Call press and human rights defenders if Frank Habineza is arrested

by Ann Garrison

Frank-Habineza-113009, Call press and human rights defenders if Frank Habineza is arrested, World News & Views Please call Human Rights Watch if Rwanda Greens leader Frank Habineza is arrested on his way home from Holland to Kigali, Rwanda, on April 25 and 26. Call even though Rwanda gave Human Rights Watch 24 hours to get out of the country on Friday, on April 23.

He should arrive in Kigali at 12:55 p.m. on Monday, April 26.

Habineza was elected president of the African Greens Federation at their convention on April 18, but three officers within his own party turned on him five days later, so he has begun traveling home early, from Afrikaday, where he gave a speech about democracy in Rwanda, to address their allegations and reorganize with other Rwanda Greens. Frank, his wife Edith, his sons Godwin and Victor, and supporters fear that Rwandan security may arrest him at an airport as he tries to pass through customs in the next phase of harassment and repression in the run up to this year’s Rwandan presidential election.

Rwanda arrested presidential candidate Victoire Ingabiré Umuhoza on Wednesday, April 21, at her home in Kigali, and her Rwandan support team thank pressure from the international community for her surprise release on bail the next day.

Habineza said that he will call friends when leaving Amsterdam, and he’s been urged to start posting updates to Facebook and to Twitter as he passes from one stage of his journey to another, from airports in Amsterdam, Nairobi and Kigali to his home.

Emergency alerts are one of the best uses of Twitter, social media’s short form.

Supporters of peace and social justice in Rwanda and the Great Lakes region of Africa should be ready, should Frank be arrested, to post the news and call for his release on social media like Facebook and Twitter and to contact press, Amnesty International, at http://www.amnesty.org/en/contact, and Human Rights Watch, at http://www.hrw.org/en/contact-us.

Rwandan presidential candidate Victoire Ingabiré Umuhoza’s team is asking the international community to sustain the pressure that resulted in her release from jail on April 22.

Bernard Ntaganda, presidential candidate of Rwanda’s Parti Social-Imberakuri, feels that his arrest in Kigali is imminent and asks that the international community prepare to call for his release as well.

San Francisco writer Ann Garrison writes for the San Francisco Bay View, Digital Journal, Examiner.com, OpEdNews, Global Research and Colored Opinions. She can be reached at anniegarrison@gmail.com. This story first appeared on her blog, Plutocracy Now.

by Ann Garrison

Please call Human Rights Watch if Rwanda Greens leader Frank Habineza is arrested on his way home from Holland to Kigali, Rwanda, on April 25 and 26. Call even though Rwanda gave Human Rights Watch 24 hours to get out of the country on Friday, on April 23.

He should arrive in Kigali at 12:55 p.m. on Monday, April 26.

Habineza was elected president of the African Greens Federation at their convention on April 18, but three officers within his own party turned on him five days later, so he has begun traveling home early, from Afrikaday, where he gave a speech about democracy in Rwanda, to address their allegations and reorganize with other Rwanda Greens. Frank, his wife Edith, his sons Godwin and Victor, and supporters fear that Rwandan security may arrest him at an airport as he tries to pass through customs in the next phase of harassment and repression in the run up to this year’s Rwandan presidential election.

Rwanda arrested presidential candidate Victoire Ingabiré Umuhoza on Wednesday, April 21, at her home in Kigali, and her Rwandan support team thank pressure from the international community for her surprise release on bail the next day.

Habineza said that he will call friends when leaving Amsterdam, and he’s been urged to start posting updates to Facebook and to Twitter as he passes from one stage of his journey to another, from airports in Amsterdam, Nairobi and Kigali to his home.

Emergency alerts are one of the best uses of Twitter, social media’s short form.

Supporters of peace and social justice in Rwanda and the Great Lakes region of Africa should be ready, should Frank be arrested, to post the news and call for his release on social media like Facebook and Twitter and to contact press, Amnesty International, at http://www.amnesty.org/en/contact, and Human Rights Watch, at http://www.hrw.org/en/contact-us.

Rwandan presidential candidate Victoire Ingabiré Umuhoza’s team is asking the international community to sustain the pressure that resulted in her release from jail on April 22.

Bernard Ntaganda, presidential candidate of Rwanda’s Parti Social-Imberakuri, feels that his arrest in Kigali is imminent and asks that the international community prepare to call for his release as well.

San Francisco writer Ann Garrison writes for the San Francisco Bay View, Digital Journal, Examiner.com, OpEdNews, Global Research and Colored Opinions. She can be reached at anniegarrison@gmail.com. This story first appeared on her blog, Plutocracy Now.