Kigali, 26 January 2012
FDU-INKINGI WELCOMES THE VISIT OF THE BRITISH HIGH COMMISSIONER TO POLITICAL PRISONER INGABIRE IN KIGALI CENTRAL PRISON.
On 24 January 2012, His Excellency Benedict Llewellyn-Jones OBE, theUnited KingdomHigh Commissioner toRwanda, together with the Embassy political counselor, visited Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza in her maximum prison cell. They discussed the conditions of detention.
The opposition leader asked the Ambassador to intercede on her behalf on President Paul Kagame in order to have human conditions of detention. “You can see it by yourself, there is little or no fresh air in this cell and no natural light at all”, she showed.
The political party FDU-INKINGI welcomes this visit and trusts that theUnited Kingdomwill continue to engage the government ofRwandaon crucial issues of human rights, political prisoners and political space, freedoms and legal reforms.
On 5 January 2012, as the British Foreign Secretary William Hague was starting a 2 day historic visit to Burma after the release of the pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi he called on political prisoners to be released and said :“I made clear that the British Government stands ready to respond positively to evidence of further progress towards that lasting improvement in human rights and political freedom that the people of Burma seek.”
The time has arrived to discuss openly those issues with the Rwandan leadership as well and to condition aid to the government of Rwanda on political reforms and freedoms.
FDU-INKINGI
Boniface Twagirimana
Interim Vice President
