When Belgium blocked the Rwanda embassy accounts in Brussels, it was
not politically motivated or done on a diplomatic level. It was based
purely on a judicial directive that clearly showed that the Rwandan
government had failed to compensate it’s national for services
rendered. In classic Kagame style of unnecessary confrontational
diplomacy, he retaliated by closing the Belgian Embassy accounts in
Kigali in an effort to show his dissatisfaction.
Kagame is famous for his outlandish bursts towards donors. The best
example to illustrate this behavior was the way he suddenly broke off
relations with France by closing the French embassy and giving its staff
hours to leave Rwanda in 2006 after Judge Brugiere issued arrest
warrants for him and 40 of his army officers. Again, the French
indictments were issued judicially but the president went ahead and used
all his political clout thinking that those threats work in other
foreign countries. But what goes around comes back to haunt you, Kagame
went to France arms stretched out to ask for reconciliation and foreign
aid.
In the same reactionary behavior, Kagame cut the tree branch he sat
on when in 2010 he threw an American lawyer, Peter Erlinder in prison on
trumped up charges and a diplomatic impasse was created when the
Americans demanded his release.
Kagame and his Government should be looking for ways to
mediate/compensate Gaspard Gatera who fled to Belgium after he was
harassed and intimidated by government officials instead of creating
unnecessary enemity between two otherwise friendly nations. Kagame had
been informed by the Belgian Foreign Ministry that it is unable to
intervene in matters concerning judicial cases.
From our desk at Umuvugizi, reports say that work has come to a
standstill at the Rwandan embassy in Belgium after the freezing of their
accounts because of its reputation of fraudsters.
All this hulabaloo between Rwanda and one of its biggest European aid
donors continues to play out in the political arena stemming from
Kagame’s refusal to part with money owed to a businessman who has now
sought refuge in Belgium.
Johnson, Europe
In
his true characteristic style of callousness and over reacting,
president Kagame has ordered the closure of bank accounts belonging to
the Belgian Embassy in Kigali. He has absolutely no reason to and has
issued a communiqué that states that it was done as reciprocity to the
closure of Rwanda Embassy accounts in Belgium. The Rwandan Embassy
accounts were closed after a court order issued a directive to that
effect after the Rwandan Government failed to compensate a Rwandan
businessman resident in Belgium who offered his services and the
government reneged on its obligations thus prompting legal action
against it.
Africa Great Lakes Democracy Watch
Welcome to Africa Great Lakes Democracy Watch Blog. Our objective is to promote the institutions of democracy,social justice,Human Rights,Peace, Freedom of Expression, and Respect to humanity in Rwanda,Uganda,DR Congo, Burundi,Sudan, Tanzania, Kenya,Ethiopia, and Somalia. We strongly believe that Africa will develop if only our presidents stop being rulers of men and become leaders of citizens. We support Breaking the Silence Campaign for DR Congo since we believe the democracy in Rwanda means peace in DRC. Follow this link to learn more about the origin of the war in both Rwanda and DR Congo:http://www.rwandadocumentsproject.net/gsdl/cgi-bin/library
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment