POLICE CLOSE GREEN PARTY MEETING, CITING INSECURITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L KIGALI 000717

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/03/2019
TAGS: PGOV PINS PHUM RW
SUBJECT: POLICE CLOSE GREEN PARTY MEETING, CITING INSECURITY

REF: KIGALI 623

Classified By: Ambassador W. Stuart Symington for reasons 1.4 (b) (d)


1. (C) On October 25, police suspended a convention organized
by the opposition Democratic Green Party of Rwanda (DGPR),
after a member of the audience disrupted the proceedings.
According to a reliable observer, minutes after the party
secretary-general opened the meeting, a man in the
approximately 700-strong crowd stood up and started to shout
gibberish. This scared many participants, who started to
flee. Police arrived, however observer noted that at least
two other men in civilian clothing and armed with handguns
were protecting the first man from the crowd and police.
Additional police arrived and the senior officer, taking the
microphone away from party leader Frank Habineza--who wanted
to resume the meeting--announced that the meeting was over
because it was "unsafe." The senior police officer did not
respond when observer asked if they were going to arrest the
man who had shouted.


2. (C) Observer spoke afterwards with the DGPR's
communications director, who claimed he knew the man who had
disrupted the meeting, that he was in fact his
brother-in-law. When the observer asked if the man worked
for a security service, the communications director replied
"yes," in some unspecified capacity. The director said the
man had talked his way into the meeting by saying that the
communications director had invited him. Habineza told
polcouns later in the day that police had arrested several
DGPR members for unknown reasons, and that he was going to
attempt to visit them. (Note: We have no independent
confirmation of this. End Note.) He added it would not be
possible to reschedule the convention for the immediate
future, as it would take time to reapply for a permit and
also find an available notary.


3. (C) Ambassador asked Finance Minister James Musoni about
the incident; Musoni, the Government of Rwanda's (GOR) lead
on Millenium Challenge Corporation issues, said he had heard
about it on the radio, which had reported that party members
had fought each other. Internal Security Minister Musa Fazil
Harerimana told polcouns separately that individuals at the
meeting got into an argument and fell to blows over
procedural issues related to registration, and that police
intervened and ended it because of the violence. He added
that authorities did not arrest any party members, and said
that several policemen received injuries as a result of the
fighting. Habineza himself reportedly told the press after
the incident that several people had been injured.


4. (C) Comment: This is the DGPR's second failed attempt to
hold a formal organizing meeting where the party must have
notarized the signatures of at least five party members from
each of Rwanda's 30 districts. It is at least credible that,
as the DGPR's communications director asserted, the man who
initially disrupted the event worked for a security service,
although it is unclear who ordered them to act. (Armed
bodyguards are unusual in Rwanda.) We raised the incident
with senior GOR officials on the evening it occurred and will
continue to press for the DGPR and other parties to be
permitted to organize in accordance with the law. End
Comment.
SYMINGTON