UK: Controversy over visit of Rwandan President

http://oxfordstudent.com/2013/05/09/controversy-over-visit-of-rwandan-president/

 

Controversy over visit of Rwandan President

By News Team

Unease has been expressed concerning a scheduled visit of Rwandan president Paul Kagame to the Säid Business School, in light of numerous allegations accusing him of human rights violations.

Mr Kagame is due to arrive in Oxford on Friday 18^th May, when he will deliver a keynote address in the Oxford Africa Business Conference as well as being awarded the inaugural Distinction of Honour for African Growth Award.

The decision to give Mr Kagame this award in light the recent allegations has been questioned by a number of academics and students, who have started a campaign calling for the Säid Business School to cancel their engagement with him.

The Oxford Africa Business Conference is a student led organization and the decision to award Kagame the honour was taken by students of the Business School.

Salvator Cusimano, an M.Sc candidate in Refugee studies and leader of the campaign against Mr Kagame's visit, commented: "As it stands, the University will appear to condone Mr. Kagame's actions at a time when even the governments of the United States and the UK – Rwanda's staunchest allies – have distanced themselves from Mr. Kagame and his government.

"As members of the Oxford community, we have a responsibility to use our influence to reverse the Business School's serious error of judgment.

"We have a unique opportunity to promote human rights and defend our University's reputation, and we must act. "

The campaign has sent a letter to the Dean of the Business School, the Vice-Chancellor of the University as well as the head of the African Studies Centre detailing why the visit should be cancelled, and has started an e-petition which has received over 260 signatures in its first 24 hours.

The Säid Business School has commented "We prize open discussion and in line with the University's Freedom of Speech policy the students have invited President Kagame to speak and there will be the opportunity for those present to challenge him as appropriate.

"We are aware that President Kagame is a controversial figure and his presence here implies no endorsement of his views or actions. We have taken the view that it's appropriate to ask him to address any issues that are put to him from a platform in Oxford."

The controversy surrounding Kagame stems from the accusation that he has silenced opposition politicians and journalists support for rebels in DMC including the paramilitary M23 movement, and illegal exploitation of Congolese resources.

Dominic Burridge, a DPhil Candidate from Oriel College, commented: "The proposal from the Säid Business School to give a Distinction of Honor for African Growth Award to Paul Kagame cannot fall under the criticism of endorsing human rights violations per se because it is making an economic assessment only.

"In this way, the decision errs on the side of a greater tragedy. It is a categorical statement that, in Africa, economics should matter more than society and ethics, and that those who have been accused of brutalising regions through natural resource greed should be decorated as economic leaders."

The conference website has ignored the controversies surrounding Kagame, and instead focused on some of the successes of his presidency, including the reconciliation after the Rwandan genocide and relatively strong growth in GDP.

As a result they have feted that Kagame's presidency has "set Rwanda on its current course towards reconciliation, nation building and socioeconomic development."

A letter delivered to the Säid Business School the campaign has argued: "Mr. Kagame's Rwanda bears several disturbing similarities to Rwanda under the genocidal government.

"Reconciliation appears superficial: despite a law prohibiting speech with ethnic content – known as genocide ideology – the ethnic tensions that fuelled genocide in 1994 seem alive beneath the surface."

Amongst the supporters of the campaign are a number of academics and students.  One academic said that is "concerning" that the conference organisers  have invited Kagame to the Säid Business School given the ongoing dispute concerning his human rights record in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide.

Mr Kagame took office in 2000, after spending six years as Vice President in the years immediately after the Rwandan genocide, before winning democratic elections for the presidency in 2003 and 2010.