In the May 3, 2012, statement the U.N. Security Council expressed concerns over recent attacks by armed groups in eastern DRC, in particular the former elements of CNDP under General Bosco Ntaganda, against the Congolese armed forces and called for immediate cessation of the rebellion. The U.N. Security Council statement further called for “ all crimes, including crimes against women and children, to be expeditiously investigated and the need for all the perpetrators of those crimes, in particular Ntaganda, to be brought to justice.”
THE CONTEXT

You might recall that the 1990- 1994 war and genocide in Rwanda resulted in millions of Rwandan refugees in the region, mostly in DRC, including thousands of Rwanda government military forces (FAR) and militia (interahamwe). The Government of Rwanda attacked the refugee camps in Congo in October, 1996 under the pretext of a ‘Abanyamurenge rebellion’. The war culminated in the overthrow of President Mobutu in May, 1997.
Thereafter, Laurent Desire Kabila succeeded Mobutu as President with the help of the Rwandan Armed forces. The alliance between Paul Kagame and Laurent Desire Kabila could not last more than two years and both countries were again involved in war in August 1998.

First, then Vice President Paul Kagame expected to control the new government of DRC and believed President Kabila would always solicit political direction from Rwanda. To ensure this, Rwanda deployed LTC James Kabarebe (now General) as Chief of Staff of the Congolese Army to keep President Kabila on the leash. This was detested by Kabila and his followers which resulted in friction and conflict in the Congolese Army.
Second, then Vice President Kagame demanded mineral concessions to be granted to Rwanda as compensation for expenses of the war and as a personal reward for installing President Kabila in power. This did not happen and Paul Kagame hatched a plan to remove President Kabila through a coup d’etat, which failed. President Kabila retaliated by expelling LTC James Kabarebe together with all Rwandan troops in DRC, precipitating the all-out war into which several African countries, notably Zimbabwe and Angola, were sucked. President Laurent Kabila was assassinated, and succeeded by his son, Joseph Kabila.

Third, a reason had to be found to begin a war and the EX-FAR was a perfect excuse, although at the same time the war was waged under the pretext of a mutiny by the Congolese army, with President Kabila being accused of allying himself with the EX-FAR. At first, Rwanda concealed its involvement. As the conflict intensified and drew many African countries, Rwanda’s deceptions had reached a limit and had to create a proxy politico-military organization. Thus was RCD born. The war ended in a stalemate, and a negotiated political settlement led to the establishment of a broad-based government that included all fighting forces. However, against all advice, Paul Kagame dissuaded some political and military elements of the RCD from joining the new broad-based government in Kinshasa. Out of these former RCD elements, a new proxy force, CNDP, was established under the leadership of General Laurent Nkunda.

CNDP, GENERAL LAURENT NKUNDA AND GENERAL BOSCO NTAGANDA

The justification for creation of the CNDP was to fight the FDLR and “protect the Tutsi community in Kivu.” However, the true objective was to keep the government of DRC weak through endless war. Like many millions of Congolose who have died due to the unending conflict and its consenquences, the Congolese Tutsi have been both tools and victims of President Kagame’s policies and actions in DRC. Furthermore, the proxy forces facilitated resource plunder by President Kagame’s ruling RPF companies and associates. At a personal level, President Paul Kagame became the focal diplomatic contact about the security situation in DRC. While he precipitated this horrendous humanitarian situation and should have been held to account, he has on the contrary been viewed in many capitals as the solution and indispensable interlocutor for the realization of security in DRC and the Great Lakes region.

In 2009, Gen Laurent Nkunda was “arrested” (President Kagame said on BBC that he is his guest) and was replaced by Gen Bosco Ntaganda by the government of Rwanda. Gen Bosco Ntaganda was integrated in CNDP after the war in Ituri in DRC and was helped by the government of Rwanda to depose Gen Nkunda.


