Rwanda: Theogene Rudasingwa on the Anglican Church of Rwanda
Dr. Theogene Rudasingwa served as the Secretary General of Rwanda's
ruling party, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), as Ambassador of
Rwanda to the United States, and as President Paul Kagame's Director
of Cabinet (Chief of Staff). He has authored a book about Rwanda
called Healing A Nation: A Testimony: Waging And Winning A Peaceful
Revolution To Unite And Heal A Broken Rwanda. He defected when he
could not take the continual killing of Rwandans by Kagame. He has put
his life on the line and testified about Kagame and his role in
shooting down the plane of Pres. Habyarimana. He is a devout Roman
Catholic and calls what he is doing a confession of his guilt to God
and to Rwandans.
I spoke to Dr. Rudasingwa about the Anglican Church in Rwanda and
asked him how it relates to the oppressive Kagame regime. He told me
that after 1994, the goal of the RPF was to make the international
community feel guilty for what happened - the "you did nothing"
narrative. He said that Kagame has co-opted evangelical churches, such
as the Anglicans, as tools of his own corruption. He specifically
mentioned Bishops Rucyahana and Kolini and how they talk to
"unsuspecting Americans" with their narrative. He mentioned that
Kolini was the head of the National Commission for the Fight Against
HIV/AIDS and how Rucyahana is now the head of National Unity and
Reconciliation Commission (NURC), government positions that not just
anyone gets.
Rudasingwa told me that Bishop Kolini was "very pro Tutsi" and that we
(meaning Kagame's inner circle) considered him to be "one of us."
He says that the bishops could not operate without the RPFs'
permission and that the RPF likely decides on who is a bishop, where
they serve, etc. I asked Rudasingwa how to explain that Archbishop
Rwaje, a Hutu, is Archbishop. He said that Kagame allows these kinds
of things as PR moves, more or less. He said that some of the bishops
are good men who are afraid, but he went on to say that there is no
excuse for silence or neutrality in the face of the evil occurring in
Rwanda.

The testimony of this extremely high-ranking defector, taken with the
statements of former chief of staff to the Rwandan Minister of Justice
and Attorney General Gerald Gahima should be very troubling for PEAR
USA clergy and laity, as well as ACNA and GAFCON more broadly. Gahima
said:
The Anglican Church in Rwanda, one cannot even say it has been
compromised by the State, it has basically made itself an arm of the
State. It has…you remember what the, the role that the Catholic Church
had during the Colonial period and the time of the monarchy? How the
Catholic Church was very close to the State and how this continued
even during the post-independence period? The Anglican Church has
basically taken the role of the Catholic Church as being the chief
apologist of the RPF and that has taken away a lot of the credibility
that the Church should have and because of this the …I don't think the
Anglican Church would be a viable, a useful contributor to the process
of reconciliation in Rwanda because it has taken sides.
Evidence keeps piling up and all we hear is silence.
Photo: Bishop Rucyahana and General Caesar Kayizari, former Chief of
Staff of Rwanda Defence Forces
http://livingtext.blogspot.ca/2013/05/theogene-rudasingwa-on-anglican-church.html
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