Rwanda: 2010 Report reveals Rwanda suffers major human rights violations despite economic progress

 

Rwanda Events of 2010 A supporter of the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front holds a poster of incumbent President Paul Kagame at a rally in Byumba on August 2, 2010. © 2010 Reuters Downloadable Resources:  World Report Chapter: Rwanda (PDF) Related Materials:  Rwanda: Silencing Dissent Ahead of Elections More Coverage:  More Reporting on Rwanda Rwanda's development and economic growth continued in 2010, but there were numerous violations of civil and political rights, and the government failed to fulfill its professed commitment to democracy. The year was marked by political repression and restrictions on freedom of expression and association in the run-up to the presidential election. In August President Paul Kagame was re-elected with 93.8 percent of the vote in an election in which he faced no meaningful challenge. None of the new opposition parties were able to participate in the elections. Opposition party members, independent journalists, and other government critics were subjected to persistent intimidation and harassment, including arrests, detention, ill-treatment, death threats, and at least two extrajudicial killings. A prominent government opponent in exile narrowly escaped an attempt on his life. Human rights organizations encountered hostility and numerous obstacles to their work. Trials in the gacaca courts-community-based courts trying cases related to the 1994 genocide-began to wind down, though the deadline for their closure was postponed several times. The imminent completion of the gacaca process opened the way for further justice reforms. However, continuing concerns about fair trials prevented other states, as well as the Tanzania-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), from transferring genocide suspects to Rwanda. The report of the mapping exercise on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights documented grave crimes allegedly committed by the Rwandan army in 1996 and 1997. Attacks on Government Opponents None of the three new opposition parties were able to nominate candidates in the presidential election. Local authorities prevented the FDU-Inkingi and the Democratic Green Party from registering as parties. Meetings of the PS-Imberakuri were disrupted, sometimes violently, by dissident members and other individuals. The PS-Imberakuri, registered in 2009, was taken over in March 2010 by dissident members believed to have been manipulated by the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). In late 2009 the Senate summoned the party's president, Bernard Ntaganda, on accusations of "genocide ideology." In June the police arrested Ntaganda and raided his house and the party office. The charges against him included endangering national security, inciting ethnic divisions, and organizing demonstrations without authorization. By November he was still in prison awaiting trial. Victoire Ingabire, president of the FDU-Inkingi, who returned to Rwanda in January after 16 years in exile, was arrested in April on charges of "genocide ideology," "divisionism," and collaboration with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed group active in eastern DRC and composed in part by individuals who participated in the 1994 Rwanda genocide. Ingabire was released on bail with travel restrictions, but in October was re-arrested following allegations of involvement in forming an armed group. In November she remained in detention awaiting trial. Members of the three new opposition parties received threats related to their party activities. Several members of the PS-Imberakuri and the FDU-Inkingi were arrested for attempting to hold a demonstration in June. Some were released, but others were arrested in July. Several were ill-treated by police in detention. In July the Green Party's vice-president, André Kagwa Rwisereka, was found dead, his body mutilated, outside the town of Butare. The circumstances of his death remain unclear. Peter Erlinder, an American and one of Victoire Ingabire's defense lawyers , was arrested in May on charges of "genocide denial and minimization," and "spreading malicious rumors that could endanger national security." He was released on bail three weeks later. The charges against Erlinder, who is also a defense lawyer at the ICTR, related primarily to articles published in previous years in which he questioned key events surrounding the genocide. On June 19 Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, a Rwandan general in exile in South Africa since February, was seriously injured in a murder attempt in Johannesburg. Once a close ally of President Kagame and former chief-of-staff of the Rwandan army, Nyamwasa has become an outspoken government critic since early 2010. South African authorities arrested several suspects. Rwanda has requested Nyamwasa's extradition, alleging he was behind a series of grenade attacks in Kigali earlier in the year. Deogratias Mushayidi, a former journalist and outspoken government opponent in exile, was arrested in Burundi in March and handed over to Rwandan authorities. In September Mushayidi was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment on three charges: spreading rumors inciting civil disobedience, recruiting an armed group to overthrow the government, and using forged documents. He was also charged with four other offenses, including "genocide ideology" and "divisionism." The government continued to use a law on "genocide ideology"-a broad and ill-defined offense-as a tool to silence independent opinion and criticism. In a welcome development, the minister of