The dictator Kagame at UN

The dictator Kagame at UN
Dictators like Kagame who have changed their national constitutions to remain indefinitely on power should not be involved in UN high level and global activities including chairing UN meetings

Why has the UN ignored its own report about the massacres of Hutu refugees in DRC ?

The UN has ignored its own reports, NGOs and media reports about the massacres of hundreds of thousands of Hutu in DRC Congo (estimated to be more than 400,000) by Kagame when he attacked Hutu refugee camps in Eastern DRC in 1996. This barbaric killings and human rights violations were perpetrated by Kagame’s RPF with the approval of UK and USA and with sympathetic understanding and knowledge of UNHCR and international NGOs which were operating in the refugees camps. According to the UN, NGO and media reports between 1993 and 2003 women and girls were raped. Men slaughtered. Refugees killed with machetes and sticks. The attacks of refugees also prevented humanitarian organisations to help many other refugees and were forced to die from cholera and other diseases. Other refugees who tried to return to Rwanda where killed on their way by RFI and did not reach their homes. No media, no UNHCR, no NGO were there to witness these massacres. When Kagame plans to kill, he makes sure no NGO and no media are prevent. Kagame always kills at night.

29 Jul 2012

ICC’s double standards in dealing with war criminals are preventing justice to ordinary and poor people in Africa.

ICC’s double standards in dealing with war criminals are preventing justice to ordinary and poor people in Africa.


Mr Bashir is  indicted by the ICC, for committing  genocide and war crimes in Darfur.   But, the dictator and war criminal Paul Kagame may never face justice.

Kagame  massacred many people in Rwanda and neighbouring countries  than Mr. Bashir.

Kagame continues  to enjoy impunity. He frequently meet  UK  British Officials. He  also met Her Majesty The Queen.

In fact, On Earth  Kagame is only black person  who is much loved  and respected by British policies and  the media.

More at:


The UK may block the  prosecution of Paul Kagame by the ICC.





Rwanda's Paul Kagame Warned he May be Charged with Aiding War Crimes

Rwanda's Paul Kagame Warned he May be Charged with Aiding War Crimes


US tells president he could face prosecution for arming groups that carried out atrocities in DRC.

Recent visit of Rwanda's Paul Kagame to Oskaloosa, Iowa, where activists yelled: “Kagame…Criminal... Kagame…Criminal” in various languages. Photo by Jennifer Fierberg
Recent visit of Rwanda's Paul Kagame to Oskaloosa, Iowa, where activists yelled: “Kagame…Criminal... Kagame…Criminal” in various languages. Photo by Jennifer Fierberg

(LONDON The Guardian) - The head of the US war crimes office has warned Rwanda's leaders, including President Paul Kagame, that they could face prosecution at the international criminal court for arming groups responsible for atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Stephen Rapp, who leads the US Office of Global Criminal Justice, told the Guardian the Rwandan leadership may be open to charges of "aiding and abetting" crimes against humanity in a neighbouring country – actions similar to those for which the former Liberian president, Charles Taylor, was jailed for 50 years by an international court in May.

Rapp's warning follows a damning United Nations report on recent Rwandan military support for M23, an insurgent group that has driven hundreds of thousands of people from their homes since April as it has seized territory in the eastern DRC.

The group is led by Bosco Ntaganda, known as the Terminator, who was indicted by the international criminal court six years ago for war crimes including the forced recruitment of child soldiers. The UN report accuses Rwanda of shielding Ntaganda from justice.

On Saturday, Washington said it would halt some military aid to Rwanda after the UN report.

Kagame during a recent visit to the US.
Photo by Jennifer Fierberg


The aid freeze and Rapp's public intervention mark a significant shift away from once-solid US support for Kagame, which was rooted in lingering guilt over international inaction during the 1994 genocide of Rwandan Tutsis.

Rapp, who previously served as chief prosecutor at the Rwanda genocide tribunal and later initiated the prosecution of Taylor over his crimes as president of Liberia in supporting rebels in neighbouring Sierra Leone, said Rwandan support for M23 and other armed groups "has to stop" because it "maintains the lawlessness and at the end of the day enables the ongoing commission of atrocities".

"There is a line that one can cross under international law where you can be held responsible for aiding a group in a way that makes possible their commission of atrocities," he said.

"Charles Taylor never set foot in Sierra Leone, and aided and abetted, and was convicted of aiding and abetting, the Revolutionary United Front with assistance that was substantial and, the judges said, without which the RUF could not have committed the atrocities to the extent they did commit them. Because of that evidence, Charles Taylor was convicted and sentenced to 50 years."

Rapp said the evidence by the UN group of experts of Rwandan government support for M23 and other armed groups, including sending weapons and troops into the DRC, exposed Kagame and other senior officials to investigation for war crimes.

