Fw: *DHR* Forget Gaddafi. Blair's NEW best friend is a despot guilty of even bloodier slaughter

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1363166/Forget-Gaddafi-Blairs-NEW-best-friend-despot-guilty-bloodier-slaughter.html#ixzz1IahWVDD0 Forget Gaddafi. Blair's NEW best friend is a despot guilty of even bloodier slaughter Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1363166/Forget-Gaddafi-Blairs-NEW-best-friend-despot-guilty-bloodier-slaughter.html#ixzz1Fn7AnVms By Paul Scott Last updated at 12:49 AM on 5th March 2011 One morning a month ago, amid the kind of hearty backslapping and synthetic bonhomie at which he is so adept, Tony Blair played host to a select group of bankers for what is known in the business as a 'billion dollar breakfast'. As is so often the case these days, the principal criterion for gaining admission to the event at a luxurious Swiss hotel — and some much sought-after 'face time' with the great man himself — was that you should be very seriously rich. Mr Blair, tight-grinned and tanned in a trademark open-necked white shirt and dark suit teamed, oddly, with a pair of Australian riding boots, was in his element, holding court as red-waistcoated staff poured Buck's Fizz and coffee for the invited international money men. Scene of horror: The skulls of victims of the Rwandan massacres At the former Prime Minister's side throughout was a rake-thin and bespectacled black man whom Blair was conspicuously keen to introduce to the assembled movers and shakers. Not surprising, perhaps, given that the event — at which Mr Blair was officially the chairman — was arranged in sole honour of Paul Kagame, the president of the African state of Rwanda. And this being Mr Blair, the subject on his lips throughout the stylish meeting, held during the World Economic Forum in Davos, was cold, hard cash. Or, more to the point, how much he could persuade the super-rich investment bankers to plough into businesses in his close friend Mr Kagame's emerging economy. It is a task to which Mr Blair is devoting much of his time. Both he and his wife Cherie are regular guests of Kagame, flying in on a fabulously luxurious private jet (of which more later) and staying in a smart suite at the Rwandan capital Kigali's finest lodgings, the Serena Hotel. Their relationship, it has to be said, is something of a love-in. Mr Blair describes Kagame, a former rebel soldier in the once war-torn country, as a 'visionary leader' and 'great friend'. For his part, the grateful Kagame has called on his people to name their children after his new English chum. Meanwhile, Mrs Blair recently paid a misty-eyed tribute to his regime's promotion of the rights of women. Which, one imagines, must have put an ironic smile on the face of one of Rwanda's leading female journalists, Agnes Nkusi Uwimana, now languishing in Kigali's grim Central Prison. Last month, the newspaper editor began a 17-year sentence for publishing critical articles in the run-up to the country's blatantly fixed presidential elections last August that saw Kagame — the country's leader since 2000 — returned to office with a 93 per cent majority. Friends: Tony Blair greets Rwandan President Paul Kagame inside No 10 in December 2006 while he was still Prime Minister Another writer on her paper was jailed for seven years. Meanwhile, their paper was summarily closed down by presidential order. Indeed, the increasingly dictatorial Kagame has now closed down all the independent media outlets the country once had. No wonder Amnesty International has condemned the jailing, while the White House recently attacked Kagame's growing political suppression. Even so, Miss Uwimana and her journalist colleague can count themselves lucky. Others have suffered much worse fates. The sham elections, at which 53-year-old father-of-four Kagame banned the two major opposition parties from standing and stood against three members of his own ruling coalition, were marred by the mysterious deaths of some of his political opponents and critics. In June, the acting editor of another newspaper was shot in the face and killed. The journalist, Jean-Leonard Rugambage, was silenced because he exposed