It is well known that Gen Bosco Ntaganda is a Rwandese from Masisi, and should have had no interest in the “Ituri wars” between the Balendu and Bahema in Kivu. The Ugandan rebels of ADF were allegedly operating among the Ituri tribes and Rwanda sought to exploit the situation by arming Thomas Lubanga and seconded Bosco Ntaganda as his military Commander. Thomas Lubanga has been convicted by the ICC and Bosco Ntaganda is being hunted by the ICC. It is only fair that President Paul Kagame on whose behest these two individuals committed war crimes should be part of the indictment.

EMERGING SCENARIOS

After the conviction of Thomas Lubanga in the ICC, international pressure has mounted on President Kabila to arrest Gen Ntaganda. For President Kabila, it is a perfect opportunity to dispense with an officer in his Army who takes orders from another country, Rwanda in this case. The problem however, is that President Kabila does not control the CNDP because, as Rwanda’s proxy force, they have never been fully integrated in the Congolese Army and he cannot transfer any of them from Kivu. The government of Rwanda would do whatever it takes to make sure that Gen Ntaganda is not arrested because of the information that implicates President Kagame he would divulge at the ICC.

Some of the likely scenarios include the following:

1. The government of Rwanda will arm and help Gen Ntaganda fight the Congolese government forces until President Kabila realizes that he will have to negotiate a peaceful settlement.


2. If international pressure continues for the arrest of Gen Ntaganda, the government of Rwanda will offer to assist ( already doing so), by sending its Special Forces or use elements within CNDP to kill Gen. Ntaganda to make sure he is not taken to the ICC.


3. As the war rages on and the international community needs assistance, President Kagame will, as usual, reposition himself as the regional leader and savior for resolving this stalemate, in the “interest of regional stability.” As political crisis looms large in Rwanda and the Kivus, he will use the opportunity to conceal and deny his own misdemeanors while dictating his own terms of any new arrangements.


4. Like in 2009, under the ‘Amani Leo’, this situation may provide a perfect opportunity for another deployment of Rwanda government forces into the DRC


5. A wild card triggers a worst-case scenario, in which full-fledged civil wars erupt in Rwanda ( as mounting domestic pressures lead to implosion) and DRC, with grave consequences for the whole fragile region, thus perpetuating the cycle of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

IMPLICATIONS

Due to President Paul Kagame’s policies in Rwanda and the DRC, the Tutsi community of DRC are frequently singled out and blamed to a larger extent by other tribes for atrocities in DRC since 1996. The Rwandan community in DRC (Hutu and Tutsi) in general has been drawn into a conflict among themselves and against all other tribes who view them as proxies of a foreign government. Since 1996, the proxy wars in DRC especially in both North and South Kivu have resulted in millions of deaths, displacement and refugees, which occasionally President Kagame deceptively justifies as “collateral damage” for hunting down FDLR, whose numbers have in any case diminished over the years.

The endless conflicts in DRC have resulted in uncontrolled proliferation of arms from the governments to militias over whom they have a lose control. Some of these militias have been involved in massive rape of women and deaths of children.
Most importantly, as we all have witnessed during the last two decades, crisis in any one country poses great risk to the whole Great Lakes region. Crisis in the Great Lakes region has before escalated to a “continental” war when several African countries intervened in the 1998-2002 Congo war. Already there are several millions who have died in this region due to genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, other gross abuses of human rights, and the consequences of humanitarian catastrophe. Clearly, the current escalating situation in the Great Lakes region has serious implications for international peace and security.


At the center of endless conflict and humanitarian crisis in DRC and the Great Lakes is lack of accountability and the impunity it fosters. For example, In the United Nations Human Rights Commission Mapping Report on DRC of October, 2010, the Government of Rwanda under President Kagame is implicated in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and even “possible acts of genocide.” The crimes have been investigated but the perpetrators are yet to be brought to account. Why would the U.N. Security Council seek accountability from Thomas Lubanga General Bosco Ntaganda alone, and fall silent on President Paul Kagame and his other accomplices, who have created the conditions and organization that sustain the crimes?
Furthermore, President Kagame seeks to draw attention away from his human rights abuses in Rwanda by diverting the international community and media to focus on DRC. Since 1994, the Rwandan armed forces have been kept at war both in DRC and recently in peace keeping missions. This facilitates President Kagame to blackmail and manipulate domestic and international opinion that the country is at war. Depicting himself as indispensable to Rwanda’s and regional security, he uses the pretext of war to close avenues for peaceful reform and to brand his critics as accomplices, terrorists or sympathizers of rebels.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The events unfolding in eastern DRC have the potential to trigger massive violence and humanitarian tragedy of catastrophic proportions. The greatest danger, recent history shows, is that the international community may be silent, indifferent, act in an unfair or timid fashion, or rather too late.

