Rwandan former journalist abducted in Mozambique

By Jorge Joaquim

The former Rwandan journalist, Ntamuhanga Cassien, was kidnapped on 23 May on the island of Inhaca in the Bay of Maputo by eight individuals claiming to be Mozambican police agents, accompanied by a man who was supposedly a Rwandan official.

According to a statement from the association for Rwandan refugees in Mozambique seen by Pan African Visions, the organization has petitioned the Public Prosecutor’s Office to investigate the disappearance of the missing journalist.

Cassien escaped from prison in Rwanda in 2017, two years after being sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment for various crimes.

Human rights organisations contested the sentence, and Cassien said that the regime of president Paul Kagame was persecuting him as a political opponent. He made his way to Mozambique where he has been living as a refugee.

Cassien’s disappearance came shortly after a meeting between the Rwandan and Mozambican presidents.

The think tank Centre for Democracy and Development said that the meeting might have encouraged the Mozambican government to extradite Rwandan refugees in exchange for Rwanda’s support in fighting terrorism in Cabo Delgado province.