The World Will Sooner Or Later Discover We Are Killers, Liars, And Corrupt – Kagame

In an extraordinary speech delivered at the end of the 2017 National Leadership Retreat, Rwanda president, Paul Kagame was merciless with his words. Not merciless towards his real or perceived political enemies but towards his own government. Kagame said that sooner or later, the world will see the lies his government has been spreading about security, and socioeconomic development. In Kagame’s own words:
“You can not keep telling lies and get away with it…When you say you eradicated poverty, it will find you on your doorsteps and you have nowhere to hide…Our ambassadors spread stories in Japan, China, Europe and America that we are in Rwanda enjoying peace and security to the fullest. But when these people visit Rwanda, they read that people are scared of going out at night because their chances of getting to their destination is 50%; they may disappear or get killed…”
According to the Rwandan president, the world will soon discover that:

• People are killed or simply disappear in Rwanda – and yet the government is always boasting of high security in the country.
• Hunger is ravaging Rwanda – and yet the government boasts of improved conditions in the country.
• Poverty claims lives prematurely – people barely live beyond 40 years, but yet government boasts of prosperity.
• Hospitals are without doctors – yet the government boasts of improved health for all Rwandans.
• Corruption is rampant – yet the government boasts being clean but by comparing with more corrupt neighbouring countries.

The Rwandan leaders listening to Kagame appeared lost and confused – because the president is the boaster-in-chief. He barely lives in Rwanda – travelling around the world telling the very lies he is now disclaiming.
Even Kagame’s sycophants must realize what we all know – Rwanda is trapped with a leader who simply will never take responsibility for his own failures. Here is a man who is openly conceding that his regime kills people, lies about development achievements, and is corrupt – but is preparing to grab power for the next 17 years, after ruling for 23 years.

________
David Himbara

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Rwanda : Le parti RDI-Rwanda Rwiza condamne des manœuvres du régime de FPR-Kagame contre toute opposition politique.

Le parti RDI-Rwanda Rwiza condamne le régime rwandais du FPR-Kagame pour ses entraves à la démocratie et à la liberté des opposants à mener toute action politique dans leur pays.

Le parti RDI-Rwanda Rwiza dénonce et condamne la fâcheuse décision du Gouvernement rwandais de refuser à la délégation du parti Ishema l’entrée au Rwanda qui était prévue le 23.11.2016. Alors que Monsieur l'abbé Thomas Nahimana, Secrétaire Général de ce parti, et ses trois compagnons dont la brave Mme Nadine Kasinge et son bébé âgé de 7 mois, étaient en transit à l’aéroport de Nairobi prêts à embarquer pour Kigali, ils se sont vu refuser l’accès à leur vol, au motif que les autorités rwandaises avaient donné à la Compagnie Kenya Airways l’ordre formel de ne pas laisser le sieur Nahimana et ses compagnos monter dans l’avion à destination de la capitale rwandaise.

Le refus d’entrée exprimé à leur égard par le pouvoir de Kigali est une entrave majeure à la liberté et à la démocratie. Il dénote, une fois de plus, la fébrilité du régime du FPR-Kagame qui craint la compétition politique, comme il l’a déjà démontré par le passé en jetant en prison Madame Ingabire Victoire lorsqu’elle est allée concourir à l’élection présidentielle de 2010; et en refusant au Président du parti RDI, le renouvellement de son passeport rwandais et le visa d'entrée au Rwanda dans son passeport belge en 2013, alors qu’il devait y aller pour faire enregistrer le parti et y exercer des activités politiques d’opposition.



Le parti RDI saisit la présente occasion pour réitérer sa grande admiration et ses hommages les plus déférents à Madame Ingabire, dont le courage et le combat politique exceptionnels continuent de faire trembler le dictateur rwandais et sa clique. Nous sommes également sensibles à la forte détermination de Madame Kasinge dont la famille fut décimée par le FPR en 1994 et qui, malgré ces lourds antécédents et son état de maman d’un petit ange de 7 mois, a pris le risque d’aller au Rwanda pour y faire de la politique dans des conditions dont nous savons tous la dureté. Le parti RDI tient à féliciter le parti Ishema et ses dirigeants pour l’acte courageux qu’ils ont posé en tentant de se rendre au Rwanda en vue d’y participer aux prochaines élections nationales, dont la présidentielle de 2017.

Nous voudrions enfin lancer un appel pressant à la vingtaine de partis politiques d’opposition opérant en dehors du Rwanda, afin qu’ils engagent, sans plus tarder, une concertation visant à définir les modalités d’un retour au Rwanda à effectuer ensemble le plus tôt possible. Il ne fait point de doute qu’un tel retour en force des opposants rwandais dans leur mère patrie ferait trembler davantage le dictateur de Kigali, qui prend souvent un malin plaisir à mépriser l’opposition rwandaise et à dénigrer sa capacité à imposer un changement politique au Rwanda.


Fait à Bruxelles, le 28 Novembre 2016
Pour le parti RDI-Rwanda Rwiza,
Faustin Twagiramungu,
Président.

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Declaration on Genocide against Rwandan Hutu — New Rwanda National Congress

Declaration on Genocide against Rwandan Hutu  — New Rwanda National Congress

DECLARATION ON GENOCIDE AGAINST RWANDAN HUTU
Washington D.C., USA
14th September, 2016

Since 1994, Rwanda and the international community invested tremendous resources in acknowledging, documenting, remembering and bringing to justice the perpetrators of the genocide against Tutsi. Sadly, though well documented by the international community and known by the victims, there has never been an acknowledgement that the crimes committed against the Rwandan Hutu fully satisfy the definition of genocide according to the Genocide Convention of 1948. A combination of a victor’s justice, a reign of impunity, and a guilty international community has led to a scandalous conspiracy of silence as a means to deny genocide against the Hutu.

The New Rwanda National Congress has, after a long and careful deliberation decided to rise to the historic responsibility of naming the crimes committed against the Rwandan Hutu in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo by their rightful name, genocide. Compelling evidence demonstrates beyond reasonable doubt that members of the Hutu community were deliberately and systematically killed; that conditions were inflicted on them calculated to bring about their physical destruction in whole or in part; and that serious bodily and mental harm has been caused to them.

