Rwandan government accused of abducting Paul Rusesabagina

Rwandan government accused of abducting Paul Rusesabagina

 Inspiration for Hotel Rwanda film paraded in Kigali after allegedly being taken from Dubai

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/01/hotel-rwanda-activist-paul-rusesabagina-kidnapped-from-dubai

 Rwandan government accused of abducting Paul Rusesabagina

Inspiration for Hotel Rwanda film paraded in Kigali after allegedly being taken from Dubai

Jason Burke Africa correspondent

Tue 1 Sep 2020 12.50 BSTFirst published on Tue 1 Sep 2020 12.49 BST

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 Paul Rusesabagina is detained in front of media in handcuffs in Kigali, Rwanda. Photograph: Clement Uwiringiyimana/Reuters

The family of Paul Rusesabagina, a businessman whose role in saving more than 1,000 lives inspired the film Hotel Rwanda, have accused the east African country's authorities of kidnapping the 66-year-old from Dubai.

On Monday, Rusesabagina, who is an outspoken critic of President Paul Kagame, was paraded in handcuffs by Rwandan investigators before media in the capital, Kigali, accused of terrorism-related crimes.

Rusesabagina was the general manager of a luxury hotel in Kigali during the 1994 genocide, in which an estimated 800,000 people were killed with knives, clubs and other weapons. The vast majority of the victims were from the Tutsi minority, though some Hutu moderates also died.

The 2004 film told the story of how Rusesabagina, a middle-class Hutu married to a Tutsi, used both his influence and bribe ry to save the lives of 1,200 people who sheltered at the Mille Collines hotel in the capital during the worst of the massacres.

'Hotel Rwanda' inspiration Paul Rusesabagina held on terror charges

 

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Rwand an authorities have said Rusesabagina was arrested on what they described as "an international warrant" and is accused of being "the founder, leader, sponsor and member of violent, armed, extremist terror outfits … operating out of various places in the region and abroad."

Rusesabagina's adopted daughter, Carine Kanimba, said she last spoke with him before he flew to Dubai last week but she did not know the exact nature of his trip.

Kanimba said his family was informed early on Monday that he was being held in Rwanda but they had not been able to speak to him.

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"We're hoping to secure his release quickly and safely," she said. "What they're accusing him of is all made up. There is no evidence to what they're claiming. We know this is a wrongful arrest."

Another daughter, Anaise, told BBC World Service radio that her father had last called them on Thursday from Dubai.

"I believe he was kidnapped because he would never go to Rwanda of his own will," Anaise told the BBC.

Rusesabagina lives in Belgium and the US, where he was honoured by a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honour, by the then president George W Bush in 2005.

He has been an increasingly outspoken critic of Kagame, and has been accused by Rwandan prosecutors of having links to rebel groups in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo which have been blamed by officials for cross-border attacks.

In 2010, Rusesabagina spoke out against the jailing of the opposition leader Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, and four years ago he announced a political campaign against the government, which he called a dictatorship.

A statement from investigators described charges against him including terrorism, arson, kidnap and "murder perpetrated against unarmed, innocent Rwandan civilians on Rwandan territory". The details of his detention remain unclear.

Kagame maintains a close relationship with Dubai .

The government has previously been accused of hunting down dissidents overseas. South African investigators have said the government was directly involved in the killing of Patrick Karegeya, an outspoken critic, in Johannesburg in 2014.

Kagame said afterwards: "Any person still alive who may be plotting against Rwanda, whoever they are, will pay the price."

Rusesabagina has previously denied the government's claims that he funds Rwandan rebels, and has urged western countries to press the government to respect human rights.

Kagame is largely credited with the development and stability Rwanda has experienced since the genocide, but he is also accused of extreme authoritarianism .

In 2017, Kagame won a landslide victory in a presidential election, securing a third term in office with almost 99% of votes cast.

The Rwandan government disputes Rusesabagina's story about saving people during the genocide, and Ibuka, a Rwandan genocide survivors' group, has in the past said Rusesabagina, who runs a humanitarian foundation, exaggerated his own role in helping people escape the genocide.

Katrina Lantos Swett, the president of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, said: "I believe it is a travesty that a human rights champion like Paul Rusesabagina should be captured, detained and held in the way he is being held. This should raise a lot of deep concern and scepticism on behalf of a lot of people."

About Our President — Lantos Foundation

Rwandan government accused of abducting Paul Rusesabagina Inspiration for Hotel Rwanda film paraded in Kigali after allegedly being taken from Dubai

Fw: [uRwanda_rwacu] Paul Rusesabagina: UAE denies knowledge of Hotel Rwanda film hero's arrest - CNN

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/02/africa/paul-rusesabagina-rwanda-arrest-intl/index.html

UAE denies knowledge of Hotel Rwanda film hero's arrest as family raise 'kidnap' fears

(CNN) — The United Arab Emirates has denied any involvement in the arrest of Hotel Rwanda film hero Paul Rusesabagina, saying he left Dubai legally last Friday on a private jet bound for the East African country.

