A Candle For Remembering
May this memorial candle lights up the historical past of our beloved Country: Rwanda, We love U so much. If Tears could build a stairway. And memories were a lane. I would walk right up to heaven. To bring you home again. No farewell words were spoken. No time to say goodbye. You were gone before I knew it And. Only Paul Kagame knows why. My heart still aches with sadness. And secret tears still flow. What It meant to lose you. No one will ever know.
Why did Kagame this to me?
Can't forget. He murdered my mother. What should be my reaction? FYI: the number of orphans in Rwanda has skyrocketed since the 1990's Kagame's invasion. Much higher numbers of orphans had and have no other option but joining FDLR fighters who are identified as children that have Lost their Parents in Kagame's Wars inside and outside of Rwanda.If someone killed your child/spouse/parent(s) would you seek justice or revenge? Deep insight: What would you do to the person who snuffed the life of someone I love beyond reason? Forgiving would bring me no solace. If you take what really matters to me, I will show you what really matters. NITUTIRWANAHO TUZASHIRA. IGIHE KIRAGEZE.If democracy is to sell one's motherland(Africa), for some zionits support, then I prefer the person who is ready to give all his live for his motherland. Viva President Putin!!!
RPF committed the unspeakable
The perverted RPF committed the UNSPEAKABLE.Two orphans, both against the Nazi world. Point is the fact that their parents' murder Kagame & his RPF held no shock in the Western world. Up to now, the Rwandan Hitler Kagame and his death squads still enjoy impunity inside and outside of Rwanda. What goes through someone's mind as they know RPF murdered their parents? A delayed punishment is actually an encouragement to crime, In Praise of the ongoing Bloodshed in Rwanda. “I always think I am a pro-peace person but if someone harmed someone near and dear to me, I don't think I could be so peaceful. I would like to believe that to seek justice could save millions of people living the African Great Lakes Region - I would devote myself to bringing the 'perp' along to a non-happy ending but would that be enough? You'd have to be in the situation I suppose before you could actually know how you would feel or what you would do”. Jean-Christophe Nizeyimana, Libre Penseur
Hutu Children & their Mums
Look at them ! How they are scared to death. Many Rwandan Hutu and Tutsi, Foreign human rights advocates, jounalists and and lawyers are now on Death Row Waiting to be murdered by Kagame and his RPF death squads. Be the last to know.
Almighty God :Justice for US
Hutu children's daily bread: Intimidation, Slavery, Sex abuses led by RPF criminals and Kagame, DMI: Every single day, there are more assassinations, imprisonment, brainwashing & disappearances. Do they have any chance to end this awful life?
Killing Hutus on daily basis
RPF targeted killings, very often in public areas. Killing Hutus on daily basis by Kagame's murderers and the RPF infamous death squads known as the "UNKNOWN WRONGDOERS"
RPF Trade Mark: Akandoya
Rape, torture and assassination and unslaving of hutu women. Genderside: Rape has always been used by kagame's RPF as a Weapon of War, the killings of Hutu women with the help of Local Defense Forces, DMI and the RPF military
The Torture in Rwanda flourishes
How torture flourishes across Rwanda despite extensive global monitoring
Fighting For Our Freedom?
We need Freedom, Liberation of our fatherland, Human rights respect, Mutual respect between the Hutu majority and the Tutsi minority
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
[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]
"It has been 20 years since about 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred in Rwanda in a genocide which remains a blot on the conscience of the world".
"The entire world stood by and watched as helpless citizens of that tiny country in the Great Lakes Region of Africa were hacked to death with machetes and other sharp implements".
The peacekeeping arm of the United Nations, then headed by our own Kofi Annan, failed (or is it refused?) to act.
The killings began when an aircraft on which the then Rwandan President, Juvenal Habyarimana, was travelling was shot down by the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), led by no other person than the current President, Paul Kagame. The rest, as the cliche goes, is history.
The UN shut the stable after the horse had bolted and when calm was restored, Pasteur Bizimungu, a Hutu, was made President and Kagame, the Vice President. President Bizimungu resigned after six years in the position. It is not clear what the real reasons for his resignation are but some observers have attributed it to undermining by Kagame. When Bizimungu resigned, Kagame got his dream job--President.
Since Kagame assumed office, he has been touted as a man who has led reforms in the country and has brought development. Even in Ghana, the usual comment, when the name Kagame is mentioned or when the issue of lack of visionary leadership in Ghana comes up it is: “Look at what Kagame is doing in Rwanda.”
In the last quarter of last year, I met eminent human rights lawyer, Mr Justice Emile Francis Short, for an interview, and among the many things he said, he praised Paul Kagame for the “many good things” he had done in Rwanda and referred to him as a “benevolent dictator.” He is not the only one who holds that view.
Last year alone, I met about six different eminent Ghanaians who expressed similar views. And on April 19 this year (Easter Saturday), during a visit to Sunny FM, a reverend minister who had gone there to preach and who was a classmate of mine in the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) praised Kagame to the high heavens.
“Suddenly, Paul Kagame has become the standard for Ghanaians?” I asked myself. “Do people know who he really is?” I asked again.
