Many of today's social theorists are utilitarians. Broadly speaking, a utilitarian is someone who believes justice can be arrived at through a cost-benefit analysis. For example, a utilitarian economist would tell you that, before considering a new law, one needs to determine the "social" costs and benefits of such a law. If these benefits exceed the costs, then the law is justified. Some talk about the social costs and benefits of legalizing drug sale or prostitution and conclude that if the benefits outweigh the costs, these laws should be implemented.

Ronald Coase, probably one of the most misunderstood utilitarian economists, has often been criticized for what he did not say (i.e., the so-called Coase Theorem) but rarely criticized for what he did say — that individual rights depend on the potential of those rights to create aggregate wealth. The following article is a critique of the Coasean approach to the theory of rights.

Coase, in his essay "The Problem of Social Cost," argued that, in cases where markets fail to do so, the government should allocate property rights in a way that maximizes national income. His main argument was that the existence of transaction costs would preclude efficient allocation of property rights through market transactions. Thus, this would be a job for the government.

In essence, Coase is proposing a theory of justice in which individual rights depend on the circumstances. If a government bureaucrat finds that taking away Jim's rights and giving them to Janice would bring about an increase in the national income, then this reallocation of rights is just, regardless of whether Jim and Janice agree with it.
Some economists took a more abstract approach and talked about maximizing social welfare or utility. In this framework, utility — total satisfaction by material objects, experiences, and other states of affairs within a society — is treated as a quantity that can be increased or reduced by a public policy. A policy that leads to an improvement in total social welfare is, within this framework, justified.This approach to the theory of rights had a strong effect in economics and is starting to spill over into other areas of human activity. One of those activities is warfare.
Utilitarianism and the Politics of "Humanitarian" War

Crisis in the Congo: Uncovering The Truth exposes the role that the United States and its allies, Rwanda and Uganda have played in triggering the greatest humanitarian crisis at the dawn of the 21st century.

The film locates the Congo crisis in a historical, social and political context. It unveils analysis and prescriptions by leading experts, practitioners, activists and intellectuals that are not normally available to the general public. The film is a call to conscience and action

Co-sponsors: IPS' Foreign Policy In Focus, Friends of The Congo, Congo Global Action, and Africa Faith & Justice Network




]]African SurViVors International (ASI) is an international nonpartisan charity organization devoted to defending human rights. It’s an organization working to promote democracy and national reconciliation, inside countries of the African Great lakes Region.

ASI centers its work on the twin concepts of freedom of self-determination and freedom from tyranny. These ideals include the belief that all human beings have the rights to speak freely, to associate with those of like mind, and to leave and enter their countries. Individuals in a free society must be accorded equal treatment and due process under law, and must have the opportunity to participate in the governments of their countries;

ASI’s ideals likewise find expression in the conviction that all human beings have the right to be free from arbitrary detainment or exile and from interference and coercion in matters of conscience. ASI does not support nor condone violence.

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 reality : the Tutsi minority (14%) ethnic domination, the Tutsi minority ethnic rule, 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 with an iron fist, and the brutal suppression of the rights of the majority of the Rwandan people (85% are Hutus), mass-arrests and mass-murder by the RPF criminal organization.
So long as justice and accountability for RPF past and current crimes are ignored and delayed, Peace and Stability will remain illusive and impossible in Rwanda=>ASIF]
Human Rights Watch's submission to the International Development Committee (IDC) focuses primarily on the role of the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) in Rwanda, given the UK's particularly important role in that country and Rwanda's critical role in the Great Lakes region.

It also includes a brief section on the regional dimension, which covers both the DRC and Burundi.

The submission concentrates on the human rights dimension of DFID's strategy.

Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell has stated that DFID's policy towards fragile and conflict-affected states should focus on building open and responsive political systems and empowering citizens to hold their governments to account. However, in respect of Rwanda in particular,


DFID has not given adequate priority to human rights or responsive governance, and has not held Rwanda to its national and international commitments on human rights. DFID's apparent lack of attention to these issues has encouraged the Rwandan government to believe that respect for human rights and good governance matter little to its largest donor. The submission makes a number of recommendations to DFID on giving human rights a greater priority.

African SurViVors International (ASI) is an international nonpartisan charity organization devoted to defending human rights. It’s an organization working to promote democracy and national reconciliation, inside countries of the African Great lakes Region.

