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.

1 May 2013

Lady in Pink: Victoire Ingabire faces her judges in appeal – By Kris Berwouts

 

Lady in Pink: Victoire Ingabire faces her judges in appeal – By Kris Berwouts

Victoire Ingabire will find out the result of her appeal against incarceration in May.
The last time I communicated directly with Victoire Ingabire, on October 13th 2010, she sounded tense and tired. After an absence of more than 16 years, she had come back to Rwanda in January to participate in the presidential elections as the candidate of the Unified Democratic Forces (UDF-Inkingi), a coalition of Rwandan opposition parties with a large base of active members in the diaspora. But things had turned out differently -  she had been barred from running. A day after we last chatted, she was arrested and thrown in to jail. That's where she has been until today.  Two years later, she was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment for conspiracy against the country through terrorism and genocide denial. Two weeks ago her appeal trial started. The judgment is expected sometime in May.
All the victims
Victoire Ingabire stepped into the political ring in a country that is unaccustomed to open debate. Over the years, the  Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) has built up its control over public life (including the political and judicial organs) along the lines of a one party system. This has happened despite the existence of a number of other satellite political parties which operate on the fringes of power but do not seriously dispute their basic loyalty to that power.
The presidential election of 2003, which brought the country's political transition to an end, was organised without any real political space: the only true opposition party did not receive official approval, and the main independent candidates for the presidential elections were disqualified on the eve of polling day. The campaign was accompanied by disappearances, arrests and intimidation of candidates, the electorate and observers.
In the Netherlands, where she lived with her family, Ingabire had developed political commitment and activism – she invested a lot of her energy in bringing together the most diverse opposition groups with people of very different ideological, regional and ethnic backgrounds within the Rwandan diaspora. In 2009, she gave up her high profile job in an international accounting firm to dedicate all her time to politics. She  arrived in Kigali on Saturday January 16th 2010 to prepare her campaign for the presidential elections in August.
The first hours after her arrival were very important. "I am ready to canvass for my candidature for head of state and victory is certain", she declared after stepping on to the tarmac at Kigali international airport. She drove from the airport straight to the Gisozi Memorial, built on a site where over 250,000 victims of the genocide are buried, to place flowers to commemorate "all victims", those who were killed in the genocide but also all the others who died in those years of conflict and violence.  Her speech caused fury on the part of genocide victims, the media and the authorities who accused her of propagating genocide denial.
Together with her team, she had to build up her party from zero. UDF-Inkingi was relatively well known in the Rwandan diaspora but nearly unheard of in the country itself. Exactly like the other genuine opposition parties, Bernard Ntaganda's Parti Social Imberakuri and Frank Habineza's Democratic Green Party, UDF-Inkingi tried to establish itself as a party and get through to the electorate.
No elections for Victoire
Soon after Ingabire's return to Rwanda, her party's office was demolished and her colleagues were roughed up by militants from the ruling party. The police were present but did not intervene. Later on, Ingabire personally suffered violence and intimidation. Starting three weeks after her arrival, she was regularly summoned by the police for investigation,  accused of spreading "genocidal ideology, 'divisionism' and contact with the FDLR".  In this first phase, no formal charges were brought against her, but a legal framework was created to slow down or hinder her other activities.
For example, on March 13th  2010 she received a letter from the communal authorities which forbade her from organising political meetings since she was subject to police investigation.  She wanted to react by holding a press conference but all the hotels where she had booked meeting rooms were threatened and cancelled the bookings at the last minute. When UDF tried to organise its constituent assembly, the municipality was willing to authorise this on the condition that the police would confirm that they would be present to ensure security. The police would be happy to ensure security provided that the commune gave its written authorisation.
Neither Ingabire, Ntaganda nor Habineza were able to register as candidates for the election and the three of them were at a disadvantage for teh following reasons:
  • The regime's monopoly of the media, which continually demonise the opposition parties and their leaders.
  • Verbal and physical intimidation of opposition parties, their leaders, members and activists.
  • The creation of a legal framework in which proceedings can be brought very rapidly and where the opposition finds it hard to defend itself: Accusations of spreading genocidal ideology and divisionism are very broad and not clearly defined in law. This terminology is applied to all those who have a different understanding than the official one of the recent history of Rwanda. This means it can be used to paralyse the leaders of the opposition and to prevent them carrying out their daily duties and exercising their political rights.
  • An administrative policy which aims to prevent opposition groups being registered, setting themselves up, organising meetings or making themselves known to the general public.
  • Infiltration of opposition parties in order to destabilise them from within.
First brick in the wall
I had regular contacts with Victoire in the 18 months before her return to Rwanda, but it took me a while before I started to take her seriously. I found it difficult to imagine that someone who had left Rwanda before the genocide and had never been back could threaten  a regime with an obsession in controlling public life (and posessed of the deadly efficiency to materialize that obsession).  But as she continued to prepare her campaign and raise support, I started to appreciate her dedication. She was modest and ambitious at the same time. She knew she would not be able to tear down fortress Kagame, built over a decade and a half, but she often said to me: "At some point, someone will have to break the first brick in the wall. Let this be my contribution." So she left for Rwanda to fight for real democratic space and genuine multiparty competition.
For a while she was public enemy n°1, but a month and a half after her arrival this stopped. At the end of February 2010, General Kayumba Nyamwasa left the country to oppose his former comrade-in-arms, thus starting a new phase in Kagame's annus horibilis. All of a sudden, the main threat to the regime came from within.
