Rose Kabuye traveled ahead of President Paul Kagame in preparation for his official visit to European countries. However news started filtering in on Sunday, November 9 that she had been arrested and detained at Frankfurt International Airport by German police.

It emerged the Germans were working to enforce an indictment issued by a French magistrate one Jean Louise Bruiguire, who alleges that she was involved in the shooting down of the airliner carrying former tyrant Juvenal Habyarimana in April 1994.

A refugee childhood

Following the 1959 Tutsi Genocide and subsequent pogroms, many Banyarwanda fled the country and settled in neighbouring countries. According to different sources, Rose Kabuye’s family settled in the Nakivale refugee settlement in what is currently known as Isingiro district in Ankole, Uganda.

With no tangible material assets to their names, many parents of Banyarwanda refugees decided that the best way to create opportunities and hope for their children was to give them education.

And their children did not disappoint. Many schoolmates of the then Banyarwanda refugee children in Ugandan up to this day remember many of them as high achievers in class.

Rose Kabuye had her early education in western Uganda and later attended Makerere University. Like many refugees forced out of their country, a consciousness developed among them as they sought to find solutions to the question of statelessness.

The old generation, is said to have organised incursions into Rwanda in an effort to liberate their motherland. However they achieved little success but nevertheless passed on the revolutionary zeal to their children.

Rose belongs to a generation of the then Banyarwanda refugees who later sought to build a revolutionary movement that would work to liberate Rwanda.

Call to public service

Upon completing her University education, in the late eighties, Rose joined the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) Inkotanyi that had been formed in 1987. She also around this time held different positions in the Ugandan army and government.

More so, her role in the 1990-94- struggle, against dictatorship, earned her a status of a heroine in Rwanda. She remains a source of inspiration and for many young women and girls. She represents the reality that with determination, women can achieve whatever targets they set.

Her participation in the liberation struggle inspired many women to join the struggle  in different capacities and up to now, many testify that they have been inspired into public service by the example women like Kabuye set during the struggle.

RPF captured power in July 1994. Subsequently, Rose served as mayor of Kigali city. During her time at the helm of the city Kigali started expanding and upscale suburbs started coming up. She later became a member of parliament for several years. She is remembered as one of the most productive debaters in the house.

Now as the Director General of State Protocol she at times is part of the presidential entourage. In her position, she in most cases is part of the President’s advance team when he is traveling. It was on such an assignment that she was arrested at Frankfurt International Airport in Germany.

Upon her arrest, media reports indicated that she had requested to be transferred to France where she would face the case head on. This according to observers is not only testimony of her resilience and courage, but a clear conscience.

She was visited by President Kagame in prison who said that the arrest of Kabuye was a violation of Rwanda’s sovereignty. In the country many people braved an afternoon downpour to show solidarity with her and express their anger at the blatant arrogance displayed by the Germans in arresting the country’s top official on a clear national/presidential assignment.

On Wednesday, she was transferred to France where she appeared before a Judge and was later released on bail. She appeared composed, happy and poised as ever as she greeted well wishers outside the court in Paris. She is married to David Kabuye with three children.  Her husband is also a veteran of the RPF struggle for liberation.

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