Rwanda has been accused of being among the worst perpetrators of “transnational repression” in the US, persecuting, harassing and threatening exiles there, according to a new report.
The Freedom House defense group’s report in Washington names Rwanda, along with China, Russia, Iran and Egypt, as the main criminals in their quest to extend the reach of their repressive regimes in the United States.
Isabel Linzer, one of the authors of the report, said the findings raise further questions about the UK government’s agreement with Kigali to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda. The first deportation flight is scheduled for June 14.
“People often focus on Saudi Arabia, Iran, China, Russia, but Rwanda is one of the most prolific perpetrators of transnational repression in the world,” Linzer said. “And it certainly hasn’t received the same level of scrutiny as some of these other countries.
“The asylum agreement between the United Kingdom and Rwanda is quite impressive given the frequency with which the Rwandan government has gone after the Rwandans in the United Kingdom and the British government is well aware of this,” he added.
Freedom House’s report, Unsafe in America: Transnational Repression in the United States, notes that attacks on exiles have occurred since the Cold War, but adds “foreign intelligence operations they have intensified significantly in recent years. “
“Autocrats cast a long shadow on American soil,” he says. “The governments of Iran, China, Egypt, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, and other states are increasingly aggressively ignoring U.S. laws to threaten, harass, monitor, persecute, and even conspire to do so. physically hurting people across the country. “
One of the attackers was Paul Rusesabagina, the former director of the Kigali Hotel whose efforts to save people in the 1994 genocide are mentioned in the film Hotel Rwanda.
Rusesabagina, a permanent U.S. resident and prominent dissident, was abducted while traveling to the Middle East in August 2020, tricked into boarding a private jet that took him to Rwanda, where he was sentenced to life in prison. 25 years in prison. Last month, the U.S. State Department formally stated that he was “arrested by mistake.”
Rusesabagina’s daughter Carine and other Rwandan dissidents were found to have been targeted by Pegasus spyware made by the Israeli security firm NSO Group.
The Rwandan government has denied using spyware, but has not responded to a request to comment on the Freedom House report.
Rwandan opposition figures in the US speak of constant surveillance, harassment and threats.
Patrick Karegeya, a former Rwandan spy chief who was found dead in a South African hotel in 2013. Photo: AP
“You will understand that it is part of your life,” said Theogene Rudasingwa, a former chief of staff to President Paul Kagame, who was formerly Rwanda’s ambassador to the United States and is now a staunch critic of the Kagame government. “My wife is constantly scared. My children are constantly scared, especially for me. Every time I leave home, they are ready. I have determined that I cannot be paralyzed and live in fear 24 hours a day, 7 hours a day. days of the week, but the feeling of being a hunted person surrounds me 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, “Rudasingwa told the Guardian.
Three months ago he said he left his local bank for a pedestrian to tell him they had seen someone pass under his car. Rudasingwa called police who conducted a three-hour search but found nothing, possibly because the intruder had been disturbed.
Rudasingwa was the target of a murder plot in Belgium in 2015, which failed when he postponed a planned trip there. Following the assassination of his fellow opposition leader, former Rwandan intelligence chief Patrick Karegeya, in South Africa in 2013, a assassination believed to have been ordered in Kigali, the The state advised Rudasingwa to take extra precautions.
“I was told they had contacted Kigali to warn them not to try to do such things here in the United States,” he told the Guardian.
In March this year, the FBI launched a website on transnational repression offering advice on how to report incidents, as part of a comprehensive administration campaign to address the growing threat.
“Transnational repression is used not only to individually harm or threaten dissidents, journalists, activists and members of the diaspora, but to silence entire communities,” a National Security Council spokesman said.
“Our intention is to use the full set of tools and resources at our disposal to protect and build support for the people and communities they target, and to hold perpetrators accountable for their actions.”
However, Claude Gatebuke, another Rwandan activist who has received repeated anonymous threats, said many members of the diaspora did not denounce the harassment because of the close diplomatic relations between Washington and Kigali.
“Part of the reason people don’t speak out is because they know that the Rwandan government has a very close relationship with the U.S. government, and when they share information, they think they’re telling themselves.” say Gatebuke to the authors of Freedom House. .
Senior members of Congress have also expressed their displeasure over Washington’s Kagame hug. After the head of the US command in Africa, General Stephen Townsend, posted photos of him posing next to the president of Rwanda, the top Republican in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, James Risch, warned that the bilateral relationship “faces serious complications.”
“Portraying the opposite is counterproductive and undermining [state department] messages on other major diplomatic concerns, “Risch wrote on Twitter.
“I am always sensitive to this level of intelligence-level interaction, at the FBI level, of senior officials who always go to Kigali as if it were their Mecca,” Rudasingwa said. “How can I be sure I’m sharing sensitive information with them? So sometimes you just keep it to yourself.
“No one ever calls Kagame. No one is holding him accountable,” he added. “It simply came to our notice then that the United Kingdom was sending refugees there. So where does the heart come from calling him when he does you a favor?