"His picture is EVERYWHERE – on bumper-stickers, framed on the walls of offices and classrooms, printed on pins, t-shirts, mugs, etc"
"Yesterday Saturday, the police raided Mrs Victoire Ingabire residence following two FDU party reprentatives for Kicukiro and Nyarugenge. The policed searched these men and found 35 t-shirts with writings "We Want Democracy" and "We Want True Justice" in their vehicle. The Rwandan police arrested the Party Representatives as if wearing or carrying t-shirts with such words is an unlawful protest. "That same day Louise Mushikiwabo, Rwanda Foreign Minister, gets a free ride in Newsweek by Ryan Tracy, in that context Ann Garrison writes:
"Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza is being evicted from the second house she rented in Kigali City since January because both landlords have received death threats for renting to her." (Ann Garrison)A statement by the President of the Atlantic Council, Frederick Kempe at a meeting in Washington called "Democracy and Genocide Denial Politics" (which sole purpose was to legitimize the election rigging in Rwanda and at which obviously only representatives of the ruling RPF were invited to speak) explains why:
"There are those who seek to deny that a genocide ever happened in Rwanda. There are others who blame the present government for starting the genocide by acts of provocation and conspiracy. There are still others who believe that there was a double genocide in Rwanda. Denials of genocide did not begin in Rwanda. They have been a staple of a particular strain of thought in Europe for the last half century. "This statement is first of all an insult to Holocaust victims and survivors, while it uses their memory to cast suspicion of "genocide denail" on serious investigations (concerning RPF crimes in Congo, but also Michael Hourigan's investigation concerning the terrorist attack on the plane carrying the Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi in 1994) and rulings by the ICTR, indictments by judges in Spain and France, as Michael Hourigan, a former UN investigator and prosecutor at the ICTR briefly summarizes:
"There is overwhelming credible evidence suggesting prima facie that Paul Kagame and his armed forces were involved in slaughter of many thousands of civilians in Rwanda in 1994 and 1995. There is significant credible evidence on the public record linking President Kagame with the shooting down of the Rwandan presidential aircraft in 1994 killing the Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi and all others on board."Secondly, the meeting did not even leave room for the view summarized by Chi Mgbako, a clinical associate professor of law and director of the Walter Leitner International Human Rights Clinic at Fordham Law School in New York City:
"The Rwandan government uses charges of “genocidal ideology” and “ethnic divisionism” to attack independent critics and often seems more concerned with political survival than with lasting reconciliation, manipulating the memory of the genocide for political gain."I am sure the US political establishment, people like Ward Brehm, which has uncritically supported Paul Kagame's regime for 15 years, has a hard time waking up to reality these days. They feel guilt and shame because their emotional and shallow reaction to Rwanda's genocide has for so long obscured their sound judgement. I predict that some will never admit that they were at least partly wrong (no doubt, people like Frederick Kempe will continue to search for lame excuses), while others will follow the crowd and claim they "allways knew Paul Kagame was a shady character". It takes courage and political leadership to admit that serious mistakes were made (for example: looking away while ethnic cleansing by RPF troops took place in Congo) and that the respected gentleman from Texas, former Ambassador to Burundi and US Senator, Robert Krueger, was right all along when he wrote:
"I can tell you, I first met Paul Kagame in August of 1994. I went to his office. He was vice president then. I wrote down basically my impressions from then I said, as long as this man is the chief executive of the country, there will never be real democracy. "It takes courage at the State Department and the Pentagon to engage in serious selfreflection concerning it's support of RPF leadership during it's campaigns of massive slaughter. To this day it still remains a mystery, as Robert Krueger wrote in his book "From bloodshed to hope in Burundi":
"How U.S. military leaders had become so enamored of Paul Kagame I could not fully fathom....I was appalled that these skills had so successfully overshadowed his obvious preference for dictatorship over democracy, and his tolerance, or perhaps appetite, for vengeful ethnic slaugheter, yet he was invited to the United States to be feted at the Pentagon. In time, I was sure that the truth about the RPA would come out. But how many lives would be lost, how much suffering endured, how much fear and despair would be borne in the interim?"Considering the State Department recent involvement, through one of their policy planning staffers, in a one-sided simplistic propaganda campaign for Paul Kagame by Deborah Scranton at the Tribeca festival, I am honestly not optimistic.
"My job has not been to create an opposition, my job is to create the environment where legitimate things can happen."The ambiguity of this statement is intentional. The statement can be interpreted in a lot of ways and can mean a lot of things. We have seen this same strategy employed when he talked about "those leaving the country are like human waste" a couple of months ago. He made a statement in public that could mean that he intended to kill Kayumba Nyamwasa (and the former General's wife clearly understood it that way) but it could also mean something else. The third example where Paul Kagame talks in riddles is from the interview where Stephen Sackur grills him on the attack in april 1994 against the former Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi:
"Stephen Sackur: But you didn’t have a right to shoot down his plane and to assassinate himThe reason he uses these riddles is simple: Paul Kagame is speaking to two audiences at the same time. His friends in the UK and the US who want to portray him as a "beacon of hope for Africa", but also his own RPF.