Kagame’s so-called successes
Kagame is credited for leading Africa’s most dynamic nation. Anyone who visits Rwanda today would behold a spectacle of construction cranes all over, especially in the capital Kigali.
There is a building craze in that country and the government is leading the construction of high-rise buildings; some to serve as offices and others as housing for people of all walks of life.
Economic growth has averaged 6.4 per cent per annum since 2001 and literacy and life expectancy have risen sharply.
There is running water almost everywhere and telephone lines are being extended even into the hinterlands.
As the August 9, 2010 edition of the Time Magazine puts it, “Even mountain gorillas are thriving.”
All these at the expense of what?
Rwanda may be Africa’s most dynamic nation (I disagree with this statement though) but it is also its most haunted.
Paul Kagame does not merit his reputation as a visionary leader of Africa with a mission to modernise his country.
Since he assumed office, he has hunted down all who oppose him, sponsoring the killing of hundreds who hold views contrary to his and chasing others out of the country.
He has his own “Gestapo” which ensures that anyone whose views are not in line with his is got rid of.
Prior to the 2010 elections, there were mysterious deaths which have been linked to him.
When a Rwandan journalist, Jean Leonard Rugambage, wrote an article which pointed to Kagame’s complicity in the murder of Nyamwasa, he was killed under mysterious circumstances.
In that election, Kagame won by 93 per cent. But why not? After “clearing” all opponents and instilling fear in the people, why will he not win elections?
His former Chief of Staff, Faustin Kayamba Nyamwasa, was shot in the stomach in South Africa in 2012 after criticising Kagame. He is lucky to be alive.
Kagame’s government, as investigations by prominent international organisations have shown, is behind the plots to assassinate exiles in Britain, Sweden, Belgium, Uganda, Kenya and Mozambique.
Some Rwandan citizens living abroad have revealed that they have been recruited by the Kagame government to kill opponents domiciled abroad.
A 2011 telephone conversation cited by the Globe and Mail newspapers in the UK point to government complicity in the murder of Rwandan exiles abroad.
In that conversation, Rwanda’s then Chief of Intelligence, Colonel Dan Munyuza, is heard discussing with Major Robert Higiro the murder of two of Kagame’s former aides.
“We will show our appreciation if things are beautifully done. The price is not a problem,” he said referring to the $1 million being offered as fees for the killing of Nyamwasa and former intelligence Chief, Patrick Karegeya.
In an interview with Aljazeera English which was aired on April 8, 2014 and which I watched, Paul Kagame failed to categorically deny responsibility for the murders of exiles. Rather, he accused those killed of being “terrorists” at whose hands Rwandans had suffered for years.
He challenged anyone accusing the government of conducting the killings to provide evidence and wondered why there was a “fuss” in the international community about the deaths.
From his posture, it was clear that he thought those who had been killed deserved to die.
Situation before Kagame
Anytime people talk about Kagame’s “successes,” they give the impression that Rwanda was a backward country full of “cave men” before Kagame “arrived.” That is certainly not the case.
Before the RPF begun its insurgency against the Habyarimana regime, the country was relatively the most stable in the Great Lakes Region. It boasted the best transport facilities.
The country’s telecommunications facilities were, by far, the best in the region and the government was embarking on a rural telephony project. It was Kagame’s RPF raids which destroyed all these.
So if a man destroys something and attempts to put it back in place, does that make him great?
Complicity in genocide
There is overwhelming evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity against Paul Kagame, but the world has turned a blind eye, just as it did when Saddam Hussein killed thousands of Kurds in the 1980s.
In the Saddam case, although the West, particularly the USA, was aware that he was the culprit, because he was their darling at the time, they pointed accusing fingers at Iran. It was almost a decade after the monstrous act, when they had fallen out with Saddam, that they acknowledged that he was responsible and used it against him.
Kagame is the instigator of the genocide in Rwanda. The plane carrying Habyarimana was shot down on the orders of Kagame. Prior to that, his RPF, made up exclusively of his Tutsi ethnic group, had carried out raids into Rwandan territory several times, an action which made the Hutus apprehensive and arm themselves, fearing an extermination by the Tutsi minority if the insurgency succeeded.
Within two hours of Habyarimana’s assassination, the RPF conducted a massive military offensive which swept across the country and in which thousands of Hutus died. The world seems to have forgotten that. Maybe Hutus are not human beings.
After millions of Hutus had fled into neighbouring countries to seek refuge, Kagame’s army attacked the camps in which they were in the then Zaire, exterminating millions of them. Once again the world was and has been quiet. Kagame, with the help of Yoweri Museveni, invaded Zaire, overthrew Mobutu Sese Seko, a war in which millions died. The “world powers” went dumb.
Col Luc Marchal, the deputy commander of the UN Assistance Mission in Rwanda, told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) during the genocide trial that: “From my experience, my conclusion is that the RPF had only one goal; seizing power and keeping it to themselves. Not once have I sensed the desire to make concessions, to smooth rough edges and reach a consensus. Marchal also blames Kagame for the assassination of Habyarimana.