"At this stage, I'm not sure if we are there in terms of criminal conduct," he said. "But if this kind of thing continued and groups that were being armed were committing crimes … then I think you would have a situation where individuals who were aiding them from across the border could be held criminally responsible."

The UN report, by a group of experts appointed by the security council, said it had "found substantial evidence attesting to support from Rwandan officials to armed groups operating in the eastern DRC", including shipping weapons and money to M23 in breach of a UN arms embargo and other sanctions.

"Since the earliest stages of its inception, the group documented a systematic pattern of military and political support provided to the M23 rebellion by Rwandan authorities," it said.



The report said the Rwandan government gave "direct assistance in the creation of M23 through the transport of weapons and soldiers through Rwandan territory", and recruited Rwandan youths, demobilised ex-combatants and Congolese refugees as M23 fighters.

It also offers evidence of "direct Rwandan Defence Forces (RDF) interventions into Congolese territory to reinforce M23" and "support to several other armed groups". "RDF operational units are periodically reinforcing the M23 on the battlefield against the Congolese army," it said.

Many M23 members formerly served in another Rwandan-backed militia, the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), which was responsible along with other militias for widespread atrocities over several years, including ethnic killings and mass rape. Ntaganda was the CNDP's military chief. The experts accuse Rwanda of shielding Ntaganda from prosecution by the ICC for war crimes.

"Rwandan officials have insisted on impunity for their armed group and mutineer allies, including ex-CNDP General Bosco Ntaganda," they said.

Earlier this week, Kagame denounced western criticism of Rwanda's role in the DRC and blamed the continuing conflict on foreign powers that "don't listen", as well as the continuing threat from anti-Tutsi extremist forces, led by Hutus responsible for the 1994 genocide.



"This problem has not been caused by Rwanda and it has not been abetted by Rwanda," said Kagame. "Actually the problem of DRC came from outside. It was created by the international community, our partners, because they don't listen … and in the end they don't actually provide a solution. They just keep creating problems for us. We know better our problems, we know better about this region's problems."

Kagame also denied arming M23.

"The international community was saying that Rwanda is helping rebels, but helping them with what, and for what reason? They say we supply them with ammunition, but these people get guns from the Congolese army. The ammunition they have is from their Congolese armouries," he said. "We are not supplying even one bullet, we have not and we will not."

Kagame rejected accusations that Rwanda is shielding Ntaganda from the ICC. He said he told DRC's government that it should deal with the renegade general, but warned that arresting Ntaganda would only create more conflict.

"After that, members of the international community developed an idea that if Rwanda can't support them to arrest someone in another country, then they would put us together with those they want to arrest, and this is really how it turned out to be," he said.

The Rwandan leadership has faced accusations from the UN before, but the latest report has exposed it to unusual public criticism from Washington.



"We have a lot of influence with the Rwandans. We've been very supportive of them. We're prepared to speak frankly to them as we have privately in the past, and now publicly," Rapp said. "M23 was reinforced by Rwanda, and that has to stop. And that's the message we're delivering."

The US and Britain have long been accused of shielding Kagame from criticism over Rwanda's support for armed groups in the DRC and its plunder of minerals there.

Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, has been among the Rwandan president's strongest supporters, praising him as a "visionary leader" for the reconstruction and economic development of his country after the genocide.

Rwanda's invasion of what was then Zaire in 1996 to clear out refugee camps sheltering armed groups responsible for the genocide two years earlier was quietly backed by Washington and London, which did not challenge a second invasion two years later and Kigali's attempt to create a proxy administration in eastern DRC using loyal armed groups.

But the solid public support of Kagame grew increasingly difficult to defend given the scale of the suffering in DRC, with hundreds of thousands murdered and millions dying from disease and malnutrition caused by the conflict, and untold numbers of women raped, often repeatedly.

Earlier UN reports accused Kagame's forces of war crimes, including possibly genocide, in the eastern DRC. Others have criticised the increasingly authoritarian nature of the Rwandan president's rule, including the effective barring of political opposition.



The UK may block the  prosecution of Paul Kagame by the ICC.



The UK may block the prosecution of Paul Kagame by the ICC.

The UK may block the  prosecution of Paul Kagame by the ICC.






Rwanda, Congo, Burundi:guerres sans fin et génocides appréhendés

 
La chronique de Normand Lester, Journaliste d'investigation

http://fr-ca.actualites.yahoo.com/blogues/la-chronique-de-normand-lester/rwanda-congo-burundi-guerres-sans-fin-et-genocides-apprehendes.html#more-id

Même les États-Unis commencent à en avoir soupé du régime dictatorial de Paul Kagamé qui se livre à des crimes de guerre au Congo voisin tout en exigeant la sympathie du monde entier pour le génocide dont a été victime sa population tutsie en 1994. Washington a décidé de suspendre sa coopération militaire avec le Rwanda et de ne pas allouer 200 000 dollars destinés à financer une école militaire rwandaise. Pas de quoi mettre le régime en péril.

