By Dr. Theogene Rudasingwa
October 15, 2025
Photos: YouTube Screenshots\Wikimedia Commons
Subject: Response to Politically Motivated Sanctions by the Government of Rwanda
Dear Secretary Rubio and Director Patel,
I write to you as a U.S. permanent resident, a former Ambassador of the Republic of Rwanda to the United States, and a lifelong advocate for freedom, justice, peace, and human dignity. I categorically and unequivocally reject the false and politically motivated allegations made by the Government of Rwanda that have resulted in sanctions against me, labeling me a “terrorist.”
Let me state this clearly and without ambiguity: I am not, I have never been, and I will never be a terrorist.
I am not a member of the Rwanda National Congress (RNC). I have never had any connection—direct or indirect—with the FDLR, the armed group operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo. These are fabrications intended to criminalize dissent and silence truth-tellers.
On October 13, 2025, The New Times of Rwanda—the official mouthpiece of the ruling party—published an article titled “Rwanda sanctions 25 over terrorism: Who are they?” which includes my name among those it alleges to be terrorists. The inclusion of my name in this list is a continuation of a pattern of harassment and repression by the Rwandan regime against critics and exiled voices.
This act is not new. In 2010, I co-authored Rwanda Briefing—a document that peacefully critiqued General Kagame’s increasingly authoritarian governance. For that act of conscience and free expression, the regime sentenced me in absentia to 24 years in prison. Since then, I have faced repeated threats to my life, with credible information—known to U.S. authorities—linking these plots to Rwandan state agents operating beyond Rwanda’s borders.
The current sanctions are not about counterterrorism. They are part of a sustained campaign of transnational repression. The United States government knows this. The FBI is aware of multiple attempts by Rwandan operatives to surveil, intimidate, and potentially assassinate me on U.S. soil. This is not isolated to me alone—Rwandan journalists, human rights defenders, former officials, and activists have all been victims of Kigali’s global machinery of fear.
Let us not forget that General Paul Kagame presides over a regime with a long and documented record of:
- Assassinations and disappearances of political opponents (inside and outside Rwanda),
- Mass incarceration of critics without due process,
- Total control of media, judiciary, and legislature,
- Extrajudicial executions,
- Military aggression in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has caused untold suffering and destabilization.
To remain silent while General Kagame labels his critics as “terrorists” is to be complicit in tyranny.
I urge the U.S. Government—especially the State Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation—to:
- Publicly reject these baseless and defamatory sanctions issued by a foreign government with a record of authoritarianism and repression.
- Protect U.S. citizens and residents from foreign state-directed harassment, surveillance, and assassination plots.
- Re-examine America’s relationship with General Kagame’s regime, with a view to conditioning cooperation and aid on respect for democratic principles and human rights.
- Initiate a Congressional and Department of Justice investigation into Rwanda’s operations on U.S. soil and its coordinated campaign of transnational repression.
- Hold the Kagame regime accountable for its ongoing aggression in eastern Congo and for violating the sovereignty and security of neighboring states.
I will not be silenced. I will not be intimidated. I remain committed to the cause of a just, free, peaceful, prosperous, and healed Rwanda, where every citizen—regardless of ethnicity, political belief, or exile status—can live in dignity and without fear.
Mr. Secretary and Director Patel, the United States has long stood as a beacon of liberty. I ask that you now defend that principle by rejecting these cynical tactics by a regime that fears truth more than anything else.
Do not allow General Kagame to export his dictatorship to American soil.
Sincerely,
Dr. Theogene Rudasingwa
Former Ambassador of Rwanda to the United States
Former Chief of Staff to the President of Rwanda
Physician, Teacher, Advocate for Freedom, Justice, and Healing
U.S. Permanent Resident
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