Rwanda : Ingabire detailed errors of the High Court in sentencing her to eight years in prison.

http://www.fdu-rwanda.com/en/rwanda-victoire-ingabire-a-detaille-les-erreurs-de-la-haute-cour-qui-la-condamnee-a-8-ans-de-prison-ferme/#more-2981

Rwanda : Ingabire detailed errors of the High Court in sentencing her to eight years in prison.

JULY 29, 2013  

Kigali, 29 July 2013

Press release

On Monday, July 29, 2013, at the headquarters of the Supreme Court in Kigali, the floor was given to the President of the FDU-Inkingi, Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza political prisoner, gave reasons for her appeal and made comments on the Prosecution's appeal.

Madame Victoire Ingabire has asked the court to take into account how the High Court ignored the agreements between the DRC and Rwandan government regarding former FDLR rebels who lay down their arms. These agreements stipulated that they would not be prosecuted for acts committed outside the territory of Rwanda, except for crimes of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Madame Victoire Ingabire told the court that the court has knowingly ignored these agreements for the sole purpose of finding a ground for her conviction.

Ingabire also recalled how the prosecution ignored agreements with the Dutch State on the facts that have occurred outside of Rwanda. The two countries agreed that the documents submitted to the Rwandan justice by the Dutch justice in rogatory a commission, could be used only for the offense of terrorism. However, the High Court did not comply with these agreements and instead the Prosecution used the documents to frame a new charge which was not included in the charges which not figure in her indictment or was she questioned about by the Criminal Investigation Department or submitted in Court as provided by Article 64 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Ingabire also highlighted the non-retroactivity of laws and that this legal provision has had been ignored.  She pointed out that in its judgment, it appears that the court,  due to lack of legal basis and sufficient evidence in Rwandan law to back  its decision, overstretched the legal boundaries  just to keep her in prison to meet the wishes of  the Kigali regime.

She is also pointed out how the prosecution and the court ignored the change in the testimonies of the her  co-accused who denied having received money from her money and confirmed that the so-called rebel force, CDF is not known to them and that it never r existed. However, the prosecution had alleged that she had bought weapons for the force; a force which in reality ever existed!

She finally commented on the emails that the prosecution claims were exchanged between her and her co-accused. She showed the court two emails that the prosecution presented as photocopies. A closer look revealed s that the dates on the emails were a mixture of English and French, while the other was written in French only. She wondered how these two messages could come from the same mailbox as claimed by the prosecution!

After testimony on Tuesday, her legal team would make their submissions. As Ms. Ingabire had asked the court informed the parties that the trial would continue on Wednesday, but at 14:00.

FDU-INKINGI

Boniface Twagirimana

Acting Vice-President

Rwanda : Ingabire detailed errors of the High Court in sentencing her to eight years in prison.

http://www.fdu-rwanda.com/en/rwanda-victoire-ingabire-a-detaille-les-erreurs-de-la-haute-cour-qui-la-condamnee-a-8-ans-de-prison-ferme/#more-2981

Rwanda : Ingabire detailed errors of the High Court in sentencing her to eight years in prison.

JULY 29, 2013  

Kigali, 29 July 2013

Press release

On Monday, July 29, 2013, at the headquarters of the Supreme Court in Kigali, the floor was given to the President of the FDU-Inkingi, Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza political prisoner, gave reasons for her appeal and made comments on the Prosecution's appeal.

Madame Victoire Ingabire has asked the court to take into account how the High Court ignored the agreements between the DRC and Rwandan government regarding former FDLR rebels who lay down their arms. These agreements stipulated that they would not be prosecuted for acts committed outside the territory of Rwanda, except for crimes of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Madame Victoire Ingabire told the court that the court has knowingly ignored these agreements for the sole purpose of finding a ground for her conviction.