In the interest of Rwanda’s current and future generations, it is equally our duty and obligation to name the masterminds of the genocide against the Rwanda Hutu. From its founding in 1990 until now, the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) of the Rwanda Patriotic Army (now Rwanda Defence Forces) has been the vanguard of decisions and actions that have brought untold suffering to Rwandans and people of the Great Lakes region. The primary command culpability for genocide against Rwandan Hutu lies with the following military officers, all Tutsi former refugees from Uganda, who have been at the heart of DMI’s genocidal agenda:

1. President Paul Kagame: President of Rwanda
2. Lt. General Kayumba Nyamwasa: First Vice Coordinator Rwanda National Congress
3. Lt. General James Kabarebe: Minister of Defence, Rwanda
4. Lt. General Charles Kayonga: Rwanda’s Ambassador to China
5. Lt. General Patrick Nyamvumba: Chief of Defence Forces, Rwanda
6. Lt. General Karenzi Karake: Advisor to the President, Rwanda
7. Lt. General Fred Ibingira: Reserve Chief of Staff, RDF, Rwanda
8. Major General Sam Kaka: Retired, Former RPA Chief of Staff
9. Major General Jack Nziza: Chief Inspector, Ministry of Defence
10. Major General Emmanuel Gasana: Chief of Police, Rwanda
11. Colonel Dan Munyuza: Deputy Chief of Police,

These military officials were responsible for the shooting down of the plane in which President Juvenal Habyalimana of Rwanda and President Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi were killed, triggering the genocide against Tutsi. Many officers and men of Rwanda Patriotic Army/Rwanda Defence Forces have been tools of this clique in unleashing war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide on Rwandan Hutu in Rwanda and across the Democratic Republic of Congo, as documented by various reports, including the U.N. Mapping Report on DRC of 2010.

The New National Congress calls upon the international community to bring to justice the perpetrators of genocide against the Rwandan Hutu as provided for by the 1948 Genocide Convention. The cry for justice by the Rwandan Hutu has gone on for too long without redress. It has been a typical case of justice delayed, but it cannot be justice denied forever. The reign of impunity and terror under the militarist genocidal clique that has ruled Rwanda since 1994 has already caused too much human suffering in Rwanda and the Great Lakes region. Failure to force these elements to account for their crimes simply makes the international community an accomplice in perpetuating impunity and the vicious cycles of war, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Rwanda and the region.

The New Rwanda National Congress calls upon all Rwandan people to painfully sermon the will and courage to acknowledge and remember both the genocide against Tutsi and the genocide against Hutu. In doing so, we shall finally begin the long and difficult journey of authentic unity, reconciliation, forgiveness and healing founded on truth. Only then can we confidently say, Never Again!

The New Rwanda National Congress will be convening, under the auspices of the RWANDA TRUTH COMMISSION, the First International Conference on Genocide Against Rwandan
Hutu, 9-11 December, 2016, Capitol Hill, Washington D.C, USA, to deliberate on the implications and follow up on this matter of highest historic significance.

Dr. Theogene Rudasingwa
Chairman
Joseph Ngarambe
Vice Chairman
Jonathan Musonera
Secretary

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The Last Prince Left Standing In King Paul's Court - James Musoni

The Last Prince Left Standing In King Paul's Court - James Musoni

James Musoni is the longest surviving minister in Rwanda - which is no easy task in King Paul's kingdom. Musoni has been a minister for over 10 years, and 14 years as a senior "public" servant. No one in Rwanda has survived Kagame that long.
Here is Musoni's Bio:

• Minister of Infrastructure (2014 - present);
• Minister of Local Government (2009-2014);
• Minister of Finance and Economic Planning (2006-2009);
• Minister of Commerce, Industry, Investment Promotion, Tourism and Cooperatives (2005-2006);
• Commissioner General of Rwanda Revenue Authority (2001-2005) and
• Deputy Commissioner General of Rwanda Revenue Authority (2000-2001).

Part of the explanation for Musoni's survival is that he is the real CEO of Crystal Ventures, Kagame's money machine. Musoni is also the real boss of RPF, Kagame's political machine.
But in a crony system where it is "person eat person" as we see with the fall of Eugene Gasana and Agnes Binangwaho, every crony sooner or later, falls!
Will the last man standing fall, too? Watch the drama unfold.
______
David Himbara

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Where Is Madam Jeannette Nyiramongi Kagame?

Madam Nyiramongi, President Kagame's wife, has vanished from public view. Her last Tweet was on August 11, 2016. That is nearly a month time when a prominent figure that was always on the front page "disappeared."
Where could she be? Why has she "disappeared"?
Here are the various speculations people are sending me:

SPECULATION 1:
She was involved in high level corruption, together with Agnes Binagwaho who was also fired. Nyiramongi is under house arrest. Binangwaho has to report to police daily so she does not escape since she has dual nationality - she is also Belgian.

SPECULATION 2:
David Himbara's book KAGAME'S ECONOMIC MIRAGE gave a detailed account of Egide Gatera's business empire in tea and petroleum industry, indicating that Gatera is a mere front to powerful interests. President Kagame has made his wife a scapegoat for this mess. Egide Gatera is also under investigation and must report to police daily.

SPECULATION 3
President Kagame went crazy where social media writers claimed that his wife Nyiramongi had an affair with Ambassador Eugene Gasana, and that one of the Kagame sons is actually Gasana's. President Kagame fired Gasana and placed his wife under house arrest.

SPECULATION 4
When the Nyiramongi/Gasana story broke, President Kagame beat his wife badly; she is recovering from her injuries.

SPECULATION 5
All the above are lies. Madam Nyiramongi is in the United States where her last born is about to begin his university studies.
------------
What do you folks think. In a totalitarian state where there is no information on issues of public interest, speculation becomes king!

By David Himbara

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An Open Letter To Fred Rwigema By Rama Isibo

Dear Fred,

It’s been 22 years since you’ve been gone, your memory lives long, the more they try to extinguish it, the more it rises. You will always represent lost hope, what could have been and what we aspire to. You died too soon, a true hero of Africa, celebrated in many nations, your picture is like Che Guevara, handsome youth that belies an eternal optimism. I was too young to ever seriously talk to you, I never knew what your ideology was, but every ideology begins with an attitude that nurtures a belief. Your attitude is what formed our belief, that look in your eye that said “We can do it!” in that way you can never die, we had waited 30 years from 59-87 for that one sign. That belief died momentarily when you died, but a legend was reborn, and from this legend people got the strength to believe again. Today you would be amazed how far we have come, there are modern shining skyscrapers in Kigali, roads are perfect, it is peaceful, we are home, just like you dreamed.

