SOUTHERN PROVINCE HUYE – Teaching and non teaching staff at the National University of Rwanda (NUR) on Friday added their voice against the arrest of President Paul Kagame’s aide, Rose Kabuye. Kabuye, the Director of State Protocol, was arrested on November 9 in the Germany city of Frankfurt while on state duty. The arrest was based on the arrest warrants issued in 2006 by a French Judge, Jean Louis Bruguiere against nine senior Rwandan officials. The heavily contested indictments implicated the officials in the April 1994 plane shooting that killed the then Rwandan President, Juvenal Habyarimana, Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira and some French crew members. From the university campus, the protestors marched through Huye town before rallying at the Huye stadium where different speakers condemned the arrest of Kabuye and called for her immediate release. Carrying placards, members of the varsity community called for an end to what they described as the arrogance of France and other European countries. They blamed the European countries for giving Genocide perpetrators sanctuary -while being hostile to people like Kabuye, who fought to stop the Genocide. The Varsity dons vowed to use their intellectual power to expose the flaws in Bruguiere’s indictments and do more research on the role of France during and after the Genocide in Rwanda. “These arrest warrants should not be treated in isolation. We need to research into the conduct of the French government after the 1994 Genocide until today. This may shade more light on the current issue of the indictments,” said Casmir Dukunzimana, of the School of Languages.Gerald Rwagasana, the President of the University Dons Association, called upon dons to use their knowledge to speak out against injustices committed against Rwanda by France and some European powers. Ends
