http://www.ww4report.com/node/12666

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NYC Congolese protest Paul Kagame, Elie Wiesel

Submitted by Bill Weinberg on Sun, 09/29/2013 - 19:48

• Africa Theater
  
• Arab Revolution
 
• DRC
  
• genocide
  
• politics of World War II
  
• Rwanda
  
• Syria

On the evening of Sept. 29, Holocaust survivor and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel joined Rwandan President Paul Kagame on a panel sponsored by This World: The Jewish Values Network at New York's Cooper Union entitled "Genocide: Do the Strong Have an Obligation to Protect the Weak?"—with the obvious context being the crisis in Syria. But outside a small group of local Congolese protested, holding banners reading "KAGAME IS A CRIMINAL OF MASS MURDER" and "PROTECT THE WEAK FROM KAGAME." Said protester Kambale Musavuli of the group Friends of the Congo: "He should be on the terrorist list and instead he's being invited to speak about genocide. This is really sick."

Musavuli said over 6 million have been killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 1996, and charges Kagame with responsibility for fueling the wars through proxy armies. "Instead of going to The Hague to face the International Criminal Court, the person responsible is speaking for intervention in Syria," he said.

He pointed out that last month Rwanda, as a member of the UN Security Council, blocked a resolution to impose sanctions on senior commanders in the M23 guerilla army in eastern Congo. (Reuters, Aug. 28) The M23 is held responsible for ongoing atrocities, and human rights groups have repeatedly protested the support and direction it receives from Rwanda.

Musavuli called for an "end to impunity" in Central Africa. Recalling President Obama's statement during his Africa trip four yeasr ago that the continent needs "strong institutions not strongmen" (AFP, July 12, 2009), Musavuli pressed: "The US should stop supporting strongmen in Africa!"

One supporter of the protesters, going by the name of Robert Konrad, attended the panel. In response to Wiesel's admonition to his audience not to be silent in the face of massive crimes, Konrad stood up and loudly stated, indicating Kagame, "This man beside you is responsible for millions of deaths." He was promptly cut off and ejected from the hall by security guards.

According to coverage in Washington Square News (which does not mention this disruption), both Kagame and Wiesel called for US military intervention in Syria.

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Toronto: Protesters rally against Rwandan president's Canada visit

http://www.inumanews.com/index.php/en/politics1/1510-protesters-rally-against-rwandan-president-s-canada-visit.html

Protesters rally against Rwandan president's Canada visit

TORONTO (CANADA) (AFP) –  Demonstrators rallied in Toronto Saturday against a private visit to Canada by Rwandan President Paul Kagame, urging his arrest.

Shouting "No more killing!" and "Kagame is an assassin!" through megaphones, protesters brandished placards with photos of bloodied victims outside a luxury hotel where Kagame and his delegation were believed to be staying ahead of a meeting to mark Rwanda Day.

Toronto police, who along with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are providing security for the visit, escorted the roughly 200 demonstrators off the hotel grounds and onto the street. The protesters then set off recordings of sirens and called for Kagame's arrest.

Kagame is expected to address members of the Rwandan diaspora in Canada, and speak about his country's political and economic progress since 1994, when he rose to power after routing ethnic Hutu extremists responsible for a genocide that killed an estimated 800,000 people.

The Rwanda Day event has been shrouded in secrecy in order to deter demonstrators.

"We came here to protest against Kagame because he's a criminal," Pierre-Claver Nkinamubanzi, one of the organizers, told AFP.

"He killed a lot of people not only in Rwanda but in the Congo. He's responsible for the deaths of millions of people."

Kagame's government has come under fire for supporting a new militia in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the M23, which has raped, killed and displaced thousands of civilians in the eastern Kivu provinces.

London Conference- 'Rwanda under the RPF'

http://www.soas.ac.uk/cas/events/conferences/04oct2013-conference-rwanda-under-the-rpf.html

Conference: Rwanda under the RPF

Various

Date: 4 October 2013Time: 9:00 AM

Finishes: 5 October 2013Time:2:00 PM

Venue: Brunei GalleryRoom: Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre

Type of Event: Conference

CONFERENCE  - Rwanda under the RPF: Assessing Twenty Years of Post-Conflict Governance

In the nearly two decades since the 1994 genocide, Rwanda has experienced substantial political, social and economic change, due mainly to the ambitious policies of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). Analyses of RPF rule, especially since Paul Kagame became President in 2000, vary greatly, with some scholars characterising it as a visionary form of post-conflict governance and development and others as a destructive brand of national social engineering and the steady entrenchment of authoritarianism. While some commentators describe this period as one of major political reform and innovation, others emphasise continuities between the RPF and previous Rwandan regimes, especially in terms of the centralisation of power.

