Uganda, AU protest arrest of Kagame’s aide

By KEZIO-MUSOKE DAVID, Nation Correspondent

KIGALI, Wednesday - As street protests continued for the third day, in Kigali the Rwandan capital, the government in Kampala has joined the African Union (AU) to denounce the arrest of Rose Kabuye, a top Rwandan presidential aide.

The aide, Mrs Rose Kabuye, the Director of State Protocol, was arrested while on official business in Germany prompting various street demontration that have entered the third day in Kigali.

The arrest came as a result of a warrant issued in 2006 by a politically inspired French magistrate, Jean-Louis Bruguiere for her alleged involvement in a 1994 plane crash that killed the then Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana.

Judge Bruguiere’s warrant was followed by another one issued by a Spanish judge, Fernando Andreu Merelles against 40 top Rwandan officials. The Spanish judge argued that all the forty were involved in the killing of nine Spaniards during the 1994 genocide.

Both Uganda and the AU in separate letters written to the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in France and to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Berlin, Germany, have asked the Germans to acknowledge the unlawful arbitrary nature of the arrest of Mrs Kabuye.

A letter written to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Berlin, Germany, from Uganda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday said that Uganda as an African nation and member of the international community believed that the process through which the charge was processed was flawed and did not follow legal procedures under the Principle of International Jurisdiction.

The doctrine of ‘universal jurisdiction’ holds that some crimes such as torture and genocide are so heinous that those accused of committing them can be tried anywhere, even in countries where the crimes did not take place.

Rwanda has already approved plans to empower courts to use the principal of ‘universal jurisdiction’ against foreigners who are suspected of having participated directly or indirectly in the 1994 genocide.

The country’s Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga confirmed yesterday some 23 French nationals could face trial once Rwanda issues indictments under the same jurisdiction.

The Ugandan letter to Berlin said, “The country condemns in the strongest terms such an arrest as it runs counter to International law on the Principal of Universal Jurisdictions and the African Union Assembly Decision.”

“Therefore such warrants as the one issued against Mrs Kabuye shall not be executed on an African Union member states,” it added.

The African Union Assembly meeting in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt in July 2008 adopted a declaration saying that all United Nation (UN)in particular the European Union (EU) states, should impose a moratorium on the execution of those warrants until all legal and political issues have been exhaustively discussed between the AU, the EU and the UN.

In the Sharm El Sheik decision, African Heads of States and Governments contended that arbitrary abuse of the said Principle as a clear violation of the sovereignty of states and their conduct of international relations.

Uganda is one of the African countries that ratified that declaration.

Another letter from the African Commission in Addis Ababa, written to foreign affairs offices in Berlin says that the detention of Mrs Kabuye might not have been done in good faith as she was travelling on a diplomatic assignment to arrange a state visit by President Paul Kagame, of which Germany was aware.

“The commission therefore expresses its hope that Mrs Kabuye will be accorded the necessary courtesy and privileges that are normally granted to high government officials of her status undertaking official missions in Germany,” the statement adds.