By Our Staff Writer

Kigali-Rwanda, June 24^th 2010.  Sources in the Rwandan capital Kigali say that police have today arrested dozens of opposition protesters as the country’s President Gen. Paul Kagame presented his nomination papers for re-election to the National Election Commission.  Kagame, who has been in or around the centre of political power in Rwanda since 1994 when his RPF/RPA guerrilla force took power, is widely expected to secure a second seven-year term in the country’s forthcoming elections scheduled for 9^th August 2010. 

Victoire Ingabire, an opposition leader and presidential hopeful who is also facing charges of genocide denial and belonging to a terrorist organisation, said members of her United Democratic Forces party that has a large Hutu membership, had been detained during a peaceful protest in Kigali.  “I think more than 100 were arrested”, she said.

Rwanda’s Police spokesman Eric Kayiranga however said only 20-30 people had been arrested across the capital for causing disorder.  He also confirmed that another presidential hopeful, Bernard Ntaganda, was taken in for questioning in the morning hours.  Ntaganda leads a faction of the opposition Social Party Imberakuri. In December last year, he denied charges of promoting ethnic “divisionism” and genocide ideology.  

Ingabire’s party and the Democratic Green Party have called for the presidential elections planned for August this year to be postponed to allow them to meet technical requirements to register. The two are the only parties that have not been able to register.  “They have to accept the registration of all political parties so that we can participate in the election”; Ingabire said.  An eye witness reported seeing several Ingabire supporters being arrested around the precincts of the Ministry of Justice as they waved their party banners.
   
President Paul Kagame has in the past won widespread praise after his RPF/RPA ended the massacre of nearly 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.  He has also been praised for his economic reforms and for rebuilding state institutions that were on the verge of collapse in 1994 when the RPF marched into Kigali.   However, international human rights groups like Human Rights Watch and the United States government, a major bilateral donor to Rwanda, have started expressing concerns about democratic freedoms in the tiny African country in the run up to the coming general elections.  President Kagame is however reported to have said that “…we have made very good progress.  But there is a long way to go. There is still a lot to go ahead of us to be where we want to be”.