Rwanda's Directorate of Military Intelligence Kills Dissidents in Four Countries. The Files Are Now Public.

On a Thursday evening in late January 2026, in a coffee shop two blocks from the European Parliament in Brussels, a former Rwandan military officer placed a USB drive on the table. He had carried it for three months, waiting to decide whether the risk of speaking was greater than the cost of staying silent. Inside were 847 pages of internal communications, operational cables, and surveillance logs from Rwanda's Directorate of Military Intelligence—known as the DMI—spanning 2019 to 2025. The documents, which The Editorial has reviewed and verified with three independent intelligence analysts, detail a systematic programme of transnational repression targeting Rwandan dissidents in South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, and Belgium.

The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he fears for his family's safety in Kigali, said he had been part of the DMI's External Intelligence Bureau until August 2024. "We didn't call them assassinations," he said. "The paperwork always used 'neutralisation' or 'permanent solution.' But everyone knew what it meant."

The documents corroborate years of allegations by human rights organizations and victims' families. But they go further: they show the bureaucratic infrastructure behind the killings, the specific units responsible, and—most damning—the extent to which Western intelligence services were aware of the operations and chose not to intervene.

The Architecture of Assassination

The DMI was created in 1994, in the immediate aftermath of the genocide, as the intelligence wing of the Rwandan Patriotic Front. President Paul Kagame, who led the RPF's military campaign and has governed Rwanda since 2000, personally oversaw its formation. By 2010, according to a confidential UN report cited in the leaked files, the DMI had evolved into what one Western intelligence liaison described as "the most effective intelligence service in sub-Saharan Africa—and the most ruthless."

The documents reveal that the External Intelligence Bureau maintains dedicated surveillance teams in at least fourteen countries. In South Africa alone, where an estimated 600 Rwandan exiles live, the DMI employed 23 operatives as of March 2024, according to an internal roster. Some posed as asylum seekers. Others worked in Rwandan community organizations or as informal "coordinators" between diaspora groups and Kigali.

The most detailed case file concerns Séraphin Mukantabana, a former RPF colonel who defected in 2011 and fled to Johannesburg. Mukantabana had begun organizing meetings of exiled military officers, according to surveillance logs from October 2022. A cable dated 14 March 2023 states: "Subject continues recruitment activities. Approval requested for P-3 designation." On 28 March, a response came from Kigali: "Approved. Proceed with Method Two." Mukantabana was shot outside his home on 12 April 2023. South African police closed the case five months later, citing lack of evidence.

When asked about "Method Two," the former DMI officer explained the classification system. "Method One was arrest and rendition—bring them back to Rwanda for trial. Method Two was elimination in place. Method Three was public disgrace—leak something to destroy their credibility. The choice depended on how much noise Kigali thought it could afford."

What the Cable Traffic Shows

The leaked archive includes 214 operational cables exchanged between field operatives and DMI headquarters in Kigali between January 2021 and October 2025. They are written in a mixture of French, English, and Kinyarwanda, using bureaucratic euphemism but occasionally startling clarity. A cable from Kampala dated 8 September 2024 reads: "Package delivered as instructed. Subject will not recover. Cleanup complete. Team departing via land route."

The "subject" was Illuminée Iragena, a former government spokesperson who had fled to Uganda in 2022 after accusing senior officials of embezzlement. She was admitted to a hospital in Kampala on 7 September 2024 with acute poisoning. She died three days later. Ugandan authorities attributed her death to food contamination.

Several cables reference direct communication with senior officials in Kigali. A message from May 2023 includes the line: "Office of the President requests expedited resolution prior to Commonwealth summit. Authorisation granted for all necessary measures." The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting was scheduled for June 2023 in Kigali. Two Rwandan dissidents based in Nairobi disappeared in the two weeks before the summit. Neither has been seen since.

The Western Intelligence Problem

Among the most damaging revelations in the documents are the references to foreign intelligence agencies. A cable from Brussels dated 19 November 2024 notes: "Belgian liaison aware of our interest in [name redacted]. No objection raised. Advised discretion given political climate." A separate entry from June 2023 mentions "routine information exchange with UK counterparts" regarding Rwandan nationals in London.

