Spanish National High Court. The arrest of Gen Karake on a European arrest warrant stemming from indictments issued by Spanish Judge Fern- The EastAfrican NEWS JULY 4-10,2015 Kabila accused of delaying tactics By FRED OLUOCH Special Correspondent OPPONENTS OF President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo have accused him of calling for national dialogue as a ploy to stay in power longer than his two terms. President Kabila mooted the proposal to deliberate on how to hold peaceful elections in November next year, saying the national dialogue was to avoid a repeat of the 2011 election in which the results were violently disputed by the opposition. But the opposition claims it is a delaying tactic that will go beyond the scheduled November 2016 presidential election. President Kabila conducted ando Andreu Merelles sparked outrage, with Kigali condemning the UK government for detaining the Rwandan official who has diplomatic privileges. The Spanish judge accuses Gen Karake and 39 others of carrying out massacres after the 1994 genocide in revenge killings targeting Hutus. Rwanda vehemently rejects these accusations that target senior military officials who were members of the Rwanda Patriotic Front Inkotanyi, which took power in 1994. President Paul Kagame cas- tigated the UK for what he termed as “absolute arrogance and contempt” in arresting the 54-year-old general, who remains in the UK on bail pending an extradition hearing set for October 29 and 30. It is understood that the Spanish judge and interest groups are already pushing the UK government to extradite Gen Karake to Spain to face trial; Rwanda has vowed to fight the planned extradition in the UK court. Kigali is currently gathering Demonstrators call for the release of Rwanda’s intelligence chief General Karenzi Karake outside Westminster Magistrates Court in London on June 25. Picture: AFP evidence to use in the case in which Rwanda will be represented by a group of powerful lawyers led by Cherie Booth, the wife of former British prime minister Tony Blair. Regional observers say that if Gen Karake is extradited, it would present an opportunity for Rwanda to ultimately challenge the indictments. “If Karake is extradited to Spain — which is a strong possibility — this will mean a detailed legal examination of the evidence against him in the Spanish courts,” said Phil Clark, a UK-based scholar who specialises in the Great Lakes region and the Genocide against the Tutsi. Dr Clark said that Human OUT ON BAIL Rwanda’s intelligence chief Gen Karenzi Karake was granted bail of £1 million ($1.6 million) by a court in London. Gen Karake was detained at London’s Heathrow Airport on June 20, in response to a European arrest warrant. Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame had earlier launched a scathing verbal attack on the UK government over Gen Karake’s arrest. President Kagame said it was a continuation of “colonialism” and accused the British of “arrogance and contempt”. Gen Karake is accused by Spain of ordering massacres in the wake of the 1994 Rwanda genocide. President Kagame added that the British had been patronising, “wagging a finger at the African and telling him this is where you belong. We are no longer the African that belongs there”. Rights Watch and other observers have previously criticised aspects of the Spanish arrest warrants for their lack of strong evidence against Rwandan officials, and the fact that 40 officials have been named in a fairly slapdash manner. “It may be in Rwanda’s inter- ests for Gen Karake to directly challenge the Spanish charges in court, as Rose Kabuye did in a similar case in France in 2008, and highlight the weaknesses of the Spanish case,” he added. Similar case In November 2006, French judge Jean-Louis Bruguière issued an arrest warrant for nine people, including Rtd Lieutenant Colonel Kabuye. She was serving as the chief of protocol for President Kagame in November 2008 when she was arrested in Frankfurt, Germany on charges that were lifted in March 2009. According to Mr Busingye, the extradition can also be challenged on diplomatic grounds, considering that Gen Karake was travelling on a diplomatic passport and on official duty. It was feared that the arrest would spark a bitter diplomatic row between Rwanda and the UK, which remains Rwanda’s biggest development partner. These fears have since been brushed aside, with Mr Busingye saying that the co-operation between Rwanda and Britain cannot be “narrowed down” to this legal issue. a similar exercise in 2013 to address issues affecting the country, but none of the recommendations were implemented and it only succeeded in luring some opposition members to the government side. Leading opposition party Movement for the Liberation of Congo, led by Jean-Pierre Bemba who is currently at The Hague on war crimes charges, has refused to present its views, saying that some of the 2013 resolutions, like the allocation of 40 per cent of national revenue to provincial administrations, have not been implemented. Jumping the gun Foreign Minister and gov- ernment spokesman Lambert Mende said the census was needed to ensure a more accurate voter register, and accused the opposition of jumping the gun on the issues of a third term because the president has said he will respect the Constitution. There were massive public protests in January when the Lower House passed a motion calling for a national census before the 2016 election. Yolande Bouka, Institute for Security Studies senior researcher in charge of Central Africa and the Great Lakes region, told The EastAfrican that President Kabila’s quest for a third term faces major obstacles in his ruling coalition, the opposition, the Catholic Church, and in his home province of Katanga. “The January protests were a sign of things to come. Should more protests erupt as the elections approaches, the situation could be more violent than recently witnessed in Burundi,” said Dr Bouka.
Jun 28th 2015
Jul 12th 2015