Ingabire also recalled how the prosecution ignored agreements with the Dutch State on the facts that have occurred outside of Rwanda. The two countries agreed that the documents submitted to the Rwandan justice by the Dutch justice in rogatory a commission, could be used only for the offense of terrorism. However, the High Court did not comply with these agreements and instead the Prosecution used the documents to frame a new charge which was not included in the charges which not figure in her indictment or was she questioned about by the Criminal Investigation Department or submitted in Court as provided by Article 64 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Ingabire also highlighted the non-retroactivity of laws and that this legal provision has had been ignored.  She pointed out that in its judgment, it appears that the court,  due to lack of legal basis and sufficient evidence in Rwandan law to back  its decision, overstretched the legal boundaries  just to keep her in prison to meet the wishes of  the Kigali regime.

She is also pointed out how the prosecution and the court ignored the change in the testimonies of the her  co-accused who denied having received money from her money and confirmed that the so-called rebel force, CDF is not known to them and that it never r existed. However, the prosecution had alleged that she had bought weapons for the force; a force which in reality ever existed!

She finally commented on the emails that the prosecution claims were exchanged between her and her co-accused. She showed the court two emails that the prosecution presented as photocopies. A closer look revealed s that the dates on the emails were a mixture of English and French, while the other was written in French only. She wondered how these two messages could come from the same mailbox as claimed by the prosecution!

After testimony on Tuesday, her legal team would make their submissions. As Ms. Ingabire had asked the court informed the parties that the trial would continue on Wednesday, but at 14:00.

FDU-INKINGI

Boniface Twagirimana

Acting Vice-President

We ask the government of Rwanda to stop threatening people and LIPRODHOR organization

 

DECLARATION OF POLITICAL PARTY UDFR-IHAMYE

 

We ask the government of Rwanda to stop threatening people and LIPRODHOR organization

 

The political party for Democracy and Federalism in Rwanda (UDFR-IHAMYE) declares to all Rwandans and international community that this political party continues to worry about the country mismanagement by Kigali government .In its management, that system does never show a good plan to Rwandans future. Instead of serving all people it only concentrates on a small group of Rwandans.

Again, the political party UDFR-IHAMYE protests against the illegal detention and imprisonment of 11 adherents of  religion of Christ Jesus and St Mary (Intwarane za Kristu Yezu na Maria ) who have been arrested on 21 -07-2013 without official reason but only because of their faith and belief .

Also the Political party UDFR-IHAMYE protests against the mistreatment of members and the committee of LIPRODHOR, the organization which promotes and defends human rights in Rwanda. That bad act aims at destroying that organization and scattering its activists members as it become their habit from 2000.

This LIPRODHOR is the only organization for the human rights remaining in the country while the same organizations were quickly infiltrated and disorganized by the members of RPF as soon as it took power.

 

The political party UDFRâIHAMYE profits this opportunity to request the Rwandans government to stop immediately its plan to dissolve this organization (LIPRODHOR) and to let to other non government organizations in general the freedom of work. The Rwandan government must not dissolve the committee of LIPRODHOR now headed by Laurent MUNYANDIRIKIRWA because the committee has been set legally.

The politicians Deo.MUSHAYIDI,Jean de Dieu NDAYISHIMIYE,Victoire INGABIRE Umuhoza,Bernard NTAGANDA, Theoneste NIYITEGEKA, like therefore other people detained illegally as Lt.Colonel RUGIGANA, the reporter Agnes UWIMANA and others. All those people might be released from prison without consideration of the false accusations made by the government of Kigali for political reasons.

 

The political party UDFR-IHAMYE continues to worry about the act of throwing hand grenades repeatedly form 2010 in Kigali city and which bombs kill innocent people. In this occasion UDFR-IHAMYE sympathies with the families which lost their members in that slaughter or the ones who have been injured in it. The political party UDFR ensures all Rwandans and the international community that once it happens to them to take power they shall stop those bad acts and judge their authors.

The fact that the government of Kigali claims always that it has arrested the people who are behind those bombs attacks and it never shows them to the public or judges them, that means the government itself creates insecurity to its people as it does in the entire great lakes region.

The UDFR-IHAMYE request all the political parties in opposition to try their best to collaborate in order to make an inter-Rwandans dialogue and then to relieve RPF from the country governance for it is already become weak enough. Only the inter-Rwandans dialogue will restore the peace and security in the country then in the entire region.

To drive away the RPF from the power needs the will and the commitment of every Rwandan who likes his country.

