Anger in RNC group over “anti-Kagame obsession”

These FDLR combatants surrendered on 30 December 2013 in Walikale, eastern DRC. The group RNC is one of the Rwandan political platforms giving voice to the militia group which executed the genocide against Tutsis in Rwanda

There is growing frustration within the ranks of the Rwandan dissident group the Rwanda National Congress (RNC) as senior members say their views have been sidelined in favour of an agenda that is destroying the group.

The frustration was openly played out in South Africa last December. Members at a closed-door meeting on 21st December spoke out against the bloc which had emerged aligned to either Patrick Karageya or Kayumba Nyamwasa.

“For two years, there [was] tensions between Karegeya and General Kayumba Nyamwasa,” a senior RNC member tells Jeune Afrique, a French magazine, in its article published Tuesday.

“Kayumba supported the candidacy of his brother-in-law, while Karegeya had his own candidate.”

The Jeune Afrique source was referring to elections which took place in November in which Frank Ntwali emerged as chair for RNC. However, Karegeya prefered Kennedy Ndahiro and his nephew David Batenga. These two got lowe level positions.

The source also narrates that anger is visible among RNC branch leaders in other countries who feel both Kayumba and Karegeya were incompetent. This particular source says he had his last days in RNC when FDLR, a militia group which executed the genocide, expressed condolences for death of Karegeya.

“I’m not the only one in RNC who is overly irritated about our political line, which summarizes all too often into anti-Kagame obsession that has obscured the absence of a tangible program,” says this RNC official.

The members of RNC also tell of a reign of terror inside RNC. “Some members of the RNC who have tried to distance themselves from actively supporting the status quo have been threatened,” he says.