Kigali — The Rwanda government says it will have a complete fibre optic network across the country by December.
The government is building the national fibre optic cable of 2,300 kilometres across the country.
The cable shall connect over 230 institutions in all 30 Districts and all the 9 Rwandan borders with the main cities.
The infrastructure will support various e-applications such as ehealth, e-education and other government applications.
The national backbone project started in September 2008 with a target to be ready in one year. However, the project delayed one year and started in October 2009.
The Head of Information Technology (IT) department of the Rwanda Development Board, which implements the project Mr. Patrick Nyirishema says changes in the project layout caused the delay.
He says the government's initial plan was to build its own cable but later it merged that the private sector also wanted to benefit from the scheme. This required the government to adjust initial designs and the budget, which potentially affected initial timelines.
As a result, the government included multiple ducts (free pipes) in which the private service providers would plug their fibre optic cables without necessarily digging for them separately.
"The process of deciding on the final configuration caused that delay.
This changed the budget and we imported more than 6,000km of duct or 250 containers of ducts," says Mr. Nyirishema.
He says this phase is complete and the new target for completion of the project is by December. "Our commitment was to finish this project by December 2010, and according to our project schedule, we shall meet the target," Nyirishema said in an exclusive interview in Kigali recently.
He says out of 2,300 km to be built, more than 500 km have been completed.
He says speed has also been scaled up and on average 70-80 km per week are being done which translates into about 300 km per month.
He says the government started with Kigali-Gatuna because it wanted to connect to SEACOM, one of the submarine cables with a landing point in Mombasa Kenya.
Both the government and the telecom operators are negotiating with SEACOM for capacity, despite the fact that two operators Rwandatel and Altech have already connected to the SEACOM via microwave links.
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
Great atmosphere at Amahoro stadium as Kagame starts campaign
You can feel it in the air.
The atmosphere in Amahoro Stadium, Tuesday 20th 2010, as the RPF (FPR) started their presidential campaign, personified the feelings and emotions of the entire party. By 8 a.m party faithful had already started to stream into the stadium, even though most knew that the event would not begin till well into the afternoon. A sea of white polo’s and T-Shirts blanketed the field and all the stands. The only notable exception to this was the black and blue T-Shirts opposite the VIP area which carefully spelled out “KAGAME PAUL OYE”.
The crowd was young and energetic. They danced and chanted party slogans throughout the commencement, accompanied by famous Rwandan artist including crowd favorites; Kitoko, Ms. Jojo and Dr. Claude to name a few.
The RPF can be described as a determined, focused, and organized party. Tuesday’s event suggests that this mind state permeates to every level of the party. The crowd sang campaign songs, danced and moved between the bleachers with a level of zeal and organization that can be rivaled by few. At no point did the enthusiasm falter not least when H.E Paul Kagame arrived to a hero’s welcome.
Immediately upon arrival, H.E Paul Kagame did a loop around the field in the center shaking hands and waving at the party faithful. He surprised everyone when he decided, impromptu, to climb a metal staircase to greet some of the crowd in the stand.
The whole ambiance of the rally embodied the drive that the RPF epitomizes; organization, energy, confidence and diversity. One of the largest rallies in Rwandan history reflected the enormous changes that have occurred in the last 16 years of RPF rule. The crowds focus and determination to get their candidate elected reflects the strong feeling that RPF has done an effective and diligent job of directing the nation. The party’s candidate, H.E Paul Kagame, promised to continue the progress and development that transpired in the last 16 years, and there was no question who the party cadre wanted to lead their nation. Perhaps the most telling banner of the event was a red “Demokarasi” [Democracy] that hung directly across from the podium where H.E Paul Kagame spoke.
The atmosphere in Amahoro Stadium, Tuesday 20th 2010, as the RPF (FPR) started their presidential campaign, personified the feelings and emotions of the entire party. By 8 a.m party faithful had already started to stream into the stadium, even though most knew that the event would not begin till well into the afternoon. A sea of white polo’s and T-Shirts blanketed the field and all the stands. The only notable exception to this was the black and blue T-Shirts opposite the VIP area which carefully spelled out “KAGAME PAUL OYE”.
The crowd was young and energetic. They danced and chanted party slogans throughout the commencement, accompanied by famous Rwandan artist including crowd favorites; Kitoko, Ms. Jojo and Dr. Claude to name a few.
The RPF can be described as a determined, focused, and organized party. Tuesday’s event suggests that this mind state permeates to every level of the party. The crowd sang campaign songs, danced and moved between the bleachers with a level of zeal and organization that can be rivaled by few. At no point did the enthusiasm falter not least when H.E Paul Kagame arrived to a hero’s welcome.