 

Done at Reims on 30^th july2013

 

 

Chairman of UDFR-IHAMYE Boniface HITIMANA

Contacts: 0033760564949

                   0031687162716

 

*UDFR-IHAMYE MEMBER OF CNCD

__._,_.___

Passer à: Texte seulement, Résumé du jour • Désinscription • Conditions dutilisation

.

__,_._,___

We ask the government of Rwanda to stop threatening people and LIPRODHOR organization

 

DECLARATION OF POLITICAL PARTY UDFR-IHAMYE

 

We ask the government of Rwanda to stop threatening people and LIPRODHOR organization

 

The political party for Democracy and Federalism in Rwanda (UDFR-IHAMYE) declares to all Rwandans and international community that this political party continues to worry about the country mismanagement by Kigali government .In its management, that system does never show a good plan to Rwandans future. Instead of serving all people it only concentrates on a small group of Rwandans.

Again, the political party UDFR-IHAMYE protests against the illegal detention and imprisonment of 11 adherents of  religion of Christ Jesus and St Mary (Intwarane za Kristu Yezu na Maria ) who have been arrested on 21 -07-2013 without official reason but only because of their faith and belief .

Also the Political party UDFR-IHAMYE protests against the mistreatment of members and the committee of LIPRODHOR, the organization which promotes and defends human rights in Rwanda. That bad act aims at destroying that organization and scattering its activists members as it become their habit from 2000.

This LIPRODHOR is the only organization for the human rights remaining in the country while the same organizations were quickly infiltrated and disorganized by the members of RPF as soon as it took power.

 

The political party UDFRâIHAMYE profits this opportunity to request the Rwandans government to stop immediately its plan to dissolve this organization (LIPRODHOR) and to let to other non government organizations in general the freedom of work. The Rwandan government must not dissolve the committee of LIPRODHOR now headed by Laurent MUNYANDIRIKIRWA because the committee has been set legally.

The politicians Deo.MUSHAYIDI,Jean de Dieu NDAYISHIMIYE,Victoire INGABIRE Umuhoza,Bernard NTAGANDA, Theoneste NIYITEGEKA, like therefore other people detained illegally as Lt.Colonel RUGIGANA, the reporter Agnes UWIMANA and others. All those people might be released from prison without consideration of the false accusations made by the government of Kigali for political reasons.

 

The political party UDFR-IHAMYE continues to worry about the act of throwing hand grenades repeatedly form 2010 in Kigali city and which bombs kill innocent people. In this occasion UDFR-IHAMYE sympathies with the families which lost their members in that slaughter or the ones who have been injured in it. The political party UDFR ensures all Rwandans and the international community that once it happens to them to take power they shall stop those bad acts and judge their authors.

The fact that the government of Kigali claims always that it has arrested the people who are behind those bombs attacks and it never shows them to the public or judges them, that means the government itself creates insecurity to its people as it does in the entire great lakes region.

The UDFR-IHAMYE request all the political parties in opposition to try their best to collaborate in order to make an inter-Rwandans dialogue and then to relieve RPF from the country governance for it is already become weak enough. Only the inter-Rwandans dialogue will restore the peace and security in the country then in the entire region.

To drive away the RPF from the power needs the will and the commitment of every Rwandan who likes his country.

 

Done at Reims on 30^th july2013

 

 

Chairman of UDFR-IHAMYE Boniface HITIMANA

Contacts: 0033760564949

                   0031687162716

 

*UDFR-IHAMYE MEMBER OF CNCD

__._,_.___

Passer à: Texte seulement, Résumé du jour • Désinscription • Conditions dutilisation

.

__,_._,___

President and Chelsea Clinton Travel to Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Rwanda, and South Africa

http://www.clintonfoundation.org/main/news-and-media/press-releases-and-statements/media-advisory-president-and-chelsea-clinton-travel-to-africa-to-visit-clinton-foundation-projects.html

 

MEDIA ADVISORY: President and Chelsea Clinton Travel to Africa to Visit Clinton Foundation Projects

Jul 26, 2013 | Clinton Foundation | New York, NY  | Press Release

Visit will highlight Foundation work in economic growth and empowerment, equality of opportunity, and health access in 5 countries

(New York, NY)—On July 31- August 8, President Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton will travel to Africa to visit Clinton Foundation projects in Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania (including Zanzibar), Rwanda, and South Africa.  This trip, and the projects visited, will highlight many of the issues that President and Chelsea Clinton have long worked on—economic growth and empowerment, equality of opportunity, and health access. 