The international community must engage President Paul Kagame and other stakeholders candidly and forcefully to halt the current escalation and work towards sustainable peace and security. Since President Paul Kagame’s policies and actions in DRC are conditioned by his domestic requirements in Rwanda, the international community should insist that the government in Rwanda immediately and unconditional release all political prisoners, end persecution (including arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture, involuntary disappearances and extra-judicial killings) of government opponents and critics and their relatives, engage in comprehensive and unconditional dialogue with the opposition to resolve the political and security impasse engulfing Rwanda and the Great Lakes region, and stop proxy wars in eastern DRC. The international community should be even and act fairly by using international mechanisms to ensure that all those who have committed crimes, including President Kagame himself, are held accountable and brought to justice.

Dr. Theogene Rudasingwa
Co-ordinator
Rwanda National Congress (RNC)
Contact: ngombwa@gmail.com

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=>As International]


We are saddened by the death of Sadiki Mutabazi in Kigali hospital after setting himself alight in a protest against violence by security staff.
As International 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.


As International 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;
As International’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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Theophile Murayi, FDU-Inkingi/USA: 443-980-4676


Providence Rubingisa, RNC-Ihuliro/USA: 630-401-4719


Celestin Muhindura, IDD/USA: 682-203-7948
What:


This rally is a protest against President Kagame’s war crimes and crimes against humanity in the African Great Lakes Region and beyond and his repression of human and civil rights of the Rwandan people, a record incompatible with a Doctoral Honoris Causa award in humane Letters by an American University on American soil.





Where:



The rally will be held at:


William Penn University


201 Trueblood Avenue


Oskaloosa, IA 52577


When:


Saturday, May 12, 2012.


From 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Central time.

Please join us in our effort to honor the spirit of William Penn University founding fathers, the members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) known for philanthropy and social justice.


Such core values don’t fare very well with the human and civil rights repression and the crimes against humanity President Kagame is accused of.

As International 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.


As International 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;


As International’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=>As International]




Théogène Rudasingwa, ancien bras droit du président rwandais Paul Kagame, a été entendu vendredi à Paris dans le cadre de la deuxième enquête française sur l’attentat du 6 avril 1994 contre l’avion du président Juvénal Habyarimana. Issu de l’ancienne diaspora tutsi comme l’homme fort de Kigali, Rudasingwa accuse le président Kagame, depuis son exil en 2005, d’être le principal responsable de cet attentat. Un attentat considéré comme l’élément déclencheur du génocide de 1994 qui a fait, selon l’ONU, près de 800.000 morts, essentiellement d’ethnie tutsi.

Par Clive Muhenga

"J’ai répondu aux questions des juges (Marc) Trévidic et (Nathalie) Poux la semaine dernière. J’ai dit tout ce que je sais de cet attentat ", a indiqué Rudasingwa l’ancien directeur de cabinet du président Kagame, à Radio Netherlands Worldwide, joint au téléphone aux Etats-Unis. Aujourd’hui membre très actif du Congrès national rwandais (Rwanda National Congress - RNC) qu’il a créé en exil avec d’autres anciens compagnons d’armes du chef de l’Etat, Rudasingwa fut également secrétaire général du Front patriotique rwandais (FPR) actuellement au pouvoir, puis ambassadeur du Rwanda aux Etats-Unis.