After landing in Dubai on Thursday, Rusesabagina went to a hotel, said the official, before taking off five hours later from Al Maktoum airport just after midnight.

"Mr. Paul came and left legally," the UAE official told CNN.

A longtime critic of President Paul Kagame's rule, his travel immediately raises questions why he got on the jet, knowing he would face charges in Rwanda. 

Days after his departure from Dubai, the 66-year-old human rights activist surfaced in Rwanda, paraded in handcuffs, facing terror related charges.

A spokesman for the Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) Thierry Murangira, speaking from Kigali, would not go into details about how and where Rusesabagina was apprehended, saying that he has to answer "charges of serious crime.."

"This was done with international cooperation subject to an international arrest warrant," he said.

However, the UAE official confirmed that there is no agreement between the Gulf state and Rwanda to extradite criminals or wanted people.

They said that Rusesabagina had visited Dubai twice in the last few years and that he raised no suspicions from authorities in the UAE, because he wasn't on any wanted lists.

The RIB did not respond to queries about the apparent discrepancies.

Family kidnap fears

Rusesabagina's family told CNN that they believe he was kidnapped, but have no proof of this.

The new information coming from the UAE deepens the mystery of his arrest and raises new questions about claims made by Rwandan authorities. 

Rusesabagina, travelling on his own, arrived in Dubai on an Emirates flight from Chicago last Thursday evening, said the official. 

Sometime that same evening Rusesabagina checked in by phone with his wife and daughter, the family told CNN. 

"That is the last time we talked to him, that is the last time we heard from him and ever since, it has just been silence," said his son, Trésor Rusesabagina. 

He said he was surprised that his father had even ventured to the UAE.

Though his father did travel extensively, he had recently curtailed his trips because of the pandemic, and the family had long feared the formidable intelligence network of the Rwandan government. 

"I was shocked to hear he was in Dubai, that he was anywhere near Africa," he said. 

Rwandan agents have regularly followed Paul Rusesabagina for over a decade, invading his home and threatening his life, they claimed.

His family are also concerned for his health because he is a cancer survivor and heart patient who requires daily medication.

They have not had contact with him since his disappearance and have requested to visit him immediately.

The RIB and Rwandan leadership figures said earlier that the charges that Rusesabagina faces are unrelated to politics.

The RIB says he is accused of supporting terror groups, calling for violence, and involvement in specific acts of terror.

Pressed on those specifics, on Tuesday RIB spokesperson Murangira told CNN that the investigation centered around alleged crimes against civilians in two Rwandan districts in June and December 2018.

Murangira said that an investigator has 15 days to determine whether Rusesabagina should stay in custody, that he has the right to a lawyer, and the right to speak to his family.

Rusesabagina -- who gained prominence for saving 1,200 Rwandans during the country's genocide by sheltering them in the hotel he managed -- inspired the acclaimed 2004 Hollywood film starring Don Cheadle and Sophie Okonedo.

Rusesabagina and his supporters have long maintained that he became a target of President Kagame's government after sustained criticism of the regime and the conduct of the Rwandan Patriotic Front in ending the genocide in 1994.

Around 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in the Rwandan genocide, which was led by Hutu extremists.

Opposition voices silenced

Rusesabagina also holds Belgian citizenship and a US Green Card, says his family and foundation. A US State Department official told CNN that they are aware of his arrest and are monitoring the situation.

He has not lived in Rwanda since 1996, when he survived an assassination attempt.

While widely praised for transforming Rwanda in the aftermath of the genocide, Kagame has also faced widespread criticism for human rights abuses and silencing opposition voices.

Opposition politicians in Rwanda have often found themselves jailed on what they say are trumped-up charges for standing against Kagame in polls.

In one of the more widely publicized cases, Diane Rwigara and her mother were jailed when the former attempted to run for president in the same election as Kagame in 2017.

Rwigara was acquitted of all charges including insurrection and forging of documents in 2018.

Victoire Ingabire, the leader of the FDU-Inkingi party, was jailed in 2010 for charges that included collaborating with a terrorist organization, "divisionism," "minimizing the genocide" and "genocide ideology."

She had returned to the country from the Netherlands to contest in the 2010 presidential elections after years of living abroad but was barred from running, and served eight years of a 15-year prison sentence before receiving a presidential pardon in 2018.

Rusesabagina is the recipient of several human rights awards for his efforts during the genocide, including the US Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005 and the Human Rights Prize by the Lantos Foundation in 2011, among others.

CNN's Stephanie Busari and Eoin McSweeney contributed to this report.