corruption involving Kagame and claimed he had uncovered the government's involvement in the attempted murder of a former Rwandan army general exiled in South Africa. Worse was to come. A month later, the vice-president of the country's Democratic Green Party, which had been due to stand against the president's Rwandan Patriotic Front ruling party, went missing before his almost decapitated body was discovered. Kagame's government denied any involvement. In October, the woman leader of the central African country's most prominent opposition party, FDU-Inkingi, was jailed under new defamation laws brought in by Kagame to stifle opposition. Then, two months ago, four exiled political rivals who used to be part of Kagame's inner circle, but now accuse him of corruption, were jailed by a court for up to 24 years in their absence. Which makes Mr Blair's congratulatory letter to Kagame, hailing his 'popular mandate' after the vote, seem a bit of a sick joke. Blair's robust backing for his latest dodgy friend bears striking similarities to his long-time support of Libya's Colonel Gaddafi, to whom he shamelessly cosied up during his time as PM, and to whom he has remained close ever since. Presidents Robert Mugabe, centre of Zimbabwe and Paul Kagame, right, at an African Union summit in 2007 But could Kagame prove to be even more of an ill-advised friend? Damning evidence is beginning to emerge that he ordered the systematic genocide of tens of thousands of rival Hutu civilians in revenge for the massacre of up to 800,000 of his Tutsi people in three months of bloodshed in 1994. In October, the United Nations published a damning 550-page report which detailed the mass rape and torture of Hutu civilians after the Tutsi army, led by Kagame, chased fleeing Hutus into the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. Witnesses to the atrocities claim there were ritual beheadings, while women and children were set alight, bludgeoned with hammers and shot. The UN has said that Kagame may face trial for war crimes. Even so, Blair remains defiantly behind the increasingly despotic leader. Two months ago he launched a passionate defence of him, saying: 'I am a believer in and a supporter of Paul Kagame.' At the same time, he is said to have rolled his eyes when a Washington-based journalist questioned him about the scathing UN report into the Rwandan regime. Blair has installed a team of handpicked advisers from his personal charity, the African Governance Initiative — which he set up in 2008 to assist three African countries — at the very heart of the corrupt president's administration. Massacre: A Rwandan soldier looks at hundreds of skulls displayed at the Bisesero memorial in the west of the country The young team of between eight and ten aides, led by a Yale graduate, have taken up key roles in the President's personal office, working for the country's prime minister, in the cabinet office and on the Rwanda Development Board. Which does rather invite the question — just what is in all this for Blair himself? Well, as is so often the case with the former Labour leader, the line between charity and personal aggrandisement is often more than a little hazy. Take, for example, those flights Blair has made into Rwanda on a sumptuous private jet. The plane is one of two blue-and-white Bombardier BD-700 Global Express jets — costing  £30 million each — owned by the ruler of a country where 60 per cent of the people live in poverty. In a bid to cover up the millions he has splurged on the aircraft, Kagame's government set up a private investment company, registered in South Africa, as a front. However, official records reveal that all the directors of the company, founded in May 2008, work for the president. Just to make the whole thing even more fishy, the planes, whose registrations are ZS-ESA and ZS-XRS, are piloted by South Africa crews and operated by a private jet company based at Lanseria airport near Johannesburg. Blair, who has amassed an estimated £50 million fortune since leaving Downing Street in June 2007, is said to have made at least three flights across three continents in one of the planes. Friends: Blair with