Col. Habimana linked to Uwilingiyimana murder

The recently captured FDLR mouth-piece and virulent hardliner, Lt. Col. Michel Habimana, alias Edmond Ngarambe, could have had a direct role in the killing of former Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana. Uwilingiyimana, Rwanda’s first and only woman Premier and her husband were slain by the then Presidential guard, after the latter had disarmed the UN troops. Security sources revealed that Habimana could have been among the 13 soldiers who killed Uwilingiyimana after abducting and subsequently killing the group of Belgian UN forces who formed her security detail. A closer look at his past, especially during and after the genocide, might explain his extremism and fanatically propagating the genocide ideology. This and much more is why his capture is indeed a big coup for the current joint FARDC-RDF alliance and, indeed, a heavy blow to FDLR elements wherever they are. Witnesses’ accounts point out that he at one time went to his home district proclaiming and boasting of “a job well done” – after killing people during the 1994 genocide against Tutsis. Some time in during the genocide in1994, Habimana travelled to his home region, former Rusatira Prefecture, in what is now Huye district in the Southern Province. More precisely, he hails from Gitovu cell in Kinazi sector - Huye District. His mission then was largely to recruit for the Interahamwe and, mobilize the general public to make and compile lists of those considered to be RPF/Inkotanyi collaborators, who were later killed, usually being hacked to death by machetes. Reportedly, Habimana also organized and mounted roadblocks where many people were killed in cold blood. He is said to have recruited his own brother into the Interahamwe militia. Habimana surrendered last week amidst the ongoing joint operation that is aimed at dislodging the FDLR out of the DRC jungles which they have occupied for the last 15 years. Ends

National

Col. Habimana linked to Uwilingiyimana murder