Recent cases of fatal shootings involving police officers and soldiers have ignited concerns that the Rwandan armed forces are increasingly becoming trigger-happy. This has also raised questions on gun controls within the Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) and Rwanda National Police (RNP).

This year alone, more than 10 cases of such shootings have claimed close to a dozen lives. Only recently, on October 17, a policeman shot dead a person in the busy Nyabugogo area of Kigali. Vedaste Niyomugabo alias Nyinya had allegedly confronted the officer as he tried to apprehend a vendor.

City of Kigali police spokesperson Supt Modeste Mbabazi said Niyomugabo attempted to disarm the policeman, forcing the officer to shoot him.

“Niyomugabo found a police officer doing his job of ensuring law and order,” Supt Mbabazi said. “The policeman had arrested a suspect in wrongdoing and, as he was handcuffing her, the deceased attempted to free the woman.

“He hit the policeman with a chair and then pushed him to the ground. He then tried to grab the gun and, in the scuffle, the officer got hold of the gun and shot him twice. Unfortunately, he died. “It should however be noted that this was done in self-defence.”

The officer, only identified as Cpl Nduwayezu, was reportedly injured. He will not face any charges or disciplinary action, according to the police citing the law on self-defence.

The Penal Code removes criminal liability from a law enforcement officer who shoots in self-defence and, according to eyewitnesses, Niyomugabo, a demobilised Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) soldier, had overpowered the police officer.

“The law is very clear: If anyone threatens with violence an officer doing his or her job to the extent of trying to disarm them, they act in self-defence because they are protected by law,” said Supt Mbabazi, saying the police officers keep high levels of discipline and proportionality of force in their own defence.

On May 6, another policeman shot a suspected thug commonly known as Kirabura K-Swiss. This was after the victim allegedly attempted to snatch an item from a car as the driver waited at the traffic lights near Centenary House.

After a short chase by police officers at the scene, a policeman stationed at Bank of Kigali tried to stop Kirabura. The officer then cocked his gun but Kirabura did stop, prompting him to shoot the fleeing suspect. Kirabura reportedly died as he was being taken to hospital.

On June 15, police shot and killed a man as he attempted to escape from lawful custody. Eric Hashakimana, 26, was a suspect in the poisoning of senior RDF officers in the Northern Province town of Gicumbi.

RNP Spokesperson ACP Damas Gatare said the police regretted the incident in which the bartender, who had confessed to security agents over the incident, was killed.

Drunken quarrel

“On June 15 at about 10am, while on the way to the scene of investigation in Rukomo business centre, Nyamiyaga Cell of Kageyo Sector, Hashakimana jumped off the vehicle as he tried to escape, forcing the police to shoot,” ACP Gatare said in a statement after the shooting.

In February in Musambira Sector, Kamonyi District, a policeman shot and killed two soldiers following a drunken quarrel.

An RDF private, Théogene Munyembabazi, shot and killed five people and injured seven in a night club in Gicumbi District on August 10. The soldier got agitated following a misunderstanding in the bar, returned to the barracks and picked his gun. He returned to the bar and shot randomly at revellers.

In a statement, the RDF “deeply regretted” and “strongly condemned” the killing and injuring of innocent people. Maj René Ngendahimana, the Deputy Defence and Military Spokesperson, then said the criminal act violated RDF’s “well known ethos and discipline.”

On October 6, Munyembabazi was jailed for life and ordered to pay more than Rwf80 million to the aggrieved families as restitution. Just days after the Gicumbi shooting, on September 22, another soldier shot and killed a person and critically injured another, also in a bar, in the Western Province town of Rubavu.

The soldier was reportedly angered by a prostitute who stole Rwf200,000 from his pocket when he stepped out. He walked to a nearby barracks, picked a gun and returned to the bar, where he opened fire, killing Jean Claude Niyoyita on the spot.

The two incidents raised questions on the ease with which off-duty soldiers and policemen access guns, even though both police and the military maintain there are strict rules on how guns and stored and given out.

Pie Habimana, a lawyer and legal analyst, said although the concept of self-defence is likely to be abused, the Nyabugogo case seems justified, going by the police version of the story. He said that, if indeed the policeman was overpowered by the attacker and was on the verge of losing his gun on the job, there was a high likelihood of his life being in danger.

Mr Habimana however said that, going by the cases of fatal shootings involving police and suspects, there is a possibility of the principle of self-defence being abused. He said self-defence works on the principle that the reaction must be proportional to the degree of force with which one is threatened or attacked.

“A non-deadly threat may only be countered with a non-deadly defence,” he said. “A threat capable of causing death or grave bodily may be met with deadly force but we have had cases where suspects are shot upon slight resistance.

“We also have cases where someone is not armed with a gun or any other dangerous object but they are shot in dangerous places that can cause death at the mere attempt to run away. I think the police and the army are not trained to use only a gun. They should use other tactics as shooting comes as the last option.”

Efforts to reach Military of Defence Spokesperson Brig-Gen Joseph Nzabamwita on this matter were futile by press time.