Immediately upon arrival, H.E Paul Kagame did a loop around the field in the center shaking hands and waving at the party faithful. He surprised everyone when he decided, impromptu, to climb a metal staircase to greet some of the crowd in the stand.
The whole ambiance of the rally embodied the drive that the RPF epitomizes; organization, energy, confidence and diversity. One of the largest rallies in Rwandan history reflected the enormous changes that have occurred in the last 16 years of RPF rule. The crowds focus and determination to get their candidate elected reflects the strong feeling that RPF has done an effective and diligent job of directing the nation. The party’s candidate, H.E Paul Kagame, promised to continue the progress and development that transpired in the last 16 years, and there was no question who the party cadre wanted to lead their nation. Perhaps the most telling banner of the event was a red “Demokarasi” [Democracy] that hung directly across from the podium where H.E Paul Kagame spoke.
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
Uganda terror attacks will affect us all
We need regional action on Somalia
Little did I know that as Andres Iniesta was scoring his winning goal in what had been an average game of football, the world of Ugandans was being shattered in an unimaginable way. 74 Ugandans are confirmed dead and more are expected to perish, the victims were the young, the vibrant, the future and few even knew who Al-Shabab were. Looking at some of the names of the victims they are Rwandan, this is inevitable given the large Rwandan population in Uganda. So this is something that affects us deeply.
Our president Paul Kagame has long called for regional intervention in Somalia but the fact that we are heavily committed in Darfur means we cannot overstretch. It was left to Uganda and Burundi to intervene, despite frequent promises from other regional countries there has been little support offered in terms of troops. This attack now highlights the need for regional intervention, we have waited for the UN and the AU to handle this but now we see the effects of delay.
When Afghanistan was invaded by NATO forces, Al-Qaeda sought a new haven, another failed state where they could use to incubate their virulent strain of Islamic extremism. We Africans have long seen the war on terror as something distant, something to do with Europeans but now we see it is about us as well. The terrorists hate our way of life, not our skin-tone or our nationality, and they are willing to kill anyone who disagrees with them. It doesn’t matter if you are Muslim or Buddhist or Christian, as long as you do not subscribe to their precise interpretation of Islam, then you are a target.
When Somalia imploded into clan warfare in the post-Siad Barre era, we sat back and did nothing. The Americans intervened briefly and Africans paid the price, the main reason USA refused to intervene in the Genocide against the Tutsi in 1994 is because they feared “another Somalia.” So we left it to fester, we welcomed refugees from Somalia other than pacify their home state. Now Al-Shabab is exporting their brand of terror regionally. If the West can give East Africa the money and the means, we will gladly pursue these thugs, if only for our own safety. It is our problem now, we cannot deny it anymore.
All our dreams for the East African community are pointless if we have a lawless state on our borders that can act as a haven for terrorists and pirates that hold our exports to ransom. We are creating an East African army, their first assignment should be to move into Somalia and help pacify that nation. It will probably mean more attacks but backing down will only embolden the terrorists. We in Rwanda commiserate with the victims of these attacks, and send our condolences to all Ugandans and Rwandans hurt in this attack. This attack shows the deep links and social responsibility that we have as a region to act together when one nation is in need.
Little did I know that as Andres Iniesta was scoring his winning goal in what had been an average game of football, the world of Ugandans was being shattered in an unimaginable way. 74 Ugandans are confirmed dead and more are expected to perish, the victims were the young, the vibrant, the future and few even knew who Al-Shabab were. Looking at some of the names of the victims they are Rwandan, this is inevitable given the large Rwandan population in Uganda. So this is something that affects us deeply.
Our president Paul Kagame has long called for regional intervention in Somalia but the fact that we are heavily committed in Darfur means we cannot overstretch. It was left to Uganda and Burundi to intervene, despite frequent promises from other regional countries there has been little support offered in terms of troops. This attack now highlights the need for regional intervention, we have waited for the UN and the AU to handle this but now we see the effects of delay.
When Afghanistan was invaded by NATO forces, Al-Qaeda sought a new haven, another failed state where they could use to incubate their virulent strain of Islamic extremism. We Africans have long seen the war on terror as something distant, something to do with Europeans but now we see it is about us as well. The terrorists hate our way of life, not our skin-tone or our nationality, and they are willing to kill anyone who disagrees with them. It doesn’t matter if you are Muslim or Buddhist or Christian, as long as you do not subscribe to their precise interpretation of Islam, then you are a target.