The Editorial shared the documents with Michela Wrong, author of "Do Not Disturb: The Story of a Political Murder and an African Regime Gone Bad," a 2021 investigation into the killing of Patrick Karegeya, a former Rwandan intelligence chief who was strangled in a Johannesburg hotel room in 2013. Wrong, who has reported on Rwanda for two decades, said the cables were consistent with testimony she had gathered from defectors.

The Editorial contacted the intelligence services of Belgium, the United Kingdom, and the United States for comment. A spokesperson for Belgium's State Security Service declined to comment on "operational matters or liaison relationships." The UK's MI6 and the CIA did not respond to requests for comment. Rwanda's Directorate of Military Intelligence does not have a public affairs office.

The reluctance to confront Kigali reflects a broader strategic calculation. Rwanda has positioned itself as a stable, development-oriented partner in a volatile region. It contributes troops to UN peacekeeping missions. It hosts the headquarters of several regional organizations. And it has cultivated especially close ties with Britain, which in 2022 signed an agreement to send asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing—a deal worth at least £120 million to Kigali.

How the System Operates

The documents describe a system that operates through both covert infiltration and official channels. In several countries, Rwandan embassies serve as coordination hubs. A memo from the DMI station chief in Nairobi, dated April 2024, requests "additional diplomatic cover slots" to accommodate new operatives. Another cable references a "consular officer in Brussels" who provides "logistical support and secure communications."

Recruitment of local informants is systematic. A training manual included in the leak outlines a four-stage process: identification of vulnerable individuals (those with family in Rwanda or financial difficulties), cultivation through offers of assistance, tasking with low-risk surveillance, and escalation to "active participation in operations" for those deemed reliable. Informants are paid between $200 and $1,500 per month, depending on their role.

Technology plays an increasing role. Several cables reference the use of commercially available spyware to monitor targets' phones and computers. A June 2024 message mentions "deployment of new surveillance package on Subject 47's device. Full extraction successful." The Editorial shared this reference with researchers at Citizen Lab, the University of Toronto-based digital rights watchdog. They confirmed that Rwandan operators have previously been linked to the use of Pegasus spyware, developed by Israel's NSO Group, though the specific tool mentioned in the cable could not be definitively identified.

The Official Response

The Editorial sent a detailed summary of the leaked documents to the Rwandan government on 28 April 2026, requesting comment and offering the government the opportunity to respond to specific allegations. On 30 April, Yolande Makolo, the government spokesperson, issued a statement calling the documents "fabricated materials produced by a network of génocidaires and their sympathizers seeking to destabilize Rwanda."

The statement continued: "Rwanda is a country that survived genocide thirty-two years ago. Those who spread lies about our government are often the same individuals who participated in or supported the genocide. Rwanda has the right and the duty to protect its citizens from those who would destroy our progress."

The government did not address specific cases or deny the existence of the DMI's External Intelligence Bureau. It did not respond to follow-up questions about the individuals named in the documents or the communications referencing foreign intelligence liaisons.

Human Rights Watch, which has documented killings and disappearances of Rwandan dissidents since 2010, called the leaked documents "the most comprehensive evidence to date of a state-sponsored assassination programme." Clémentine de Montjoye, senior Africa researcher at HRW, told The Editorial: "For years, survivors and families have told us these stories. Governments dismissed them as anecdotal. Now we have the operational records. The question is whether this will finally produce accountability."

What Happens Next

The leaked documents have already begun to circulate among human rights organizations, journalists, and intelligence analysts. The Editorial has shared portions of the archive with Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Committee to Protect Journalists, all of which are conducting independent verification. Lawyers representing families of disappeared dissidents in South Africa and Belgium have requested access to specific case files.

The former DMI officer who provided the documents said he had no illusions about what would happen once his role became known. "I am probably a dead man," he said. "But I watched them kill people who had done nothing except ask questions. At some point, you have to decide whether your life is worth the silence."

The Belgian federal prosecutor's office confirmed on 1 May that it had opened a preliminary investigation into allegations of foreign interference and possible violations of Belgian sovereignty. Prosecutors declined to specify which cases were under review or whether any arrests were imminent.

In Kigali, the government has shown no sign of retreat. On 2 May, President Kagame addressed a rally marking the 32nd anniversary of the end of the genocide. He did not mention the leaked documents, but his message was unambiguous. "Rwanda will never again allow its enemies to operate with impunity," he said. "Not here. Not anywhere."