My name is Rugamba Rwamiheto John. I was a refugee in Zambia but now I live in Bulawayo Zimbabwe. I love my fellow Rwandan refugees in Zambia and Zambian brothers and sisters. Zambia to me is my second home after Rwanda. I am not happy when somebody tries to tarnish the name of Zambia and its people.

It is in this regard that I would like to express my dismay at the news circulating on some local and international media platforms in which an incarcerated former Rwandan rebel leader testified before a Rwandan court that his group allegedly received help from the Zambian president, His Excellency Mr Edgar Chagwa Lungu.

As a concerned Rwandan refugee who know very well my fellow refugees who have suffered physical and psychological torture instituted by the current Rwandan government from the 1990’s to date; and having been victims of numerous attempts to destabilize the lives of refugees in that country, I wish to condemn in the strongest terms this new ploy to frame the Zambian Head of State into a disgraceful act that any sense of moral or scientific reasoning would find difficult to believe.

I am aware of the tactics and campaigns the government of Rwanda employs either to constrain countries hosting refugees remove their protection and care, or instil a climate of hate between local citizens and refugees so as to create a ripe environment for reprisals and violence against vulnerable refugees.

I would not have imagined however, that the Rwandan authorities would allow such a desperate move capable of not only harming the lives of refugees but also jeopardising friendly relations that should exist between the people of the two countries get the better of their sense of judgement.

I thank the Zambian leadership and the Zambian people at large, for the maturity, care and love they have always exhibited towards refugees not only from Rwanda, but from all over the continent despite the circumstances being so strenuous.

I know and appreciate that you are truly a Christian nation; and for that, God will always shield this country from the harmful effects of the machinations that the evil ones may set against it.

Rugamba Rwamiheto John