There is also James Lyon, an FBI agent, who after conducting his own research after the genocide, came to the same conclusion that it was Kagame who ordered the assassination of Habyarimana and that he also ordered the murder of millions of Hutus in neighbouring countries for being a “threat” to his government.
A UN investigation team , headed by Michael Hourigan drew the same conclusion. Unfortunately, his report was buried by the West.
Former UN genocide Chief Prosecutor at the ICTR, Ms Carla del Ponte, in her memoirs, described in detail how she was removed from her post when her investigations revealed that Kagame had committed war crimes and when she had called for his prosecution.
According to del Ponte, her office had evidence to prosecute Kagame for “touching off” the Rwanda genocide by ordering the assassination of Habyarimana.
She also, in her book, spoke of the discovery of dozens of massacre sites for which Kagame and his Tutsi clique should be prosecuted.
The statement to the effect that the killers of Habyarimana are not known, according to her, is a “bald-faced lie” known in the western countries.
When she initiated moves to prosecute Kagame, the American government ordered her to stop.
When she insisted on going ahead, she was threatened with removal and when she showed no signs of backing down, she was removed and replaced by an American.
But the French know
The French government has always considered Paul Kagame a genocidaire and sought to have him brought to justice. This is what led Kagame to break diplomatic relations with France and change the official language in Rwanda to English, just to spite them.
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable
Paul Kagame will one day have himself to blame. The Tutsis make up about 20 per cent of the Rwandan population but they wield real power. The Hutus have been sidelined.
What he has succeeded in doing is bringing a few Hutus on board to give his government some credibility. But all serious observers know that it is just mere window-dressing.
With his failure to allow real democracy in his country, his elimination of perceived enemies and his massacre of millions of Hutus in the past, he has already laid the foundations for another genocide.
The pain and hurt of the Hutus linger on. One does not stop one genocide by laying the foundations for another. It just does not make sense. He has failed to heal wounds and bring real reconciliation to his country and that alone is enough “writing on the wall.”
He should also know that the West will not shield him or cover up for him forever. He should look at Saddam Hussein, Mobutu Sese Seko and the many others like them, consider what happened to them and be wise. Nobody can commit atrocities and hide forever. The cup will be full one day.
As for the many Ghanaians who consider him their “hero”, they should get to know the other side of the man before engaging in praise-singing.
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
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
by Christophe Sangano
Who
has interest in tarnishing the image and the work of Human Rights Watch in
Rwanda? Who would go the extra mile in creating a fake 55-page report to
discredit one of the world’s leading independent organizations dedicated
to defending and protecting human rights?
A fake report
with an already dead author !
A newly opened blog on the internet with the name of The Travesty of Human Rights Watch on Rwanda published a report about the Human Rights Watch on Rwanda. The report is titled The Travesty of Human Rights Watch on Rwanda. The author of the report is said to be Richard G. Johnson.
In Summary, the report shows how “HRW’s
discourse on Rwanda over the past twenty years has been viscerally
hostile to the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) which defeated the
genocidal Hutu Power regime in 1994, and systematically biased in favor
of letting unrepentant Hutu Power political forces back into Rwandan
political life…”
Before the reader takes a deeper look
into the report, one will notice that the blog is named after the report
itself. The blog was open in March 2013 and has no posts, no other
pages except one page dated March 18, 2013 which contains the entire report dated March 19, 2013 and a link to download the report. In other words, the report was out on the internet (the 18th) before its own publication date (the 19th).
The Author of the report, who is also
the owner of the blog is said to be ”Richard G Johnson”. Everyone will
be surprised to know that the real Richard G. Johnson died in 2011, aged 90. In fact, according to Washington Post,
Richard G. Johnson, 90, a retired political officer with the U.S.
Foreign Service who specialized in Eastern European affairs, died on 19th November 2011 in his home in Potomac, Maryland, United States.
The problem is: the author died two
years before the existence of the report and the blog belonging to him
was also created by him two years after his own death. However, the same
blog states that “he can be reached at richardgaronjohnson@gmail.com”.
Are we talking about the same person? Yes. The author’s profile on Blogger
is of Richard Johnson who “served as a Foreign Service Officer with the
U.S. Department of State from 1979 to 2002, specializing in Russian,
East European and North African affairs…”
No international publisher, journal,
newspaper or blog posted this report but to raise awareness of that
report, only Rwanda-based media wrote articles mentioning it:
On 21st March 2013, two days after the report publication , News of Rwanda newspaper wrote “A
retired American diplomat Richard Johnson has rapped Washington-based
group Human Rights Watch (HRW) and said that what it does on Rwanda is
not human rights advocacy, but rather political advocacy. In a well
articulated document he called ‘The Travesty of Human Rights Watch on
Rwanda’; Johnson said that HWR has become profoundly unscrupulous in
both its means and its ends.“
On the 19 April 2013, The New Times referred to the report: “Last
month, Richard Johnson, a retired American diplomat wrote a lengthy
document; ‘The travesty of Human Rights Watch on Rwanda’ in which he
says that HRW’s discourse on Rwanda is a threat to peace and stability
in the region.”