When Somalia imploded into clan warfare in the post-Siad Barre era, we sat back and did nothing. The Americans intervened briefly and Africans paid the price, the main reason USA refused to intervene in the Genocide against the Tutsi in 1994 is because they feared “another Somalia.” So we left it to fester, we welcomed refugees from Somalia other than pacify their home state. Now Al-Shabab is exporting their brand of terror regionally. If the West can give East Africa the money and the means, we will gladly pursue these thugs, if only for our own safety. It is our problem now, we cannot deny it anymore.
All our dreams for the East African community are pointless if we have a lawless state on our borders that can act as a haven for terrorists and pirates that hold our exports to ransom. We are creating an East African army, their first assignment should be to move into Somalia and help pacify that nation. It will probably mean more attacks but backing down will only embolden the terrorists. We in Rwanda commiserate with the victims of these attacks, and send our condolences to all Ugandans and Rwandans hurt in this attack. This attack shows the deep links and social responsibility that we have as a region to act together when one nation is in need.
Monday, 12 July 2010
Leaving family and genocide behind
“Everybody got along,” said Simon Mudahogora, describing the Rwandan village he grew up in, “It was a poor and peaceful life.” The 26-year-old economics major’s hometown included about 60 of his family members.
Daily life was as simple as it gets: Simon and the other children in his family woke up at 6:30 a.m. and walked a mile to the river to fetch some water for the day. He’d get back, take a cold shower, have his morning tea and bread, and arrive to school at 8:30 ready for class.
For hours, young Simon sat on bench made of dirt, in a room stuffed with 35 students. His family farmed while he was at school.
“That’s the only life I lived. I had no complaints at all,” he said.
In the evening, when the blistering sun cooled down, all the kids got together for a game of soccer — with a slight catch.
“We didn’t even have a ball,” he said. The kids would tie rubber bands around plastic bags and do their best to shape the concoction like a ball. “It was the only sport we could play.”
Though they had far less money and minimal resources, Simon believes that Rwandans prior to the war were happier than Americans are today: “Here, you have to do so much to live a normal life.”
Rwanda was divided primarily into two tribes of people, the Hutu (85 percent of the population) and the Tutsi (15 percent of the population and the group that Simon’s family belonged to). They had a history of war, but at the time, they lived together tranquilly. They were neighbors, they were classmates, and quite often, they were friends.
But that peace Simon described was ruined when the civil war reignited in 1994. Tutsi, who were relocated in Uganda in the first war in 1959, wanted to come back to Rwanda. When the Hutu refused to let them in, the Tutsi in Uganda formed an army and began attempting to penetrate the border.
For Simon’s family, 60 men, women and children in a row of houses, everything began to unravel. Their lives were at stake every waking moment.
Fearing that the Tutsi residing in Rwanda would aid the invaders from Uganda, radio stations in Rwanda began telling Hutu to kill their Tutsi neighbors to prevent this from happening.
Simon’s family had to flee home at night and sleep in the jungles. They didn’t want to be slain in the night like many other Tutsi.
Not a wink of sleep came their way in those thick jungles — they were petrified by the humming of low-hovering military-grade helicopters.
When 6:30 struck, however, life continued regularly: He walked to the river, got water, ate and went to school — even though just the night before, he was silently tucked into an African jungle, wondering if he’d live to see another day.
At school, the Hutu children often told Simon and the three other Tutsi children that they were going to kill them, and that they were going to die soon. When Simon told the teachers, they did nothing about it.
They were Hutu too.
Obviously, during all this, school was the last thing on his mind. His life was threatened 24/7, but his mother never stopped sending him. He remembers being upset, feeling like she didn’t love him, but in retrospect, he understands.
“She was doing what was best for me,” Simon said, “Get over my fear, be a man, you know?”
And boy, did he need that fearlessness.
April 1994 was a rainy month in Rwanda. Not rain like Oregon, but rain like monsoon.
Roadblocks had been set up throughout Rwanda. They were checking IDs and refusing Tutsi access to the roads. Tutsi began fleeing south to the country of Burundi. Simon’s family knew they had to follow suit, but they didn’t know the conditions of the roads, or how difficult the roadblocks were to evade.
They had to send a scout — Simon was elected to do so, but he refused to do it alone, so they agreed to send him with his little sister.
There he was: carrying out a life-or-death stealth operation with his younger sister — before he was even 10 years old.
Sneaking through those farms and fields, avoiding the roads at all costs, he could hear the blood-curdling screams of his people, the infernos blazing their homes and bodies.
Entire families were lined up and impaled by a single stick.