Menaces

"Plusieurs autres témoins rwandais sont prêts à être entendus. Mais il faudra que des mesures de protection soient prises pour eux parce que Kagame veut éliminer tous ceux qui détiennent des informations sur cet attentat", a poursuivi Rudasingwa. "Moi-même je suis conscient des menaces contre ma personne, mais il arrive des moments où l’on prend son courage à deux mais pour dire la vérité." L’ambassadrice rwandaise aux Pays-Bas, Immaculée Uwanyiligira, a réfuté l’année dernière toute allégation de menaces de la diaspora rwandaise.
Rudasingwa a expliqué à RNW avoir pris ce risque à cause de la "gravité de la question". "Les gens doivent dire la vérité, aussi longtemps que le mensonge et l’impunité règneront au Rwanda, il n’y aura pas de justice au Rwanda. Il faut la justice pour tous les Rwandais ", a déclaré Rudasingwa. "Il faut que l’auteur principal de cet attentat soit puni, dans l’intérêt de la justice, de l’unité et de la réconciliation des Rwandais. C’est Kagame qui a ordonné d’abattre l’avion, déclenchant ainsi le génocide. Il faut que les auteurs du génocide (des Tutsi) soient poursuivis et punis. Sans oublier Kagame qui l’a déclenché", a-t-il ajouté dans cet entretien téléphonique. Il a refusé d’aborder en détail son interrogatoire par les deux juges français.

L’enquête Habyarimana

Une enquête a été ouverte en France en 1998 suite aux plaintes des familles des membres d’équipages français décédés dans l’attentat. D’abord menée par le juge Jean-Louis Bruguière, qui avait conclu en 2006 à la responsabilité du FPR, l’instruction est désormais entre les mains de deux juges anti-terroristes, Nathalie Poux et Marc Trévidic. Les résultats d'une expertise balistique effectuée à leur demande in situ à Kigali, en septembre 2010, sont toujours attendus.

Le Bureau du Procureur auprès du Tribunal pénal international pour le Rwanda (TPIR) s’est toujours refusé à enquêter sur l’attentat du 6 avril 1994, affirmant qu’il ne rentrait pas dans son mandat, explication qui ne convainc pas les organisations internationales de défense des droits de l’homme comme Human Rights Watch et Amnesty International.
As International 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.


As Internationalcenters 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;

As International 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

Are Rwanda’s courts ready to prosecute the country’s worst crimes? As opposition leader Victoire Ingabire announces she will boycott her terror trial after losing all hope of having a fair trial, some critics are saying it appears not.

By Josephine Uwineza, Hilversum

“Ingabire’s decision to withdraw from the trial certainly doesn’t increase her chances of being acquitted,” says her British lawyer, Iain Edwards. “But she’s a grown woman, she’s an intelligent woman, she’s an independent woman and she has taken the decision that she has.”

Ms Ingabire Victoire The Would be President of Rwanda And now in Prison. Western Governments should improve their sincerity on democratic issues in Africa. The Criminal Kagame is no way intimidated He's even encouraged to assassinate That woman who still believes in DEMOCRATIC VALUES Enough is Enough

ICTR judges had previously kept Uwikindi in Arusha, saying they couldn’t send him back until “a suitable monitoring mechanism is established to oversee his trial." In ruling that Uwikindi could be returned, court President Judge Khalida Rachid Khan instructed the registry to “urgently undertake discussions and negotiations” to put such a monitoring system in place. While ultimately the ACHPR (African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights) will monitor the domestic trials, for now, an interim monitor is doing the job.
Fair trial?
Courts worldwide—including those in Canada, Norway, Sweden and even the ECHR (European Court of Human Rights)—are also ruling that it is safe to send Rwandans back home for fair trials.
But Victoire Ingabire insists it is not.

During her trial in Kigali last month, she challenged judges to nullify the laws related to “divisionism” and “genocide ideology.” She argued they are too broad and being exploited by current President Paul Kagame’s government to limit the freedom of thought.


The ideology law is seen by many legal specialists and human rights organizations as “impossibly vague, broad and abstract,” according to a 2010 Amnesty International report.