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Fw: [uRwanda_rwacu] UMUVUMO W’UMWAMI W’INKOTANYI PAUL KAGAME

UMUVUMO W'UMWAMI W'INKOTANYI PAUL KAGAME

Kagome kagomye ku Mana

Manga irengeje iya Nyamunsi

Kaje kamuje nk'imango

Imana y'i Rwanda karayitsura

Abana bayo barabatsemba

Karayihiga karayihinda

Ibura agaciro iva mu gicumbi

No mu mahanga ihabura icumbi

Intaho yayo irega uruhumbu

U Rwanda rwicara nta Mana

Amahoro meza arahondera

Ntaho byigeze biba i Rwanda,

Kabiba urwango rurasagamba

Aho rutabyutse karabibura

Mbese kagenza uko kabyize

Ruba gisaga igihugu cyose

Amahano ahabwa intebe arateka

Ntibyatinda aratekanya

Amahaze yose aratongora

N'amagomerane aratunguka

Urugomo rwimakazwa mu Rwanda

Abagome benda imigoma yabo

Karawukweta uwo kw'isonga

Umutekano ubwo uba uratetse,

Gakora mu nkaba ako gakoko

N'aho iguye karahakomba

U Rwanda rwose rugwa mu rwamba

Ingezi y'amaraso iradendeza

Irasangana u Rwanda rwose

Agakongori kagira ubwuzu

Karusha nkongwa mu misigati

Nk'iyi mwumva itsembye abantu

 

 

Karashyugumbwa ngo kayihute

Barazigaziga biracika

Kishe ab'inkwakuzi baratinya

Karabacika kwoga inyanja,

Gakoma akamo karavumera

Karavugishwa kavuza induru

Ubwiso bwako karabuzora

Kikoza hejuru mu kirere

Nuko kinihuramo kose

Maze kavogagiramo idogo

Kalidoga bishyira kera

Kibira kuburukira icyera

Kenda urwabya aho rureremba

Maze ruruzura rurasesa

Karahumiliza karoha mu nda

Urwabya n'ubunwa biba mahwane,

Inkaba yinjira mu nkanka

Mu ngoto haza kuba impatanwa

Agahogo kose igacamo inkora

Mu kada huzura umwisheke

Karahagahaga kaba agapira

;uko kiterura butosho

Kidunalika nko ku gasindu

Karakoresha imitara yose

Abambari bako bamara abantu

Barabacyemba baca ibihanga

Barabirunda u Rwanda rwose

Karema ingunda umuganaziko,

Kakabikunda byahebuje

Ukabona imbabazi zagasaze

Agatima kose ariho gatuye

Kabyegera kabyususa

Kabyuguga kabyagaza

Gakoma isazi ngo zitabyona

Izahaguye ni nk'umunani

 

 

 

Cyangwa ahari magana inani

Kakajya kanika kagasanza

Kakabilindura uko bukeye

Kakabiraramo ijoro ryose

Nka nyamatanga mu magi yayo;

U Rwanda ruhinduka urw'ibihanga

Rureka kwitwa urwa Gihanga

Kakabiratira ab'i mahanga

Ngo balilimbe ingesabihanga

Kanga kwitwa ingesabinyita

Ngo katabyukurutsa kalinga

Umwami akima bakagatanga

Bagashahura ikabishima

Maze igatamilizwa ibishahu

Ingezi y'u Rwanda igakamuka

Imitwe y'abantu igatureza

U Rwanda rukongera kuba u Rwanda.

Gacumu kacumuye ku mwami

Kakamuheza agahera ishyanga

Kakaba kigabije uru Rwanda

Kandi ntaho kabikomora

Kaje bukunguzi murabizi

Kambaye nta kirazira kazi

Umurage wacu karawupfobya

Umuterekero karawurenga

Kararutera kararutanga

Abanyamahanga bararutaha

Ruba ruhanzweho na shitani

Si ukubwagura isuka myambi;

 

Imyura isaga igihugu cyose

Inkingi zarwo zireka abashi

Cyilima aho ari aramanjirwa

Nawe Gihanga arajongorwa

Mungu mu ijuru arigunga

 

 

 

Imana y'i Rwanda igira ikidodo

Ako mu balyoko kalya karungu

Kararubaga kararubamba

Karujya mu nkoro kararwata

Umutima warwo kawurya isonga

Karawusenya urasandara

Ubusugi bwarwo karabusesa;

Rwose ruhinduka icyagane

Ruba nk'icyavu inyo zijagata

Cyangwa amashondwe yo mu itumba

Rushira abantu rushira ibintu

Rurashilira ruba umuyonga

Ruba nk'isayo yo mu gishanga

Rurahubangana rurahwera

Ruba umurangara w'amatongo

Inka n'abana biradogera

Incura n'incubizi n'ingwagwane

Karazitara karazitunda

Maze kalinikiza kalica;