They finally arrived to a friend’s house which was located near the border of Rwanda and Burundi, but his friend informed them that with that the only time to leave was right then and there — there was no chance later. Simon and his sister could either leave with his friend to Burundi right then, or go back home and be stranded for death with his family.
And so, with heavy hearts, he and his sister prepared to leave the country and family they loved so much, thinking that it was unlikely they’d ever see them again — and they were right.
Be sure to check out next week’s In These Eyes for the rest of Simon’s story.
opinion@dailyemerald.com
This is a truly harrowing story but sadly all too common in Rwanda, when you visit the Genocide memorial you realise that these were real people who died and not just a number. We need more stories like this to explain to the world just where Rwanda is coming from and where we are headed, we need to show the world how 800,000 to 1 million died in the most harrowing ways imaginable.
It also puts in context our reconciliation process, right now we are going through a period of negative press in global media. A candidate who recently arrived from exile in Holland, wants to run on an ethnic platform, then she claims that the Hutu majority are being denied their identity and made to feel ashamed of their tribe. In Rwanda we do not allow tribes in politics, people can always hold on to their tribal identity in their own lives but they just can't use them to get elected. You see from this story what the effects of tribal politics
Daily life was as simple as it gets: Simon and the other children in his family woke up at 6:30 a.m. and walked a mile to the river to fetch some water for the day. He’d get back, take a cold shower, have his morning tea and bread, and arrive to school at 8:30 ready for class.
For hours, young Simon sat on bench made of dirt, in a room stuffed with 35 students. His family farmed while he was at school.
“That’s the only life I lived. I had no complaints at all,” he said.
In the evening, when the blistering sun cooled down, all the kids got together for a game of soccer — with a slight catch.
“We didn’t even have a ball,” he said. The kids would tie rubber bands around plastic bags and do their best to shape the concoction like a ball. “It was the only sport we could play.”
Though they had far less money and minimal resources, Simon believes that Rwandans prior to the war were happier than Americans are today: “Here, you have to do so much to live a normal life.”
Rwanda was divided primarily into two tribes of people, the Hutu (85 percent of the population) and the Tutsi (15 percent of the population and the group that Simon’s family belonged to). They had a history of war, but at the time, they lived together tranquilly. They were neighbors, they were classmates, and quite often, they were friends.
But that peace Simon described was ruined when the civil war reignited in 1994. Tutsi, who were relocated in Uganda in the first war in 1959, wanted to come back to Rwanda. When the Hutu refused to let them in, the Tutsi in Uganda formed an army and began attempting to penetrate the border.
For Simon’s family, 60 men, women and children in a row of houses, everything began to unravel. Their lives were at stake every waking moment.
Fearing that the Tutsi residing in Rwanda would aid the invaders from Uganda, radio stations in Rwanda began telling Hutu to kill their Tutsi neighbors to prevent this from happening.
Simon’s family had to flee home at night and sleep in the jungles. They didn’t want to be slain in the night like many other Tutsi.
Not a wink of sleep came their way in those thick jungles — they were petrified by the humming of low-hovering military-grade helicopters.
When 6:30 struck, however, life continued regularly: He walked to the river, got water, ate and went to school — even though just the night before, he was silently tucked into an African jungle, wondering if he’d live to see another day.
At school, the Hutu children often told Simon and the three other Tutsi children that they were going to kill them, and that they were going to die soon. When Simon told the teachers, they did nothing about it.
They were Hutu too.
Obviously, during all this, school was the last thing on his mind. His life was threatened 24/7, but his mother never stopped sending him. He remembers being upset, feeling like she didn’t love him, but in retrospect, he understands.
“She was doing what was best for me,” Simon said, “Get over my fear, be a man, you know?”
And boy, did he need that fearlessness.
April 1994 was a rainy month in Rwanda. Not rain like Oregon, but rain like monsoon.
Roadblocks had been set up throughout Rwanda. They were checking IDs and refusing Tutsi access to the roads. Tutsi began fleeing south to the country of Burundi. Simon’s family knew they had to follow suit, but they didn’t know the conditions of the roads, or how difficult the roadblocks were to evade.
They had to send a scout — Simon was elected to do so, but he refused to do it alone, so they agreed to send him with his little sister.
There he was: carrying out a life-or-death stealth operation with his younger sister — before he was even 10 years old.
Sneaking through those farms and fields, avoiding the roads at all costs, he could hear the blood-curdling screams of his people, the infernos blazing their homes and bodies.
Entire families were lined up and impaled by a single stick.