justice announced that the law was being reviewed. Clampdown on Independent Media In April the government-affiliated Media High Council suspended the independent newspapers Umuseso and Umuvugizi for six months, then called for their definitive closure, alleging, among other things, that some of their articles threatened national security. The editors of both newspapers fled into exile after receiving threats. Copies of the first edition of The Newsline, an English-language newspaper produced by exiled Umuseso journalists, were seized at the Uganda-Rwanda border in July. In February Umuseso editor Didas Gasana, former editor Charles Kabonero, and journalist Richard Kayigamba were found guilty of defamation; they received sentences of between six months' and a year's imprisonment and were ordered to pay a large fine. In April Umuvugizi editor Jean-Bosco Gasasira was also found guilty of defamation and fined. Umuvugizi journalist Jean-Léonard Rugambage, who had been investigating sensitive cases including the attempted murder of Nyamwasa, was shot dead in June outside his home in Kigali. He had reported being under increased surveillance in the days before his death. Three journalists with the Umurabyo newspaper were arrested in July in connection with articles published in their newspaper; two remain in detention at this writing, while the other was only held for one day. Obstructions to the Work of Human Rights Organizations Human rights organizations operated in a difficult and hostile climate. Rwandan human rights groups, weakened by years of intimidation, received threats and were publicly accused by government officials of supporting the government's overthrow and armed groups linked to the genocide. Civil society itself was divided: organizations close to the government publicly denounced those who were more critical, such as the LDGL and LIPRODHOR, two of the few independent human rights groups left in the country. Under pressure from individuals close to the government, several organizations disowned a joint civil society submission on Rwanda for the Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council. International nongovernmental organizations, including Human Rights Watch, were repeatedly criticized and discredited by senior government officials and the pro-government media. Immigration authorities cancelled the work visa in March of Human Rights Watch's senior researcher in Kigali, rejected her second visa application, and forced her to leave the country in April. Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity In December 2009 the parliament took a positive initiative by voting against criminalizing homosexuality. However, continuing negative comments on homosexuality by some public officials and newspapers reinforced the stigma faced by sexual minorities. Gacaca Trials Gacaca courts were due to end their genocide trials in 2010, but the definitive completion of the process was repeatedly delayed. The government is developing mechanisms to handle outstanding genocide cases and to adjudicate alleged miscarriages of justice by gacaca jurisdictions. Gacaca courts have prosecuted around 1.5 million cases with involvement from local communities across the country. The conduct of trials before gacaca courts has been mixed. Some judges delivered fair and objective judgments. Others handed down heavy sentences, including life imprisonment in isolation, on the basis of very little evidence. A number of witnesses and judges proved vulnerable to corruption and outside influence, affecting the outcome of trials and undermining confidence in the courts. Some defense witnesses were afraid to testify for fear of being accused of genocide themselves, and there were numerous allegations that gacaca courts sacrificed the truth to satisfy political interests. Cases Related to the Democratic Republic of Congo Laurent Nkunda, former leader of the Congolese rebel group the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), remained illegally detained under house arrest, without charge or trial, since January 2009. Repeated attempts to get his case heard in Rwandan courts were thwarted on the basis of legal technicalities. There were several arrests, disappearances, and at least one killing of Congolese supporters of Nkunda in Rwanda, including Denis Ntare Semadwinga, who was murdered in June, and Sheikh Iddy Abbasi, who disappeared after being abducted in March. On October 1 the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights published the report of its mapping exercise on the most serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in the DRC between March 1993 and June 2003 (see chapter on the DRC). Among other things, the report documents grave crimes allegedly committed by the Rwandan army in 1996 and 1997. While the Congolese government welcomed the report, the Rwandan government rejected it, initially threatening to pull out its peacekeepers from UN missions if the UN published it. Key International Actors Most Western donors remained broadly supportive of the Rwandan government and few expressed public concern about human rights violations. However, in the pre-election period, and in the face of increasingly critical media coverage of Rwanda in their own countries, some donor governments raised mostly private concerns about political and media restrictions with the Rwandan government. These concerns were also mentioned in the final report of the Commonwealth Observer Group on the presidential election. Relations between Rwanda and the UN came under strain following the publication of the UN mapping report on the DRC. Also available in: Français (http://www.hrw.org/en/world-report-2011/rwanda)

