FDLR POLITICAL OPERATIVES IN RWANDA

C O N F I D E N T I A L KIGALI 000152

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/15/2017
TAGS: PGOV PINR RW
SUBJECT: FDLR POLITICAL OPERATIVES IN RWANDA

REF: KIGALI 110

Classified By: Charge Michael E. Thurstson, reason 1.4 (B/D)


1. (C) Summary. GOR sources confirm recent reports of
activity in Rwanda by political operatives of the exiled
Forces Democratique de Liberation du Rwanda (FDLR). FDLR
operatives have been arrested both inside the country, and at
its borders. These incidents reflect episodic attempts by
the FDLR to maintain some minimal presence inside the
country. While no threat to national security, these attempts
do show that Rwanda has continuing domestic concerns about
the FDLR and its genocidal leadership. End summary.


2. (C) Two provincial governors and the security advisor to
the Prime Minister have in recent days confirmed occasional
press reports of FDLR political "cadres" either arrested
inside Rwanda or caught attempting to enter through one of
Rwanda's border posts. Eastern Provincial Governor Theoneste
Mutshindashyaka told polchief February 2 that pro-government
New Times articles in the fall, recounting the arrest of FDLR
"cadres" in his province, were essentially accurate. "We do
find them from time to time," he said. In the most recent
episode, he said, the GOR arrested seven FDLR operatives at
the Rusumo Falls border post in southeast Rwanda. The men
told suspiciously identical stories of their home villages
and reasons for being outside Rwanda, pricking the interest
of immigration officials. Mutshindashyaka said that the men
had traveled from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
to Tanzania, transiting, he thought, Burundi. When other
operatives are caught inside Rwanda, he said, operatives
appear to be engaged in quiet "mobilization" efforts,
spreading news of their organization's continued viability,
and perhaps attempting some recruitment.


3. (C) Northern Governor Boniface Rucagu gave polchief a
similar account on February 7, saying that FDLR operatives
did cross over from neighboring DRC and Uganda, attempting to
proselytize among local villagers. He suggested their
efforts met with little success, and ended generally with
their arrest. In his province, said the governor, he had a
strong "peace-building" program urging reconciliation, a
message "we never stop giving," he said, and this program and
his personal attention to it left "little room" for FDLR
messages. Nevertheless, he said, he and his security
personnel kept watch on FDLR activities. (Note: provincial
governors chair monthly provincial security committee
meetings, attended by police, immigration, national security
service, military and others, with compiled reports forwarded
to the presidency, the office of the Prime Minister, and the
Minister for Local Government. Those attending the monthly
meetings also forward their own reports internally up their
respective chains of command. End note).


4. (C). Richard Masozera, security advisor at the office of
the Prime Minister, on February 8 characterized the FDLR
"approaches" as "intermittent sensitization campaigns," not
involving active recruiting. "They want to say to people, we
are still around, we will come back some day to fight, don't
forget us." He noted that the GOR had a number of
reintegrated FDLR military officers, including Major General
Paul Rwarakabije and Brigadier General Jerome Ngendahimana,
and he said that "these guys can counter whatever the FDLR
guys say." Any claim by the FDLR operatives, for example,
that the FDLR cannot come home and peacefully resume their
lives in Rwanda was easily refuted, he said, by the presence
of these officers and GOR publicity campaigns about them.


5. (C) Some press accounts of FDLR activity are outright
fabrications, however. For example, a January story in local
newspapers recounted accusations of FDLR "meetings" held at
the Supreme Court, the office of the Prosecutor General, and
the Ministry of Justice. Emboffs sat with Deputy Prosecutor
General Hitiyaremye in his office February 9, and he
laughingly pointed to his hardwood conference table, where
"we were all supposed to be scheming together with the FDLR."
The story, he said, came from a disgruntled prosecution
service employee who had nursed personal grudges for some
time and had finally "let loose" his "silly" charges. The man
had been dismissed, and was under investigation by the police
for impersonating a security officer.


6. (C) Comment. While the military threat from the FDLR has
receded, it does mount occasional efforts to infiltrate
political operatives. GOR officials generally consider these
efforts to be ineffectual, but they do monitor them and make
arrests when the operatives are discovered. The GOR welcomes
the return of FDLR personnel who wish to reintegrate
themselves into Rwandan society, and its demobilization camp
at Mutobo continues its quarterly programs for returned FDLR
soldiers and their families. FDLR activists returning on the
sly to campaign surreptitiously meet another fate -- a jail
cell.


7. (C) Comment continued. However, potentially fertile
ground for FDLR operatives may lie in the tensions which do
surface concerning the gacaca traditional justice system for
accused genocidaires. The vast majority of completed gacaca
cases, some 51,000 so far, have been adjudicated without
incident (reftel),and concern the acts of brutal murderers
who have been, finally, judged. However, there are
individual accounts of false accusations, and the use of
gacaca to pursue personal vendettas. Real genocidaires,
released from detention in Rwanda, and anxious for an
alternative to decades in prison after their gacaca case is
heard, might turn a willing ear to FDLR operatives. So, too,
might those who face false accusations. End comment.




THURSTON