They finally arrived to a friend’s house which was located near the border of Rwanda and Burundi, but his friend informed them that with that the only time to leave was right then and there — there was no chance later. Simon and his sister could either leave with his friend to Burundi right then, or go back home and be stranded for death with his family.
And so, with heavy hearts, he and his sister prepared to leave the country and family they loved so much, thinking that it was unlikely they’d ever see them again — and they were right.
Be sure to check out next week’s In These Eyes for the rest of Simon’s story.
opinion@dailyemerald.com
This is a truly harrowing story but sadly all too common in Rwanda, when you visit the Genocide memorial you realise that these were real people who died and not just a number. We need more stories like this to explain to the world just where Rwanda is coming from and where we are headed, we need to show the world how 800,000 to 1 million died in the most harrowing ways imaginable.
It also puts in context our reconciliation process, right now we are going through a period of negative press in global media. A candidate who recently arrived from exile in Holland, wants to run on an ethnic platform, then she claims that the Hutu majority are being denied their identity and made to feel ashamed of their tribe. In Rwanda we do not allow tribes in politics, people can always hold on to their tribal identity in their own lives but they just can't use them to get elected. You see from this story what the effects of tribal politics
THE MANY FACES OF PETER ERLINDER
Peter Erlinder is a man of many faces, I can never seem to understand how he oscillates between opinions. His latest opinion is that the Rwanda government wanted him dead and wanted him to disappear. He claims that the details of his flight were altered to make it look like he had left the country but it was only the vigilance of global followers that helped him escape. Now I must state that the Rwandan government would not kill an American citizen who was on the cover of every global media outlet, that is wishful thinking on the part of Erlinder.
In a recent radio interview with VOA on the Straight Talk show with Shaka Ssali, Erlinder claimed he was held in humane conditions and even claimed he had nothing to hold against his jailers. He even admitted he was given preferential treatment in that he was held in a cell that sometimes houses 30 prisoners, he even said his guards helped him by going to the shops to buy him food. Naturally, he disputed the charges he was held on but never claimed the system was out to kill him. He is starting to turn his story into a spy thriller, with himself cast as a hero in the Jack Bauer mould.
Erlinder also denies ever denying the genocide, I admit that the case could have been handled better by the Rwandan government and I wish the case had gone ahead. It is easy to see this as a giant government picking on a misguided but vehement lawyer, but think of it from a survivor’s perspective. Imagine a person who watched their family hacked to death in front of their own eyes, this person knew that local officials had drawn up lists to systematically kill a whole section of society. Then an American lawyer comes along from Minnesota who was never there at the time, but claims to know better than the witness who saw his family killed.
I understand that every suspect deserves a fair trial and a defence attorney but Erlinder went beyond being just a defence attorney to become an activist, he now identifies so personally with his clients that he wants to alter history to absolve them. I don’t understand how someone can defend mass-murderers, rapists, paedophiles, cut-throats and psychotic killers and ends up identifying with them. The genocide of the Tutsi in 1994 is not a myth, there are some 300,000 survivors that will tell you that, there are some 200,000 convicted killers that will tell you that. It doesn’t matter what evidence a court produces, fact is fact.
Another claim of Erlinder is that we need a truth and reconciliation committee in Rwanda, we have had them but in the form of Gacaca courts. One has to remember that these courts had to administer not just punitive justice but restorative justice, victims had to be heard, killers had to be heard, witnesses had to be heard. The fact that the genocide took place in every village in every district in Rwanda meant that we needed truth and reconciliation in every village. People compare Rwanda with South Africa, but the total victims of the apartheid government numbered some 3,000 activists and no more than 10,000 extra-judicial killing but Rwanda had some 937,000 victims. People should learn the facts about the Genocide before they go defending or sympathising with killers and defenders of killers.
In a recent radio interview with VOA on the Straight Talk show with Shaka Ssali, Erlinder claimed he was held in humane conditions and even claimed he had nothing to hold against his jailers. He even admitted he was given preferential treatment in that he was held in a cell that sometimes houses 30 prisoners, he even said his guards helped him by going to the shops to buy him food. Naturally, he disputed the charges he was held on but never claimed the system was out to kill him. He is starting to turn his story into a spy thriller, with himself cast as a hero in the Jack Bauer mould.
Erlinder also denies ever denying the genocide, I admit that the case could have been handled better by the Rwandan government and I wish the case had gone ahead. It is easy to see this as a giant government picking on a misguided but vehement lawyer, but think of it from a survivor’s perspective. Imagine a person who watched their family hacked to death in front of their own eyes, this person knew that local officials had drawn up lists to systematically kill a whole section of society. Then an American lawyer comes along from Minnesota who was never there at the time, but claims to know better than the witness who saw his family killed.