A Ugandan newspaper The Independent published extracts from the report this way: “I’m a retired American diplomat. My professional experience
includes the genocide in Bosnia, and my personal experience includes
living in Rwanda in 2008-2010 as the spouse of another U.S. diplomat. My
purpose here is not to defend the Rwandan government, which is
accountable first and foremost to its own people as well as to a variety
of outside institutions. My purpose is to expose and perhaps alter the
conduct of HRW”
You do not need to have been in FBI
training school to be able to identity without error who is the ”really
author of the report’
The most important point to retain here
is the damage the report might be doing, in different courts, when HRW
reports used by defense teams are being discredited using this pseudo
report by a fake American experts. What does the late Richard G.
Johnson’s family think of all of this? Are they aware that his career
and reputation are being used in these dirty tactics?
Christophe Sangano
War and lies are Good for
Business” and so are war crimes and genocide. To accept Kagame and RPF’s
scenario on the Rwandan Genocide is to contribute to the ongoing destruction of
Rwanda under Kagame’s rule.
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
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Kigali -
One of Rwanda's most prominent opposition figures, Bernard Ntaganda, was freed on Wednesday after serving a four-year prison sentence for threatening state security and causing ethnic divisions, officials said.
Me Ntaganda Bernard, a lawyer and founder of the PS-Imberakuri opposition party, wanted to challenge President Paul Kagame in 2010 elections, but was arrested and jailed before the polls.
“Indeed he finished his sentence today, and was released. By the time the prison informed me, he was already in Nyanza town with his friends and relatives,” General Paul Rwarakabije, the director general of Rwanda Correctional Services, told AFP.
Ntaganda, who was denied an appeal, had denied the charges against him and maintained his imprisonment was politically motivated.
The trial was criticised by rights group Amnesty International, which called for his immediate and unconditional release. - Sapa-AFP
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]
Press Statement
Marie Harf
Deputy Department Spokesperson, Office of the Spokesperson
Deputy Department Spokesperson, Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
June 4, 2014
The United States is deeply concerned by the arrest and disappearance of dozens of Rwandan citizens in Rwanda over the past two months. Rwandan authorities held individuals
incommunicado for periods up to two months before presenting them to a court of law. We are encouraged that Rwandan authorities have recently taken steps to bring a number of these individuals before a court. Nonetheless, the United States remains concerned that additional individuals may still be held incommunicado and without due process of law. We are also concerned by credible reports that individual journalists were threatened, and that the Government of Rwanda ordered the suspension of a call-in radio program that provided citizens with a platform to discuss current events.
The United States calls upon the Government of Rwanda to account for individuals arrested over the past two months and currently in custody, and to respect the rights under Rwandan law and international human rights law of the individuals detained and arrested. We also call upon Rwanda to fully respect freedom of expression, including for members of the press so that they can investigate, report, and facilitate discussion on issues of public concern.
The United States supports all lawful efforts to identify individuals who seek to use violence against the Rwandan people and government, but stresses that, in democratic societies, individuals may not be arbitrarily arrested or detained and are entitled to due process of law to certain minimum guarantees, including to challenge the legality of their detention before a court of law and to be informed of charges and examine witnesses against them.
[This is a mobile copy of Ongoing Detentions and Arrests in Rwanda]
Saturday, May 31, 2014
[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]
Les FDLR affirment entamer leur processus de désarmement en RDC
par Kenny Katombe
BULEUSA République Démocratique du Congo (Reuters) - Les rebelles rwandais actifs dans l'est de la République démocratique du Congo ont affirmé vendredi avoir commencé à déposer les armes mais ont prévenu que la poursuite du processus dépendrait de l'ouverture de pourparlers avec le gouvernement de Kigali.
Entre le marteau et l'enclume, le Tyran Rwanda ne sait plus comment provoquer les massacres des Rwandais.
Une centaine de combattants des Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR) ont rendu leurs armes, dont de l'artillerie lourde, lors d'une cérémonie dans la province du Nord-Kivu, dans l'est de la RDC, a constaté un témoin Reuters.
"Avec ce geste de bonne volonté, nous appelons la communauté internationale à assumer ses responsabilités pour obtenir l'ouverture d'un dialogue politique entre les Rwandais", a déclaré le président des FDLR, le général Victor Byiringiro.
Les autorités rwandaises ont rejeté à plusieurs reprises les appels à des pourparlers avec les rebelles hutus des FDLR, que Kigali considère comme une organisation terroriste soutenant une idéologie génocidaire.
Ce n'est pas la première fois que les FDLR se disent prêts à rendre les armes, pour faire ensuite machine arrière. La plupart des représentants officiels se montrent prudents et préfèrent ne pas se prononcer en faveur de pourparlers avec le gouvernement rwandais.
"Il n'y aura pas de négociations avec les FDLR. Ils ont offert de se rendre, et nous verrons si le processus est efficace", a déclaré un porte-parole du gouvernement congolais, Lambert Mendé.
La cérémonie de vendredi s'est déroulée en présence de représentants de la Monusco (Mission de l'Organisation des Nations unies pour la stabilisation en République démocratique du Congo), de la Communauté de développement de l'Afrique australe (SADC) et de la Conférence internationale sur les pays de la région des Grands Lacs.
