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Exiled Rwandan top military officer, Lt. Gen. Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa was yesterday discharged from hospital in South Africa after the doctors at Morningside Clinic in Johannesburg said he was expected to gain full recovery.
He left hospital shortly after midday amidst heavy security provided by the South African government. He was accompanied by his wife Rosette, their two children, friends and associates.
Gen. Nyamwasa, a former Chief of Staff of the Rwandan army, who was on Saturday shot in the stomach by a lone gunman who fled after the pistol jammed as the general tried to disarm him in the midday attack at his syntax Melrose Arch residence, was yesterday wheeled into a waiting car. He still has the bullet lodged inside him and the doctors say they will wait for the wound to heal before they decide whether to remove it or not.
The Star newspaper here, quoting unnamed officials, said the SA government is investigating the shooting as a political “hit” or possible assassination.
The South African police have arrested half a dozen people in connection with the weekend shooting. The six suspects are believed to be Rwandan nationals living in South Africa.
Out of politics
The nationality of the suspects is likely to be a major factor in helping explain the motive of the attack. Eyewitnesses said the gunman had spoken in Swahili as he fought off Gen. Nyamwasa’s driver.
Gen. Nyamwasa’s wife has accused President Paul Kagame’s government of complicity in the shooting but Rwanda has vehemently denied the allegations, dismissing them as “preposterous and far-fetched”.
Ms Nyamwasa told this newspaper at the hospital that her husband is not interested in politics and that the family “just wants to be left alone” in their new home. “All we want is to remain Rwandans,” she said. She also says she “forgives, deep in her heart” those who shot her husband.
Rwanda had previously asked South Africa to arrest and extradite Gen. Nyamwasa who fled to the country in February. President Jacob Zuma, however, said his country will commit to international obligations for asylum seekers.
President Kagame says the general, who was Rwanda’s Ambassador to India at the time he fled, was “running away from accountability” after being linked by prosecutors to grenade explosions in Kigali between February and March. Gen. Nyamwasa has denied the allegations and counter-accused Mr Kagame of corruption.
Exiled Rwandan top military officer, Lt. Gen. Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa was yesterday discharged from hospital in South Africa after the doctors at Morningside Clinic in Johannesburg said he was expected to gain full recovery.
He left hospital shortly after midday amidst heavy security provided by the South African government. He was accompanied by his wife Rosette, their two children, friends and associates.
Gen. Nyamwasa, a former Chief of Staff of the Rwandan army, who was on Saturday shot in the stomach by a lone gunman who fled after the pistol jammed as the general tried to disarm him in the midday attack at his syntax Melrose Arch residence, was yesterday wheeled into a waiting car. He still has the bullet lodged inside him and the doctors say they will wait for the wound to heal before they decide whether to remove it or not.
The Star newspaper here, quoting unnamed officials, said the SA government is investigating the shooting as a political “hit” or possible assassination.
The South African police have arrested half a dozen people in connection with the weekend shooting. The six suspects are believed to be Rwandan nationals living in South Africa.
Out of politics
The nationality of the suspects is likely to be a major factor in helping explain the motive of the attack. Eyewitnesses said the gunman had spoken in Swahili as he fought off Gen. Nyamwasa’s driver.
Gen. Nyamwasa’s wife has accused President Paul Kagame’s government of complicity in the shooting but Rwanda has vehemently denied the allegations, dismissing them as “preposterous and far-fetched”.
Ms Nyamwasa told this newspaper at the hospital that her husband is not interested in politics and that the family “just wants to be left alone” in their new home. “All we want is to remain Rwandans,” she said. She also says she “forgives, deep in her heart” those who shot her husband.
Rwanda had previously asked South Africa to arrest and extradite Gen. Nyamwasa who fled to the country in February. President Jacob Zuma, however, said his country will commit to international obligations for asylum seekers.
President Kagame says the general, who was Rwanda’s Ambassador to India at the time he fled, was “running away from accountability” after being linked by prosecutors to grenade explosions in Kigali between February and March. Gen. Nyamwasa has denied the allegations and counter-accused Mr Kagame of corruption.