We almost take this dream for granted, you would hardly recognise any of the people at the top, but of course you cannot expect the same guys to be on top. RPF is so many things now, it is a monolithic party that dominates the political landscape, it is also a multinational corporation, it is also an army, and a state of mind. To be truthful Fred, I don’t know what I believe anymore, I feel like such a hypocrite, I idly stand by while people destroy everything to gain so little. The RPF has gained the world but lost its soul, it believes in objectives, not ideology, it takes, it is not given, it is the embodiment of sheer naked power. We do not have politicians, we have people with sheer naked power, and people with access to sheer naked power. Some have turned into greedy hogs and are just stripping it bare, paying themselves a “Liberation bonus” when the real fighters we never acknowledged. All our families have fallen soldiers and injured brethren, they, like you, are rarely mentioned. We can mention your name on two days, July 4th and October 1st so we will honour you today.

State of play

Rwanda is at a crossroads, it has been living beyond its means for quite some time, going full steam ahead, without question, without discussion, like a battering ram pounding down the walls of poverty. All debate was crushed, the inryaryas took over, hypocrites and sycophants “Nje ndabona nta kibazo boss!” It was fine as long as the buildings kept going up, human rights could be forsaken for clean government, press freedom could be forsaken for because of the threat of Genocide, justice could be forsaken because we could not afford it. How did we get to this position, we are as weak economically as ever, we are as weak diplomatically as ever, and we have lost allies over a period of negative headlines. From just before the election, the Kayumba saga, death of opposition figures, arrests and jailing of journalists, Ingabire saga, Congo saga, on and on. If this was Benin or Honduras you would think it was a pariah nation, but Rwanda wants to live in its own moral universe, it wants its unique history to afford it leeway in basic human rights development, but it is the derogation of these rights that will bring the next cycle of violence to bear.

“Just not in Rwanda”

In that sense, Rwanda is like Israel, lives by its own rules, it wants to fit in but be different. I tired of defending arrests of journalists, of jailing opposition leader because you disagree with them. I tired of defending our right to attack Congo, knowing the millions who suffer as a result. I tired of explaining to my western expat friends why no independent opinions were allowed on public media. I tired of explaining that fear that is unspoken, the looking over your shoulder when you speak. A person who has lived in a democracy, knows a democracy, and if you have to look over your shoulder then chances are that you aren’t. So all my generation are hypocrites and liar, they believe in freedom of speech “Just not in Rwanda”, they are Western liberals, some believe in gay rights “Just not in Rwanda.” Most have passionate views on US politics, on taxation, on abortion “Just not in Rwanda” and many advocate for people in far-off countries who are detained without trial when we have people detained without trial here “Just not in Rwanda.”

Grand Fear/Bargain

Every nation has a FEAR and in Rwanda it is the Genocide happening again, it is what keeps the peace. It is the automatic excuse for any arrest of a journalist, or justification for lack of democracy but it is also allowing corrupt people to get away. It is the mutual fear between a master and servant, the master fears revolt, the servant fears the master’s power. That is the relationship between a ruler and the ruled in Rwanda, and will always be if we never change it. The Ruler is given unlimited power and from this the Ruled expect everything to change, it is fine until it goes sour. This is how we got here, we found a tattered and torn country after 94, the RPA was the only functioning institution. The genocide was ended by force, not voluntarily, but the seeds of doubt were already being sown. When you see the Free Syrian Army which is supported by the West and by all means is the next government of Syria, you see the FSA being accused of war-crimes before they even come to power, there is a pattern. The RPF were similarly accused during the Liberation war, even though they were the “good guys” it was to serve as leverage in the future against the RPF. So two prime fears dominate the power psyche, an internal revolt and external justice.

Death of reason

“When people feel inadequate they feel any criticism is an insult.”
The death of reason is so gradual, you hardly notice, you just slide into a stupor. It starts with the “Koolaid” that is the name of the super-sugary drink that refers to the mental brainwashing you get when you first get here. Rwanda is a victim of the West, they hate us for nothing, they were never there for us during the genocide, if we don’t rule this way then “They will kill us again.” I consider myself a hereditary RPF member, I got it from both sides of my family, you could never criticise the RPF, but every believer must have a crisis of confidence. It was worse for me, I left as a teen, saw the war from afar, felt even guilty because I could have even served the last few months. When you look at the rewards soldiers got, they were scant, many left with rancour, the ones who won the spoils were the ones closest to the top leaders but did little fighting. It is impossible to write a history of the RPF because it cannot agree on its own history, history has been rewritten to airbrush out people who fell out like Kayumba, and other current favourites have been inserted into history when they were mere schoolboys at the time. In Rwanda our history always serves the current regime and is contorted to suit the current picture.

Reason dies slowly, first it is frowned upon, then shouted down, then banned, and then you cease to think it, until you cease to think altogether. I learnt to watch my mouth for a while but younger people grew up in a world where you just don’t say, think or write anything controversial or political until it kills their imagination altogether. How will they innovate? You are brought up in a society where independent thought is punishable by jail, speaking out is punishable, writing is punishable. Will my children be born into this world of no imagination; will they grow up watching their tongue? All this talk of cyber-futuristic techno-savvy hub and we cannot allow contrary opinions. Last year I was threatened by government officials for tweeting our president about our need to reduce imports and move towards productions. I apologised, the fuss died down, then aid is cut, then its agaciro, agaciro, we need to reduce imports and move towards production. People still say to me “Watutse Affande” when I did no such thing, that showed me the other face of the situation. Every supporter has that moment when your childish innocence was broken, when you ask “If they can do this to their own, then what of ordinary baturagye?”

The big payback/ingaruka yi ngaruka

Every action has a reaction, in Rwanda there is going to be a payback for all our foolhardiness over 10 years. We lived off aid, didn’t bother with commerce, thought the aid would last forever and Western guilt could be milked forever. Now they are cutting, people are looking cautious, the global slowdown is going to grip. People have lived off loans, accumulated debt, spent on consumer goods, set up NGO’s aimed at “Empowering” some poor victim somewhere. Instead of moving towards production, and generating cash, the government, for all their words, was hugely complicit in this Aid-debt bubble. Its workers and leaders were eating first in this economy, most diaspora people think this economy is not safe to do business in, your property can be taken at anytime and sudden whims are the norm. Tigo invested some $300m and their CEO was given 1hr to leave the country simply because he angered the president. How can a multinational invest in a country that makes less than $300m and be expelled in minutes without due procedure? For all the reforms, the attitude of those in power is the biggest obstacle to investment. The idea that “This country is my personal property and you people are alive because of me, I can kill you, crush you, anytime I want because I have the power.” Investors see that straight away at the airport, a delicate house of cards waiting to fall.

