Rusesabagina to International Community: Please Ignore Rwanda

http://www.prlog.org/12189355-rusesabagina-to-international-community-please-ignore-rwanda.html

Hotel Rwanda's Paul Rusesabagina asks the international community not to bother monitoring the upcoming Rwandan parliamentary elections as the decisions have already been made.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRLog (Press Release) - Aug. 7, 2013 -CHICAGO --  

Today Paul Rusesabagina, the President of the Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation, sent an open letter to international political and civil society leaders asking them not to bother with the upcoming Rwandan parliamentary elections. The letter follows. 

 

An Open Letter to the International Community: 

Please ignore Rwanda. Parliamentary elections are coming up in Rwanda this September, and the world should ignore them. You read this correctly. I am not asking for election monitors, nor intervention, nor even international observers. We already know how these elections will turn out, so why bother? The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) candidates will win an overwhelming majority, and the country will go on as it has since the genocide. 

In 1994, I tried desperately to get the world to pay attention to the atrocities that were being perpetrated in my beloved Rwanda. I saved as many people as I could directly and tried to use my voice to speak out to the international community and save others. At the Hotel des Milles Collines, we called desperately for help.  Using a secret fax line that the killers did not know about, we sent faxes day and night to Brussels, London, Washington, DC and to the United Nations, etc.  I was disturbing every NGO, every media outlet, every government official that I could contact. We were begging for someone to end the slaughter.

Today, Rwanda is a different country. The violence today is more hidden but even more insidious in my home country.  Much of the open violence has moved next door to the Congo where men, women, and children are raped and killed by Rwandan militias everyday. 

However, there is political repression and control. Dissent is not allowed in Rwanda, not in public speeches, in the press, or certainly not for political candidates. Individuals who speak the truth about this repression are intimidated, jailed or disappear. When two people stand and talk, suddenly a local defense force member shows up to listen and monitor the conversation. Rwanda is an open prison. 

Journalists are threatened, exiled or killed like Charles Ingabire.  Potential opposition politicians are prevented from registering their parties, threatened, harassed, jailed, and again killed like Andre Kagwa Rwisereka, the Green Party Vice President, when the opportunity presents itself. Green Control of dissent in my home country by President Paul Kagame and his RPF party is, unfortunately, nearly complete.  As President Kagame recently said in a speech, there is no political space in Rwanda, it is fully occupied - by him.  

When we talk about "democracy" in other countries, most in the West picture something like the system we enjoy here in the United States. Political candidates vying for elected office. Reasonably free and fair elections, where almost anyone can join the process. But in Rwanda, this does not exist. Rwanda is like the Soviet Union under Stalin, where one man and one party determine who gets elected, and the citizens have no choice. And as has happened in many other places where this situation occurs, the party in power wins the "election," and continues to rule for its own benefit. 

 We need to remember that the act of holding an election is NOT the only element in a democracy, it is one of many. Free speech, freedom to associate with others, free press, and freedom of political action are just some of the other things that are also essential, and none of these exist in Rwanda.

So this year, I choose not to join the chorus of people who will inevitably say that the Rwanda elections are corrupt and must be watched closely and monitored. This is not the real truth. The truth is, the Rwandan Constitution of 2007 is the corrupt document, set up by and for Paul Kagame and the RPF. And that constitution made everything that is happening today "legal." The RPF has institutionalized and legalized its complete control of Rwanda so that they do not need to steal votes at the ballot box, instead, they simply prevent other parties from getting on the ballot. When the system is rigged for those in power, they simply use the system to maintain their power – they don't have to "cheat" in ways that will be visible to others.

So today I take the radical step of asking you to not bother intervening in Rwanda.  There are upcoming Parliamentary elections in September. I say to you, the international community, please don't bother.  Don't call for transparency, don't send election monitors, don't bother looking at this Rwandan election. Please stay away. 

 If you want to help Rwanda, look deeper at the authoritarian government that gets away with these sham elections every cycle. Stop turning a blind eye to Kagame's iron-clad control of Rwandan society. Press his government to really open up and allow the full freedoms that are needed for democracy. Apply even more pressure to stop the illegal support of the war in the Congo, which supplies much of the resources needed to let Kagame and the RPF continue to run Rwanda.  

