GRENADE ATTACKS/INCIDENTS IN RWANDA - NO SIGN OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L KIGALI 000017 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 1/8/2010 TAGS: PINS PTER KCRM PGOV CASC RW SUBJECT: GRENADE ATTACKS/INCIDENTS IN RWANDA - NO SIGN OF TERRORISM Classified By: Ambassador W. Stuart Symington for reasons 1.4 (b) (d) ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In late December, three hand grenades exploded at bars in Butare, causing some minor injuries. On January 4 and 6, in two separate incidents, children in northeastern Rwanda playing with unexploded grenades they had found accidentally set them off, killing two children and wounding others. Based on information obtained so far, post does not/not assess that any of these incidents were terrorist in nature. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) In Butare (Huye district, southern Rwanda),a fragmentation grenade detonated in the courtyard of a bar on December 19, inflicting minor injuries but killing no one. On December 24, fragmentation grenades went off outside two more bars in Butare, again killing no one. During a cordon-and-search operation after the December 24 incidents, police in Butare found an additional fragmentation grenade, undetonated, in the street. Police arrested several suspects following these attacks but soon released them. Authorities described these attacks as "amateurish" because the grenades did not explode inside any of the three buildings, which would have increased the blast effect and potentially wounded or killed more people. ¶3. (SBU) According to local media and the police, on January 4 in Gatsibo district (northeastern Rwanda),two children were killed and one was injured when a grenade they had found and were playing with exploded. Local authorities refuted initial reports that the son of a suspected genocidaire had killed the children. On January 6, local media reported and police subsequently confirmed that in Nyagatare district (northeastern Rwanda),two children out collecting firewood found two unexploded grenades and began to play with them. In this case, however, the grenade was slow to detonate and only caused a minor wound to one of the children. ¶4. (SBU) Police dismissed as without foundation rumors that o/a January 4-6, locals had found unexploded grenades in two other areas, Muhanga district and Kamonyi district, both west of Kigali. ¶5. (C) COMMENT: Post continues to gather information on all of these attacks and incidents, and has held several Emergency Action Committee meetings to discuss the situation. At this time, post does not/not assess that any of these grenades were intended to target civilians deliberately for political objectives. However, we note that such a cluster of grenade attacks or incidents over successive weeks in widely separated parts of the country is unusual. It may be coincidental, or it may reflect a recent introduction of grenades, perhaps from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Rwandan authorities have told us that they cannot rule out (or rule in) involvement by the Forces Democratique pour la Liberation du Rwanda (FDLR),an armed group operating in eastern DRC that includes many genocidaires. Parts of Rwanda were a battlefield between 1990-94, and although the country declared itself "mine free" only in late 2009, it is possible that some unexploded remnants of war (ERW) remain scattered throughout the countryside. It is also possible that some Rwanda Defense Force demobilized soldiers have kept grenades after completing their military service, and those have found their way into childrens' and others' hands. We will continue to track closely GOR efforts to determine the Qwill continue to track closely GOR efforts to determine the source of these grenades and the causes of this cluster of events. END COMMENT. SYMINGTON