troxy1President Paul Kagame of Rwanda was fuming at his ambassadors, after the Oxford incident where the Rwandese and Congolese protesters made him scratch his head repeatedly. He clearly indicated his concerns to the ambassadors in a private meeting after Rwanda day in London on 18/05/13. In this Private meeting, which was held in closed doors, he explained to them that it had come to his attention that they did not know what their responsibilities were as his ambassadors. One of the ambassadors stressed to our reporter that, it had been thought that the meeting was going to be about reflecting and evaluating but turned out that President Kagame was aggressive in manner, and instead he started threatening and using abusive language as well as demoralising most of them highlighting names of some of the ambassadors he said were useless.

In his words ‘’what do you do here? Why do we send you to Europe?  Did you see what happened to me in Oxford? You talking of having a hall full of the Rwandans who are just sat there waiting to be fed and transported back to where you got them from and you have done nothing to stop what happened in Oxford, do you know that I had to be rescued by a police car from Said College in Oxford? What a shame, why didn’t you send at least five hundred of those so called intore to stop those crazy people from doing what they did to me? Do you know I was stopped on the road by those thugs? If you had sent those intore’s at least the British Police would have had enough work, because they show less interest in stopping the protesters’’.

When I received this information I reflected as well and tried to recall exactly what happened in Oxford. As a person who was part of these demonstrations and also part of Kagame’s body guards many years ago, I think he may have a point because I also believe things should have been handled differently. I am not sympathising with Kagame but with Rwanda as my country that still owns an embarrassment of a mentally disturbed person who calls himself a president.

A president is considered to be a very important person and it does not matter if he is in his country or abroad. A president should be entitled to having what is called “advance party.” This is a team of officials especially body guards who go to where the president is expected prior to the President or principals arrival. These people gather information either positive or negative, and all information has to be followed up on.  This means seeking reinforcement or continuation of the principal’s visit or even cancelling when necessary due to this collected information.

If the journey cannot be deemed as a secure situation then it has to be either postponed or even cancelled for their safety and the safety of those traveling in the Presidential detail.

Even though the British police were present, the Principal car Kagame was travelling in should have had some forces to surround it when it was stopped. Instead the two boys who were sat in the advance car with Gen Karenzi only remained locked inside when the protesters were advancing on the motorcade. This situation was very embarrassing because Kagame had arrived at the destination so they should have come out to cover him because they knew very well that there were police outside, but bear in mind these were street police not body guards. The main concern of these street police was the protesters not Kagame. Also the rear guard car which was behind Kagame did nothing. The driver of that rear car was supposed to use that car as a weapon like the police used the horses to disperse the protesters. I know this because that was my assigned duty at one time when I was part of the presidential guard.

I really feel that Kagame lacks adequate security. This is not the first time I have noticed these types of incidents when Kagame is visiting foreign lands or even during his campaign in 2010.  Many incidents happened despite being inside Rwanda where they are easily hidden. In London, these were mistakes of Kagame’s security, not the protesters.

As a person who spent many years working alongside Kagame as a driver and body guard, I was involved in many journey’s however most of them inside Rwanda and Africa, though I had never seen such a thing that happened in Oxford. This was probably because when we were still alongside this man we were loyal to him, and to the commanders of that time who believed in us. During those days people had some trust and belief that things will get better. When it turned out that Kagame was ordering killings instead of stopping killings many of us walked away after long periods of false imprisonments. Looking back on the commanders we had that time, and the ones Kagame is relying on, I wonder what this president thinks or how he is still surviving! He failed to work with the commanders who were able to protect him and went for the names such as Brigadier General Johnson Hodari who is now the head of the presidential guards, simply because he is a coward who can never dare to ask a question: (Myself even if I was to be asked to have that particular officer as my body guard for free I would not accept, that is if I would ever require a body guard). I can go on and on about the boys Kagame is relying on; people like Major Gatarayiha, Major Mutayi, Captain Tuyisenge of whom I managed to see on Rwanda day it is surprising, a few officers or anyone who knows what V.I.P protection should look like would understand why I am saying this.

I agree with Colonel William Rwagasana and Lt Colonel Joseph Gishaija they have no choice but to keep going, the whole system was shaking. I looked at Kagame shaking in his car, I looked at General Karenzi fighting to lock the car doors of the Range Rover which belongs to the military attaché, which was being pushed by the angry demonstrators and he looked very afraid of the protesters. I remembered how Kagame used to stop his car and command us to beat up other speeding drivers who he would have seen on the road.

With the high commissioners something should have been done, because to invite a president on such an occasion intelligence should be fully functional, because President Kagame was risking getting beaten up. As a person who was in Oxford and who knows the sensitivity of having a head of state in such environment, it was very scary however because I left Kagame behind and resisted all of the attempts to get killed by his agents. Frankly, I enjoyed the few minutes he experienced the situation I have lived in for so many years, knowing that someone may be out there to get you at any time. So I don’t blame him for shouting at his employees.

invisible manThe Rwandan media have continued to indicate that the protesters were only Congolese, yes they were but a mixture of both Rwandese and Congolese, it was actually an achievement because it was the beginning of the United Great Lakes Citizens to fight the terrorist Kagame peacefully in front of the whole world, not in the jungle where no one will ever find out who this man is. These protesters highlighted the dangers of Kagame and some of his officials, with the posters they were holding which triggered the anger and some of them started throwing eggs and everything they got their hands on.

Rwanda day itself even though the protesters struggled to get to the Troxy after police stopped a large number of them and deported some due to the Oxford incident, the embassy still indicated failures. Most of the failures were caused by the whole Oxford saga, because some of their people had to spend the night on the streets of London due to poor management of the embassy. Others had to return to Belgium as well without accessing Rwanda day because of the inexperienced security agents from Rwanda who were anxious and not knowing what to do, also the Troxy turned around and informed them that there were to be hosted until 22:00hours contrarily to what had been planned of 00:00hours. The Rwandans still complain of the tiredness and going without meals for more than 24 hours of which was different from what they had been promised, a large number of the Rwandans who were promised to spend their money and that it will be reimbursed are told to wait, which has resulted in saying that they will never attend such an occasion.

Below is the letter from the ambassador apologising for the problems they faced on that day:

delegates

 

It became a habit that in Kagame’s army cowards can be more successful as long as someone can never make an informed decision, make sure that even an obvious thing has to be asked to his superior. This has resulted in Kagame missing out on good commanders and left with the silly mad boys, who are even instructed to kill and they accept without questioning.

However, in London these boys cannot function and I bet Kagame will take long to set his foot here again, due to the risks surrounding his presence to many including myself.

By: Noble Marara

Edited by: Jennifer Fierberg