Abakili mu nda karabavuza

Hamwe na ba nyina karavunga

Kenda impinja karazihwata

Ntikahaga karokera

Kajya mu bana karababaga

Inkumi n'ingimbi karaziketa

Naho ibikwerere karakemba

Naho abakambwe karabakinja

Maze gakinja aho mu ntumbi

Mu ishema Iyica kaba akaganji

Umujinya usaga akabiri kose

Uyu w'umuranduranzuzi mwumva;

Kazora ubwiso nk'akatewe

Buratutumba nk'utunyenyeli

Kagira icyaka cyinshi cyane

Karabuyera kaligunga

 

 

 

Kagira irungu kali mu bandi

Karazerera aho mu bikombe

Kagwa ku rwobo rwuje urwamba

N'uko kirasa nk'incira

Ni izoka yawe nta kigoye

Maze karunama karahuta

Abambari bako baca ibizinzo

Barakazinza baralilimba;

Ngo soma mwungeli w'abatsembyi

Mwami w'inkotanyi shira impumu

Iyo nkaba ishyushye ikuge mu bwonko

Ikabure ubwicanyi ube igikoko

Ugire ibikohwa amagufwa yose

Umubili n'uza umere amahembe

Ingusho yawe iguhore hafi

Ba intabikangwa mu gusogota

Niga abatutsi abahutu utsembe

Abatwa batware uko ubihaye

Soma usubire ili nkuba yesa

Inkuru irataha i kantarange;

Cyo ba ruhanga abahima bazi

Ni we batura niwe basenga

Ni we basingiza buli teka

Izina nk'iryo nilibe iryawe

Cyo hama rero ba impamakwica

Ukomerwe yombi uri nyir'u Rwanda

Umuhigo wawe uzawutanga

Ni amatezano ntagoye

Urwamba rwuzuye mu bisabo

U Rwanda rwuje ibisare rwose

Inkaba iratemba imitara yose;

Abahima impande bakaba injome

Ni abamenyereye kunywa amarege

Barakavomera karagonga

Bararumanga ab'inkongoro

 

 

 

Abandi ibyansi barabivika

Ibicuba byuzura bakajyana

Bakabitondeka ku ruhimbi

Kaba kaje bakagahemba

Biragahira karya ikiremve

Kaba ikirenga mu kumiraza

Kanga ayera bitaba i Rwanda

Ngo umwisheke ni wo ukabumba;

Mu ndiba humye baragakura

Ubukana bwica burakanuka

Maze bakuka imitima bose

Inkuba irakubita indi irakira

Ijuru lihinduka urwirungu

Hagwa urushyana rw'insangane

Icurabulindi iratongora

Babura u Rwanda babona urwamba

Rwose ruhinduka umwisheke

Baratabaza bishyira kera

Umwami w'i Nkole ntiyatinda

Arahutera agera ku ruzi;

 

Abona imirambo iharambuye

Yaremye uruzi rw'insangane

Imigezi imuzaniye ngo arebe

Irasukiranya igira urufaya

Akebutse hirya abona ni rwajya

Arebye hino abona ni rwaza

Asa ntumwaye aramwenyura

Arahumeka aliruhutsa

Arisihinga aho ku nkombe

Akanura amaso alikubira

Agira ubukiligitwa mu birenge

Maze akanyangabo karashyuha;

Agira amashyushyu ajya mu muhezo

Amara yo akanya ntibyatinda

 

 

 

Guhindura asa n'uhiga

Impande zose ahabona intumbi

Arashyugumbwa kuzagaza

Mu nda haza akanyamuneza

Umuhogo uhumuramo ineza

Umutima usaba ubugwaneza

Ubwuzu bwuzura mu nkanka

Alishimashima umutwe wose

Ubusatsi bwose burashilira

Asigara yanamye nk'igihaza;

Arahambira ajya ku ndengo

Ategeka abantu gutema ishyamba

Ngo ingeli bohereze mu Rwanda

Maze batwike izo ncandazi

Ejo batazamera nk'imyaka

Maze amagaju akabura inzuli

Barabatwika nk'amatafali

Barashilira baba umuyonga

Karawurunda karawuyora

Karawujyana no ku gitinde

Karawutega gasaba kwica

Ngo nta kindi kazi i Rwanda;

Ubu karakotana bunyamaswa

Abazima kabagize ingerere

Karabahumba ijoro n'umunsi

Abazimu kilirwa kabahiga

Karabashakira mu birere

Ibihuru byose karabivunja

N'ibihu byose ni uko nguko

Kamena ishyamba kakajya ishyanga

Ubwo ni ko kica igiti n'isazi

Umurage kazi ni uwo nguwo

Ngo iyo katishe karaburara

N'aho karyamye ni byo karota;

Aho kaba kikubye mu kirambi

 

 

 