But please do not further legitimize the Rwandan government by pretending that these elections are anything but what they really are: a sham. Nothing more than political theater to prop up the party that supports the dictator.

Sincerely, 

Paul Rusesabagina 

Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation

--- End ---     Visit Press Room

Rusesabagina to International Community: Please Ignore Rwanda

http://www.prlog.org/12189355-rusesabagina-to-international-community-please-ignore-rwanda.html

Hotel Rwanda's Paul Rusesabagina asks the international community not to bother monitoring the upcoming Rwandan parliamentary elections as the decisions have already been made.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRLog (Press Release) - Aug. 7, 2013 -CHICAGO --  

Today Paul Rusesabagina, the President of the Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation, sent an open letter to international political and civil society leaders asking them not to bother with the upcoming Rwandan parliamentary elections. The letter follows. 

 

An Open Letter to the International Community: 

Please ignore Rwanda. Parliamentary elections are coming up in Rwanda this September, and the world should ignore them. You read this correctly. I am not asking for election monitors, nor intervention, nor even international observers. We already know how these elections will turn out, so why bother? The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) candidates will win an overwhelming majority, and the country will go on as it has since the genocide. 

In 1994, I tried desperately to get the world to pay attention to the atrocities that were being perpetrated in my beloved Rwanda. I saved as many people as I could directly and tried to use my voice to speak out to the international community and save others. At the Hotel des Milles Collines, we called desperately for help.  Using a secret fax line that the killers did not know about, we sent faxes day and night to Brussels, London, Washington, DC and to the United Nations, etc.  I was disturbing every NGO, every media outlet, every government official that I could contact. We were begging for someone to end the slaughter.

Today, Rwanda is a different country. The violence today is more hidden but even more insidious in my home country.  Much of the open violence has moved next door to the Congo where men, women, and children are raped and killed by Rwandan militias everyday. 

However, there is political repression and control. Dissent is not allowed in Rwanda, not in public speeches, in the press, or certainly not for political candidates. Individuals who speak the truth about this repression are intimidated, jailed or disappear. When two people stand and talk, suddenly a local defense force member shows up to listen and monitor the conversation. Rwanda is an open prison. 

Journalists are threatened, exiled or killed like Charles Ingabire.  Potential opposition politicians are prevented from registering their parties, threatened, harassed, jailed, and again killed like Andre Kagwa Rwisereka, the Green Party Vice President, when the opportunity presents itself. Green Control of dissent in my home country by President Paul Kagame and his RPF party is, unfortunately, nearly complete.  As President Kagame recently said in a speech, there is no political space in Rwanda, it is fully occupied - by him.  

When we talk about "democracy" in other countries, most in the West picture something like the system we enjoy here in the United States. Political candidates vying for elected office. Reasonably free and fair elections, where almost anyone can join the process. But in Rwanda, this does not exist. Rwanda is like the Soviet Union under Stalin, where one man and one party determine who gets elected, and the citizens have no choice. And as has happened in many other places where this situation occurs, the party in power wins the "election," and continues to rule for its own benefit. 

 We need to remember that the act of holding an election is NOT the only element in a democracy, it is one of many. Free speech, freedom to associate with others, free press, and freedom of political action are just some of the other things that are also essential, and none of these exist in Rwanda.

So this year, I choose not to join the chorus of people who will inevitably say that the Rwanda elections are corrupt and must be watched closely and monitored. This is not the real truth. The truth is, the Rwandan Constitution of 2007 is the corrupt document, set up by and for Paul Kagame and the RPF. And that constitution made everything that is happening today "legal." The RPF has institutionalized and legalized its complete control of Rwanda so that they do not need to steal votes at the ballot box, instead, they simply prevent other parties from getting on the ballot. When the system is rigged for those in power, they simply use the system to maintain their power – they don't have to "cheat" in ways that will be visible to others.

So today I take the radical step of asking you to not bother intervening in Rwanda.  There are upcoming Parliamentary elections in September. I say to you, the international community, please don't bother.  Don't call for transparency, don't send election monitors, don't bother looking at this Rwandan election. Please stay away. 

