Who is General Kayumba Nyamwasa?
Ten years ago, Uganda was at war with Rwanda. The armies of the two countries fought in Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). After the clash, the two countries sent in top level officers to discuss peace.
By Joshua Kato
Ten years ago, Uganda was at war with Rwanda. The armies of the two countries fought in Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). After the clash, the two countries sent in top level officers to discuss peace.
Uganda’s delegation was led by then Brigadier, now Gen. Jeje Odongo while the Rwandans were led by Brigadier General Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa. Even before the watchful eye of the media, Nyamwasa had more ‘airs’ of importance around him than the Ugandan Chief of Staff. That was how powerful Nyamwasa was.
Today, Nyamwasa is lying on a hospital bed in South Africa, after he was shot in an alleged assassination attempt by agents of the Rwandan government. The regime that he once feted and fought for no longer even mentions his name.
They instead call him ‘fugitive general’ or ‘dissident general’. On the other hand, the man he so much despised, Odongo, honourably retired from the Ugandan army as a full general and is set to join politics.
Such is the difference 10 years can make. Nyamwasa now refers to Rwandan president Gen. Paul Kagame, a man he once adored, as “an absolute dictatorâ€.
“In Rwanda, Kagame is the institutions,†Nyamwasa said.
How the two fell out
Nyamwasa fell out with Kagame in 2003 after he was dropped from the military and given a diplomatic post in India.
According to sources in Kigali, Nyamwasa may have showed intentions of running for the top seat in the land. He was also accused by the government and sections of senior army officers of creating his own power base within the Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF).
In a media interview early this month, Rwanda’s Ambassador to Uganda, Maj. Gen. Frank Mugambagye, pointed out that Nyamwasa had created his own personalities in the army.
“During his tenure as Chief of Staff, it became clear to everybody that he favoured certain officers over others, a practice that is totally unacceptable.†Mugambagye said Nyamwasa tried to create his own structures for reasons that were not very clear.
The government also accused Nyamwasa of corruption and abuse of office. However, Nyamwasa denied the accusations, saying they were coined to fight him. Nyamwasa ran away from Rwanda in February this year and took refuge in South Africa.
This makes the general the highest ranking and most influential RDF officer to run away from Kigali. On February 27, The New Times newspaper of Rwanda reported that the general had fled through Uganda using ‘smugglers’ routes.’
He was no longer the hero. He was a zero, a fugitive and from the tone in Kigali, “public enemy number oneâ€. Shortly afterwards, the random bomb blasts that hit Kigali were blamed on him and his friends.
Who is Nyamwasa?
Nyamwasa’s life looks like a cycle. He was born a refugee and almost died a political refugee in South Africa last weekend.
Nyamwasa was born in western Uganda in the 1960s. His parents were Rwandan Tutsi refugees who had settled in Uganda in 1959.
In the 1950s, there was a tribal war in Rwanda that saw thousands of Tutsi run to Uganda and Tanzania. Nyamwasa’s parents were among this group.
He went to Mbarara High School for his O’ and A’level education before joining Makerere University for a bachelor’s degree.
In 1984, Nyamwasa joined the National Resistance Army (NRA) and fought throughout the war. At the end of the war, he served as a unit political commissar before he was briefly appointed a district administrator.
Move to Rwanda
On October 1, 1990, Nyamwasa, together with a group of fellow NRA Rwandan officers and men, sneaked out of Uganda and attacked Rwanda.
The war against then president Juvenal Habyarimana had began in earnest.
Having been a respectable officer in the NRA and because of his education background, Nyamwasa was one of the most influential personalities in the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF).
In Rwanda, he was deployed as the in-charge of military intelligence in the RPF.
“If the RPF was a home, this was the kitchen, dining table and bedroom put together. It is the intelligence that identified, planned and oversaw the execution of everything that the RPF did. That was how powerful Nyamwasa was,†says a former RPF soldier, currently hiding in Europe.
In 1997, Nyamwasa had another turning point when he was named the Chief of Staff.
“He was in such good books with Gen. Kagame that they shared their deepest of deepest secrets,†said a former RPF officer, who is also in exile.
At the same time, Nyamwasa was in charge of the battle-hardened 221 brigade that was fighting Hutu insurgents in different parts of the country and the DRC.
It was during his call of duty as Chief of Staff when the Rwandan and Ugandan forces went to battle in Kisangani.
This was also the time when he unleashed maximum fire power against the Hutu insurgents. According to sources in Rwanda, hundreds were killed, both innocent and culpable, in areas around Ruhengeri.
During a BBC interview in 1997, the then powerful colonel made a comment that may be reverberating in his ears now. “We have the means. We will kill until they lose the appetite for war,†Nyamwasa said, referring to the Hutu, both civilians and combatants.
But shortly after, his number dropped. He was sacked in 2001 and temporarily put on katebe (left without work) before he was recalled in 2002 and deployed as in-charge of security services. Nyamwasa was then sent to India as an ambassador, a post he held until his defection in February 2010.
As if history is repeating itself, like his parents ran away in 1959, Nyamwasa has also fled Rwanda, more than 60 years later, after he fought to return home.
According to an interview he did shortly after arriving in South Africa, Nyamwasa had intended to go into academics, perhaps to lecture in universities and do research.
“I want to live quietly away from politics. I want to go into academics,†he said.
However, Nyamwasa later regretted that his name was still in the media for the wrong reasons. He could not be quiet, hence continued hitting back at the authorities in Kigali.
FACTFILE
1994: Helped bring Rwandan president Paul Kagame to power and end genocide
2006: French judge accuses him of shooting down plane of Rwanda’s ex-President Habyarimana in 1994
2008: Spain accuses him of links to death of Spanish nuns
Feb 2010: Leaves post as ambassador to India, flees to South Africa Accused of links to grenade attacks in Kigali
June 2010: Shot in Johannesburg
BBC
Ten years ago, Uganda was at war with Rwanda. The armies of the two countries fought in Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). After the clash, the two countries sent in top level officers to discuss peace.
