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Conference on Peace in the Great Lakes: Message to
the Participants.
Edenbridge 25th to 27th October 2002. Dear Participants, This is the third time that I receive your invitation to participate, and to share with you my political experience in the Conference on Peace in the Great Lakes Region, and I thank you very much for this consideration and for your noble objective. In October 2001 Conference, I remember that for the case of the Rwandan tragedy I said in my message sent to you that the Justice is the requirement and the pre-requisite for the Reconciliation. However it can't be done on one side only and its law cannot be imposed unilaterally and the Reconciliation can't be forcedly achieved. I repeat that it's up to People who, freely define the terms of their proper Justice, and today, it is this same suffering and divided people who know the causes as the result of denying them their rights and who are able to come up themselves with the appropriate measures to rescue their country. Justice was supposed to be a real tool for the Reconciliation and the Unity among Rwandans, now it is a shame. General Paul Kagame has installed a politico-military regime and an exclusive government of a small group of Tutsi from Uganda. He has became an Executive organ himself and he lays his hands on Judiciary system by appointing, and directing the Judges and the Prosecutors on how he wants to handle political and specific cases. He gave himself all instructions on people to be imprisoned, on prisoners to be released, on those to be discharged or those to be hanged. How can Gen. Paul Kagame ensure the Unity and the Reconciliation among Rwandans while he refuses himself to deal and come up with the ethnicity, which is the real factor of creating disharmony among Rwandans? How can Gen. Kagame ensure the Reconciliation among Rwandans while the country is politically submitted to one party system, which obliged forcedly the population to submit to RPF's rules and regulations? Dear Participants, When Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) invaded Rwanda in October 1990, in its propaganda made publicly outside of Rwanda and also in the news broadcasting on its Radio "Muhabura", it was ensuring Rwandans that it had better programs and objectives. The programs based on building a new Rwanda without ethnic discrimination, a peaceful country where basic liberties, the rule of law and the democracy process would be a priority, a Rwanda where the business and the industry sectors would boom, the better development and the social program and many other promises. This is not what happened after eight years of RPF ruling the country. The RPF is now ensconced in its favorite political system based on one-party domination, the militarism, and the dictatorship. The government is nominally a coalition of all the country's main political parties, but in practice the Rwandan Patriotic Front, which took power in 1994, dominates it. The other parties have been purged from the administration and they are denied political freedom, the same denial of people to associate, to organize, and to create political parties to oppose current policies that are being pursued by RPF regime. The International Community watched Rwanda during the 1994's tragedy while the killings were being perpetrated. Since then, no much has changed; the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) is unwilling to put in place Democratic Institutions. The RPF has chosen to concentrate all the power in its own hands, as witness of that system it is necessary to continually give explanations and clarify this situation so that the International Community can be well aware of the Rwandan quagmire. The long ordeal of Rwandans is that General Kagame, a warlord and a soldier prince, came to power through long guerrilla struggles and war rather than democratic elections. For General Kagame, Rwandans must follow his dictatorship, they must shut their mouths and never dare to denounce the bad practices, because the freedom of expression is seen as a factor to incite civil disobedience and ethnic divisions among Rwandans and jeopardize state security. The majority of medias and NGOs do not have accurate background information so as to inform and influence their audiences. For most Western countries, particularly the main financial backers of RPF regime don't know the real situation in Rwanda both in the Government circles and the maneuvers of the mass media. The situation of Rwanda has been out of control of the International Community, the exclusion is total for Hutu, the divisions are deep among Rwandans and between the Tutsi themselves because the country is in the exclusive hands of a small group of Tutsi from Uganda, and this could lead to a second tragedy as predicted by the former President Pasteur Bizimungu. Rwandan President General Kagame uses the media, the security and the genocide as his main instruments to keep power. The state-controlled media, which is the dominant media in Rwanda, is used as a campaign tool for President Kagame to silence anyone who dares to oppose RPF's policy. The media manipulation is as important as the military action, and the large sums of money are devoted to it, in order to escape the negative images and sanctions to several human rights abuses. The quagmire of Rwanda never escapes controversies, and people can't forget that in April 2001, the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva declared that the problem of human rights in Rwanda had been solved and did no longer need the attention of the International Community, whereas Amnesty International kept saying that there were still plenty of problems, and Human Rights Watch asked the Rwanda Government to resolve cases of disappearances and assassinations. Dear Participants, Rwandans must achieve democracy, Unity and Reconciliation, as our objective and specific goal for the lasting peace and prosperity in Rwanda and in the Great Lakes Region. Consequently we have the obligation to deeply and persistently explain with the hope that one day the International Community will be accurately informed and will bear on Rwandan situation as far as some countries are more involved. For most western countries, the officials, particularly in charge of development, and foreign affairs believe that General Kagame and his cliques may serve their interests (cultural, language, geo-strategic penetration and looting in Congo). It does not matter whether some groups like Hutu or Tutsi who used to live in Rwanda before 1994 are excluded or not. They believe that so long as those who have power are Rwandans, even if that may be termed as sectarian, it does not matter while the same countries are currently focusing on Zimbabwe because white farmers are concerned. It is very surprising that Western countries admit the existence of a monopoly in the Army, in the Administration, in the Justice, and in the Parliament and say that overwhelming Rwandans are happy. They even used to say that the economy is booming that the Reconciliation is on good track, that the Administration is Effective. In fact they have taken a biased position, and they do not want to loose face before their chambers, their partners, and their populations. Even when you are talking about economic growth, it can't be sustainable against the background of sectarianism and bad governance in environments where there is no transparency and accountability. We think that these countries need other sources of information than the official ones. We have a hope that one-day things will change, that once the International Community knows the truth on how the RPF is ruling the country, it will help Rwandans to recover their rights and to establish Peaceful and Democratic Institutions. Dear Participants, As a simple sample and an illustrative example, Rwanda Army counts more than 2600 Army Officers among them only 46 Hutu Officers without any assignment for command. In January 1998 Lt. Col. Habyarimana Emmanuel, now Brig. General, was appointed Minister of State in Charge of Defense, and joined the Tutsi-led Government as a window-dressing for the International Community to show that Hutu are given high-ranking positions in the Rwandan Army and that they share with Tutsi the destiny of the Rwanda. Again how can the General Paul Kagame ensure to Rwandans that he is willing and committed to pursue the path of Unity and Reconciliation with the presence the 100% of Tutsi close to him in the head of the Security Services of the country while Hutu Colonels are forcedly sent to retirement like Col. Ndibwami, Col. Kanamugire, Col. Bizumuremyi who are demobilized and their colleague Col. Biseruka remained in prison for political reason while Col. Balthazar Ndengeyinka never receives the promotion? Again I wish full success to the Work of the Conference, and I hope that the Conclusions and the Recommendations will be regularly followed up for the benefit of Rwandans who wish now to live together and to achieve a lasting Peace and Reconciliation. Washington 25, 2002 Pierre Celestin Rwigema The Mulindwas
communication group
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