RWANDA:Bonne année 2012: Lettres à Etty Hillesum et à la courageuse dame de Kigali

Adapte de Rwamucyo web

Chers amis,

Je vous souhaite une bonne et heureuse année 2012, une année de bonne santé et de courage comme celui qu'ont manifesté Etty Hillesum à qui j'adresse mes voeux.

Chère Etty,

En ce réveillon 2012, acceptez que je puisse louer votre bravoure d'avoir su "oser la vie" et défendre le refus de l'inéluctable déchéance à laquelle on voudrait bien nous condamner sans procès.
J'ai fait connaissance de ton oeuvre qui parle de la souffrance du traqué, non en langue de la haine et pour le commerce de l'idéologie d'un peuple béni, mais de l'humanité blessée et de la "vie brisée": "Une vie bouleversée". Et j'ai trouvé en toi mon identité, notre identité. Elle se décline ainsi: Nous sommes ces hommes et femmes à la vie brisée.

"Je connais l'air traqué des gens" (car nous sommes nous-mêmes traqués, vous le savez, par la Grande Traque de ... ces procureurs du pouvoir de Kigali en Occident). Je connais "l'accumulation de la souffrance humaine, je connais les persécutions, l'oppression, l'arbitraire (car nous sommes jugés et condamnés à la mort sociale faute de peine capitale abolie sur papier par les pouvoirs iniques), la haine impuissante et tout ce sadisme" d'un pouvoir qui sévit impunément.

Il y a parmi nous ceux qui ont refusé d'abdiquer leur volonté "devant un régime qui traite ainsi les êtres humains".

Puissiez-vous, chère Etty, nous inspirer le courage et la méthode de cheminer vers la vraie réconciliation et obtenir la victoire de la vérité sur le mensonge dans ce monde où semble regner l'intolérance, la violence et l'injustice.

Lionel répondant à l'article de Cheuzeville a écrit ce matin : « Toute liberté à un prix ! Seuls certaines personnalités "hors du commun", ont eu cette grâce particulière de montrer, avec obstination, courage et au mépris de leur propre existence, la voie de l'honneur d'être d'un Homme. Ils ont eu aussi ce charisme d'agréger autour d'eux les relais de l'espérance, porteurs de cette flamme qui avait été entretenue et qui leur avait été transmise. Courage Madame Victoire Ingabire à qui je souhaite du fond du coeur la plus belle des années, 2012, celle qui doit voir se lever l'avenir d'un pays, de son Peuple et de ses enfants, de quelques ethnies qu'ils soient ! »

Bien à vous, Eugène Rwamucyo. 31.12.2011

--------------------------------------------

Victoire Ingabire, la courageuse dame de Kigali

Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza est une femme rwandaise de 43 ans, mère de trois enfants. Elle vient de passer son deuxième Noël consécutif dans une geôle du Rwanda. Son procès est en cours, à Kigali. Son crime ? Celui d’avoir osé défier le pouvoir sans partage de l’homme implacable qui préside aux destinées de ce petit pays d’Afrique centrale depuis la fin de l’épouvantable guerre qu’il avait lui-même déclenché. Cet homme, on l’aura compris, c’est le général-président Paul Kagame, responsable en outre de deux guerres d’invasion et de pillages qui firent des millions de morts dans le grand pays voisin, le Congo/Zaïre. 

Victoire aurait pu continuer à vivre tranquillement aux Pays-Bas, où elle fit ses études supérieures et où elle menait une brillante carrière au sein d’une grande société. Cependant, même loin de son pays natal, elle se souciait de la situation qui y prévalait. Elle s’est engagée au sein de l’opposition à la dictature, très active au sein de la diaspora rwandaise. En avril 2006, elle fut élue présidente du Front Démocratique Uni, une plateforme rassemblant tous les mouvements opposés au régime de Kagame et de son Front Patriotique Rwandais. Cet engagement politique croissant l’amena à quitter son emploi pour tenter d’aller mener le combat pour la démocratie au Rwanda même. Ce retour à Kigali, en janvier 2010, après seize années d’exil, marqua le début d’un harcèlement incessant qui tourna à la persécution et qui la conduisit finalement en prison. Quelques jours après son arrivée, elle se rendit au mémorial du génocide, ou elle demanda que tous les perpétrateurs de crimes de masse soient traduits en justice, y compris ceux appartenant au pouvoir actuel. Elle osa en outre revendiquer le droit à la mémoire pour toutes les victimes du génocide. Cela lui valut une première arrestation, avant d’être libérée le lendemain, tout en étant placée sous contrôle judiciaire, avec interdiction de quitter la capitale. Une campagne fut aussitôt lancée contre elle, l’accusant de « négationnisme » et de « divisionnisme ». Elle ne se laissa pas intimider pour autant et poursuivit sa tentative pour se présenter en candidate d’opposition aux élections présidentielles d’août 2010.  

Sans doute avait-elle sous-estimé la nature profondément liberticide du régime de Kagame. Le dictateur ne pouvait en aucun cas tolérer une opposition véritable et encore moins une voix remettant en cause la version officielle de la tragique histoire récente du pays. Pourtant, Victoire Ingabire ne pouvait pas ignorer le sort réservé aux dissidents et aux opposants. Combien d’hommes politiques n’ont-ils pas été liquidés par les tueurs de Kagame, tant à l’intérieur qu’à l’extérieur du pays, depuis 1994 ? Combien ont été arrêtés et emprisonnés, sous l’habituelle accusation de négationnisme ou de divisionnisme ? Combien d’étrangers, devenus des témoins gênants, ont payé de leur vie le fait d’en savoir trop sur ce régime, et d’avoir tenté d’informer le monde ? Je pense en particulier à tous ces missionnaires assassinés par les agents du pouvoir. Se souvient-on du père Claude Simard, tué dans la nuit du 17 au 18 octobre 1994, ou de son compatriote le père Guy Pinard, abattu alors qu’il célébrait la messe, sous le regard horrifié de ses paroissiens, le 2 février 1997 ? Ce missionnaire québécois avait eu le tort de connaître la vérité sur l’assassinat de trois humanitaires espagnols de Médecins du Monde, ainsi que sur le massacre de 80 habitants du village où il œuvrait. Je pense également au père Vijeko Kuric, franciscain croate tué de sept balles, en pleine rue, le 31 janvier 1998, et à tant d’autres encore.  Ces religieux étrangers connaissant parfaitement la langue de leurs ouailles sont considérés avec suspicion par le dictateur Kagame.

Si des étrangers peuvent être ainsi supprimés, dans l’impunité la plus totale, Victoire Ingabire devait être consciente des risques qu’elle prenait, en tant que Rwandaise rentrant d’exil pour défier le général-président.  Sa candidature à l’élection présidentielle ne fut pas validée, mais la « justice » rwandaise continua cependant à s’acharner sur cette femme courageuse. Après plusieurs mois de résidence surveillée, elle fut jetée en prison, le 14 octobre 2010, pour « organisation de groupe terroriste ». Elle y croupit encore.

Paul Kagame, qui avait publiquement annoncé que sa rivale serait arrêtée, quelques jours avant qu’elle soit effectivement interpelée, n’a jamais hésité à s’impliquer directement aux côtés de l’accusation. Il a depuis lors multiplié les allégations mensongères contre cette femme bien incapable d’y répondre. Le 12 décembre dernier, lors d’une visite officielle en Ouganda, le dictateur rwandais a osé affirmer que Victoire Ingabire « avait en grande partie reconnu la plupart des accusations portées contre elle » à savoir la trahison, le terrorisme et l'idéologie du génocide. Il ajouta même que ses avocats l’avaient abandonnée, alors que cela n’était pas le cas.

Tout cela n’a pas empêché qu’en France un tapis rouge soit déroulé pour accueillir Paul Kagame, en septembre 2011. Ce dictateur rwandais n’a eu pourtant de cesse, depuis son arrivée au pouvoir, de s’en prendre justement à la France, allant jusqu’à accuser ses dirigeants et les officiers de son armée d’avoir pris une part active au génocide. Nicolas Sarkozy a-t-il évoqué le sort de la courageuse opposante rwandaise, lors de ses entretiens avec Paul Kagame ? Qu’il me soit permis d’en douter.  

