Rwandan President Paul Kagame's London press conference

Demonstrators outside the Commonwealth Secretariat at Marlborough House in London, when Rwandan President Paul Kagame arrived to hoist the Rwandan flag, celebrating Rwanda's acceptance into the Commonwealth, at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Trinidad and Tobago in November 2009.  Pro-Kagame demonstrators arrived with their signs as well.

On March 12th, the Black Star News published a partial transcript of Rwandan President Paul Kagame's press conference in London, "when the country's flag was unfurled to officially welcome the East African country as a member of the Commonwealth Club of Nations," as pro and anti-Kagame demonstrators lined up outside.  


Here's my own brief interpretation of His Excellency's remarks: 


1st question: ". . . set out for us specifically what you intend to do in order to meet criticisms of failings in the guarantees of human rights and media freedoms."


Answer:  Genocide.  The genocide sixteen years ago was the West's fault; there were no freedom or rights then and there's nothing we can do about freedom and human rights now.


2nd question:  Why hasn't Laurent Nkunda been turned over to the International Criminal Court in the Hague?  And, what about freedom of the press? 


Answer:  Over a year after we arrested our man Nkunda we're still talking to the D.R.C. about extraditing him, even though there's a sealed warrant for his arrest at the International Criminal Court in the Hague.   Re the press, "as an honest observer," you have to look at both sides, even though 22 journalists have died in Rwanda since 1992, compared to 10 in the D.R.C., and even though it's one of the most dangerous places for journalists in the world.   And besides: genocide.  We had a genocide sixteen years ago and Rwandan journalists were guilty, along with the West.


3rd question:  How confident are you that a French court will extradite Habyarimana's widow, and will she get a fair trial in Rwanda?  


Answer:  I like that question.  The widow's guilty.  France should have locked her up or handed her over a long time ago and, if they don't, we'll keep demanding they do.  We want thousands more exile genocide criminals too, even though our filthy prisons are already some of the most overcrowded in the world.


4th question:   Bombs are going off in Rwanda while you use the genocide excuse to keep anyone from challenging you in this year's faux presidential election.  What gives? 


Answer:  Everybody's got problems, and besides, ours are all caused by the FDLR in eastern Congo and some other people we've arrested, (including journalists), and more we'll arrest soon (including journalists). Only racist neocolonists care about democracy and human rights in Rwanda, where Rwandans all love my African ass and love taking orders from me and me alone.

Why did the Commonwealth accept Rwanda?

Commonwealth leaders at the Commonwealth Heads of Government 

meeting in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, 11.28.2009.

The Commonwealth Heads of Government, meeting in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on 11. 28.2009, admitted Rwanda to the Commonwealth, despite the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative's objections to Rwanda's miserable human rights record, compromised courts, compromised elections, and repeated invasions to loot the mineral wealth of neighboring D.R. Congo, objections reported in the London Guardian and many other sources.

On 11.26.2009, on the BBC's Have Your Say, Interim Rwandan Democratic Green Party President Frank Habineza and Sam Okudetsu of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI)  argued that the Commonwealth should not consider Rwanda's application unless and until Rwanda's upcoming election, in August 2010, is free and fair.

Professor Yash Pai Ghai, a Kenyan legal expert, wrote, in a report for the CHRI:

"We believe that overwhelming evidence, conveniently ignored by leading Commonwealth states, demonstrates that the government of Rwanda is not sufficiently committed to the protection of human rights and to democracy." 

But, that wasn't enough to block acceptance of Rwanda's application this year. 

Nor did Commonwealth leaders question Rwanda's pending gay imprisonment legislation, which makes the sincerity of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and British Prime Minister Gordon' Brown's reported "fury" over neighboring Uganda's pending gay death penalty highly doubtful.

This makes it even less likely that Uganda will be expelled from the Commonwealth, despite international outcry, if its gay death penalty bill passes, as expected.

Indeed, as reported on Slap Upside the Head, a gay blog in the U.S., Prime Ministers Harper and Brown expressed their "fury" over Uganda's gay death penalty by reproducing a U.S. government press release, much of it word for word:

Slap Upside the Head

So why did the Commonwealth, and, most of all, Britain and Canada, ignore everything they claim to stand for---human rights, democracy, secure borders, and the rule of law---to champion Rwanda, the African darling of English speaking politicians and CEOS?

Because Rwanda has served the interests of the U.S., Britain, and Canada, and their allies, since the mass slaughter known as the Rwanda Genocide of 1994, during which Rwandan exile Paul Kagame led the Rwandan Patriotic Front into Rwanda, from neighboring, English-speaking, Uganda, to seize power.   Rwanda is now re-establishing diplomatic ties with France, and the Commonwealth's French equivalent, La Francophonie, but English is now the official language of Rwanda, even though most Rwandans speak only Kinyarwanda and French.  The U.S. and its allies use Rwanda and its proxy army to secure their interests in the region, which include:

--Rwanda's rich agricultural land, planted in coffee, tea, and biofuels for export, while Rwandans go hungry,

--natural gas reserves,  an estimated $20 billion worth, in Lake Kivu, on the border of Rwanda and D.R. Congo,

--the unparalleled mineral wealth of Eastern D.R. Congo, including fossil fuels, uranium, coltan, cassiterite, diamonds, and, the world's cobalt reserves, in the Katanga Copper Belt.

The U.S. has long been committed to controlling the cobalt reserves in the Katanga Copper Belt to ensure U.S. military industries ongoing ability to manufacture for war.

Rwanda's Commonwealth application

by Ann Garrison

 

Banner of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda

Members of the Global Greens community keep asking what we can do to protect Interim Rwandan Green Party Leader Frank Habineza and the Rwandan Greens.  One of the only possible pressure points I know of is the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) which objects to accepting Rwanda into the Commonwealth because of repeated human rights violations and invasions of neighboring D.R. Congo.  

The New Times, a Rwandan daily newspaper, reported, in Rwanda: Kagame to Address London Summit, on 11.03.2009, that Paul Kagame is in London right now, prepared to address the first "annual 'Private Equity in Africa" summit, and this may also be a part of Kagame's bid to join the Commonwealth.

The London Guardian reported on the CHRI's human rights objections in Rwanda's Commonwealth hopes dented by human rights criticism.

And, the African Pambazuka News ran Rwanda's Commonwealth Application on 09.24.2009.