Gaddafi at his desert base outside Tropoli while he was Prime Minister in 2007 As long ago as 2009, he was spotted using one of the jets to attend meetings in Israel, Zurich and Abu Dhabi, before being flown into Kigali for a meeting with President Kagame. At the time, Blair had personally corralled a group of European investment bankers in a bid to persuade them to speculate in Rwanda's emerging IT and bio-fuels industries. Quite what Blair was doing accepting the flights, which would have cost in excess of £500,000 if he were paying himself, is anyone's guess. His trips to Israel can be explained by his duties as the West's unpaid Middle East peace envoy. But his regular trips to Switzerland and Abu Dhabi are usually about further lining the pockets of his well-cut trousers. For three years, Blair has acted as £500,000-a-year adviser on 'development and trends in the international political environment' for Swiss insurer Zurich. Meanwhile, he is often required to fly to Abu Dhabi in his £1 million-a-year capacity as consultant to the United Arab Emirates' super-rich sovereign wealth fund Mubadala. None of which sounds exactly charitable. Kagame casts his vote at a polling station in elections last year And there is also further reason to suspect the lines between Blair's twin roles as money-maker and the new self-appointed saviour of Africa are being stretched to something approaching breaking point. Last August, Blair, who pumped millions of pounds of aid into Rwanda during his time as PM, published a lengthy self-congratulatory article about his African charity work — which involves him helping to secure investment — on his personal website. As one of many such glowing tributes to himself, it was, understandably, barely noticed at the time. But hidden away in a question and answer session is a fascinating admission about the structure of his charity, the Africa Governance Initiative. Describing how the charity works in Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Liberia, Mr Blair stressed first that he deals directly with each country's leader. Then he added: 'The second thing is that AGI then hire a team of young people to come and live in the country — from JP Morgan, or they may have been in Downing Street or in the American system.' Seasoned Blair watchers will know, of course, that he is a senior adviser to JP Morgan, a major U.S. investment bank, which pays him a reported £2 million a year to brief it on 'the political and economic changes that globalisation brings'. No doubt his paymasters at the bank are grateful that Mr Blair is able to put its young executives in on the ground floor of the fast-expanding Rwandan economy. In recent months, Mr Blair has come in for flak over the 'opaque' nature of a complex network of companies set up to control his business interests, because they exploit a loophole that means he can keep his earnings from his business interests and his appearances on the international lecture circuit a secret. Figures from one of his charities, however, reveal the scope of his influence. Three months ago, a Sainsbury family charity, the Gatsby Foundation, declared it had paid £992,000 into Blair's Windrush charity. The money was, it said, for charitable projects in Rwanda. Meanwhile, The Gates Foundation, set up by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, says it paid £1.5 million to Windrush in 2008 for similar projects in Sierra Leone. Friends of the former Prime Minister defend him by saying he personally likes Kagame and believes his country's brutal recent history means allowances must be made for him. But one source close to Mr Blair told me this week: 'Tony's got a blind spot when it comes to this guy. He is surprisingly easily charmed, and Kagame has gone out of his way to be a very generous host with plane rides and things. 'But Tony's credibility has taken an absolute kicking over Gaddafi and, frankly, he can ill afford to get tied up with another dangerous nutcase.' Surely, even the discredited and morally dispossessed Mr Blair can see that getting into bed with one bloodthirsty tyrant is regrettable, but two starts to look downright careless. __._,_.___