This conference and the subsequent special issue of the Journal of Eastern African Studies (JEAS) will bring together a broad spectrum of commentators to debate the nature of Rwandan politics under the RPF and its impact on the post-genocide reconstruction process, regional relations and the wellbeing of everyday Rwandans. Rather than simply commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the genocide, the conference and special issue will analyse the nature and effects of the RPF's particular brand of governance, including in shaping Rwanda's future political, social and economic trajectories.

The conference will be hosted by the JEAS, the Centre of African Studies (CAS) and the Department of Politics and International Studies at SOAS, and the Royal African Society (RAS). 

The conference organisers and editors of the special issue are :

- Jason Mosley, Research associate at the African Studies Centre, Oxford (and managing editor, JEAS), and 

- Phil Clark, Reader in Comparative and International Politics, SOAS.

To register for the conference, please use the following link: 
http://royalafricansociety.org/event/rwanda-under-rpf-assessing-twenty-years-post-conflict-governance-october-4-5-brunei-gallery 

For more information, please contact:jason.mosley@africa.ox.ac.uk

Organiser: Centre of African Studies, Dept. of Politics & Int'l. Studies, JEAS, & Royal African Society

Contact email: jason.mosley@africa.ox.ac.uk

http://www.kmbz.com/pages/17388359.php?contentType=4&contentId=13870541

US Special Envoy Calls on Rwanda to End Support of Rebels in Congo

ABC News(WASHINGTON) -- Russ Feingold, the former Wisconsin senator and a leading progressive, is now taking on an entirely different role as the U.S. special envoy charged with helping to find a solution to one of the deadliest conflicts in modern times: the two-decades-long war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Shortly after returning from his first trip to the region as special envoy, Feingold sat down with ABC News and had some harsh words for the Rwanda government's apparent support of rebels -- the mostly Tutsi M23 rebels blamed for most of the recent carnage in eastern Congo.

"We've seen a credible body of reporting that the Rwandan government has been supportive of the M23," Feingold told ABC News. "That has to stop."

The Rwandan government, meanwhile, has publically denied that it supports the M23 rebels.

Feingold was quick to add that, in the conflict that includes more than 40 rebel groups, other governments are also guilty of supporting rebel groups.  He said all parties must be held accountable.

"We also are concerned about any support given by any other government for the FDLR," he said of the mostly Hutu group that was connected to the Rwandan genocide.  "So it's not just one side.  We are telling all sides that you must stop support for these armed groups."

Feingold said that he, along with special envoys from the United Nations and European Union, are working with the presidents of the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda "to do everything they can to stop the armed conflict."

Feingold described a recent trip to the Great Lakes region of Africa along with fellow envoys.

"So you go to Kinshasa in Congo, you go to Kigali in Rwanda, you go to Kampala and you eat with President Museveni," he said.  "But we also go to where the fighting is.  We spend a day with all the special envoys in Goma.  Goma is right on the border of Rwanda and Lake Kivu, and that is the epicenter of this conflict."

On the topic of Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, whose militant group has forced thousands of children to become soldiers or sex slaves, among other war crimes, Feingold said a small contingent of U.S. troops continue to assist in the training of local forces in an effort to capture the LRA leader.

"What Joseph Kony did to the people of northern Uganda is one of the most unspeakable things that has ever occurred to anyone," he said. "I think that we are continuing to try and find this guy and stop him."

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Controversial Rwandan leader draws both friends, foes

http://www.thestar.com/news/immigration/2013/09/26/paul_kagame_rwandas_saviour_or_strongman.html

 

Paul Kagame: Rwanda's saviour or strongman?

Rwandan President Paul Kagame arrives for Rwanda Day in Toronto this weekend, drawing supporters but also, likely, protesters.

Rwanda President Paul Kagame arrives for Rwanda Day in Toronto on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2013. His visit is expected to draw both supporters and protests.

By: Nicholas Keung Immigration reporter, Published on Thu Sep 26 2013

 

Paul Kagame's supporters praise him as the hero who ended the 1994 genocide and turned Rwanda into an African success story.