Victoire Ingabire a donc passé son second Noël en prison, vêtue de l’uniforme rose que portent les prisonniers, au Rwanda. Ses partisans et ses amis ne l’ont pourtant pas oubliée. De plus en plus, ils comparent la dame de Kigali à une autre femme courageuse, Aung San Suu Kyi, connue dans le monde entier pour son combat pacifique contre une dictature tout aussi implacable. Victoire Ingabire semble faire preuve de la même détermination à rétablir l’Etat de droit et la démocratie. Comme la dame de Rangoon, elle est persuadée de venir un jour à bout de l’arbitraire et de la dictature. Souhaitons-lui de devenir la prochaine lauréate du Prix Nobel de la Paix, comme le fut Aung San Suu Kyi il y a vingt ans.

Il est sûr que pour Victoire, même au fond de sa cellule, la victoire soit certaine !  

Hervé Cheuzeville, 26 décembre 2011

(Auteur de trois livres: "Kadogo, Enfants des guerres d'Afrique centrale", l'Harmattan, 2003; "Chroniques africaines de guerres et d'espérance", Editions Persée, 2006; "Chroniques d'un ailleurs pas si lointain - Réflexions d'un humanitaire engagé", Editions Persée, 2010)

RWANDA:RNC: STRATEGIES FOR TRANSFORMING RWANDA

Theogene Rudasingwa

STRATEGY 13: Progressive Foreign Policy Based on Common Values and Interests, Adherence to International Law, and Mutual Respect Between States

Rwanda has a deplorable record of relations with the international community, in general, and its neighboring states, in particular. The Rwandan state has fueled endless and deadly conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has engaged in premeditated schemes to destabilize other states in the region. President Kagame‟s arrogant and often predatory approach to relations with Rwanda‟s neighours has undermined the efforts of the international community to bring peace and stability to the Great Lakes region.

Rwanda‟s policies towards its neighbours have also antagonized governments of the region and generated bitter hatred against people of Rwandese descent in some countries. Rwanda owes its disproportionate blame in the Great Lakes region to efforts on the part of the international community to contain Rwanda‟s aggressive posture and to dissuade Rwanda from continuing its role of a “spoiler,” ever eager to undermine regional peace, especially in the DRC. Rwanda‟s relations with states farther afield lack a principled basis. Its relationship with the West, for example, has been built on the foundation of exploiting the West‟s guilt over its failures in relation to the 1994 genocide.

Rwanda‟s policies and actions undermine peace and security in the Great Lakes region, as various United Nations reports, including the recent report on mapping of human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of Congo have demonstrated. Rwanda‟s utter disregard for international law and the sovereignty of other states, its direct aggression towards neighboring states, its sponsorship of proxy groups to wage war against legitimate governments, and President Kagame‟s gratuitous arrogance towards the leaders and peoples of nations in the Great Lakes region fuel instability, conflict and immense suffering in the region. Rwanda‟s policies towards neighboring states are also a very significant hindrance to regional economic cooperation, as well as Rwanda‟s own security and development needs. As a result of Rwanda‟s foreign policies, Rwanda is deeply isolated in the region and its relations with major development partners continue to deteriorate.

Rwanda‟s prospects for long-term stability, peace and economic prosperity require an urgent review of the foundations of its relations with the international community. Rwanda‟s security and development is best served by peace and stability and good relations with its neighbors. Rwanda‟s image as a predatory and aggressive rogue state is detrimental to the long-term interests of nations in the Great Lakes region.

The Rwanda National Congress will endeavor to promote reconciliation and harmonious relations with neighboring states – based on mutual respect and respect of the sovereignty of other states – and peace in the Great Lakes region. The RNC will seek to strengthen regional organizations in which Rwanda is a member and to enhance Rwanda‟s positive contributions to promoting regional peace and advancing economic and cultural cooperation between Rwanda and her neighbors. The RNC will support the establishment of relations with the wider international community based on shared values and interests, rather than exploitation of the guilt over the failures of other nations with regard to the 1994 genocide.

UGANDA:Museveni’s post-election Black Swan

 By Andrew M. Mwenda

Why Besigye may have a chance at the presidency and how the President risks impeachment by parliament

Two things that seemed almost impossible and improbable at the end of March this year are increasingly becoming possible and probable as the year closes. One was that Forum for Democratic Change boss Kizza Besigye would never be President of Uganda (which was my position); the other was that the NRM-dominated Parliament would never impeach President Yoweri Museveni (which was the position of my critics) because he had effective control over it. Today, both scenarios are possible and probable. Both these changes show how indeterminate the future is.

At the end of March this year, Museveni was a very confident man. He had resoundingly defeated Besigye in what was perhaps the freest, fairest and least violence-ridden presidential election ever. Yes, he raided the Treasury and spent tonnes of public money on it. However, in the wider scheme of things, better a president who buys an election than one who kills for it. Wasn’t it King Philip 11 of Macedonia (father of Alexander the Great) who saw bribery and lies as humane substitutes to slaughter?

Similarly, at the end of March, Besigye looked like a spent force; his claims that he had been cheated of victory sounded like sour grapes. He had been beaten in his northern stronghold, failed to gain ground in Buganda, lost significant ground in Teso and the entire East and made no inroads in western Uganda. He had called upon his supporters to demonstrate against electoral fraud and no one turned up.

On the other hand, Museveni had not just won by 68% (up from 58% in 2006), his NRM party also swept the Parliamentary seats. Out of 375 elected seats, NRM had won 264. Of the 43 MPs elected as independents, 39 were allied to the party. If one added UPDF representatives to NRM, the ruling party’s parliamentary majority looked overwhelming and Museveni looked as secure as ever in his position. To many observers, this was going to be Museveni’s best five year term ever.

This was the context of Uganda at the beginning of April 2011 – a demoralised and apathetic opposition; a confident and seemingly impregnable Museveni and his party. But by the end of the month, the tables had turned. Demonstrations had rocked the entire country from Kampala to Mbale, Gulu, Masaka and the president’s home district of Mbarara. Besigye had re-emerged from virtual obscurity to become the main centre of attention leading the ‘Walk to Work’ campaign. What had happened in less than two months to change everything?

The genesis of Museveni’s dilemma was the way he approached the election campaign. Suspecting that Besigye had been given a lot of money by the late Libyan President Muammar Gadaffi, Museveni raided the national Treasury for Shs 600 billion and went on a spending spree. It was the most expensive election in Uganda’s history. After the election, I was the leading proponent of the view that the president had literary bought the election.

By December 2010, Afrobarometer polls were showing Museveni with a commanding lead of 67% and throughout the election campaign, all polls reflected this constant figure. On Election Day, he got 68% – meaning that Museveni’s money had little effect on his electoral arithmetic.

However, the spending spree had powerful implications on the economy whose long-term consequences he could have underestimated and some he could not have foreseen. For example, assuming that his strategic objective was to retain power, he may have realised that in the short term this required some fiscal irresponsibility i.e. excessive spending that could cause inflation. However, once he had achieved his strategic objective, he would re-establish prudent fiscal and monetary policy, bring inflation under control and have a comfortable five years.

However, the President seems to have been hit by what Nassim Nicolas Taleb calls a Black Swan – the impact of a large and unexpected event. Immediately after the election, Uganda suffered two major external shocks – the increasing price of crude oil in international markets and the appreciation of the dollar – both of which brought with them imported inflation. Then the effects of the drought that had started in December 2010 were beginning to bite in form of high food prices – the most critical driver of inflation.

Even before Museveni could re-establish control over the economy, these developments grievously hurt our already fragile fiscal and monetary positions. Indeed, they made it difficult for Museveni to regain control over inflation in the short term. To make matters worse (as if the gods were colluding to spoil the president’s renewed mandate), the effects of these shocks were most felt by urban consumers - the constituency that is most hostile to the government but equally the most strategically positioned to make demands on the State by organising civil disobedience.

It is in this context that ‘Walk to Work’ protests began – producing the law of unintended consequences. For example, the protests initially reduced the inflow of food into Kampala City, thus making inflation worse. As the protests spread from Kampala to other towns, they scared away investors and tourists, thereby reducing the inflows of foreign exchange and thereby worsening the position of the Shilling. This in turn forced portfolio investors to begin selling off their Ugandan treasury bills and bonds, further undermining the health of the local currency.

In the midst of all these developments – a seemingly failing economy and a political process out of touch with people’s concerns – the constituencies in favour of protests grew. The teachers went on strike over poor pay. The taxi drivers followed suit over fuel prices. Then traders closed their shops protesting the increasing price of the dollar. Lawyers downed their gowns in protest against government handling of the demonstrations. Beleaguered and disoriented, the government’s response to these challenges became shabbier. For example, it began charging protesters with treason, a very ridiculous thing at that.