Fifteen years ago, in 1998, President Clinton first traveled to Africa as President. This was the longest and most extensive trip to the continent made by a sitting American president, and was the first time a sitting president traveled to each of his six destinations.  President Clinton's trip followed a seminal visit that Chelsea and then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton made the year before.   Since their initial trips, President and Chelsea Clinton have continued to build upon their longstanding commitment to Africa through the work of the Clinton Foundation, providing investment, opportunity, and health access to underserved communities.  In July 2012, both President and Chelsea Clinton traveled to Africa to visit Clinton Foundation sites in South Africa, Mozambique, Rwanda, and Uganda, and in October 2012, Chelsea visited Nigeria for the launch of the Nigerian government's Save One Million Lives Initiative to reduce child mortality. 

For more information about the events and media accreditation please email press@clintonfoundation.org.  For updates on the trip, visit the Clinton Foundation's Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages: Facebook.com/ClintonFoundation, @ClintonFdn, Instagram.com/ClintonFoundation.

 

**FOR PLANNING PURPOSES ONLY.  ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FORTHCOMING**
To cover any of these stops, RSVP to press@clintonfoundation.org

Wednesday, July 31, 2013
3:30 PM CAT
President and Chelsea Clinton meet with President Banda
Kamazu Palace
Lilongwe, Malawi
OPEN PRESS

Thursday, August 1, 2013
10:00 AM CAT
President and Chelsea Clinton tour Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) clinic and make announcement with President Banda
Lilongwe, Malawi
OPEN PRESS

12:15 PM CAT
President and Chelsea Clinton visit Clinton Development Initiative (CDI) farm
Santhe, Malawi
OPEN PRESS

Friday, August 2, 2013
11:15 AM CAT
President and Chelsea Clinton conduct Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) home health visits
Zambia
OPEN PRESS

2:30 PM CAT
President Clinton visits Starkey Hearing Foundation Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment site for a hearing aid fitting
Zambia
OPEN PRESS

Saturday, August 3, 2013
1:50 PM EAT
President Clinton visits Barclays Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment site, "Banking on Change" 
Dar Urban PU
Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
OPEN PRESS

Sunday, August 4, 2013
12:00 PM EAT
President and Chelsea Clinton attend a Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) malaria-awareness soccer match
Zanzibar
OPEN PRESS

1:15 PM EAT
President and Chelsea Clinton meet women beneficiaries of the  Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) 
Zanzibar
OPEN PRESS

Modified:
Monday, August 5, 2013
10:30 AM CAT
President and Chelsea Clinton visit Procter & Gamble Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment site, and deliver clean drinking water in World Vision Program
Rwanda
OPEN PRESS

1:00 PM CAT
President and Chelsea Clinton visit a Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) teaching hospital
Kigali, Rwanda
OPEN PRESS

2:45 PM CAT
President Clinton and Chelsea Clinton launch a Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) nutrition program
Kigali, Rwanda
OPEN PRESS

4:45 PM CAT
President and Chelsea Clinton visit a Clinton Hunter Development Initiative (CHDI) coffee factory construction site
Kigali, Rwanda
OPEN PRESS

Tuesday, August 6, 2013
3:45 PM SAST
President and Chelsea Clinton visit the Ubuntu Center, a Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment site
Ubuntu Center                                                                        
Port Elizabeth, South Africa
OPEN PRESS

Wednesday, August 7, 2013
2:30 PM SAST
President and Chelsea Clinton visit a Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) site
Hammanskraal, South Africa
OPEN PRESS

6:30 PM SAST
Clinton Foundation and Mandela Foundation host a conversation
Pretoria, South Africa
OPEN PRESS

Thursday, August 8, 2013
10:30 AM SAST
President and Chelsea Clinton visit Coca-Cola's Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment site
Vanderbijlpark, South Africa
OPEN PRESS

