Two separate but related events took place yesterday: In the town of Nyanza, the High Court Chamber of International Crimes was deciding whether Callixte Nsabimana, alias Sankara, should be court martialled similar to some with whom he shares the same charges. Nsabimana was a spokesman of the FNL, an armed group that launched deadly attacks in some districts bordering Burundi last year. He was extradited from the Comoros in May. 100 kilometres away in Kigali, two other captured FLN fighters were being paraded in front of the press. Surprisingly, one of them, Herman Nsengimana, had been appointed by Paul Rusesabagina, the overall head of a coalition at the head of FLN, as the new FLN spokesperson after Nsabimana was arrested. His colleague, Theobald Mutarambirwa, had been the Secretary General of PS-Imberakuri. His disappearance led to many human rights organisations alleging that he had been forcefully disappeared by the government only to reappear in an armed group in the Congo. Those NGOs have not retracted their allegations up to this day. The silence by human rights organisations and international media organisations on Rusesabagina’s con game is deafening. The fact that he does not hide his leadership of a terror group should have raised the red flag long ago, but he seems to enjoy some protection. So, now all people need to do is sit back and wait for the many trials lined up which are sure to unearth quite a trove of information. But one thing is for sure, being an FLN spokesperson is not for the fainthearted- it is jinxed.
