{UAH} Pojim/WBK: ‘A story you can’t miss!’
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'A story you can't miss!'
To mark 25 years since Ugandan soldiers of Rwandan descent attacked Rwanda, former New Vision journalist JUSTUS MUHANGUZI relives a war that changed the region.
The RPA's successive military achievements after the Ruhengeri attack were reportedly attributed to the restructuring that saw Col Alex Kanyarengwe become the RPF political leader and Paul Kagame the RPA's top gun, with professional and battle-hardened officers taking charge of the war plans.
For instance, Maj Sam Kaka, a top commander under Maj Peter Bayingana and group, became the army commander/chief of staff. At the time of the invasion from Uganda, Maj Kaka had been the commander of NRA military police at Makindye in Kampala.
He now commanded the RPA throughout the four-year war until Kigali fell. He has since been reportedly 'relegated' to the Rwandan Human Rights Commission. In that same new command structure, Major Steven Ndugute, aka Kalisoliso, became the operations commander.
Ndugute was the oldest among the Rwandan NRA officers and had even served in the Uganda Army under Amin. In RPA, he was second in command to Major Kaka and was in charge of all the RPA war operations. He died years after the war, from natural causes.
At the time of his death, he was on katebe (not deployed) and his family has since relocated to Uganda, where they are reportedly struggling to make ends meet, in the Kampala suburb of Makindye.
The other commanders who called the shots during this second phase of the RPA war were Kashumba, Dodo-Twahirwa, Kayumba-Nyamwasa (now exiled in South Africa where he has survived several attempts on his life) and the Nyagatare battle hero Capt Sam Byaruhanga.
After the famous Ruhengeri attack, the RPA were itching to show Kigali and the world their military prowess and invincibility. They subsequently invited local and international media to a press conference they held in the thickets that line the banks of the border river Muvumba inside Rwanda.
It was during the night of May 28, 1991, when I suddenly received an unexpected guest at my residence in Mbarara. I was preparing to retire after watching the 10 o'clock news on UTV, when I answered a knock on the front door, only to realize that it was Shaban Ruta (Wilson Rutayisire), the RPA spokesman, itching to enter.
After exchanging pleasantries, he apologized for the unexpected visit and immediately asked me to pick my tools and some heavy clothing to leave for Rwanda. Looking me straight in the face, he said: "I know I am being unfair to you but you know the way we operate. I am from Kampala with a team of your colleagues [journalists] who are right now having a meal, waiting for us to continue to the border".
He then hastened to add: "Don't tell me that you are not going because you know, as much as I do, what your presence means."
Reading his face and body language, I leapt into my bedroom, jumped into work clothes, and, without giving any explanations, told my people that I was going for duty. Meanwhile, Rutayisire, who never had the courtesy of taking the seat I had offered him was already outside in the car with his driver, reversing.
As we pulled out of my compound, I asked them to drive to my office, from where I picked up my pinhole camera. It was not long before we hit the road after picking up the other journalists from Pelikan hotel.
This team included the late Sam Mukalazi from the New Vision in Kampala, Epajjar Ojulu, a Kampala-based BBC stringer, and two Swedish journalists . It was approaching midnight when we reached the Uganda border area of Kizinga and parked our vehicles and started the treacherous journey to the RPA base in Rwanda.
Before we crossed, we found a platoon of RPA fighters on the Ugandan side of the border. They were to guard and guide us during the journey to what we were told was then RPA-held territory in Rwanda.
That night's experience, just like the previous trip to the Muhavura mountain area when we met the former detainees of Ruhengeri prison, was very challenging. Apart from walking in the thick thickets, we had to wade through the muddy waters of river Muvumba as we crossed it several times.
When we finally reached our destination after more than two hours, many of us were dog tired. Our legs ached and our shoes and trousers were dripping after getting soaked in muddy river waters and dew.
But our spirits were rekindled when we arrived and suddenly realized that the tedious journey was not in vain. I personally got excited when I saw Maj Sam Kaka in the company of two tall and heavily-built men clad in military combat, each resting an AK-47 on his lap.
It was then that it dawned on me how Maj Rutayisire had meant his words when he told me how he could not have allowed me to miss this big story. After we settled down and Major Kaka started introducing his colleagues, I almost jumped in excitement when he revealed the identity of the two men whose names I knew very well but had never met physically.
It was Col Alex Kanyarengwe, whom he saluted and introduced as "Our new president/chairman of the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF)'. Pointing to the next person, he said "This is another senior official of RPF and compatriot in the RPA struggle, comrade Silas Majambere.
I got equally excited at the mention of the name Silas Majambere although I immediately got carried away in deep thoughts when I overheard what Kaka was telling Majambere. When I turned and looked at Majambere, I could not believe my eyes. I noticed that he was just like the way a child behaves with a new toy. He was literally playing with the gun, an indication that he was excited about holding that weapon for the first time.
This plunged me into deep thoughts as I tried to "activate my memory card' and recollect what I knew about Majambere. I immediately remembered that he was, before the war, a renowned international businessman dealing in long-distance transport. He owned tens of trucks (trailers) and his business empire stretched from the eastern coast on the Indian Ocean to the western coast on the Atlantic.
I also knew that he was a chief financier of the RPA war in which, according those who were privy to the RPF/A war planning and execution, he had 'heavily invested' at the expense of his 'TransAfrica' transport empire.
But as fate would have it, Majambere was reportedly disowned and unceremoniously dismissed a few months before the fall of Kigali. He has since reportedly been in Uganda, trying in vain to pick up the pieces. Life has never been the same for the man whose name used to reverberate across Africa.
As the thoughts about Majambere raced through my mind, it was easy for Maj Kaka, with whom I used to relate freely, to realize that my mind was elsewhere. Speaking in Runyankore, he whispered into my ear: "Kandi Muhanguzi wabaki?" (Muhanguzi, what has happened to you?)
I never answered his question but only composed myself and started following the long interview in which Kanyarengwe talked about his past experience while he worked with President Habyarimana, his life in Tanzania and his future plans as a rebel leader.
It was coming to 4:30am, as we crossed into Uganda when one of the Swedish journalists wondered why the return journey from the RPA base took less than 30 minutes compared to the several hours we had spent going there.
In response, his colleague asked: "Did these people make us walk around in circles so that we get the impression that this RPA base is deep inside Rwanda?"
No one answered that question.
It was approaching 7:30am when we arrived in Mbarara, very tired. But before I could rest, I had to go to my office to file my big story.
muhanguzijust@yahoo.com
0772 504 920
The author is a public relations practitioner and is writing a book on the Rwanda invasion.
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