EXPULSION OF RWANDAN DIPLOMAT BY SWEDEN AMID ALLEGATIONS OF REFUGEE ESPIONAGE

A well placed source has disclosed to the Associated Press under cover of anonymity that the Swedish government ordered a Rwandan diplomat to leave the country earlier this month because of espionage targeting Rwandan exiles living there. A second anonymous source identified the Rwandan envoy as Evode Mudaheranwa, who held the second highest ranking position at the Rwandan embassy. The two sources opted for anonymity due to the delicate diplomatic situation. Both the Swedish Foreign Ministry and the Rwandan legation have refused to address the current matter. A modest number of Rwandans reside in Sweden, and count among their ranks opponents of Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s regime who operate blogs and online newspapers.

Sweden’s expulsion of the Rwandan diplomat comes as claims surface that the Kagame regime has dispatched emissaries abroad to muzzle its critics living in exile. Rwandan journalist Jean Bosco Gasasira, longtime opponent of the Kagame government who is now a Swedish resident and heads Umuvugizi, an online publication, fell off the public radar on January 23. Forces Democratic United, the Rwandan opposition party, alleges that he is in protective custody in Sweden. Another vocal Kagame critic, Charles Ingabire, editor of the Inyenyeri website, was struck down in Uganda at a Kampala bar in November of last year. Accusations have been leveled regarding the attempted assassination in South Africa of a Rwandan general critical of Kagame by Rwandan government operatives.