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A second Rwanda genocide is revealed in Congo U.N. report ties Tutsi soldiers to deaths of thousands of Hutus   Advertise | AdChoices   John Moore  /  AP A cross marks graves in eastern Congo that were photographed in 1997. A Tutsi soldier, who asked not to be identified, alleged Rwandan Hutu refugees were secretly buried here after being beaten, hacked or shot to death by rebel alliance soldiers. By Michelle Faul The Associated Press updated 10/10/2010 12:25:15 PM ET 2010-10-10T16:25:15 Share Print Font: + - MUSEKERA, Congo — The mass graves are hidden in the darkening shade of a hard-to-reach banana plantation, high up a mountain above the cloud line, at the end of a treacherous dirt track slippery with mud and animal dung. Those who survived say they did not go to the meeting called by Rwandan soldiers. More world news   Egypt, Bahrain protests differ in key ways The unrest in Bahrain resembles early stages Egypt's revolt, but experts say there are big differences in several key respects. Msnbc.com's Mike Brunker reports. Full story Updated 5 minutes ago 2/18/2011 3:53:13 AM +00:00 Stunned U.S. urges restraint in Bahrain U.S. officials: Yemen, Bahrain, Iran could be next Egypt Third Yemeni protester killed Egyptians to march as security remains shaky The Congolese Hutu peasants who did were brought out of the thatched-roof meeting house two by two, to be bludgeoned to death with their own hoes, picks and axes. Some 300 villagers died that morning of Oct. 20, 1996, according to the local Observation Center for Human Rights and Social Assistance. The story of the 1994 genocide of more than a half million Tutsis slaughtered by Hutus in Rwanda has been told in the world's press, in books and in movies such as "Hotel Rwanda." But the subsequent slaughter of Hutus in neighboring Congo is little known, and its perpetrators never have been brought to justice. The discovery of mass graves prompted investigations that led to a controversial U.N. report published on Oct. 1, which accuses invading Rwandan troops of killing tens of thousands of Hutus in 1996 and 1997. "There are many, many such mass graves. We've identified 30 just in this Rutshuru district, but our research indicates that this was the first massacre committed by Rwandan troops," the center's coordinator, Herve Nsabimana, said beside the banana trees. Many victims told their wives to take the youngest children and hide in the fields. Today, Musekera is a village of widows. The only man over 50 was at a nearby health center during the massacre. Matata Ihigihugo has relatives in three mass graves: her husband and two sons in the one reserved for males, a sister in the women's grave, and her 8-year-old daughter in the one where children's small bodies were buried. Passer à : Texte seulement, Résumé du jour • Désinscription • Conditions dutilisation Michelle Faul  /  AP Matata Ihigihugo says her husband, three children and sister were killed by Rwandan Tutsi soldiers in a 1996 massacre of 300 Hutu civilians. Advertise | AdChoices Advertise | AdChoices

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Key political risks to watch in Rwanda

 

