RWANDA THREATENS PULL-OUT FROM UNAMID IF DEPUTY

C O N F I D E N T I A L KIGALI 000231 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/03/2018 TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM PINR RW SUBJECT: RWANDA THREATENS PULL-OUT FROM UNAMID IF DEPUTY COMMANDER KARAKE DROPPED REF: A. KIGALI 227 ¶B. KIGALI 107 Classified By: Charge Cheryl J. Sim, reason 1.4 (B/D) ¶1. (C) Charge spoke with Foreign Minister Rosemary Museminali March 31 on the margins of the White House Faith-Based Initiatives Conference regarding the apparent move by UN and or EU officials to remove Deputy UNAMID commander Karenzi Karake. General Karake and 39 other present and former Rwandan military officers were indicted by the judge in early February for alleged participation in mass killings in the 1990s (ref B). Museminali told Charge that Rwanda would bring home its four battalions of peacekeepers if Karake were removed from his position. ¶2. (C) Museminali's unequivocal remarks were echoed by Lieutenant General Charles Muhire, Air Force Commander, who repeatedly told Defense Attache March 28 that RDF participation would end if Karake was removed as Deputy UNAMID Commander. ¶3. (C) Comment. Post does not regard these comments by senior Rwandan officials as bluffs or empty posturing. Anger within senior Rwandan ranks, civilian and military, is palpable on the subject of the 40 indictments, particularly following the issuance by the Spanish government of an Interpol "red notice" for Chief of Defense Staff General James Kabarebe (ref A). Reftel provides post's analysis of the indictments, which appear to be based upon outlandish and grossly inaccurate recountings of the 1994 genocide, events leading up to it, and its aftermath. End comment. SIM