It is in these circumstances that Besigye regained his political relevance. Sensing a weakness, Parliament also took advantage of the situation to openly challenge the Executive using alleged corruption in oil deals as an entry point. So, if Museveni does not re-assert his authority now, Parliament may run out of control.  If this happens, it may even gain the confidence to try to impeach him. And if Besigye can rekindle the Walk to Work fire, it may give him a chance at the presidency.

amwenda@independent.co.ug

RWANDA:A STATE WITHOUT A STATESMAN

By Theogene Rudasingwa

Gen. PAUL KAGAME OF RWANDA

It was an annual event that has been erroneously baptised national dialogue. It is neither national nor even a dialogue. Paul Kagame and his RPF-a minority in a political and ethnic sense- use the occasion to harass Rwandans who are not in their ever diminishing clique, and foreigners who raise questions about Rwanda's current crisis of human rights and governance. Kagame's monologue was almost solely directed against all foreigners- mainly the United States ( whose Ambassador, Susan Rice, criticised Rwanda's lack of democracy, press freedoms and abuse of human rights) and Belgium. His list of enemies also included the usual suspects: journalists and human rights activists. It is, however, to Ambassador Rice's criticism that Kagame hurled harsh words and insults: intruder, nonsense, joker, liar, double standards, masquaraders, etc.

Kagame's speech is very hard to analyse. In the past I have worked very hard to help President Kagame with his speeches, both on the content aspects, as well as on the delivery side. He proved to be a very poor student, even at the hands of people with more expertise than mine. I was visiting friends this weekend when somebody tried to convince me to listen to his latest speech. I was hesitant, for I have generally stopped reading or listening to Kagame's speeches. He lies a lot. He has no respect for Rwandans. For the many problems that Rwanda has, he is either the source,complicates them, or has no solutions to offer. I succumbed to my friend's pressure and went through the agony of listening to thirty minutes of a very painful reminder that Rwanda has become a state without a statesman.

First, his poverty of ideas comes out loud and clear. Listening to him, at some point I thought I was listening to a re-incarnated Idi Amin. He wonders whether Rwandans are deaf, they have nothing to say, or somebody prevents from speaking. Then he jumps to the late King Mutara Rudahigwa. Then to Africa and the begging business. On an and on..In psychiatry, they call it a "fleeting of ideas", typical of states in which a patient has both grand delusions of themselves, and paranoia that every one is out against them, and ideas that seem not to have coonections.

Second, his lies, deceptions and denials are all too evident. He attempts to rally people around himself by using , genocide, Bagosora, and the failures of the international community. He pretends that he does not know how the same international community he now insults ( especially the USA and UK) has protected him from accountabillity for war crimes, crimes against humanity ( UN Mapping Report), terrorism ( shooting down the Habyarimana plane, ). Otherwise, by now Kagame would be languishing in jail, alongside Bagosora. His remarks are calculated to once again intimidate the international community, now that there is a fresh and irresistible momentum to have him account for his crimes.

Third, his sense of frustration and anger comes through in form of harsh words and insults. We know this type of behaviour from ourselves or our children when caught red-handed. But Kagame's is a special case. Rwandans and foreigners need to understand that Kagame's mindset is that of serial killer and mass murderer, and stop dealing with him as a normal rational being. He is self-absorbed in a world of his own, and the entire Rwandan system re-enforces a distorted image of himself. The emperor is naked, but the clapping multitudes keep on telling him he is wonderfully made and dressed. Kagame is a like a reckless driver on a high way, driving in the opposite direction to the traffic. He is overspeeding, his passengers ( the hostages) hold their breath but still smile and clap. Other drivers are wondering what is going on, as the police scramble to stop the mad driver. Over loudspeakers mounted on the Rwanda bus, he asks, "we ni nani?" "who are you?"

In history and in modern times, effective statesmen do three things. When they are born and forged in difficult times, they help their fellow citizens to overcome fear. They accomplish this, by combining a sufficient dose of tension so that people act out their comfort zones, but making sure they are not paralysed by fear. Second, a statesman embodies the hope of a people, of a whole nation. Without such a hope, without such a vision, people perish ( in kinyarwanda, bapfa bahagaze). Last, and most importantly, the statesman is large-hearted, to accomodate all his/her people/ nation with their faults and strengths.

President Kagame is no such statesman. He has subjected the whole nation of Rwanda, Rwanda's neighbors, and the international community to fear. He is a mean-spirited man who takes pride in killing and dividing Rwandans. Concluding his monologue, Kagame said he has never been vague in his life, " what you see is what you get". In short, he is telling us , "you can die, be fearful, hopeless, languish in jails and exile....I do not give a damn..who are you??".

Bismarck, the German Chancellor of "blood and iron" who unified Germany is quoted to have stated that statesmanship consisted of listening carefully to the footsteps of God through history and walking with him a few steps of the way. Kagame has neither the humility nor the capability to listen to to God's footsteps, nor to walk with Him even one step in the right direction.

Now that Kagame is against Rwandans, foreigners and God , who is for him? His speech will be counted among his worst and last, and surely a signal that for him and us, the final countdown to the end has begun.

RWANDA: The Gersony Report: Another evidence of the UN/USA Cover-up machinery of the RPF human actrocities

The Gersony Report: It’s Findings and more.

(by the World News Journal)
In 1994, as the UNHCR and the U.S. Embassy in Kigali encouraged Rwandan Hutu refugees to come back to Rwanda, reports of wide scale massacres emanated out of the countryside. The UNHCR appointed a team (led by Robert Gersony) to investigate. This team was unique because it was the only team that was allowed to travel freely though the country without RPA escorts. They visited 41 communes and 9 refugee camps to collect evidence. In the report on his findings, Mr. Gersony states he believes that the RPA committed genocide against Hutu in Kibungo, Butare, and parts of Kigali and between early April to mid-September 1994, the RPF killed between 25,000-45,000 Rwandans, both Hutu and Tutsi. At times, Hutu prisoners were used as slave labor to dig the mass graves and dump the bodies in.
The report was so damaging to the UNHCR, RPF and UNAMIR that UN officials covered it up in October 1994, despite the fact UNHCR officials on the ground (on the order of UNHCR head Ms. Sagato Ogata) stopped encouraging Rwandan Hutu refugees to return to Rwanda because of the killings, as reported in the New York Times at the end of September.

Mr. Gersony was instructed never to talk about it publicly.
The public would even be told in later years that the report never existed. In her book “The Turbulent Decade,”  Ms. Ogata describes Gersony “formalizing his report for presentation to the commision of experts” on October 11, 1994. In his recent book on the Congo, Mr. Gerard Prunier said Kofi Annan told then VP Kagame, the late Seth Sendashonga (then Interior Minister), PM Faustin Twagiramungu, and President Pasteur Bizimungu the UN would withhold the report to allow the RPF government time to consolidate after providing them with a copy of the report.
The report made its way to the UN Commission of Experts on Human Rights via then UN Secretary General Boutros-Boutros Ghali. Mr. Gersony briefed the commission in Geneva. However, they inexplicably basically dismissed the report (pg. 15). Mr. Gersony later allegedly told Mr. Prunier during a meeting with him that he had never written a “fully developed version” of his findings because he knew they would not be published. Instead, he had only “field notes” in “documentary form.” (pg. 466) When Alison des Forges made several requests to the UN for the report, she was told the report didn’t exist.
The report was also potentially damaging to the United States, a strong supporter of the new Rwandan government. As described by Mr. Prunier in his book, then Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs Timothy Wirth was given orders by the State Department to discredit the report. Mr. Wirth travelled to Kigali and several places in New York, spreading disinformation by attacking Gersony’s methodology and claiming it was a “Hutu conspiracy.” He also delivered carefully crafted propagandic press statements. (pg. 31)
Though a physical report itself has proven to be very elusive and, as noted above, some claim it doesn’t exist, a cable from Mr. Shaharyar Kahn to UN HQ in New York gives the findings and is available below. Mr. Gersony and his team subjectively concluded from the investigation that the RPA committed genocide against the Hutu. The cable also shows Kofi Annan (then Under Secretary General for Peacekeeping) and Mrs. Sagato Ogata, head of the UNHCR, expressing their concern if the report were to be released publicly. According to Mr. Kahn, he and Mr. Annan later concluded that RPA massacres did occur, but they were not genocide, contradicting the findings of Mr. Gersony, a seasoned investigator.
Cable 1: (Gersony Cable)
The second cable is from Refugees International, who had a station across the Tanzanian-Rwandan border. It describes in detail some of the RPF massacres and served as input for the Gersony Report.
Cable 2: (Refugees International)
A very special thanks to Canadian Barrister and ICTR defense counsel Chris Black for providing these documents. References to Mr. Pruiner’s book do not necessarily constitute an endorsement of his book. — WNJ

RWANDA:Rwandans criticise Arusha court for failing to punish former RPF soldiers for crimes against humanity committed in 1994

Adapted from the UMUVUGIZINEWSPAPER

For some time, Umuvugizi.com has been carrying out investigations on how the international criminal court for Rwanda based in Arusha Tanzania works and how Rwandans judge it. The Rwandans interviewed said the court did not fully do its job in that it only prosecuted genocide suspects and exonerated former RPF soldiers who are also alleged of having committed serious crimes against humanity in the same period .
 Rugumaho Benoit lives in Sweden, says the court failed to fulfill its mandate as in accordance to the UN resolution no. 955 which called for punishing all crimes committed between January 1st, and December 31st 1994.
 “Up to today that court has only managed to arrest and prosecute those accused of genocide but failed to punish other Rwandans who committed the different crimes against humanity during the stipulated period” Rugumaho said.

