INDEPENDENT NEWS

Cablegate: Human Rights Vetting for Imet Training

Published: Fri 18 May 2007 02:52 PM
VZCZCXYZ0033
RR RUEHWEB
DE RUEHLGB #0483 1381452
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 181452Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY KIGALI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4160
INFO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
UNCLAS KIGALI 000483
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR AF/W, DRL/PHD, PM/RSAT AND L/PM
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: MARR MASS PHUM PREL RW
SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS VETTING FOR IMET TRAINING
1. (U) This is an action request, see paragraph 2.
2. (SBU) Per Leahy Amendment human rights vetting
requirements, please screen the following Rwandan Defense
Force (RDF) personnel scheduled to receive IMET training in
the U.S.
Page
Last Name First Name Rank DOB Training Date
--------- ---------- ---- --- -------------
Muhire Charles Lt.Gen. 20Oct58 22 May 2007
Munyengango Innocent Capt 21Feb71 04 May 2007
3. (SBU) Post has discovered no derogatory information on
the nominees from its own files or from reputable sources.
Post in an internet search for Lt. General Charles Muhire
(head of the Air Force) found two possible references to him,
one positive, one negative. One, a Human Rights report of
1999 entitled "The Rwandan Patriotic Front," discusses
allegations of abuses by RPA troops. In one incident an
officer junior to "Colonel Charles Muhire" disobeyed Muhire's
direct order to deliver civilians to a safe zone, instead
killing the civilians. In a second internet hit, a french
language document found at a website called africatime.com,
is entitled (informal embassy translation) "Bulletin No 26,
Memorandum addressed to Belgian Government and Parliament on
the impossibility of equal justice in Rwanda as long as the
RPF genocidaires remain in power." This document accuses
various Rwandan colonels, including a Colonel Charles Muhire,
of "conniving" in various exactions against the civilian Hutu
population in Rwanda in the late 1990s. The names of several
political organizations bitterly opposed to the present
government of Rwanda append their endorsements to this
document.
4. (SBU) In post's opinion, the very detailed Human Rights
Watch report, 33 pages long, which discusses various alleged
RPA abuses, should be taken as the standard of reference
regarding Charles Muhire's behavior: it has a single
reference to Colonel Charles Muhire, conducting himself as a
lawful commander, whose orders were disobeyed. The other
document is the product of implacable political opponents of
the GOR. Muhire is known to this mission as a thoroughly
professional officer, and an extensive review of DATT
reporting over the years refers to him consistently as a
moderate.
5. (SBU) For Captain Innocent Munyengango, we found a single
internet reference to the provisional release by the GOR of
genocide suspects pending trial. One of the individuals named
was an Innocent Munyengango. This cannot be the same
individual scheduled for training, as Captain Munyengango has
been a member of the RPA/RDF since 1990 - he could not be a
genocide suspect arrested and then released by the GOR.
6. (U) Post asks for expedited vetting by the Department of
the two individuals, given the May 22 training date.
ARIETTI
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