FACTBOX-Key political risks to watch in Rwanda KIGALI | Tue May 3, 2011 2:34pm BST (http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/05/03/rwanda-risks-idUKRISKRW20110503) May 3 (Reuters) - President Paul Kagame's landslide election win in August 2010 paves the way for political continuity at a time critics accuse him of turning the screws on his rivals and dissenters. Victoire Ingabire, one of Kagame's chief political opponents, remains in detention after authorities said she had been implicated in an investigation into a former rebel commander facing terrorism charges. Former chief of staff Kayumba Nyamwasa and a former chief of military intelligence, Patrick Karegyeya, have been tried and sentenced to 20 years in jail in absentia by a military court. Other Kagame allies turned foes, former director of cabinet Theogene Rudasingwa and former prosecutor general Gerald Gahima, were also sentenced in absentia for threatening state security and insulting the president. [ID:nLDE70D1DZ] The four exiles accuse Kagame of conspiring to have them jailed on politically trumped up charges. The reputation of Kagame, long a favourite with foreign donors, has also been dented by a U.N. report charging his army with committing war crimes in Democratic Republic of Congo. The International Monetary Fund projects Rwanda's economy will grow 6.5-7.0 percent in 2011-12, higher than for sub-Saharan Africa as a whole. Rwanda is also developing its nascent capital markets and it held a successful first initial public offering. [ID:nLDE70H210] Here are some of the risk factors: POLITICAL SPACE Kagame's election win underlined his domination of the political arena. He has been praised for restoring stability after the 1994 genocide and engineering Rwanda's rapid economic recovery and its vision to be a middle-income country by 2020. Investment doubled to $1.6 billion in 2009, a year after the country was named top global business reformer by the World Bank. But critics accuse Kagame of being authoritarian and of trampling on media and political freedoms. What to watch: -- The arrest of Nyamwasa. Rwanda has issued a notice to 188 member states of Interpol to have the convicted exiled army officer arrested and extradited to Rwanda. Nyamwasa has been accused of harbouring and training a group of close to 200 militia in the Democratic Republic of Congo with intent to destabilize the region and particularly Rwanda. The four exiled army officers say they are innocent and have challenged the government to produce evidence other than their writings and press interviews that they claim are protected by constitutional guarantee of free speech. -- Trial of Ingabire. Ingabire remains in detention and the case remains a major test of the independence of Rwanda's judiciary. Legally, the charges should be dropped, or a trial should start. [ID:nLDE6BG1S1] Ingabire was originally refused bail on the grounds that her release could threaten state security. She denies funding FDLR rebels and says her detention is politically motivated. -- A court summons for American lawyer Peter Erlinder. Erlinder was arrested last May on charges of genocide denial after he flew in to represent Ingabire. He was released on bail a month later on health grounds. Erlinder's case has also caused friction between Rwanda and the Tanzania-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, where Erlinder is defending genocide suspects. -- Arrest of Paul Rusesabagina who saved 1,200 people from genocide in events depicted in the Oscar-nominated film "Hotel Rwanda", over allegations he helped fund a rebel force. His detention would likely generate more media interest than any crackdown on Kagame's other critics. -- Outcome of French inquiry into shooting down of former President Juvenal Habyarimana's plane in 1994. Any repeat of the 2006 claim by a French judge that Kagame's forces were to blame could harm diplomatic relations with France. RIFTS Diplomats and sources close to the government say rifts within the Tutsi elite, including those in exile, risk undermining national stability. The Ministry of Defence has said senior party and army officials in exile are not a threat. However, there is a risk Kagame's erstwhile allies, who are sounding increasingly belligerent, could coalesce into a serious opposition force, or form a rebellion of their own. Kagame's war on graft, which has led to Rwanda being ranked the least corrupt nation in east Africa, has seen former political associates locked up. Diplomatic sources say the arrest of Congolese Tutsi rebel Laurent Nkunda has also fuelled tensions within the ruling elite. A U.N. panel reported in 2008 that the Rwandan army had supported Nkunda's rebel war in eastern Congo. Rwanda government officials say they are in talks with counterparts in Democratic Republic of Congo to find a common ground on Nkunda. General Nyamwasa, Kagame's former chief-of-staff turned arch-critic who fled to South Africa in February, has formed a political body that includes other former high-level political and military allies of Kagame, also now exiled. Nyamwasa's political group has formed an alliance with Ingabire's FDU party criticizing the government for alleged harassment of the media and intimidation of the opposition. The alliance says it wants to eradicate alleged human rights violations in Rwanda and create a political environment that will nurture democratic governance. What to watch: -- Signs of deepening rifts within the military. Some observers say Nyamwasa's political moves could expose further divisions within the ruling party. What would come out of the alliance between Nyamwasa and Ingabire's party and how government in Kigali would react to it could expose weakness among a section of political elites close to Kagame. -- The fate of Nkunda. Nkunda's arrest heralded a new era in relations between Rwanda and Congo. But what happens to Nkunda could still influence relations. Congo wants him extradited for war crimes, but Rwanda says it should be done in a way that it avoids "conflict of law". If Nkunda were to stand trial in Congo, and he confirmed the U.N. allegations of Rwandan support, it would be embarrassing for Kagame and could harm relations with Congo anew. UGANDA PROTESTS Rwanda will be casting an eye at neighbouring Uganda where protests against high prices and the brutal arrest of the country's main opposition leader Kizza Besigye threaten to escalate after the deaths of at least seven people. Land-locked Rwanda depends on its neighbours for the safe passage of its petrol, diesel and heavy oil which must be transported by truck from ports in Kenya and Tanzania. What to watch: -- If the violence spreads beyond the capital Kampala it risks choking key transport links, isolating Rwanda. (Editing by Richard Lough)