His critics condemn Rwanda's controversial leader as an oppressor of human rights who is governing the country with an iron fist.

When Kagame arrives in Toronto for Rwanda Day on Saturday, fans and foes will both be present at an event that in other cities — Chicago, Boston, Paris and London — has drawn both fawning crowds and angry protests, and not necessarily divided along ethnic lines.

Egide Karuranga and Emmanuel Hakizimana, both Rwandan-born university professors living in Montreal and active here in the Rwandan community, are eager to greet Kagame at Canada's first Rwanda Day.

But while Karuranga will be by Kagame's side inside the downtown Sheraton Hotel, Hakizimana will be outside on the sidewalk with others hoisting a protest sign.

The event, initiated by the president's regime, is designed to bring together Rwandans abroad, "celebrate the country's progress, and discuss ways of being part of Rwanda's social economic transformation," according to a website called Rwandaday.org. Organizers expect 3,000 people to attend the one-day gathering.

Depending on who you talk to, Rwandans either admire Kagame or hate him, and there seems to be no middle ground.

"Kagame is a very complicated figure," says Erin Jessee, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia's Liu Institute for Global Issues, who has studied Rwanda on the ground since 2007 and is writing a book examining the politics of post-genocide Rwanda.

"His government has made incredible progress in development, helping the country to recover from the genocide. On the other hand, he also has such an appallingly poor human rights record."

During the 1994 civil war, the majority Hutus killed an estimated 500,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus, according to Human Rights Watch, although some put the death toll much higher; Kagame's supporters say he subsequently brought order and prosperity to the ravaged country.

His critics, however, say they are weary of deteriorating civil liberties and oppression against those who oppose him and his ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front party — and wary of rumours that Kagame may ask Parliament to change the limit of the presidential term so he can stay in power beyond 2017.

Karuranga, a Tutsi who moved to Canada in 2000 as a postgraduate student and is now a Laval University business professor, is quick to offer praise of Kagame's leadership and achievements.

"The president is highly regarded because whatever he says, he delivers," says Karuranga, of the Rwanda Diaspora of Canada, which has assisted in organizing Rwanda Day.

"He said he wanted to build a school, he built it. He said he wanted to build a railway, he did it. He wanted more women represented in the parliament, and now 64 per cent of the parliament are women."

According to a New York Times article this month, Rwanda's economy is growing by an average 8 per cent a year and life expectancy has increased from 36 years in 1994 to today's 56 under the Kagame regime.

His government's wide-scale mosquito spraying campaign and distribution of millions of sleeping nets has helped cut malaria-related deaths by 85 per cent from 2005 to 2011, while highrises are popping up in Kigali, the capital, making it one of the safest places in Africa.

One of the achievements Kagame has been credited for is his "one people, one language, one culture and one Rwanda" policy to close the country's ethnic wounds of the past, says Karuranga.

But Hakizimana, a University of Quebec economics professor, says Kagame's human rights record should not be overlooked.

An Amnesty International report last year criticized the Kagame government, saying it has "unduly limited" political and press freedom resulting in "the arrest, exile or killing of many political opponents and rivals."

Leaders of Rwanda's opposition parties, Victoire Ingabire of the FDU-Inkingi, and Bernard Ntaganda of the PS-Imberakuri, are both serving prison sentences, said Human Rights Watch.

In 2012, several foreign governments suspended financial assistance to Rwanda because of its military support for M23, a rebel group responsible for serious abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo, it noted. Kagame has denied involvement.

Some of the development progress made by Kagame is delusional, says Hakizimana, because the income growth is only spread to the elite 30 per cent of the country, and personal safety is not extended to those who hold dissenting views.

"Rwanda Day is just a way for Kagame to show the foreign countries that he is popular. People who attend come from a small group of people who benefit from the regime," said Hakizimana, a Hutu who came to Canada in 1993 as a doctoral student in economics.

"We want to bring changes to Rwanda. We want true conciliation, freedom and economic progress," added Hakizimana, who founded the Rwanda National Congress in 2010 with like-minded Hutus and Tutsis in Canada.

UBC's Jessee says Kagame's supporters see development as the top priority to lift the country from a genocidal path and believe human rights will come later.

