New evidence links RNC to grenade attacks

The ongoing trial of Lt. Joel Mutabazi and 15 others accused of terrorism took a new turn yesterday when military prosecutors screened a video of one of the principal suspects in which he gave of account on how FDLR closely works with RNC. Nshimiyimana, also known as Camarade, is an operative of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) militia, and he said the terror group worked closely with Rwanda National Congress (RNC). The video shows the suspect explaining in detail how the two organisations coordinated activities that saw a number of grenade attacks in the country. The video was taken during the interrogation session before the suspects were brought to court. Nshimiyimana admitted that the video is authentic but declined to answer further respond to further queries from the judges about details in the video. In the video, he claims to have worked for RNC reporting to Mutabazi and that after successfully executing a mission to strike Kicukiro Market with a grenade that killed two, he reported back to Mutabazi and a certain Col. Jean Marie of FDLR, who were both based in Kampala. Operations “I worked for RNC through Mutabazi. At one point, the RNC’s intelligence wing had tasked us to gather information about the war between DR Congo army and M23 rebels. I was in charge of with DR Congo, while Emile Gafiri was in charge of reporting about Rwanda. We both reported to Mutabazi,” Nshimiyimana said in the video. He added that he once received funds from Mutabazi to purchase a smartphone to ease communication with him. When the judicial police asked Nshimiyimana about the operational plan of RNC, he said they invest in blackmailing Rwanda and mobilisation. “In Uganda, RNC has been issuing membership cards both in the capital Kampala and on the outskirts. They also owned a newspaper called Ishema that published content that blackmails the Rwandan government, and a web site called Inyenyeri. (www.inyenyerinews.org). “Ishema is printed from Nasser Road in Kampala and edited by Paul Cyubahiro. Cyubahiro is also charged with forging Rwandan official stamps, marriage certificates, and passports, among others. He particularly forged 30 passports that he gave to RNC members and sent them via DHL to a certain Esperance in Belgium,” Nsengiyumva said. The trial is scheduled to proceed today with the prosecution is expected to provide evidence linking the 16 suspects to terror activities.