 If you want to help Rwanda, look deeper at the authoritarian government that gets away with these sham elections every cycle. Stop turning a blind eye to Kagame's iron-clad control of Rwandan society. Press his government to really open up and allow the full freedoms that are needed for democracy. Apply even more pressure to stop the illegal support of the war in the Congo, which supplies much of the resources needed to let Kagame and the RPF continue to run Rwanda.  

But please do not further legitimize the Rwandan government by pretending that these elections are anything but what they really are: a sham. Nothing more than political theater to prop up the party that supports the dictator.

Sincerely, 

Paul Rusesabagina 

Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation

--- End ---     Visit Press Room

http://www.inyenyerinews.org/afrika/the-untold-stories-going-by-andrew-mwendas-standards-of-rwandas-reconciliation-its-a-reflection-without-a-mirror/

Going by Andrew Mwenda's Standards of Rwanda's Reconciliation, It's a reflection without a Mirror.

August 6, 2013 by Rwema IT Webmaster 1 Comment

As usual Andrew Mwenda is in defense of the project of Kagame and His wife of indoctrination of the vulnerable Rwandan youth in the disguise of reconciliation.  Rwanda's intriguing experience in Andrews's article on Friday, 02 August Edition which is actually partly funded by the Rwandan Taxpayer is not only misleading but also wrong in substance and content.

Andrew says that every time he reads a book about Rwanda or experience as regular visitor to Rwanda while attending official and informal gatherings, or by travelling to the countryside and talking to ordinary citizens, he discovers how little he knows about the state and society of the Rwandan people.  Andrew should not mislead the readers of his article, he is not only a regular visitor but he is also  an employee of Kagame and RPF who is a regular recipient of the Rwandan Tax payers money to advertise and  market the RPF brand on the expense of the horrible atrocities the Kagame regime has committed against many Rwandans.

The Imbuto foundation he mentions in his story is a platform and a springboard for the Kagame family to source money from donors which is in turn used against many Rwandans who have different political views. If Andrew is honest why can't he talk about different people who have disappeared under the Kagame regime because they have another political perspective?  Has Andrew taken time to talk to the children of the former member Parliament Hitimana Leonard?  What about Col. Kiza Augustin who was murdered in the cold blood by the Kagame Security forces?  While he admits that it is difficult to capture in written words the emotional tone of that moment(project of intoxication), the meaning of it, and the fullness of it, he does not tell the readers of his article who is behind this project and the purpose. Why in the first place doesn't he condemn in the strongest terms a regime which tells its youth to go on their knees to beg for forgiveness of the sins of their ancestors?

Why can't he tell the Ugandan Leader to tell the Acholi and Langi youth to apologise for the sins of their ancestors during the post independence regimes in Uganda if he wants Rwandans to take his misguided analogy?  Indeed, has Andrew taken time to make a thorough research on how many likes of Nelly Mukazayire are working in other departments? Is he aware of the woman of Simon Bikindi convicted of genocide who was expelled from work by Barekana Eugene who at the time was working in the Ministry of Youth and Sport and she is now wandering in the wild with Simon Bikind's children?

As a regular visitor to the President's office he admits that he has been putting Nelly in the basket of ethnic division of the Tutsis because she is simply a good looking girl. What a shame to Mr Andrew who thinks in the physical deception which he thinks is the determinant of the Rwandan ethnicity. Andrew knows very well the project of his master that he is laying a foundation of political strategy come 2017 by appeasing by deception some Rwandans using the ethnic political card in the same way his predecessors used to dive and rule. As if the analogy of Mr Andrew is not misleading enough, he adds salt to an injury ""We judge people on the basis of their record and conduct," the lady from President's Office told Nelly, "not on the basis of their parent's conduct.  What a lie and a naked lie! Does he know what happened to the brother of Kayumba Nyamwasa the former Rwandan Army Commander Col. Rugigana Ngabo who is till rotting in jail because he just happens to be a brother to this man who fell apart with Kagame?