You never truly feel at ease, all my friends will say this, there is an undercurrent, we all know things are not well, that this method of government is unsustainable but maybe we are weak, maybe we just settle for what we can get out of it. Maybe one can get a Rav-4, a nice house, and expensive schools for your kids, a plush lifestyle by any standards but there is always the ticking clock, you know the alarm is going to ring but you don’t know when. So we trade our principles for privilege, enjoy the lifestyle, but at the back of your mind, you know one day the party will be over, or maybe the music stopped and we didn’t notice. Every one of us has that moment when we look in the mirror and ask, “Do I really stand up for what I believe?” The privilege comes with a downside, that look, the look that the downtrodden give you when you walk past, as if you are responsible for their misery. Then they call me boss when I’m a socialist at heart, I’m the oppressor, I am the hated. The unspoken part of the bargain is that “If he goes, we all go” that has been the way in Rwanda since time immemorial, power is concentrated not just in one’s hand but in a single finger, so when that leader goes, most of Rwanda goes with it. Critics are ostracised, their families too, passports and identities taken away from them. Little children pay for the price of their parents, brothers for their siblings, sisters for their brothers.

A prophecy

God cannot abandon Rwanda, we have prayed too much. Rwanda is not well with God, despite all our righteous indignation, we cannot say we have clean hands. The chickens will come home to roost, the result of many years of dumbstruck silence when we saw minor things going wrong but we never commented. For all our mistakes we shall pay, hopefully we will learn to debate matters and not decide things behind doors. My prophecy for Rwanda is growth and success, but one based on solid ground, that uses the hard-work ethic of the Rwandans to make goods for export. I worked once at the Roll-Royce plant in Derby, I watched semi-illiterate Pakistanis make Jet engines, so a Ruhengeri villager can make a car. My prophecy for Rwanda is that the leaders will see the need to open up, to learn that criticism is not hatred. We will open up politically and then have the biggest boom Africa has ever seen but a boom based on solid ground not indicators. These industries the RPF commandeered will now be the millstone around its neck, most are loss-making and will file for bankruptcy in the coming year, they are uncompetitive and will not make it.

There is a whole underground economy in Rwanda, the Abacuruzi of Mateus have so much money stashed away, plus property, stock, and credit lines. These businessmen have been neglected and pay only nominal taxes, getting them to release the money is the problem. This deficit we have accumulated had to be somewhere, outside yes but also inside, all this money we spent on consumer goods is somewhere, billions of dollars in cheap Chinese goods, it is still here. The diaspora is ready to invest, they just need an attitude change from those in power, we have to build the private sector at all costs. What is 30% of Nothing? That is what we are fighting over now, we need to see liberalisation, or all the assets RPF has will just flop to be worth nothing. What of the credit bubble? Overinflated houses at 18%Apr, that is criminal, but the bubble kept getting bigger and bigger and houses worth $100,000 were the norm, people were lent 10 times their salary. Amazingly, it can be fine if all owners hold on to their houses.

Too many people have prayed for Rwanda to go down, we can’t let it happen again, if it does happen then we all deserve to die, let them say “Abanyarwanda bananiwe kubana.” It cannot happen, or there is no God, Rwandans believed God returned to sleep in Rwanda, it is the only reason why we recovered from the Genocide. Every nation goes through growing pains, Rwanda thinks it can be in a political coma forever and that is not possible. We will learn that we can get along, that every man must pay for his sins, that God turns all things to good. People should look to history, all things change, a nation goes through growing pain, matures, and prospers. The good RPF is doing is so great, on child mortality, women’s rights, social reconciliation, and so many things. It deserves its credit, but one aspect of our life is stunted, we are being kept from politically maturing. Maybe they do it out of trying to protect us, like if you lock your child away so no one can hurt it, but the first moment it encounters pain it was break down. Every generation has that defining moment where a society breaks along generational lines, when the younger generation agrees with the objectives but not the methods. Can RPF move towards exercising more soft power, other than the sledgehammer approach? My friends say “You don’t know how these people think, they don’t care.”

No more Fear, no more silence, no more, no more, no more. I am a Rwandan, I always was always will be, I was never given my country by any man, I will never give up on my country.

Long live Rwanda

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Kagame's Tourism Statistics Are Scary

Kagame's Tourism Statistics Are Scary

Kagame built a US$300 million convention centre to make Kigali an African tourism hub. He has so far managed to host an African Union meeting that brought to Rwanda 4,000+ people and a couple smaller events since.
On 5-6 September 2016, Kagame is hosting the Global African Investment Summit that hopefully might attract 1,000.
To get a better sense of the challenge that lies ahead in making Kigali, and Rwanda a tourist hub, let us look at the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda's 2015 data.
As indicated in the table Rwanda received 1,219,529 visitors as follows:
* 1 million came from Africa by land - mainly from Burundi, DRC Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
* 35,000 from the Americas;
* 63,000 from Europe;
* 32,000 from elsewhere.
Obviously, the richer tourists with heavy pockets are most likely to be from richer countries in America, Europe and Asia. Shockingly, the total number of the potentially richer tourists that came to Rwanda in 2014 was a mere 130,000.
Ok Mr President, perform a miracle! Make the Kagame Convention Centre pay by making Rwanda a tourist hub. You are evidently starting this mission from a deep hole. You need all the luck.

_______
David Himbara

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Rwandan Ambassador, Eugene Richard Gasana Fired Due to In-house Scandals?

Rwandan Ambassador, Eugene Richard Gasana Fired, for Belitling US Ambassador Power or Due to In-house Scandals?

On August 10, 2016, Rwandan dictator General Paul Kagame has fired Rwandan UN Ambassador Eugene Richard Gasana. According to sources in Rwanda,  the ambassador was expected to be recalled, but not fired. Hence firing the ambassador came as a surprise.

On Monday March 21, 2016,   Ambassador Eugene Richard Gasana, a close confident and alleged business associate of Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame, transformed the United Nations Security Council into a circus during a debate on Conflict and Peace in the Great Lakes Region of Africa (see here). Rwandan

Ambassador Gasana, reacting to comments made by US Ambassador Power,  praising Rwanda for its remarkable progress since the 1994 civil war and criticizing General Paul Kagame for oppressing his people,  made a raging attack on  Ambassador Power. Ambassador Power had  remarked that“the continued absence of political space — the inability of individuals and journalists to discuss political affairs or report on issues of public concern — poses a serious risk to Rwanda’s future stability.”  Ambassador Eugene Gasana, wagging a finger,  belittled  Ambassador Power and  uttered that Ambassador Power  should not “confuse her name with her assignment,” before adding that “Ms Power doesn't have power over Rwanda.”  and that no one  is allowed to  criticize the Rwandan dictator General Paul, whom he called  “this very precious man” and “[his] hero.". He then threatened the UN Security council with the words:"Don't ever dare, ever, to treat him that way.”