ASI centers its work on the twin concepts of freedom of self-determination and freedom from tyranny. These ideals include the belief that all human beings have the rights to speak freely, to associate with those of like mind, and to leave and enter their countries. Individuals in a free society must be accorded equal treatment and due process under law, and must have the opportunity to participate in the governments of their countries;

ASI’s ideals likewise find expression in the conviction that all human beings have the right to be free from arbitrary detainment or exile and from interference and coercion in matters of conscience. ASI does not support nor condone violence.


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 reality : the Tutsi minority (14%) ethnic domination, the Tutsi minority ethnic rule, 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 with an iron fist, and the brutal suppression of the rights of the majority of the Rwandan people (85% are Hutus), mass-arrests and mass-murder by the RPF criminal organization.

So long as justice and accountability for RPF past and current crimes are ignored and delayed, Peace and Stability will remain illusive and impossible in Rwanda=>ASIF]

We, Rwandan refugees and friends of Rwanda, request the United Nations High Commission for Refugees not to apply the cessation clause to Rwandan refugee protection status as it is currently exploring that option.
Conditions that sent many Rwandan citizens in exile are far from ceasing to exist and in some areas, have even become worse. Though the Rwandan refugee crisis has been cyclical since 1959, from the last massive exodus of Rwandans in 1994, the current government led by General Paul Kagame hasn’t engaged in any substantive effort to set conditions that will encourage refugees to return home voluntarily but rather used tactics of coercion and subversion to get some refugees, primarily from the neighboring countries, to return while on the other hand it set new threatening actions and speeches that sent more people in exile.

Here are few tangible non-exhaustive examples to depict the most recent threats on refugees:
• Just as recent as May 22, 2011, according to the BBC Newsnight – the British Police in London gave a warning to two prominent Rwandan refugees that they had reliable sources confirming that the government of Rwanda was hunting them down and that their lives could be in danger. For many Rwandan refugees, this is rather a common practice by the Rwandan government in a number of neighboring countries.
• On April 13, 2010, when presiding the swearing in ceremony of high ranking military officers before the Parliament, President Kagame compared Rwandans who were fleeing the country to human waste being excreted. And he added “Those who do well for the country [as well as] understanding the role they have, the country owns them…they live in it. But for the waste, the country throws them out. These are things that are automatic. If that is how it’s supposed to be, so be it.”Sign the petiton



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

Related articles:

1.  US Failure To Honor Red Notice Justus Majyambere: Repercussions Likely
2. Trial of Rwanda opposition figure Ingabire postponed
3. Trial of Rwanda opposition figure postponed 
4. Further Kagame Terror Revealed 

How a Rwandan captain indicted for war crimes ended up on a government-approved tour of the U.S., and what it says about our relationship with the international justice system, and with Rwanda

Mj. Justus Mujyambere Accused for mass-murder in DRC

The great hall of the U.S. Army base and military staff college at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where officials say they recently received Justus Majyambere, a Rwandan military officer who is wanted on charges for alleged war crimes /

In late May, a handful of modestly sourced news accounts, few of them in English, reported that a Rwandan military official had been arrested in the United States, possibly even in Washington, DC, for alleged war crimes committed during the 1990s -- only to re-appear in his home country a few days later.

Blackmail and millions of dollars are allegedly  used by Kagame to silence the US Government

 The truth of what happened would turn out to be far more complicated and surprising. An investigation by TheAtlantic.com reveals that the Rwandan official, who is currently under international indictment for the suspected killing of Spanish non-government organization (NGO) employees in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, visited a U.S. military facility while on official business for the Rwandan government, and with the specific permission of the U.S. government. Though it's still unclear whether he was actually arrested or just briefly detained while entering the United States, the case exposes the complexity of a U.S.-Rwandan relationship in which human rights and strategic interests are coming into increasing conflict. It also underscores how little reach international law has within U.S. borders, at times compromising the possibility of bringing suspected war criminals to justice.

According to multiple European media reports, including a May 25 article in Spain's El Pais newspaper, Justus Majyambere, a major in the Rwandan Defense Forces, was arrested during a visit to the United States. In 2008, Majyambere had been indicted in absentia in Spain for his alleged role in the killing of nine Spanish NGO workers in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the years following the 1994 Rwandan ethnic genocide.
Since the genocide ended and rebel leader Paul Kagame took over as president, a post he has now held for 11 years, Rwanda and the United States have enjoyed close relations. Kagame's Rwanda is often described as the most politically stable nation in central Africa; for a time, Kagame himself was seen as a potential savior for a region riven with conflict. But Kagame's human rights record has come under increasing scrutiny, particularly after his purported 93 percent victory in last year's presidential election. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton conspicuously avoided Rwanda during both of her trips to Africa.