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Kagame former supporters and friends prefer exile - Kagamé lâché par les siens

  http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xlx7wh_european-security-com-kagame-former-supporters-and-friends-prefer-exile-kagame-lache-par-les-siens_news#rel-page-2

 

Kagame criminally alters USA-Rwanda Treaty Document (http://www.africandictator.org/?p=4864)   October 6, 2011 | Filed under: Features | Posted by: Herman Kayonga, an AD contributor, discovered this blog post (by Ann Garrison) which points out that the Rwandan dictator and his Newspaper's criminally altered a United States Government's document – i.e., US-Rwanda Bilateral Investment Treaty. If there was any lingering doubt, this proves once again how the Kagame regime is morally bankrupt and a pathological manipulator. The article titled "RWANDA'S OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER MISQUOTES THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT" goes as follows: I can't believe that a government, and its newspaper, that were really confident of itself and its history would feel the need to misquote a U.S. State Department document, as Rwanda's The New Times, "Government Supporting Daily" has here: Rwanda: Gov't Welcomes U.S. Investment Pact, 10.03.2011http://allafrica.com/stories/ 201110030006.html: "This treaty demonstrates Rwanda's commitment to the economic reforms that will help enable sustainable economic development and opportunity. Since the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, Rwanda has made remarkable progress in implementing economic reforms that have helped rebuild the Rwandan economy and society." [Now compare] with State Dept. Doc: United States Senate Approves U.S. – Rwanda Bilateral Investment Treaty, 09.27.2011http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ ps/2011/09/174101.htm: "This treaty demonstrates Rwanda's commitment to the economic reforms that will help enable sustainable economic development and opportunity. Since the 1994 genocide, Rwanda has made remarkable progress in implementing economic reforms that have helped rebuild the Rwandan economy and society." ———– And don't imagine for one moment that New Times is an independent entity responsible for such forgery. This is a Kagame paper through and through, controlled strictly by the Presidency at Urugwiro village. Every article and every photograph has to please Kagame – this is the task of the entire communications department answerable to the Chief of Staff and the dictator himself. Further, Alfred Ndahiro in the Presidency is a member of New Times Board. The only factor that is unclear at present is the role of the fired spy chief Emmanuel Ndahiro that used to be the Chairman of the Board of New Times. Ann Garrison's words need to be repeated once again. How can a government, and its newspaper, that "were really confident of itself and its history" feel the need to manipulate a document of a supportive government – in this case the United States government? How can a sane government add words to a legal document? Paul Kagame, you owe the American people and the United States government an apology. For the Rwandan people, if only we knew how to get rid of you peaceful, you would be history by now. Kagame, you are a disgrace, and an embarrassment to Rwanda and Africa at large. You should hang your head in shame. AD would like to thank struggle partner's like Ann Garrisson for her eagle eye at catching out the dictator Kagame. Source: http://www.anngarrison.com/content/rwandas-official-newspaper-misquotes-the-us-state-department Related articles Mr & Mrs Dictator Kagame, You are a Burden and Embarrassment (africandictator.org) Kagame: Rwandan Sani Abacha (africandictator.org) Unwelcome the Rwandan Butcher Kagame in France (africandictator.org) French Minister in temporary Exile over Butcher Kagame (africandictator.org) Kagame Recycles Sycophant Inyumba (africandictator.org) Dictator Kagame's Ruthless Pursuit of Exiled Editor Gasarira ends in Absentia Sentence (1.000) Kagame gets Drunk with Doing Business Rankings (1.000) Kagame's Embarrassing Investment Statistics (1.000) Kagame butchers another newspaper (1.000) Who is the Loveliest 1st Couple on Planet Earth? Kagames of course (1.000) Shortlink: