Former Rwandan Army Chief Shot In South Africa
By Novell Zwangendaba – Johannesburg – The former chief of the Rwandan army, Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, was shot on Saturday outside his home in Johannesburg, police said.
Nyamwasa’s wife Rosette said the former army chief of staff was shot outside the gate of the upmarket complex where they lived in Johannesburg, in what she described as an assassination act.
“When we got to the gate, a black man with a pistol came to the driver’s window… The window was half open… And he fired a shot,” she told journalists.
“The driver obstructed the assassin… My husband leaned forward. He was shot in the stomach.”
The former army chief was involved in a scuffle with the shooter after the gunman walked around the car to the passenger seat and apparently tried to fire another shot and the gun jammed.
Nyamwasa’s wife said that she believed Rwandan President Paul Kagame was responsible for the shooting.
“I think it was our government, Kagame our president,” Sapa quoted her as saying.
“He said in parliament that he would follow my husband and shoot him.” Nyamwasa was taken to the private Morningside Clinic, where he was in stable condition.
“I can confirm that he is a patient,” hospital spokeswoman Natalie
Jackson told AFP.
Nyamwasa fled to South Africa after abandoning his post as Rwanda’s envoy to India.
The Rwandan government has accused him, and former army colonel Patrick Karegeya, of masterminding grenade attacks earlier this year in the run-up to presidential elections in August.
An unknown assailant emerged from a car and shot Nyamwasa in the stomach, police spokesman Govindsamy Mariemuthoo said. The general was seriously injured and was in stable condition in hospital.
He had been known as a critic of Rwandan President Paul Kagame and fled Kigali with his family in February.
Officials in France and Spain have issued warrants for Nyamwasa for his alleged role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide that left at least 800,000 dead.