 Rugumaho argued that besides that court failing to prosecute the former RPF fighters suspected of committing crimes during the period, it also failed to investigate into the downing of the plane that carried Presidents Habyarimana of Rwanda and Ntaryamira of Burundi. He is worried of the court’s closure of duties without bringing to justice those who committed such terrorist action of shooting down that plane which was carrying two presidents and had french nationals at the board.
  Innocent Mpambara who also lives in Sweden said that while the  Arusha court tried to prosecute those suspected of committing the genocide, it however failed to handle both sides of the conflict as expected.
“The Arusha court has failed to arrest and prosecute anyone of the former RPF soldiers accused of committing crimes during the same period ,” Mpambara said.

According to Musangamfura Sixbert who lives in Finland says the Arusha court did not provide justice, it only punished those suspected of committing genocide but failed to punish the other side of the conflict which comprised of the RPF fighters who were also involved in the killings and other related crimes.
  “The UN decided not to put the court in Kigali in order to allow its independence from the Rwandan government but it is shocking how the ICTR is considering transferring remaining cases to Rwanda to be handled by the same government that the UN feared its influence because some of it’s officials are also accused of having committed related crimes . The court should not have decided to transfer those accused of genocide crimes to Rwanda where the international human rights groups have also continued to criticise the operation of the judiciary which proves that it is not independent,” Musangamfura explains.

Karekezi Francois who lives in Belgium told us that up to now Rwandans wonders why the Arusha tribunal managed to only punish genocide crimes but failed to punish other Rwandans who committed other crimes against humanity.
Karekezi strongly urged ICTR to continue with the case file opened by judge Carla Delponte, which had investigated and recommended that such serious crimes against humanity committed by former RPF fighters sould be punished , as the only way to reconcile and unite Rwandans.


Johnson, Europe.

RWANDA:Zuckerberg watangije Facebook yishimisha ku mugongo w’imbogo

Hashize 2 days Iyi nkuru yanditswe. Yashyizweho kuwa 27/12/2011 . Yashyizwe ku rubuga na umuseke1   ·   Ibitekerezo 2 Mark Zuckerberg watangije urubuga ruzwi cyane rwa facebook, yagaragaye aryoherwa no kugenda ku mugongo wa rwarikamavubi mu gihugu cya Vietnam, aho yari ku munsi ukurikira Noheli bita Boxing Day

Mark Zuckerberg ari kwishimisha ku mugongo wa rwarikamavubi

Yari mu misozi yo mu cyaro cya Vietnam aho umworozi muri ako gace yamufashaga kwishimisha ku mugongo w’imbogo imenyeranye n’abantu.
Uyu muherwe washinze ruriya rubuga mpuzambaga, yahisemo kujya kwishimira impera z’umwaka muri Vietnam, igihugu Facebook yafunzwe (itemewe gukoreshwa) n’ubuyobozi bwa gikomunisiti (communist) buyoboye Vietnam.
Zuckerberg yajyanye n’umukobwa bakundana Priscilla Chan, n’izindi nshuti, bageze i Hanoi, umurwa mukuru wa Vietnam, tariki 22 Ukuboza, bakaba nubu ariho bibereye.
Nubwo umuvugizi w’uyu musore yavuze ko uruzinduko rwe rugamije kwishimisha gusa, hari abemeza ko Zuckerberg yagiye muri Vietnam kwerekana ko Facebook ntacyo yatwara baramutse baretse igakoreshwa na rubanda rwaho.

Zuckerberg n'umworozi wamufashaga kugenda ku mugongo w'icyo gikoko

Mark Zuckerberg, 27, ni umunyamerika w’inkomoko muri Israel, mu 2004 yiga muri Kaminuza ya Havard, yafunguye urubuga rwa Facebook ruza kumenyekana ku isi yose. Ubu nirwo rubuga rwa kabiri rusurwa n’abantu benshi ku isi nyuma ya Google.
Bitangira, Zuckerberg yafunguye urubuga ruto yise “Facemash”,  rwari rugamije gutora umuntu usa neza uhereye ku mafoto aho muri Kaminuza.
Uru rubuga rwamaze icyumweru kimwe gusa kuko ubuyobozi bwa Havard bwahise burufunga bitewe n’uko rwatezaga ibibazo kuri “Server” za Kaminuza kubera gusurwa cyane. Zuckerberg yategetswe gusaba imbabazi muruhame, arabikora.
Umuhungu ntiyashizwe, tariki ya 4 Gashyantare  2004, mu cyumba cye cyo kuraramo muri Havard, yakoze urubuga yise “Facebook”, igitangira yari iya Kaminuza ya Havard gusa, nyuma ayikwirakwiza mu zindi Kaminuza zikomeye nka Stanford, Columbia, New York University, Cornell, Yale n’izindi bityo bityo kugeza ikwiye hose ku Isi, n’i Rwanda.
Kubera igikorwa cye gihuza benshi, uyu munsi, umutungo wa Mark Elliot Zuckerberg urabarirwa muri Miliyari 17.5 z’amadorari (17.5$ Billion).

Zuckerberg iburyo yungurana ibitekerezo na President Obama

Source: Thesun, Photos: Internet
Plaisir MUZOGEYE
UMUSEKE.COM

RWANDA:Icyo umukobwa wa Ingabire Victoire avuga ku rubanza rwa nyina

Hashize 2 days Iyi nkuru yanditswe. Yashyizweho kuwa 27/12/2011 . Yashyizwe ku rubuga na umuseke1   ·   Ibitekerezo 20 Raissa Ujeneza, umukobwa wa Ingabire Victoire, muri iyi minsi y’impera z’umwaka yaganiriye na Radio yitwa AfrobeatRadio ikorera i New York muri Leta Zunze Ubumwe za Amerika, agira icyo atangaza ku rubanza rw’umubyeyi we ufungiye mu Rwanda.

Raissa Ujeneza na Ingabire Victoire mu 2010

Ujeneza yatangaje ko ibyaha nyina umubyara ashinjwa byo gukorana n’umutwe w’iterabwoba, gukwirakwiza ibihuha, gutanya abanyarwanda yifashishije amoko no guhamagarira abantu kwanga Leta iriho atari byo.
Uyu mukobwa wa Ingabire wiga amategeko mpuzamahanga n’ay’Uburayi muri Kaminuza ya La Haye mu Ubuholandi, yavuze ko amakuru afite ku rubanza rwa Ingabire ari uko ubu ategereje kongera kuburanishwa kuko urubanza rwe rwasubitswe. Akaba yavuze ko atarongera kuvugana na nyina kuva yafungwa mu Ukwakira umwaka ushize.
Ujeneza yavuze ko we na basaza be babiri na se bandikira nyina, ariko batabasha kumwandikira ibyihariye (privé) kuko inzandiko zabo zibanza guca ku bashinzwe kurinda gereza afungiyemo.
Raissa Ujeneza yavuze ko babajwe cyane no kuba ibyo ababuranira Ingabire basabye ko yarekurwa byagateganyo akajya kwizihiza Noheli n’umuryango we mu Ubuholandi, byaje kwangwa n’urukiko. Yatangarije iyi Radio ko yumva afite ikizere ko nyina azarekurwa kuko ibyo aregwa atari ukuri.
Raissa kandi yatangaje ko musaza we Riszt Shimwa w’imyaka 9, amaze kumenyera kutaba kumwe na nyina, kandi azi neza ibyabaye, nubwo ngo ku myaka ye adahita abyiyumvisha.
Uyu mukobwa w’imfura ya Ingabire Victoire, akaba yavuze ko yumva Umuryango mpuzamahanga ukwiye gushyira igitutu kuri Leta y’u Rwanda kugira ngo mama we arekurwe.
Urubanza rwa Victoire Ingabire rukaba rwarasubitswe kugirango inzandiko zaturutse mu Ubuholandi zitanzwe n’inzego z’iperereza zaho ku byakorwaga na Ingabire igihe yari muri icyo gihugu, zibanze zishyirwe mu ndimi zikoreshwa mu nkiko z’u Rwanda, zivanwa mu kidage.
Urubanza rukazasubukurwa tariki 16 Mutarama 2012.
Jean Paul Gashumba
UMUSEKE.COM

