[Since 1994, the world witnesses the horrifying Tutsi minority (14%) ethnic domination, the Tutsi minority ethnic rule with an iron hand, tyranny and corruption in Rwanda. The current government has been characterized by the total impunity of RPF criminals, the Tutsi economic monopoly, the Tutsi militaristic domination, and the brutal suppression of the rights of the majority of the Rwandan people (85% are Hutus)and mass arrests of Hutus by the RPF criminal organization =>AS International]







JANUARY 2013 COUNTRY SUMMARY

RWANDA

Rwanda has made important economic and development gains, but the government has
continued to impose tight restrictions on freedom of expression and association.
Opposition parties are unable to operate. Two opposition party leaders remain in prison
and other members of their parties have been threatened. Two journalists arrested in 2010
also remain in prison, and several others have been arrested. Laws on “genocide ideology”
and the media were revised, but had not been adopted at this writing.
Community-based gacaca courts set up to try cases related to the 1994 genocide closed in
June 2012. The trial of Jean Bosco Uwinkindi, the first case transferred to Rwanda by the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), opened in Kigali.
Several governments have suspended part of their assistance to Rwanda in response to
Rwandan military support for the M23 rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Political Opponents

Bernard Ntaganda, founding president of the PS-Imberakuri opposition party, remained in
prison after the Supreme Court in April upheld charges of endangering state security and

divisionism, and confirmed his four-year sentence handed down in 2011. The charges
related solely to his public criticisms of the government.
Several other PS-Imberakuri members were threatened, intimidated, and questioned by
the police about their political activities. On September 5, Alexis Bakunzibake, the party’s
vice president, was abducted by armed men in the capital Kigali, blindfolded, and
detained overnight in a location he could not identify. His abductors questioned him about
the PS-Imberakuri’s activities, its membership and funding, and its alleged links to other
opposition groups. They tried to persuade him to abandon his party activities, then drove
him to an undisclosed location before dumping him across the border in Uganda.

The trial of Victoire Ingabire, president of the FDU-Inkingi party, which began in September
2011, concluded in April. She was charged with six offenses, three of which were linked to
“terrorist acts” and creating an armed group. The three others—“genocide ideology,”
divisionism, and spreading rumors intended to incite the public to rise up against the
state—were linked to her public criticism of the government. On October 30, after a flawed
trial, she was found guilty of conspiracy to undermine the government and genocide denial,
and sentenced to eight years in prison. There were doubts about the reliability of some
evidence after a witness called by the defense undermined the credibility of one of
Ingabire’s co-defendants. The co-defendant may have been coerced into incriminating
Ingabire while in military detention. The witness (a prisoner) was subjected to intimidation
after making his statement. Prison authorities searched his cell on the orders of the
prosecution and seized his personal documents, including notes he had prepared for his
court statement. In court, the prosecution confirmed the search by producing the notes.
In September, eight FDU-Inkingi members were arrested in Kibuye and accused of holding
illegal meetings. They were charged with inciting insurrection or public disorder and held
in preventive detention. Also in September, Sylvain Sibomana, secretary-general of the
FDU-Inkingi, and Martin Ntavuka, FDU-Inkingi representative for Kigali, were detained
overnight by police near Gitarama after they made critical comments about government
policies during an informal conversation on a bus. They were released without charge.
Frank Habineza, president of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda who had fled the
country in 2010 following the murder of the party’s vice president, returned to Rwanda in
September to re-launch his party and register it before parliamentary elections in 2013.
The party had to postpone its congress planned for November because the government did
not grant the necessary authorization.
The trial of six men accused of attempting to assassinate Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa, a
former senior army official who became an outspoken government critic, in Johannesburg
in 2010, continued in South Africa.

Journalists

Parliament approved new media laws, which in theory could increase the scope for
independent journalism. The laws were awaiting adoption at this writing. In practice,
journalists continue to be targeted for articles perceived to be critical of the government.
Agnès Uwimana and Saidati Mukakibibi, journalists writing for the newspaper Umurabyo,
who were arrested in 2010, remained in prison. After being sentenced in 2011 to 17 years
and 7 years, respectively, in connection with articles published in their newspaper, they
appealed the verdict. On April 5, the Supreme Court reduced their sentences to four and
three years, respectively. It upheld charges of endangering national security against both
women, and a charge of defamation against Uwimana. It dropped charges of minimization
of the 1994 genocide and divisionism against Uwimana.