But just last week, Rwandan Supreme Court judges rejected her plea on a technicality, saying “she had failed to secure a copy of the 2008 law on genocide, which was also supposed to be attached to her plea.”
Ingabire’s key witness, Michel Habimana, a Lt Colonel of the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda), told the court he has been intimidated by prosecutors’ threats and interrogated by unknown officials, casting further doubts, say legal experts, on the independence of the judiciary.

 
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.

As International 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;
As International’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. As Internatioal 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=>As International]


AS International 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;

AS International’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

donderdag 29 maart 2012
door DeWereldMorgen Vertaaldesk, An Ansoms















Rwanda viert binnen enkele maanden zijn 50ste
onafhankelijkheidsverjaardag. Het autoritaire beleid van president
Paul Kagame pakt graag uit met indrukwekkende groeicijfers. Volgens
het Nationale Instituut voor Statistiek van Rwanda is de armoede er
met niet minder dan 12 procent gedaald. Het probleem is, zegt
UCL-onderzoekster An Ansoms, dat die cijfers niet overeenkomen met de
realiteit.

Maïskolven hangen te drogen aan de huizen in Rwanda
Volgens de laatste cijfers van het Nationale Instituut voor Statistiek
van Rwanda is de armoede in het land met een indrukwekkende 12 procent
gedaald in de laatste vijf jaar. Om tot deze conclusie te komen,
werden de cijfers van het EICV3 ('Enquête Intégrale sur les Conditions
de Vie des Ménages') vergeleken met de cijfers van het EICV1 uit
2000-2001 en het EICV2 van 2005-2006.

Daar waar in 2000-2001 59 procent van de bevolking onder de nationale
armoedegrens leefde, en in 2005-2006 nog 57 procent, was dat volgens
de laatste cijfers nog maar 45 procent. Volgens de Rwandese regering
een waar succesverhaal en een rechtstreeks bewijs dat haar economisch
groeimodel leidt tot een verbetering van de levensomstandigheden van
de Rwandese bevolking.

Zeer verwonderlijke resultaten, volgens An Ansoms van de Université
Catholique de Louvain (UCL), die sinds 2006 veldonderzoek verricht
betreffende de levensomstandigheden van plattelandsboeren in Rwanda.

Zij onderzoekt de impact van het landbouwbeleid in zes dorpen,
verspreid over drie verschillende districten. Hoewel de resultaten van
deze studies niet zonder meer kunnen geëxtrapoleerd worden naar heel
Rwanda, stelde zij tijdens haar laatste studie van 2011 vast dat de
problemen die zich in heel Rwanda voordoen en het leven van deze
boeren bemoeilijkt.

Een toelichting bij drie belangrijke problemen en knelpunten.

Landbouwbeleid gericht op productie voor de markt
Het huidige landbouwbeleid verplicht de Rwandese boeren ertoe
marktgericht te produceren. Dit houdt in dat in een bepaalde regio een
bepaald gewas (of een beperkt aantal gewassen) geteeld mogen worden en
in een andere regio een ander gewas. Hierdoor wordt de handel
gestimuleerd waarbij de verschillende gewassen 'uitgewisseld' worden.
Voor de kleinschalige landbouw (het overgrote deel van de
landbouwsector in Rwanda valt onder deze categorie) stelt dit echter
twee problemen.

Met een gemiddelde van acht gewassen kunnen tegenslagen opgevangen
worden als bijvoorbeeld door ziekte of slechte weersomstandigheden de
oogst van een gewas tegenvalt. Met een beperkt aantal gewassen valt
dit vangnet helaas weg.

Doordat de boeren aangewezen zijn op handel, moeten zij vaak een
beroep doen op tussenpersonen. Het zijn deze handelaars die het
sterkst staan in de onderhandelingen en met de winst gaan lopen. De
kleine boeren staan in een zwakke onderhandelingspositie.

Dit probleem zou moeten worden opgevangen door coöperaties, waar de
kleine boeren gezamenlijk actie kunnen ondernemen. In de praktijk is
er echter een gebrek aan transparantie in het beleid van de
coöperaties en de kleine boeren hebben er weinig zeggenschap (zie
verder).

