HUMAN RIGHTS VETTING INFORMATION FOR SENIOR LEADER

UNCLAS KIGALI 000083 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR AMY NICODEMUS, DRL/PHD, PM/RSAT AND L/PM E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV MARR PHUM RW SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS VETTING INFORMATION FOR SENIOR LEADER SEMINAR ¶1. (U) This is an action request, please see paragraph 2. ¶2. (SBU) Per Leahy Amendment human rights vetting requirements, please screen the following GOR officials nominated to attend the Senior Leadership Seminar (SLS) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 25 Feb - 9 MAR 2007: -- Mr. Ben Balthazar Rutsinga, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dob: 06 SPE 54 -- BrigGen Mubarakh Muganga, Rwandan Defense Forces (RDF), dob: 26 JUN 67. ¶3. (SBU) Post has discovered no information concerning gross human rights violations derogatory information on Mr Rutsinga in its own files and data bases. However, a Brussels based Rwandan citizen, Boniface Rutayisire, has accused Muganga of ordering the killings of Hutu and Tutsi civilians during the 1994 Rwandan Civil War on his website. Post has investigated his organization "Tubeho Twese Asbl" (literally- "Let Us All Survive") and website and has determined that the viewpoints expressed by Rutayisire are extreme and not credible. For example, a 23 January entry accuses the current government of an ongoing campaign to exterminate the Hutu population in Eastern Rwanda. Rutayisite writes that the RDF is a "genocidaire army" run by "Tutsi extremists" who are currently committing genocide in Rwanda as they have done since 1994. ¶4. (SBU) Comment. There are Rwandan opposition groups based in Europe and North America that are outspoken critics of President Kagame and the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). Many of these groups accuse the RPF of conducting a "Hutu Genocide" in 1994 after winning the Civil War-- and stopping the genocide of Tutsis and moderate Hutus-- and call for war crimes charges against Kagame and other RPF members. Rutayisire's organization appears to be on the extremist fringes of these vairous groups and propagates extreme anti-Tutsi positions and conspiracy theories. End comment. ¶5. (SBU) Please contact political officer George Learned (Learendg@state.gov; 250.505.601 ext.3311) with any questions regarding this information. ARIETTI