Tshisekedi rallying genocide fugitives to reinforce FDLR, attack Rwanda

Author: Samson Kasujja

• 2024-03-08 04:58:00

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi is again rallying Rwandan genocide fugitives to reinforce the FDLR terrorist group in a bid to implement his long-term plan to wage war against Rwanda.

Tshisekedi has openly said that he will support every possible efforts to overthrow the current democratic government in Rwanda headed by President Paul Kagame.

On September 20, 2023, Tshisekedi met in New York, with a group of self-exiled Rwandans headed by fugitive Eugene Richard Gasana. That meeting followed another one previously held at the Presidential Palace in Kinshasa on May 22, 2023, that discussed uniting Rwandan negative groups to overthrow the government in Rwanda.

This time around, Tshisekedi is rallying Rwandan fugitives who held ranks in the genocidal forces, currently living in different countries abroad. The Congolese President wants them to join FDLR, a DRC-based militia that was formed by remnants of the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, and strengthen the genocidal group’s operations against Rwanda.

Among these fugitives on Tshisekedi’s support  include genocide convict Capt Innocent Sagahutu, one of the eight Rwandans expelled by Niger and who was sentenced to 20 years by the ICTR - a sentence later reduced to 15 years, on appeal.

Sagahutu was charged with complicity in genocide, genocide, crimes against humanity, including rape, and violations of the Geneva Conventions. As former second-in-command of the Reconnaissance Battalion and Commander of Company A in the same Battalion of the former Rwandan armed forces (ex-FAR), Sagahutu was accused of ordering the use of armored vehicles to attack Belgian soldiers who were guarding the then Rwandan Prime Minister, Agathe Uwilingiyimana. During the 1994 genocide, 10 Belgian troops were killed by the genocidal regime's army.

Sagahutu has not changed, or repented, which questions his early release. He still shows no remorse at all. Worse still, he is involving in political and terror activities again, while living under IRMCT support.

Sources say Sagahutu used different names to obtain Burukina faso pass port and is likely to go through Mali, Tanzania, and end up in eastern DRC where he will join FDLR genocidal militia which is in coalition with the Congolese army in the fight against M23.

There is also Brig Gen Faustin Ntilikina who will join FDLR from France. Sources say that Ntilikina was issued a DRC passport by Kinshasa. Tshisekedi expecte that Ntilikina will rally many other genocide fugitives who served in the genocidal army (Ex-FAR) to reinforce FDLR genocidal militia.

In September 2019, Rwanda saw its bloodiest attack in over two decades when dozens of civilians were killed and many others injured by FDLR, and its RUD-Urunana splinter faction, in Kinigi, a very touristic area in Rwanda's Northern Province. The genocidal militia attacked the inhabitants of Kinigi with knives and rudimentary weapons. Ntilikina was among the key plotters of the attack.

During the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, Ntilikina trained over 150 Interahamwe militiamen and supplied weapons used in killing the Tutsi in Nyamirambo, a suburb of Kigali.

Ntilikina led the training of Interahamwe militia at Gabiro camp, and he was one of the witnesses of Judge Bruguière in his false accusations against Rwanda. He is currently living in Strassburg, France, and is a key player in RUD-Urunana. He rose to the rank of Brigadier General in the FDLR and was an adviser to the FDLR but after moving to France, he switched his allegiance to RUD-Urunana.  He is known to be particularly close to Maj Gen Aloys Ntiwiragabo, another genocide fugitive in France.  Both are natives of the former Satinsyi Commune, in Gisenyi, western Rwanda.

By bringing together all negative forces to destabilize Rwanda, Tshisekedi is not only causing a security threat to the entire region but also to his country where these forces operate from.

An October 2022 report by Human Rights Watch noted that FDLR fighters have killed hundreds of civilians over the years in eastern DRC, at times hacking them to death with machetes or hoes, or burning them in their homes. The militia fighters have also committed countless rapes and other acts of sexual violence.