Rwanda 2014
Yearbook 2014
Rwanda. Rwanda population in 2020 is estimated at 12,952,229. The 20th anniversary of the genocide of 800,000 people was killed in April. President Paul Kagame again singled out France as co-responsible because of its support for the then Hutur government. A French government delegation and France’s ambassador failed to attend a ceremony on April 7 where, among other things, UN chief Ban Ki Moon spoke. In several countries, trials were held against suspects of the genocide. In March, a French court sentenced Pascal Simbikangwa, a former Rwandan officer, to 25 years in prison. have provided the hutumilis Interahamwe with weapons. The trial was the first of its kind in France. Rwanda had previously failed to get him extradited. In June, Svea High Court sentenced a 55-year-old Rwandan-born man to life imprisonment for genocide and war crimes. He was found guilty of having massacred thousands of Tutsis. The court visited several places in Rwanda. The United Nations War Criminal Tribunal (ICTR) in September set the lifetime sentence for two leaders of the former ruling party MRND (National Revolutionary Movement for Development). Matthieu Ngirumpatse and Edouard Karemera had appealed against a 2011 ruling in which they were sentenced for eg. genocide. The court was criticized by Rwanda for the former Army captain lldephonse Nizeyimana’s life sentence being reduced to 35 years in prison. He should having ordered to kill the widow after the last king of the Tutsis. ICTR headquartered in neighboring Tanzania is expected to finish its work in 2015. According to ICTR, three defendants were on a free foot. UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Meeting and Association Maina Kiai in June urged Rwanda to ease restrictions on freedom of assembly and facilitate political parties to work. Kiai visited the country in January. According to the government, the restrictions are a protection against a new genocide. In September, President Kagame warned members of his ruling party Rwanda’s Patriotic Front (RPF) for defeating the party. The warning came shortly after three former commanders, including a retired general, were accused of supporting the opposition movement RNC (Rwanda National Congress). One of the RNC’s leaders who lived in exile in South Africa was attacked in March.
According to topb2bwebsites, former General Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, however, escaped unharmed. South Africa then expelled three Rwandan diplomats as suspects of involvement in the incident. Rwanda countered expulsion of six South African diplomats and accused South Africa of protecting terrorists. Nyamwasa, who survived other murder attempts, was previously closely allied with Kagame. It was also former intelligence chief Patrick Karegeya, found dead in a hotel room in Johannesburg on New Year’s Day. No one has been arrested for that murder. The Huturebell movement, the FDLR (Democratic Forces for Rwanda’s Liberation), which has its base in Congo-Kinshasa, announced in May that it would lay down its weapons. The movement is blamed for massacres in eastern Congo and over the years has been attacked by Rwandan military. The disarmament went slowly. In June, only a hundred or more than 1,500 rebels had been disarmed. Foreign ministers in the cooperation organization SADC set a deadline for early 2015, after which a military offensive would resume. The UN and Rwanda warned that the FDLR continued to recruit soldiers, including children. In June, fighting took place at the border with Congo-Kinshasa. Five Congolese soldiers were killed. Both countries accused each other. President Kagame unexpectedly appointed Labor Minister Anastase Murekezi as Prime Minister on July 24, the day after his representative Pierre Habumuremyi was dismissed. No reason was stated. Small support parties to the RPF suggested that Kagame should run for a new presidential term in 2017. It would require amendments to the Constitution and worried the opposition and some donors, such as USA.
