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By: Tichaona Zindoga (Review & Mail)
The murder on Friday of a Rwandan national in Harare, Zimbabwe, has left the community in terror, with indications that the man, Samuel Habimana, was assassinated by agents of Paul Kagame’s regime in Kigali.
Habimana, of 2071 Mainway Meadows, had just returned home around 10pm, when gunmen – armed with an AK-47 and a pistol – broke his door and stormed into the kitchen and shot him in the neck killing him instantly.
The ruthless murder took place in front of his son, wife and house help. The latter, it is understood, had been the first to spot four men who were lying in wait for Habimana and alerted the family who took measures to secure themselves and raising alarm, but the assailants, wearing face masks, swiftly moved in and broke the door with the aid of a claw bar before murdering the man.
A report was made to police and investigations are ongoing. The Zimbabwe Republic Police had not released a statement on the incident at the time of writing.
However, a member of the Rwandan community told exclusively to Review & Mail that the matter was a terror incident linked to Kigali where President Paul Kagame’s regime has been targeting opponents abroad for elimination, stoking diplomatic fallout with countries such as South Africa.
“This was an assassination,” the source said.
“They did not take anything from the house where he had some US$3000, but only took away CCTV recording device,” the source explained.
Habimana operated transport business and had just opened a grocery shop in Harare.
However, our sources explained that Habimana was a well loved member of the community that is now living in terror as it also emerged that Kagame’s regime is also targeting nationals from other East African countries namely Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi.
Rwanda is undertaking military excursions in Eastern DRC, which has been condemned by the international community.
Our sources revealed that Rwanda had been sending spies into Zimbabwe to sniff out Kagame’s opponents, and that the issue had also interested the security services in Harare, who went on the scene as part of ongoing investigations.
One source told us that security services were aware of shenanigans of Kigali, ironically, at a time there are growing relations between Zimbabwe and Rwanda.
The incident is likely to raise diplomatic tensions, considering, too, that Zimbabwe is set to assume chairmanship of Sadc regional body in August. Sadc is grappling with the security situation in Eastern DRC where Rwanda sponsors rebels and is destabilizing the region.
“We cannot prevent Zimbabwe from having good relations with Rwanda, but we are happy that the security services know what is going on and have been assisting us whenever we call them,” a source said. “They know what they are doing,” the source added.
It is understood that over the years, attempts have been made in the lives of some members of the Rwandan community and they have been foiled by a combination of State intelligence and the Rwandan community’s own vigilance.
Information gathered by this publication also suggests that Zimbabwe has intercepted and deported some spies from Kigali.
Rwandan refugees have been in Zimbabwe for over 30 years, and the community is estimated to comprise of over 2000 families.