Kaba karambije ku ntumbi

Kasa ubwinyo ukagira ubwoba

Karatombotse nimutinye

Ahubwo kaliliwe ntikaraye

Abagakunda nimutabare

Abatagashaka nimutakambe

Dore agahanga kalirenze

Ubuguru bwanamye mu mahanga

Agatima kumye ntikagitera

Ngaka kanamye ku gahinga

Kandi ni ejo si ejobundi;

Ubwo mu bashambo ni ibicika

Umwami w'i Nkole araca ibintu

Aliho aramashana n'ibyuma

Ashaka kwohereza mu Rwanda

Ntibyatinda biza bwangu

Bisasa intumbi aho mu mabanga

Imisozi isumba indi birayesa

Irenga hejuru y'imirambo

N'abagisamba birabazika

N'aho abasagutse bahwanye

Birabatunda birabatinda

Iyo mu misezero y'i mahanga;

Abahamya ijisho umuhima wawe

Araseka cyane aratangara

Ibisazi asanganywe birabyuka

N'uko abinjiza mu mihango

Imuha kwica nta gihunga

Amagufwa yabo ubu ni yo yota

Umubavu wabo ni wo umutunze

Ashyize kera yumva akantu

Ati aka gakoko naremye ubwange

Ibyo nagatoje karabitunze

Dore kalica katijana

Ni nka ka kambali k'akana

 

 

 

Alizibukira areba hirya

Abona abambali aho baganje

Bamwumvisha ko ali icyago

Biramucika aba nk'icyana

Balibwira barongera

Irya Gatonda aba aralitoye

Akazira icyatuma yitonda

No kwitonda akabyilinda

N'uko arongera arora intumbi

Uburyo azikunda byahebuje

Ahubwo n'iye ngo arayishaka

Urebye aririwe ntaraye.

 

Kavumwa kavumwe n'Imana

Kakaba imanga aho kuba imanzi

Ubupfura bwako bwarapfuye

Ubupfu bulinjira buraganza

Urupfu runena ako kantazi

Ngo imitsi yako ikura amenyo

Ariko rwashunnyeho rurumva

Ubupfunya bwuzura mu ngingo

Buragashusha kaba agashana

Kaba agashandiko k'agatabi

Ni akayonga si akayongwe

Ubu karayongobera butabi,

Iyo ukarebye si agatutsi

Usanga ahubwo ari agatindi

Nta mfura itwaza itsembatsemba

Nta mututsi utaba rubanda

Ngo ajye kubambura utuzu twabo

Utulima twabo atuvogere

Utuntu twabo adutsotsobe

Ahubwo ashinjagira gitware

Akajya mu rwego rw'intarindwa

Arasana ku nka bikamubera

Yagera ku ngoma akaba intwali

 

 

 

Ni uko Imana yabimuhaye,

Ntabwo yugaliza uru Rwanda

Ntaho byigeze biba i Rwanda

Ahubwo arwagura agana ishyanga

Imbaga y'umwami ikadendeza

Aniga abahinza akabirenza

Akavuga imyato ari umurenzi

Naho kaliya gahilihimve

K'agahilimbili k'i mahanga

lli shyano ryahabiye i mahanga

Ni agahuhu si agahungu

Si agahumbu ni agahombo

Ni agahangano bahanze,

Iyo kabaye harabawe

Abantu baho basa n'abera

Aliko mu nda ni umunuko

Umutima wa bo ntabwo wera

Itsembatsemba ni ryo gakondo

Ni abakwasi si abakonde

Umuco wabo ni uwo nguwo

Ngibyo rero ibyo katoye

Ni byo batunzi ni byo batozwa

Ni byo batota uturemwa twabo

Akambali kadutse ino mu Rwanda

Kinjiye kazanye uwo mugambi,

Kica abantu iyo ku nkiko

Gatuga abandi ngo bace ibintu

Karabasembura nk'amasake

Gaca amarenga karacunisha

Karabateranya bararwana

Imbaga nyamwinshi karayihenda

Karayiryarya karayibeshya

Maze kayanika ku gahinga

Ibura aho yagira iba rubebe

Abanyamahanga barayihana

 

 

 

lbura aho ihungira ibura byose

Imbaga y'umwami karayitsemba,

Ab'i mahanga barabireba

Maze barogeza nk'umupira

Barasakabaka barasizora

Ni ku magambi bazi neza

Ngo nibabambwe ngo nibabambwe

Ngo nigahore nta guhokwa

Kica abantu karabatsemba

N'abagisamba karabasonga

Abo mu mahanga karabacoga

Abatahaguye karabatunda

Ubu karagenda gatsotsoba

Kugeza umunsi kabatsembye,

Kaliya kambali k'amahanga

Ni agahanzi si agahinza

Iyo ukegereye ni akazingo

Ni urutambara rwishusha

Udusatsi twako ni udushingwe

Boshye umwana urwaye bwaki

Ubwonko bwako bwarasaye

Ubwiko bwiyendera uwo mwanya

Agatwe kako ni agatwero

Gaceka impanga zika ishingwe

Nta gahanga ni agahabwa

Naho ku twiso ni utunoli,

Utwinyo ntubaze ni mahuku

Utuboko twombi ni udukwege

Na ho ubuganza ni ubujanja

Nta gatuza ni agatuntu

Agatima kuzuyemo amasasu

Mu kada imbunda zirajagata

Udutako twako tw'inkobane

Duha uturundi nk'utw'icyoba

Na ho uturenge ni utunono

 