Uganda’s delegation was led by then Brigadier, now Gen. Jeje Odongo while the Rwandans were led by Brigadier General Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa. Even before the watchful eye of the media, Nyamwasa had more ‘airs’ of importance around him than the Ugandan Chief of Staff. That was how powerful Nyamwasa was.
Today, Nyamwasa is lying on a hospital bed in South Africa, after he was shot in an alleged assassination attempt by agents of the Rwandan government. The regime that he once feted and fought for no longer even mentions his name.
They instead call him ‘fugitive general’ or ‘dissident general’. On the other hand, the man he so much despised, Odongo, honourably retired from the Ugandan army as a full general and is set to join politics.
Such is the difference 10 years can make. Nyamwasa now refers to Rwandan president Gen. Paul Kagame, a man he once adored, as “an absolute dictatorâ€.
“In Rwanda, Kagame is the institutions,†Nyamwasa said.
How the two fell out
Nyamwasa fell out with Kagame in 2003 after he was dropped from the military and given a diplomatic post in India.
According to sources in Kigali, Nyamwasa may have showed intentions of running for the top seat in the land. He was also accused by the government and sections of senior army officers of creating his own power base within the Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF).
In a media interview early this month, Rwanda’s Ambassador to Uganda, Maj. Gen. Frank Mugambagye, pointed out that Nyamwasa had created his own personalities in the army.
“During his tenure as Chief of Staff, it became clear to everybody that he favoured certain officers over others, a practice that is totally unacceptable.†Mugambagye said Nyamwasa tried to create his own structures for reasons that were not very clear.
The government also accused Nyamwasa of corruption and abuse of office. However, Nyamwasa denied the accusations, saying they were coined to fight him. Nyamwasa ran away from Rwanda in February this year and took refuge in South Africa.
This makes the general the highest ranking and most influential RDF officer to run away from Kigali. On February 27, The New Times newspaper of Rwanda reported that the general had fled through Uganda using ‘smugglers’ routes.’
He was no longer the hero. He was a zero, a fugitive and from the tone in Kigali, “public enemy number oneâ€. Shortly afterwards, the random bomb blasts that hit Kigali were blamed on him and his friends.
Who is Nyamwasa?
Nyamwasa’s life looks like a cycle. He was born a refugee and almost died a political refugee in South Africa last weekend.
Nyamwasa was born in western Uganda in the 1960s. His parents were Rwandan Tutsi refugees who had settled in Uganda in 1959.
In the 1950s, there was a tribal war in Rwanda that saw thousands of Tutsi run to Uganda and Tanzania. Nyamwasa’s parents were among this group.
He went to Mbarara High School for his O’ and A’level education before joining Makerere University for a bachelor’s degree.
In 1984, Nyamwasa joined the National Resistance Army (NRA) and fought throughout the war. At the end of the war, he served as a unit political commissar before he was briefly appointed a district administrator.
Move to Rwanda
On October 1, 1990, Nyamwasa, together with a group of fellow NRA Rwandan officers and men, sneaked out of Uganda and attacked Rwanda.
The war against then president Juvenal Habyarimana had began in earnest.
Having been a respectable officer in the NRA and because of his education background, Nyamwasa was one of the most influential personalities in the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF).
In Rwanda, he was deployed as the in-charge of military intelligence in the RPF.
“If the RPF was a home, this was the kitchen, dining table and bedroom put together. It is the intelligence that identified, planned and oversaw the execution of everything that the RPF did. That was how powerful Nyamwasa was,†says a former RPF soldier, currently hiding in Europe.
In 1997, Nyamwasa had another turning point when he was named the Chief of Staff.
“He was in such good books with Gen. Kagame that they shared their deepest of deepest secrets,†said a former RPF officer, who is also in exile.
At the same time, Nyamwasa was in charge of the battle-hardened 221 brigade that was fighting Hutu insurgents in different parts of the country and the DRC.
It was during his call of duty as Chief of Staff when the Rwandan and Ugandan forces went to battle in Kisangani.
This was also the time when he unleashed maximum fire power against the Hutu insurgents. According to sources in Rwanda, hundreds were killed, both innocent and culpable, in areas around Ruhengeri.
During a BBC interview in 1997, the then powerful colonel made a comment that may be reverberating in his ears now. “We have the means. We will kill until they lose the appetite for war,†Nyamwasa said, referring to the Hutu, both civilians and combatants.
But shortly after, his number dropped. He was sacked in 2001 and temporarily put on katebe (left without work) before he was recalled in 2002 and deployed as in-charge of security services. Nyamwasa was then sent to India as an ambassador, a post he held until his defection in February 2010.
As if history is repeating itself, like his parents ran away in 1959, Nyamwasa has also fled Rwanda, more than 60 years later, after he fought to return home.
According to an interview he did shortly after arriving in South Africa, Nyamwasa had intended to go into academics, perhaps to lecture in universities and do research.
“I want to live quietly away from politics. I want to go into academics,†he said.
However, Nyamwasa later regretted that his name was still in the media for the wrong reasons. He could not be quiet, hence continued hitting back at the authorities in Kigali.
FACTFILE
1994: Helped bring Rwandan president Paul Kagame to power and end genocide
2006: French judge accuses him of shooting down plane of Rwanda’s ex-President Habyarimana in 1994
2008: Spain accuses him of links to death of Spanish nuns
Feb 2010: Leaves post as ambassador to India, flees to South Africa Accused of links to grenade attacks in Kigali
June 2010: Shot in Johannesburg
BBC