Rwanda: No to Humiliation and Appeasement
30 May 2014 , By Theogene Rudasingwa, Source: Fahamu
Why France must resist and reject Kagame's dangerous diplomacy
By antagonizing and humiliating France, the Rwandan strongman seeks to
claim the status of a nationalist and pan-Africanist standing up to a
Western power. But this is absurd
In June 1994, as the Secretary General of the Rwandese Patriotic Front
(RPF) I led a delegation to meet France's then Minister of Foreign
Affairs, Alain Juppe. The objective of my delegation was to dissuade
the French Government from launching Operation Turquoise, the
peacekeeping operation that has been at the heart of the acrimonious
relationship between France and the RPF regime under Paul Kagame since
then. I went back unsuccessful and disappointed. The stakes were high.
Before then, RPF had dispatched its senior leaders, Gerald Gahima and
Claude Dusaidi, to New York and Washington DC to dissuade the United
Nations and the United States from launching any peacekeeping
operations in Rwanda.
The RPF's double-pronged strategy in France and United States was
derived from two mutually re-enforcing fears and considerations.
First, because RPF was inherently an organization of Tutsi exiles, it
considered France a hostile nation because of its close relationship
with the then Government of Rwanda under President Juvenal
Habyarimana, a Hutu. In fact, popular perception in the rank and file
of the RPF was that the French, and the Belgians before them, were
pro-Hutu. The twists and turns of history are such that in post-1994
Rwanda, popular opinion within the Hutu and Tutsi communities is that
Americans and the British are pro-Tutsi. Second, by ordering the
shooting down of the plane carrying President Juvenal Habyarimana,
Kagame simultaneously derailed the Arusha Peace Agreement and
triggered the genocide and massacres of 1994 in which Tutsi and Hutu
were victims.
For RPF, a French-led or any United Nations peacekeeping operation was
perceived as a threat to its push for outright military victory. When
Alain Juppe told our delegation that the French-led operation was to
save Tutsi, Kagame instructed me to respond that 'all the Tutsi who
were to die have died anyway, and there are no more to save'. This
became the standard mobilizing theme and response in Washington DC and
New York,
In essence, it is this callous, cold and calculating consideration for
General Paul Kagame and his RPF's quest for power at any price that
has brought France-Rwanda relations to a new and dangerous crisis
point. When the French investigating magistrate, Jean-Louis Bruguiere,
indicted President Paul Kagame and other RPA military officers for the
assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana and his Burundian
counterpart, Cyprien Ntaryamira, RPF was up in arms. To Kagame and the
RPF, this was considered to be further proof that France was
anti-Tutsi, anti-RPF and most importantly, anti-Kagame. The marching
orders to all of us who worked in the system was to fight the French
everywhere and by all means possible, including lies, deceptions and
denials.
Can the bitter relationship between France and Rwanda be repaired
under Paul Kagame's regime? The response to that is an absolute no.
First, Kagame and the RPF's hold on to power survives and thrives on a
narrative that perpetuates falsehoods calculated to make France and
the international community guilty. In this narrative, the French are
the bad guys who assisted the other bad guys, the Hutu, to commit
genocide; and that the international community failed to prevent and
stop the genocide against Tutsi, who were saved by Kagame and the RPF.
This narrative is deliberately silent on Kagame's role in the
assassination of President Habyarimana, which triggered the genocide.
Despite mistakes in France's and international policies and actions
towards Rwanda at the time, RPF's narrative denies the fact that
Operation Turquoise saved some Tutsi and Hutu. This false narrative is
Kagame's and RPF's addictive and life-giving magic bullet. With it aid
money flows, and questions about human rights, democracy and
accountability are taboo. Without it, the regime would cease to be.
Second, Kagame and the RPF need a contest with a big power like France
to bolster its stand domestically and internationally. Domestically,
the RPF regime has never had any legitimacy among the Hutu. Kagame
claims to be the sole hero and saviour of the Tutsi. Currently, what
used to look like a homogenous Tutsi community held together by fear
under Kagame's iron hand is crumbling fast. He needs France as a
powerful enemy against which he can mobilize the fearful Tutsi and a
marginalized Hutu population.
Third, there is also an opportunistic dimension to Kagame's
anti-France stand. Since 1994, the decline of French influence in
Rwanda has witnessed a disproportionate rise of Anglo-American
influence in the tiny Republic. The Anglo-American-Rwanda love
triangle may be seen as a compassionate one, based on benevolent
giants' altruistic urge to help Rwanda the victim. London and
Washington do not see it that way. Rwanda sits at the interface of the
Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa, regions in which the United States
and the United Kingdom have deep geo-strategic, economic and security
interests. By Kagame appearing to be anti-France, and abiding in both
overt and covert missions, there are some Anglo-American cheers and
cheerleaders. The fact that Tony Blair and Bill Clinton are Kagame's
principal global promoters is no accident.
Last but not least, by antagonizing and humiliating France, Kagame
seeks to claim the status of a nationalist and pan-Africanist standing
up to a Western power. This is an absurd claim, since he is a
sectarian bully who dominates the nation through coercive means. He
destabilizes the region though direct or proxy wars, especially in the
Democratic Republic of Congo, and is deeply dependent on Western aid.
Faced with a difficult past in Rwanda, and a consistently antagonistic
Kagame, France has tried all sorts of palliative treatment for a
deep-seated and chronic disease. A contrite President Nicolas Sarkozy
visited Rwanda in 2010. Kagame has been welcomed to France. What has
France received in return? Kagame and RPF have thrown out the French
language, condemning many generations of Rwandans to illiteracy;
taught a whole young generation of Rwandans to hate the French;
expelled a French Ambassador and condemned the current one to
obscurity; accused France of being an accomplice in the crime of
genocide; closed the French cultural center in Kigali; and,
deliberately seeks to divide the French people and their Government
though manipulation of guilt, denials and deceptions.
The Government and people of France must resist and reject Kagame's
and RPF's relentless onslaught on their dignity. No appeasement of
Kagame will ever be sufficient for him to change attitude, policy and
action towards France. Respectful, truthful and mutually beneficial
relations between France and Rwanda will only be possible after Kagame
and the RPF.
All the more reason why France should bring to conclusion the
investigation on the assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana of
Rwanda and Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi. Kagame knows that this
investigation will be his Achilles heel. He has fought it, and will
continue to fight it, with all the means he has at his disposal.
France is paying the price for touching Kagame's raw nerve.
Ultimately, France's medium to long term interests will be best served
by being proactive in supporting the national democratic forces
seeking to create a just, free, peaceful, democratic and prosperous
Rwanda.
Dr. Theogene Rudasingwa is a former Secretary General of RPF,
Ambassador of Rwanda to the United States, and Chief of Staff to
President Paul Kagame.
http://m.allafrica.com/stories/201405301163.html/?maneref=http%3A%2F%2Fmobile.newsnow.co.uk%2FA%2F715643724%3F-
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