UK foreign aid re-focused. But, this isn't enough!

It is good news that UK has now re-focused their foreign aid to poorer countries. UK must acknowledge the negative impacts of their foreign aid to developing countries: Over the last   decade, UK has campaigned for promoting the budget support which has contributed to fuel wars and ethnic violence in the African Great lakes Region starting from Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda to Democratic Republic of Congo. UK foreign aid has been used to buy weapons to fight these wars. UK does not recognise the political opposition voices based in the UK and in aid recipient countries. UK aid budget support is used to run foreign governments, the military apparatus and the Parliament whose members are not chosen on the basis of democratic principles. UK  has been campaigning for the  removal of foreign aid conditionalities and the current revolt and  un unrest in several countries is the result of this UK policy. Where the condition of human rights have been clearly specify in memorandums of cooperation between UK and  aid recipients,  UK deliberately ignore human rights abuses and continue to pump  money to governments that are expected to respect all terms and conditions of the foreign aid provided. This is the case in Rwanda. UK  foreign aid benefit local elite than the poorer in many countries  where the Head of the Government  is paid a salary and benefits  five time than the  UK Prime Minister. UK has been providing aid based on competition with other nations rather than on the basis of the real needs of aid recipients and the UK funding capabilities. More at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12599969

UN Mapping report on Crimes in D.R.Congo; Capitol Hill Advocacy objectives

UN Mapping report on Crimes in D.R.Congo; Capitol Hill Advocacy objectives

Posted on February 27, 2011

In an interview with Ann Garrison of KPFA radio on the upcoming congressional briefing on March 2, AFJN Policy Analyst, Bahati Jacques said: "Our goal is to rally U.S. support for justice for the crimes committed by the Rwandan, Ugandan, and Burundian armies and their Congolese collaborators in the war against Congo in 1996 to 2003.  Also we want the U.S. to take a clear stand on this issue, supporting the UN Mapping Report recommendations to set up an investigation to determine whether the targeted and massive killing of Congolese, Burundian, and Rwandan Hutu were a genocide." Listen or read the full interview here

(http://afjn.org/focus-campaigns/promote-peace-d-r-congo/71-policy-objectives/935-un-mapping-report-on-crimes-in-drcongo-capitol-hill-advocacy-objectives.html)

Prof. Peter Erlinder and Rwanda

http://afrobeatradio.net/2011/01/24/peter-erlinder-speaks-at-the-brecht-forum-friday-january-28-2011/

Prof. Peter Erlinder is past-President of the National Lawyers Guild from 1993 to 1997, President of ADAD (the UN-ICTR defense lawyers associations, Arusha, TZ), a founding member of the National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms and the Minnesota Bill of Rights Defense Coalition, established to defend the civil liberties of Muslims. After graduating from Chicago-Kent College of Law, Erlinder pioneered defense of Vietnam Veterans with PTSD facing the death penalty, and has represented many Native American, civil rights, Muslim and political activists facing misuse of government power, including Palestinian activist Dr. Sami al Arian and the Cuban-5.

In May 2010, he was imprisoned in Rwanda while defending Rwandan presidential candidate, Victoire Ingabire, and charged with "genocide denial" for having won the acquittal of his ICTR client on "genocide conspiracy" charges. Many groups, including the National Lawyers Guild, the American Bar Association, and members of the U.S. Senate and House called for his release, which was eventually won by an international grass-roots campaign.

After his release, Erlinder returned to the tenured faculty at William Mitchell College of Law, St. Paul, MN. He has also held faculty positions or lectured at the U. of Chicago Law School, IITChgo Kent., Golden Gate U.. Waseda U, Hitosubashi U., U of Wis.. U. of Ill., Columbia U., American U., and others. His articles and commentary have been published by U. of Pennsylvania, Boston College, Northwestern U., U. of Texas, U. of So. Cal., and others, as well as print and electronic media worldwide.

The presentation will draw on Erlinder's experience as a UN-ICTR defense lawyer and Rwandan prisoner to critically analyze the role of U.S. influence over international judicial bodies and the effects on the people of Central Africa, in particular. He will discuss how the ICTR has become a victor's tribunal serving U.S. policy interests, and will argue that the manipulation of international criminal tribunals, including the International Criminal Court have actually become an impediment to reconciliation between African peoples, international justice, and the long-term interests of the American people.

