Rwanda aims calculated slurs at Zuma
Mail & Guardian Online - 1 hour ago
Tensions remain high as a top adviser to Rwandan President Paul Kagame
derides the leadership of South Africa's "meddling" president.

The fight just got dirtier and the tone of the accusations shriller.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame's adviser has questioned the quality of
President Jacob Zuma's leadership, while Kigali's foreign minister has
accused South Africa of protecting "fugitives" and "terrorists".
Nevertheless, Pretoria appears willing to mend the deteriorating
relations.
Read: Editorial: Foreign policy needs leadership
Rwanda's Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo took to Twitter this week
to say that Pretoria has failed to address concerns Kigali has raised
about people she called "Rwandan fugitives" living in South Africa.
"Good diplomatic relations [will be] better served by South Africa
addressing illegal activities of protected Rwandan fugitives on their
soil," she said, in a clear indication that there is no love lost
between the two countries.
"Rwandan fugitives continue to engage in terrorist acts back home.
Despite repeated promises from Pretoria, the problem is unresolved."
Diplomatic sources close to Kigali have told the Mail & Guardian that
Rwanda raised its unhappiness with South Africa about exiled fugitives
plotting against it at least five times in writing but received no
support from Pretoria.
Negative dealings
In an opinion piece published in the New Times newspaper in Rwanda
this week, Joseph Rwatagare – Kagame's adviser – said under Zuma's
government South Africa dealt with the rest of Africa "in a largely
negative sense, to the extent that some see it as meddling [in other
countries' affairs] rather than providing leadership".
He also accused South Africa of providing "a home to people they know
plan and sponsor terrorist activities in another African country".
Rwatagare was reacting to the tit-for-tat diplomatic protests that
culminated in the expulsion of three Rwandan diplomats from South
Africa and six South African diplomats from Rwanda.
Pretoria accused the Rwandan diplomats of being behind incidents of
violence against exiled critics of Kagame's government earlier this
month.
Rwatagare said that, whereas recalling an ambassador was a diplomatic
display of anger and displeasure, expulsion was just "short of
severing relations".
Expulsions 'wrong'
Mushikiwabo said South Africa's expulsion of "law-abiding Rwandan
diplomats was simply wrong [and] Rwanda has every right to
reciprocate".
In what could be seen as a snub to Zuma, Rwatagare praised former
presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki for their roles on the
continent, saying the country has abdicated its leadership role under
Zuma.
"The leadership capital that Mandela and Mbeki built, and that a
strong economy guarantees, has been squandered. The result is that we
are increasingly witnessing unprincipled diplomatic quarrels that do
not serve the interests of ordinary South Africans."
A South African diplomatic source defended Zuma, saying he is acting
on Rwanda because he is "not a coward".
Opponents of Kagame in exile in South Africa and other countries have
accused the Rwandan president of having a hand in the deaths of
dissidents, but Kigali has vehemently denied any involvement.
'Baseless allegations'
Diplomatic sources close to Kigali said allegations against the
expelled diplomats were baseless and politically motivated.
Rwanda has been unhappy with South Africa granting asylum and giving
"special treatment" and "too much sympathy" to Kagame's former
security strategists-turned-critics.
South Africa is prepared to repair diplomatic relations with Rwanda,
but with a stern warning to Kagame that his government should stop
assassinating its exiled opponents.
Pretoria will also not reaccept the three diplomats from Kigali who
were expelled last week.
A raid by armed men last week on a safe house accommodating exiled
former Rwandan army chief General Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa sparked the
latest row.
Spy chief murder
But South Africa has been unhappy since the January murder of another
Kagame critic, former Rwandan spy chief Patrick Karegeya
, in a Johannesburg hotel.
A Burundian diplomat was also kicked out for "collaborating" with his
Rwandan counterparts.
Although Pretoria will not sever ties with Rwanda, Zuma is said to be
preparing to read the riot act to Kagame. He is expected to provide
intelligence evidence to show the alleged shady role of the expelled
Rwandan diplomats. "Zuma is extremely unhappy…and very angry," said a
diplomatic source.
Nyamwasa survived an assassination attempt in Johannesburg in 2010 and
blamed Kagame's agents for that attack.
He was not home when the house was raided last week.
Damage control
Talks aimed at damage control between South Africa and Rwanda have
already started and the
M&G can confirm that South Africa's ambassador to Kigali, George
Twala, has met with Rwanda's Mushikiwabo. And Zuma and Kagame are
expected to have at least a telephonic tête-à-tête.
In another development Burundi arrested its expelled diplomat when he
arrived in Bujumbura.
This arrest, say South African diplomatic sources, vindicates Pretoria
because "the Burundian intelligence had its own independent
information on this".
"The president of that country [Pierre Nkurunziza] called President
Zuma ... he is distancing himself from this," said a South African
diplomatic source.
Justice Minister Jeff Radebe – who heads South Africa's justice, crime
prevention and security cluster – told journalists on Wednesday that
the South African government wanted to send a "stern warning" to
anybody, anywhere in the world, that the country would not be used as
a springboard for illegal activities.
Full might of the law
"We are a constitutional democracy and any individual or groups of
people who abuse our human rights dispensation will face the full
might of the law," Radebe said.
But he added that, despite the expulsion of the envoys, diplomatic
relations between South Africa and Rwanda remained intact.
Kigali believes that Pretoria is not acting "like a friend" by
accommodating the government's opponents, who are accused back home of
seeking to topple Kagame's government.
It's not the first time tensions between South Africa and Rwanda have
threatened to derail diplomatic ties. In 2010, Pretoria recalled its
ambassador to Kigali, Dumisani Gwadiso, who was questioned by Rwandan
authorities on South Africa's handling of a failed assassination
attempt on Nyamwasa.
The breakdown in cordial relations between the two counties could have
important implications for future economic and trade relations. –
Additional reporting by Andisiwe Makinana
Mmanaledi Mataboge is senior politics reporter for the Mail & Guardian.
Read more from Mmanaledi Mataboge
Twitter: @MmanalediM
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