KIGALI, Rwanda — President Paul Kagame of Rwanda on Friday angrily condemned a decision by the United States to impose sanctions against his country for what Washington says is his government's support for rebels in theDemocratic Republic of Congo who recruit child soldiers.
Mr. Kagame said the American decision would only play into the hands of other rebels, remnants of Hutu extremists who carried out the 1994Rwandan genocide.
"It benefits those enemies of our country who seek to destroy what we are trying to build," Mr. Kagame said in a speech to Parliament.
The United Nations accuses Rwanda of backing the M23 rebel group in neighboring Congo, a charge Mr. Kagame has adamantly denied.
On Thursday, Washington said it was invoking the 2008 Child Soldiers Prevention Act to end American financial and military assistance to Rwanda.
Mr. Kagame's government, dominated by Tutsis, is accused of backing the M23 rebels as part of a proxy war against Hutu rebels in Congo and to seek influence in the country's mineral-rich eastern Kivu region.
A version of this article appears in print on October 5, 2013, on pageA7 of the New York edition with the headline: Rwanda Assails Sanctions by U.S..
KIGALI, Rwanda — President Paul Kagame of Rwanda on Friday angrily condemned a decision by the United States to impose sanctions against his country for what Washington says is his government's support for rebels in theDemocratic Republic of Congo who recruit child soldiers.
Mr. Kagame said the American decision would only play into the hands of other rebels, remnants of Hutu extremists who carried out the 1994Rwandan genocide.
"It benefits those enemies of our country who seek to destroy what we are trying to build," Mr. Kagame said in a speech to Parliament.
The United Nations accuses Rwanda of backing the M23 rebel group in neighboring Congo, a charge Mr. Kagame has adamantly denied.
On Thursday, Washington said it was invoking the 2008 Child Soldiers Prevention Act to end American financial and military assistance to Rwanda.
Mr. Kagame's government, dominated by Tutsis, is accused of backing the M23 rebels as part of a proxy war against Hutu rebels in Congo and to seek influence in the country's mineral-rich eastern Kivu region.
A version of this article appears in print on October 5, 2013, on pageA7 of the New York edition with the headline: Rwanda Assails Sanctions by U.S..
Selon l'ONU, plus de 11 000 enfants-soldats ont été démobilisés l'an dernier, mais des centaines de milliers d'autres restent à la merci de groupes armés. | AFP/JOSÉ CENDON
Le président rwandais Paul Kagame a dénoncé, vendredi 4 octobre à Kigali, les "injustes" sanctions américaines qui bénéficient aux "ennemis" du pays au nom de la lutte contre le recrutement d'enfants soldats.
Les Etats-Unis ont annoncé jeudi avoir sanctionné le Rwanda en raison de l'enrôlement d'enfants soldats par la rébellion du M23 en République démocratique du Congo (RDC), un mouvement que Kigali est accusé de soutenir. Kigali, en vertu de la loi américaine de 2008 sur la protection des enfants soldats, se voit ainsi privée d'aide militaire pour l'année budgétaire 2014.
Dans un discours devant le Parlement à l'occasion de la prestation de serment des nouveaux députés, le président Kagame a estimé que ces accusations et les sanctions bénéficient aux "ennemis de notre pays qui tentent de détruire ce que nous essayons de construire (...) aux gens qui jettent des grenades à Kigali et tuent nos enfants".
Il a dénoncé "ces meurtriers qui vivent en RDC (...) certains vivant en Afrique du Sud", en allusion aux dissidents en exil et aux rebelles des Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR) basées dans l'est de la RDC, frontalier du Rwanda et que Kigali rend responsable des attaques à la grenade sur son territoire.
"DISCRIMINATOIRE"
Par ailleurs, plusieurs anciens proches du président Kagame – dont l'ancien chef d'état-major Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa – ont fait défection sont réfugiés en Afrique du Sud. Kigali accuse les FLDR d'être formées d'anciens responsables du génocide de 1994 au Rwanda et de combattre aux côtés de l'armée congolaise dans l'est de la RDC.
"Je ne comprends pas pourquoi le Rwanda est traité de manière discriminatoire et avec autant d'injustice", a déploré le président Kagame en estimant que "le Rwanda est jugé et rendu responsable des erreurs des autres".
"Des accusations sont portées contre nous à propos d'enfants soldats en RDC, et la RDC n'est pas inquiétée, et à sa place c'est nous qui sommes visés", a-t-il dénoncé. "Nous n'allons pas être jugés sur le nombre de femmes que nous avons au Parlement (...), sur le nombre d'enfants qui vont à l'école... Cela ils ne le mentionnent qu'en passant, et ne font que nous accuser pour des enfants-soldats en RDC", a-t-il encore regretté.
RWANDA'S KAGAME WAS GREETED BY ANGRY TORONTO PROTEST
EMMANUEL HAKIZI...OCTOBER 04,2013
[Commentary by Emmanuel Hakizimana and Gallican Gasana]
Rwandan President Paul Kagame was greeted with protest in Toronto on Saturday, September 28, at an event he called "Rwanda Day 2013," during his recent North American tour that included Canada.
As soon as it was announced as an upcoming event, Canadians from the African Great Lakes Region petitioned the Canadian government to deny Kagame an entry visa, because of his crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide, which have been well documented by United Nations experts, as well as by major human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Global Witness. Native Canadians joined emigré Canadians from the African Great Lakes Region, especially those from Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and the Democratic Repubic of the Congo, in an intensive information campaign, and all the hotel managers who were approached with offers for hosting "Rwanda Day," featuring President Kagame, turned it down with polite regrets. The Rwandan President was eventually admitted into Canada, but he was met with one of the angriest Stop-Kagame protests yet.