RWANDA:Made in Rwanda: Un label identitaire complexe

 Par Jambonews Gisèle Nurukundo1

Natacha 17 ans, entrain de preparer un plat typique appris par sa maman: Imvange

Qu’est-ce qu’être un rwandais pour les jeunes nés entre 1989 et 1994 et ayant quitté le pays après les événements tragiques de 1994? Ils ont aujourd’hui entre 17 et 22 ans, entre adolescence et âge adulte. Comment ces jeunes définissent-ils leur identité culturelle rwandaise alors qu’ils n’ont pas grandi au « pays ». Selon Erickson, psychiatre américain, l’identité est « une réalité intime, un ressenti ». Nous avons donc interrogé ces jeunes individuellement entre le 04 et 07 novembre 2011. Ils habitent en France ou en Belgique.
Les jeunes interrogés sur la question : « qui es-tu ? » ont répondu rwandais alors qu’ils ont tous  une nationalité d’un pays

d’Europe.Pour Daniel Calin, Agrégé de philosophie, écrivain et formateur d’enseignants spécialisés en France, l’identité « doit faire l’objet d’une appropriation subjective, longue et aléatoire, qui ne se consolide guère avant la fin de l’adolescence ». Wafiq 19 ans, arrivé à l’âge de 6 ans en France après avoir vécu en Allemagne, affirme s’être senti rwandais à l’âge de 17ans. En effet, c’est à ce moment où il a commencé à se poser des « questions sur son identité rwandaise ». Dès lors, il est parti à la recherche « d’attaches notamment avec l’apprentissage de la langue rwandaise : le Kinyarwanda, de souvenirs des parents sur le Rwanda ».
Lors d’un débat tenu à l’institut Montaigne le 04 décembre 2010 sur la question : qu’est-ce qu’être français ?, Roger Paul Droit,
philosophe, revient sur la définition donnée par Aristote qui consiste à dire « qu’une chose n’est pas différente d’elle-même en dépit de ce qui arrive ». C’est à dire que l’identité est quelque chose de statique. Hors, Roger Paul Droit émet une autre opinion, d’après lui «  l’identité est du côté du devenir et non de l’être » en effet c’est une « construction ». Ainsi l’identité n’est pas figée, elle se construit à mesure que le contexte change.
Néanmoins, Inès 18 ans, arrivée en France à l’âge de 4ans se dit être rwandaise depuis toujours. À la question : qu’est-ce qu’être une rwandaise, elle répond « Être une Rwandaise c’est d’abord être née au Rwanda, communiquer avec sa famille en Kinyarwanda essentiellement ou en français pour les plus jeunes et respecter ses valeurs, sa culture et ses parents». Anissa, 17 ans, répond simplement par « être rwandais c’est avoir des parents rwandais », cependant elle avoue vivre une certaine confusion quant à son identité.
​La plupart de ces jeunes sont intégrés dans leur pays d’accueil et vivent une biculture. Il s’agit alors de trouver un équilibre, de négocier si l’on reprend l’idée développée par l’article « Cultural identity formation in multicultural contexts »* de Jean S. Phinney, professeur en psychologie.  Leur identité culturelle est née d’un héritage, non seulement, transmis par la famille mais aussi développé par leur seule volonté. De cet éloignement géographique et culturel est née une source d’affirmation. On la voit surtout dans les expressions culturelles rwandaises comme la danse où beaucoup de jeunes entre 17 et 22 ans ont su s’approprier cette partie de leur identité. Elle s’exprime également par la pratique du Kinyarwanda mais aussi dans les comportements de tous les jours.

Ange et Christelle, lors d'un mariage traditionel le 14 février 2010

L’une des raisons pour laquelle ces jeunes répondent tous être rwandais peut s’expliquer par une différenciation de fait. Être noir, dans les pays d’Europe, renvoie immédiatement à un ailleurs. Le « d’où je viens ? » est une question inévitable. La société dans laquelle ils vivent les identifie par leur origine. Lorsque l’on pose à ces jeunes la question de «  qui es-tu ? » la réponse attendue doit faire référence à une contrée lointaine : « personne ne s’attend à ce que l’on dise que je suis française » affirme Hyacinthe, 22ans. Ainsi, l’identité ne peut s’éloigner de l’histoire, ne dit-on pas en Afrique qu’ «  un tronc d’arbre à beau séjourner dans le fleuve, il ne se transformera jamais en crocodile » ?
Malgré une revendication de leur identité rwandaise, Inès et Warda 21ans, se disent également métissées et partagées entre leur culture rwandaise et celle de leur pays d’accueil. La notion d’identité est  « un mot valise ». À la question : « qu’est-ce que ne pas être rwandais ? » on serait tenté de répondre que l’identité culturelle rwandaise s’arrête lorsque l’autre identité dans laquelle on a grandi commence.
Ils emploient aussi le mot « blédard », lorsqu’ils veulent désigner les personnes « fraîchement » arrivées et ayant des caractéristiques d’un Rwandais typique « sans escale ». Chacun se construit sa propre définition face à cette notion complexe.  De la même façon que certains de ces jeunes qui se sont rendus au Rwanda en 2009 sont perçus là-bas comme « abanyarwanda b’abazungu » c’est à dire des rwandais blancs. Pour ces jeunes, être nés au Rwanda, avoir grandi en Europe leur donne « une identité particulière ». En effet, le plus souvent, il y a une partie du Rwanda qui leur échappe. Ils ne connaissent ni le paysage rwandais, ni le vocabulaire des parents, encore moins la famille restée là-bas. Ainsi ils s’adaptent selon l’environnement. À la maison, la culture est omniprésente par les plats, la langue, la décoration «  ibiseke », tout ce qui rappelle le Rwanda.
Lorsqu’ils côtoient la diaspora rwandaise notamment lors de fêtes comme les mariages, les baptêmes ou autres rassemblements, c’est leur identité qui devient instable. Certains de ces jeunes avouent ne pas se « sentir à l’aise ». En effet ils se mélangent à d’autres rwandais ayant une pratique des coutumes, de la langue, des rites rwandais beaucoup plus développée que la leur. Cela s’explique notamment par une immigration plus tardive, ils ont pu se référer à une seule et unique culture.Le Rwanda reste encore « incompris » par ces jeunes du fait de son Histoire. Ils avouent soit ne pas se sentir « concernés » ou ont « du mal à comprendre les problématiques du Rwanda surtout sur la question ethnique ». Toutefois, l’envie de voir le Rwanda reste forte et se ressent dans leur discours. En attendant, ils se contentent du « Petit Rwanda » : la Belgique. Aller en Belgique est devenu comme aller au « village » du fait de l’importante concentration de la population rwandaise dans ce pays qui fut chargée de la tutelle sur le Rwanda. « On est sur de croiser au moins un Rwandais dans les transports » nous confie Nadine, 20ans.
Au final, le label « Made in Rwanda » n’est pas normalisable. Il est revendiqué selon les contextes, il dépend des attentes de ces jeunes ainsi que de la place du Rwanda au sein de la famille. L’identité culturelle de la diaspora rwandaise en général est  facteur de son Histoire, des raisons de sa migration, des relations entre le pays d’accueil et celui d’origine.
Gisèle Nurukundo1
1)Lauréate de la catégorie « Articles écrits » lors de la première édition du Concours webjournalisme du 25 novembre 2011, organisé par l’ASBL Jambo, grâce à cet article désigné meilleur article du Concours par le jury.