In August, Stanley Gatera, editor of Umusingi newspaper, was arrested and charged with
discrimination and sectarianism in connection with an opinion article published in his
newspaper about marital stability and the problems posed, in the author’s view, by the
supposed allure of Tutsi women. He was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment in November.
In April, Epaphrodite Habarugira, an announcer at Radio Huguka, was arrested and
charged with genocide ideology after apparently mistakenly, during a news broadcast,
mixing up words when referring to survivors of the genocide. He spent three months in
prison before being acquitted in July. The state prosecutor appealed against his acquittal.
Idriss Gasana Byringiro, a journalist at The Chronicles newspaper, was abducted on June
15, questioned about his work and his newspaper, and released the next day. In the
following days, he received anonymous threats, warning him to abandon journalism. He
reported his abduction and threats to the police. On July 17, the police arrested him. Two
days later, he was presented at a press conference where he retracted his earlier
statements and claimed he had faked his own abduction. Initial information indicated he
may have been coerced into making this “confession.” He was released on bail and was at
this writing awaiting trial for allegedly making a false statement to the police.

In June, Tusiime Annonciata of Flash FM radio was beaten unconscious by police and
security personnel outside parliament after they accused him of trying to enter a
parliamentary committee session without authorization.
Charles Ingabire, editor of the online newspaper Inyenyeri News and a vocal government
critic, was shot dead in the Ugandan capital Kampala on November 30, 2011. He had been
threatened in the months leading up to his death. Ugandan police stated they were
investigating the case, but no one was prosecuted for Ingabire’s murder.

Civil Society

Independent civil society organizations remained weak due to years of state intimidation.
Few Rwandan organizations publicly denounced human rights violations. The Rwandan
government and pro-government media reacted in a hostile manner towards international
human rights organizations and attempted to discredit their work.

Genocide Ideology Law

In June, the Council of Ministers approved an amended version of the 2008 genocide
ideology law, which has been used to silence critics. At this writing, the revised law was
before parliament. The revised law contained improvements, in particular a narrower
definition of the offense and a reduction in prison sentences. However, it retained the
notion of “genocide ideology” as a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment and
contained vague language that could be used to criminalize free speech.

Justice for the Genocide

Community-based gacaca courts, which were set up to try genocide-related cases, closed
in June, after trying almost two million cases, according to government statistics.
In the first case to be transferred from the ICTR, Jean Bosco Uwinkindi was sent from
Arusha, Tanzania, to Rwanda in April to stand trial for genocide. Preliminary court hearings
took place in Kigali. The ICTR agreed to transfer seven other cases to Rwanda.

In January, academic and former government official Léon Mugesera was sent back to
Rwanda from Canada to face charges of planning of and incitement to genocide.
Preliminary court hearings took place in Kigali.
Court proceedings against Rwandan genocide suspects took place in several other
jurisdictions, including Canada, Norway, Sweden, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Unlawful Detention and Torture

On January 13, the High Court in Kigali, ruling in the trial of 30 people accused of
involvement in grenade attacks in 2010, sentenced 22 defendants to prison terms ranging
from five years to life imprisonment, and acquitted eight defendants. The judges did not
take into account statements by several defendants that they had been detained
incommunicado in military custody and tortured.
Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa’s brother, Lt-Col. Rugigana Ngabo, who was arrested in 2010
and held incommunicado in military custody for five months, was tried by a military court
behind closed doors and sentenced in July to nine years’ imprisonment for endangering
state security and inciting violence. In response to a habeas corpus application by his
sister in 2010, the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) ruled in December 2011 that Ngabo’s
incommunicado detention without trial had been illegal. The Rwandan government
appealed this decision, but it was upheld by the EACJ’s appellate division in June.
Rwandan Military Involvement in the DRC