12:30 PM SAST
President and Chelsea Clinton visit a City Year Service Project
South Africa
OPEN PRESS

###

President and Chelsea Clinton Travel to Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Rwanda, and South Africa

http://www.clintonfoundation.org/main/news-and-media/press-releases-and-statements/media-advisory-president-and-chelsea-clinton-travel-to-africa-to-visit-clinton-foundation-projects.html

 

MEDIA ADVISORY: President and Chelsea Clinton Travel to Africa to Visit Clinton Foundation Projects

Jul 26, 2013 | Clinton Foundation | New York, NY  | Press Release

Visit will highlight Foundation work in economic growth and empowerment, equality of opportunity, and health access in 5 countries

(New York, NY)—On July 31- August 8, President Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton will travel to Africa to visit Clinton Foundation projects in Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania (including Zanzibar), Rwanda, and South Africa.  This trip, and the projects visited, will highlight many of the issues that President and Chelsea Clinton have long worked on—economic growth and empowerment, equality of opportunity, and health access. 

Fifteen years ago, in 1998, President Clinton first traveled to Africa as President. This was the longest and most extensive trip to the continent made by a sitting American president, and was the first time a sitting president traveled to each of his six destinations.  President Clinton's trip followed a seminal visit that Chelsea and then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton made the year before.   Since their initial trips, President and Chelsea Clinton have continued to build upon their longstanding commitment to Africa through the work of the Clinton Foundation, providing investment, opportunity, and health access to underserved communities.  In July 2012, both President and Chelsea Clinton traveled to Africa to visit Clinton Foundation sites in South Africa, Mozambique, Rwanda, and Uganda, and in October 2012, Chelsea visited Nigeria for the launch of the Nigerian government's Save One Million Lives Initiative to reduce child mortality. 

For more information about the events and media accreditation please email press@clintonfoundation.org.  For updates on the trip, visit the Clinton Foundation's Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages: Facebook.com/ClintonFoundation, @ClintonFdn, Instagram.com/ClintonFoundation.

 

**FOR PLANNING PURPOSES ONLY.  ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FORTHCOMING**
To cover any of these stops, RSVP to press@clintonfoundation.org

Wednesday, July 31, 2013
3:30 PM CAT
President and Chelsea Clinton meet with President Banda
Kamazu Palace
Lilongwe, Malawi
OPEN PRESS

Thursday, August 1, 2013
10:00 AM CAT
President and Chelsea Clinton tour Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) clinic and make announcement with President Banda
Lilongwe, Malawi
OPEN PRESS

12:15 PM CAT
President and Chelsea Clinton visit Clinton Development Initiative (CDI) farm
Santhe, Malawi
OPEN PRESS

Friday, August 2, 2013
11:15 AM CAT
President and Chelsea Clinton conduct Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) home health visits
Zambia
OPEN PRESS

2:30 PM CAT
President Clinton visits Starkey Hearing Foundation Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment site for a hearing aid fitting
Zambia
OPEN PRESS

Saturday, August 3, 2013
1:50 PM EAT
President Clinton visits Barclays Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment site, "Banking on Change" 
Dar Urban PU
Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
OPEN PRESS

Sunday, August 4, 2013
12:00 PM EAT
President and Chelsea Clinton attend a Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) malaria-awareness soccer match
Zanzibar
OPEN PRESS

1:15 PM EAT
President and Chelsea Clinton meet women beneficiaries of the  Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) 
Zanzibar
OPEN PRESS

Modified:
Monday, August 5, 2013
10:30 AM CAT
President and Chelsea Clinton visit Procter & Gamble Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment site, and deliver clean drinking water in World Vision Program
Rwanda
OPEN PRESS

1:00 PM CAT
President and Chelsea Clinton visit a Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) teaching hospital
Kigali, Rwanda
OPEN PRESS

2:45 PM CAT
President Clinton and Chelsea Clinton launch a Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) nutrition program
Kigali, Rwanda
OPEN PRESS

4:45 PM CAT
President and Chelsea Clinton visit a Clinton Hunter Development Initiative (CHDI) coffee factory construction site
Kigali, Rwanda
OPEN PRESS