Kagamé a rétabli la paix au Rwanda au prix de violations importantes des droits et des libertés. Le pays reste fondamentalement instable parce que les nouvelles élites dirigeantes sont maintenant essentiellement tutsies et représentent moins de 15 % de la population composée dans son immense majorité de Hutus, la majorité responsable du génocide anti-tutsi. D'oppresseurs, les Hutus sont devenus opprimés.

Les États-Unis constituent avec la Grande-Bretagne, le principal soutien du dictateur Kagamé. Washington a été accusé de bloquer le rapport des Nations-Unies qui le blâme pour la violente rébellion dans l'est du Congo. Au cours des derniers mois, les rebelles congolais ont provoqué le déplacement de 200 000 personnes.

Le Rwanda, qui soutient des groupes rebelles congolais, dont le M23 du Nord-Kivu, semble décidé à renverser le gouvernement de la République Démocratique du Congo. Depuis le premier juillet dernier, plusieurs milliers de militaires rwandais auraient passé la frontière pour se joindre au M-23 afin de marcher sur Kinshasa, selon des rapports transmis aux services de renseignements de l'ONU. Le Rwanda a vigoureusement nié appuyer le M23, dirigé par Bosco Ntaganda, un général renégat de l'armée congolaise recherché par la Cour pénale internationale pour crimes de guerre.

Joseph Kabila le président de la République démocratique du Congo n'a pas les capacités militaires pour résister aux Rwandais et a leurs alliés congolais. L'ONU, représentée sur place par la MONUSCO est impuissante à contrôler les rebelles.

Le Rwanda intervient depuis 1994 au Congo contre les extrémistes hutus qui s'y sont réfugiés après le génocide. Le soutien de Kigali des rebelles congolais a contribué aux guerres successives qui ont tué plusieurs millions de personnes depuis 18 ans.

La tragédie qui se poursuit au Congo est étroitement liée à l'histoire de la région des Grands Lacs africains. Le génocide de 1994 n'était pas un événement isolé, mais le point culminant de conflits ethniques qui ont commencé en 1959 lors de l'indépendance des anciennes colonies belges d'Afrique. Ces antagonismes trouvent leurs racines dans des animosités ancestrales avivées par des politiques coloniales malencontreuses.

Depuis leur indépendance, les anciennes colonies belges ont été la proie à séries de massacres génocidaires. En 1972, au Burundi, les Tutsis ont assassiné 80 000 Hutus. Alors qu'ils ne constituaient que moins de 15 % de la population du Burundi, les Tutsis exerçaient un quasi-monopole sur la haute administration et l'armée (comme c'est le cas au Rwanda actuellement). Le massacre est à peine rapporté par les médias internationaux. En 1994 au Rwanda, les Hutus abattent à leur tour 800.000 Tutsis et 1996 dans l'est du Congo des Tutsis congolais tuent plus de 70 000 Hutus.

Plusieurs spécialistes de la région estiment qu'avec les tensions ethniques toujours aussi exacerbées entre Hutus et Tutsis d'autres génocides sont possibles.

La communauté internationale a été largement indifférente à ces génocides sauf pour verser des larmes de crocodiles une fois les massacres perpétrés. Bill Clinton a refusé d'envoyer des soldats américains pour faire cesser le bain de sang. Il dit aujourd'hui qu'il a ces morts sur la conscience.

Pourtant, rien ne laisse croire que la situation sera différente lors des prochains.

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Fw: *DHR* Kagame 2012: Call to request an international warrant for Kagame


 
http://therisingcontinent.wordpress.com/2012/07/23/kagame-2012/#more-2479

Kagame 2012

A critical question should resonate loudly in the mind of those who follow international politics since Kony 2012 came out on March 5th, 2012. 
Why would a global campaign to track a criminal with apparently ill equipped 300 followers be staged while the same countries which are after the former

having been providing billions of £, $ and Euros and persist in backing another criminal leader of a country whose responsibility in worse atrocities has been irrevocably proven?