The Rwandan military provided support to the Congolese rebel group M23, which launched
a mutiny against the Congolese army in March. The M23 committed serious abuses in
eastern Congo, including killings of civilians, summary executions, rape, and forced
recruitment (see chapter on the DRC). In violation of the UN arms embargo on non-state
actors in eastern Congo, Rwandan military officials supplied the M23 with weapons,
ammunition, and new recruits, including children. Rwandan troops crossed into Congo to
assist the M23 in military operations, including a November offensive in which the M23
took control of the town of Goma. The Rwandan government denied any involvement in
supporting the M23.

Key International Actors

Several governments—including those of the United States, the United Kingdom,
Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, and the European Union—suspended or
delayed part of their assistance programs to Rwanda in response to Rwandan military
support to the M23. In September, the UK government resumed half the aid it had
suspended in July, despite continued Rwandan military backing for the M23. Expressions
of diplomatic concern intensified in November as the M23 took control of Goma.
In October, Rwanda was elected to the United Nations Security Council, raising concerns
about a conflict of interest in view of Rwanda’s breaches of the UN arms embargo and the
involvement of its troops in Congo.




The Truth can be buried and stomped into the ground where none can see, yet eventually it will, like a seed, break through the surface once again far more potent than ever, and Nothing can stop it. Truth can be suppressed for a "time", yet It cannot be destroyed. ==> Wolverine

 [Since 1994, the world witnesses the horrifying Tutsi minority (14%) ethnic domination, the Tutsi minority ethnic rule with an iron hand, tyranny and corruption in Rwanda. The current government has been characterized by the total impunity of RPF criminals, the Tutsi economic monopoly, the Tutsi militaristic domination, and the brutal suppression of the rights of the majority of the Rwandan people (85% are Hutus)and mass arrests of Hutus by the RPF criminal organization =>AS International]

   

AFP et Belga

Mis en ligne le 29/01/2013
C’est ce que demandent quatre pays européens à Kampala.





La Norvège, la Suède et le Danemark exigent, à l’instar de l’Irlande, le remboursement de l’aide au développement versée à l’Ouganda après la découverte d’un vaste détournement de fonds dans le secteur de la santé dans ce pays, a-t-on appris lundi de source officielle. La Belgique avait, elle, décidé de suspendre une partie de son aide au développement à Kamapala.

C’est un audit du Contrôleur général du gouvernement ougandais qui avait révélé, en octobre dernier, que 10 millions d’euros d’aide internationale avaient indûment atterri sur les comptes de fonctionnaires du cabinet du Premier ministre ougandais, Amama Mbabazi. Après ces révélations, les pays scandinaves, l’Irlande et la Grande-Bretagne avaient décidé de geler leur aide à l’Ouganda. La Belgique avait fait de même il y a quelques semaines, gelant le versement de la première tranche de sa contribution dans le secteur de la santé (soit cinq millions d’euros sur dix) jusqu’à la réception de la réponse du gouvernement de Kampala sur des détournements présumés.

La Norvège, la Suède et le Danemark exigent maintenant un remboursement des fonds versés. En novembre, l’Irlande avait annoncé que l’Ouganda s’était engagé à lui rembourser 4 millions d’euros. La Norvège demande à être remboursée des sommes détournées - 3,1 millions d’euros. "On nous a promis que nous le serions", a déclaré le ministère norvégien de l’Aide au développement.

En revanche, la Suède et le Danemark demandent un remboursement de toutes les sommes versées. En Suède, l’Agence d’aide au développement international a indiqué que des négociations étaient en cours pour le remboursement de 5,2 millions d’euros.

