NAIROBI, Mar 18 – An Rwandan opposition party in exile accused the authorities in Kigali on Thursday of blocking its registration in order to lock it out of presidential elections in August.
The United Democratic Forces (FDU), which operates out of the Netherlands, has applied for both registration and a green light to hold a congress inside Rwanda.
But the mayor of a Kigali district said last week she would refuse to grant authorisation so long as its leader Victoire Ingabire is under police investigation.
Local Administration Minister James Musoni confirmed this week on Voice of America radio that the mayor\’s position was in line with official policy.
"By refusing to let the FDU hold their congress, the minister is also stopping us from being registered as an approved political party because we won\’t be able to produce the constitutive act," Ingabire said in a statement.
"The national police is getting orders from the presidency to harrass opposition leaders with endless inquiries and summons in order to make their political activities impossible," she added.
Ingabire, accused in some circles of denying the 1994 genocide, has been summoned by the police several times since she returned to Rwanda earlier this year.
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