Tuesday, August 6, 2013
3:45 PM SAST
President and Chelsea Clinton visit the Ubuntu Center, a Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment site
Ubuntu Center                                                                        
Port Elizabeth, South Africa
OPEN PRESS

Wednesday, August 7, 2013
2:30 PM SAST
President and Chelsea Clinton visit a Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) site
Hammanskraal, South Africa
OPEN PRESS

6:30 PM SAST
Clinton Foundation and Mandela Foundation host a conversation
Pretoria, South Africa
OPEN PRESS

Thursday, August 8, 2013
10:30 AM SAST
President and Chelsea Clinton visit Coca-Cola's Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment site
Vanderbijlpark, South Africa
OPEN PRESS

12:30 PM SAST
President and Chelsea Clinton visit a City Year Service Project
South Africa
OPEN PRESS

###

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE96P0N820130726?irpc=932

United Nations gives Rwanda $400 million to fight hunger and poverty

KIGALI | Fri Jul 26, 2013 10:08am EDT

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KIGALI (Reuters) - The United Nations has pledged $400 million over five years to help Rwanda reduce poverty, hunger and disease, the government said.

Rwanda relies on external funding, including aid, for about 40 percent of its budget, which stands at 1,653 billion francs ($2.6 billion) for the fiscal year that started this month.

Some $276 million will go towards development - including health, nutrition, education and the environment - while the rest will go to economic and governance projects, the government said in a statement issued on Thursday.

Several international donors last year cut or held back aid to Rwanda over its alleged backing of rebels in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, a charge Kigali denies.

President Paul Kagame has won international praise for progress since the end of the 1994 genocide in his bid to transform Rwanda into a middle-income country by 2020.

But critics accuse him of being authoritarian and trampling on media and political freedoms.

(Reporting by Edmund Kagire; Editing by George Obulutsa and Kevin Liffey)

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE96P0N820130726?irpc=932

United Nations gives Rwanda $400 million to fight hunger and poverty

KIGALI | Fri Jul 26, 2013 10:08am EDT

• SHARE THIS ARTICLE

• Email
• Facebook
• Twitter

KIGALI (Reuters) - The United Nations has pledged $400 million over five years to help Rwanda reduce poverty, hunger and disease, the government said.

Rwanda relies on external funding, including aid, for about 40 percent of its budget, which stands at 1,653 billion francs ($2.6 billion) for the fiscal year that started this month.

Some $276 million will go towards development - including health, nutrition, education and the environment - while the rest will go to economic and governance projects, the government said in a statement issued on Thursday.

Several international donors last year cut or held back aid to Rwanda over its alleged backing of rebels in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, a charge Kigali denies.

President Paul Kagame has won international praise for progress since the end of the 1994 genocide in his bid to transform Rwanda into a middle-income country by 2020.

But critics accuse him of being authoritarian and trampling on media and political freedoms.

(Reporting by Edmund Kagire; Editing by George Obulutsa and Kevin Liffey)

Great Lakes Peace Comes When Wars Of Impunity Sponsored By Rwanda Are Ended And Punished | Black Star News

http://www.blackstarnews.com/global-politics/africa/great-lakes-peace-comes-when-wars-of-impunity-sponsored-by-rwanda-are-ended

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GREAT LAKES PEACE COMES WHEN WARS OF IMPUNITY SPONSORED BY RWANDA ARE ENDED AND PUNISHED

DR. NKIKO NSENGIMANAJULY 27,2013

^-A⁺A

0

Gen. Paul Kagame of Rwanda

[Africa: Op-Ed]

In a US Department of State Daily Press Briefing issued in Washington, D.C. on 23 July 2013, Spokesperson Jen Psaki stated that "we believe there is a credible body of evidence that supports the key findings of the Human Rights Watch report, including support by senior Rwandan officials to the M23 and of Rwandan military personnel in the D.R.C. We call upon Rwanda to immediately end any support to the M23, withdraw military personnel from eastern D.R.C., and follow through on its commitments under the framework."

Responding to a journalist's question inquiring whether Rwanda's failure to stop its support to the rebels in the Eastern DRC is attributable to the fact that the US Government has to date only issued lame appeals to Rwanda instead of signaling preparedness to apply the leverage necessary to ensure Rwanda's compliance, the spokesperson responded: "We will take that all into consideration."