 

 

Gafite umwera umubiri wose

Ntabwo gahumura karanuka

Inkaba y'abantu ni yo ikaranga,

 

Aka kanyamaswa kamaze abantu

Ni agakoko gakokoye

Agatiligongo ni akaronko

Ni ubusabusa bwigenza

Ni agashishi urebye neza

Wagakandagira ukagenda

Wagatwara mu mano yawe

Kari mu myate ntiwabyumva

Uwo kadwinze ntarushya ihamba

Kazira ubwoko kagira ubworo

Gata ibitabapfu buri munsi

N'ubu wabona kahwase,

None rero mbaga y'umwami

Nimuhaguruke nimutabare

Aka kaburanka mugate hanze

Dore amahanga yagatanze

Ubugome bwako babubonye

Ikinyoma kazanye cyashaje

Bakavumbuye uko mukazi

Uko mukareba ntimwibeshya

Urugomo rwakagishiye mu nda

Maze rutwara umubili wose

Amagufwa yanamilije yose

Nimugahige nimugahoshe;

Nimuce hasi mukesure

Kabure hirya kabure hino

Nikajya hejuru inyoni zange

Nimugacengezemo inshinge

Naho amasasu ni ugusesa

Yemwe bakecuru mukibasha

Namwe babyeyi mutabyaye

 

 

 

Ntaretse abonkereje akaraga

Muvume rwamba rwishe u Rwanda

Bikongere no mu buvivi

Bisingire ubuvivure

No mubumwira bazabyumve,

Abacunnyi mwese nimwiyambe

Abahoryo mwibuke umuco wanyu

Abahennyi namwe ntimuhatangwe

Dore nyamunsi yayazoye

Ikuzimu bashitse byacitse

Ab'abagwasi babambye

Baragashaka ngo bagashoke

Kabuze amagiro byabaye

Inkuba zo mw'ijuru zasheze

Intare y'ishyamba irakirenza

Inzovu marumba yagakase

Imbogo y'inguge yagahwase,

Imvubu mu mazi irakigomba

Iyitwa nvara ikavovore

Inzoka zo munsi zirakadwinga

N'izo hejuru zateye

Impili izibanje imbere ikubira

Incira yarangije kugacira

Ahali wenda ubu kaciye

Iminsi iba myinshi igahimwa n'umwe

Ariko uwa none ni nyamujyana

Dore n'intunguru ku irembo

Igomba intumbi ibyo murabizi

N'inkotsa zose zakotsoye,

Si ak'ibihunyira mu mashyamba

Ruhaya yinjiye mu kiryamo

Rugeyo ishyamye aho mu kirambi

Dore akarambo impande yavo

Kunutse kumiwe ni umwunu

Cyo nimusandutse ayo maheru

 

 

 

Imonyo zirembe utwinyo twazo

Akaguta kako zikitere

Zinagature Kaguta kandi

Akabi karengane n'ilirenze

Umwami yime kandi aganze

U Rwanda rwongere rube u Rwanda.

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Fw: [uRwanda_rwacu] America’s Wars on Democracy in Rwanda and the DR Congo - CounterPunch.org

America's Wars on Democracy in Rwanda and the DR Congo - CounterPunch.org

America's Wars on Democracy in Rwanda and the DR Congo - CounterPunch.org Joe Emersberger interviewed Justin Podur regarding his new book about a conflict few understand thanks to, among...

America's Wars on Democracy in Rwanda and the DR Congo

Joe Emersberger interviewed Justin Podur regarding his new book about a conflict few understand thanks to, among other things, "Africanist" scholars.

Joe Emersberger: Your book is aimed at understanding the war in the DR Congo that killed an estimated 5 million people since 1998.

Justin Podur: I see it as about a fifteen year event that began in 1990 when the RPF [led by Paul Kagame] invaded Rwanda. That ended, arguably, sometime from 2003 to 2006. It was the same people fighting for the same general reasons. There were breaks, never very long breaks, in the fighting.

JE: Your book spends a lot of time refuting "Africanists" – the supposed experts who are like the Middle East specialists whom Edward Said called "Orientalists".

