Gen.Nyamwasa’s wife speaks out
THE wife to the exiled Rwandan General shot in South Africa on Saturday gave a moving account of the incident that would have ended her husband’s life.
By Steven Candia
and Agencies
THE wife to the exiled Rwandan General shot in South Africa on Saturday gave a moving account of the incident that would have ended her husband’s life.
Rosette Nyamwasa, wife to Lt. Gen. Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, a critic of Rwanda’s president Paul Kagame, described the attack as an assassination attempt.
She said the lone gunman did not demand anything before shooting her husband, a former chief of staff.
Kayumba remains in critical condition, with a bullet still lodged in his stomach, after being shot outside his Johannesburg home.
Rosette said they were returning from a shopping trip at midday when the gunman approached their car.
“He spoke to my driver, but he wanted space to be able to shoot my husband,†she told the BBC.
“Then when my husband bent, he shot. Fortunately, it went into the stomach and not the head... My husband got out immediately... and he grabbed the gun. In that kind of scuffle, the guy couldn’t cock the gun,†she said.
After the first shot, the gunman, she narrated, walked to the passenger’s side to shoot again, but the firearm failed and the scuffle ensued, ending with the gunman fleeing.
“His condition is improving. He has undergone X-rays and the doctors say there is no need to operate,†the wife said.
Kayumba is admitted at the private
Morningside Clinic.
She added that Kagame wanted her husband dead.
However, Rwanda denied being behind the shooting that took place at Nyamwasa’s Sandton residence.
Rwanda’s foreign affairs minister Louise Mushikiwabo said his government had nothing to do with the incident.
“It is ridiculous,†she told AFP. “We are not a government — and especially not president Kagame — that is inclined to assassinate its own citizens...†Speculation on the attack was “very premature,†she added.
Rwanda’s ambassador to Uganda Frank Mugambagye also distanced his government from any involvement.
“I think Kigali has clarified on the situation but even then this is not the first time such incidents are happening in South Africa and it is unfortunate. Rwanda had nothing to do with it and you should know that at the time this happened, Rwanda was pursuing a judicial process and it was in its best interests that the General returns to Rwanda,†Mugambagye said in a telephone interview yesterday.
Nyamwasa left Kigali in February after falling out with President Kagame.
Since arriving in South Africa, the former army chief of staff has accused Kagame of corruption.
A couple of months after Kayumba went into exile, along with another top military officer, Kagame reshuffled the military leadership. Two high-ranking military officers were suspended and put under house arrest.
Rwanda is to hold general elections in August, the second since the 1994 genocide in which 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.
and Agencies
THE wife to the exiled Rwandan General shot in South Africa on Saturday gave a moving account of the incident that would have ended her husband’s life.
Rosette Nyamwasa, wife to Lt. Gen. Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, a critic of Rwanda’s president Paul Kagame, described the attack as an assassination attempt.
She said the lone gunman did not demand anything before shooting her husband, a former chief of staff.
Kayumba remains in critical condition, with a bullet still lodged in his stomach, after being shot outside his Johannesburg home.
Rosette said they were returning from a shopping trip at midday when the gunman approached their car.
“He spoke to my driver, but he wanted space to be able to shoot my husband,†she told the BBC.
“Then when my husband bent, he shot. Fortunately, it went into the stomach and not the head... My husband got out immediately... and he grabbed the gun. In that kind of scuffle, the guy couldn’t cock the gun,†she said.
After the first shot, the gunman, she narrated, walked to the passenger’s side to shoot again, but the firearm failed and the scuffle ensued, ending with the gunman fleeing.
“His condition is improving. He has undergone X-rays and the doctors say there is no need to operate,†the wife said.
Kayumba is admitted at the private
Morningside Clinic.
She added that Kagame wanted her husband dead.
However, Rwanda denied being behind the shooting that took place at Nyamwasa’s Sandton residence.
Rwanda’s foreign affairs minister Louise Mushikiwabo said his government had nothing to do with the incident.
“It is ridiculous,†she told AFP. “We are not a government — and especially not president Kagame — that is inclined to assassinate its own citizens...†Speculation on the attack was “very premature,†she added.
Rwanda’s ambassador to Uganda Frank Mugambagye also distanced his government from any involvement.
“I think Kigali has clarified on the situation but even then this is not the first time such incidents are happening in South Africa and it is unfortunate. Rwanda had nothing to do with it and you should know that at the time this happened, Rwanda was pursuing a judicial process and it was in its best interests that the General returns to Rwanda,†Mugambagye said in a telephone interview yesterday.
Nyamwasa left Kigali in February after falling out with President Kagame.
Since arriving in South Africa, the former army chief of staff has accused Kagame of corruption.
A couple of months after Kayumba went into exile, along with another top military officer, Kagame reshuffled the military leadership. Two high-ranking military officers were suspended and put under house arrest.
Rwanda is to hold general elections in August, the second since the 1994 genocide in which 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.