Picture: Victor Bout and Rwandan soldiers
The Rwandan Government led by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a rebel group that eventually took power in Rwanda in July 1994 after one of the bloodiest conflicts of the 20th Century has been cited in the criminal probe against the alleged Russian arms trafficker, Viktor Bout, sources tell AfroAmerica Network.
Viktor Bout, a former Soviet military intelligence officer was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand in 2008. He was subsequently extradited to the US on November 16, 2010 after a lengthy and arduous legal process. In the US, he faces the charges of arms trafficking, conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, conspiracy to kill Americans, conspiracy to kill US officers or employees and conspiracy to acquire and use an anti-aircraft missile.
Viktor Bout created air transport companies in the 1990s and made a lot of money shipping cargo mostly in Africa and the Middle East during the 1990s and early 2000s, sometimes working for the United Nations and the US.
But eventually, he became too greedy. Aside these legitimate businesses, he allegedly contracted with and worked for rogue groups and governments. These illegitimate businesses are at the root of his legal troubles. He is accused of having worked for the former Liberian warlord and president Charles Taylor, the rebels of UNITA in Angola, and other rebel groups in Africa and Middle East, including terrorists.
However, the serious accusations are related to the work he did for Hezbollah in Lebanon and Al-Quaida in Afghanistan and the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Already on August 10, 2002, AfroAmerica Network reported on the links between the Rwandan Patriotic Front Government and military intelligence and Viktor bout (see our August 10, 2002 article titled: USA: Kagame links with Al-Qaeda probed by USA in African Great Lakes Archives, here)
The article was based on reliable sources that had told AfroAmerica Network that Kagame, his cronies, and the Rwandan Government’s links with Al-Qaeda organization were being probed by USA Intelligence services and the Justice Department . These links were found to date from the guerrilla war era against Habyalimana’s regime and had intensified with the illegal exploitation of natural resources in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and the fueling of invasion of the Congo.
In this web of international terrorism, arms trafficking, illegal mineral trade, invasion and civil wars, Paul Kagame himself was allegedly found to be the central piece around which the following key figures and organizations gravitated. The relations were allegedly handled by Colonel Patrick Karegeya, then Kagame’s right hand man and Director of the infamous External Intelligence Office (ESO), Colonel Jack Nziza, Kagame’s henchman and the Director of the notorious Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), Colonel Dan Munyuza,Colonel Jack Nziza’s deputy in Congo and General Kabarebe, the Rwandan Army Chief of Staff. Colonel Patrick Karegeya, Jack Nziza, and General Kabarebe were said to be working with Viktor Bout (or Butt), Sanjivan Ruprah, Faustin Mbundu, and Mugunga, Paul Kagame’s brother-in-law, all allegedly involved in arms dealing and with close contacts with Al-Qeada.
Other people cited in the case were: Andre Bumaya, the Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs and President of Islamic Democratic Party, Hadj Harelimana, the Representative of Muslims in Rwanda. Hadj Harelimana is on the record for supporting September 11, 2001 attacks against the USA, during a BBC interview, Major Karasira, Ernest Habimana, Emmanuel Kamanzi, Francis Gakwerere (For more recent articles on Francis Gakwerere see our August 5, 2010 article titled: “Captain Francis Gakwerere: Portrait of a Professional Assassin in World Events) , and Alfred Kalisa.
Colonel Patrick Karegeya, eventually fell out with General Paul Kagame and has been running for his life in the last couple of years (See articles on Patrick Karegeya and Kayumba Nyamwasa in AfroAmerica Network World Events archives)
Recently, AfroAmerica Network has obtained fresh information confirming that the Rwandan Patriotic Front and General Paul Kagame are at the center of Viktor Bout’s involvement in the Rwandan and Congolese wars. He is accused of supplying the weapons to the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) and its rebel proxies and obtained minerals and other natural resources in return (see picture of Viktor Bout interacting with Rwandan Patriotic Army operatives (see picture above).
According to the sources, Viktor Bout owned a air transport company Air Cess based in Kigali Rwanda. One of his aircrafts, with the plate number 3D-SBW, was shot down by Zimbabwean and rwandan Hutu rebels in Kalemie, Eastern DRC in 2002. The incident raised questions in the United Nations but Rwandan Paul Kagame, while accepting personally working with Viktor Bout in the past, said he had severed the relationship. But it appeared that at the very moment, Viktor Bout was a personal guest of General Kagame and lived in Paul Kagame’s house.
From 2002 to 2006, General Paul Kagame and Viktor Bout allegedly created other companies, including Air Bus, based in Goma, and acquired multiple aircraft cargo carriers, three with the following plate numbers: 3C-KKL, 3C-KKJ, and 3C-KKR.
Finally, the relations between General Paul Kagame and Viktor Bout soured when Paul Kagame failed to pay back a debt of over US $ 20, 000, 000 owed to Viktor Bout. At that time, the international justice was catching up with Viktor Bout and he had to slip out of Rwanda quickly, leaving behind the fortune for Paul Kagame and his cronies to benefit.
Now, with Paul Kagame and the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) cited in the Viktor Bout saga, it would be possible to finally uncover the can of worms, a dirty bag of blood money and minerals and genocide in the Great Lakes region of Africa.
©AfroAmerica Network , November 2010
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