Podur: Said didn't coin that term. That's what those people called themselves – the tradition started with a group of scholars whom Napoleon brought to Egypt when he invaded. That tradition continued of Western scholars being the ones to explain and interpret the East. In recent decades, scholars from Aime Cesaire and Chinua Achebe to Gayatri Spivak (and of course Edward Said) have argued "No, people from the region can speak for themselves".

I started studying the Congo Wars as a leftist who was trying to get a handle on what was going on, knowing there is this huge US imperial footprint – and Canada's (everyone knows about Romeo Dallaire whose role is discussed at length in my book). I did what probably many people do when they try to understand a war: I picked up a series of books by these Africanist scholars.

The first time through I was reading for facts: who did what to who. But the whole time there were other things I was noticing: the way they would talk about one ethnic group relative to another, the way they would physically describe leaders who were pro-US versus those who were not. I realized that to tell this story properly I had to expose the racial and other biases of many people who had written about it so far..

JE: You describe the use of sloppy history combined with racism by many of the Africanists. You also focus heavily on the murder of Patrice Lumumba in 1960 and the crushing of his push for democratic reform in the Congo.

Podur: I wanted to talk about that because the Africanists portray Lumumba as a badly or fatally flawed leader. In my first reading of these texts, I assumed these portrayals were accurate. Who isn't flawed? But when I looked at each of the claims- the alleged flaws, none of them really held up. There is one that he committed genocide against the Baluba [one of the ethnic groups in the province of Katanga] but it was actually his enemy, Moise Tshombe, who did that and the West pinned it on Lumumba. There are a large number of things like that. There is also the speculation that "well if he had lived, he'd have become a dictator". That's another Africanist classic. We had to kill somebody because they might do something bad in the future.

But when you understand the context at the time it's obvious why they killed him. It wasn't because he was flawed, it was because he was so far ahead of the imperialist time in which he lived. He was trying to bring the Congo's enormous resources under democratic control. He didn't slip up and get killed by local enemies. He had a large and very deep following, especially in the Province Orientale, and those people, the Lumumbists, continued to fight for 4 more years. In fact one leader, Pierre Mulele, fought for 8 more years.

The US continually poured more and more resources into making sure the Lumumbists were crushed. They did that for almost a whole decade. It was no accident. It was systematic – one of the major initiatives of US foreign policy at the highest levels. It is all in the cables, the Foreign Relations of the United States, some of which were released in 2014. They had knowledge of Congolese politics to a granular level of detail. They knew the local politicians, their positions on different issues and on one another. US officials whose names you'll recognize are in these cables: Eisenhower, Kennedy, Harriman…. It really refutes the notion of Africa, or the Congo generally, as some kind of irrelevant backwater. Imperialists don't do this kind of planning and detailed work for a backwater – I don't even think there is such a thing as a backwater any more, for imperialists who have the objective of controlling the whole world or more, since Cecil Rhodes (the original Africanist) apparently looked up at the sky and wept that he couldn't conquer the stars.

JE: And your book discusses the post-Independence dictators who emerged to become important tools of US policy: Kagame, Mobutu, Amin, Obote. You focus on the Congo but to do that you also had to discuss Rwanda and Uganda in depth. Could you go over the kind of death toll these guys inflicted? I am also curious why Idi Amin (who took power with UK support) has come to be the most infamous.

Podur: It's tough to count deaths but you definitely can for wars. Mobutu for example, there were two wars to overthrow him in the 1970s that were put down. Those were by right wing forces. Those were pretty big and probably tens of thousands were killed. He was in power for 30 years – from 1961 really until 1996. He had a long run. He was known also for the concept of kleptocracy. That comes from Mobutu.

Amin was really bad, responsible for deaths in the hundreds of thousands in counterinsurgencies in north Uganda. I think people might know him the best because he let hijackers land in Uganda in 1976. Israeli commandoes did this rescue and it became a big story because the Israeli commandoes were successful. Maybe crossing the Israelis was one reason why he became so notorious. He also deported the Indian population in Uganda, which generated a lot of suffering and a lot of hatred towards him. Amin was overthrown by Tanzania in 1979.

But then a big civil war started in Uganda between Obote and Museveni. That was called the Ugandan Bush War (1980-86). Museveni won that war. Nobody knows the exact numbers killed as far as I could find, but it could have been half a million that died in that war. Nobody talks about it, but probably comparable numbers to the Rwandan genocide.

JE: That kind of leads us to Kagame. Dictators generally struggle to justify themselves to the world, but this guy actually succeeded in demonizing the majority that he ruled over, basically declaring them all guilty of genocide.

Podur: To me it's the most successful propaganda operation ever because, like you said, the majority of a country is now seen essentially by the whole world as guilty and worthy of perpetual slavery.