L’aide était initialement destinée aux régions ravagées par 20 ans de guerre contre l’Armée de résistance du Seigneur (LRA), sanglante rébellion qui a sévi jusqu’en 2006 dans le nord de l’Ouganda, avant d’en être chassée. Assurant ne pas avoir été au courant des malversations, M. Mbabazi a rejeté les appels à la démission. L’Ouganda est 130e sur 174 Etats pour la corruption et le plus corrompu d’Afrique de l’Est, selon l’indice de l’ONG Transparency international. (AFP et Belga)



The Truth can be buried and stomped into the ground where none can see, yet eventually it will, like a seed, break through the surface once again far more potent than ever, and Nothing can stop it. Truth can be suppressed for a "time", yet It cannot be destroyed. ==> Wolverine

 AfroAmerica Network


 Sources within the Rwandan Government in Kigali, Rwanda tell AfroAmerica Network that several Non Government Organizations (NGOs) have started to shut down their offices and leaving Rwanda. The flight of the NGOs is consecutive to the drastic cuts in international aid by several Western Governments, including Great Britain, Sweden, Norway, the United States, The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. The measures were taken after the United Nations Security Council accused Rwandan Military and Government leaders of forming, arming, and supporting Congolese rebels, known as M23. M23 rebels have been accused of multiple war crimes and crimes against humanity. Their leader, General Bosco Ntaganda is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague.

According to the sources, some of the NGOs are leaving Rwanda, while others appear to have relocated to other countries in the region. A large number of NGOs have already closed shop as of December 2012 or have sent out layoff notices to their Rwandan employees. The expatriates are being relocated to other African countries. The sources add that the diverse effects from the aid cuts have started to show and the devastation is expected if the international aid is not reestablished very soon.

Sources in Rwanda who follow the NGOs have observed that as of January 14, 2013, Care International Office in Rwanda has moved to Ziguinchor, Senegal, in Western Africa. Rwanda is located in Eastern Africa. NGOs associated with U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have given layoff notices to their employees that they will soon close, no later than March 31, 2013. The Netherlands based SNV World has moved most of its activities especially Water, Sanitation and Renewable Energy to the neighboring Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo(DRC). Sweden has been supporting the democra-tization process and Environment in Rwanda through Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). When Sweden cut aid, SIDA started phasing down its programs. In 2011, the aid amounted to US$ 40 million. In 2013, around US$4 billion are appropriated to SIDA for projects around the World. In Africa, the aid that was going to Rwanda will be directed to South Sudan.
The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) has reduced aid to Rwanda and completely severed the aid for 2012 and 2013, directing it instead to Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Rwanda is a very poor country. Most of its budget is funded through international aid. Western aid amounts to 40-50% of the Rwandan government budget and covers most of the healthcare costs. The aid to private and some parastatal institutions is funneled through international Non Government Organizations (NGOs). These sources bring in the much needed foreign currency reserves and in turn make the Rwandan currency stable. Without that aid, the Rwandan government has no other choice than massive layoffs of civil servants; the military and security forces and teachers may not be paid for long, and the Rwandan currency will most likely collapse in the near future, creating a spiral of inflation.

Ingabire Victoire: The  Would-be President of Rwanda still in Kagame's prison

From sources in Rwanda, since November 2012, after the UN Security Council Report was published, the Rwandan franc has been losing its value against the US dollar and the inflation has been creeping up. The ripple effects from inflation and the lack of foreign currency are expected to create a vicious circle of collapses across the entire sectors of the Rwandan economy: imported goods, including raw materials, construction and transportation equipment, gas, etc. will be so expensive that trading businesses and manufacturing will cease to function and transportation will be paralyzed. Already, the balance of payment, that had been positive for several years, was negative in 2012.
With this nightmarish scenario, security has been deteriorating, with Rwandan rebel attacks in December 2012. If the unpaid military and security forces start engaging in organized crime, and the layoffs and corruption start to weaken state institutions, Rwanda may slide into more tyranny and chaos and the humanitarian situation deteriorate very quickly.

©2012 AfroAmerica Network. All Rights Reserved.
  
The Truth can be buried and stomped into the ground where none can see, yet eventually it will, like a seed, break through the surface once again far more potent than ever, and Nothing can stop it. Truth can be suppressed for a "time", yet It cannot be destroyed. ==> Wolverine

Four our Readers: Did You know?

STOP !

