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Plain textRwanda, Tanzania Edging Closer To War?
Rwanda and Tanzania are moving closer to war with a high ranking government official telling reporters in Kigali that Rwandans are being harassed and kicked out of Tanzania.
Rwanda government spokesperson, Louise Mushikiwabo, who also doubles as the Foreign Affairs Minister, said Thursday that Kigali was not "consulted" when Tanzanian authorities raided the homes of Rwandan families in the border areas of Kagera before expelling them.
Officials said at least 300 Rwandans of whom some have lived in Tanzania for the last 60 years, have since early this week been walking long miles from Kagera to Rwanda through Rusumo border point after President Jakaya Kikwete asked authorities to kick out the "illegal immigrants."
Citizenship and other residential documents were subsequently destroyed by Tanzanian security officials; a move sources said was aimed at creating a special zone near the border with Rwanda which would be utilized for an attack.
Responding to a question from a journalist on the expulsion of Rwandans from Tanzania, Mushikiwabo said: "It wasn't our decision. We were not consulted."
ICGLR leaders in a meeting at Entebbe recently
"We have been busy doing whatever possible to welcome, help resettle and offer security to Rwandans expelled from Tanzania," added Mushikiwabo.
She, however, noted that "whatever tension exists between Rwanda and Tanzania must be resolved," adding, "The relationship is too important."
"We are neighbours and so we have to live in peace. We are in the same block and much is to be gained from this. However, the tension that arose from the suggestion to Rwanda negotiate with FDLR would be met with the same reaction were it from anyone else," said Mushikiwabo.
She added: "FDLR committed genocide in Rwanda. They should be the whole world's enemy. That's how serious crimes of genocide are; we are not talking of a mutiny or a rebel group. They committed genocide in Rwanda and have continued their deadly work in the DRC."
She emphasized that Rwanda's position has not changed on FDLR.
"Some say most FDLR are too young to have been in the genocide but the ideology, indoctrinated since birth, has no age. Rwanda will never sit at a table with them and rejects any suggestion to do so. FDLR should disarm, reject genocidal ideology and return to Rwanda."
Mushikiwabo addressing press in Kigali on Thursday
PLAN OF ATTACK
Officials in the Rwandan government have told Chimpreports they suspect that Kikwete's plan is to create a large space of land near the border which would be utilized by FDLR militants to strike deep into Rwanda.
Tanzania denies supporting FDLR but Kikwete's recent remarks that Kigali should hold negotiations with the DRC-based militia, which draws the better part of its fighters and leaders from perpetrators of the Rwanda genocide in 1994, have caused concern in Kigali.
President Paul Kagame recently said he does not take "Kikwete's remarks on FDLR for granted."
Kikwete further unruffled feathers at a military function when he said the Tanzanian armed forces were ready to strike any force that threatened its interests, a statement many thought was directed at Rwanda and Malawi.
Due to international pressure, Kikwete would later be quoted as saying he wanted to see good relations with Tanzania's neighbours.
MENDING OR BREAKING RELATIONS?
But a source in Kigali says Kikwete is not being honest. "He said he wanted to mend relations, portraying himself as peace-loving but what he is doing is against the tenets of Pan Africanism. Some of those people evicted have Tanzania nationality and have lived there since the 1950s"
The source further noted that "Rwandans are being mistreated and their property confiscated by opportunists."
"There is every indication that we are heading in that direction of war though we don't want any clashes with Tanzania. They are supporting FDLR and are now harassing our people. Where is the spirit of the East African integration?" the source, who preferred anonymity so as to speak freely, wondered.
Gonza Mugi, an experienced Rwandan journalist says it is "ridiculous expelling Africans from an African country."
He adds "Other leaders in the region should also be active in cooling tensions between Kagame and Kikwete from going out of hand. Otherwise what happened to Pan Africanism? Remember the disagreement between Idi Amin and Nyerere had a big role in collapse in of EAC in 1977."
Gonza says in 1982, Ugandan leader, Milton Obote expelled Banyarwanda "which effectively gave an army (National Resistance Army) to Museveni."
Ugandan fighters of Rwandan origin, who at the time included now President Kagame and Fred Rwigyema (RIP), played a pivotal role in ousting Obote's government.
With Museveni as the NRA leader, Kagame and Rwigyema participated in the successful attack on Kabamba barracks, which many believe was a turning point in the NRA struggle that saw rebels seize Kampala in 1985.
Gonza added: "In 1996 Mobutu was busy expelling Banyarwanda in Congo, he ended up with a rebellion that kicked him out. In 1998, Kabila Laurent expelled Banyarwanda soldiers; he soon got a bullet in the head."
It is also feared that Kikwete's actions could be as a result of panic, fearing the penetration of Rwandan intelligence personnel in Kagera.
The unfolding events, especially concerns that FDLR militants are being supported by Tanzania and DRC, could touch off a spark that will see the region engulfed in a deadly war.
While regional observers thought Rwanda would quickly move to strike FDLR elements in DRC, latest reports show that a conflict with Tanzania appears so imminent than earlier thought.
President Kikwete and Kagame at a function in Rwanda
DIPLOMATIC MUSHKIWABO
Mushikiwabo says "while these things are usually discussed among countries, Rwanda is ready to receive any Rwandan who crossed the border. We have already started to receive them, with more crossing every day. I want to reassure Tanzanians living in Rwanda that no harm will come to them. We are all part of the East African Community and as such any Tanzanian should feel welcome."
Meanwhile, on wider discussions on the DRC, Mushikiwabo said that the International Conference for the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) Summit held last week called on the DRC government to resume Kampala peace talks as well as naming FDLR, a negative force.
This combined with individual country commitments in the UN Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the DRC and the Region showed that regional efforts and as well as a commitment to addressing root causes gives hope of a lasting solution for sustainable peace in the region.
"As we do our part, Rwanda requests that that there are no other threats to our territory," she noted.
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