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