The arrest of a Rwandan government official on ostensibly friendly foreign soil would have dealt a blow to the U.S.-Rwanda relationship. The Rwandan government is extremely sensitive about the international justice system. A number of Rwandan officials are currently under foreign indictments, making travel for them difficult and undermining the government's international legitimacy. Many, including Kagame himself, were indicted in absentia in France in 2006, an incident that imploded relations between the two countries.

 For Spain, the stakes are hardly lower. According to Leonardo Marcos, an official at the Spanish embassy in Washington, DC, Majyambere is currently under an Interpol "red notice," a worldwide bulletin that is roughly equivalent to an arrest warrant in much of the European Union, but is treated with less authority in the United States. As far as Spain is concerned, Majyambere is a fugitive from justice, and a war criminal responsible for the murder of Spanish citizens.
A few days after the initial reports of Majyambere's arrest, the story died. It wasn't mentioned in a single American newspaper. In light of Rwandan denials and a lack of official confirmation of Majyambere's arrest, the story seemed more like an online rumor than cause for a diplomatic showdown between the U.S., Spain, and Rwanda. Even Marcos said that the Spanish government's official position on the matter is that the media reports are a case of mistaken identity. "Maybe the American police detained or arrested somebody with a similar or the same name," said Marcos. "But this person, Justus Majyambere, has been not arrested yet."
 Even for the Spanish embassy, reports of Majyambere's arrest are based on unsubstantiated reports -- little more than rumors. But those rumors have turned out to be grounded in fact. According to a memo from Spain's National Central Bureau of Interpol to Spanish Judge Fernando Andreu, on May 15, the U.S. Central Bureau of Interpol sent an urgent message to their Spanish counterparts. Somewhere in the United States, border police had run a background check on an individual suspected of "illegal immigration." The check returned Majyambere's red notice, producing a flurry of communication between Spain's Interpol office and Judge Andreu, whose court had indicted Majyambere, along with 39 other Rwandan military officers, in 2008.
Interpol told Andreu that the U.S. had detained an individual named Justus Mayambere, who was born in Mbarara, Uganda in 1966. According to Jordi Palou-Rognoni, a Spanish lawyer who was instrumental in pushing for the 2008 indictments, Andreu later intimated to the Americans that they had, in fact, detained an individual who his court had indicted three years earlier. "The Judge confirmed the international arrest warrant to the U.S. authorities," Rognoni said in an email, "and that [Majyambere] was active under a red code (confirming the suspect was born in 1966 in Mbarara, Uganda)."

 Yet Rognoni added that Spanish officials lacked a photograph of the suspect. The letter from Interpol to Andreu, obtained by TheAtlantic.com, expressed a certain muted frustration at the U.S. authorities. "Despite what has been stated," the letter reads, "the American authorities can not confirm that this person came to their country." In any event, a Rwandan radio station in Kigali reported on May 25 that Majyambere had safely returned to Rwanda.

None of the officials who spoke on or off the record for this article have been able to confirm whether the person detained on May 15 was in fact Majyambere. But a body of circumstantial evidence strongly suggests that he was. Military officials in both the United States and Rwanda and law enforcement officials in the U.S. confirm that Majyambere did in fact enter the United States on May 15. He had left Rwanda the previous day, later boarding a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.
 Find out more Pages 1, 2, 3


African SurViVors International (ASI) is an international nonpartisan charity organization devoted to defending human rights. It’s an organization working to promote democracy and national reconciliation, inside countries of the African Great lakes Region.

ASI centers its work on the twin concepts of freedom of self-determination and freedom from tyranny. These ideals include the belief that all human beings have the rights to speak freely, to associate with those of like mind, and to leave and enter their countries. Individuals in a free society must be accorded equal treatment and due process under law, and must have the opportunity to participate in the governments of their countries;

ASI’s ideals likewise find expression in the conviction that all human beings have the right to be free from arbitrary detainment or exile and from interference and coercion in matters of conscience. ASI does not support nor condone violence.

