In September 2018, along with over 2000 other convicted prisoners, Victoire Ingabire was granted early release and given a chance to redeem herself. She didn’t take it. It’s tempting to say she’s getting up to her old tricks again. But the search of her house by RIB shows that she never stopped. Behind attempts to sanitize her tainted persona through weak publicity stunts, and changes in name only (from RDR to DALFA), there is ample evidence that Ingabire resumed her criminal activities as soon as she got out of prison. Rwandan security agencies have been systematically and deliberately gathering relevant facts and evidence on Ingabire’s criminal activities. Victoire Ingabire shows up as a common denominator of a wide range of situations, as revealed through information from confessions of convicted criminals, surrendered combatants who were transferred from DRC, defectors from subversive groups based in Uganda, and others. We now know that one of Victoire’s associates was intercepted as he attempted to link up with an external terror group, and provided information that led to the search of her home, and that of others linked to her. Rwandans want to know what Victoire Ingabire and her sinister networks are up to. She must be exposed and held accountable for any criminal activity. In a pattern similar to that established by other criminals bent on destabilizing Rwanda, Ingabire banks on the unwavering support of media outlets, NGOs and certain regional networks. Deliberately blinding themselves to the facts, these groups persist with their false depiction of Victoire Ingabire as a victim and an opposition leader, and amplify her destructive ideology. While this has become an expected feature in the fight against identified criminal networks, any keen observer of dynamics in Rwanda knows that no one is above the law, irrespective of who backs them or advocates for them. The bottom line is Rwanda’s security institutions act based on facts and available evidence, and should continue to ignore any and all targeted “pressures”.
