VZCZCXYZ0033
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLGB #0483 1381452
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 181452Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY KIGALI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4160
INFO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS KIGALI 000483 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/W, DRL/PHD, PM/RSAT AND L/PM 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: MARR MASS PHUM PREL RW
SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS VETTING FOR IMET TRAINING 
 
 
¶1.  (U) This is an action request, see paragraph 2. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Per Leahy Amendment human rights vetting 
requirements, please screen the following Rwandan Defense 
Force (RDF) personnel scheduled to receive IMET training in 
the U.S. 
 
 Page 
Last Name  First Name  Rank   DOB      Training Date 
---------  ----------  ----   ---      ------------- 
 
Muhire      Charles   Lt.Gen. 20Oct58   22 May 2007 
 
Munyengango Innocent  Capt    21Feb71   04 May 2007 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Post has discovered no derogatory information on 
the nominees from its own files or from reputable sources. 
Post in an internet search for Lt. General Charles Muhire 
(head of the Air Force) found two possible references to him, 
one positive, one negative.  One, a Human Rights report of 
1999 entitled "The Rwandan Patriotic Front," discusses 
allegations of abuses by RPA troops.  In one incident an 
officer junior to "Colonel Charles Muhire" disobeyed Muhire's 
direct order to deliver civilians to a safe zone, instead 
killing the civilians.  In a second internet hit, a french 
language document found at a website called africatime.com, 
is entitled (informal embassy translation) "Bulletin No 26, 
Memorandum addressed to Belgian Government and Parliament on 
the impossibility of equal justice in Rwanda as long as the 
RPF genocidaires remain in power."  This document accuses 
various Rwandan colonels, including a Colonel Charles Muhire, 
of "conniving" in various exactions against the civilian Hutu 
population in Rwanda in the late 1990s.  The names of several 
political organizations bitterly opposed to the present 
government of Rwanda append their endorsements to this 
document. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) In post's opinion, the very detailed Human Rights 
Watch report, 33 pages long, which discusses various alleged 
RPA abuses, should be taken as the standard of reference 
regarding Charles Muhire's behavior: it has a single 
reference to Colonel Charles Muhire, conducting himself as a 
lawful commander, whose orders were disobeyed.  The other 
document is the product of implacable political opponents of 
the GOR.  Muhire is known to this mission as a thoroughly 
professional officer, and an extensive review of DATT 
reporting over the years refers to him consistently as a 
moderate. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) For Captain Innocent Munyengango, we found a single 
internet reference to the provisional release by the GOR of 
genocide suspects pending trial. One of the individuals named 
was an Innocent Munyengango.  This cannot be the same 
individual scheduled for training, as Captain Munyengango has 
been a member of the RPA/RDF since 1990 - he could not be a 
genocide suspect arrested and then released by the GOR. 
 
¶6.  (U) Post asks for expedited vetting by the Department of 
the two individuals, given the May 22 training date. 
ARIETTI