"People outside Rwanda tend to be pro-Kagame because of the positive development. But for those in Rwanda, it is hard for them to ignore human rights and declining civil liberty," said Jessee, an expert who has assisted 13 Rwandan asylum cases — the majority Tutsi — in the U.S.

"As much as (Rwanda Day) may be about connecting the Rwandan diaspora, it has the added benefit of helping Kagame and the RPF to massage their public image."

Franco Ntazinda, who fled with his parents to Uganda in 1962 and immigrated to Canada in 1986, says outsiders should not jump to conclusions in assessing the Kagame government.

"There is always room for improvement. The West often judges other countries by our standard," said Ntazinda, who plans to attend the Toronto event to have a dialogue about Rwanda's future.

"The majority of Rwandans do appreciate and recognize the Kagame government's achievements."

 

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http://therisingcontinent.wordpress.com/2013/09/24/creating-african-synergies-against-third-terms/

Creating African synergies against third terms

Posted on September 24, 2013 | 2 Comments

Source: Snakes & Leaders – Africa's political succession. Marshall van Valen/ The African Report

We have had the Arab Spring which started in January 2011 with the suicide of Mohamed Bouazzizi in Tunisia and removed President Ben Ali from power.

After Tunisia, Egypt then Libya followed. Some thought that the movement for change would spread in Sub-Sahara. But it did not happen as expected. However it created the hope among many in the region that nothing was impossible.

Firoze Manji and Sokari Ekine referred to the newly created spirit of change as an Africa Awakening in their book published in 2012. There were encouraging stories from Burkina Faso, Senegal, and Mauritania to Sudan passing through Gabon.

In the next five years, there will be 20 African presidents who will have in one way or another to deal with the third term issue.

Marshall van Valen explains in his article Snakes & Leaders: Africa's political succession published on Friday 20/09/13 in the African Report that

"Although it's clear that most of the veteran presidents contemplating political successions over the next five years are scheming to prolong their grip on power, it is equally clear they will face a better organized and equipped opposition well able to exploit information technology and social media."

Having learnt from the recent possibilities available for political change in Africa, the question that many ask is how Africans can capitalise on the experiences seen elsewhere on the continent, and seek change in their own country but in a much more coordinated way in order to share the learning.

The divisions among Africans have in many areas worked against their own interests. What would for example happen if Rwandans, Ugandans and Congolese worked together to remove their respective dictatorships? As the latter plot their stay in power, their citizens on their part would organize together to get rid of them.

Source: Snakes & Leaders – Africa's political succession. Marshall van Valen/ The African Report

What if the 20 dictators seeking third terms found themselves not only confronted to their own citizens but also to the rest of other Africans who don't buy into their abuse of power?

To create such platforms of action, people need to communicate and organize accordingly. They need to overcome their narrow approach of thinking that things aren't interconnected. A dictatorship in a neighbouring country impacts in some ways on lives and leadership in one given country. The same way goes for democratic rule.

An African Coalition Against Third Terms – ACATT would be a concept worth exploring seriously by forces seeking change across the continent. Its advantage on the current situation would be that it would help create synergies for change which are today lacking.

It is true the African Union has dispositions that deal with governments which become unconstitutional by changing the fundamental law to extend the time in office of their leaders. So far these directives have not been very effective as many examples are there to prove that the Union is not having some tangible impact in that area.

While some dictators are strategizing among themselves on how to remain in power, sometimes helped by external powers interested in the status quo, it is time citizens too across the African borders come together to defeat their clinging onto power which does not improve the well being of the populations.

One is a Hero, the Other has Blood on His Hands

http://www.prlog.org/12215991-wiesel-is-hero-kagame-has-blood-on-his-hands.html

Wiesel is a Hero, Kagame has Blood on His Hands

As a Rwandan genocide survivor, Paul Rusesabagina was disturbed to hear that the NYU Bronfman Center and Jewish Values Network is providing a forum for Rwandan President Paul Kagame to polish his image & tell more lies to the international community.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRLog (Press Release) - Sep. 24, 2013 -CHICAGO -- Contact: Kitty Kurth 312-617-7288

One is a Hero, the Other has Blood on His Hands

Paul Rusesabagina released this statement today regarding the upcoming event with Elie Wiesel and President Paul Kagame sharing the same stage in New York.

