Kayumba Nyamwasa

Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa (born 1958) is a Rwandan former Lieutenant general who formerly was the Chief of Staff of the Rwandan Army from 1998 to 2002. He was also head of Rwandan intelligence from 1998 to 2002 and served as Rwanda's ambassador to India between 2004 and 2010. Nyamwasa has been an opposition leader in exile since as part of the Rwanda National Congress.

Rise and fall with RPF A Tutsi born in Uganda Nyamwasa grew up in Rukungiri in western Uganda. He was educated at St. Paul Seminary, Rushoroza in Kabale for O- Levels before joining St. Henry’s College Kitovu for A-Level. He later earned a law degree in Makerere University. He later joined Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Army in January 1986 and served as a Ugandan military officer before 1990. With Paul Kagame, he contributed to the creation of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) in the late 1980s and was considered a central figure in the military during the RPF campaign and the post genocidal period, when he oversaw anti-insurgency campaigns in the country's north-west.

A 2006 French inquiry with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda accused Nyamwasa, Kagame and four other officials of organizing the shooting down the plane of then Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana. The event is cited as the catalyst for the Rwandan genocide. The group allegedly were targeted because they had evidence of the RPF killing Hutu civilians.

Nyamwasa was made Rwandan ambassador to India in 2004, possibly in an attempt by Kagame to keep a political rival far away from the country.

Assassination attempt in South Africa In June 2010, Brigadier General Jean Bosco Kazura, head of the Rwandese Association Football Federation, traveled to South Africa to see the World Cup and allegedly contacted Nyamwasa. Kazura was recalled and placed under arrest, although an army spokesman said this was purely because he had failed to obtain permission to travel.

Nyamwasa was shot in the stomach in Johannesburg, South Africa on 19 June 2010. Several people arrested after the shooting were found to be Rwandan. Kayumba was recorded to have said that Kagame wants him dead because he challenges his dictatorial views. Rwandan businessman Pascal Kanyandekwe was accused by a South African magistrate of masterminding the plot, but was not brought to trial. Kanyandekwe was said to have tried to bribe a police officer with $1 million to let him off.

Jean-Léonard Rugambage, a Rwandan journalist who investigated the attempt on Nyamwasa's life, was murdered a few days later in Kigali.

Exile Nyamwasa is accused by Rwandan authorities of involvement in acts of terrorism, including three grenade attacks in Kigali on 19 February 2010, He was stripped of his military rank, removed from the army and sentenced to 24 years in prison. All four men were tried in absentia. His alleged group, called P5 (Platform Five), is said to be under the umbrella of the opposition group in exile Rwanda National Congress. and additional recruits from South Africa and Tanzania.

Personal life He was married to Rosette Nyamwasa.