Ambassador Power ignored him. In fact, in diplomatic circles in New York  Ambassador Eugene Gasana, who also, while based in New York,  was  Rwandan Minister of State for Cooperation was famous for his  erratic behaviors and sudden bursts of emotions and speeches full of verbal violence, finger wagging, disdain, and utter arrogance. Hence, only UN outsiders  were shocked by  Ambassador Gasana's rambling and insults and sarcasms  heaped on US Ambassador Samantha Power.

After the UN Security Council incident, many expected Ambassador Gasana to stay for a while and be reassigned to another country or keep his cabinet position, to save his face while at same time pleasing the United States government.

Then, Ambassador Gasana recently made another mistake. A Rwandan tabloid wrote that Eugene Gasana may be the biological father of one of  Rwandan General Paul Kagame's children. As usual, the short tempered Eugene Gasana published a lengthy statement denying being the biological father of the child and asking the tabloid to retract the story and apologize to him and to General Paul Kagame's wife, Janet.

Many observers wondered why a UN Ambassador and cabinet minister made such an official  statement reacting to a tabloid's article. According to sources in Rwanda, this incident has embarrassed General Kagame and may have precipitated his decision to fire one of his closest aides and business associate, in line with the biblical proverb: "Honoring a fool is as foolish as tying a stone to a slingshot.", even if the fool was there to honor the dictator.

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The IMF and the World Bank Should Say No To Cronyism in Rwanda — An Open Letter to Ms. Christine Lagarde and Dr. Jim Yong Kim

Ms. Christine Lagarde and Dr. Jim Yong Kim

August 5, 2016

Ms. Christine Lagarde,
Managing Director,
The International Monetary Fund,
700 19th St NW, Washington, DC 20431, United States

Dr. Jim Yong Kim,
President of the World Bank,
1818 H St NW, Washington, DC 20433, United States

Dear Ms. Lagarde and Dr. Kim,

RE: Cronyism will plunge Rwanda into chaos if left unchecked by the country’s financiers

I begin my letter by thanking you for supporting my home country, Rwanda. In 2016 alone, your two agencies will lend Rwanda nearly a half billion dollars — the World Bank’s loans and grants amount USD285 million while the IMF’s Standby credit totals USD204 million.

The purpose of this open letter, however, is about cronyism in Rwanda. Case in point is the Kigali Convention Centre (KCC), financed by the larger part of the USD400 million Eurobond the Kagame government raised in 2013. Shockingly, a company by the name of Prime Holdings Ltd is a major shareholder with 50% shares.

Now, Prime Holdings Ltd’s notoriety is documented in the IMF’s records, as I discovered when researching for my new book, Kagame’s Economic Mirage(2016). Back in 2006, the IMF concluded that Rwanda’s “adherence to conditionality was poor” because, among other things, “the publication of Prime Holdings’ audit was not met.” At the time, Rwanda was building two major hotels that would be the launchpad of its tourism business. Prime Holdings Ltd was in charge of this project.

In response to the IMF’s findings, the Kagame government admitted that Prime Holdings was corrupt and should not be in business. In a letter dated May 18, 2006, to the then IMF’s Managing Director, Mr. Rodrigo de Rato y Figaredo, Rwanda’s Finance Minister, James Musoni, and Governor of the National Bank of Rwanda, Francois Kanimba, described Prime Holdings Ltd as follows:

“With a view to enhancing transparency related to Prime Holdings’ two hotels, we have published a financial audit and business plan of Prime Holdings in December 2005 (missed end-September performance criterion). As the auditors concluded that “it was not possible to determine if proper books of account were kept by the hotels”, we have canceled the contract with the management company and are in negotiations with the Intercontinental group to take on the management of the hotels.”

So now, how does the discredited Prime Holdings Ltd which the Kagame government terminated a decade ago reemerge to own 50% of KCC? That is not all. Crystal Ventures Ltd (CVL) is also a shareholder in KCC. Owned by the ruling party, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), CVL is synonymous with cronyism in Rwanda. Without government contracts in building roads, chartering executive jets to President Paul Kagame, or constructing a stadium for a local municipality, CVL would collapse. CVL is the most critical deterrent to domestic and foreign investment in Rwanda — and explains why Rwanda’s top rankings in the World Bank’s Doing Business indicators hardly make a difference.

There is no question that we are witnessing in KCC entrenched cronyism via state capture by the ruling elite in Rwanda. Prime Holdings Ltd is a shadowy front. It does not have an address or website. Prime Holdings’ premises in Kimihurura were turned into military officers’ quarters by President Kagame in 2009. Rwandans thought we had seen the last of this mafia-like company, only to reemerge, in control of even much larger assets — KCC.

As Rwanda’s leading financiers, the IMF and the World Bank have an obligation to hold the Kagame government accountable to transparency. We urge your two agencies to leverage your lending and surveillance powers to intervene before Rwanda’s ruling elite bankrupts the nation.

At the very least, the government of Rwanda should explain how, when, and why it resuscitated Prime Holdings Ltd, after assuring the IMF that the corrupt company closed ten years ago.

Most Sincerely,

David Himbara

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Gutabariza Umuyobozi wa FDU-Inkingi Madame Ingabire Victoire Umuhoza

Ingabire Victoire Umuhoza 

Kuva kuwa gatandatu ushize tariki ya 24 Nyakanga 2016 Mme Ingabire Victoire Umuhoza ararwaye bikomeye kandi yasabye ubuyobozi bwa gereza ya 1930 afungiwemo ko yavuzwa ariko kugeza ubu twandika bwatereye agati mu ryinyo! Kuva ejo kandi twari twasabye umuyobozi wa gereza ko niba gereza nta bushobozi ifite batwemerera tukamwivuriza ariko nta gisubizo baraduha.

Nta gushidikanya ko ubu buyobozi bwa gereza ya Nyarugenge bwaba buri ku gitutu cy'ubutegetsi bwa Kigali kugirangi iyi mpirimbanyi ya demukarasi yicwe urubozo na cyane ko ibi bidasanzwe kuko ubundi yajyaga ajyanwa kuvuzwa bitanagombye ko tugomba kumutabariza.

Si igitangaza ku kwibasirwa kuyu munyapolitiki ariko ni ubwambere yibasiwe mu kubuzwa kubona ubuvuzi kuko ibyari bimenyerewe kwari ukumubuza ubundi burenganzira ngo kusurwa kubonana uko bikwiye nabunganizi be nta nkomyi...

Turasaba ubuyobozi bwa leta y'uRwanda ko bukwiye kujya iteka bwumva ko nta kiri hejuru y'ubuzima bw'umuntu kuburyo bubukiniraho nta nkomyi.

Twongeye gusaba dukomeje ko umuyobozi wa FDU Inkingi yahita ajyanwa kuvurwa kugirango ubuzima bwe burengerwe.
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Boniface Twagirimana

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Kagame’s Debt — Is it Building Productive Capacity or Delusional Fantasies?

David Himbara The Author of Kagame’s Economic Mirage

Kagame's Ministry of Finance has debt data that goes only up to 2014. In 2014, external debt was US$1.7 billion, while domestic debt was US$562 million. Total public debt in 2014 was in other words US$2.3 billion.

For the year 2015, the Joint Staff Rwanda Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) by the IMF and the World Bank reported Rwanda's external debt to be US$2.1 billion.

I do not have the figure for domestic debt for 2015.

For 2016, we are aware of the African Development Bank loan of US$163 million, World Bank loan of US$90 million, European Union loan of US$20 million, and IMF loan of US$204 million. That is a total of US$477 million loans borrowed in 2016.

I do not have the domestic debt for 2016.

We therefore know for sure that Rwanda debt in July 2016 is US$2.5 billion - excluding domestic borrowing for 2015, and 2016. We nonetheless estimate Rwanda's current total debt to be US$3 billion that would include domestic borrowing for 2015 and 2016 as well as foreign loans we have not capture.

Let us be very clear. Debt in itself is not necessarily a bad thing. True, public debt means a government is spending more than domestic tax revenues combined aid grants in the case of Rwanda. But if debt is not building some kind of productive capacity and is instead building white elephant projects, then we are in trouble.

For those friends who asked me to write this, address this question: is Kagame's US$3 billion debt building productive capacity to render Rwanda prosperous or he is lost in delusional fantasy land?

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David Himbara

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Kigali is the Worst Possible Venue for African Union Summit on Human Rights

Between 10th and 18th July, 2016, Rwanda will host the 27th African Union Summit on the theme; ‘’2016: African Year of Human Rights with a particular focus on Rights of Women’’. The African Union must be applauded for giving a particular importance to Human rights and specifically, women rights. On a regular basis, women across Africa suffer from systematic discrimination and abuse with limited ways and means for redress. Their rights to intimacy are violated with impunity by men. Their political and economic rights are also not guaranteed due to age-old traditional and cultural norms embedded in a male-dominated social superstructure. If the African Union is determined to do away with this cultural vestige against our women gender, it is a welcome development.

The venue, however, the AU chose to hold this summit raises eyebrows. For the past 20 years, the Rwandan government has been a consistent violator of women, men and children rights. Presently, one female opposition leader Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza is languishing in prison because she dared in 2010 to challenge President Kagame for the highest office of the land. Rwanda may boast of 63% of parliamentarians being women but let this figure not fool anyone. Rwanda’s parliament is a rubber-stamp, designed to legitimise executive decisions. Outside of parliament, Rwandan women’s rights are violated with impunity whether at the mercy of state apparatus or through traditional gender biases.

Present day Rwanda is a graveyard of all manner of rights taken for granted elsewhere. African Union is holding its summit on Human rights in a country known for indiscriminately abusing rights and the host, President Kagame is known for his deep-seated disdain for the very notion of inalienable human rights. Examples abound:

After paving a section of the city of Kigali to deceitfully showcase Rwanda’s clean image, a majority of citizens who do not possess enough means to look beautiful and well dressed, cannot dare walk those paved streets without fear of state police stopping them to question them where they are going and handing them hefty fines. There is a manhunt against street children, prostitutes and hawkers kidnapped and cast into Iwawa island in Kivu lake without even informing their relatives.

Rwanda, under Kagame, is the only government in the world that forbids people from growing subsistence food crops and instead orders them to grow cash crops or cut down people’s banana plantations to grow flowers for European market;

Over these past 20 years, the government has progressively and systematically uprooted independent human rights organisations and supplanted them with ones whose purpose is to promote the government agenda and whitewash its image to the outside world. The only media allowed to operate in Rwanda is government media and embedded media houses whose script is never to question the government;

Archives of the international community are awash with damning reports implicating Kagame and his government of human rights crimes, political crimes and war crimes both in Rwanda and in the region and these reports are silenced by an international crime like syndicate of corrupt former world leaders, including the infamous Tony Blair or the Belgian Louis Michel; internationally acclaimed journalists and prelate opinion leaders all in the pay of Kagame and his government using Rwandan meagre resources and Congo minerals.

Rwanda hosting a summit on human rights is akin to the Cayman’s Islands hosting one on money safe havens. While our political organisation, the National Movement Inkubiri, is in agreement with the African Union giving human rights a well-deserved platform, Kigali is the worst venue AU could possibly choose. Rwandans knowing the innumerable abuses their government subjects them to and then witnessing the continental governments converging on what is literally the scene of crime to decorate the arch criminal; it evokes a sentiment of anger, despair and disbelief.

The National Movement Inkubiri does not believe that Africa Union’s intention was to tell Rwandans that they do not count in the grander scale of things but at the same time we question the worst possible choice the African Union could have come up with knowing what they clearly know about Rwandan government’s human rights record. We can only hope that Kagame will not be given a blank cheque but instead challenged to live up to human rights standards enshrined in the African Charter on human and People’s Rights.

Done in Lyon (France)
On 9 July 2016

National Movement Inkubiri
Eugene Ndahayo
Chairman​

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Biremezwa ko RNC yari isigaye ifite agatsiko k'abantu bahoze mu gisirikare c'Urwanda b'abatutsi.

Abahoze bagize umurwi nyobozi wa RNC, bemeza ko RNC yari isigaye ifise agatsiko k'abantu bahoze mu gisirikare c'Urwanda b'abatutsi, bakora nk'abafise ubutegetsi bubangabanganywe n'ubwo inzego za RNC zizwi n'amategeko, bakorana na Kayumba Nyamwasa

Ikiranga Ntego RNC

Theogene Rudasingwa, aremeza ko iryo koreshwa ry'agatsiko arega Kayumba ari kimwe mu vy' ingenzi vyatumye akuramwo akarenge na bamwe mu bo bari basanganywe muri RNC.
Mu bari kumwe na Theogene Rudasingwa muri New RNC, harimwo Jonathan Musonera, Joseph Ngarambe, avuga ko bari mu bo batanguranye kuva mu 2010.