Profitez et partagez avec vos amis:

RWANDA:Dr Ndahiro azize amacenga ya Dr Hagengimana

Dr Ndahiro azize amacenga ya Dr Hagengimana

By Starnews and Kayitate

Amakuru dukesha abantu bizewe bari mu nzego z’ubutasi za Kagame atumenyesha ko uwahoze ari maneko mukuru wa Kagame ariwe Dr Emmanuel Ndahiro amaze guta umutwe aho uwari wamwemereye kumufasha kubona akazi muri OMS izwi no ku izina rya WHO (World Health Organsiation) ariwe Dr Athanase Hagengimana aherutse kumubwira ko bitagishobotse, kuva aho inzego z’umutekano z’Ubwongereza zamuhagaritse kuzongera gukoza ikirenge muri icyo gihugu.
Dr Ndahiro (kuri iyi foto) mugihirahiro
Dr Hagengimana avuga ko abongereza bamenyesheje icyo cyemezo ibindi bihugu harimo n’umuryango wabibubye (UN). Ngo kubera izo mpamvu Dr Ndahiro nta kazi ashobora kubona muri OMS. Ariko Dr Hagengimana abwira inshuti ze ko ar ibyo yitwaje, kugirango Dr Ndahiro adakomeza kumubaza aho iby’akazi ke bigeze  kandi ntacyo mu by’ukuri yabasha kubimufashaho. Dr Ndahiro uburakari ngo afite ni uko ari uburyo yari abonye, kandi yali afitiye icyizere bwo kuva mu Rwanda akajya gukora akazi hanze kameze neza, dore ko abona iby’utegetsi bwa Kagame biri gukendera, akaba adashaka kugwana na bwo.
Uwo Dr Hagengimana ukora muri OMS i Geneve aho ashinzwe gukemura amakimbirane muri uwo muryango, yari yaremereye Dr Ndahiro ko azamunekera hanze abanyarwanda batavuga hamwe n’ubutegetsi akajya amuha amakuru yabo, ay’ibikorwa byabo, na gahunda zabo.
Nyuma y’imyaka 3 abyemereye Dr Ndahiro, nta makuru afatika amuha, Ndahiro yamubwiye ko kamunaniye, ko ahubwo azamufunga ashobora kuba akorera abarwanya ubutegetsi.

Kubera ubwoba bwinshi, Dr Hagengimana ( ugaragara kuri iyo foto n’umugore we mushya)  yamubwiye ko adashobora gukorana n’Interahanmwe, kuko we atari n’umuhutu nkuko babikeka, ahubwo ari umututsi warezwe mu muryango w’abahutu. Ko abazwi ko ari ababyeyi be batari bo, ahubwo bamureze gusa, akaba ali ko agenda yisobanura aho agenda hose cyane cyane mu nzego z’ubutegetsi.Yanahise anasaba Dr Ndahiro kumufasha agatandukana mu mategeko n’umugore we w’umuhutu uba muri Amerika, banafitanye abana 3.  Dr Ndahiro yabimufashijemo, urukiko rwo mu Rwanda bemeza ko batandukanye, kuko uwo mugore yahunze u Rwanda akajya kwaka ubuhungiro muri America, asebya leta y’ u Rwanda.
Mu by’ukuri uwo mudamu ararengana, ubuhungiro muri Amerika bwasabwe n’uwo mugabo we Dr Hagengimana igihe yajyaga kuba muri America kwigisha. Yasobanuriye leta ya America ko ubutegetsi bwo mu Rwanda bwamufunze bumuziza ko ari umuhutu wize, ko yatanze ruswa kugira ngo avemo.  Ahubwo kuva aho Dr Hagengimana aboneye akazi muri OMS akajya i Geneve agasiga umuryango we muri America, nta kwongera kumwumenya, nta rasiyo y’abana yigeze atanga, ahubwo amafaranga ye ayamarira mu ngendo akora ajya mu Rwanda, aho ayatagaguza mu bagore, anatanga muri RPF kugira ngo bamwemere, dore ko akunda ko abantu bamwemera.
Urukiko rwo muri America rurebana n’uburenganzira bw’abana bwasabye ko Dr Hagengimana yatanga arenze  $75,000 ya rasiyo y’abana cyangwa akazafatwa agafungwa. Abo bana be bo muri Amerika ntacyo abamarira nk’umubyeyi wabo.
Mu minsi ishize Dr Hagengimana yasubiye mu Rwanda akoresha ubukwe muri Hoteli y’abaherwe yitwa Serena, aho yarongoye undi mugore w’umucika-cumu. Muri ubwo bukwe nta mwene wabo n’umwe wa Hagengimana watumiwe, kuko adashaka ko babona ko ari Abahutu. Bene nyina, n’ababyara be bose bari mu Rwanda babimenye ari uko ashyize amafoto y’ubukwe muri facebook. Ubukwe bwatwaye akayabo, ku buryo abakozibo muri Serena bakibuvuga.

Dr Ndahiro wari watumiwe ngo yahamaze igihe giko ahita yigendera. Dr Hagengimana yemereye uwo mugore we mushya ko azamujyana kuba muri Amerika ariko ntiyamubwira ibibazo ahafite. Dr Hagengimana (niwe ugaragara kuri iyo foto ku munsi w’ubukwe bwe)  avuga ko kurongora uwo mugore bizamugarurira icyizere mu butegetsi akazajya ashobora kwinjira no gusohoka nta kibazo asura abagore benshi ahafite. Dr Ndahiro yasabye za maneko ze kugenda cyane kuri Dr Hagengimana igihe cyose azaba ari mu Rwanda, ko bazaza bamubwira igihe cyose babonye ko agiye gusohoka, Dore ko iyo ari bugende atabivuga, agera hanze agahamagara akavugako ngo kukazi bamuhamagaye agahita agenda. Ikindi kandi ni uko Dr Ndahiro azi neza ukuri ku byerekeranye n’ubwoko nyabwo bwa Dr Hagengimana, na dosiye ye yo kwaka ubuhungiro muri Amerika.
Abazi neza Dr Ndahiro bemeza ko ibyo Dr Hagengimana yamubeshye yabyirengangije azabikoresha nibiba ngombwa, cyane cyane bibaye ngombwa ko amufata. Abanyarwanda bose baba hanze basabwe kwitongera uwo mugabo, dore ko afata impu nyinshi akurikije aho ari, kandi ntacyo atakorera RPF na maneko zabo kugirango agaragare neza, cyangwa kugira ngo abereke ko abashyigikiye. Ibuye ryagaragaye niriba rikishe isuka kandi murarye muri menge.