What about the family of  Col. Karegeya Patrick , Rugiro,  Frank Ntwari just to mention a few whose passports were cancelled by the Rwandan Immigration on the orders of Kagame? . Why can't Kagame give a decent job to the families of the founder of the RPF Gen. Fred Rwigema who did not only sacrifice his blood  but was very instrumental in bringing Kagame closer to President Museveni who single handedly imposed him to the  RPF political and   military  establishment after the death of late Fred. It is an open secret that Kagame and his political architects are in high gear planning for the next presidential elections known or unknown to the likes of Mwenda  and that's why all the people who are perceived to be an obstacle will be swept away to make the road passable for the political machination of the RPF.

Indeed, it hurts many Rwandans if people like Andrew keep misleading Rwandans and the international community that Rwanda is on the course of reconciliation using that yard stick of getting two people. The youth under the brain washed Bamporiki and Nelly, don't represent the majority thinking of Rwandans.  Indeed, Andrew should go to the people down in the village without the Kagame escorts, people will tell him how are hungry, they cannot take their children to school, University bursaries have been removed, good medication is hard despite the medical insurance scheme where people in this country are statistically classified not according to their income but according to the RPF planning of deception. Therefore Andrew should not be taken by greed but rather by professional ethics and integrity.

Jacqueline Umurungi

Brussels.

Filed Under: AFRIKA

http://www.inyenyerinews.org/afrika/the-untold-stories-going-by-andrew-mwendas-standards-of-rwandas-reconciliation-its-a-reflection-without-a-mirror/

Going by Andrew Mwenda's Standards of Rwanda's Reconciliation, It's a reflection without a Mirror.

August 6, 2013 by Rwema IT Webmaster 1 Comment

As usual Andrew Mwenda is in defense of the project of Kagame and His wife of indoctrination of the vulnerable Rwandan youth in the disguise of reconciliation.  Rwanda's intriguing experience in Andrews's article on Friday, 02 August Edition which is actually partly funded by the Rwandan Taxpayer is not only misleading but also wrong in substance and content.

Andrew says that every time he reads a book about Rwanda or experience as regular visitor to Rwanda while attending official and informal gatherings, or by travelling to the countryside and talking to ordinary citizens, he discovers how little he knows about the state and society of the Rwandan people.  Andrew should not mislead the readers of his article, he is not only a regular visitor but he is also  an employee of Kagame and RPF who is a regular recipient of the Rwandan Tax payers money to advertise and  market the RPF brand on the expense of the horrible atrocities the Kagame regime has committed against many Rwandans.

The Imbuto foundation he mentions in his story is a platform and a springboard for the Kagame family to source money from donors which is in turn used against many Rwandans who have different political views. If Andrew is honest why can't he talk about different people who have disappeared under the Kagame regime because they have another political perspective?  Has Andrew taken time to talk to the children of the former member Parliament Hitimana Leonard?  What about Col. Kiza Augustin who was murdered in the cold blood by the Kagame Security forces?  While he admits that it is difficult to capture in written words the emotional tone of that moment(project of intoxication), the meaning of it, and the fullness of it, he does not tell the readers of his article who is behind this project and the purpose. Why in the first place doesn't he condemn in the strongest terms a regime which tells its youth to go on their knees to beg for forgiveness of the sins of their ancestors?

Why can't he tell the Ugandan Leader to tell the Acholi and Langi youth to apologise for the sins of their ancestors during the post independence regimes in Uganda if he wants Rwandans to take his misguided analogy?  Indeed, has Andrew taken time to make a thorough research on how many likes of Nelly Mukazayire are working in other departments? Is he aware of the woman of Simon Bikindi convicted of genocide who was expelled from work by Barekana Eugene who at the time was working in the Ministry of Youth and Sport and she is now wandering in the wild with Simon Bikind's children?

