ugnet_: ''We can't have a Hutu president'' - C. Nayinzira

[Mulindwa Edward]

Ethnicity, the root of Rwanda's troubles, is taboo issue in first election ASSOCIATED PRESS GITARAMA, Rwanda, Aug. 5 — The limp of a crippled old man, the scars on a young woman's face — the awful reminders are everywhere as Rwanda struggles to move away from its genocidal past by holding its first real presidential election.   The Aug. 25 vote comes nine years after a government of extremists from the Hutu majority orchestrated the slaughter of more than a half million people, most of them from the Tutsi minority.        Tutsis now run the country and they have tailored the campaign to suppress appeals to ethnicity — a policy they say is necessary to keep old hatreds in check and to foster a sense of unity.        But they haven't managed to bury the issue altogether. The leading opposition candidate is a Hutu who charges that the rhetoric of unity is the government's way of keeping his people out of power.        The memories of what came before, during and after the genocide remain fresh in this Maryland-sized land of terraced hillsides and verdant old volcanoes, where fears still resonate and old divides remain deep.        The election is ''an experiment to help us build the confidence to live together,'' says Patrick Mazimhaka, an adviser to President Paul Kagame        ''So we have put in place a measured democracy.''        Measured it is. Presidential aspirants were given less than two months to organize their campaigns. The three opposition candidates — two Hutus and one Tutsi — complain they get little airtime on state-owned radio and television and hostile coverage in the largely pro-government newspapers.        Still, after a long history of Belgian colonial rule followed by periodic slaughters of Tutsis by Hutu extremists that culminated in the genocide of 1994, Rwanda's 8 million people are joining a growing list of African nations that are experimenting with democracy.        It's clear that Hutus are a big majority, though nobody knows just how big because the government hasn't done a count in decades.        So the fact that Kagame, a Tutsi, is likely to win seems to suggest ethnicity is less of an electoral factor than might be expected.        One reason is an abiding respect for authority that characterizes Rwandan society, and Kagame commands a lot of respect. The former military officer is regarded as stern and incorruptible. He is also the only politician in Rwanda with the network and staff to mount a national election campaign.        Challengers have to take care not to run afoul of the vaguely outlined no-ethnicity rule.        But that hasn't stopped some Hutu presidential aspirants from trying to appeal to Hutu fears that continued Tutsi rule means they will be sidelined indefinitely.        The new constitution says political parties must ''reflect Rwandan unity.'' Recent statements by Faustin Twagiramungu, the leading opposition candidate, have come ''very close'' to crossing the line into ''speeches that inflame old wounds,'' said Mazimhaka, the presidential adviser.        Twagiramungu, a Hutu, was a voice of moderation before the genocide, which he himself narrowly escaped. After Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front ousted the extremist Hutu regime in July 1994 and ended the genocide, Twagiramungu became prime minister. He lost the post in August 1995 after a falling out with Kagame and went into exile in Belgium. He returned in June.        Rwanda has never had a contested presidential election, and Kagame and his largely Tutsi inner circle have run the country since July 1994, though Hutus do fill some prominent roles.        ''Pretending that Hutus and Tutsis don't exist in Rwanda is just a sham,'' Twagiramungu said. ''When you go into (government) ministries ... what you find are Tutsis.''        They've slowly loosened the political reins, but retain a firm grip on the army and internal security services, and few people are openly critical of the current setup.        The resentments date back decades. Under the Belgians a Tutsi monarchy ruled. After independence in 1962 the Hutus seized power and held it until their genocidal 1994 campaign in which Hutu villagers were incited by extremist Hutu officials and hate propaganda — and abetted by militia and the army — to butcher their Tutsi neighbors with farm tools, like machetes and hoes.        For the Tutsis, who remember life under Hutu rule as one pogrom after another, the last nine years have been a chance to live in Rwanda without fear. They don't want to lose it.        ''We can't have a Hutu president,'' said Corine Nayinzira, a 23-year-old Tutsi student, as she sipped a beer in a nightclub in Kigali, the capital. ''This is what history teaches.''        Theoneste Niyitegeka, a one-time presidential hopeful, says he has little patience for history. ''I don't care about what happened when, only what is happening now,'' said the 38-year-old Hutu physician.        Although he speaks mostly of equality, some of what he says is clearly intended to offend, like comparing Kagame and his close advisers to the Hutu clique that orchestrated the genocide.        The electoral commission disqualified Niyitegeka, saying he lacked the required 600 nomination signatures. He says they are lying to silence him.        But he has kept on talking, a fact that landed him in jail for four hours Tuesday.        ''He's always talking about Hutu versus Tutsi,'' said Cyprien Mazimhaka, a police officer in Gitarama, a town 22 miles west of Kigali. ''If he keeps up this talk, he will be back in jail.'' © 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.