(WIKILEAKS CABLES) SENIOR RWANDAN OFFICIAL ARRESTED IN GERMANY
SUBJECT: SENIOR RWANDAN OFFICIAL ARRESTED IN GERMANYE.O. 12958: DECL: 10/16/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV RW
Classified By: Ambassador Stuart Symington for Reason 1.4 (b) (d)
¶1. (C) Summary. German authorities in Frankfurt arrested close Kagame confidant and Chief of Rwandan Presidential Protocol, Rose Kabuye, under a European arrest warrant, based on indictments issued by a French judge in 2006. Kabuye requested transfer to France, where she will answer charges that she participated in the shooting down of the Habyarimana presidential jet in 1994, an event which touched off the genocide. GOR officials will continue to assert that the case represents an abuse of jurisdiction by a French government unable to acknowledge its own failures and complicity in the genocide. Rwanda's efforts to cement its own economic future by doing such things as begin today a land title process for genocide survivors and perpetrators, or a novel power generation scheme for Lake Kivu methane, continue to be shunted aside and undermined by ill-conceived actions such as this arrest. End summary.
¶2. (C) Rose Kabuye, Chief of Protocol at the Rwandan Presidency and a highly-trusted member of President Kagame's inner-most circle, was arrested in Germany on November 9 while advancing a visit by President Kagame to the Frankfort stock exchange. Kabuye had previously visited Germany this year as part of an official Kagame visit, and had traveled with the immediate presidential traveling party to benefit rom the German version of "entourage" immunity.
¶3. (C) Kabuye and eight others were accused in 2006 by French terrorism Judge Bruguiere of having participated in the shooting down of President Habyarimana's jet in April of 1994, the event which touched off the genocide. Bruguiere's indictment resulted in the issuance of European arrest warrants. During the past two years, the British, Dutch, Belgian and German governments have issued Kabuye diplomatic and/or transit visas allowing her to advance Kagame's trips or make connections in European airports for onward travel to the U.S. or elsewhere. The Rwandans have largely rejected the Europeans' (specifically the French) contention that they can do little to influence the judicial process to have the indictments overturned. In turn, the GOR response has been to assert the speciousness of the Bruguiere indictments within the African Union and elsewhere. The GOR has sought to quash the indictments in French courts. The GOR claims that European governments are furthering the agendas of various Hutu Power organizations such as the Democratic Force for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), the rump genocidal armed group ensconced in eastern Congo by these indictments, and by their failure to arrest and extradite to Rwanda genocide suspects.
¶4. (C) These indictments have weighed heavily on the GOR, as have the February 2008 Spanish indictments on genocide and other charges of an additional 40 senior Rwandans (some also are on the French list). The GOR asserts these two sets of indictments are inappropriate usages of universal jurisdiction (jurisdiction not based on links of territoriality or nationality as to the crime, suspect or victim), arguing that only international bodies such as the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) or the International Criminal Court (ICC) should hear such cases. International Criminal Court (ICC) should hear such cases. The French indictments concern the death of the French air crew on Rwandan soil, while the Spanish indictments concern in part the death of Spanish citizens in Rwanda and the Congo -- neither case is a pure expression of universal jurisdiction.
¶5. (C) Rose Kabuye, herself a war hero in the effort by the Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA) to stop the genocide and defeat the Hutu Power rump government, has also expressed to embassy contacts her weariness with the French indictments. Following her return from UNGA-related travel in October, she confided - after the Dutch Embassy cautioned her not to transit Amsterdam en route to the U.S. - it would be better just to travel to France to fight the indictment and have the case heard. According to another highly-placed source in the Presidency, Kagame has himself expressed his fatigue with the burden of working to achieve the entry into various capitals of indicted officials when official GOR visits are planned and had suggested to Kabuye that other protocol officers begin to gain greater experience in organizing his travel. In comments both to the press and the DCM on November 9, Information Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said in some ways the arrest was a "blessing in disguise" as the truth would finally be known. Kabuye has waived any right to contest her detention in Germany, opting instead to be transferred immediately to France where she and at least two others on the Bruguiere indictments already have legal counsel. As this is written, a large crowd, several thousand strong, peacefully gathered in front of the German embassy to voice its (government-organized) concern at the arrest of Kabuye.
