RWANDA:President Kagame turns his back on the Belgians after failing decipher his P’S from his Q’S.

Adapted from UMUVUGIZI Newspaper

In classic Kagame style of unnecessary confrontational diplomacy, he retaliated by closing the Belgian Embassy accounts in Kigali !

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.

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