Emmanuel Karenzi Karake

Emmanuel Karenzi Karake is a Rwandan Lieutenant-General who is the Director General of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS).

Early years
Karake grew up in Uganda as a refugee from the former Rwandan government. He attended Makerere University, and later joined the Rwandan Patriotic Front where he fought in the 1990-1994 Rwandan Civil War.

Karake attended the Senior Commander and Staff College at the South African Army College and the National Defence College in Kenya. The General holds a Bachelors of Commerce degree from Uganda's Makerere University, Masters of Arts in International Studies from the University of Nairobi in Kenya and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of London.

Senior command
Karake was appointed deputy commander of the African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur, Sudan in August 2007, and in January 2008 became deputy of the UN mission in Darfur. He left this command in April 2009. In February 2008 a Spanish judge indicted Karake, alleging that when he was Rwanda's intelligence chief between 1994 and 1997 he was responsible for a series of political assassinations and massacres. Human Rights Watch claimed that forces under his command had killed civilians in 2000 while fighting Ugandan troops in the Congolese town of Kisangani. The United Nations was embarrassed by the allegations of earlier human rights abuses, and agreed to extend Karake's tenure beyond its expiry in October 2008 only after pressure from the United States and the United Kingdom, and when Rwandan President Paul Kagame threatened to withdraw all Rwandan troops from Darfur if Karake was fired.

In April 2010 President Kagame announced a shake-up of the military command, and a few days later ordered the arrests of Karake, who was accused of immoral conduct, and of former air force chief Charles Muhire, accused of corruption. The men were said to be members of an exclusive circle of top officers in the former Rwandan Patriotic Front. The arrests followed newspaper reports that the two, reported to be popular and powerful figures in the military, had disagreements with Kagame.