Beleid van 'verdorpelijking' en hervestiging
Traditioneel wonen mensen in Rwanda niet in duidelijk te onderscheiden
dorpen, maar wonen zij verspreid over de heuvels. Als een jongeman de
overgang wil maken naar de volwassenheid, moet hij - volgens de
traditie - aan zijn vader een deel van het land vragen om zijn eigen
thuis te kunnen bouwen. Als hij dat wenst, kan hij dit indien nodig en
financieel mogelijk, verder uitbouwen. Een eigen huis hebben, is de
voorwaarde om als volwassene te kunnen doorgaan, te kunnen trouwen en
een eigen gezin te kunnen beginnen.

Dit patroon van verspreid wonen, strookt niet met de visie van de
overheid van hoe een moderne staat eruit moet zien. Het doel is de
plattelandsbevolking tegen 2020 te hervestigen in duidelijk
afgebakende nederzettingen en dorpen. De prijs van de grond in deze
'dorpen' is dikwijls zeer hoog. Daar komt nog bij dat de huizen moeten
worden gebouwd volgens bepaalde standaarden. Zo moet er bijvoorbeeld
een aparte keuken, toilet en stal zijn. Weerom erg kostelijk.
 
Het gevolg is dat veel jongemannen geen eigen huis kunnen bouwen. Dus
niet als volwassene beschouwd worden en ook niet kunnen trouwen.
Vooral in de armere families raken veel jonge mensen niet los van hun
status van 'onvolwassene'. Hiermee nauw verbonden, is de toename van
het aantal ongehuwde moeders, wat resulteert in sociale uitsluiting en
marginalisatie.

Bevolking gaat onder de vele verplichtingen gebukt
Zoals hierboven beschreven, moeten de Rwandese boeren aan vele eisen
tegemoetkomen. Hieronder enkele voorbeelden van de talloze
verplichtingen die de regering oplegt en van de mistoestanden die er
uit ontstaan.

- De huizen moeten worden gebouwd volgens bepaalde standaarden. De
koeien moeten in stallen gehouden worden en mogen niet los lopen te
grazen. Noch het huis zelf, noch de stal, mag een dakbedekking hebben
van bananenbladeren. De dakbedekking moet bestaan uit steeds duurder
wordende dakpannen. In één van de dorpen in de buurt van Kigali, waar
ik onderzoek doe, had het dorpshoofd beslist dat alle huizen die niet
gebouwd waren met bakstenen, moesten verdwijnen.

- De mensen moeten schoenen en 'deftige' kledij dragen als ze niet op
het land werken.

- Het land dat iemand bezit, moet worden geregistreerd, wat weerom
extra kosten betekent.

- Iedereen men een ziekteverzekering betalen. Sinds juni 2011 is het
bedrag verdrievoudigd van 1.000 Rwandese frank (zo'n 1,5 keer een
gemiddeld dagloon) naar 3.000 Rwandese frank.

- Ook met de coöperaties zijn er problemen. Allereerst de kost voor
het lidmaatschap. Zonder lidmaadschap geen toegang tot het vruchtbare
moerasland dat zij dikwijls al decennia lang bewerken. De leden worden
verplicht hun oogst aan de coöperatie over te dragen. Soms volgen
zelfs huiszoekingen tijdens de oogsttijd om vast te stellen dat mensen
geen deel van de oogst achterhouden.

Er is een geval bekend waar de leden minder geld terugkregen dan dat
ze in de coöperatie gestopt hadden. Alle winst bleef aan de handen van
de leiders van de coöperatie plakken. Voor het huwelijk van de baas
van de coöperatie moesten alle leden 5.000 Rwandese frank betalen als
'geschenk'.

- In een ander dorp werden de boeren verplicht hun koffie te verkopen
aan de nabijgelegen koffiefabriek. Deze is in handen van het Rwandese
ministerie van Defensie. Het is in dat dorp verboden koffiestruiken
uit te trekken. Ook hier is er sprake van huiszoekingen om er zeker
van te zijn dat de mensen geen koffie achterhouden om te gaan verkopen
op de lokale markt.