"As a Rwandan genocide survivor, I was very disturbed to hear that the NYU Bronfman Center and the Jewish Values Network is providing a forum for Rwandan President Paul Kagame to polish his image and tell more lies to the international community. My foundation and I were even more surprised to see that Elie Wiesel would agree to serve on a panel with Kagame.

We love Elie Wiesel and his work very much. He is a genocide survivor, a great humanitarian, and a well-deserved Nobel Laureate. That being the case, we simply don't want to see him sitting next to someone with so much blood on his hands. I have met Mr. Wiesel on a number of occasions, and in November of 2011 I was very pleased to receive the Lantos Human Rights Prize, which Elie Wiesel was awarded in 2010. It was an incredible honor to win an award that he had also received.

But now, a man that the entire world respects has been caught in a fishing net by Kagame's public relations machine. It would be a terrible shame to see Elie Wiesel sitting at the same panel with someone accused by the international community of having killed hundreds of thousands of people in Rwanda's neighbor, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These are innocent civilians killed, the elderly, children and the sick, not just "rebel" soldiers.

Since leading a civil war against the Rwandan government from 1990-1994, a mountain of evidence continues to accumulate that Kagame and his forces have been involved in war crimes and crimes against humanity both in Rwanda during that civil war, and now in the neighboring Congo. In the Congo, the 2010 United Nations Mapping Report even states that there is enough evidence to investigate whether the Rwandan government committed genocide against Hutu civilians there. Atrocities continue on a daily basis, with UN and other international reports making it clear that the Rwandan government supports and controls the M23 militia group that is driving the violence, recruiting child soldiers, killing enormous numbers of civilians, and raping women and children daily in the Kivu region.

Kagame and his propaganda machine would like us to close our eyes to the current reality, and only remember the day in 1994 when his forces won the civil war in Rwanda, ending the terrible genocide. Since that point in time, many have spoken of the economic miracle in Rwanda, with better growth than any other country in Africa.  But all of this is a false front for the reality of Rwanda.

Over 800,000 of my countrymen, Tutsis and Hutus, were killed in those terrible months of the genocide, and they must not be forgotten. For a very brief time it even seemed that Kagame might be a hero, but this quickly evaporated. Kagame and his cronies were simply the new bosses in town. It is now clear that they do not rule for the Rwandan people, but merely for their own benefit.

What is the truth here? The evidence is all easy to find for anyone who chooses to look. Kagame and his Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Rwandan civil war and genocide in 1990-1994. They did not start the genocide, but they did kill hundreds of thousands of Rwandans in terrible ways that are well documented.

Since taking control of Rwanda, Kagame's government has become increasingly repressive over the past 20 years. There is no freedom of expression or of the press in Rwanda. Dissidents and reporters who seek the truth are regularly harassed, jailed, exiled, tortured or killed. Political parties who oppose the RPF may not be formed, and opposing politicians are jailed and killed. Even discussions of the genocide are strictly limited, and only the current government's version of the events is allowed. In this narrative, Tutsis are the victims and heroes of the tale, and all Hutus are evil genocidaires and oppressors. In fact, very few of the millions of Hutus in Rwanda participated in the genocide, and many were victims of the violence. And while many Tutsis were indeed victims, other Tutsis also committed terrible crimes. Many of these war criminals now rule the country.

And now in the Congo, Kagame and his forces are accused of crimes that are just as violent as the terrible Rwandan genocide. But the violence in the Congo, driven by Rwanda, has been going on for over 15 years, and millions of lives have now been lost.

The real story about Kagame's violent nature is not just told by a few dissidents. These facts are supported by numerous reports from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the United Nations, Reporters Without Borders, and even the U.S. State Department. Kagame's propaganda regularly claims that anyone talking about the reality of Rwanda is a liar, intent on bringing about another genocide and creating more violence in Rwanda. But the world is watching, and he cannot be allowed to pretend that nothing is happening.

We cannot close our eyes and ears to these facts. These are the truths that Paul Kagame seeks to cover up on a daily basis. And whenever he can, he seeks sympathetic audiences in the United States and Europe to hear his very one-sided tale.

When we first saw the ad for this event, we thought "wow, it's a bad idea for anyone to debate Elie Wiesel on genocide. I wonder why Kagame would do that?" But then we read deeper, and realized the terrible irony of this panel.

