Rwandan Lieutenant General Karenzi Karake. FILE PHOTO | CYRIL NDEGEYA
By Ivan R. Mugisha
In Summary
- Lt Karake made international headlines in June last year when he was arrested in London on a Spanish arrest warrant for alleged war crimes.
- His replacement - Brig Gen Nzabamwita - previously served in different capacities as army spokesperson and commanding officer of the 105 battalion in the western province.
President Paul Kagame on Tuesday dropped the long-serving
director of the National Intelligence and Security Services, Lt Gen
Emmanuel Karenzi Karake.
Lt Karake, 55, will now serve as Kagame’s advisor on defence and
his replacement is former army spokesperson Brig-General Joseph
Nzabamwita, 50.
The removal of Lt Karake comes during an ongoing shuffle which
has seen a couple of officials being dropped or replaced, such as the
minister of Family Promotion Oda Gasinizingwa, who was last week
replaced with Dr Diane Gashumba.
Lt Karake had served in that capacity since July 2011, after replacing the longest serving spy chief, Dr Emmanuel Ndahiro.
He made international headlines in June last year when he was
arrested in London on a Spanish arrest warrant for alleged war crimes
including ordering of massacres while he was head of Rwanda’s military
intelligence between 1994 and 1997.
He was accused of ordering the killing of three Spanish health workers in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.
He was released days later on a conditional bail with a surety of £1 million.
The indictment, which called for the arrest of 40 Rwandan
officials, was however dropped later after Spain's Supreme Court
dismissed it for lack of evidence.
Lt Karake’s replacement - Brig-Gen Nzabamwita - previously
served in different capacities as army spokesperson and commanding
officer of the 105 battalion in the western province.
He also previously served as the deputy director of NISS and as Rwanda’s Defence and Military attaché in Washington D.C
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