Iryo shami risha New RNC, ngo rizotangaza inzego n'uburyo ryubatse mu kiringo c'iminsi 30.
Ariko umuvugizi wa RNC, Condo Gervais, arahakana ko hari ibice muri RNC, agasobanura ko ikibazo kihari ari ico kwubahiriza amategeko.

Arabeshuza ikibazo c'uko hoba harimwo agatsiko k'abahoze ari abasirikare gashigikiye Kayumba, kagenda gateza ibibazo mw'ihuriro RNC, ahubwo akemeza ko hari ikibazo co kubahiriza demokarasi kuri Rudasingwa.
Condo Gervais avuga ko bariko bihweza ikibazo co gusubiriza inzego zo muri 2014 zari zirangije ikiringo cazo.

Condo Gervais yongeye gushimangira ko ata kwicamwo ibice kwabaye muri RNC, akemeza ko muri biro nyobozi bigizwe n'abantu batanu: Kayumba Nyamwasa, Theogene Rudasingwa, Nayigiziki, Condo Gervais na Emmanuel Hakizimana, hamwe na Corneille Minani, ngo Rudasingwa niwe wenyene yavuyemwo.
Nayo mu bahuzabikorwa, Condo yemeza ko uwumaze kumenyekana ko yavuyemwo ari Jonathan Musonera.

_____
BBC - Gahuza

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Watch Kagame swear in 2011 that he will never change the constitution to stay in power

Watch Kagame swear in 2011 that he will never change the constitution to stay in power

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I am So Happy Because Britain Is In a Mess — President Kagame

I am not a religious scholar or even a layperson. But I do know that somewhere in the Bible, it is stated that God will punish those who rejoice at the misfortunes of other people — do not take pleasure even at your enemies’ discomfort. 

In President Paul Kagame’s world, it is the reverse — he gloats even at his friends’ and supporters’ misfortune. 

Listen to this speech (in Kinyarwanda) by the Rwandan president in which he is rejoicing the British economic-political crisis resulting from the referendum to withdraw from the European Union. 



In the speech, Kagame rejoices the fall of the British Prime Minister David Cameron, and the political establishment as a whole — without mentioning names. And the reason for Kagame’s celebration? According to him, the British leaders are forever preaching to Rwanda what to do, when they cannot govern their own countries. Let the British taste their own medicine for a change — says Kagame.

What a shame. British leaders — whether members of the Labor Party or the Conservative Party has supported Rwanda very generously in the past two decades. The British taxpayers have bankrolled Kagame’s regime to the tune of up to £70 million a year. The only a decent thing to do for Rwandans or any other nation is to give the British solidarity in their hour of need.

_____ 

David Himbara
Links:
http://kagameseconomicmirage.com/
http://www.democracyinrwandanow.org/
https://www.facebook.com/AfricaLaughing
http://www.africalaughing.com/

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War Criminal Paul Kagame will Pay For All This.

Ibi Byose Umwacanyi Kagame Azabiriha

A dying Rwandan woman tries breastfeeding her child next to hundreds of corpses waiting to be buried at a mass grave near the Munigi refugee camp, 20 km north of Goma. FPR - Inkotanyi killed Thousands of refugees in that area.

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Kagame’s Singapore In Deep Economic Trouble

Paul Kagame

President Kagame’s Singapore needs urgent help from donors. As indicated in my book Kagame’s Economic Mirage, the already tiny export base has shrunk, tax base not expanding, foreign reserves almost depleted, and donor-dependency not declining — against massive imports.

Here is how the Kagame regime itself describes the crisis, in a letter to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) dated May 25, 2016:

As a result of this crisis, the IMF approved US$204 Million Stand-by Credit Facility for Rwanda —of which the first disbursement (about US$102 million) was made “available immediately” as of June 8, 2016.

So what will the US$204 million IMF credit achieve? According to the IMF, its credit to the Kagame regime “will help bolster reserves.” More importantly — says the IMF — the Rwandan authorities will accelerate “policies to diversify and promote higher value exports, which should help strengthen the country’s medium-term growth prospects and its resilience to future shocks.”

Will these these things happen in the Singapore of Africa? Dream on!

____
David Himbara

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The other Rwandan Massacre: 20 Years on

An Australian soldier carrying a young Rwandan boy injured during the Kibeho massacre, Rwanda, 1995 [Photograph: George Gittoes]

The 1994 Rwandan genocide was one of the most horrifying events of the 20th Century. But many are unaware of another massacre the following year. Australian Author Paul Jordon and filmmaker George Gittoes witnessed the brutality.


Twenty years ago, on April 22, thousands of unarmed civilians were killed by Rwandan soldiers at the Kibeho Internally Displaced Persons Camp (IDP) in the south of Rwanda.
A small team of 32 Australian Defence Force personnel were the only western troops to witness the massacre.




It is admittedly one the worst carnages Australian troops have been exposed to since the Second World War.

Australian author Paul Jordan was there.

He was one of the highly trained elite SAS forces deployed in Rwanda at the time.

“We arrived as part of the second contingent in February 1995. We took up residence at the hospital and started providing care for those who were injured.”

Kibeho was the last and the biggest Internally Displaced People's camp remaining in Rwanda after the 1994 genocide.

Outnumbered by the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) and unable to intervene in virtue of their UN mandate, the small Australian contingent deployed extraordinary courage in an effort to save lives.

The Australian Defence force was providing medical support to the United Nations Assistance Mission to Rwanda (UNAMIR) following the Rwandan Genocide.

Jordan’s section was tasked to support and protect a small Australian Medical Team sent to the Kibeho IDP which was about to be closed.

“We were then told in April that the camp at Kibeho was to be closed. And our job was to go there and document those who might be injured; provide care where we could while people were being repatriated to their villages.”

Deadly motives of the 'repatriation operation'

Behind the official IDP repatriation operation that started on the 18th of April 1995 and ended tragically on the 22nd of April 1995, there was another unspecified agenda.

Earlier this month George Gittoes was awarded the 2015 Sydney Peace Prize in recognition for, amongst other things, his courage to witness and confront violence in the war zones of the world.

Australian activist and war artist George Gittoes has been awarded the 2015 Sydney Peace Prize. (AAP)

A seasoned investigative documentary maker, Gittoes was on a mission to document the deployment of Australian forces in Rwanda.