We remember well Kony 2012, the phenomenal viral clip that Invisible Children launched online to track Joseph Kony, the Ugandan rebel leader of the Lord Resistance Army.
Adam Branch is clearer on the real intentions from backers in the chase of Kony.
"…Invisible Children's campaign is a symptom, not a cause. It is an excuse that the US government has gladly adopted in order to help justify the expansion of their military presence in central Africa. Invisible Children are "useful idiots", being used by those in the US government who seek to militarise Africa, to send more and more weapons and military aid, and to bolster the power of states who are US allies."
Kony campaign: a distraction
In the views of concerned Africans, the entire Kony 2012 campaign was a distraction by interested parties from the real criminal that the world, and particularly survivors of his crimes and oppression and all citizens of the Great Lakes region, should track.
This is not to excuse atrocities that Joseph Kony is accountable for. But it is only about putting elements of a situation in their real context.
Since October 1st, 1990 when Rwanda was invaded by Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front rebels, or even before if one considers his involvement under Yoweri Museveni leadership and mentorship, the Rwandan president has been the master-minder of uncountable atrocities, in Rwanda and far beyond the country's borders.
8 million people dead and more, who continue to live with the negative consequences of his ventures in the whole Central African region, constitute a pessimistic estimated number of victims of his crimes.
That US have finally decided to withhold $200,000 of its military aid to Rwanda further to the international outrage of Kagame's direct involvement in destabilising the Democratic Republic of Congo through M23, that could be seen as a sign. But as Scott Morgan points out on his blog, the general public should not be fooled by the gesture.
In fact, Milton Allimadi, editor of Black Star News, considers the decision of reducing US Military Aid to Rwanda not to be enough.
"This is not even a slap on the finger-nail. But it's a beginning. That's why Clinton was sent to Kigali. To whisper warning into Kagame's ears even while they posed around little children."
Allimadi goes even further questioning the motives of the visit.
"How can a former U.S. President who actually helped facilitate the killings in Rwanda in 1994 by training the officers of the RPF in Uganda before 1990, then ignoring the invasion of Rwanda on October 1, 1990 from Uganda (and blocking it from discussion in the U.N. Security Council), go to Kigali today and again ignore the massacres being carried out today by Rwanda-trained killers in Congo? The Clinton visit this week and the fact that he doesn't address the ongoing massacres show (1) He knows the role U.S. played in 1994 calamity when he was president (2) He continues to provide cover for Kagame 3) He does not care about the lives of Africans (4) He is an exceptionally contemptible human-being."
Call for an international warrant
More is needed to stop impunity and arrest the Rwandan leader that some have called the African Hitler.
A call to request an international warrant for Kagame was launched on Saturday July 21st, on Facebook. 248 people have already joined the call in two days. More are needed. The Facebook page is called Kagame 2012, not as in Kony 2012.
Obviously there have been previous calls to end impunity of the Rwandan leader.
But the momentum is now since the most reluctant unconditional supporter of president Kagame finds themselves that things have to change, even if not as radically as most of those who have suffered under his watch would've wanted.
Please do circulate this message and provide possible suggestions to the initiators of Kagame 2012 and those doing similar actions on how to improve on effectiveness of campaigns to end impunity in the Great Lakes region.
African led solutions
Kony 2012 was American led by Invisible Children to serve interests external to the African continent. Kony is a minor issue compared to Kagame's one.
The millions of African people who died in the last 2 decades in the Great Lakes region under a significant responsibility of one man should normally call outrage from all the corners of the planet.
Kagame 2012 is African led. Africans need to find themselves African solutions to their own problems, and not let others misrepresent them on issues they can stand for themselves.
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Fw: *DHR* Rwanda: Education, Not Parliamentary Seats, Will Empower Women


 
http://allafrica.com/stories/201203121333.html

Rwanda Focus (Kigali)

Rwanda: Education, Not Parliamentary Seats, Will Empower Women

BY EDWARD OJULU, 12 MARCH 2012
On March 8, nations around the globe marked the International Women's Day for the 102nd time since it was first observed in 1910.
As usual, there was more talk and political posturing than tackling real issues that hinder political, social and economic development for the less privileged women, especially those in rural Africa.
Emphasis appeared to be on symptoms rather than confronting with frankness the real problems that keep women, and by extension all people, under social and economic deprivation. This means that we are either pretentious or simply out of touch with real issues that hurt ordinary women.
One of the most simplistic thoughts to come out of this year's women's day is the hype about the "worryingly low" number of women representatives in parliaments around the world.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union, a global body, laments that woman representation in parliaments remained a paltry 19.5 % in 2011 due to lack of funds for campaigns, antagonistic nature of competitive politics and lack of support from spouses etc.
According to this report, among 188 countries, Rwanda and Andorra have more than 50% women representation in parliament while Belize, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the Solomon Islands have zero.
In Africa, commentators are lamenting about fewer women CEOs in the private sector, higher positions in police and military services etc. Some are even grumbling that there are few women in newsrooms!
While I do not subscribe to any form of inequity, especially race and gender-based discrimination, merely increasing the number of women in legislative assemblies, armed forces, media and board rooms is not an end. Neither is it the best policy intervention to empower millions of women living in abject poverty.
Some regimes in Africa have selfishly used this to buy political support from women by placing a few women in top positions. In some countries some seats in parliament have been reserved for women with the hope that more women will be spurred into leadership position. That those beneficiaries of this affirmative action will gain confidence, exposure and resources required to compete for even higher political positions and be able to influence policies that benefit all women.
Unfortunately, once there, these ladies enter the comfort zone - wrongly believing that their being in such privileged positions is in itself an end to women empowerment. By failing to influence broad policies that aim at liberating the lowest woman from the yoke of slavery, exploitation and degrading cultural practices, women in leadership positions have failed fellow women.
There is need therefore to make it known to the women who have benefited from any form of affirmative action that they must not look at their positions as an end in itself, but as means through which to influence radical social and political reforms that will benefit all women.
There are several problems women in African countries face which the clamor for more parliamentary and cabinet seats will never solve.
One of them is education for girls. Before we talk about more seats in parliament and board rooms, we must design an education policy specifically tailored to stop poor girls from dropping out of school for lack of mere sanitary pads. All girls must stay in school long enough to attain university education or vocational skills for women to gain economic independence.
Good governance
The reality is that even if all parliaments in the world were to be 100% occupied by women, there are not enough seats for all women to directly benefit from. At the same time, there are not enough places in newsrooms and board rooms for all women in the world.
Women must use their numerical strength to ensure that respective governments deliver services such as clean water; quality health, education and agricultural services to them.
Rather than watch as corrupt regimes plunder resources, civil society must organize women to demand for accountability and good governance so that more girls will access good food, education and health services.
So, instead of lamenting about the low numbers of women in parliaments, we should be worried about the high number of girls dropping out of school before completing primary level. Only educated women stand a chance to sit in parliament.
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Fw: *DHR* Engaging Conspiracy Theories On Africa's Great Lakes Region