I understand that every suspect deserves a fair trial and a defence attorney but Erlinder went beyond being just a defence attorney to become an activist, he now identifies so personally with his clients that he wants to alter history to absolve them. I don’t understand how someone can defend mass-murderers, rapists, paedophiles, cut-throats and psychotic killers and ends up identifying with them. The genocide of the Tutsi in 1994 is not a myth, there are some 300,000 survivors that will tell you that, there are some 200,000 convicted killers that will tell you that. It doesn’t matter what evidence a court produces, fact is fact.
Another claim of Erlinder is that we need a truth and reconciliation committee in Rwanda, we have had them but in the form of Gacaca courts. One has to remember that these courts had to administer not just punitive justice but restorative justice, victims had to be heard, killers had to be heard, witnesses had to be heard. The fact that the genocide took place in every village in every district in Rwanda meant that we needed truth and reconciliation in every village. People compare Rwanda with South Africa, but the total victims of the apartheid government numbered some 3,000 activists and no more than 10,000 extra-judicial killing but Rwanda had some 937,000 victims. People should learn the facts about the Genocide before they go defending or sympathising with killers and defenders of killers.
Thursday, 8 July 2010
Rwanda and the PR war
For a country renowned for its remarkable upturn in just a decade and a half, and used to favorable media coverage and praise by world leaders, authorities now find themselves on the defensive, overwhelmed by negative publicity, arising from a series of recent events.
As is often the case with election period in third world countries, we are made to believe that no election can come to pass without incidence and Rwanda comes as no exception. The effect of all this is that a climate of fear, tension and uncertainty have now been unduly flung on this rising nation, with fault lines coming easy on the upcoming polls.
It therefore comes as no surprise that reporting on recent events, including the attempted murder of a dissident general, the killing of a suspended newspaper editor and the arrest of an American lawyer, have all been slanted towards repression ahead of elections.
While it is natural to raise suspicion when protagonists such as individuals in this narrative, face problems, the tilt in angle with which media outlets and critics have reacted to or respond to breaking stories in Rwanda today amounts to alarm mongering.
When news broke that an attempt had been made on the general’s life at an upscale Johannesburg suburb, most people including his wife, were quick to point an accusing finger at the government of Rwanda, which issued a prompt denial.
Stories abound that suspects arrested shortly after were Rwandans, sent by the state to finish off the general, who stands accused of among other crimes, being behind a spate of grenade attacks that rocked the country early, this year. Conspicuously, the media has chosen to follow one lead; the possibility of Rwanda being behind the attack with slant. It is common knowledge that South Africa has one of the world’s high crime rates and that Johannesburg is its crime capital. Popular musician, Lucky Dube, is perhaps one of the common high profile victims who was gunned down about four years ago.
Only a police probe into the incident may ever tell the circumstances why the gunman did not demand any valuables. But in the court of public opinion where the international media has become de facto prosecution and judge, Rwanda has automatically and conclusively been the villain behind this “operation.”
Although none of the four suspects charged in the case are of Rwandan nationals, conspiracy theorists refuse to take it. A blogger with regular appearance on western tv channels last week added a sensational twist to the incident – that the general’s woes arose out of clash of clans (pun not intended) within the ruling RPF party. Suffice to say that both the general and President Paul Kagame come from the same clan. It is a tantalizing new tale of fiction, but does this fall out have any bearing to upcoming elections?
Another incident that has been deceitfully associated with the impending elections is the shooting to death of a recently suspended local newspaper journalist and the arrest of an American lawyer. I contest the notion that the journo was killed while investigating the general’s attempted murder, owing to circumstances surrounding the victim, shortly before he met his demise. For his exiled editor and the news hounds unwilling to investigate further, the easy target, of course, is the state!
While I sympathise with the journo’s family and the media fraternity over an attack on our own, I find it strange that he could be targeted, given his life as a cocktail of characters; an ex-soldier in the genocide regime, is integrated in the new RPA (now RDF), becomes a journalist, is tried and prosecuted over murder of a banker, serves three years for the same but acquitted for insufficient evidence, re-joins a recently suspended publication…then meets his killers.
It now emerges that one of his supposed killers has confessed to Police that he killed the victim to get even, claiming the journo had killed his (suspect’s) brother during the genocide. The arrest and arraignment in court of an American lawyer early last month was another long media tale with false facts and dramatic exposé.