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

 

1. Andrew Mwenda’s rhetoric poses grave dangers for Rwanda
2. RWANDA: Political Space Is Needed Now.
3. Restrictions on freedom of expression in Rwanda 
4. How Paul Kagame has used the law to muzzle Rwanda's media
    

 

1.  Congo welcomes UN Mapping reports
2. UN mapping Report on Congo 
3. UN mapping Report on Human Rights violations 
4. The UN Mapping Report, What Next?
5. Tackling Impunity in Congo 

(Novum/AP) - PRETORIA - De vluchtelingenstatus van een Rwandese generaal in Zuid-Afrika moet worden ingetrokken. Dat heeft het Zuid-Afrikaanse Centrum voor Procesvoering (SALC) gezegd. Volgens het SALC was de generaal, Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, betrokken bij massale mensenrechtenschendingen in Rwanda.

De vluchtelingenstatus van Nyamwasa kan volgens het SALC 'een signaal afgeven aan oorlogsmisdadigers over de gehele wereld dat er een toevluchtsoord is voor hen'. "Een plaats waar ze zelfs actief beschermd worden", aldus het SALC.

Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa

Een woordvoerder van Nyamwasa heeft woensdag gezegd dat de generaal elke betrokkenheid bij mensenrechtenschendingen ontkent. Nyamwasa denkt dat een rechtszaak tegen hem de aandacht zal afleiden van een aanstaand proces van Rwandese dissidenten tegen de huidige president van het land, Paul Kagame.

Sinds zijn aankomst in Zuid-Afrika in 2010 heeft Nyamwasa scherpe kritiek geuit op Kagame. Nyamwasa werd vorig jaar in de Zuid-Afrikaanse hoofdstad Johannesburg neergeschoten. Dissidenten menen dat Kagame achter de aanslag zat. De rechtszaak over de schietpartij begint later deze maand in Johannesburg.

Het SALC en andere mensenrechtengroeperingen zijn niet de enige die Nyamwasa willen berechten voor oorlogsmisdaden. Een Spaanse rechter klaagde Nyamwasa en 39 andere Rwandese militairen in 2008 aan voor massamoord op burgers. Rwandese Hutu's vermoordden in 1994 meer dan vijfhonderdduizend Tutsi's en gematigde Hutu's. Nyamwasa, een Tutsi, zou samen met andere hooggeplaatste Tutsi's na 1994 een uitroeiingscampagne hebben gevoerd tegen Hutu's.

Spaanse rechtbanken kunnen mensenrechtenschendingen vervolgen, ook als deze in andere landen plaatshadden. Er moet wel een verband met Spanje in de zaak zijn. Nyamwasa wordt door de Spaanse rechter onder andere verantwoordelijk gehouden voor de dood van drie Spaanse hulpverleners in Oost-Afrika in 1997.


© Buitenland Niews.nl

 Rwanda ex-army chief Nyamwasa in SA expulsion threat
*
 South African human rights groups have launched legal action to force the government to revoke the refugee status of a former Rwandan army chief.They said Pretoria acted illegally by giving asylum to Lt Gen Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, who fought with President Paul Kagame to end the 1994 genocide.
But he fled to South Africa last year after falling out with Mr Kagame. He is also wanted by Spain and France for his alleged role in killings in the lead-up to Rwanda's 100-day genocide.

After he fled to South Africa, he survived an assassination attempt in June 2010. Rwanda's government denied claims that it was involved in the shooting.South Africa recalled its ambassador to Kigali in the ensuing row.
Refugee law is intended to protect the vulnerable, not those who are the cause of the vulnerability”
Spain and France are both seeking to extradite Lt Gen Nyamwasa, who is accused of orchestrating the killing of former President Juvenal Habyarimana, an event that helped trigger the genocide.

The Southern Africa Litigation Centre and the Consortium for Refugees and Migrant Rights said it was unacceptable for South Africa to give refugee status to a person suspected of committing crimes against humanity.



"Refugee law is intended to protect the vulnerable, not those who are the cause of the vulnerability," said Alan Wallis, a lawyer at the Southern Africa Litigation Centre.

The Rwandan government has also been pushing South Africa to extradite Lt Gen Nyamwasa to serve a 24-year prison sentence after a military court in January tried him in absentia on charges of threatening state security, desertion and defamation.

Paul Kagame is accused for mass-mudrering circa 3,5 million Rwandan hutu ethnic members and more than 6 million congolese People according to the UN Mapping Report Congo.

