By OLIVER SAMBOKO
RWANDESE refugees in Zambia are shocked that President Edgar Lungu’s local enemies want to drag him into Rwandese armed insurgency politics where he is not involved.
They have scoffed at suggestions by a Rwandese Major, Calliixte Nsabimana Sankara who claimed that President Lungu gave him US$150, 000 to launch attacks in that country.
“It is ridiculous to suggest that US$150, 000 could be used to destabilize a nation as the people involved are using Cambridge Analytical tactics to demonise President Lungu,” one of the refugees who talked to the Daily Nation said.
“This is a much bigger plot hatched by President Lungu’s political enemies who have hidden media control and want to ensure his down, Wright Musoma,” the Zambia Republican Party (ZRP) president also said.
One of the former refugees, Jean Mandela said knowing the caliber of the source of information, the man would say anything to save his life, if pressured.
He said, this was clear cooked up fake story about Zambia because some people in Rwanda are upset with President Edgar Lungu allowing former refugees from Rwanda to not only stay on but to live freely and successfully engage in economic activities.
The refugees said clearly the intention of the malicious information released in court was to tie President Lungu into a larger political scheme to hurt him and in the process expose refugees who have sought haven in Zambia.
They said there had been attempts to force the Zambian government to expel former refugees instead of allowing them to flourish and own business. The former Rwandese refugees living in Zambia have said it is highly impossible for President Edgar Lungu to involve himself in treacherous and despicable acts like funding chaos in another country.
This follows media reports of the alleged submission made to Rwanda’s High Court for International and Cross-border Crimes that President Edgar Lungu allegedly provided about US$150, 000 to a named Rwandan organization to launch attacks in that country.
The former Rwandese refugees also said it was laughable for anyone to claim that attacks on a State would only cost US$150, 000 especially if a sitting Head of State of another country was involved.
And State House has rubbished the claims, saying the allegations were false and must be treated with the contempt they deserve.
In a statement, State House said, the President had never engaged in such activities and that Zambia and Rwanda continued to have cordial relationship.
This miraculous economic rebuilding and social integration of former refugees from Rwanda is at the heart of the latest attack on President Lungu from a discredited dissident who has previously accused other regional leaders of funding rebellion in that country.
According to former Rwandese refugees, Zambia’s hospitality to allow the former refugees to stay on when they could have been sent back, turned some of them into wealthy individuals which has made the Rwandese government anxious.
The economic success of former Rwandese refugees, mostly Hutus, is worrying the government for fear that they could bankroll a resistance, hence the deliberate effort to accuse the Zambian President hosting the former refugees.
President Edgar Lungu’s refusal to enforce the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) cessation clause which entails that people’s refugee status had ceased, has angered some Rwandese officials to the extent of engineering a scandalous statement from a rebel movement’s spokesperson.
MAJ Calliixte Nsabimana Sankara who claims President Lungu funded his rebel group, National Liberation Firce (FLN) is a desperate man who will say anything to save his life, a Rwandan national has said.
The Hutus in Zambia are survivors of the Rwanda’s Kagame led RPF October 1990 Uganda backed war and the 1994 atrocities following the killing of president Habyalimana and the 1996 invasion of DRC by Rwanda and Uganda troops, according to UN2010 Mapping Report.
