HUMAN RIGHTS VETTING FOR IMET TRAINING

UNCLAS KIGALI 000483 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/W, DRL/PHD, PM/RSAT AND L/PM E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: MARR MASS PHUM PREL RW SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS VETTING FOR IMET TRAINING ¶1. (U) This is an action request, see paragraph 2. ¶2. (SBU) Per Leahy Amendment human rights vetting requirements, please screen the following Rwandan Defense Force (RDF) personnel scheduled to receive IMET training in the U.S. Page Last Name First Name Rank DOB Training Date -------------- -------------- -------------- --- -------------- Muhire Charles Lt.Gen. 20Oct58 22 May 2007 Munyengango Innocent Capt 21Feb71 04 May 2007 ¶3. (SBU) Post has discovered no derogatory information on the nominees from its own files or from reputable sources. Post in an internet search for Lt. General Charles Muhire (head of the Air Force) found two possible references to him, one positive, one negative. One, a Human Rights report of 1999 entitled "The Rwandan Patriotic Front," discusses allegations of abuses by RPA troops. In one incident an officer junior to "Colonel Charles Muhire" disobeyed Muhire's direct order to deliver civilians to a safe zone, instead killing the civilians. In a second internet hit, a french language document found at a website called africatime.com, is entitled (informal embassy translation) "Bulletin No 26, Memorandum addressed to Belgian Government and Parliament on the impossibility of equal justice in Rwanda as long as the RPF genocidaires remain in power." This document accuses various Rwandan colonels, including a Colonel Charles Muhire, of "conniving" in various exactions against the civilian Hutu population in Rwanda in the late 1990s. The names of several political organizations bitterly opposed to the present government of Rwanda append their endorsements to this document. ¶4. (SBU) In post's opinion, the very detailed Human Rights Watch report, 33 pages long, which discusses various alleged RPA abuses, should be taken as the standard of reference regarding Charles Muhire's behavior: it has a single reference to Colonel Charles Muhire, conducting himself as a lawful commander, whose orders were disobeyed. The other document is the product of implacable political opponents of the GOR. Muhire is known to this mission as a thoroughly professional officer, and an extensive review of DATT reporting over the years refers to him consistently as a moderate. ¶5. (SBU) For Captain Innocent Munyengango, we found a single internet reference to the provisional release by the GOR of genocide suspects pending trial. One of the individuals named was an Innocent Munyengango. This cannot be the same individual scheduled for training, as Captain Munyengango has been a member of the RPA/RDF since 1990 - he could not be a genocide suspect arrested and then released by the GOR. ¶6. (U) Post asks for expedited vetting by the Department of the two individuals, given the May 22 training date. ARIETTI