¶6. (SBU) Comment. The timing of Kabuye,s arrest, while seemingly unconnected to other events, comes after German courts last week released two genocide suspects previously detained upon request by Rwandan authorities, including FDLR Secretary General Callixte Mbarushimana, who was picked up while traveling to Germany from France to visit FDLR President Ignace Murwanashyaka. Also last week, ten French citizens accused of complicity in the 1994 genocide in the Mucyo Commission report (ref A) filed a libel suit against the Kagame government. In both instances, these legal issues are taking place against the backdrop of increased international attention, including on the part of the French government, to try to resolve the deteriorating situation in eastern Congo. Kabuye,s arrest and the release of the two genocide suspects in Germany will reinforce Rwandan suspicions that European governments are not serious about addressing what they underscore is the fundamental problem in the Great Lakes region -- namely the ongoing presence of the genocidal forces in eastern Congo.
¶7. (SBU) Moreover, the GOR has aggressively asserted the unfairness of the two sets of indictments as well as the right of its officials to travel to EU nations without restriction on what it regards as official business. A reported warning of the German government in this particular case went unheeded, perhaps purposefully so. Both the French government and the GOR may now get what they purport to want -- a full hearing on the merits of the alleged participation (of at least one RPA suspect) in the 1994 shootdown of the Habyarimana plane. The GOR will likely express considerable unhappiness with a French court hearing this case, and criticize the French government for continuing to deny its own failures and complicity in the genocide. Kabuye's reputation as a fearless fighter will only be enhanced by her apparent willingness to subject herself immediately to the French courts. Today, Rwanda began to issue its first land titles to farmers in an area with both former genocidaires and survivors. Last week, as violence spiked in North Kivu, Rwanda began generating electricity with a pilot plant using methane gas from Lake Kivu. In both events, government ministers decried the continued failure of the regional and international community to "turn the page." End comment.
¶8. (U) Text of GOR press release follows:
Begin Text:
Kigali November 9, 2008
The Government of Rwanda wishes to inform the public that the Director General of the State Protocol, Mrs. Rose Kabuye was arrested in Germany today November 9, 2008 while on official business. The arrest was effected in connection with a warrant put forth in 2006 by Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere of warrant put forth in 2006 by Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere of France for her alleged implication in a 1994 plane crash which killed Rwanda's then-president Juvenal Habyarimana.
Mrs. Kabuye appeared in court earlier today, where the judge offered her the option to contest the warrant in Germany or face it in France, she chose the latter.
Mrs. Kabuye was not surprised by the arrest; among other warnings, attempts to stop her last trip to Germany in April this year and just a few days ago through official communications from Germany.
Mrs. Kabuye is innocent, which is why she undertook the trip despite warnings, and ultimately why she is ready to face trial in France.
The Government of Rwanda believes that this is a political game designed to blur the truth and weaken the Government.
The arrests warrants have been contested in courts in Belgium, France, The Hague; and they were condemned by all Heads of State of the African Union.
The Government of Rwanda therefore continues to be disappointed that mass murders of the 1994 genocide continue to enjoy freedom and protection in European capitals, including Germany and France even as they pursue their extermination plans on European soil.
The Government of Rwanda, once again, strongly condemns the judicial bullying it,s been subjected to by European judges and the perversion of the principle of universal jurisdiction by some powerful nations.
End Text.
SYMINGTON
Labels: GENOCIDE, JUVENAL HABYARIMANA, PAUL KAGAME, ROSE KABUYE, RWANDA, WAR CRIMES
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