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry this week chaired a meeting of the U.N. Security Council aimed at strengthening efforts to achieve peace in Central Africa's Great Lakes region. Commenting on this high-level Security Council session, Acting U.S. United Nations Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo said:

"The session will build on several events that have brought renewed energy to this effort…….Secretary-General Ban has accepted our invitation to brief, as has World Bank President [Jim] Kim. [U.N.]Special Envoy Mary Robinson and high-level representatives from the Democratic Republic of Congo.Uganda and the African Union have also been invited to brief the Council. Also a high-level representative of Rwanda has been invited to speak as a council member."

The people of the Great Lakes region had their eyes turned towards this U.N. Security Council session and expected candid discussions and unequivocal measures, including but not limited to the prosecution of Rwandan leadership at the International Criminal Court for organizing, arming, supporting, and directing insurgent groups responsible for past as well as on-going atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Rwandan Defense Forces have been fighting into the DRC directly and by proxy rebellions since 1996. The official pretext for the catastrophic suffering Rwanda's government has visited upon the people of Congo is the pursuit of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), whose units are scattered in various locations of the DRC. Millions of civilians have died as a result of Rwanda's never ending military invasions, interventions, occupations and plundering of precious minerals in the DRC.

In view of the undeniable fact that Rwanda's costly, 18 year campaign of waging war in the DRC has failed to destroy the armed rebel groups that are a pretext for its campaigns, it is timely that the international community consider new strategies for ensuring peace in Rwanda and the region.

Some African leaders have recognized and expressed grave concerns over the stalemate towards achieving peace in the Great Lakes region. On 17 June 2013, the extraordinary summit of the Heads of State and Governments of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) held in Maputo (Mozambique) urged Rwanda and Uganda to consider peace talks with the armed opposition groups that their governments are fighting as the path to lasting peace in the Great Lakes region. During the last African Union Summit, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete advised Rwanda in particular to have peace talks with its opposition.

We encourage the UN Security Council, the US government, the European Union and other key partners of Rwandan President Paul Kagame to use the full leverage of their relationship with Rwanda to influence Rwanda to withdraw from the DRC territory, to stop support for armed groups fighting the government of the sister state and to instead adopt sound policies that promote domestic, regional and international peace. We call upon the international community to support direct talks between the government of Rwanda and its internal and external oppositions under international facilitation.

We reiterate that there can and will be no lasting solution to the acute problems that Rwanda and the Great Lakes region face as a direct result of crucial issues of governance in Rwanda that continue to be ignored. These issues include lack of political space and extreme violations of fundamental rights.

We particularly call to the attention of the international community the plight of political prisoners i.e. Madame Victoire Ingabire (Chairperson FDU-INKINGI), Bernard Ntaganda (Founding President PS Imberakuri), Deogratias Mushayidi (PDP Imanzi), Dr. Theoneste Niyitegeka (Presidential candidate in 2003), and Sylvain Sibomana (FDU-INKINGI interim Secretary General), whose incarceration reflects the regime's absolute intolerance for the Rwandan people's legitimate aspirations for democracy.

We urge the international community to address continuing impunity in Rwanda and to hold the Government of Rwanda accountable for past war crimes and crimes against humanity, as well as on-going disappearances and extra-judicial killings assassinations of political figures, journalists and human rights defenders.

There will be no end to impunity or prospect for peace and stability in Rwanda and the Great Lakes region until there are credible steps towards ensuring international prosecution of President Paul Kagame and warlords operating under his direction and control to commit atrocities on the DRC territory.

Dr. Nkiko Nsengimana is Coordinator of the Rwanda political party, FDU-Inkingi 

 

 

 

TAGS: 

GREAT LAKES REGION

PAUL KAGAME

JOHN KERRY

WARS OF IMPUNITY

US TELLS RWANDA TO STOP BACKING M23

- See more at: http://www.blackstarnews.com/global-politics/africa/great-lakes-peace-comes-when-wars-of-impunity-sponsored-by-rwanda-are-ended#sthash.H34irchq.lnc3TLU3.dpuf