The events of 1994 which I discuss in the book, include the genocidal massacres of Tutsi by Hutu militia but also the [Kagame-led] RPF massacres of Tutsi and Hutu civilians all over Rwanda. The RPF then followed these fleeing Rwandans into the Congo killing hundreds of thousands – mostly Hutus but also other groups of Rwandan and Congolese people. All of these events are generally talked about in the context of the allegedly unique evil of the Hutus. It ends up being used to justify the forever dictatorship of Kagame. It's an amazing feat.

JE: Ed Herman and David Peterson touched on this in their book the "The Politics of Genocide" Perhaps you can go through some of the estimates regarding the 1994 genocide.

Podur: I try to avoid, and I think actually Herman and Peterson also avoided, the idea that there is some kind of ledger. That's a big Africanist trope – a big part of what they do with Rwanda, is to tally up the numbers of Hutus killed by Tutsis and Tutsis killed by Hutus and balance out the deaths by ethnicity. They say 800,000 Tutsis were killed, and seem to suggest that if Kagame kills any less than 800,000 Hutus, he's being magnanimous, merciful. I keep repeating this phrase in the book: the Africanists seem to think "the first 800,000 are free".

The death estimates are not based on counting bodies or cluster sampling surveys like the Lancet has often published for the DRC, Iraq, etc. It's based on missing people. This is how many Tutsi were present according to the (adjusted) census. This is the number that showed up in refugee camps. The difference between the two must be the number killed. Herman and Peterson (and others like Davenport and Stam) say that based on that method we don't know who killed them. They also note that many more Hutus died than Africanists talk about, but that's expected because they were in the majority. Also because machete wielding militias didn't know who they were killing. They'd kill anybody who showed up to a roadblock, they would cordon an area and kill everyone inside it. Between 500,000 – 800,000 were killed by these militias, while the RPF was conducting huge massacres in the expanding areas they controlled. There are estimates as high as a million, with about half being Hutu.

JE: You also noted that massacres were incited by Kagame's looming invasion which then actually took place. In the US, there were hate crimes against Arab and Muslim US citizens in response to the 9/11 bombing. We can imagine the race hatred that would have been incited if Bin Laden had actually been poised to overthrow the US government. But Kagame gets a pass even though his quest for power incited the massacres to begin with. You also talk about the wild claims regarding the number of perpetrators of the massacres. Kagame claimed 3 million perpetrators and outright declared every Hutu adult male a suspect.

Podur: Exactly. There were tens of thousands of perpetrators, probably 30 to 40 thousand. That's a lot. I think the highest scholarly estimate is of 200,000 perpetrators. Strikes me as high but possible. However the population at the time of the 1990 RPF invasion was close to 7 million (13 million today). The idea is that they were all guilty. And if you think about demographics and age, these are young countries, the majority was not even alive in 1994. But there is an immense effort to keep the idea of collective Hutu guilt alive.

JE: It's a way to justify dictatorial rule over the majority.

Podur: And to justify RPF murders. While the militias were killing Tutsis, the RPF was also rounding up and massacring tens of thousands of Hutus, calling them to meetings and clubbing them to death. This is well documented by Judi Rever in her book "In Praise of Blood", also by another journalist Stephen Smith who estimated maybe 40,000 were killed by the RPF in this period and another 150,000 killed within Rwanda by the RPF in the following year. So the Africanists say "yeah whatever, you can't compare that to 800,000 killed by the Hutus" So 190,000 people are free. Then there was a cholera epidemic in Hutu refugee camps in the Congo that killed tens of thousands. Then Kagame invades the Congo in 1996 to hunt down the remaining Hutus who fled Rwanda and kills 500, 000 to 600,000, maybe more. The demonization of the Hutu population as guilty is there to rationalize this level of mass murder and absolute dictatorship. The Germans widely supported Nazism. In the US, white Americans would hold picnics to watch a lynching. But in both Germany and the US, there are people reading Africanist literature believing there is something uniquely evil about a group of people called Hutus in a country called Rwanda that they would never believe about themselves.

JE: And going back to Lumumba, it serves the purpose of smashing any chance of democratic development, and it facilitates resource plunder.

Podur: A big point I wanted to make is that in 1960 South Africa is an apartheid state. The US is also a kind of apartheid state. They were not going to allow a democratic republic in the Congo – a huge, resource rich, centrally located black democratic republic that could serve a tremendous geopolitical role in liberating the whole continent.

I have a chapter about Che Guevara's activities in the Congo. Guevara was a bit depressed in the Congo. I actually think he was too pessimistic about what they were able to do there. People forget that he made the calculation to go there. He could have gone anywhere. But in 1964 he decided that that was the strategic place to go, that the most strategic fight in the world against imperialism was being waged by the Lumumbists in eastern Congo. That is where he needed to be. That tells us something.

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"Hate Cannot Drive Out Hate. Only Love Can Do That", Dr. Martin Luther King.

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Posted by: Nzi Nink <nzinink@yahoo.com>

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