- Om een artisanaal baksteen- of tegelbedrijf te runnen, is een
speciale toelating nodig. Enkel moderne ovens zijn toegestaan. Voor
lokale investeerders is dit gewoon te duur. Om actief te zijn in de
kleinhandel is ook toelating nodig en moet belasting worden betalen.

Ook de lokale autoriteiten staan onder zware druk van de regering in Kigali
Onder het derde probleem vallen ook de verplichtingen voor de lokale
autoriteiten. Er is een heel systeem van 'prestatiecontracten'. Op
alle niveaus, van dorp tot district, moeten de autoriteiten aan
bepaalde door de regering vastgestelde doelstellingen voldoen.

Enkele voorbeelden:
- een bepaalde productietarget halen voor bepaalde gewassen;
- ervoor zorgen dat 90 procent van de bevolking hun ziekteverzekering betaalt;
- ervoor zorgen iedereen in een huis woont dat voldoet aan de standaardnormen.

Op zich lijkt het niet slecht dat de lokale autoriteiten deze
doelstellingen nastreven. Maar door angst voor een sanctie of ontslag,
worden de doelstellingen heel star en blindelings toegepast, zonder
rekening te houden met eventuele negatieve gevolgen voor de lokale
bevolking.

De frustratie groeit
Bij het onderzoek dat ik in 2007 deed, waren de reacties van de
geïnterviewden nog erg gereserveerd, vooral wat kritiek op het
overheidsbeleid betreft. In 2011 was dit helemaal anders. De
frustratie van de mensen was aanzienlijk toegenomen. De onderzoekers
kregen nu gedetailleerde informatie over de moeilijkheden waarmee de
kleinschalige landbouwers moeten zien te overleven, en de grote impact
die het overheidsbeleid heeft op hun levensomstandigheden.

Hoe deze verhalen te rijmen vallen met de optimistische evolutie in de
armoedecijfers van de Rwandese overheid blijft een mysterie.

An Ansoms

An Ansoms is als assistent hoogleraar verbonden aan de Université
Catholique de Louvain in Louvain-la-Neuve. Het oorspronkelijk artikel
verscheen onder de titel: 'The miracle versus the reality on the
ground. A short note in reaction to the new data of EICV3 (2010/11)'
(UCL, 15 maart 2012).

(vertaling uit het Engels door Marisa Abarca)

AS International 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.


AS International 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;

AS International’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

Philippe Brou – cameroonvoice.com, le 17 mars 2012









"Ses amitiés suspectes avec des chefs d'Etat sulfureux. Comment il est manipulé par les Occidentaux. Le quotidien Le Monde dénonce ses méthodes contestables.

La question de son bilan et de ses méthodes plus que discutables est donc à l'ordre du jour. Et Le Monde ne passe pas par quatre chemins pour le tacler sévèrement. «Dans ses communiqués, M. Moreno-Ocampo revendique une impartialité qui est démentie par les faits. Poignée de main chaleureuse avec l'Ougandais Yoweri Museveni, admiration déclarée pour le Rwandais Paul Kagamé, dont les pratiques sont pourtant dénoncées par l'ONU et les ONG», écrit Le Monde. Qui aurait également pu noter la rencontre discrète d'Ocampo et de Ouattara à son domicile privé parisien, et la «poignée de main chaleureuse » avec Guillaume Soro, pourtant soupçonné des pires crimes contre l'humanité.

A Yoweri Museveni et Paul Kagame, qui ont historiquement prêté leurs pays comme bases arrières aux rébellions congolaises et qui ont été les alliés indispensables des multinationales qui pillent la RDC, Le Monde aurait pu adjoindre Blaise Compaoré, revolver françafricain tendu sur l'Afrique de l'Ouest, complice de Charles Taylor au Liberia, en Sierra Leone et en Côte d'Ivoire mais jamais inquiété, tellement dans le secret des dieux qu'il a pu «prophétiser » dès 2003 sur l'extradition du président Laurent Gbagbo à la CPI. Museveni, Kagame et Compaoré sont les alliés des Occidentaux et des «nouveaux prédateurs» en Afrique et, sous Ocampo, cela vaut impunité.