Les rebelles sont régulièrement accusés de violations des droits de l'Homme, et notamment de massacres de civils. La radio Okapi, financée par l'Onu, a rapporté cette semaine que des combattants des FDLR avaient incendié des maisons et des écoles dans le district de Walikale, au Nord-Kivu, lors d'affrontements avec un autre mouvement rebelle.
La suite ici:
Les FDLR affirment entamer leur processus de désarmement en RDC
par Kenny Katombe BULEUSA République démocratique du Congo (Reuters) - 31 mai 2014
Reuters
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]
Why France must resist and reject Kagame’s dangerous diplomacy
Theogene Rudasingwa
By antagonizing and humiliating France, the Rwandan strongman seeks to claim the status of a nationalist and pan-Africanist standing up to a Western power. But this is absurd
In June 1994, as the Secretary General of the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) I led a delegation to meet France’s then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alain Juppe. The objective of my delegation was to dissuade the French Government from launching Operation Turquoise, the peacekeeping operation that has been at the heart of the acrimonious relationship between France and the RPF regime under Paul Kagame since then. I went back unsuccessful and disappointed. The stakes were high.
Before then, RPF had dispatched its senior leaders, Gerald Gahima and Claude Dusaidi, to New York and Washington DC to dissuade the United Nations and the United States from launching any peacekeeping operations in Rwanda.
The RPF’s double-pronged strategy in France and United States was derived from two mutually re-enforcing fears and considerations. First, because RPF was inherently an organization of Tutsi exiles, it considered France a hostile nation because of its close relationship with the then Government of Rwanda under President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu. In fact, popular perception in the rank and file of the RPF was that the French, and the Belgians before them, were pro-Hutu. The twists and turns of history are such that in post-1994 Rwanda, popular opinion within the Hutu and Tutsi communities is that Americans and the British are pro-Tutsi. Second, by ordering the shooting down of the plane carrying President Juvenal Habyarimana, Kagame simultaneously derailed the Arusha Peace Agreement and triggered the genocide and massacres of 1994 in which Tutsi and Hutu were victims.
For RPF, a French-led or any United Nations peacekeeping operation was perceived as a threat to its push for outright military victory. When Alain Juppe told our delegation that the French-led operation was to save Tutsi, Kagame instructed me to respond that ‘all the Tutsi who were to die have died anyway, and there are no more to save’. This became the standard mobilizing theme and response in Washington DC and New York,
In essence, it is this callous, cold and calculating consideration for General Paul Kagame and his RPF’s quest for power at any price that has brought France-Rwanda relations to a new and dangerous crisis point. When the French investigating magistrate, Jean-Louis Bruguiere, indicted President Paul Kagame and other RPA military officers for the assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana and his Burundian counterpart, Cyprien Ntaryamira, RPF was up in arms. To Kagame and the RPF, this was considered to be further proof that France was anti-Tutsi, anti-RPF and most importantly, anti-Kagame. The marching orders to all of us who worked in the system was to fight the French everywhere and by all means possible, including lies, deceptions and denials.
Can the bitter relationship between France and Rwanda be repaired under Paul Kagame’s regime? The response to that is an absolute no.
First, Kagame and the RPF’s hold on to power survives and thrives on a narrative that perpetuates falsehoods calculated to make France and the international community guilty. In this narrative, the French are the bad guys who assisted the other bad guys, the Hutu, to commit genocide; and that the international community failed to prevent and stop the genocide against Tutsi, who were saved by Kagame and the RPF. This narrative is deliberately silent on Kagame’s role in the assassination of President Habyarimana, which triggered the genocide. Despite mistakes in France’s and international policies and actions towards Rwanda at the time, RPF’s narrative denies the fact that Operation Turquoise saved some Tutsi and Hutu. This false narrative is Kagame’s and RPF’s addictive and life-giving magic bullet. With it aid money flows, and questions about human rights, democracy and accountability are taboo. Without it, the regime would cease to be.
Second, Kagame and the RPF need a contest with a big power like France to bolster its stand domestically and internationally. Domestically, the RPF regime has never had any legitimacy among the Hutu. Kagame claims to be the sole hero and saviour of the Tutsi. Currently, what used to look like a homogenous Tutsi community held together by fear under Kagame’s iron hand is crumbling fast. He needs France as a powerful enemy against which he can mobilize the fearful Tutsi and a marginalized Hutu population.
Third, there is also an opportunistic dimension to Kagame’s anti-France stand. Since 1994, the decline of French influence in Rwanda has witnessed a disproportionate rise of Anglo-American influence in the tiny Republic. The Anglo-American-Rwanda love triangle may be seen as a compassionate one, based on benevolent giants’ altruistic urge to help Rwanda the victim. London and Washington do not see it that way. Rwanda sits at the interface of the Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa, regions in which the United States and the United Kingdom have deep geo-strategic, economic and security interests. By Kagame appearing to be anti-France, and abiding in both overt and covert missions, there are some Anglo-American cheers and cheerleaders. The fact that Tony Blair and Bill Clinton are Kagame’s principal global promoters is no accident.
