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From: Chifu
Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2003 8:52 PM
Subject: [Mwananchi] Re: Kagame won a very sham election The article you forwaded to the forum underscores an important point and that is Kagame is a western puppet as well as Museveni of Uganda, both ethnic Tutsis supported by western interest, and now being used as proxies to bring western sponsoredd Tutsi hegemony to the region. To this end, Kenya is being destabilized. The article below from a Kenyan newspaper just proved my point http://www.eastandard.net/commentaries/editorial/editorial1.htm Kagame must take reconciliation path It has not surprised observers that the Monday elections in Rwanda confirmed the incumbent Paul Kagame as the winner. This was partly because Rwanda has not recovered from the 1994 genocide, and also that there was no contender strong enough to rival Kagame's moderate stature. It was also not surprising that it was Kagame himself who announced the news to the world, through CNN on Tuesday, even when the vote count was still half-way to completion. The rationale then was that, with Kagame claiming about 94 per cent of the votes counted from 50 of the 106 electoral districts, it was not conceivable that such an unassailable lead could be reversed. Although every vote counts, Kagame and his supporters saw it differently as they called an early party to celebrate their win at Kigali's Amahoro (Peace) Stadium. "This is true victory, irreversible, and not a surprise. Our victory should serve as a lesson to the outside world, that Rwanda is on the right path." It was Kagame who had the capacity to put up a strong campaign, with Rwandan Patriotic Front party machinery behind his candidature in a campaign that alienated his rivals, who ran as independents. No wonder the countdown to the polls was described by observers as a one-man show whose results were bound to be controversial. The main opposition candidate, Mr Faustin Twagiramungu, has rejected the results, describing the elections as meant to legitimise a "Stalinist style one-party system". The other contender, Mr Jean Nepomuscene Nayinzira, has also rejected the results, alleging massive intimidation of voters. But no matter how blatant the fraud was, it is unlikely that the complaints will go beyond the current discontent. For, Rwanda with a genocide experience only nine years ago, is unlikely to evoke ethnic discontent again. The victory of Kagame, a Tutsi moderate, must reassure Rwanda, as he has done since he led the army that ended the genocide in July 1994, that this is a time to heal. Kagame must reassure the country that Rwanda will never know genocide, like when Hutu supremacists butchered 800,000 minority Tutsi and Hutu moderates in 100 days of madness. Kagame and his challengers played the ethnic card only reluctantly because they know that their people do not want to travel that road again. And now the onus is on Kagame to ensure that Rwanda is kept out of the dark trenches |
