Opposition party slams “persecution” of Bizimungu

The US-based Rwandan opposition alliance, ARENA {Rwandan Alliance for the Renaissance of the Nation) has condemned the government’s “persecution” of former president Pasteur Bizimungu. In a statement, received by IRIN on Tuesday, ARENA recalled that the Rwandan authorities placed Bizimungu under house arrest late last month after he tried to form a new party. He was later freed from house arrest but stripped of all his privileges. “ARENA forcefully condemns these anti-democratic acts towards a former head of state, acts which violate fundamental rights,” the statement said. “This proves once more how much [Rwandan] President [Paul] Kagame strongly opposes political pluralism, and how much the words and deeds of his regime differ.”

“It is regrettable that the RPF [ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front] does not realise that the era of one party systems has come and gone and that its effort to suffocate the multiparty system only further undermines the little credibility that it had left,” the statement went on. “ARENA fears that the persecution of political opponents, the continual muzzling of political parties, and the persistent violations of the human rights has accentuated the exile of Rwandans. We are concerned that the above violations will lead to violence and consequently to new bloodshed in our country.”

In an interview with Reuters news agency, Bizimungu said he would remain in Rwanda to struggle for change “by all legal and peaceful means”, even if it meant imprisonment. “If you don’t share the ideas of the people in power, you are threatened, you are imprisoned,” he stated. “The risk is great, but in the circumstances people have to be courageous.”