Last but not least, by antagonizing and humiliating France, Kagame seeks to claim the status of a nationalist and pan-Africanist standing up to a Western power. This is an absurd claim, since he is a sectarian bully who dominates the nation through coercive means. He destabilizes the region though direct or proxy wars, especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and is deeply dependent on Western aid.
Faced with a difficult past in Rwanda, and a consistently antagonistic Kagame, France has tried all sorts of palliative treatment for a deep-seated and chronic disease. A contrite President Nicolas Sarkozy visited Rwanda in 2010. Kagame has been welcomed to France. What has France received in return? Kagame and RPF have thrown out the French language, condemning many generations of Rwandans to illiteracy; taught a whole young generation of Rwandans to hate the French; expelled a French Ambassador and condemned the current one to obscurity; accused France of being an accomplice in the crime of genocide; closed the French cultural center in Kigali; and, deliberately seeks to divide the French people and their Government though manipulation of guilt, denials and deceptions.
The Government and people of France must resist and reject Kagame’s and RPF’s relentless onslaught on their dignity. No appeasement of Kagame will ever be sufficient for him to change attitude, policy and action towards France. Respectful, truthful and mutually beneficial relations between France and Rwanda will only be possible after Kagame and the RPF.
All the more reason why France should bring to conclusion the investigation on the assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana of Rwanda and Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi. Kagame knows that this investigation will be his Achilles heel. He has fought it, and will continue to fight it, with all the means he has at his disposal. France is paying the price for touching Kagame’s raw nerve.
Ultimately, France’s medium to long term interests will be best served by being proactive in supporting the national democratic forces seeking to create a just, free, peaceful, democratic and prosperous Rwanda.
* Dr. Theogene Rudasingwa is a former Secretary General of RPF, Ambassador of Rwanda to the United States, and Chief of Staff to President Paul Kagame.
* THE VIEWS OF THE ABOVE ARTICLE ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR/S AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE PAMBAZUKA NEWS EDITORIAL TEAM
* BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS
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Before then, RPF had dispatched its senior leaders, Gerald Gahima and Claude Dusaidi, to New York and Washington DC to dissuade the United Nations and the United States from launching any peacekeeping operations in Rwanda.
The RPF’s double-pronged strategy in France and United States was derived from two mutually re-enforcing fears and considerations. First, because RPF was inherently an organization of Tutsi exiles, it considered France a hostile nation because of its close relationship with the then Government of Rwanda under President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu. In fact, popular perception in the rank and file of the RPF was that the French, and the Belgians before them, were pro-Hutu. The twists and turns of history are such that in post-1994 Rwanda, popular opinion within the Hutu and Tutsi communities is that Americans and the British are pro-Tutsi. Second, by ordering the shooting down of the plane carrying President Juvenal Habyarimana, Kagame simultaneously derailed the Arusha Peace Agreement and triggered the genocide and massacres of 1994 in which Tutsi and Hutu were victims.
For RPF, a French-led or any United Nations peacekeeping operation was perceived as a threat to its push for outright military victory. When Alain Juppe told our delegation that the French-led operation was to save Tutsi, Kagame instructed me to respond that ‘all the Tutsi who were to die have died anyway, and there are no more to save’. This became the standard mobilizing theme and response in Washington DC and New York,
In essence, it is this callous, cold and calculating consideration for General Paul Kagame and his RPF’s quest for power at any price that has brought France-Rwanda relations to a new and dangerous crisis point. When the French investigating magistrate, Jean-Louis Bruguiere, indicted President Paul Kagame and other RPA military officers for the assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana and his Burundian counterpart, Cyprien Ntaryamira, RPF was up in arms. To Kagame and the RPF, this was considered to be further proof that France was anti-Tutsi, anti-RPF and most importantly, anti-Kagame. The marching orders to all of us who worked in the system was to fight the French everywhere and by all means possible, including lies, deceptions and denials.
Can the bitter relationship between France and Rwanda be repaired under Paul Kagame’s regime? The response to that is an absolute no.
First, Kagame and the RPF’s hold on to power survives and thrives on a narrative that perpetuates falsehoods calculated to make France and the international community guilty. In this narrative, the French are the bad guys who assisted the other bad guys, the Hutu, to commit genocide; and that the international community failed to prevent and stop the genocide against Tutsi, who were saved by Kagame and the RPF. This narrative is deliberately silent on Kagame’s role in the assassination of President Habyarimana, which triggered the genocide. Despite mistakes in France’s and international policies and actions towards Rwanda at the time, RPF’s narrative denies the fact that Operation Turquoise saved some Tutsi and Hutu. This false narrative is Kagame’s and RPF’s addictive and life-giving magic bullet. With it aid money flows, and questions about human rights, democracy and accountability are taboo. Without it, the regime would cease to be.
Second, Kagame and the RPF need a contest with a big power like France to bolster its stand domestically and internationally. Domestically, the RPF regime has never had any legitimacy among the Hutu. Kagame claims to be the sole hero and saviour of the Tutsi. Currently, what used to look like a homogenous Tutsi community held together by fear under Kagame’s iron hand is crumbling fast. He needs France as a powerful enemy against which he can mobilize the fearful Tutsi and a marginalized Hutu population.
