Two Rwandan Military Figures in Court on Sedition Charges

Two prominent Rwandan military figures appeared in court on Friday to plead not guilty to charges of inciting a rebellion against the central African nation's strongman, President Paul Kagame.

The arrests of the military figures, who were once close to Kagame's inner circle, has prompted speculation of a major political crisis in the country.

Former presidential guard chief and serving colonel, Tom Byabagamba, and retired brigadier-general Frank Rusagara were arrested last month and charged with inciting rebellion by "spreading rumors" and "tarnishing the image of the country and government".

According to military prosecutors, Byabagamba had attempted to turn military officials against the government, while Rusagara had been relaying "propaganda" from the dissident Rwanda National Congress (RNC), an exiled opposition group that includes several former top members of Kagame's ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).

The prosecutor said Rusagara had been heard saying Rwanda "is a police state and a banana republic", and that he had described Kagame as a "dictator".

For his part Byabagamba had allegedly said that the FDLR, a Hutu extremist group based in Democratic Republic of Congo that includes former genocidaires, was no longer a major threat to the country.

Analysts and experts say it remains unclear whether Kagame, who has led the country since his rebel army ended a 1994 genocide by Hutu extremists, faces a serious challenge to his leadership or whether the purge is merely designed to stop any dissent in its early stages.

Critics of Kagame, however, say the arrests expose the workings of a paranoid state that is increasingly nervous over the activities of the RNC.

A co-founder of the RNC, Rwanda's former intelligence chief Patrick Karegeya, once a comrade-in-arms of Kagame's, was murdered on New Year's Eve in Johannesburg.