He was born in South Western Uganda, in the town of Mbarara, from Ugandan parents of Rwandan descent. His relatives, including an 87 years old  mother and  a sister still live in Uganda and consider themselves Ugandans. He, that is the recently assassinated Rwandan ex-spy chief, Colonel Patrick Karegeya, took a tortuous path that led him from being a Ugandan top military Intelligence officer to a Rwandan spy chief. In his lifetime, he helped two African warlords to become the leaders of their country: first, he helped Ugandan Yoweri Museveni’s National Resistence Army (NRA) fight Milton Obote’s regime and conquer power in Uganda in 1986. Then, between 1990-1994, he coordinated intelligence activities of the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) of General Paul Kagame and helped then successfully invade Rwanda and eventually topple the Rwandan government led by the late General Juvenal Habyarimana. 

According to sources close to the Rwandan government and its opposition, before his assassination, Colonel Patrick Karegeya was working on what he knew best and was good at:  setting up an elaborate intelligence network  inside Rwanda and the region with the aim of toppling the regime he helped create and that later turned agains him. Based on these sources, Col Patrick Karegeya was so close  to get a third African opposition figure  to the helm  of his or her country. He was allegedly working  on overthrowing from power the once closest friend and boss, General Paul Kagame. The warlord who, with the help of Patrick Karegeya, was to replace Paul Kagame remains unknown.

A Military Intellectual Spy.

Colonel Patrick Karegeya’s parents, especially his mother, of whom many neighbors and people who know her said she was an independent and strong woman, had great plans for their son.

Patrick Karegeya  went through school until he graduated from Makerere University with a Law degree. Instead of becoming a lawyer, he chose to become a rebel. He joined the guerrilla movement led by the then Warlord Yoweri Museveni and known as National Resistance Army (NRA). NRA overthrown the Ugandan government in 1986: Yoweri Museveni became President and appointed Patrick Karegeya to a high ranking spy position within the Directorate of Military Intelligence. Patrick Karegeya was quickly promoted Deputy to the Intelligence Chief, who was no other than then Major Paul Kagame. They quickly became friends.

 From Ugandan Top Spy to Rwandan Spy Chief

When Yoweri Museveni took power in Uganda, he put his sight on his next target: Rwanda.  Yoweri Museveni appointed Major Paul Kagame the new military commander of the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) after the first rebel leader General Rwigema was killed on the second day of invasion. Yoweri Museveni also selected,  as the intelligence chief, Patrick Karegeya.

Patrick Karegeya was instrumental in creating the  RPA fifth column inside Rwandan and recruiting combatants from Rwandan and the neighboring countries, all using the Ugandan DMI resources and facilities. According to sources within RPA, he himself did not conduct military operations, beyond  military intelligence activities.

When the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) took power in Rwanda in 1994, after assassinating the Rwandan President General Juvenal Habyarimana, Patrick Karegeya was asked to join the new Rwandan military power. According to the sources, he initially hesitated, arguing that he felt more Ugandan than Rwandan, but his friend General Paul Kagame, now the most powerful person in Rwanda, convinced him to join the new military junta leading Rwanda. He was appointed Director General of Rwandan External Intelligence.  He remained in the function from 1994 to  2004.

Assassinations and Falling Out

During his tenure, several Rwandan oppositions leaders, including former top Rwandan Patriotic Army members were assassinated. These include Seth Sendashonga and Major Theoneste Linzide,  some of the few Hutus who had joined the Rwandan Patriotic Front before being disillusioned and fleeing the country. They were assassinated in Kenya. Others are a banking executive and brother of Col Theoneste Bagosora,  Pasteur Musabe, assassinated in Cameroon, his sister assassinated in Belgium, and many more. Patrick Karegeya has always denied being involved in these assassinations, and blamed them to a parallel network of hit squads, reporting directly to General Paul Kagame.

Sources close to Patrick Karegeya told AfroAmerica Network that some of these murders of real or perceived opposition members may have been the source of discord between Col. Patrick Karegeya and his former friend and boss, General Paul Kagame. According to the sources,  at some point Col Patrick Karegeya started questioning the murders  and the benefits from them and confronted Paul Kagame, who did not like it.

 

In 2006, General Paul Kagame fired Colonel Patrick Karegeya,  stripped him of his rank, and threw him in jail for insubordination and threatening state security.  In 2007,  Col Karegeya fled to South Africa, through Tanzania. He  allegedly was a personal friend of the current Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete. General Paul Kagame has also threatened to assassinate Jakaya Kikwete (see our articles about  threats against Jakaya Kikwete here).

Col Patrick Karegeya has been refugee there since then, while his wife and kids stayed in the United States of America and Canada. Ugandan government, under the pressure from General Paul Kagame, has stripped citizen from Patrick Karegeya and his wife and children.

From Friend to Fiend

For General Paul Kagame, Col Patrick Karegeya was a friend who had turned into a fiend. The row between the two former collaborators worsened when Col Patrick Karegeya teamed up with Gen Kayumba Nyamwasa, Theogene Rudasingwa, and Gerald Gahima, respectively former RPA Chief of Staff, RPF Secretary General and Presidential Chief of Staff, and Attorney General,  to form the Rwanda National Congress (RNC), one of the most active opposition groups  to the current Rwandan government.

At the time of his assassination, Patrick Karegeya was in charge  of intelligence services of the group.

 

Assassinated by A Network of Killers

 

As AfroAmerica has reported (see our article Exiled Ex-Rwandan Spy Chief, Col Patrick Karegeya Assassinated in South Africa of January 2, 2103), the main suspect in the assassination of Patrick Karegeya is a formed friend of his, Apollo  Kiririsi.  On December 29, 2013,  two days before the assassination, Apollo Kiririsi, officially a businessman from Rwanda,  asked Col Karegeya to rent for him a room at Michelangelo Towers, a Johannesburg's luxurious hotel.

Patrick Karegeya had an appointment with Apollo Kiririsi at the hotel around 8:00 PM on December 31, 2013. He joined him around than time. The body was found on the bed in Apollo’s room, on January 1, 2013, in the afternoon. Hence, the assassination happened  between  December 31, 2013 at 8:00 PM and  the afternoon of January 1, 2013.

 

According to a statement from the South African Police, released Thursday January 2, 2013  afternoon, a rope and a blood-soaked towel were found in a safe in the room where Karegeya’s body was found.

According to sources inside Rwanda, Apollo Kiririsi was an intelligence operative, recruited by Patrick Karegeya when he was still the Director of Rwandan External Intelligence. It is Patrick Karegeya who helped set up Apollo Kiririsi’s business, as a cover for intelligence activities.  Hence, when Patrick Karegeya, now in exile,  sought a person on whom to rely  in setting up a network of cover activities inside Rwanda, Apollo was a good candidate. They started meeting since 2011.

When  General Jack Nziza, the Rwandan Intelligence chief, learned about the contacts,  he gave Apollo two choices:  turn against his friend Patrick Karegeya and become a double agent, or be killed. He chose the former. The choice sealed the fate of Col Patrick Karegeya.

According to sources, after the assassination, Apollo Kiririsi and his accomplices flew to Mozambique and then to Rwanda.

Widow, Children, Mother and Sisters preparing for a  Burial preparations

Col Patrick Karegeya is survived by a wife, three children, and relatives in Mbarara and Kampala, Uganda including his 87 years  old mother and a sister. It is expected that he will be buried in Uganda.

©2013 AfroAmerica Network. All Rights Reserved.