Rwanda's Paul Kagame warned he may be charged with aiding war crimes

Et si les scandales s'ajoutaient aux scandales si le cynisme s' ajoutait à l'injustice ? C 'est pourtant ce qui vient, ce 1er Janvier, de se passer :Le Rwanda vient d'être élu au Conseil de Sécurité de l'ONU pour deux ans.
Pourquoi pas Mesrine Ministre de la Justice avec Jojo la sardine aux Finances, Nadine Morano à la Culture,et Pinochet, Mussolini et Hitler aux bonnes oeuvres et à la défense de la veuve et de l'orphelin?

Comment est -il possible qu'un pays dont l'ONU justement vient de dénoncer la responsabilité dans la mort de plusieurs centaines de milliers de personnes, un pays accusé d'avoir pratiqué sur des milliers d 'individus la torture, d 'avoir pillé son voisin, d 'avoir monté contre lui la pire des machineries liquidatrices à coté de laquelle celle d'Hitler est une plaisanterie, comment ce pays peut -il accéder au Conseil de Sécurité en tant que membre non permanent et partant influer sur une politique africaine dont il est grande partie responsable du désastre ?

Kagame, Président du Rwanda, est accusé par la France d'être le responsable de l'assassinat du Président Habyarimana, il est accusé par la communauté internationale d'être à l'origine et à la tête d'un contre-génocide qui aurait fait plusieurs centaines de milliers de victimes, il est également reconnu coupable avec l'Ouganda lors des discussions pour les accords de Pretoria et de Lusaka ( 1998 et 2002) de pillages. A New York, un rapport sensible qui fait l'objet de fuites et d'intenses pressions politiques depuis plusieurs semaines, a été finalement publié mercredi 21 novembre sur la situation dans l'Est du Congo. Ce rapport d'experts accuse l'Ouganda de Yoweri Museveni et le Rwanda de Paul Kagamé de soutenir le M23. .

Par ailleurs par la loi du 6 août 2012, les services de sécurité du Rwanda sont autorisés à "écouter tous les appels téléphoniques et lire les courriels entre les particuliers. Cette loi punit même toute personne qui consulte (sur internet) les sites non approuvés par le pouvoir et ceux qui lisent les informations non approuvées par le pouvoir. »

Dans un article intitulé « Rwanda : une étudiante emprisonnée pour idéologie génocidaire », paru sur Jambonews le 16 juillet 2011, il avait été expliqué concrètement comment dans les établissements scolaires, la DMI (service de renseignement militaire) a engagé des petits groupes d'étudiants et professeurs, afin d'espionner leurs collègues. Ces groupes doivent signaler chaque fait et geste de leurs collègues, tout particulièrement ceux qui sont soupçonnés de critiquer le pouvoir.

Il faut néanmoins rappeler qu'au Rwanda, les lois relatives à « l'idéologie génocidaire » et le «sectarisme », sont les plus liberticides parmi celles adoptées dans ce pays. Ces lois qui selon le régime visent à combattre les idées qui conduisirent au génocide, sont rédigées en termes si vagues et contradictoires qu'il est difficile voire impossible de se défendre quand on est accusé de les avoir enfreint. Selon Amnesty International ces « lois formulées en termes vagues permettent d'ériger en infraction toute critique à l'égard du gouvernement ». « En raison de l'ambiguïté des lois sur l'"idéologie du génocide" et le "sectarisme", les Rwandais vivent dans la peur d'être punis pour avoir dit ce qu'il ne fallait pas », a expliqué Erwin van der Borght, directeur du programme Afrique d'Amnesty.

En d'autres termes, on utilise le génocide - qu'il est difficile de nier - comme cache sexe justifiant toutes les exactions, tous les crimes les viols, les pillages et une main mise dictatoriale et militaire sur la vie de ses concitoyens.

Mais comment une dictature si agresssive peut-elle accéder au Conseil de Sécurité d'un Organisme international chargé d'assurer la Paix et la Justice dans le monde ?

The Truth can be buried and stomped into the ground where none can see, yet eventually it will, like a seed, break through the surface once again far more potent than ever, and Nothing can stop it. Truth can be suppressed for a "time", yet It cannot be destroyed. ==> Wolverine