 

Engaging Conspiracy Theories On Africa's Great Lakes Region

Brian Solis wrote sometime ago:
"Once invincible organisations are seeking your help to earn relevance today and in the future".
Former Obama campaign new media operations manager Mary Joyce is worried that Obama and the State Department aren't getting the message, as she said in july:
"America is still the one speaking and others around the world are expected to listen."
@texasinafrica, a regular blogger on Rwanda, Congo and the rest of Africa, tweeted yesterday:
"I saw a preview screening of "Crisis in the Congo" in April. Strongly disagree with film's implication that US pulls strings in DRC, Rwanda."
If US had that much influence, DRC would be much more stable than it is.
DRC is not a US foreign policy priority. Government doesn't care enough to engage in grand conspiracies some imagine.
The trailer she is referring to is probably this one.In her tweets @texasinafrica touches on two central issues in political discussions and lobbying concerning the great lakes region and Africa in general:
  • Lack of Engagement by the US and the donors
  • anti-western or anti-african conspiracy theories/rhetoric.
Immediately comes to mind Bruno Ben Moubamba's crusade against Francafrique and the comment section under Congo: The Sucking Vortex Where Africa's Heart Should Be. The topic of the "weird world of the genocide belittlers" does have some relationship to these two issues as well. Ironically the argument of western prejudice against Africa is also often used by Kagame supporteres. Just read Andrew Mwenda's "Rwanda and Western prejudice against Africa". Michael Fairbanks tapped into this source as well when he wrote his article "nothing good comes out of Africa"
In the article by Mary Joyce on "21st century statecraft"in which she said:
"What more can be done by those in US government? First: listen more. Instead of engaging with billionaires and titans of tech,"
Hiding behind the Dutch Ambassador to Rwanda, spreading propaganda for Kagame, commenting on the Kobagaya case just a month before the jury gave it's verict, not arresting Justus Majyambere, are all signs the US State Department thinks it's in their interest to keep people in the dark about their real intentions. It's obvious what that strategy leads to. As Brian Solis explains:
"Engage or Die"(Become irrelevant)
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Fw: *DHR* Congo: The UN Mapping Report & the Responsibility to Justice

 

Congo: The UN Mapping Report & the Responsibility to Justice

March 28th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
(http://rachelstrohm.com/2011/03/28/congo-the-un-mapping-report-the-responsibility-to-justice/)
 