Marie J Kayitate
Acting editor – Inyenyeri News

UGANDA-RWANDA:Kagame and Museveni troubled relationship

December 28, 2011 By Starnews and Noble Murara

BEHIND THE PRESIDENTIAL CURTAINS SERIES:
For many years Paul Kagame failed to cement the historical bond created by his two senior commanders and or brothers’ president Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and Gen Fred Rwigema.
It  had been agreed between the then Commander Fred Rwigema and Commander Yoweri Museveni way back in Tanzania that  after liberating Uganda, they would carry on and help Fred liberate his own country (Rwanda) the country his parents had fled when he was only a toddler. A few years after liberating Uganda from Idi Amin Dada they continued to fight against President Milton Obote’s autocratic regime.
On this second liberation 5 years NRA struggle, Paul Kagame was introduced to Yoweri Museveni by commander Fred Rwigema who had both fought liberation wars way from Mozambique and hence he Paul Kagame becoming one of the 27 founding members.
Most young Rwandan refugees in Uganda participated in this liberation war because it was the only way to find a safer living due to their oppression by the Obote regime or as the only way to get arms and hence return to their mother land on liberation of Uganda.
Like most people know, Museveni is a man who keeps his promises the only promise he failed to keep is the term limit issue, though I will not go any further on this issue. He therefore kept his promise not only until when we evaded Rwanda but supported the war all the way through until the stopping of the Genocide.
After the liberation and stopping of the genocide, president Museveni paid his first state visit to Rwanda where he was welcomed by President Pasteur Bizimungu and vice president Paul Kagame. The relationship between Uganda and Rwanda was like a child and parent relationship. I remember we had to make people stand on the Kigali – Gatuna road from Nyakyonga to Amahoro national stadium just to show how welcoming and appreciating we RPA were.
In his words president Museveni talked about how (Moto) fire started in Mozambique to liberate the Africans and that they will continue. He continuously mentioned General Fred Rwigema as the best freedom fighter of all times in his speech along with other African freedom fighters he had worked with all the way along, including Julius Nyerere who he addresses as Mzee (elder in Swahili).
He went on to say that he was pleased to see that Paul Kagame who was a young man had grown up to develop into a leader, something (Kagame did not like). He also mentioned names of a few of our fallen and living commanders as his boys this did not sound good in Paul Kagame’s ears at all.
Although Paul Kagame was angered by his visitor’s speech and the fact that he did not praise him but instead his fallen comrade, he could not react in his usual silly manner due to the fact that Rwanda was still reliant on Uganda in many ways especially the defence. Museveni thought that Rwanda could be home to all Ugandans and Uganda to all Rwandans, during that time one could cross the borders of the two countries with no passport. This was President Museveni’s big ideas which he had extended to the creation of the East African block of countries.
However Kagame had negative feelings about the entire idea since he viewed it as being dominated by his former boss and the fact that though he was the Vice President, he saw himself as the president instead.
After helping Desire Kabila liberate Zaire, both Uganda and Rwanda continued to engage in the wars in the DRC   which later saw both countries fight two times. These endless wars have created loads of instability in the entire great lakes region. Apart from the Congolese citizens these wars fuelled hash relationships between the two presidents. Uganda on its own lost two Companies of well trained young special force Hima boys in Kisangani by the much combat experienced Rwandan troops.
Most of the commanders and troops on both sides were opposed to the actual war due to the fact that the people of Uganda and Rwanda were more or less like brothers, and actually the Rwandan army had been born off the Ugandan National Resistance Army with their commanders and comrades still serving on the other side having trained together. With such incidents and situations we lost many comrades who were opposed to the fact that they couldn’t stand the fact of fighting fellow comrades. Lt Col Rutayisire Shaban was one of the officers who opposed the battles between the two armies. He mentioned this to President Kagame and being the man he was (the first RPA spokes man) and an intellectual, Kagame didn’t like the idea so he ordered his execution by a fellow senior officer.  Gen Kayumba was among a few of the officers in Rwanda who couldn’t cope with the idea of fighting comrades.
Gen JJ Odong the then army commander of Uganda was instructed by his commander-in-chief to meet his Rwandan counterpart. I remember him meeting Gen Nyamwasa who was the army commander of Rwanda then, however on their return to their respective command headquarters, Kagame ordered his troops to carry on with the battle in Kisangani. I remember we made several visits in Uganda to meet Museveni in order to calm down the situation which had gone out of hands.
When the Congolese war finally ended, what followed was Paul Kagame’s intelligence network helping Lt Col Kyakabare and Lt Col Monday to escape the Makindye Military Prison, these two officers had been detained with serious charges however Kagame’s boys took them to Rwanda and they soon after declared war against Museveni’s government. Uganda was continuously used as a gateway for Rwandan dissidents who sought refuge in different parts of the world from their oppressive ruler Paul Kagame.
During that time Uganda also was holding numerous Rwandan dissidents who planned attacks on Rwanda, while the Rwanda government continuously planned to form armed groups that would destabilise Uganda and welcomed Colonel Muzora who had fell out with the Ugandan government.
Col Muzora was to only be found dead and dumped outside his front door after so many years in exile. However what is more disturbing is that the Ugandan intelligence service indicated that Rwanda knew about his death, and hence the relationship between the two countries depended on the two leaders (Kagame and Museveni).
A few years ago, Gen Kayumba Nyamwasa escaped Rwanda to South Africa through Uganda. On his escape, Rwandan officials contacted Ugandan officials asking them to detain him and stop him from fleeing any further, the Ugandan officials refused to arrest him and instead assisted as they believed he had a genuine cause to flee.
After Paul Kagame failed to get Kayumba back he made a phone call to Museveni and threatened that “he  Museveni should bear the consequences of not arresting criminals like Kayumba and letting them pass through his country to foreign countries”. On another occasion again Paul Kagame cautioned while making his parabolic speech that “once you live in a grass thatched hut/ house you deserve not to play with fire since it might be used to burn yourself”.
A few days after these two speeches, the Buganda Royal tombs were burnt down just to show Museveni what damage he can cause on his soil. At one point Kagame rang Museveni and mentioned to him that he knows every move of his life from what he eats to how he sleeps. This was very stressful to Museveni who in actual sense is getting aged.
It should be remembered that Kagame was the head of intelligence in Uganda for a number of years and so he knows the sensitive part of Ugandans and mostly the Buganda kingdom. This took Museveni time to convince the Ugandans on what really happened; he had to use King Ronald Muwenda Mutebi in order to calm the Baganda tribe down due to the fact that they had lost part of their ancestral history for just some ill minded politician.
Prior to that but just after Kagame’s first warnings we saw the fall of Colonel Noble Mayombo a young energetic, well learnt jubilant uprising senior officer who held various posts during his time. This distinctive officer had urged Museveni to overthrow Kagame and insert somebody else who would maintain security in the region instead of destabilising it. He was the man who planned on how Kagame’s jet can be downed, but also he is alleged to have engaged with Kabuga Felicien who is accused of assisting the interahamwe during genocide.
Col Mayombo a royal to the Tooro kingdom and a close confidant to president Museveni who had fought the Congo war was later poisoned during a meeting through a glass of water, he died of multiple organ failure after being flown to abroad for treatment in Museveni’s presidential jet. On his funeral Museveni said that he had been killed by a group of great lakes region spies who did not like peace, but stressed that he had more Mayombo’s who would continue to fight for peace in the region. Museveni had to visit the late Canon Rabwoni, Noble Mayombo’s father and the entire Tooro kingdom with very little answers since he was still in shock of what Kagame was capable of doing on his soil from as far as Kigali. It should be however noted that Museveni had never underrated the capabilities of Kagame in Uganda due to his knowledge and influence in the country.
These killings, love hate relationship has been going on all these years. Paul Kagame is at present very uncomfortable and he is trying any possible ways of stopping Uganda from sponsoring any opponent against him.
He has at recent used Andrew Mwenda the greedy Ugandan journalist who was paid to publicise Kagame on the globe to revive his relationship with his former boss Museveni forgetting the uncountable Ugandan troop he has ordered for their execution in the jungles of Kisangani and the entire Congo under the command of Gen Kazini a man he personally had hated before he left Uganda in the 1990s.
Kagame has out of desperation used Gen Karenzi Karake who served in Museveni’s protection unit before the Rwandan struggle to try and revive his relationship with Museveni despite of the fact the later was detained without trial for allegedly aiding the escape of his colleague Gen Kayumba.  After failing on all fronts, Kagame has recently asked his wife to jet in Uganda and try desperately and revive the long lost relationship thus carrying her entire family to a brother that he has hurt for such a long time Museveni, to try and attract some sympathy.
I am however left to wonder how long this unfounded relationship will last given the fact of all the preceding incidents that took lives of young men and women of both countries. It is evident how shallow president Kagame thinks his people are and belief that they shall forget and move on but i highly wonder if Ugandans will be able to forget the notoriety they faced by Kagame and his forces in the Congo just because he has visited Museveni two times in the last 2 months.
Kagame’s Christmas visits are long due. He should have done 17 years ago and hence avoided the Kisangani incidents saving lives of innocent comrades rather than turning up at this time as if nothing ever happened. This is common to him anyway. He is a type of a person who would sleep on one’s door step if he is desperate for any assistance and once he gets it, he would use any possible means to harm the same person that helped him.
President Museveni on the other hand is an ailing dude who is desperate to not cause any conflict to any of his neighbours let alone wild Kagame who he knows so well. To Museveni he is like a mad dog that you are happy not to annoy to save yourself from its bitter bites to save your skin for tomorrow. Yoweri Museveni and his brother General Salim Saleh Akandwanaho have kept their promises when it comes to helping Rwanda, just for the sake of the agreement they had with General Fred Rwigyema. It has been a hard time for the last couple of years after Kagame stopped Fred’s wife Jeannette Rwigyema from travelling and confiscating her passport. This angered Salim Saleh who was very close to the family of Fred, among the reasons why Museveni started engaging with Kagame was to diffuse his anger of mistreating his former commander’s wife Fred Rwigyema.
Noble Marar

RWANDA:Victoire Ingabire, la courageuse dame de Kigali

Victoire Ingabire, la courageuse dame de Kigali

Submitted by cheuzeville on 26/12/2011 – 1:45 pm3 Comments | 187 views

Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza est une femme rwandaise de 43 ans, mère de trois enfants. Elle vient de passer son deuxième Noël consécutif dans une geôle du Rwanda. Son procès est en cours, à Kigali. Son crime ? Celui d’avoir osé défier le pouvoir sans partage de l’homme implacable qui préside aux destinées de ce petit pays d’Afrique centrale depuis la fin de l’épouvantable guerre qu’il avait lui-même déclenché. Cet homme, on l’aura compris, c’est le général-président Paul Kagame, responsable en outre de deux guerres d’invasion et de pillages qui firent des millions de morts dans le grand pays voisin, le Congo/Zaïre.