Rwanda: The Emperors have no clothes By: Jennifer Fierberg, MSW (http://africaglobalvillage.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=523%3Arwanda-the-emperors-have-no-clothes&catid=159%3Arwanda&Itemid=534&lang=en) The emperors stand naked in front of the word being exposed for crimes against humanity. But who are these emperors? In an article dated 5 January 2011 entitled, "US Firm gets contract to train Rwanda Soldiers," by the government-controlled Rwandan News Agency, it is stated that, "The US State Department has granted a multi-million dollar contract to Northrop Grumman Corporation, a leading global security company to train Rwandan soldiers in peacekeeping operations, the firm announced." In this capacity Northrop stated Tuesday that "the work to be performed involves peace support operations training, train-the-trainer courses for peacekeeping cadre and enhancing the capacity of all three countries (Rwanda, Kenya and Burundi) to participate in multinational peacekeeping operations." Yet it seems that Northrop Gruman and the US Government are falling into a trap by failing to recognize how Kagame manipulates international peacekeeping to entrench his absolute rule that is responsible for gross human rights abuses in Rwanda and the Great Lakes Region. In the latter part of 2010 the UN published its Mapping Report of the DRC. The statements in this report should have been published to the international community years ago. This report has come under much scrutiny by political leaders, journalists and members of society. Of all the serious atrocities documented by the mapping team, however, the allegation that Rwandan troops and their Congolese allies may have committed genocide against Hutu refugees has stirred up the most controversy, triggering yet another wave of damning press reports against the Rwandan government. This report was "leaked" and after decades of cataclysmic failures by the UN in the region it is hard to see how the international system of democratic relations will follow-through with these egregious violations against humanity. While the report was published with intentions of exposing injustices in the region and was conducted by credible reporting agencies by credible people, what has it done? There have been absolutely no changes from this report and it has all but been swept into silence under the rug of diplomatic relations based on ongoing intimidation and blackmail from President Kagame to the international community (notably Washington and London) due to their inaction based on the 1994 Genocide and Rwanda's contribution to peacekeeping operations in Darfur. The Harvard Law record stated in an article published in October 2010 that the 556-page report describes 617 acts of violence allegedly committed by the armed forces of seven countries and several militias in the DRC between 1993 and 2003. A draft that was leaked to the press on August 26 triggered a massive media storm and strong protests from the countries whose troops stood accused. In a phone interview with Dr. Theogene Rudasingwa regarding the UN Mapping Report he stated that "Kagame has been protected for too long." Dr. Rudasingwa further stated that, Kagame has exposed himself by going too far and thus forcing those closest to him to break their silence to his tyrannical regime." Dr. Rudasingwa is currently awaiting sentencing in Rwanda due on January 14, 2011. He is facing 35 years in a Rwandan prison after being tried in absentia over politically motivated trumped up charges including terrorism, ethnic divisionism and defaming President Kagame. This is a popular mode of operation for Kagame. He is quite well known for his power play of killing and jailing political opponents, forcing people into exile and hunting them there. He has done this time and again since he took power. Exiled Political leader, John V Karuranga, President of the Rwanda Peoples Party stated in his response to the report, "We have chilling reports of how Rwandan refugees in many parts of the world are being deliberately subjected to horrendous daily attacks by RPF external operatives. There are substantiated evidences of assassinations, kidnappings, mysterious disappearance and harassments by the Rwandan government officials both inside and outside Rwanda." Again, this fits with Kagame's destructive regimes, gross human rights abuses in Rwanda and The Democratic Republic of the Congo. So, which is the emperor who stands before us with no clothes? The answer is not as obvious as it seems. There has been too much preventable suffering in the Great Lakes Region. The international system does not seem to have interest in Africa in the area of conflict or Governments who rule in tyranny. The international community is more concerned with their investments in raw materials and for geo-strategic reasons. Time and again, "reputable" international organizations have put everything in place for the eruption of bloodshed and then turned around to claim legitimacy and capacity to deescalate the resulting cycle of violence, often downplaying their own role in further worsening the situation. It is time to recognize that no genuine progress in the quest for sustainable peace and justice in the Great Lakes Region of Africa will be achieved as long as international justice remains a one-way street. President Kagame continues to deny the media, civil society and political parties the freedom to function independently. His belligerent posture to neighboring countries is a source of regional and international destabilization. It is time for the International allies (US and UK) to make a choice. They can continue to support and fund Kagame while he uses the Darfur Peace Keeping mission as a bargaining tool to blackmail the US and UK into silence about his gross human rights abuses and absolute rule. Alternatively, Kagame's allies and the rest of the international community could support Rwandans in their search for freedom in a peaceful manner. The first path will inevitably lead to endless bloodshed and instability in Rwanda and the Great Lakes region. The latter is the only durable solution to freedom, security, and rule of law, democracy and prosperity. __._,_.___