Continuing my quest to catch up on Congo -related conference blogging, I wanted to share some notes from the December 2010 Great Lakes Policy Forum discussion of the UN mapping report.  The GLPF's official summary can be downloaded here.
One commentator took on the political economy of the report's publication, noting that many Congolese found psychological and emotional value in seeing the UN provide proof of crimes they had long known to have occurred.  However, the report's existence also complicates peacebuilding efforts in the region.  "There's blood on almost everyone's hands," as almost every government in the region has some members who've been guilty of massive human rights abuses at some point.  This is clearly visible in Rwanda's treatment of Laurent Nkunda, who will "probably never go on trial" because he knows too much about the crimes committed by all sides during the wars.  In the end, she believes that transitional justice is unlikely to happen unless outside donors put strong pressure on regional governments.
Another commentator provided a bit of historical perspective on both violence and justice in eastern Congo, pointing out that political and social coalitions around justice in the DRC are very weak and fragmented now compared to 5 or 6 years ago.  There has been a simultaneous growth in the entrenchment of violence with economic interests, especially trade and mining.  Part of this entanglement was due to the desire of foreign armies to "do war on the cheap" by getting locals to do their killing for them, which provided space for "sophisticated entrepreneurs of violence" to use access to weapons to their own commercial ends.
Whilst the report itself only covered the period 1993 – 2003, the ensuing discussion also touched upon more recent developments in both Congo and Rwanda.  As one speaker pointed out, there's been a welcome increase in Western attention to gender-based violence in the eastern DRC of late – but it's important to avoid reducing issues of justice to the prosecution of rape and war crimes.  What the Congo ultimately needs is a "massive institution-building project" on the scale of decades, in order to rebuilt judicial systems that might handle everything from property rights and contracts to war crimes.  The international community has also largely elided the issues of land rights and citizenship for Rwandaphone Congolese in the Kivus, which remain at the heart of the ongoing conflict in the region.
That said, the "idea that the Congolese are doomed to fight each other is ridiculous."  There are spaces in the DRC that are relatively well-governed, such as Butembo and Katanga.  More attention is needed to the factors that enable better governance in the Congolese context.
Finally, a number of interesting points that didn't quite fit in elsewhere in the above narrative also came up:
  • Rwanda is "a boiling cauldron under a surface that looks calm," with Hutu resentment running high, and ethnic identities remaining highly salient despite official attempts to ban their use.
  • The US values stability over all else in the region.  Kagame and Mobutu both contributed to stability, as did Museveni, and the US is willing to turn a blind eye to many other abuses because of this.
  • On the note of Mobutu, one commentator made the rarely-heard point that part of the failure of the international community to handle the post-genocide refugee crisis in the Kivus well was due to the Mobutu regime's unwillingness to aid with camps on their territory.
  • Africa more generally is "kind of the neglected stepchild of diplomacy," with some dedicated diplomats, but others who got dumped there with little previous knowledge of the region.
Did anyone else attend this meeting of the GLPF, or the one that took place on March 24 on human security in the DRC?  Would love to hear thoughts if so!
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Re: *DHR* Kagame's RPF Using Harvard For Propaganda Purposes

 

Kagame's RPF Using Harvard For Propaganda Purposes

 In an interview, Mark Tracy, a member of the  Harvard delegation visiting Rwanda, (organized by Angelique Kantengwa who until 2009 had an important job at the Rwandan national bank) , claimed that Rwanda as a country, its people and President Kagame have taught them many lessons that they are eager to take to their own countries when they go back.
"Frankly speaking, the portrayal of Rwanda in the Western press does not equal what we have seen here, so we are very enthusiastic about becoming ambassadors and taking the message back to our countries,"
What stories in the western press is Mark Tracy talking about? This very broad claim can't be justified and is a gross mischaracterisation of the debate taking place in western press on Rwanda. Mark Tracy probably did not even read Jimmy Wu's article on Rwanda in the Harvard Review before going on his trip.Is Mark Tracy here denying the facts recorded on Colored Opinions and many other news sites concerning the election rigging by Paul Kagame? Is he denying the crimes committed by Paul Kagame's RPF in Congo, as recently reconfirmed by the mapping report?Let me remind Mark Tracy that:
" the ICC hand is slowly closing in on Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda like a horse shoe"
Can Mark Tracy explain to us why: "pressure mounts on Kagame, despite poll win?"Mark Tracy's visit and positive image of Rwanda does not diminish the seriousness of the crimes committed by Paul Kagame. I find it disturbing that people like Angelique Kantengwa continue their effort spreading half truths concerning  the way western media have covered Rwanda and the nature of the RPF regime over the last year.People responsable for the program in Harvard should have a serious discussion with this lady concerning her motives. A visit and friendly talk with Paul Kagame does not bring back to life the political opponents (like Green Party Vice-President Andre Kagwa Rwisereka) and journalists (like Leonard Rugambage) he killed! It does not change the seriousness of the findings in the mapping report, does it?It proves to me once again that the RPF is not concerned with the truth, but only with results and image building. Their effort has allways been to manipulate international opinion in their favor. Angelique Kantengwa is no acception to that basic trait of this revolutionary movement.  Harvard and many other American institutions should be carefull getting so close to a criminal and ademocratic politcal movement that has a track record of assasinating political opponents abroad (recent failed attempt on Nyamwasa in South Africa for example), killing politicians and journalists at home, false accusations against Rwandan dissidents, like the Rwandan professor Leopold Munyakazi in Maryland last year, false accusations against critics like Paul Rusesabagina and Texas Senator (D) Robert Krueger (2008, claims that they sent weapons to the FDLR have never been substantiated).Apparently studying in Harvard does not guarantee that someone will continue to use the God given brains he received. Incredibly sad how often I have read these lame stories concerning Rwanda in American press over the years complaining about the bad coverage of Rwanda's "miracle". Bravo, American Ivy league students, continue sticking your arrogant heads in the sand and supporting a criminal in Central Africa. I will certainly remember it! Imagine people like Mark Tracy and Jared Cohen being our future leaders! How much respect do you think these people have for mainstreet America? Guess twice.
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-“The enemies of Freedom do not argue ; they shout and they shoot.”