Third, there is also an opportunistic dimension to Kagame’s anti-France stand. Since 1994, the decline of French influence in Rwanda has witnessed a disproportionate rise of Anglo-American influence in the tiny Republic. The Anglo-American-Rwanda love triangle may be seen as a compassionate one, based on benevolent giants’ altruistic urge to help Rwanda the victim. London and Washington do not see it that way. Rwanda sits at the interface of the Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa, regions in which the United States and the United Kingdom have deep geo-strategic, economic and security interests. By Kagame appearing to be anti-France, and abiding in both overt and covert missions, there are some Anglo-American cheers and cheerleaders. The fact that Tony Blair and Bill Clinton are Kagame’s principal global promoters is no accident.
Last but not least, by antagonizing and humiliating France, Kagame seeks to claim the status of a nationalist and pan-Africanist standing up to a Western power. This is an absurd claim, since he is a sectarian bully who dominates the nation through coercive means. He destabilizes the region though direct or proxy wars, especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and is deeply dependent on Western aid.
Faced with a difficult past in Rwanda, and a consistently antagonistic Kagame, France has tried all sorts of palliative treatment for a deep-seated and chronic disease. A contrite President Nicolas Sarkozy visited Rwanda in 2010. Kagame has been welcomed to France. What has France received in return? Kagame and RPF have thrown out the French language, condemning many generations of Rwandans to illiteracy; taught a whole young generation of Rwandans to hate the French; expelled a French Ambassador and condemned the current one to obscurity; accused France of being an accomplice in the crime of genocide; closed the French cultural center in Kigali; and, deliberately seeks to divide the French people and their Government though manipulation of guilt, denials and deceptions.
The Government and people of France must resist and reject Kagame’s and RPF’s relentless onslaught on their dignity. No appeasement of Kagame will ever be sufficient for him to change attitude, policy and action towards France. Respectful, truthful and mutually beneficial relations between France and Rwanda will only be possible after Kagame and the RPF.
All the more reason why France should bring to conclusion the investigation on the assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana of Rwanda and Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi. Kagame knows that this investigation will be his Achilles heel. He has fought it, and will continue to fight it, with all the means he has at his disposal. France is paying the price for touching Kagame’s raw nerve.
Ultimately, France’s medium to long term interests will be best served by being proactive in supporting the national democratic forces seeking to create a just, free, peaceful, democratic and prosperous Rwanda.
* Dr. Theogene Rudasingwa is a former Secretary General of RPF, Ambassador of Rwanda to the United States, and Chief of Staff to President Paul Kagame.
* THE VIEWS OF THE ABOVE ARTICLE ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR/S AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE PAMBAZUKA NEWS EDITORIAL TEAM
* BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS
* Please do not take Pambazuka for granted! Become a Friend of Pambazuka and make a donation NOW to help keep Pambazuka FREE and INDEPENDENT!
* Please send comments toeditor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.
Friday, May 30, 2014
Open letter to
- President Frederick M. Lawrence, Brandeis University, Irving Enclave 113, MS 100, 415 South St., Waltham, MA 02453
- President Drew Faust, Harvard University, Massachusetts Hall, Cambridge, MA 02138
- President L. Rafael Reif, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Room 3-208, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
- President John L. Hennessy, Stanford University, Building 10, Stanford, CA 94305-2061
- President Anthony P. Monaco, Tufts University, Ballou Hall, Second Floor, 1 The Green, Medford, MA 02155
Kambale Musavuli, a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is based in New York City and serves as national spokesperson for Friends of the Congo, which raises global consciousness about the situation in the Congo. He is featured in the short film “Crisis in the Congo: Uncovering the Truth” that explores the role that the United States, Rwanda and Uganda have played in triggering the greatest humanitarian crisis at the dawn of the 21st century. Here he speaks at Congo Day in Connecticut, on March 8, 2014.
Re: Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s visit to Your Universities
Dear Presidents,
As a coalition of Africa-focused human rights and peace organizations representing a broad range of individuals, including Rwandans, Ugandans and Congolese people, we write to express our dismay at your decision to welcome President of Rwanda Paul Kagame to your universities.
We regret to inform you that your invitation of Paul Kagame to your institution co-signs his repressive practices inside Rwanda and his aggressive interventions in neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In 2010 a Human Rights Watch article insisted that, if “leaders continue to ignore the darker side of Kagame’s story, they will only compound the problem. Burying the truth about horrific crimes is a very effective way to sow the seeds for future grievances and more violence.”
Your invitation of Paul Kagame to your institution co-signs his repressive practices inside Rwanda and his aggressive interventions in neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Consider these recent charges and reports on Kagame’s militarily aggressive activities in Congo, politically oppressive activities within Rwanda and alleged assassination of dissidents abroad:
- In 2008, The Spanish National Court, The Audiencia National (which charged disgraced Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet), indicted 40 Rwandan military officers for terrorism, mass killings and several counts of genocide against Rwandans, Congolese and Spanish citizens, following the 1994 genocide, Spanish Judge Fernando Andreu has said he has evidence implicating Rwanda’s current President Paul Kagame, who has immunity from prosecution as a head of state.