Le Monde poursuit dans sa lancée. «C'est par le jeu des preuves que la justice internationale peut être manipulée. En enquêtant par des intermédiaires, par procuration, le procureur multiplie les risques. Sa victoire dans l'affaire Lubanga semble être une goutte d'eau dans la lutte contre l'impunité au Congo. En obéissant à la même stratégie au Darfour, en Libye ou en Côte d'Ivoire, M. Moreno-Ocampo reste soumis au bon vouloir des puissances régionales et occidentales», écrit Stéphanie Maupas. En évoquant les «intermédiaires» dont se sert l'actuel procureur, la journaliste du Monde met les pieds dans le plat et permet de comprendre la pertinence de la démarche de l'avocat principal du président Gbagbo à la CPI, Maître Emmanuel Altit, qui entrave la stratégie d'Ocampo, qui veut «expurger» (faire disparaître des dossiers) de manière systématique et sans s'expliquer les noms de ses «victimes» mais également de tous les membres de son bureau, de tous ses enquêteurs et de tous ses traducteurs. Parce que, selon toute évidence, il a travaillé main dans la main avec des officines du RDR, et ne voudrait pas que la Défense enquête sur ses enquêteurs et leur crédibilité. La référence aux «intermédiaires» fait également penser à l'utilisation excessive de Human Rights Watch, ONG financée en grande partie par le milliardaire Georges Soros, qui est réputé avoir financé la campagne d'Alassane Ouattara.

La technique d'Ocampo, qui consiste à «séquencer» les crises et les crimes liés à ces crises afin d'accabler les personnes qu'il vise, sans avoir à s'en prendre aux protégés des grandes puissances, est également dénoncée par la correspondante du Monde à La Haye.

«Jean-Pierre Bemba, principal opposant au président congolais, Joseph Kabila, est à La Haye depuis novembre 2010. Il est un acteur majeur des guerres de l'est du Congo. Mais pourtant, devant la CPI, il ne répond que des crimes commis en République centrafricaine. Un peu comme si le tribunal pour l'ex- Yougoslavie avait inculpé l'ancien président Slobodan Milosevic pour la seule guerre du Kosovo, faisant l'impasse sur son rôle en Bosnie-Herzégovine. Les accusations du procureur sont circonscrites à quelques faits. Elles ne donnent pas une vision claire des responsabilités dans la guerre féroce que se sont livrés par milices interposées l'Ouganda, le Rwanda et le Congo.
«Il voulait conduire une affaire rapide et facile»

Le pli politicien de Luis Moreno-Ocampo, plus soucieux des effets de manche que de la soif de justice des victimes, transparaît également de l'article du quotidien français. Pour gagner du temps, et se donner de la contenance avant son départ, le procureur qui n'avait jusque-là bouclé aucun de ses nombreux dossiers, a envoyé valdinguer toutes les charges relevant des violences sexuelles et des massacres au sujet de l'affaire Lubanga. «Le procureur nous avait demandé d'oublier les massacres, il voulait conduire une affaire rapide et facile, affirmait en 2009 un enquêteur qui avait claqué avec amertume la porte de la Cour», révèle Stéphanie Maupas. Au final, l'article du Monde reprend quasiment tous les griefs que les analystes ivoiriens critiquant la méthode Ocampo ont développés ces derniers mois.

Le Nouveau Courrier n'est pas peu fier d'avoir été à la pointe du combat contre les impostures du procureur argentin sur une affaire Gbagbo qu'il laissera comme une patate chaude à son successeur, la Gambienne Fatou Bensouda, qui sera déjà à la barre lors de l'audience de confirmation des charges le 18 juin prochain. Bien entendu, rien ne prouve qu'elle sera plus soucieuse du droit et moins politicienne que son prédécesseur. Comme lui, elle a été, au fond, cooptée par les puissances occidentales qui utilisent tant la CPI comme un jouet que son crédit ne cesse de s'éroder. Dangereusement. »
AS International 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.
AS International 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;
AS International’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