Uganda on Wednesday facilitated a prominent fugitive wanted in Rwanda for genocide crimes to return to Belgium, The New Times can report.
An investigation by this newspaper established that Ugandan authorities first intervened when Anastase Munyandekwe was arrested in the capital Kampala and secured his release.
Munyandekwe, who arrived in Uganda using a Belgian passport in January 2019, had been arrested by one security organ on the basis of an Interpol red notice before another security agency intervened and had him freed.
Days after his release, he flew from Entebbe International Airport yesterday night, according to reliable sources.
Munyandekwe, a fugitive of justice who was convicted by Gacaca courts for his role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, has been on Interpol Red Notice for nearly 12 years.
Born in 1950 in Mburi cell, Rwamweru sector in former Kinyamakara commune in the former Gikongoro prefecture, Munyandekwe was a senior member of the extremist MDR-Power party.
He was leader of MDR-Power in former Gikongoro prefecture, but during the Genocide he lived in Rugunga cell, Biryogo sector in the capital Kigali.
He worked at the former Ministry of Transport and Communication, or Ministere de Transport et de la Communication (Minitransco) as Head of Department of Research and ICT (Etude et Informatique dans l'Office) of the Post Office.
Evidence gathered during investigations conducted in Biryogo sector, as well as Nyamagabe and Nyaruguru districts showed that Munyandekwe participated in the killings.
He was found guilty of direct and public incitement to commit genocide and subsequently sentenced in absentia by Biryogo Gacaca court to life in prison.
Munyandekwe, who has since acquired Belgian citizenship, was later put on the Interpol wanted list.
Travel history
Reasons for Munyandekwe’s latest trip to Uganda remain unclear but he has previously made several visits to the country even as he was a wanted person.
Details about his travel history show that he arrived at Entebbe International Airport for his latest trip on January 9, 2019, at 10:31p.m, using Belgian passport No. EN736469. He had last visited Kampala on September 12, 2018 departing on October 28, 2018.
Weeks ago, however, the Genocide fugitive was arrested in Kampala under Interpol notice for his role in the Genocide in Rwanda, before authorities intervened and secured his release, according to reliable sources.
"He will be leaving Kampala at the earliest opportunity,” a source said before the fugitive could Kampala.
Subsequently, Ugandan authorities facilitated the Genocide fugitive to leave the neighbouring country and return to Belgium on Wednesday this week, reliable sources confirmed to this newspaper.
"It’s a shame that someone who goes around claiming to be a Pan-Africanist sends a genocidaire who committed crimes on the African continent to a Western country instead of helping to bring him to justice,” said a Kigali-based analyst. "Survivors and victims of Munyandekwe’s crimes will be disappointed in Museveni’s government action.”
A copy of Munyandekwe’s travel history, which The New Times saw, shows that Munyandekwe has visited Uganda at least six times since July 2011.
Following the Genocide, Munyandekwe continued to work with the forces that committed the Genocide, going as far as assuming high-profile positions within FDLR ranks. FDLR is an offshoot of ex-FAR, Interahamwe militia and other extremist elements that committed the Genocide in which over a million people lost their lives.
In particular, Munyandekwe served as spokesperson of the Murwanashyaka FDLR faction in 2004.
Ignace Murwanashyaka, who died from Germany in April this year, was arrested in 2009 before a German court found him guilty of several counts, largely linked to his role in FDLR atrocities in DR Congo. FDLR has long been listed as a terrorist organisation. He was still in jail when he passed away.
According to a testimony from Straton Musoni, once FDLR vice-president and who was tried alongside Murwanashyaka, in a court in Stuttgart, Germany, that Munyandekwe was removed from his position of spokesperson for embezzling US$29,000 from FDLR coffers to buy a taxi in Brussels.
Munyandekwe was first put on Interpol wanted list on October 9, 2007 for crimes committed between April 6-July 19, 1994 in Rwanda.
A safe haven for génocidaires
According to National Public Prosecution Authority, Uganda is one of the countries hosting the largest number of wanted Genocide suspects, with Rwanda’s neighbour also having previously facilitated FDLR’s Ignace Murwanashyaka’s travels in breach of a standing UN embargo.
Kampala has also previously been accused of issuing Ugandan passports to wanted Genocide suspects and FDLR emissaries to ease their movement in and out of the region.
Earlier this year, evidence emerged that the Ugandan government was also issuing passports to RNC members, including Charlotte Mukankusi, the dissident group’s head of diplomacy.
RNC is a terrorist outfit led by South Africa-based wanted Rwandan fugitive Kayumba Nyamwasa and it is responsible for grenade attacks that claimed the lives of at least 17 people and injured hundreds others, mainly in the capital Kigali, between 2010 and 2014.
Testimonies from arrested rebel leaders – including FDLR’s spokesperson Ignace Nkaka, alias LaForge Fils Bazeye, and head of intelligence Lt Col Jean Pierre Nsekanabo, indicated that Uganda facilitating talks between RNC, FDLR and other anti-Rwanda groups with view to joining hands in destabilising Rwanda. The two were arrested by Congolese security on their way from a meeting with RNC operatives in Kampala. The meeting was attended by a Ugandan cabinet minister Phelomon Mateke.
A UN report released December last year confirmed that Uganda was a major source of recruits for Rwandan rebel outfits based in eastern DR Congo.
Hundreds of Rwandans have also been illegally arrested and tortured in Uganda, sparking a diplomatic row that has seen Kigali issuing a travel advisory to Uganda.
Angola and DR Congo earlier this month offered to help broker talks to end the crisis following a mini-regional summitin Luanda.
editor@newtimesrwanda.co.rw