Open letter to UK Members of Parliament

Dear Hon. UK Parliamentarians,

I hope this letter finds you well. I was happy to learn from the media that some of you were in the Rwandan capital Kigali for the just concluded Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. I believe that you enjoyed the summit and your stay in Rwanda.

The reason I feel compelled to write to you, is in connection with some of your colleagues’ who used their stay in Kigali to visit a woman called Victoria Ingabire Umuhoza. I would have had no problem if they visited her as their personal friend, but the fact that they did so as MPs from different political parties, I believe they represented the entire United Kingdom Parliament.   I therefore considered that the visit was not on personal grounds but a political statement to the government and the people of Rwanda, to show solidarity and support to her so-called political and human rights agenda.

Although what the visiting MPs  discussed with Ingabire was not made public, it is with no doubt that one can easily predict that  during the meeting at her home, she complained about how  there is no democracy and respect of human rights in Rwanda. That her political party has not been registered. That there is need for “interparty dialogue” for peace in Rwanda and the Great lakes region, etc.

The visit by the UK MPs is an effort to recognize Ingabire as an opposition politician and a human rights activist. She is none of the latter. Ingabire gives the impression of an innocent woman yet her actions are of a wolf dressed in a sheep’s skin. 

On January 16, 2010, when Ingabire landed at Kigali International Airport, from The Netherlands, she went straight to the Kigali Genocide Memorial where more than 250,000 genocide victims are laid to rest. She questioned staff about why there were only remains of the Tutsi, yet the Hutu were also killed. From this statement, Ingabire is undoubtedly a double genocide ideologue. She thinks that by playing the ethnic card that resulted into the 1994 genocide that makes her a politician. Rwandans have rejected politics of division.

 Ingabire is a cunning woman. She uses politics and human rights as a cover up for her crimes and the genocide crimes committed by her mother, Dusabe Therese.  I will explain to you how. In 2012, she was tried and convicted for 15 years in prison for crimes ranging from collaborating with armed terror groups targeting to overthrow the legitimate government of Rwanda, as well as denying the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. In 2018, she was released from prison on a Presidential pardon, before completing a 15-year prison sentence.

During Ingabire’s trial, much of the evidence on collaboration with armed terror groups was provided by European countries, especially The Netherlands. It is therefore, intriguing to see MPs of another European country deciding to disregard all such hard evidence and instead sanitize her as an “opposition politician” who has been denied political space to challenge the status quo. The genesis of the genocide against the Tutsi was prepared by a colonial European country. When genocide was being committed, European countries came to support those who were committing the crimes.

Millions of Rwandans are pained to see that a European Parliament is openly supporting someone like Ingabire and others like her who want to continue the genocide against the Tutsi.  Ingabire is a criminal who should be in prison, had it not been for the presidential pardon. Foreign law makers should not impose “politicians” on Rwandans. If Ingabire is a good politician for you, better take her to the UK and find her a constituency because she cannot have one in Rwanda.  

Hon. MPs, the law of Rwanda is very clear on the requirements of who should be a politician in the country.  Ingabire does not qualify either to be a politician or to head any political organization. Organic Law n° 10/2013/0L of 11/07/2013,  governing Political Organizations and Politicians as amended to date, prohibits anyone who has been sentenced to an imprisonment equal to or exceeding six (6) months; or  committed crimes of Genocide against the Tutsi, to be in the management of a political organization.

 Her so called political party DALFA Umurinzi and others she formed before, have no legal recognition, and herself cannot be recognized as a politician.  I pray that you give us peace and allow us to deal with our bitter history as a people because we have had enough sabotage from Europe. The visit by UK MPs to Ingabire’s home is treacherous and a conspiracy against the wish of millions of Rwandans to have politicians of value.

Regarding Ingabire claiming to be a human rights activist and accusing Rwanda of lack of respect for human rights, this is another big lie bought by unsuspecting foreigners who refuse to know her family background. Ingaire’s mother Dusabe Teresa, is a genocide suspect on the run hiding in The Netherlands. In 2009, she was sentenced, in absentia, to 30 years in jail by the Gacaca court, for disemboweling pregnant Tutsi women and removing their foetus at Butamwa health centre, which she would smash to death in a inhuman manner! More than 8,000 people were killed in Butamwa commune where Ingabire’s mother participated in planning meetings to kill the Tutsi. Eye witnesses who gave testimony are still living. The MPs who visited Ingabire should have visited these survivors and heard their harrowing tales.

Ingabire, therefore, like many other children whose parents committed genocide, uses the smoke screen of ‘politician and human rights activist’ as a cover to defend their parents and other perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. In Belgium, the siblings of genocide perpetrators were allowed to open an organization called JAMBO asbl, under the cover of human rights and democracy. This also happened in Australia. As lawmakers, I believe you know that the last stage of genocide is denial. Such organizations hiding behind human rights and democracy are meant to serve that purpose. Their mission is to deny and trivialise the genocide perpetrated by their parents. That’s Ingabire’s life mission.

Hon, MPs, Rwandans react with shock when they see lawmakers like you happy to identify with people like Ingabire, who is a law breaker,   collaborating with armed terror groups that have intentions of attacking Rwanda. Have you ever imagined why she keeps changing names of her unregistered political parties? It is the linkage with terror groups, and in case evidence is produced before courts, she will claim she no longer belongs to the political party.

It is saddening to note that the MPs who visited Ingabire have never brought to task the UK authorities to explain why a country that boasts of respecting human rights and international law has given asylum and citizenship to five indicted genocide suspects despite extradition request by Rwanda. 

Hon. MPs, let me end my letter by requesting you not to open wounds of millions of Rwandans caused by the genocide against the Tutsi  that were about to heal. As Rwandans managed to stop the genocide that was created from Europe, they will as well manage to choose their preferred politicians and human rights defenders in the process of rebuilding their country.

I thank you for your kind attention

Charlotte Umubyeyi

CC:

UK Parliament

UK Prime Minister

UK Embassy- Kigali

Rwanda Embassy UK