He had learned about the other possible motives of the Kibeho IDP repatriation operation.

“They did it in a grotesque way. They’d shoot them in the leg and then they’d laugh at them and then watch them trying to get up and eventually put a bullet in their head or somewhere fatal.”

“Before I left Kigali I had been briefed on the likelihood that there would be a retaliatory massacre at Kibeho. So I came in very aware and alert.

“I came with the Australian infantry soldiers who were supporting a medical team setting up a field hospital run by Captain Carol Vaughan Evans.”

It wasn’t long before Gittoes witnessed the other aspect of the "repatriation operation".
“The first sign was watching the RPA clear the villages and hills around it. People being forced out and as they ran… they were made to run, they would shoot them."

He says the RPA were ruthless in their execution.

“They did it in a grotesque way. They’d shoot them in the leg and then they’d laugh at them and then watch them trying to get up and eventually put a bullet in their head or somewhere fatal.”

Completely surrounded by heavily armed and trigger happy RPA troops, the people in the camp had nowhere to run.

And as Jordan recalls, armed militias within the camp were also busy doing their own killing.

“The Rwandans had machine guns, they had mortars, and all set up to mow these people down; which they did.

“And while this was going on, there were also people running within these poor people with machetes and other weapons killing them from within as well. So these displaced persons were being hit from both sides; from the army and from militias from within the camp.”

Attempts to stop the killings

In the midst of this carnage one would wonder whether there were any attempts to intercede.

Jordan says that there were numerous initiatives from Australian forces and other parties to stop the killings.

“It was coming from the UN and it was coming from our command element. And we had one signaller who spent his entire time on that radio maintaining communications and reporting exactly what was going on.

“But it was also our officers within our small group who were pleading with the Rwandan Patriotic Army officers, a major in particular, that this had do stop.”

But their calls fell on deaf ears.

“It was to the point where there was a set of horrible circumstances and some of the events leading up to the events where… displaced persons who knew that things were going bad and would make a run for it.

“And one or two soldiers would give chase. Rwandan Patriotic Army soldiers would give chase, fire a few shots, wing this poor guy and then proceed to bayonet him to death.”

He says there were endless efforts to stop the killings but often it was too late.

“There are countless incidents that took place where innocent people were murdered and executed in front of us and you know not only myself but everybody who was involved in those couple of days stood up to Rwandan soldiers and said no."

"There are countless incidents that took place where innocent people were murdered and executed in front of us and you know not only myself but everybody who was involved in those couple of days stood up to Rwandan soldiers and said no.

“If we were given the opportunity we did that and often we were successful but sometimes you just weren't there on time.”

Faced with mounting casualties and a situation of total helplessness there was increased pressure on the Australian Medical team to leave Kibeho altogether.

But, in true Anzac spirit, the small team decided to continue their mission of saving IDP's lives despite their own being at risk.

Gittoes recalled those moments of extraordinary courage.

"The RPA commander came and said to Carol Vaughan Evans you can’t go back we are going to finish them all. So they would kill the people that the Australians had been treating.

“Carol made an amazing decision. She said no we are going back. So with the heavy machine gun fire it seemed that all the Australians could have been killed in the process of trying to save all these people.

“They had been attached to them. They went back and got them and helped them. This meant tripping through razor wire and stuff … Trying to get people out and bullets flying everywhere.”

Counting the casualties

At the end of more than four days of killings the counting of casualties was to become one of the most controversial events surrounding the United Nations mission in Rwanda.

Jordan and his team were asked to count the victims for the United Nations

“I was charged by the UN along with another officer to take half a section of infantry and move around each side of the camp and count the dead bodies. This took place the day after the massacre. You know we walked along with pace counters and we counted everybody that we found.”

They provided a partial tally of more than 4000 victims.

But the Rwandan government disputed this figure and came up with its own figure of 338 people killed in four days of unabated killings.

Human Right organisations and many scholars believe the tally is much higher. Their figures vary between 10,000 and 15,000 people killed in a matter of four days.

Jordon has his own account.

“I recognise that by being there and bearing witness to what had taken place they would have to kill all of us … to clear that evidence from their slate.

“Or, they had to stop what they were doing. And they didn't kill 12,000 people. I believe the count was somewhere between 4,000 and 10,000. And I would say closer to 10,000."

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sbs.com

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Why Rwandan Food Refugees Are Moving To Uganda In Increasing Numbers

While King Paul is mostly overseas these days lecturing how he has built the Singapore of Africa, back home, people are hurting. Massive crop failure has struck hard in Nyagatare District — Voice of America has captured this disaster in a revealing documentary about food refugees crossing into Uganda.

We know what the Kagame regime will do: Deny that the problem exists, or blame the weather. The other name for the regime is “Deny, Deny, Deny, and Deny” the truth about everything under the sun.

The regime will also blame climate change, and point out that the rains have failed for almost a year. Evidently some parts of Nyagatare District have not had rains since February 2015.

Dead crops

But where is planning? Where are strategic predictions and early warnings to mitigate disasters? Where is awareness-raising to enable rural populations to prepare and reduce risks? Where is proactive response after the disasters?

Nothing.

Does Rwanda Meteorological Service even have capacity to deliver sufficient data, information and advisories? Does the service have qualified personnel to forecast disasters in advance for adequate preparation and handling of disasters?

Zero.

Of course we all know that rainfall deficit risk zones of Rwanda include Bugesera, Nyagatare, Gatsibo, Kayonza, Ngoma and Kirehe districts in the eastern province. Eastern parts of Nyanza and Gisagara districts in southern province are also characterized by high frequency of either rainfall deficit, late rainfall onsets, or early rainfall cessations. Anyone who knows anything about Rwanda knows that these sub-regions are prone to dry spells and drought.

And it goes without saying that droughts are responsible for famine, food shortages, a reduction in plant and animal species and displacement of people in search of food and pasture.

This is why Rwandans are crossing into Uganda — they are food refugees. This is not rocket science. Hungry people will do anything to survive. So, rather than hide its head in the sand, the Kagame regime should at least appeal for food aid to mitigate hunger.

The regime does not have money to handle the situation on its own. Rwanda is currently suffering from a combination of self-inflicted wounds — depressed exports, massive imports, shrinking foreign reserves, and expenditure on prestige projects such as the Kigali Convention Centre. KCC swallowed much of the USD400 million Eurobond acquired in 2013.

Let the regime not hide hunger — ask for foreign food aid.

_____
David Himbara

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