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U.S. Department of State Country Reports on Terrorism 2006 - Rwanda

The Rwandan government made efforts to combat terrorism financing and continued to increase its border control measures to identify potential terrorists. Rwanda had an intergovernmental counterterrorism committee and a counterterrorism reaction team in the police intelligence unit. Central Bank and Ministry of Finance officials continued to provide outstanding cooperation on terrorist financing issues. While the Government of Rwanda had not yet fully developed its laws and regulations in accordance with international conventions and protocols concerning terrorism, it had the authority under local law to identify, freeze, and seize terrorist-related financial assets. Rwanda participated in regional initiatives on international counterterrorism cooperation, including active participation in the East African Stand-by Brigade. In September, it hosted the Third Regional Counter-Terrorism Conference for Chiefs of Security and Intelligence Services in Kigali, and it assumed the chairmanship of the organization. In October, Police Commissioner General Andrew Rwigamba was appointed the World Regional Chair for sub-Saharan Africa for the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP).

The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR)¹, an armed rebel force that included former soldiers and supporters of the previous government that orchestrated the 1994 genocide, continued to operate in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Rwanda pressed for international action to pursue the FDLR. A unit of this organization was responsible for the kidnapping and murder of nine persons, including two American tourists, in Bwindi Park in 1999. The Rwandan government assisted U.S. law enforcement officials in an attempt to prosecute three individuals, suspected in the 1999 attack, who were transferred to the United States in 2003.

1 The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda was known as the Army for the Liberation of Rwanda (ALIR) until 2001.

Topics: Terrorism,