Protest for Peace in Rwanda, Chicago, June 11, 2011

Kagame of Rwanda

Rwandans, Congolese and Americans Join Together In Support of Peace and Reconciliation to Protest the Appearance to President Paul Kagame of Rwanda  in Chicago on June 11

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRLog (Press Release) 

Immediate Release                   Contact: Kitty Kurth 
June 8, 2011                     Cell Phone: 312-617-7288

Rwandans, Congolese and Americans Join Together In Support of Peace and Reconciliation to Protest the Appearance to President Paul Kagame of Rwanda 
in Chicago on June 11 

Paul Rusesabagina will join with his fellow Rwandans, other Africans and Americans to peacefully protest the presence of Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Chicago on Saturday, June 11 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, 151 E. Wacker Drive at 2:00 p.m.  

According to the United Nations Human Rights Commission, President Kagame is responsible for millions of deaths of Rwandans and Congolese citizens. The UN in its Mapping report of 1 October, 2010, details those war crimes, crimes against humanity and even possible acts of genocide (http://www.ohchr.org/en/Countries/AfricaRegion/Pages/RDC ... ). For years, the United Nations Security Council has been reporting that Rwanda is responsible for driving a proxy war for minerals in neighboring Congo. 

Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation President Paul Rusesabagina said, “I believe that the dictatorial practices of President Kagame should not be condoned by Chicagoans.  I will gather with my fellow Rwandans who wish for Truth and Reconciliation and lasting peace for our country. We will protest the presence of Kagame’s bloody hands and oppressive fists. His acts as President are creating a situation that will likely devolve in to more violence for Rwanda.”

The June 3, 2011 report from Amnesty International condemns Kagame’s government, saying “The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), in power since the 1994 genocide, tightly controls political space, civil society and the media, contending that this is necessary to prevent renewed violence. Human rights defenders, journalists and political opponents cannot openly and publicly criticize. 
the authorities. People who do speak out risk prosecution and imprisonment.” The report, entitled UNSAFE TO SPEAK OUT: RESTRICTIONS ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN RWANDA says "freedom of expression in Rwanda has been unduly restricted for many years.
The months leading up to the August 2010 presidential elections were marked by a clampdown on freedom of expression, which still shows no sign of abating" (http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AFR47/002/2011/en ).     

Human Rights Watch published it’s latest Rwanda report on May 31, 2011, ( http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2011/05/31/justice-compromised ) that says in Rwanda justice has been compromised, and that flaws in trials have lead to miscarriages of justice. Human Rights Watch declared that President Kagame is in crisis (http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/09/21/rwanda-president-crisis ), as he drives the country that has suffered genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity further into the direction of civil war and more bloodshed. 

Kagame has jailed political opposition leaders, closed political space, banned independent media, and pursues Rwandans abroad to assassinate them and harass them. Last year he sent thugs to ransack the house of Paul Rusesabagina in Belgium. Last month law enforcement in the United Kingdom warned Rwandans that "reliable intelligence states that the Rwandan government poses an imminent threat to your life" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/world/africa/20rwanda.html ). 

The peaceful protesters who gather in Chicago on Saturday will call for an immediate end to President Kagame's war crimes and impunity, and will ask the international community to bring him to account for the crimes he has committed. The protesters will also be asking the international community, especially the United States and the United Kingdom, to support Rwandans searching for the permanent resolution to the current Rwandan refugee crisis; an end to chronic violent conflict and prevention of more bloodshed in Rwanda and the Great Lakes region of east and central Africa; support for human rights protection, dialogue, freedom, equal justice, democracy, and equitable prosperity. They will call for reconciliation and healing among many millions of Rwandans and their neighbors who have been subjected to untold suffering for so long.

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• You: British police warn Rwandan exiles in the UK their life is in danger from Rwandan government (washingtonpost.com)
• The Purpose-Driven Death Squads (barthsnotes.wordpress.com)
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