It would be a terrible shame to see Elie Wiesel sitting at the same panel with someone who has so much blood on his hands. And it would be an equal disgrace for highly respected Jewish organizations like the NYU Bronfman Center and the Jewish Values Network to allow Kagame a forum to spread his false tale. My understanding was that your organizations stand for justice and stopping violence. Kagame simply stands for impunity and doing whatever it takes to stay in power.

Paul Kagame is a violent dictator who should be on trial for his actions, not celebrated for them. The idea that he can sit with Elie Wiesel and discuss how to protect the weak should be a very bad joke, but it appears that it is instead a bad and embarrassing mistake about to happen."

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Rwanda: When dictatorship is a fact, revolution becomes a right

http://www.inyenyerinews.org/politiki/when-dictatorship-is-a-fact-revolution-becomes-a-right/

When dictatorship is a fact, revolution becomes a right

• POLITIKI

13 hours ago

By: Jennifer Fierberg

Once again, President Kagame of Rwanda is on his autumn tour of North America. Anyone who follows the politics of Rwanda knows that Kagame does not like to stay in one place for very long. This weekend he will be present at the Rwanda Day Toronto event in Canada then he will jet set back to NYC for a baffling event where he will speak alongside Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Laureate, and other Jewish community leaders in at an event entitled "Do the strong have a responsibility to protect the weak?"

Many are asking themselves why Mr. Elie Wiesel would sit next to a known killer like Kagame at an event to discuss the protection of civilians.  This event no doubt will weigh in on the potential war in Syria. Yet, why would the world consult a man like Paul Kagame? Despite the national dialogue that "Kagame stopped the genocide in Rwanda" the truth is known that Kagame ordered the shooting down of the Presidential plan carrying presidents Habyarimana and Ntaryamira with the full knowledge of the level of tension in the country that  an event like the Presidents assassination would cause an eruption of violence.

Should Elie Wiesel have any question about the character of Paul Kagame he should look no further than the UN Mapping Report on DRC . "The Mapping Report of 2010, which covers the period 1993 to 2003, provides evidence that the crimes committed by Kagame and his allies amounting to genocide against the Hutu people in Rwanda spread into the territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, beginning in 1996 through to 2003, where the armed forces of Rwanda, Uganda and of the DRC committed genocide against the Hutu ethnic group in the DRC. One Hutu witness at the ICTR who fled 3,000 kilometers through the Congo forest to escape this attempted extermination called it the «genocide with no name and further testified, along with other witnesses, that they observed UN and US spotter planes over them before each RPF attack». During the entire period of time in which these crimes were committed Paul Kagame had command responsibility over the Rwandan armed forces." (Source: here)

Rwanda Day not only brings out Kagame supporters but also brings out protesters in large numbers. Earlier this year in London Kagame was met with an angry crowd who threw eggs and cow dung at his motorcade while he traveled to Oxford University. Last Rwanda Day in Boston many Rwandans, Congolese and Tanzanians gathered to protest his event there as well. This year is no different. There is a large community organizing in Toronto to protest Kagame and his presence in Canada.

Christopher Black, a barrister on the Counsel List of the International Criminal Court and Counsel of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, addressed the following letter to the Prime Minister of Canada.  Black demands that Kagame be banned from entering Canada.  He also includes a letter of protest now circulating in Canada:

CHRISTOPHER C. BLACK

BARRISTER

Counsel List, International Criminal Court

Lead Counsel, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

 

September 23, 2013

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, P.C, M.P. Prime Minister

Honourable Steven Blaney, P.C, M.P. Minister of Public Safety,

Honourable John Baird, P.C., M.P. Minister of Foreign Affairs,

Honourable Peter Mackay, P.C. M.P.Minister of Justice

House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6

Dear Prime Minister and Ministers

Re: Visit of President Paul Kagame of Rwanda September 28, 2013

I have been asked to convey to you the attached statement of protest against the visit to Canada by Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, scheduled to make a speech in Toronto on September 28, 2013.

The statement of protest is clear and I will not repeat its contents here. Pursuant to the facts contained in that statement the organisations and political parties concerned hereby seek your reconsideration in allowing this visit to take place and request that it be interdicted. They also ask your assistance in prosecuting Paul Kagame under the laws governing Canada's universal jurisdiction with respect to war crimes.

You will understand that the visit of this man, whose war crimes are notorious, is causing great distress to the organisations concerned and all concerned Canadians and can only bring dishonour to the Canadian people and government and is not in the interests of this country.

