Rwanda Gov’t Ordered To Produce Missing Robert Ndengeye Urayeneza

Special Reports — 21 November 2011

By Godwin Agaba

The Rwandan government should immediately reveal the whereabouts of Robert Ndengeye Urayeneza, not seen since his enforced disappearance in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, on 26 March 2010, Amnesty International, family members and other international organizations demand.

A former rebel leader in Democratic Republic of Congo and a business man has been missing in Rwanda for nearly two years.

“The Rwandan government should immediately reveal the whereabouts of Robert Ndengeye Urayeneza, not seen since his enforced disappearance in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, on 26 March 2010,” Amnesty said in a statement.

“Amnesty International believes that Robert Ndengeye Urayeneza is detained in military custody in Rwanda. The organisation is calling on the Rwandan authorities to promptly charge or release him.”

It said he was last seen on March 26 around 6 am when he dropped a family member at Nyabugogo Bus Station in Kigali.

On May 7 he made a phone call saying that he was detained at an unknown location in Rwanda, according to a family member.

“In October 2010, Amnesty International received credible information suggesting that Robert Ndengeye Urayeneza was detained in Rwandan military custody,” Amnesty said.

“Enforced disappearances, abductions and incommunicado detention, rare in Rwanda in recent years, increased in 2010, as the Rwandan authorities investigated a spate of grenade attacks before the presidential elections.”

Urayeneza, who has both Congolese and Rwandan nationality, headed the Congolese Patriotic Front, a small rebel group active in the 1990s whose members finally agreed to join the DRCongo army.

It’s believed that Robert Ndengeye Urayeneza is detained in military custody in Rwanda. Organizations and family members are calling on the Rwandan authorities to promptly charge or release him.

Robert Ndengeye Urayeneza, a dual citizen of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), was living in Gisenyi and working as a businessman and on the Ecumenical Programme for Peace, Conflict

Transformation and Reconciliation (PAREC) demobilisation programme in the DRC at the time of his enforced disappearance. He was the leader of an armed opposition group, the Front patriotique congolais, in eastern DRC in the late 1990’s. The group disbanded and later reformed before being integrated into the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC).

Robert Ndengeye Urayeneza was last seen on 26 March 2010 around 6am when he dropped a family member at Nyabugogo Bus Station in Kigali. On that morning, he was driving a silver grey Toyota Vista registration number RAA 060Y. He never reached his brother’s home in Kigali, as planned. Family members tried to contact him by telephone later that morning. At first, he did not answer and by mid-morning, his phone was switched-off.

Robert Ndengeye Urayeneza’s family reported his missing to the Rwandan National Security Service (NSS) on 27 March 2010, but they never received any reply about his whereabouts.

The Rwandan Ministry of Defence did not respond to a letter from Amnesty International requesting information on Robert Ndengeye Urayeneza’s whereabouts in November 2010. In October 2010, two months after a written request for information, the Rwandan police confirmed that Robert Ndengeye Urayeneza was not in police custody. They suggested that Amnesty International instead direct enquiries to the Ministry of Defence.

Robert Ndengeye is born to Joseph Urayeneza and Julie Bagakunde of Bugolobi, Kampala-Uganda who originate from Gitovu, Busanza,Kisoro-Uganda.

He attended, East Kololo Primary School, Nyenga Seminary and Jinja Philosophy Center.

Robert Ndengeye Could not sit by and watch the 1994 Rwandan genocide play out on TV so he joined the struggle against this gross evil-April 1994.

Could not sit and accept the resurgent threat, taunts and provocations of the genocidal forces in the east of the DRC so crossed over to fight them.

Discovered his Congolese roots while in DRC (His grandmother is a Congolese) and opted to remain there when Rwandan troops pulled out.

He formed armed group, Front Patriotique Congolais(FPC) of which he was Chairman and Commander In Chief.

Eventually, made peace with government of DRC, integrated his forces, and began the battle of disarming by working with PAREC a church based group buying back arms from the populace run by an eminent Methodist clergyman, Pastor Danille.

While in Kinshasa, Ndengeye participated in a successful online petition asking for the release of Allan Johnston a BBC journalist.

Robert Ndengeye is married to Joyce Mukeshimana and blessed with two daughters.