The principal key root causes that lead to the Rwandan genocide of 1994 that affected all Rwandan ethnic groups were:

1)The majority Hutu community’s fear of the return of the discriminatory monarchy system that was practiced by the minority Tutsi community against the enslaved majority Hutu community for about 500 years

2)The Hutu community’s fear of Kagame’s guerrilla that committed massacres in the North of the country and other parts of the countries including assassinations of Rwandan politicians.

3) The Rwandan people felt abandoned by the international community ( who was believed to support Kagame’s guerrilla) and then decided to defend themselves with whatever means they had against the advance of Kagame’ guerrilla supported by Ugandan, Tanzanian and Ethiopian armies and other Western powers.

-“The enemies of Freedom do not argue ; they shout and they shoot.”

-“The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.”

-“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”

-“I have loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore I die in exile.”

The Rwanda war of 1990-1994 had multiple dimensions.

The Rwanda war of 1990-1994 had multiple dimensions. Among Kagame’s rebels who were fighting against the Rwandan government, there were foreigners, mainly Ugandan fighters who were hired to kill and rape innocent Rwandan people in Rwanda and refugees in DRC.

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SUMMARY : THE TRAGIC CONSEQUENCES OF THE BRITISH BUDGET SUPPORT AND GEO-STRATEGIC AMBITIONS

United Kingdom's Proxy Wars in Africa: The Case of Rwanda and DR Congo:

The Rwandan genocide and 6,000,000 Congolese and Hutu refugees killed are the culminating point of a long UK’s battle to expand their influence to the African Great Lakes Region. UK supported Kagame’s guerrilla war by providing military support and money. The UK refused to intervene in Rwanda during the genocide to allow Kagame to take power by military means that triggered the genocide. Kagame’s fighters and their families were on the Ugandan payroll paid by UK budget support.


· 4 Heads of State assassinated in the francophone African Great Lakes Region.
· 2,000,000 people died in Hutu and Tutsi genocides in Rwanda, Burundi and RD.Congo.
· 600,000 Hutu refugees killed in R.D.Congo, Uganda, Central African Republic and Rep of Congo.
· 6,000,000 Congolese dead.
· 8,000,000 internal displaced people in Rwanda, Burundi and DR. Congo.
· 500,000 permanent Rwandan and Burundian Hutu refugees, and Congolese refugees around the world.
· English language expansion to Rwanda to replace the French language.
· 20,000 Kagame’s fighters paid salaries from the British Budget Support from 1986 to present.
· £500,000 of British taxpayer’s money paid, so far, to Kagame and his cronies through the budget support, SWAPs, Tutsi-dominated parliament, consultancy, British and Tutsi-owned NGOs.
· Kagame has paid back the British aid received to invade Rwanda and to strengthen his political power by joining the East African Community together with Burundi, joining the Commonwealth, imposing the English Language to Rwandans to replace the French language; helping the British to establish businesses and to access to jobs in Rwanda, and to exploit minerals in D.R.Congo.



Thousands of Hutu murdered by Kagame inside Rwanda, e.g. Kibeho massacres

Thousands of Hutu murdered by Kagame inside Rwanda, e.g. Kibeho massacres
Kagame killed 200,000 Hutus from all regions of the country, the elderly and children who were left by their relatives, the disabled were burned alive. Other thousands of people were killed in several camps of displaced persons including Kibeho camp. All these war crimes remain unpunished.The British news reporters were accompanying Kagame’s fighters on day-by-day basis and witnessed these massacres, but they never reported on this.

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25,000 Hutu bodies floated down River Akagera into Lake Victoria in Uganda.

25,000  Hutu bodies  floated down River Akagera into Lake Victoria in Uganda.
The British irrational, extremist, partisan,biased, one-sided media and politicians have disregarded Kagame war crimes e.g. the Kibeho camp massacres, massacres of innocents Hutu refugees in DR. Congo. The British media have been supporting Kagame since he invaded Rwanda by organising the propaganda against the French over the Rwandan genocide, suppressing the truth about the genocide and promoting the impunity of Kagame and his cronies in the African Great Lakes Region. For the British, Rwanda does not need democracy, Rwanda is the African Israel; and Kagame and his guerilla fighters are heroes.The extremist British news reporters including Fergal Keane, Chris Simpson, Chris McGreal, Mark Doyle, etc. continue to hate the Hutus communities and to polarise the Rwandan society.

Kagame political ambitions triggered the genocide.