Rather than dwell on real facts, involving Prof. Erlinder’s long campaign of genocide denial, distorting facts and hosting known genocide suspects on the run in Europe, foreign media cleverly claimed he had been incarcerated for trying to help an opposition presidential hopeful, who has been charged with a similar case.
It is the same case, of genocide denial and the prospect of new divisive brand of politics that the Electoral Commission denied Victoire Ingabire her dream opportunity to contest for the highest office in the country. On his part, the good lawyer has, since his release, given interviews and this time, he denies he ever denied that genocide occurred in Rwanda but that both sides suffered in equal measure. His trial waits.
There was also the suspension of critical publications too. I can not envisage any country that would tolerate any media house preaching hate in this era. Yet this is what happened in Rwanda, with a measure of restraint for years before a clampdown on unprofessional media houses was launched. I believe the state did not adequately explain the circumstances of suspending the said publications – namely; inciting the army against the state, or publishing images of any head of state side-by-side with Hitler and his infamous Nazi emblem.
That election time is around the corner is by no means reason that people are not held for their actions. Impunity is a deplorable act which other countries would better emulate from Rwanda.
As is often the case with election period in third world countries, we are made to believe that no election can come to pass without incidence and Rwanda comes as no exception. The effect of all this is that a climate of fear, tension and uncertainty have now been unduly flung on this rising nation, with fault lines coming easy on the upcoming polls.
It therefore comes as no surprise that reporting on recent events, including the attempted murder of a dissident general, the killing of a suspended newspaper editor and the arrest of an American lawyer, have all been slanted towards repression ahead of elections.
While it is natural to raise suspicion when protagonists such as individuals in this narrative, face problems, the tilt in angle with which media outlets and critics have reacted to or respond to breaking stories in Rwanda today amounts to alarm mongering.
When news broke that an attempt had been made on the general’s life at an upscale Johannesburg suburb, most people including his wife, were quick to point an accusing finger at the government of Rwanda, which issued a prompt denial.
Stories abound that suspects arrested shortly after were Rwandans, sent by the state to finish off the general, who stands accused of among other crimes, being behind a spate of grenade attacks that rocked the country early, this year. Conspicuously, the media has chosen to follow one lead; the possibility of Rwanda being behind the attack with slant. It is common knowledge that South Africa has one of the world’s high crime rates and that Johannesburg is its crime capital. Popular musician, Lucky Dube, is perhaps one of the common high profile victims who was gunned down about four years ago.
Only a police probe into the incident may ever tell the circumstances why the gunman did not demand any valuables. But in the court of public opinion where the international media has become de facto prosecution and judge, Rwanda has automatically and conclusively been the villain behind this “operation.”
Although none of the four suspects charged in the case are of Rwandan nationals, conspiracy theorists refuse to take it. A blogger with regular appearance on western tv channels last week added a sensational twist to the incident – that the general’s woes arose out of clash of clans (pun not intended) within the ruling RPF party. Suffice to say that both the general and President Paul Kagame come from the same clan. It is a tantalizing new tale of fiction, but does this fall out have any bearing to upcoming elections?
Another incident that has been deceitfully associated with the impending elections is the shooting to death of a recently suspended local newspaper journalist and the arrest of an American lawyer. I contest the notion that the journo was killed while investigating the general’s attempted murder, owing to circumstances surrounding the victim, shortly before he met his demise. For his exiled editor and the news hounds unwilling to investigate further, the easy target, of course, is the state!
While I sympathise with the journo’s family and the media fraternity over an attack on our own, I find it strange that he could be targeted, given his life as a cocktail of characters; an ex-soldier in the genocide regime, is integrated in the new RPA (now RDF), becomes a journalist, is tried and prosecuted over murder of a banker, serves three years for the same but acquitted for insufficient evidence, re-joins a recently suspended publication…then meets his killers.
It now emerges that one of his supposed killers has confessed to Police that he killed the victim to get even, claiming the journo had killed his (suspect’s) brother during the genocide. The arrest and arraignment in court of an American lawyer early last month was another long media tale with false facts and dramatic exposé.
Rather than dwell on real facts, involving Prof. Erlinder’s long campaign of genocide denial, distorting facts and hosting known genocide suspects on the run in Europe, foreign media cleverly claimed he had been incarcerated for trying to help an opposition presidential hopeful, who has been charged with a similar case.
It is the same case, of genocide denial and the prospect of new divisive brand of politics that the Electoral Commission denied Victoire Ingabire her dream opportunity to contest for the highest office in the country. On his part, the good lawyer has, since his release, given interviews and this time, he denies he ever denied that genocide occurred in Rwanda but that both sides suffered in equal measure. His trial waits.
