Gen Rwigema with Gen Saleh

Dear comrade, I wish not to disclose my names here but would like to tell you that myself and many officers of RDF do appreciate the work you and your friends are doing outside countries.

I am a serving Army Officer in the Rwanda Defence Forces and I have served my country for over 26 years right from the struggle days. I am not going to mention which country I came from before joining the RPA, reason being that I want to stop being zeroed on. I want to be GACURABWENGYE if you remember those days. In fact I trust you remember for you were in the Republican Guard at the time.

The reason I took the time to write this is to assure you guys that we are together no matter what, despite the different tasks we are tasked to do here at the centre of gravity (Rwanda).

I want to share my observations with your audience and Rwandan at large my observation about where our motherland is heading. Here I want to first go into President Kagame’s head and tell you how he sees himself, our party RPF, the Army and the Country at large.

Pre 1990 RPF

It is a well-known fact that before 1990, RPF was headed by Gen. Fred Rwigema who later recruited Col. Alexis Kanyarengwe to deputise him from Tanzania where he had fled President Habyarimana.

Gen Fred Rwigema was not stupid to persuade Col. Alexis Kanyarengwe to deputise him and help him fight Habyarimana a guy he knew better that any of us combatants.

Maj Kagame was head of Administration and Finance in the NRA’s Department of Military Intelligence. The actual Director of Military Intelligence Basima House was Maj. Byemalo.

After the tragic death of Gen Rwigema, Col. Kanyarengwe remained the Party Chairman, with all its echelons to the smallest cell of each Country (ZONES). Under Col Kanyarengwe we had the Party executives including people like Jacque Bihozagara, Pasteur Bizimungu, Patrick Mazimpaka, Seth Sendashonga to mention but a few.

RPA 1990

The RPA was an armed youth wing under the actual main Party RPF. On its day of the attack, it was headed by Gen Fred Rwigema, Maj Dr Peter Bayingana, Maj Chris Bunyenyezi, Lt Col Adam Waswa, Maj Stephen Ndugute, Maj Sam Kaka, Maj Kabura and many senior Captains including Dodo Twahirwa, Kizza, Musitu, Kayitare, Muhire, Ngoga, Bagire, Byaruhanga, Karangwa, Gashumba, Furuma, Kamarade, Gahutu, Karemera, Igoma to mention but a few.

How About Maj Paul Kagame?

After the death of Gen Fred Rwigema, Maj Paul Kagame was called back from a course that Gen Fred had sent him on in America since he was causing (Kavuyo) chaos just before the raid on Rwanda. It is highly possible that Kagame was sent away due to the fact that his father-in-law the late Murefu who resided in Jinja at Mzee Karimba’s home at the time was suspected of being a RWASIL (Habyarimana’s Intelligence) informant.

It is however important to mention that Kagame had been Museveni’s (IS) Intelligence Staff in the bush. Actually Kagame had been at Fred Rwigyema’s home on the day Museveni started his guerrilla war, therefore taking him with them but as an un-armed (Muzigo) civilian, others calling him Rwigyems’s young brother. So he was well acquainted with President Museveni.

Kagame’s RPA

Maj Kagame was called back by Museveni because he did not want his brother Gen Salim Saleh to lead the war, the promise Gen Saleh had given to Rwigema, because it would make him a munyaRwanda too, and he did not trust Lt Col Adam Waswa or Maj Stephen Ndugute who was much senior due to his history of FEDEMO, this had been another rebel group commanded by Steven Ndugute which had challenged Museveni before becoming a united force under one command of Museveni’s NRA.

On his arrival Maj Kagame was not liked by many officers and men from Uganda due to his notoriety. They called him names like Mukene, macho-ine and so forth. This was mostly done by officers like Capt Kayitare who openly belittled him due to his lack of command and strategy. Kagame relied solely on Gen Salim Saleh whom he reported to on a daily basis.

This was made possible by posting one of our RPA radio operator at Gen Saleh’s home in Kololo to specifically relay operation messages from the fighting force in Rwanda to him.

Maj Kagame pitched Camp at the NRA 7^th Division HQS in Mbarara nearly 100 miles from the battle from until we captured Mulindi Tea Factory in 1992.

Among the RPA fighting force, Kagame was seen as a coward but the only link they had to President Museveni who supplied us with Ammo and Weapons. Kagame on the other side was planning a bigger plan on the commanders who in fact so themselves as a bunch of brothers let alone comrades.

Kagame Breaks the RPA

By the year 1992, Kagame moved his Camp from Mbarara to Mulindi Tea Factory in Byumba. Kagame occupied a house of the Head of the Tea Factory, which had running Water and a powered by a diesel generator, a basketball pitch and a tennis court where he spent most of his time.

By this time the RPA had gained much power and advantage over the government forces and we had been forced to withdraw back several miles creating a buffer zone controlled by Foreign Forces (UNMOG) United Nations Military Observer Group. We were observing a seize fire and our political party (RPA) contingent was in Arusha in peaceful negotiations with the Rwanda Government.

During this time our job as a fighting force was not active at all. All we spent time doing was training our troops in Battle tactics, field crafts and marksmanship due to the limited training they had initially acquired.

Kagame on the other hand got a chance of spending time with the major commanders and breaking them one by one.

Kagame achieved this by causing intrigues amongst the now relaxed commanders.  Here he started by segregating the officers who came from elsewhere in Uganda rather than refugee camps. They were called all sorts of derogatory names like Kyakulaganda and others.

Rightly said most of these officers were not refugees but rather Ugandans of Rwandan descent. They carried Ugandan names, and they were fierce fighters due to their experience in Ugandan armies.

While Kagame did this we all observed and we felt alright with it. We were secretly told that they deserved it. Sometimes it was whispered in our ears that they were planning to defector and run back to Uganda.

This had happened some time back when Kagame planned and assassinated Capt. Muvunanyambo, a former Habyarimana’s body guard whom we had rescued from Ruhengeri maximum prison alongside Maj Lizinde and Commander Biseruka.

After his assassination were secretly told that he had been caught defecting to the enemy and that he had been communicating with the enemy. The mere fact however, was that Capt. Muvunanyambo was a learnt guy that liked to question. With Kagame you don’t question.

A little earlier on Kagame had staged an assassination of Capt Sam Byaruhanga the Commander of the famous Alpha Mobile Force.

After his assassination we were given different verdicts just to protect the actual reason of his death. Days later followed the staged assassination of Lt Col Adam Waswa.

For some reason Kagame managed to find a way of manipulating other commanders either in denying the cause of death of their comrades or finding a blame on the deceased.

The final blow was the killing of then Commander Kayitare at Mukarangye hill while we had seized fire. We in the senior command of the RDF know that Kagame would not have stomached the fact that the cerebrated Kayitare would land in Kigali with his fame.

Kayitare had already created a close friendship with Col Kabirigi a government commander whom he had fiercely fought before we seized fire. They would occasionally meet in Ngondore and have a good laugh and get their respective forces play football while they watched.

When Kayitare was assassinated we were shocked but somehow we were scared to say a word or question his death.

Comrade Marara I am sorry for the lengthy narrative, I have taken a few days to put this together and I have had to cut it into two or three parts for your reader’s convenience.

In my next part I shall show you how the band of brothers we were when we led the RPA war, Kagame has broken it. He is killing and imprisoning one by one and we are scared to say a word. Some of us you have seen in Courts giving falsified evidence just to incriminate Commanders who built this Army. I shall also show how Kagame managed to destroy RPA and all its institutions and its executive intellectuals one by one, and finally how he is about to destroy the entire country Rwanda.

Aluta Continua!!