Victoire aurait pu continuer à vivre tranquillement aux Pays-Bas, où elle fit ses études supérieures et où elle menait une brillante carrière au sein d’une grande société. Cependant, même loin de son pays natal, elle se souciait de la situation qui y prévalait. Elle s’est engagée au sein de l’opposition à la dictature, très active au sein de la diaspora rwandaise. En avril 2006, elle fut élue présidente du Front Démocratique Uni, une plateforme rassemblant tous les mouvements opposés au régime de Kagame et de son Front Patriotique Rwandais. Cet engagement politique croissant l’amena à démissionner de son poste pour tenter d’aller mener le combat pour la démocratie au Rwanda même. Ce retour à Kigali, en janvier 2010, après seize années d’exil, marqua le début d’un harcèlement incessant qui tourna à la persécution et qui la conduisit finalement en prison. Quelques jours après son arrivée, elle se rendit au mémorial du génocide, ou elle demanda que tous les perpétrateurs de crimes de masse soient traduits en justice, y compris ceux appartenant au pouvoir actuel. Elle osa en outre revendiquer le droit à la mémoire pour toutes les victimes du génocide. Cela lui valut une première arrestation, avant d’être libérée le lendemain, tout en étant placée sous contrôle judiciaire, avec interdiction de quitter la capitale. Une campagne fut aussitôt lancée contre elle, l’accusant de « négationnisme » et de « divisionnisme ». Elle ne se laissa pas intimider pour autant et poursuivit sa tentative pour se présenter en candidate d’opposition aux élections présidentielles d’août 2010.

Sans doute avait-elle sous-estimé la nature profondément liberticide du régime de Kagame. Le dictateur ne pouvait en aucun cas tolérer une opposition véritable et encore moins une voix remettant en cause la version officielle de la tragique histoire récente du pays. Pourtant, Victoire Ingabire ne pouvait pas ignorer le sort réservé aux dissidents et aux opposants. Combien d’hommes politiques n’ont-ils pas été liquidés par les tueurs de Kagame, tant à l’intérieur qu’à l’extérieur du pays, depuis 1994 ? Combien ont été arrêtés et emprisonnés, sous l’habituelle accusation de négationnisme ou de divisionnisme ? Combien d’étrangers, devenus des témoins gênants, ont payé de leur vie le fait d’en savoir trop sur ce régime, et d’avoir tenté d’informer le monde ? Je pense en particulier à tous ces missionnaires assassinés par les agents du pouvoir. Se souvient-on du père Claude Simard, tué dans la nuit du 17 au 18 octobre 1994, ou de son compatriote le père Guy Pinard, abattu alors qu’il célébrait la messe, sous le regard horrifié de ses paroissiens, le 2 février 1997 ? Ce missionnaire québécois avait eu le tort de connaître la vérité sur l’assassinat de trois humanitaires espagnols de Médecins du Monde, ainsi que sur le massacre de 80 habitants du village où il œuvrait. Je pense également au père Vijeko Kuric, franciscain croate tué de sept balles, en pleine rue, le 31 janvier 1998, et à tant d’autres encore.  Ces religieux étrangers connaissant parfaitement la langue de leurs ouailles sont considérés avec suspicion par le dictateur Kagame.

Si des étrangers peuvent être ainsi supprimés, dans l’impunité la plus totale, Victoire Ingabire devait être consciente des risques qu’elle prenait, en tant que Rwandaise rentrant d’exil pour défier le général-président.  Sa candidature à l’élection présidentielle ne fut pas validée, mais la « justice » rwandaise continua cependant à s’acharner sur cette femme courageuse. Après plusieurs mois de résidence surveillée, elle fut jetée en prison, le 14 octobre 2010, pour « organisation de groupe terroriste ». Elle y croupit encore.

Paul Kagame, qui avait publiquement annoncé que sa rivale serait arrêtée, quelques jours avant qu’elle soit effectivement interpelée, n’a jamais hésité à s’impliquer directement aux côtés de l’accusation. Il a depuis lors multiplié les allégations mensongères contre cette femme bien incapable d’y répondre. Le 12 décembre dernier, lors d’une visite officielle en Ouganda, le dictateur rwandais a osé affirmer que Victoire Ingabire « avait en grande partie reconnu la plupart des accusations portées contre elle » à savoir la trahison, le terrorisme et l’idéologie du génocide. Il ajouta même que ses avocats l’avaient abandonnée, alors que cela n’était pas le cas.

Tout cela n’a pas empêché qu’en France un tapis rouge soit déroulé pour accueillir Paul Kagame, en septembre 2011. Ce dictateur rwandais n’a eu pourtant de cesse, depuis son arrivée au pouvoir, de s’en prendre à justement à la France, allant jusqu’à accuser ses dirigeants et les officiers de son armée d’avoir pris une part active au génocide. Nicolas Sarkozy a-t-il évoqué le sort de la courageuse opposante rwandaise, lors de ses entretiens avec Paul Kagame ? Qu’il me soit permis d’en douter.

Victoire Ingabire a donc passé son second Noël en prison, vêtue de l’uniforme rose que portent les prisonniers, au Rwanda. Ses partisans et ses amis ne l’ont pourtant pas oubliée. De plus en plus, ils comparent la dame de Kigali à une autre femme courageuse, Aung San Suu Kyi, connue dans le monde entier pour son combat pacifique contre une dictature tout aussi implacable. Victoire Ingabire semble faire preuve de la même détermination à rétablir l’Etat de droit et la démocratie. Comme la dame de Rangoon, elle est persuadée de venir un jour à bout de l’arbitraire et de la dictature. Souhaitons-lui de devenir la prochaine lauréate du Prix Nobel de la Paix, comme le fut Aung San Suu Kyi il y a vingt ans.

Il est sûr que pour Victoire, même au fond de sa cellule, la victoire soit certaine !

Hervé Cheuzeville, 26 décembre 2011
(Auteur de trois livres: “Kadogo, Enfants des guerres d’Afrique centrale“, l’Harmattan, 2003; “Chroniques africaines de guerres et d’espérance“, Editions Persée, 2006; “Chroniques d’un ailleurs pas si lointain – Réflexions d’un humanitaire engagé“, Editions Persée, 2010)

3 Comments »

• ROBARDEY says:

  27/12/2011 at 8:12 am

  Parmi les premiers étrangers à avoir été exécutés par le FPR parce qu’ils en savaient trop figurent les adjudants-chefs Maier et Didot ainsi que Gilda DIDOT,l’épouse du second. Ils ont été assassinés tous les trois le 7 avril 1994 à Kigali parce qu’ils étaient en situation d’avoir vu ce qui s’était passé au CND – le cantonnement des troups de Kagame – dans les jours et les heures qui ont précédé l’attentat du 6 avril 94.
  Cet attentat a couté la vie aux présidents du Rwanda et du Burundi et, ayant été le déclencheur du génocide, a permis la victoire totale du FPR. Il a vraisemblablement été préparé au CND et ces trois français dont la villa surplombait ce cantonnement avaient très probablement vu ce qu’il aurait fallu ne pas voir…….
  

  Reply to this comment »
• J.D. Rugomboka says:

  27/12/2011 at 8:46 pm

  Cet article est bien complet, Cette dame est courageuse et elle une inspiration de la liberte pour la nouvelle generation rwandaise. Elle une democrate chevronnee sauf qu’elle est enface d’un pouvoir subterfuge. Malgre cela elle a fait un travail colossal pour le peu de temps qu’elle a eu l’occasion de s’adresser aux rwandais.
  Elle merite effectivement la medaille de la paix au niveau mondial.
  

  Reply to this comment »
• KAYINAMURA says:

  27/12/2011 at 11:29 pm

  Totalement d’accord avec l’auteur de cet article. Prenez le temps de regarder cette video sur Mme Ingabire Victoire,l’Aung San Suu Kyi Rwandaise et le général président Kagame qui ressemble de plus en plus à Idi Amini, L’ex dictateur Ugandais.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubrx3-7Q-DM&feature=player_embedded
  

  Reply to this comment »

Leave a comment!

Add your comment below, or trackback from your own site. You can also subscribe to these comments via RSS.
Be nice. Keep it clean. Stay on topic. No spam.