This, however, didn't mean the pressure on Victoire was relieved. On March 23rd she wanted to take a plane for a short holiday in the Netherlands with her family, but she was not allowed to cross the border. On April 21st she was arrested for the first time. Her documents and computer were confiscated and the restriction of her movements became more and more severe. She had to leave the modest but comfortable house she lived in because the regime put the landlord under pressure not to rent it out to an opposition personality.
Condemned
She was eventually arrested two months after the elections, on October 14th 2010. Her trial started in September 2011 and ended in April 2012. The verdict fell on October 30th with Ingabire being found guilty of conspiracy to undermine the government and genocide denial, she was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Amnesty International immediately asked for a prompt and fair appeal as the trial fell short of international standards. The trial was marred by the court's failure to ensure that evidence was properly tested, combined with the prosecution's disregard for due process in some instances," said Sarah Jackson, Amnesty International's Acting Deputy Africa Director in a press release on the same day.
Human Rights Watch also published a statement on the day of the verdict, in which their Africa Director Daniel Bekele clarified: "The prosecution of Ingabire for 'genocide ideology and 'divisionism' illustrates the Rwandan government's unwillingness to tolerate criticism and to accept the role of opposition parties in a democratic society."
Guilty?
It is very hard to defend yourself against charges of divisionism, genocide ideology and genocide denial. The legal definition of these terms is very broad and imprecise, which means that the law is easily used as a tool to silence dissident opinions, stop criticism or avoid debate.
I find it rather difficult to understand how you can accuse someone of genocide denial when the first thing she does when she comes back after 16 years of absence is to visit the Genocide Memorial to commemorate and pay respect to the victims. In her speech she said:
"I came back to my country after 16 years, and there was a tragedy that took place in this country. We know very well that there was a genocide, extermination. Therefore, I could not have returned after 16 years to the same country after such actions took place. They took place when I was not in the country. I could not have fallen asleep without first passing by the place where those actions took place. I had to see the place. I had to visit the place."
Ingabire, however, crossed the regime's red line by pointing out that not all the crimes committed during the war and the genocide have been registered and punished, clearly alluding to the crimes committed in 1994 by members of the former Tutsi rebellion -  the Rwanda Popular Front (FPR) –  now the ruling party:
"For us to reach reconciliation, we need to empathize with everyone's sadness. It is necessary that for the Tutsis who were killed, those Hutus who killed them understand that they need to be punished for it. It is also necessary that for the Hutus who were killed, those people who killed them understand that they need to be punished for it too. Furthermore, it is important that all of us, Rwandans from different ethnic groups, understand that we need to unite, respect each other and build our country in peace. What brought us back to the country is for us to start that path of reconciliation together and find a way to stop injustices so that all of us Rwandans can live together with basic freedoms in our country."
I don't see genocide denial in this. I don't feel any hidden sectarian or ethnic agenda. Not in this text, nor in other speeches I heard, texts I read or talks we had.
Talking to the FDLR
Ingabire has also has been condemned for alleged terrorism and preparing an armed struggle against the regime. According to her judges, she did not only collaborate with the FDLR, she also planned to form a new armed group, the Coalition of Democratic Forces (CDF).
Indeed, she had met with the FDLR in July 2009, in the form of Aloys Ntiwiragabo, one of its leaders. Some weeks earlier, the Congolese Minister of information, Lambert Mende, made use of a visit to Belgium to visit Victoire Inabire in Zevenhuizen near The Hague, where she lived with her family. He invited her on behalf of President Kabila to Kinshasa, because the Congolese government wanted her to talk to the FDLR leadership and convince them to give up their armed struggle and join her political approach. She accepted the invitation, was received by Kabila and talked to Ntiwiragabo. Unfortunately, the FDLR did not follow her advice.
Instead of, as was alleged, working with the armed groups on an agenda of terror and violence, Ingabire talked to the FDLR and asked them to cease the armed struggle.
Political trial
Victoire Ingabire was condemned after a political trial. Now appealing against her earlier sentence, Ingabire wants her sentence to be quashed, the Prosecutor demands 25 years. I personally do not see many reasons why the trial would be less political in appeal than it was in first instance, but this does not mean that the outcome is certain. Rwanda has been under very strong pressure from its main donors, including the Netherlands, and might use Victoire Ingabire's situation to show its humane and democratic side. On the other hand, people are already begining to get nervous about the forthcoming elections in 2017. Rwanda might use Victoire Ingabire as a statement about democracy and elections really being simple window dressing and not about effective participation.
In Rwanda, as in many other countries in the region, the opposition's role has never been considered to be positive, constructive and essential for democracy and the management of public affairs. Opposition is treated as a potentially destabilising, subversive and threatening element. Unfortunately for Mrs. Ingabire, these considerations could play to her disadvantage for the verdict in appeal.
Once more, Rwanda's international partners are getting stuck in their own ambiguity. On the one hand, they heavily insist on democracy and elections, but on the other they go very far in accepting non-democratic practices. This behaviour is a product of that difficult balance between contributing to the development of democracy and  concern about not damaging stability that is relative and precarious. The result is often a choice between what is considered the lesser of two evils.
As long as President Kagame is considered a key factor for relative regional stability, donors will tolerate what they consider to be a mild form of enlightened despotism. Despotism it sure is and history will teach us how enlightened it will have been. But I hope for Victoire that the regime will take this opportunity to show its mild side.
Kris Berwouts has, over the last 25 years, worked for a number of different Belgian and international NGOs focused on building peace, reconciliation, security and democratic processes. Until recently, he was the Director of EurAc, the network of European NGOs working for advocacy on Central Africa. He now works as an independent expert on Central Africa.
 
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Latest articles in this country:
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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.

READ MORE RECENT NEWS AND OPINIONS

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.