"Rwanda Day 2013" organizers had decided to make do with a flea market warehouse at Downsview Park, outside Toronto. Throngs of demonstrators went there as well, and divided themselves into groups so as to be present at each of the many warehouse entrance points. Their sign boards featured victims of President Kagame's regime. Many of those images offered appalling glimpses of torture and of women being taken away to be gang-raped. Weeping Congolese protesters told stories of their mothers and sisters who had been gang-raped by M23 rebels, supported by Kagame's regime, which supplies soldiers, weapons, and ammunition to M23 and even commands it from Kigali. Protesting against such horrendous violence against women, three young members of the "Femen" movement of Québec, two young ladies and one young man, stripped themselves naked above the waist. Writings on their chests read: "Kagame Guilty of Rape."
The protest in Toronto came after many others during Rwandan President Paul Kagame's stays in North America, Europe, and Australia. This time though, and contrary to his usual pattern, Kagame did not hurl insults at his political opposition and at protesters while speaking to his supporters, many of whom had also travelled all the way from Kigali. He even went so far as to mention that "a framework to discuss issues is needed and nobody should oppose it."
Although it is still a timid overture, this change of tone was a surprise to many, and it is already being called "the Kikwete effect." In a side meeting, on the occasion of the 21st AU summit on May 26th in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania suggested that, for peace to come back to the African Great Lakes Region, the Rwandan and Ugandan presidents, whose troops and/or proxy militias have been in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 1996, should consider negotiating with the militias made up of their own citizens who have fled across their borders into Congo. At the time, the Kigali regime reacted fiercely and President Kagame even vowed to retaliate with an attempt against the life of President Kikwete. But actors in the long Congolese crisis take Kikwete's proposal that it's time for Kagame and Museveni to negotiate with their own people in Congo quite seriously.
Could it be that President Kagame is also finally coming to terms with the inescapable truth, that he cannot shun talks with his opposition forever? If so, it is a step towards peace in the African Great lakes Region.
RWANDA'S KAGAME WAS GREETED BY ANGRY TORONTO PROTEST
EMMANUEL HAKIZI...OCTOBER 04,2013
[Commentary by Emmanuel Hakizimana and Gallican Gasana]
Rwandan President Paul Kagame was greeted with protest in Toronto on Saturday, September 28, at an event he called "Rwanda Day 2013," during his recent North American tour that included Canada.
As soon as it was announced as an upcoming event, Canadians from the African Great Lakes Region petitioned the Canadian government to deny Kagame an entry visa, because of his crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide, which have been well documented by United Nations experts, as well as by major human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Global Witness. Native Canadians joined emigré Canadians from the African Great Lakes Region, especially those from Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and the Democratic Repubic of the Congo, in an intensive information campaign, and all the hotel managers who were approached with offers for hosting "Rwanda Day," featuring President Kagame, turned it down with polite regrets. The Rwandan President was eventually admitted into Canada, but he was met with one of the angriest Stop-Kagame protests yet.
"Rwanda Day 2013" organizers had decided to make do with a flea market warehouse at Downsview Park, outside Toronto. Throngs of demonstrators went there as well, and divided themselves into groups so as to be present at each of the many warehouse entrance points. Their sign boards featured victims of President Kagame's regime. Many of those images offered appalling glimpses of torture and of women being taken away to be gang-raped. Weeping Congolese protesters told stories of their mothers and sisters who had been gang-raped by M23 rebels, supported by Kagame's regime, which supplies soldiers, weapons, and ammunition to M23 and even commands it from Kigali. Protesting against such horrendous violence against women, three young members of the "Femen" movement of Québec, two young ladies and one young man, stripped themselves naked above the waist. Writings on their chests read: "Kagame Guilty of Rape."
The protest in Toronto came after many others during Rwandan President Paul Kagame's stays in North America, Europe, and Australia. This time though, and contrary to his usual pattern, Kagame did not hurl insults at his political opposition and at protesters while speaking to his supporters, many of whom had also travelled all the way from Kigali. He even went so far as to mention that "a framework to discuss issues is needed and nobody should oppose it."
Although it is still a timid overture, this change of tone was a surprise to many, and it is already being called "the Kikwete effect." In a side meeting, on the occasion of the 21st AU summit on May 26th in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania suggested that, for peace to come back to the African Great Lakes Region, the Rwandan and Ugandan presidents, whose troops and/or proxy militias have been in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 1996, should consider negotiating with the militias made up of their own citizens who have fled across their borders into Congo. At the time, the Kigali regime reacted fiercely and President Kagame even vowed to retaliate with an attempt against the life of President Kikwete. But actors in the long Congolese crisis take Kikwete's proposal that it's time for Kagame and Museveni to negotiate with their own people in Congo quite seriously.
Could it be that President Kagame is also finally coming to terms with the inescapable truth, that he cannot shun talks with his opposition forever? If so, it is a step towards peace in the African Great lakes Region.
-“The root cause of the Rwandan tragedy of 1994 is the long and past historical ethnic dominance of one minority ethnic group to the other majority ethnic group. Ignoring this reality is giving a black cheque for the Rwandan people’s future and deepening resentment, hostility and hatred between the two groups.”
-« Ce dont j’ai le plus peur, c’est des gens qui croient que, du jour au lendemain, on peut prendre une société, lui tordre le cou et en faire une autre ».
-“The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.”
-“I have loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore I die in exile.”
-“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”
