Cablegate: Kagame Swears in Two New Senators

VZCZCXRO3497
PP RUEHGI RUEHRN
DE RUEHLGB #0569 2541327
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 111327Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY KIGALI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6295
INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP 0071
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0276

UNCLAS KIGALI 000569

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PINR RW
SUBJECT: KAGAME SWEARS IN TWO NEW SENATORS

1. (U) President Kagame on September 10 administered the oath
of office to two new senators, Josee Kagabo and Henriette
Umulisa, filling two vacancies. One was left by Stanley
Safari, who fled Rwanda in June in the middle of his gacaca
trial. (Note: He subsequently received a life sentence for
genocide-related crimes. End Note.) The other was left by
Beatrice Mukabaranga, who resigned following allegations that
she had bounced three personal checks. Immediately after the
swearing-in, Kagame reminded all parliamentarians present
that the goal of their work was not to prepare excellent
legislation or give great speeches, but to ensure that their
work personally and positively touched citizens throughout
the country. COMMENT: Kagame routinely takes officials to
task in a very public fashion, urging them to work harder,
faster, better. This ceremony was no exception. END COMMENT.

2. (SBU) Bio data on the new senators follows.

JOSEE KAGABO is a French-Rwandan dual national who is a
professor of history at the University of Paris X. He was a
member of the Rwandan government's "Mucyo" commission, which
investigated and published in 2008 a lengthy report alleging
French complicity in the 1994 genocide. He is a member of
the ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF).

HENRIETTE UMULISA is less well-known than Kagabo. She was a
schoolteacher at the Ecole Belge de Kigali, and is a graduate
of the Brussels Catholic Business Institute. Her father, Dr.
Musafiri Ildephonse, was a former Health Minister under
former President Habyarimana, Rwanda's head of state from
1973-1994. She is also a member of the RPF.
SYMINGTON

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