The evidence of his crimes is contained in the files and trial transcripts of the proceedings before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and is before the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. I would be pleased to provide you with some of this evidence if you so require.

If you have any questions of me I am pleased to assist further. I thank you for your time and consideration.

Please accept my highest regards,

Yours Sincerely,

Christopher C. Black

WE PROTEST!

The people of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, hereby represented in all their ethnic and cultural diversity by the Amahoro People's Congress, the Rwanda National Congress (RNC-Ihuriro) the Forces Democratiques Unifees (FDU-Ikingi) and the Social Party PS Imberakuri, protest the visit to Toronto of Paul Kagame, a war criminal of the first order.

WE PROTEST the visit of a man who has murdered hundreds of thousands of Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda since 1990.

WE PROTEST the presence, in Canada, of a man who has murdered three African heads of state; President Juvenal Habyarimana of Rwanda, and President Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi in 1994 and President Laurent Desire Kabila, of the Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire) in 2001.

WE PROTEST the mass murder of over 6 million Rwandans and Congolese peoples since 1996 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a mass murder committed by Paul Kagame, in a continuous war waged on behalf of western interests, and with their assistance.

WE PROTEST the Canadian government's permission for the visit and its shameful support of a man who has crushed any attempt at democracy in Rwanda; of a man who has nothing but contempt for the human, civil and political rights of the Rwandan people, of a man who uses cruel tortures and assassination against those who speak out.

WE PROTEST the protection from prosecution granted him by the International Criminal Court and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which, though in possession of overwhelming evidence of 20 years of mass atrocities committed by Kagame in the Great Lakes region of Africa, have granted him complete immunity from prosecution, and thereby encouraged his crimes.

WE PROTEST AN WE DEMAND that Paul Kagame be charged with war crimes by the ICC, the ICTR and the Canadian government under its claimed universal jurisdiction under the Criminal Code and that the Prime Minister direct his Minister of Public Safety and the Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Border Services Agency to immediately arrest Paul Kagame on his entry into the country and direct the Minister of Justice to commence criminal prosecutions against him forthwith.

WE PROTEST AND WE DEMAND that the Sheraton Hotel or any other hotels in Canada, refuse permission for Paul Kagame to stay on their premises and stain their reputation.

 

THE RWANDAN AND CONGOLESE PEOPLE PROTEST AND DEMAND ACTION AND JUSTICE

NO IMMUNITY FOR MASS MURDERERS!

JUSTICE FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE GREAT LAKES!

JUSTICE FOR AFRICA!

NO MORE DICTATORSHIP OF PAUL KAGAME,

NO MORE WARS

ARREST KAGAME-GIVE US PEACE

 

Press and Public Contact for the Organisers: Christopher C. Black, Barrister, bar@idirect.com

Opposition leader Bernard Ntaganda tortured in Rwandan prison

http://sfbayview.com/2013/opposition-leader-bernard-ntaganda-tortured-in-rwandan-prison/

Opposition leader Bernard Ntaganda tortured in Rwandan prison

September 24, 2013

6

by Alexis Bakunzibake, P.S. Imberakuri

This photo of opposition leader Bernard Ntaganda taken during his recent hunger strike shows the results of years of beatings and torture at the hands of the ruling party, Paul Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front. – Photo: P.S. Imberakuri

Bernard Ntaganda and his colleagues founded the political party P.S. Imberakuri on Jan. 18, 2009. During its inaugural congress, the party was registered in July 2009, becoming the first opposition party to be registered in Rwanda. Ntaganda began his campaign by implementing mechanisms to promote national reconciliation and equality – for instance, the right for all to remember victims of the conflict in Rwanda during the 1990s, as well as respect of basic human rights with a judicial system that serves the people equally.

These kinds of actions were quickly noticed by the ruling party, RPF, the Rwandan Patriotic Front. Ntaganda was then summoned by the Senate twice, to intimidate him into submission and obedience to RPF like other parties that have adopted silence to avoid assassinations and arbitrations.

Also, the ruling party has managed to use certain P.S. members to create chaos within the party. On March 17, 2010, RPF's cadres in the Kimisagara sector in Kigali and those from the Ministry for Local Government (MINALOC), the ministry in charge of political parties, created the P.S. faction Mukabunani with the help of then P.S. Vice President Mukabunani, using the participants of the Nyabugogo market rally. There, RPF brought their adherents, staged a false P.S. meeting and established Mukabunani as a leader of P.S.

