{"id":2688,"date":"2021-10-11T10:30:54","date_gmt":"2021-10-11T08:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org\/news\/?p=2688"},"modified":"2021-10-11T10:30:54","modified_gmt":"2021-10-11T08:30:54","slug":"having-fled-kigali-refugees-fear-rwandas-military-presence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/en\/having-fled-kigali-refugees-fear-rwandas-military-presence\/","title":{"rendered":"Having fled Kigali, refugees fear Rwanda\u2019s military presence"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Luis Nhachote<\/p>\n

Every 25 September each year, Mozambique celebrates its armed forces. That\u2019s the date on which, in 1964, Frelimo\u2019s insurrection against Portuguese colonialism began, with the first shot fired at the village of Chai, in Macomia district in the province of Cabo Delgado.
\nThis year, however, honours were shared with the armed forces of Rwanda \u2013 whose president, Paul Kagame, had been welcomed on a red carpet when he landed at Pemba, capital of Cabo Delgado, a day earlier. Cabo Delgado today is home to another armed insurrection, and the Rwanda Defence Force is helping Mozambique\u2019s Frelimo government to try to snuff it out.
\nKagame sent 1,000 soldiers and police to fight the Islamist-inspired insurgency well before the SADC community
\nmanaged to mobilise its own military mission to Mozambique.
\nSo far, the Rwandan forces have seen great success \u2013 apparently turning the course of the war in favour of the
\nMozambican government. But the celebratory mood is not shared by the 4,300-strong Rwandan refugee community in Mozambique, centred on the capital Maputo, some 2,440 km from Pemba. They view the rapprochement
\nbetween Mozambique\u2019s President Filipe Nyusi and Kagame with suspicion.
\nThe Rwandan Refugees Association\u2019s chairperson, Cl\u00e9ophas Habiyaremye, believes that the deepening of ties
\nbetween Kigali and Maputo is fuelled by a shady deal under which Kagame helps quash the Cabo Delgado insurrection on the understanding that his \u201cKigali death squad\u201d is given carte blanche to target Rwandan refugees in Mozambique unhindered. Already, members of the community have been killed and kidnapped without the Mozambican authorities ever solving the crimes.<\/p>\n

A litany of violent crimes<\/p>\n

On 13 September this year, R\u00e9vocat Karemangingo was gunned down 50 metres from his house in Maputo by two
\nunknown gunmen.
\nKaremangingo was a lieutenant in the Rwandan army that was overthrown by Kagame\u2019s forces in 1994, but had since
\nbecome a businessman in Mozambique, and deputy chair of the Rwandan Refugees Association.
\nOn 23 May, alleged Mozambican police officials kidnapped Rwandan journalist Ntamuhanga Cassien on the
\nisland of Inhaca, 38km off the Maputo coast.
\nThey then reportedly took him to a police station in the neighbourhood of Chamanculo, before handing him over
\nto the Rwandan High Commission in Maputo \u2013 even though there is no formal extradition treaty between Maputo and Kigali.
\nHe has not been seen since then.
\nThe high commission did not respond to a request for comment.
\nCassien had been living in exile in Mozambique for four years, after escaping from a Rwandan prison where he was serving a sentence for allegedly plotting against President Kagame.
\nIn October 2012, the body of Th\u00e9og\u00e8ne Turatsinze, former head of the Rwandan Development Bank and at
\nthe time deputy vice-chancellor of the Mozambique Saint Thomas University (USTM), was found tied up and floating
\nin the Maputo channel.
\nThe last time he was seen alive was in the company of foreign investors at a hotel where they were staying.
\nThe crime remains unsolved.<\/p>\n

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Our crime? Being born in Rwanda<\/p>\n

Speaking to The Continent<\/a> at the weekend, Habiyaremye said that the sight of Kagame being received with full state
\nhonours has increased the fear within the Rwandan refugee community.
\nThe two countries have historically not gotten along, but in 2019 Rwanda established a high commission in
\nMozambique. To the consternation of both refugees and international observers,
\nthe inaugural high commissioner was revealed to be Claude Nikobisanzwe.
\nNikobisanzwe had previously been a diplomat in South Africa \u2013 but was expelled from that country on suspicion
\nof involvement in the murder of Rwanda\u2019s former head of intelligence, Patrick Karegeya, in a Johannesburg hotel in
\n2014. Karegeya had turned against the regime i<\/p>\n

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This article was appear at the first time at\u00a0 https:\/\/mg.co.za\/thecontinent\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Sociedade<\/span>\u00a026<\/span><\/span><\/a>Feature<\/span>\u00a067<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n
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n Kigali and became a prominent critic of Paul Kagame.
\nHabiyaremye said the Rwandan community in Mozambique cannot seek help from the High Commission because
\n\u201cwe don\u2019t have any relationship with the embassy \u2013 it serves the regime and not the interests of the Rwandese citizens\u201d.
\nMany Rwandan exiles in Mozambique have registered as Burundians or other citizens of other countries, Habiyaremye said. \u201cThere are officially 4,300 registered [Rwandan] refugees, but I believe there are around 10,000. They hide behind other nationalities because they are persecuted by the Kigali regime. Our sole
\ncrime is to have been born in Rwanda\u201d. \u25a0<\/p>\n

 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Luis Nhachote Every 25 September each year, Mozambique celebrates its armed forces. That\u2019s the date on which, in 1964, Frelimo\u2019s insurrection against Portuguese colonialism began, with the first shot fired at the village of Chai, in Macomia district in the province of Cabo Delgado. This year, however, honours were shared with the […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2690,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[273],"tags":[266],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/download-7-e1633941030603.jpg",285,157,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/download-7-e1633941030603.jpg",285,157,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/download-7-e1633941030603.jpg",285,157,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/download-7-e1633941030603-250x138.jpg",150,83,true],"medium":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/download-7-e1633941030603.jpg",285,157,false],"large":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/download-7-e1633941030603.jpg",285,157,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/download-7-e1633941030603.jpg",285,157,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/download-7-e1633941030603.jpg",285,157,false],"trp-custom-language-flag":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/download-7-e1633941030603.jpg",18,10,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/download-7-e1633941030603-150x83.jpg",150,83,true],"retina2x":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/download-7-e1633941030603.jpg",285,157,false],"retina3x":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/download-7-e1633941030603.jpg",285,157,false],"retina4x":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/download-7-e1633941030603.jpg",285,157,false],"retina5x":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/download-7-e1633941030603.jpg",285,157,false],"retina6x":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/download-7-e1633941030603.jpg",285,157,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Reda\u00e7\u00e3o CJIMOZ","author_link":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/en\/author\/hcuambe\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Direitos Humanos<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"      Luis Nhachote Every 25 September each year, Mozambique celebrates its armed forces. That\u2019s the date on which, in 1964, Frelimo\u2019s insurrection against Portuguese colonialism began, with the first shot fired at the village of Chai, in Macomia district in the province of Cabo Delgado. This year, however, honours were shared with the…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2688"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2688"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2691,"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2688\/revisions\/2691"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}