Mr Kagame led the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) rebel movement which put a stop to the killings - and has been president since 2000.


African SurViVors International (ASI) is an international nonpartisan charity organization devoted to defending human rights. It’s an organization working to promote democracy and national reconciliation, inside countries of the African Great lakes Region.

ASI centers its work on the twin concepts of freedom of self-determination and freedom from tyranny. These ideals include the belief that all human beings have the rights to speak freely, to associate with those of like mind, and to leave and enter their countries. Individuals in a free society must be accorded equal treatment and due process under law, and must have the opportunity to participate in the governments of their countries;

ASI’s ideals likewise find expression in the conviction that all human beings have the right to be free from arbitrary detainment or exile and from interference and coercion in matters of conscience. ASI does not support nor condone violence.


After the genocide, he promised peace and democracy but critics say he runs a repressive regime

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 reality : the Tutsi minority (14%) ethnic domination, the Tutsi minority ethnic rule, 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 with an iron fist, and the brutal suppression of the rights of the majority of the Rwandan people (85% are Hutus), mass-arrests and mass-murder by the RPF criminal organization.



So long as justice and accountability for RPF past and current crimes are ignored and delayed, Peace and Stability will remain illusive and impossible in Rwanda=>ASIF]



CHICAGO - Des dirigeants de l'opposition rwandaise en exil ont protesté contre la venue du président rwandais Paul Kagame à Chicago, le qualifiant de dictateur et de criminel de guerre lors d'une manifestation près de l'hôtel où il s'adressait à des Rwandais vivant aux Etats-Unis.
Paul Kagame se trouve ce week-end à Chicago pour y animer une journée du Rwanda que ses anciens compagnons d'armes, aujourd'hui en exil, ont promis de perturber.

Des manifestants, qui se sont rassemblés dans la nuit de samedi à dimanche, ont scandé Kagame, criminel de guerre devant l'hôtel où se tenait la conférence.

Théodore Rudasingwa, ancien chef de cabinet de M. Kagame et aujourd'hui coordinateur du Congrès national rwandais (Rwanda national congres), un parti en exil, a déclaré: Kagame est le pire dictateur que vous puissiez imaginer car la totalité de l'espace politique rwandais a été fermé à double tour

Si vous tentiez de l'écrire aujourd'hui au Rwanda, vous seriez mort. Des dirigeants de l'opposition ont été tués, des journalistes ont été tués, a-t-il dit à l'AFP.

Le Congrès national rwandais a été fondé en 2010 par Rudasingwa et d'autres anciens proches de Kagame, parmi lesquels l'ancien chef d'état-major de l'armée, le général Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa exilé en Afrique du Sud, l'ancien chef des renseignements militaires le colonel Patrick Karegeya également exilé en Afrique du Sud et l'ancien procureur général Gerald Gahima qui vit, comme Rudasingwa, aux Etats-Unis.

Les violations des droits de l'Homme résultant de la main mise de Kagame sur le Rwanda et la guerre en République Démocratique du Congo sont établis, a affirmé M. Rudasingwa.

Nous sommes ici pour demander que ceux qui les ont commis rendent compte de leurs actes et pour qu'ils cessent (leurs actes) car ces crimes continuent, a encore dit M. Rudasingwa.

De manière plus positive, les message d'espoir que nous lançons aux Rwandais et à la communauté internationale est que les Hutu et les Tutsi et les Twa (pygmés) veulent la vérité, la réconciliation et l'oubli, a précisé l'opposant rewandais.

M. Rudasingwa a indiqué qu'il avait été inspiré par les révolutions arabes et qu'il avait l'espoir de voir le Rwanda trouver une voix pacifique vers la démocratie, même si, selon lui, M. Kagame ne va pas aisément renoncer au pouvoir.
Paul Rusesabagina, l'homme qui a inspiré le film Hôtel Rwanda en sauvant 1.268 personnes durant le génocide de 1994, a participé à l'organisation de cette manifestation.

Ce qui s'est passé au Rwanda en 1994 n'est pas terminé, a-t-il dit. Cela a continué au Congo (République Démocratique du Congo) sous la direction de ceux qui ont pillé les +minerais du sang+ et tué des Congolais

En revanche, le président Kagame a reçu un accueil très chaleureux à l'intérieur de l'hôtel où des milliers d'émigrants rwandais l'ont salué et applaudi.
Le défenseur des droits civiques, le pasteur Jesse Jackson, l'a présenté comme un grand dirigeant qui a sorti sa nation de la tombe pour qu'elle puisse vivre à nouveau.
Paul Kagame lui-même a rejeté les critiques des manifestants et déclaré qu'il était concentré sur une nouvelle politique basée sur l'économie et le développement social.