After several attempts to neutralize the party unsuccessfully, the RPF arrested Ntaganda on June 24, 2010, which happened to be the same day that presidential candidates were supposed to register, with elections scheduled on Aug. 9, 2010. Ntaganda was accused of "disturbing national peace, divisionism and organization of illegal demonstration" and was sentenced to four years in prison. From the high court, where his case was heard on Nov. 2, 2011, to the court of appeal on April 27, 2012, Bernard Ntaganda was never allowed to bring a single witness in his defense.

Bernard Ntaganda before his imprisonment

Since he was arrested, he has been tortured and placed in isolation. On Oct. 14, 2010, he was rushed to intensive care as a result of RPF torture. Considering his deteriorating condition, the doctor put him on a special diet of fresh food that his family will have to deliver to him daily.

A few months later, back in confinement, torture and mistreatment went on. At the time, a new inmate was paired with Ntaganda with a mission to carry out gross mistreatments against him. Soon, that inmate, whose name is Uwumuremyi Vital – the same inmate used as a witness against fellow opposition leader Victoire Ingabire – frequently urinated in Ntaganda's food. After that was discovered, Ntaganda was transferred from the high security 1930 Prison in Kigali to a prison in Mpanga in September 2012, apparently for the sake of his own safety.

Since his transfer to Mpanga Prison, his family has been struggling to bring him food, as it is almost 50 miles away. For this reason, Ntaganda's family can bring him raw food only once a week that he must cook for himself in the prison kitchen. This short period of calm came to an end in January 2013.

This time was different. Together with Deo Mushayidi, president of PDP Imanzi, the two leaders decided to start a hunger strike demanding that their detention conditions be improved.

Some members of the National Council of P.S. Imberakuri met on Aug. 13, 2011, to elect a new Executive Committee. Party leadership is remarkably young, poised to lead Rwanda into a brighter future.

Subsequently, the prison director refused Ntaganda his weekly food supply and demanded that it should be delivered only once every two weeks or that he should buy his food from the prison canteen. However, the canteen is regularly out of fresh products, including vegetables.

For this lack of a strict diet, Ntaganda's health conditions are dramatically deteriorating since the month of May. He then asked to see the doctor, but despite multiple requests from himself, his family and his party, the director of the prison refused to grant his health related request. The P.S. party called upon the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross), which agreed to go to visit Ntaganda.

Once the ICRC arrived at Mpanga Prison, the director of the prison placed conditions on the ICRC: The visit with Ntaganda could take place only in presence of prison guards. The ICRC refused and had to contact prison headquarters in Kigali to be allowed to meet him freely. It is after this visit with the ICRC that Bernard Ntaganda was authorized to see the doctor. Since then, things had improved just a little bit until early August 2013.

On Aug. 9, 2013, we presented the list of party candidates to the Electoral Commission for the Sept. 16, 2013, legislative elections. The list was refused by the commission and replaced by that of Christine Mukabunani's P.S. faction, the one installed by the RPF. We informed the main embassies and international organizations accredited in Kigali so that they could take notice of this masquerade of an election.

Rwandan opposition leaders Victoire Ingabire and Bernard Ntaganda are allies, and both have been imprisoned since they tried to register as candidates in the 2010 presidential election.

From that moment on, the RPF resumed abusing Bernard Ntaganda by denying him visits and any food provision. Instead of dying of inadequate food, he began a hunger strike on Aug. 16, 2013. On August 30, seeing that he was very weakened, the director of the prison decided to bring him by force to the hospital of Nyanza. Because of his condition, the doctor decided to keep him there for close observation.

Once back in Mpanga Prison, he was kept in an isolated cell with his arms and feet tied with chains. We had this information on Sept. 1, 2013. Later on, we also learned that another political prisoner, Dr. Theoneste Niyitegeka, a presidential candidate in the 2003 election, was also detained in the same conditions after being beaten seriously by a prison guard. We do not have details on the current situation because visits are forbidden.

We urge the world to help preserve the lives of Bernard Ntaganda and other political prisoners.

Alexis Bakunzibake is first vice president of the Rwandan opposition political party P.S. Imberakuri, based in Kigali, Rwanda. His statement was translated and edited by Jean Paul Romeo Rugero, who can be reached at rwandanson@gmail.com.

 

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