Reporters Without Borders
Press release
8 August 2006
RWANDA
One newspaper editor goes missing, another targeted by
threats and smears
Reporters Without Borders voiced deep concern today about the editors
of two independent weeklies, Bonaventure Bizumuremyi of
Umuco and Charles Kabonero of Umuseso. Bizumuremyi
went missing 24 hours after the police came to his newspaper to arrest
him, while Kabonero is the target of a government-orchestrated
campaign of threats and false accusations.
"Rwanda's last remaining independent newspapers have to struggle
to survive in an increasingly hostile climate," the press freedom
organisation said. "If the government were trying to silence all the
publications that fail to flatter it, this is how it would go about
it."
Reporters Without Borders added: "Trials, threats, intimidation and
smears - they are all used to punish independent journalists who
dare to take too much interest in those in power. If the information
minister wants to continue to insist on his commitment to press
freedom without being criticised by journalists' organisations, the
harassment of Umuco and Umuseso must stop."
Police came in a pickup to Umuco's office at 1:30 pm on 3
August looking for Bizumuremyi. The head of the criminal investigation
department, Maurice Muligo, ordered him to follow them. Bizumuremyi
refused to go without a proper summons. Muligo wrote one on the spot,
ordering him to report to police headquarters within the hour
(although Rwandan law says people should be given 48 hours to report
to the police).
The day before, Bizumuremyi appeared before the High Council of the
Press, a government-controlled regulatory body, on charges of
publishing "sensationalist" articles "violating the privacy of
certain political leaders." The HCP objected above all to an article
saying President Paul Kagame had influenced judges in his comments
about Col. Patrick Karegeya, a former army spokesman who has just been
convicted of insubordination and desertion by a court martial.
Karegeya, who used to be a Kagame supporter and even ran the foreign
intelligence service for 10 years, was publicly described by the
president as "useless and anything."
According to sources contacted by Reporters Without Borders,
Bizumuremyi tried in vain to find a lawyer to defend him after
receiving the visit from the police. But all the lawyers he spoke to
requested prohibitive fees or said they would first need a green light
from the Kigali bar association before accepting. His family has not
had any word from him since 5 August and none of his phone numbers can
be reached.
Just over six months ago, on the night of 15 January, four men armed
with clubs and knives attacked Bizumuremyi and told him to stop
writing articles criticising the government.
Kabonero meanwhile received a call on 5 August from an anonymous
source within the foreign intelligence service warning that he was
about to be arrested and that a plan was afoot to have
Umuseso, Rwanda Newsline (another newspaper he edits)
and Umuco closed. The plan was said to have been hatched by
military intelligence chief Jack Nziza, finance and planning minister
James Musoni, who is one of the "barons" of the ruling Rwandan
Patriotic Front (FPR), and presidential security adviser Emmanuel
Ndahiro.
"Their plan is first of all to go around all the western embassies
spreading rumours about our newspapers," Kabonero told Reporters
Without Borders. The smear campaign would also use the daily New
Times, the weekly Umuvugizi and the fortnightly
Focus, which are the only three newspapers that get advertising
from government entities and companies linked to the FPR.
This phone call came two days after the Rwandan high court sentenced
Kabonero on appeal to a suspended one-year prison term and a fine of 1
million Rwandan francs (1,450 euros) for a piece of political analysis
published in 2004. Kabonero's suspended sentence could be changed to
an actual prison term on the least pretext.
Kabonero has been the target of an aggressive smear campaign since the
start of the year, especially in Focus. After being accused of
collaborating with the political opposition in exile, he was alleged
to have forged evidence of threats used by political asylum applicants
in Europe. No evidence was produced to support this claims against
Kabonero.
In April, Focus used a forged e-mail
message to accuse him of conspiring with Lt. Abdul Ruzibiza - a
former officer in the FPR's special services who has now sought
political asylum abroad - to launch a wave of bombings in Kigali and
bring down the government. Although the message published in
Focus was a crude forgery, Reporters Without Borders investigated
the allegations and found them to be baseless.