http://sfbayview.com/2012/victoire-ingabires-family-faces-her-prison-sentence-in-rwanda/Victoire Ingabire's family faces her prison sentence in RwandaNovember 9, 2012 by Ann Garrison KPFA Evening News broadcast Nov. 3, 2012Transcript Raissa, dressed in the pink uniform of a Rwandan prisoner, holds a photo poster of her imprisoned mother, Victoire Ingabire, at a rally in Brussels on Oct. 20, 2012. Raissa, her family and other supporters of her mother hold rallies frequently in Brussels and The Hague. KPFA/Ann Garrison: Raissa, how are you and the rest of your family feeling now that the court has finally handed down this verdict, two years after your mother was imprisoned? Raissa: Well, we realize that it is not over yet. And this verdict is another part of her journey in fighting for reconciliation, equality and freedom in Rwanda. As her family, we have tried to stay strong. And, yeah, I have to say that the worst moment for me is when I think about my youngest brother. He was 8 when my mother left the Netherlands; and seeing the way things are going for her, it is uncertain when we will see her again, so he might be a teenager at that time, as he is already 10. But, yeah, we have each other as a family, and besides that, there are many who support us – friends, churches – and that makes going through all of this much easier. So, there is hope and there is faith.  Victoire Ingabire hugs her daughter Raissa Ujeneza over 20 years ago in the Netherlands. Raissa, now 23, is studying international and European law there, while her mother remains in prison in Rwanda. Raissa: Well, we have not yet received a response from the Dutch government on our petition. The Dutch government currently is dealing with national complications that arise with the new government. Ahh, we will have to wait and see if the petition will be given importance. We realize that it is not over yet. And this verdict is another part of her journey in fighting for reconciliation, equality and freedom in Rwanda. As her family, we have tried to stay strong.KPFA: The issues at stake in your mother's trial are very large. She has steadfastly maintained that not only Rwandan Tutsis but also Rwandan Hutus were killed and were victims of crimes against humanity before, during and after the Rwanda Genocide. This undermines President Kagame's justification for Rwanda's 16-year war and occupation in Congo, where he has claimed the right to hunt down perpetrators of the Tutsi Genocide who fled across the border. Rwandans and Congolese have come together in European capitals to demonstrate for both your mother's release and an end to Rwanda's war in Congo, which they understand to be connected. But, do you think many Europeans outside the diaspora understand that connection? Raissa: No, I don't think the connection between the war in Congo and Rwanda's role in it is understood well. I'm afraid actually that only those who are familiar with the Great Lakes Region understand their connection.  Victoire Ingabire's family at the airport before Victoire departed for Rwanda in January 2010: her husband Lin Muyizere, left, daughter Raissa Ujeneza, center left, Victoire, center right, son Remy Ndizeye Niyigena, right, and son Rizst Shima, front. Raissa: I believe that this is a problem that is rooted with the old generation Rwandans. Young Rwandans from the '70s and after, such as myself, we were not compelled to keep the hate going that has destroyed so many lives of Rwandans already. My mother does not want to entice anybody to hate another. Her message is one of peace, freedom and equality, and she's a Hutu herself, but her party has worked and still works with Tutsis. My mother advocates for a Rwanda where people look beyond these differences, while the Kagame regime hides behind the genocide of 1994 and the genocide ideology law. This is just another way the regime tries to justify the way it rules and consequently this also appears to hold the international community back from protesting. Young Rwandans from the '70s and after, such as myself, we were not compelled to keep the hate going that has destroyed so many lives of Rwandans already.My mother welcomes any collaboration between different ethnic groups. She taught us at home that we should learn from history by choosing to do better. And yeah, both Tutsis and Hutus suffered, killed and were murdered. A war always has victims on both sides, and anyone who can deny that is – yah – simply not being real. KPFA: And that was Raissa Ujeneza, daughter of imprisoned Rwandan opposition leader Victoire Ingabire on Ingabire's guilty verdict and eight-year prison sentence. For Pacifica, KPFA and AfrobeatRadio, I'm Ann Garrison. San Francisco writer Ann Garrison writes for the San Francisco Bay View, Global Research, Colored Opinions,Black Star News and her own website, Ann Garrison, and produces for AfrobeatRadio on WBAI-NYC, KPFA Evening News and her own YouTube Channel, AnnieGetYourGang. She can be reached atann@afrobeatradio.com. If you want to see Ann Garrison's independent reporting continue, please contribute on her website at anngarrison.com.
Related Posts |
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
12 Nov 2012
Victoire Ingabire’s family faces her prison sentence in Rwanda
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
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.
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’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.
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.
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
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
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.