AMAHORO PC – FDU INKINGI – PS IMBERAKURI – RWANDA NATIONAL CONGRESS
PRESS RELEASE
The Rwandan Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) published, on 14th October 2025, a list of 25 individuals against whom it claims to have imposed sanctions, allegedly for involvement in terrorist activities or the financing of terrorism.
The first observation that emerges from this list is that it encompasses almost all political organisations of the Rwandan opposition in exile. Consequently, the P4 Platform concludes that these sanctions are politically motivated and that the sole objective of President Paul Kagame is to eliminate all political opposition in order to continue to keep the Rwandan people under his totalitarian regime’s domination.
Indeed, President Kagame has ruled Rwanda as a totalitarian dictator for three decades. Throughout this period, he has taken every possible measure to stifle dissenting voices. As documented by numerous reports from human rights organisations and other observers of the Rwandan political scene, the Kigali regime has consistently used assassinations, inhuman and degrading treatment, arbitrary imprisonment, and intimidation to silence opponents and independent opinion leaders. The most recent example is the re-arrest of Mrs. Victoire Ingabire on 19 June 2025, on the grounds that some members of her political party, Dalfa–Umurinzi, had read a manual on non-violent methods of political change. She had already previously spent eight years in prison for attempting to stand as a candidate in the 2010 presidential elections.
The sanctions now imposed by the FIC are part of this ongoing campaign of persecution. The P4 Platform warns the international community that those targeted are in mortal danger, as they fall into the category of individuals whom the Kigali regime has vowed to eliminate, wrongfully labelling them as traitors simply because they oppose its totalitarian rule.
In fact, during his speech at the “Prayer Breakfast” on 12 January 2014 — only a few days after the assassination in South Africa of his former comrade-turned-opponent, Colonel Patrick Karegeya — President Kagame stated:
“No one will betray Rwanda with impunity. Whoever you are, you will face the consequences. God has given us the strength to protect what we have built. Whoever they are, even those still alive, will face the consequences; it is only a matter of time.”
The P4 Platform points out that, contrary to the FIC’s allegations, the Rwandan political opposition earnestly seeks to resolve the country’s political governance problems, which continue to bring suffering to the Rwandan people, through peaceful means.
On several occasions, the P4 Platform has extended a hand to President Kagame, urging him to organise a dialogue between his government and the political opposition. Every such initiative has been flatly rejected.
Several African leaders — including former Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete in 2013 and former South African Foreign Minister Lindiwe Sisulu in 2018 — have also advised President Kagame to engage in dialogue with his opponents. The only responses from the Kigali regime have been death threats and insults.
All these facts demonstrate that the Kigali regime is prepared to do whatever it takes to avoid dialogue with its political opposition.
However, the P4 Platform emphasises that the consequences of President Kagame’s stance extend far beyond Rwanda’s borders. The absence of democracy and checks and balances under his regime is one of the root causes of the insecurity prevailing in the Great Lakes region, particularly the decades-long war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Therefore, the P4 Platform strongly recommends that the issue of dialogue between the Kigali regime and its political opposition be included in the peace process for the DRC.
There will be no lasting peace in the Great Lakes Region, nor any regional integration project until the Rwandan people have achieved democracy.
Done in Brussels, October 30, 2025
Jean Baptiste Ryumugabe
Coordinator of the Rwandan Opposition Platform (P4)