Rwandan fugitive and former RDF officer, Lt. Joel Mutabazi, is in Rwandan Police custody after being handed over earlier this week by the police in Uganda. Contrary to reports in Ugandan media that Mutabazi was abducted, Rwandan Police spokesperson Damas Gatare said in a statement yesterday that Mutabazi had been transferred to Rwanda as part of standing bilateral cooperation. “We have Lt. Joel Mutabazi in custody following his arrest and hand-over by Uganda Police. This was done in keeping with ongoing collaboration between Rwanda and Uganda police to fight and prevent transnational organised crimes through Interpol and the Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation framework. Lt. Mutabazi will face the due process of the law,” Gatare said.Reliable sources indicate that while in exile in Uganda, Lt. Mutabazi was active in organising and coordinating a terror cell targeting Rwanda. Information gathered from suspects arrested after recent grenade blasts in Kigali revealed that Mutabazi had been coordinating a group of FDLR agents who carried out the attacks earlier this year, according to a source.With bases in DR Congo, FDLR is a militia largely made up of elements behind the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.The New Times has learned that an Interpol Red Notice was issued earlier this month following an international arrest warrant provided earlier by Rwandan authorities charging Mutabazi with terror activities and other criminal acts. This paper’s investigation into the circumstances surrounding this case and the suspension on Wednesday of Joel Aguma, Uganda’s Police Deputy CIID Director in-charge of Crime Intelligence, reveals that Mutabazi was arrested by Ugandan security agents along the Masaka-Mutukula road en route to South Africa where he is known to have close links with Rwandan fugitives there.They include Kayumba Nyamwasa, Patrick Karegeya and Jean Paul Turayishimiye–the latter an RNC member based in the US–who have also been linked to the FDLR militia in eastern DR Congo. Sources say that the trio was behind the attempt to smuggle Mutabazi from a hotel in a Kampala suburb to South Africa.Rwandan police have been working to have Mutabazi deported for the last few months and, in August, Ugandan police briefly arrested the fugitive based on the international arrest warrant but stopped short of sending him to Rwanda in order to verify his status in Uganda. Assassination fuss?Stories had earlier emerged describing how Mutabazi fired a gun at his house and deliberately shot himself in order to stage an assassination attempt and then get refugee protection by the UNHCR in Kampala.He is said to be admitting the incident himself; it was also witnessed by his brother, one Jackson Karemera, according sources close to the investigations.In August, then Police spokesperson Theos Badege decried the practice of organisations not sufficiently probing the backgrounds of supposed asylum-seekers who may have fled after committing serious crimes.In a statement at the time, Badege said: “Innocent Rwandan lives have been lost as a result of criminal activities by Mutabazi and his associates. Suspected criminals should not be allowed to take advantage of international refugee protection mechanisms to escape legal accountability.”Who is Lt Joel Mutabazi?Mutabazi is a former Rwanda Defence Forces officer and deserter who fled Rwanda in October 2011. He is a terrorism suspect who has been in hiding in Uganda where he allegedly operated a terror cell responsible for the Kigali grenade attacks. Detectives believe that he is part of the network that includes Rwandan fugitives Kayumba and Karegeya, founders of the Rwanda National Congress (RNC) and FDLR militia. While in Uganda, he allegedly conducted covert operations and was engaged in recruiting RNC members.