- Following the August 2010 election, where Paul Kagame won with 93 percent of the votes, many observers have called it fraudulent and noted that it was marred by political violence, incarceration and intimidation and repression of press freedom. The White House issued a statement raising concerns that “[n]o one should underestimate the enormous challenges born of the genocide in 1994. Rwanda’s progress in the face of these challenges has been remarkable, and is a testament to the people of Rwanda. Rwanda’s stability and growing prosperity, however, will be difficult to sustain in the absence of broad political debate and open political participation.”
- On Oct. 1, 2010, the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR) published “The United Nations Mapping Exercise Report,” which documents crimes committed in the Congo from 1993 to 2003. It singled out the crimes committed by the Rwanda army by noting that “the apparent systematic and widespread attacks described in this report reveal a number of inculpatory elements that, if proven before a competent court, could be characterized as crimes of genocide.”
- In May 2011, British news sources reported on attempted assassinations carried out by Rwandan government personnel against Rwandan refugees and exiles.
- The June 3, 2011, report from Amnesty International condemns Kagame’s government, saying: “The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), in power since the 1994 genocide, tightly controls political space, civil society and the media, contending that this is necessary to prevent renewed violence. Human rights defenders, journalists and political opponents cannot openly and publicly criticize the authorities. People who do speak out risk prosecution and imprisonment.”
- On July 21, 2012, The New York Times reported that the U.S. State Department said that “it would cut military aid to Rwanda for the year, citing evidence that the country was supporting rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The move is significant, coming from one of Rwanda’s staunchest allies.”
- On Dec. 18, 2012, President Obama personally called Paul Kagame to emphasize “the importance of permanently ending all support to armed groups in the DRC, abiding by the recent commitments he made in Kampala along with Presidents Kabila and Museveni, and reaching a transparent and credible political agreement that includes an end to impunity for M23 commanders and others who have committed serious human rights abuses.”
- On Oct. 3, 2013, the United States sanctioned the Rwandan government and blocked further military aid because of its support for M23 rebels in the DRC who are believed to be using child soldiers. Reuters reported that State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Rwanda was sanctioned because of its “support for the M23, a rebel group which continues to actively recruit and abduct children” and to threaten the stability of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- On March 12, 2014, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives wrote a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry to express his “deep concern over the numerous attempted attacks and killings of Rwandan dissidents living outside that country.” Chairman Royce called on the State Department to “reevaluate U.S. engagement with Rwanda.”
As you can see from the above cases, the global community led by the United States is moving in a direction to hold the Rwandan government accountable for its repressive actions inside Rwanda and its destabilizing activities in the DRC and elsewhere in Africa.
The global community led by the United States is moving in a direction to hold the Rwandan government accountable for its repressive actions inside Rwanda and its destabilizing activities in the DRC and elsewhere in Africa.
If your universities were genuinely invested in sustainable peace and development in Rwanda, and if you are determined to cultivate a relationship with Kagame, we are insisting on greater caution and responsibility. We urge you to make your partnership with Kagame conditional on improvements in his human rights record, extension of political freedoms, cessation of his pursuit of dissidents abroad and an end to repeated interventions and support of proxy militias inside the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Without these measures, you will open your university to a great deal of warranted criticism, negative media attention and an almost certain historical stain as one of the institutions that supported the despotic rule of another African strongman.
Sincerely,
The Africa Great Lakes Coalition (AGLC)
The Africa Great Lakes Coalition is comprised of the Africa Faith and Justice Network (AFJN), African Great Lakes Action Network (AGLAN), Don’t Be Blind This Time, Foreign Policy in Focus, Friends of the Congo (FOTC), Hope Congo (HC), Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation (HRRF), Mobilization for Justice and Peace in Congo (MJPC), UMOYA – Comités de Solidaridad con el África Negra, Save the Congo and Stanford University STAND. The coalition can be reached at The Africa Great Lakes Coalition, c/o Friends of the Congo, 1629 K Street NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20006.
Sunday, May 25, 2014
[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]
NORD-KIVU: RENDEZ-VOUS AVEC LES FDLR LE 30 MAI…ILS VONT DESARMER!!!
23 mai 2014
Amakuru
Le
30 Mai 2014, les FDLR, Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du
Rwanda, vont organiser une cérémonie dans la localité de Buleusa dans la
province du Nord-Kivu, dans le territoire de Walikare, pour déposer les
armes. Wilson Irategeka, Secrétaire Exécutif des FDLR-FOCA
a affrimé sur Radio Kivu 1 que plusieurs délégations ont été invitées à
cette cérémonie, même le gouvernement rwandais, le gouvernement
congolais et la MONUSCO. Il a ajouté que c’est depuis décembre 2013 que
leur volonté de déposer les armes a été publiée.
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
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AS International
SurViVors SPEAK OUT - Rights of Victims Seeking Justice and Compensation for the RPF Genocide. This is an Exciting Collaborative Project launched by The AS International Founder Jean-Christophe Nizeyimana, Economist and Human Rights Activist. Join US and Be the First to know about the Mastermind of the Rwandan Genocide Still At large and enjoing Impunity.