There was also the suspension of critical publications too. I can not envisage any country that would tolerate any media house preaching hate in this era. Yet this is what happened in Rwanda, with a measure of restraint for years before a clampdown on unprofessional media houses was launched. I believe the state did not adequately explain the circumstances of suspending the said publications – namely; inciting the army against the state, or publishing images of any head of state side-by-side with Hitler and his infamous Nazi emblem.
That election time is around the corner is by no means reason that people are not held for their actions. Impunity is a deplorable act which other countries would better emulate from Rwanda.
Wednesday, 7 July 2010
Of barking dogs, trains and treason
 |  |  |
Former US President Ronald Reagan famously divided the world into good and bad guys. This is, of course, only part of the picture.
The majority of the world’s population are neither one or the other. They are indifferent. Reagan was correct in one sense, though.
The good guys and the bad ones play a disproportionate role in the world. But even these play their role differently. The good guys do their bit quietly, without fuss. The bad ones (Reagan called them evil) are quite vociferous. They want to influence events by the sheer weight of their noise and the amount of venom in their views. .
Rwanda has had the experience of these two types..On July 4th the country awarded medals to some of the good guys for their contribution to the liberation of Rwanda and for their continued support of her development.
In characteristic fashion, the people recognised for their contribution sought to downplay their role, giving the credit to Rwandans instead. President Paul Kagame remarked that their self-effacing modesty was a result of the recognition that they were doing what was expected of any decent human being.
That is the distinguishing feature of good people. They do whatever is necessary to improve the human condition without demanding or expecting credit for it.
On the same July 4th the country also celebrated the defeat of the bad guys. Their supporters, however, remain active (at least in terms of the din they make) in the hope that they can derail the progress Rwandans have made in the last sixteen years.
Talking about derailment, President Kagame had a very apt remark for the association of evil drummers. Asked by journalists whether he was not concerned by the increasing cacophony from individuals and groups opposed to his government, he retorted: a dog will bark at a moving train, but will not stop the train by its barking.
He could have added, but did not, (he left that to people’s common sense) that it is common for dogs to run in a pack and bark at a moving train or other vehicle until they tire and stop.
They will wait for the next train and repeat their running and barking all over again. All the while the train chugs along unaffected by the noise of a single dog or a pack of them. The dogs, too, never seem to learn about the futility of their action.
Of course, all this is amusing to the passengers on the train. They laugh at the foolishness and waste of energy and time by man’s best friend. A few of them are moved to pity and wish that all that energy would be used more profitably.
The Rwandan train is moving ahead, chugging along very nicely, the discordant noise from outside regardless. Rwandans on the train are amused, but not distracted, by the noise. Instead they are happy to work to make the train profitable.
Still the noise remains. The latest addition is the voice of Vincent Magombe. Writing in The Independent on July 2nd , Dr Magombe, supposedly an expert on African affairs, said the problems in Rwanda today can be explained by a power struggle between two Rwandan clans that were reported to have held power in pre-colonial Rwanda. The same power struggle has now resurfaced according to Magombe’s analysis.
How he comes to this conclusion is not clear. Clan politics in Rwanda at this point? It seems he must have stumbled upon some account of 19th century Rwandan history as he wandered through the archives in London looking for something that would make him relevant.
He must have read something about clans and power in the Rwanda of more than a hundred years ago and lifted it to explain the country today. And on the basis of this “discovery” he predicts doom for Rwanda.
The prediction seems to me to be more a projection of his dark intentions than a realistic assessment of the situation in Rwanda today.He is not alone. He is part of a group of so-called African intellectuals who make it their business to run down the countries they left for whatever reason.
Another one is Terkastan (she of the forged signatures fame. Remember her?), allegedly a human rights activist and “expert” on Rwanda. She is now the chief cheerleader of all those making the loudest noise about Rwanda’s sins. She has done one decent thing – let the mask of human rights fall and revealed her true colours. And reader, they are not very attractive.
In the midst of all the noise, there was a whiff of treason in the air. Our leading dissidents (this is how they are touted by the the noisy groups and handlers) have found solace in words of comfort and commiseration from foreign security agencies.
They have got more – information on government to government communication. Are these coincidences? There may have been other contacts even before the fugitives (that’s what they really are) fled from justice as was suggested at the president’s last press conference.
On a lighter note, a combination of barking dogs and trains that they will not stop, and treason are so intriguing a Hillywood film maker might find them suitable material for a thriller. Natives of this hilly land may then get wonderful relief from their otherwise serious business of getting the train to its destination.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)