Please remove my name from your maling list.
Thanks.
JWO
--- sharangabo rufagari <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>
> sharangabo rufagari <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>
> On 1 October 1990 Rwandese soldiers invaded
> Rwanda.
> They had rallied round Rwigyema, 'Commandant Fred',
> who'd created the Rwandan Patriotic Army,
> and crossed the sparsely populated Mutara into
> Rwanda.
>
> RPF REFUGEES INVADE RWANDA
>
> Rwigyema was known as a fearless fighter,
> a commander who always led from the front.
> His death caused immediate fears for the morale of
> the troops.
> It was Paul Kagame who saved the RPF.
>
> excerpt from A PEOPLE BETRAYED
> by Linda Melvern, pages 27-30:
> ...When Yoweri Museveni and his National
> Resistance Army (NRA) took Kampala by force in
> January 1986, it was the first insurgent movement
> effectively to take power from an incumbent African
> government. Uganda was a country shattered by the
> brutal rule of Idi Amin and his successors. Museveni
> re-established an effective central government.
> The original decision by Museveni to resort to
> guerilla warfare against Amin's successor, Milton
> Obote, was taken in 1981 when, with only thirty-five
> men and twenty-seven weapons, known as the Popular
> Resistance Army, Museveni attacked the police
> military school at Kabamba. There were two Rwandans
> in this small group. One of them was the popular and
> charismatic Fred Rwigema, and the other, the
> secretive, sober and intelligent Paul Kagame. Both
> fighters would be instrumental in Museveni's
> ultimate success and both learned that it was
> possible for a small group of insurgents to launch
> an armed struggle with few resources and overthrow a
> government.
> The Rwandans were natural allies of Museveni.
> During the Obote regime the Rwandan refugees had
> been persecuted, a reason enough to help him. In
> 1982, when the refugee crisis occurred and Rwandans
> were trapped on the border between Uganda and
> Rwanda, many young Rwandans, rather than remain
> powerless and persecuted refugees, joined the ranks
> of the NRA. By the time Museveni took Kampala by
> force in January 1986, a quarter of the soldiers in
> the 14,000-strong NRA were Rwandan, up to 2-3,000
> Tutsi fighters, the sons of exiles. Many of
> Museveni's top commanders and officers were Rwandan,
> and during his campaign the regime of Obote had
> sought to discredit him by claiming falsely that he
> was Rwandan and was interfering in Uganda's affairs.
> After his victory in 1986, Museveni consolidated
> his power, and his army and the NRA began a military
> recruitment campaign in western and southern Uganda,
> from the Banyarwanda and Buganda areas. This
> increased still further the number of Rwandans in
> the ranks of the NRA as even more refugees took up
> the opportunity of military training. Thousands
> signed up hoping that what had successfully occurred
> in Uganda could now be repeated in Rwanda. Joining
> the NRA was a first step along the road leading
> home.
> Over the next three years these recruits would
> gain much military experience for they took part in
> NRA campaigns to secure eastern and northern Uganda
> then in almost constant insurrection...
> While the Rwandan officer corps was an asset for
> Museveni, the Rwandans themselves were a problem.
> There were increasing complaints among Ugandan
> officers that they were discriminated against in
> favour of Rwandans in the army. The most famous
> Rwandan, Rwigyema, was now a major-general and
> promoted to the NRA's deputy army commander-in-chief
> and deputy minister of defence in Uganda. Then in a
> reshuffle in November 1989, and perhaps to appease
> the anti-Rwandan camp. Rwigyema was removed from
> office. There was deep resentment among Rwandans and
> some of those who believed Rwanda to be an old story
> began to revise their opinion. In August 1990 two
> members of Rwanda's political elite fled to Kampala,
> Valens Kajeguhakwa, a Tutsi businessman, and Pasteur
> Bizimungu, a Hutu and relative of Habyarimana. These
> two described Rwanda as being on the edge of
> collapse, split north and south, drained by
> corruption and ready to welcome anyone who wanted to
> overthrow the regime.
> On 1 October 1990 Rwandan soldiers in the NRA
> invaded Rwanda taking their weapons and supplies.
> They had rallied round Rwigyema. 'Commandant Fred',
> created the Rwandan Patriotic Army, and crossed the
> sparsely populated Mutara into Rwanda.
> Museveni immediately denied supporting the
> invasion and claimed that the soldiers had stolen
> their Ugandan uniforms and equipment. International
> observers chose not to believe him. The soldiers in
> the RPF had almost unlimited access to NRA hardware
> and Museveni was accused of playing a double game,
> of professing friendship with neighbouring Rwanda
> while allowing the preparation of an invading army.
> The American-based Human Rights Watch Arms Project
> was t
