Rwanda’s National Counter Terrorism Committee and the Financial Intelligence Centre have placed Pretoria-based Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa on a list of 25 alleged criminals for financing and inciting terrorism.
Rwanda’s National Counter Terrorism Committee (NCTC) and the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) have placed Pretoria-based Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa on a list of 25 alleged criminals for financing and inciting terrorism.
The 67-year-old, one of the founding members of the Rwanda National Congress (RNC), has been convicted in absentia on charges of grenade attacks in Kigali between 2010 and 2013.
RNC has been declared a terror organisation by Kigali.
According to the FIC, Nyamwasa has direct connections with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) command. The FIC list includes members of the FDLR, the DRC-based Rwandan genocidal militia founded by the perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, the RNC, and other terror organisations.
The FDLR was sanctioned by the United States of America and the UN for terrorism and war crimes.
Kigali accuses South Africa of providing Nyamwasa with travel documents, personal security and platforms for smearing Rwanda, and says Pretoria refuses to arrest or deport him to Rwanda to face justice.
Kigali said it has on many occasions requested the arrest of RNC leaders living in South Africa, but none of them were brought to book or deported.
Nyamwasa’s brother-in-law, Frank Ntwali, who represents RNC in Southern Africa and has allegedly coordinated the recruitment for RNC/P5, also appears on the list. Based in Johannesburg, Ntwali is said to liaise with FDLR to coordinate terror activities against Rwanda.
The designated 25 individuals have allegedly orchestrated attacks on Rwandan soil, inciting Rwandans to commit and finance acts of terrorism.
They allegedly support terrorist groups, including the FDLR and RNC, which is responsible for the 2010 grenade explosions in Kigali, and the Rwanda Movement for Democratic Change (MRCD)/ National Liberation Front (FLN), which killed 11 civilians in 2018 and 2019 attacks in southern Rwanda.
Fearing the consequences, the listed individuals are increasingly frustrated, with some launching fundraising initiatives for legal support and others furiously taking to social media to try to clear their names.
The designations impose asset freezes, travel bans and financial restrictions within Rwanda, aiming to disrupt funding streams from supporting their alleged terrorist acts.
Some of the sanctioned terror-accused have launched crowdfunding platforms such as GoFundMe and GiveSendGo for allegedly collecting funds to pay lawyers to challenge the sanctions on their behalf. In contrast, others took to social media claiming to be victims of “extrajudicial repression”.
The RNC camp has also expressed frustration with the sanctions.
Ignace Rusagara — the RNC/P5 spokesperson residing in Maine, US — has allegedly launched a fundraising initiative to support the five RNC leaders on the sanctions list.
Rusagara is accused of supporting terrorism, promoting FDLR objectives, and defending its actions.
Rusagara’s fundraising is seen as a plot to fund the genocidal militia and strengthen the FDLR.
Nyamwasa, a RNC top commander, allegedly lives a lavish lifestyle in South Africa, using funds he is said to have collected from the organisation members in fundraising meant to finance terror acts against the Rwandan government, which led to the RNC splitting into factions.
Rusagara believes the sanctioned RNC leaders are victims accused of further fundraising to fund terror activities.
Rwanda also accuses Christina Uwizera, alias Reverend Christine Coleman, of using her title as a pastor to collect funds for financing terrorism.
Kigali said she has been using her platforms to incite violence, spread hate speech and glorify armed movements responsible for deadly attacks targeting Rwandan civilians. According to the NCTC Investigations, Uwizera maintains direct and indirect links with the FLN and FDLR.
Rwanda maintains that Uwizera has for many years used her faith ministry, Blazing Holy Fire Ministries, in Denver, Colorado, in the US, to raise funds to support terror acts targeting Rwandans.
Angered by the sanctions, she is believed to have launched another fundraising initiative, claiming to collect payment for lawyers.
Rwanda believes the funds from the fundraising will likely be sent to FDLR commanders based in eastern DRC, who are suffering heavy losses in the battle against Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC)/M23 rebels, who support the Congolese army coalition.
The countries that host the listed individuals abide by counter-terrorism protocols. Some of the sanctioned individuals opted for silence to avoid further investigations by host countries that could result in their arrests, job termination or deportation to Rwanda.
Thomas Nahimana, Gaspard Musabyimana, Theogene Rudasingwa, and Jean Paul Turayishimye, among others, have gone to the media to clear their names, claiming that they were listed among the criminals simply for extrajudicial repression.
Rwanda says the sanction list builds on its long-standing efforts to neutralise threats from genocidaire remnants, who have persisted in DRC since 1994, and their financiers, “who disguise their terrorism agenda as political opposition and activism”.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an independent intergovernmental body that develops and promotes policies to protect the global financial system against terrorist financing, among other things, recommends that countries implement targeted financial sanctions regimes to comply with UN Security Council resolutions on the prevention and suppression of terrorism and terrorist financing.
The resolutions require countries to freeze without delay the funds or other assets of those targeted, “and to ensure that no funds or other assets are made available, directly or indirectly, to or for the benefit of, any person or entity either designated by, or under the authority of, the UN Security Council under Chapter VII of the Charter of the UN, including in accordance with resolution 1267 (1999) and its successor resolutions, or designated by that country pursuant to resolution 1373 (2001)’’.
Rwanda believes that South Africa and other countries that host sanctioned individuals should abide by the FATF’s recommendations.