Nous avons baigné dans la douleur mais nos coeurs ne sont pas morts. C'est la raison pour laquelle notre politique donne le bien être et un bon niveau de vie à chaque rwandais, a-t-il dit.
Combattons pour la paix et le développement, pour reconstruire et transformer notre nation, a-t-il ajouté dans un long discours.
*
(©AFP / 12 juin 2011 11h23)

African SurViVors International (ASI) is an international nonpartisan charity organization devoted to defending human rights. It’s an organization working to promote democracy and national reconciliation, inside countries of the African Great lakes Region.

ASI centers its work on the twin concepts of freedom of self-determination and freedom from tyranny. These ideals include the belief that all human beings have the rights to speak freely, to associate with those of like mind, and to leave and enter their countries. Individuals in a free society must be accorded equal treatment and due process under law, and must have the opportunity to participate in the governments of their countries;
++
ASI’s ideals likewise find expression in the conviction that all human beings have the right to be free from arbitrary detainment or exile and from interference and coercion in matters of conscience. ASI does not support nor condone violence.
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

1. Rwanda opposition challenges Kagame in Chicago
2. Peaceful Protest Against Kagame in Chicago
3. Rwanda president's visit to Chicago draws protests
4. Congolese Rally Against Rwandan President

The man who inspired the award-winning film “Hotel Rwanda” led local Rwandans and others in a protest Saturday of Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s visit to Chicago for a conference.


More than 100 Rwandan, Congolese and American protesters gathered at the Hyatt Regency Chicago to voice their anger over human rights violations committed by Kagame, including the killing of tens of thousands of Rwandans since he came to power in 1994 after the Rwandan genocide, according to a 2010 United Nations war crimes report. Leading the protest was Paul Rusesabagina, whose brave actions during the genocide were the basis for the movie “Hotel Rwanda.”

Though Kagame is given much of the credit for stopping the genocide, reports from the UN, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have all detailed violent abuses in the years during his regime.

In Rwanda we say that the dancers have changed, but the music is the same,” Rusesabagina said. “I’m very much worried as I was [in the lead up to the 1994 genocide] because nothing has changed.”

Rusesabinga is well-known for his actions during the genocide when he saved 1,268 Rwandans from death by hiding them in the hotel that he was managing.

He has since made the transition from hotelier to activist.

“Today we have all gathered to tell the world that a dictator who has shed blood in Africa is now visiting the homeland of President Obama,” Rusesabagina said. “We preach equal rights and then reconciliation.”

Hundreds of Rwandans and African-American citizen To protest against the presence of The  Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame

According to many of the protestors, the event was held to raise awareness among Americans, and Chicagoans in particular, of the ongoing struggles facing the Congo and Rwanda. They said Kagame’s presence in the United States is an effort to legitimize his actions, which, according to United Nations Security Council, include driving a deadly proxy war for Congolese minerals.

Congolese protestors also denounced the rapes of more than 400,000 female soldiers from 2006 to 2007, as detailed in a report in the American Journal of Public Health, that they say were committed by Kagame’s troops with impunity.

“This is not a political party, this is a civil society,” said Patrick Ntula, 38, a Congolese-born resident of Chicago. “These are people expressing themselves to say enough is enough.”
Rwandan, but separated by allegiance, the two groups echoed a plea for unity while disagreeing over fundamentals.
“I support Rwandans,” said 34-year-old Francis T., a Rwandan businessman, “But this protest is nonsense.”

African SurViVors International (ASI) is an international nonpartisan charity organization devoted to defending human rights. It’s an organization working to promote democracy and national reconciliation, inside countries of the African Great lakes Region.


ASI centers its work on the twin concepts of freedom of self-determination and freedom from tyranny. These ideals include the belief that all human beings have the rights to speak freely, to associate with those of like mind, and to leave and enter their countries. Individuals in a free society must be accorded equal treatment and due process under law, and must have the opportunity to participate in the governments of their countries;

ASI’s ideals likewise find expression in the conviction that all human beings have the right to be free from arbitrary detainment or exile and from interference and coercion in matters of conscience. ASI does not support nor condone violence.



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