Kagame  political  ambitions triggered the genocide.
Kagame’s guerrilla war was aimed at accessing to power at any cost. He rejected all attempts and advice that could stop his military adventures including the cease-fire, political negotiations and cohabitation, and UN peacekeeping interventions. He ignored all warnings that could have helped him to manage the war without tragic consequences. Either you supported Kagame’ s wars and you are now his friend, or you were against his wars and you are his enemy. Therefore, Kagame as the Rwandan strong man now, you have to apologise to him for having been against his war and condemned his war crimes, or accept to be labelled as having been involved in the genocide. All key Kagame’s fighters who committed war crimes and crimes against humanity are the ones who hold key positions in Rwandan army and government for the last 15 years. They continue to be supported and advised by the British including Tony Blair, Andrew Mitchell MP, and the British army senior officials.

Aid that kills: The British Budget Support financed Museveni and Kagame’s wars in Rwanda and DRC.

Aid that kills: The British Budget Support  financed Museveni and Kagame’s wars in Rwanda and DRC.
Genocide propaganda and fabrications are used by the so-called British scholars, news reporters and investigative journalists to promote their CVs and to get income out of the genocide through the selling of their books, providing testimonies against the French, access to consultancy contracts from the UN and Kagame, and participation in conferences and lectures in Rwanda, UK and internationally about genocide. Genocide propaganda has become a lucrative business for Kagame and the British. Anyone who condemned or did not support Kagame’s war is now in jail in Rwanda under the gacaca courts system suuported by British tax payer's money, or his/she is on arrest warrant if he/she managed to flee the Kagame’s regime. Others have fled the country and are still fleeing now. Many others Rwandans are being persecuted in their own country. Kagame is waiting indefinitely for the apologies from other players who warn him or who wanted to help to ensure that political negotiations take place between Kagame and the former government he was fighting against. Britain continues to supply foreign aid to Kagame and his cronies with media reports highlighting economic successes of Rwanda. Such reports are flawed and are aimed at misleading the British public to justify the use of British taxpayers’ money. Kagame and his cronies continue to milk British taxpayers’ money under the British budget support. This started from 1986 through the British budget support to Uganda until now.

Dictator Kagame: No remorse for his unwise actions and ambitions that led to the Rwandan genocide.

Dictator Kagame: No remorse for his unwise actions and ambitions that led to the  Rwandan genocide.
No apologies yet to the Rwandan people. The assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana by Kagame was the only gateway for Kagame to access power in Rwanda. The British media, politicians, and the so-called British scholars took the role of obstructing the search for the truth and justice; and of denying this assassination on behalf of General Kagame. General Paul Kagame has been obliging the whole world to apologise for his mistakes and war crimes. The UK’s way to apologise has been pumping massive aid into Rwanda's crony government and parliement; and supporting Kagame though media campaigns.

Fanatical, partisan, suspicious, childish and fawning relations between UK and Kagame

Fanatical, partisan, suspicious, childish and fawning relations between UK and Kagame
Kagame receives the British massive aid through the budget support, British excessive consultancy, sector wide programmes, the Tutsi-dominated parliament, British and Tutsi-owned NGOs; for political, economic and English language expansion to Rwanda. The British aid to Rwanda is not for all Rwandans. It is for Kagame himself and his Tutsi cronies.

Paul Kagame' actvities as former rebel

Africa

UN News Centre - Africa

The Africa Report - Latest

IRIN - Great Lakes

This blog reports the crimes that remain unpunished and the impunity that has generated a continuous cycle of massacres in many parts of Africa. In many cases, the perpetrators of the crimes seem to have acted in the knowledge that they would not be held to account for their actions.

The need to fight this impunity has become even clearer with the massacres and genocide in many parts of Africa and beyond.

The blog also addresses issues such as Rwanda War Crimes, Rwandan Refugee massacres in Dr Congo, genocide, African leaders’ war crimes and crimes against humanity, Africa war criminals, Africa crimes against humanity, Africa Justice.

-The British relentless and long running battle to become the sole player and gain new grounds of influence in the francophone African Great Lakes Region has led to the expulsion of other traditional players from the region, or strained diplomatic relations between the countries of the region and their traditional friends. These new tensions are even encouraged by the British using a variety of political and economic manoeuvres.

-General Kagame has been echoing the British advice that Rwanda does not need any loan or aid from Rwandan traditional development partners, meaning that British aid is enough to solve all Rwandan problems.

-The British obsession for the English Language expansion has become a tyranny that has led to genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, dictatorial regimes, human rights violations, mass killings, destruction of families, communities and cultures, permanent refugees and displaced persons in the African Great Lakes region.


- Rwanda, a country that is run by a corrupt clique of minority-tutsi is governed with institutional discrmination, human rights violations, dictatorship, authoritarianism and autocracy, as everybody would expect.