As a regular visitor to the President's office he admits that he has been putting Nelly in the basket of ethnic division of the Tutsis because she is simply a good looking girl. What a shame to Mr Andrew who thinks in the physical deception which he thinks is the determinant of the Rwandan ethnicity. Andrew knows very well the project of his master that he is laying a foundation of political strategy come 2017 by appeasing by deception some Rwandans using the ethnic political card in the same way his predecessors used to dive and rule. As if the analogy of Mr Andrew is not misleading enough, he adds salt to an injury ""We judge people on the basis of their record and conduct," the lady from President's Office told Nelly, "not on the basis of their parent's conduct.  What a lie and a naked lie! Does he know what happened to the brother of Kayumba Nyamwasa the former Rwandan Army Commander Col. Rugigana Ngabo who is till rotting in jail because he just happens to be a brother to this man who fell apart with Kagame?

What about the family of  Col. Karegeya Patrick , Rugiro,  Frank Ntwari just to mention a few whose passports were cancelled by the Rwandan Immigration on the orders of Kagame? . Why can't Kagame give a decent job to the families of the founder of the RPF Gen. Fred Rwigema who did not only sacrifice his blood  but was very instrumental in bringing Kagame closer to President Museveni who single handedly imposed him to the  RPF political and   military  establishment after the death of late Fred. It is an open secret that Kagame and his political architects are in high gear planning for the next presidential elections known or unknown to the likes of Mwenda  and that's why all the people who are perceived to be an obstacle will be swept away to make the road passable for the political machination of the RPF.

Indeed, it hurts many Rwandans if people like Andrew keep misleading Rwandans and the international community that Rwanda is on the course of reconciliation using that yard stick of getting two people. The youth under the brain washed Bamporiki and Nelly, don't represent the majority thinking of Rwandans.  Indeed, Andrew should go to the people down in the village without the Kagame escorts, people will tell him how are hungry, they cannot take their children to school, University bursaries have been removed, good medication is hard despite the medical insurance scheme where people in this country are statistically classified not according to their income but according to the RPF planning of deception. Therefore Andrew should not be taken by greed but rather by professional ethics and integrity.

Jacqueline Umurungi

Brussels.

Filed Under: AFRIKA

Rwanda: Igifaransa cyongeye gusubizwa mu bizamini bya leta mu mashuri yisumbuye

http://www.igihe.com/amakuru/muri-afurika/u-rwanda/article/igifaransa-cyongeye-gusubizwa-mu

Igifaransa cyongeye gusubizwa mu bizamini bya leta mu mashuri yisumbuye

Yanditswe kuya 7-08-2013 - Saa 08:53' na Deus Ntakirutimana

Guhera mu mwaka wa 2016 ururimi rw'Igifaransa ruzasubira mu masomo akorwa mu bizamini bya Leta bisoza icyiciro cya mbere cy'amashuri yisumbuye mu Rwanda.

Nk'uko Ikigo cy'igihugu gishinzwe uburezi (REB) kibitangaza ngo ikizamini kizatangira gukorwa mu mwaka wa 2016 ku buryo abazagikora bagomba kwitegura umwaka utaha nk"uko tubikesha The New Times.

Iki kizamini cy'igifaransa cyahagaritswe gukorwa mu bizamini bya Leta mu mwaka wa 2010 ubwo mu mashuri yose yo mu Rwanda ururimi rwigishwagamo rwabaye Icyongereza gisimbuye Igifaransa.

Nyuma y'aho kivanywe mu bizamini bigombaga gukorwa, abanyeshuri ntibacyitaho kuko batazakibazwa.

Dr Joyce Musabe, umuyobozi ushinzwe gahunda z'imyigishirize muri REB yatangaje ko uyu mwanzuro wafashwe nyuma y'uko bigaragaye ko abanyeshuri batacyita kuri urwo rurimi kuko batarubazwa mu bizamini bya Leta.

Yagize ati"Igifaransa ni ururimi mpuzamahanga ntiturwigishiriza abanyeshuri ngo bazarubazwemo ahubwo ngo barugiremo ubumenyi , ntitwabareka ngo bagitere umugongo kandi gifite akamaro."

Igifaransa cyagiraga amasaha agera kuri atandatu mu cyumweru mbere y'uko Icyongereza cyiba ari cyo kigishwamo ariko ubu abanyeshuri bakiga amasaha abiri gusa nk'uko biteganywa.