President Paul Kagame: Well I had a right to fight for my rights!
Stephen Sackur: But do you believe you had a right to assassinate him?
President Paul Kagame: No, but first Habyarimana, having been on the other side that I was fighting, it was possible that he could easily die. Imagine if I had died myself in the same process? Would the same judge be asking about my death or who killed me?"
"Lokuta eyaka na ascenseur, kasi vérité eye na escailer mpe ekomi"Often quoted when Congolese speak of Paul Kagame's crimes and which can be translated as "Lies take the elevator, but truth takes the stairs".
"Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position.When you go to the website of the film "Earth made of glass" you get a quote by Tony Blair claiming it's a "truly inspirational film". In light of Tony Blair's strong and uncritical support of Paul Kagame this immediately makes alarm bells go off.
As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience. Propaganda often presents facts selectively (thus possibly lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or uses loaded messages to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the attitude toward the subject in the target audience to further a political agenda. Propaganda can be used as a form of political warfare.[1]
“Commit a crime and the earth is made of glass. Commit a crime and it seems as though a coat of snow fell on the ground, such as reveals in the woods the track of every partridge and fox and squirrel and mole. You cannot recall the spoken word. You cannot wipe out a foot track. You cannot draw up the ladder so as to leave no inlet or clue"The title thus refers to the main and monumental claim of the documentary which is: "the French government's hidden complicity in the genocide." As the Tribeca Review writes:
"Filmmaker Deborah Scranton's documentary prominently adopts the view of Kagame's 2008 report into what she calls "the French government's hidden complicity'' in the genocide. "Deborah Scranton claims:
The film "Earth Made Of Glass" grew out of a chance dinner conversation two years ago with Paul Kagame, who she said had "inspired within me and my whole crew an incredible vision of a path to peace that I think the world could take a lesson from.''Allthough the title implies that this documentary reveals French government's hidden complicity in Rwanda's genocide, this movie in reality perfectly fits the definition of propaganda. The release of the movie just months ahead of the Rwandan elections is obviously aiming to influence US public opinion concerning Rwandan's current Leader. It indeed portrays Paul Kagame as the hero and France as the villains.
The Association of Defense Lawyers have condemned the murder of International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda (ICTR) lawyer and University of Dar es Salaam Law Professor Jwani Mwaikusa, who was gunned down outside his home on July 14.
"The clandestine booking of top-end hotel rooms in Kampala has ignited a diplomatic row between Uganda and Libya ahead of the African Union summit, which begins next week.
The Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, has reportedly provoked outrage among Ugandan officials by instructing his mission in the country to book more than 3,000 of the capital’s most luxurious hotel rooms, leaving virtually no top-end accommodation for the remaining delegates, the Ugandan Observer reports."
"Tim, do you really think M7 is heartless and cunning and evil to set off the bombs? Why do you insinuate such a thing?"
"The United States will continue to stand with the people of #Uganda and #Somalia.The steadfast resolve demonstrated by #Uganda is the ultimate weapon against terrorists like al-Shabaab."#SecClinton spoke with President Museveni of #Uganda today, offering condolences and support following the terrorist attack in Kampala. "Too bad the US did not take much interest in the bombings in Kigali and Bujumbura when they happened. Terrorist acts that have had an important impact on the political debate in both countries but, as we see in the article by Timothy Kalyegira, potentially also in the whole region.
"The father Vallmajó "disappeared" in April 1994 in Byumba, apparently having witnessed the killing of 2,500 people (by the RPF) gathered in the stadium. Uzcudun Isidro was murdered in June 2000, who witnessed in his parish of Mugina that the RPF had killed 1325 people. Four Spanish Marist Brothers were killed in October 1996 in Zaire for demanding international intervention that would avoid the extermination of the refugees (by the RPF). Three Spanish Doctors of the World committed the imprudence of disseminating their discovery in January 1997 of a pit full of corpses and noted that the RPF carried out massacres of civilians in Ruhengeri. (and were subsequently assassinated) "Adolfo Esquivel ,Nobel Peace Prize winner, and president of the well-known christian human rights organisation Servicio Paz y Justicia in Buenos- Aires has written to Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero:
"I regret that the UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki Moon, does not have the wisdom and courage to avoid that an individual responsable for genocide, Paul Kagame, is honored by co-chairing with you the Committee on MDG's, to overcome hunger and poverty, the UN goals for making the world more just and humane. The contradiction here is enormous between words and deeds."Paul Kagame is expected to explain to the families of these nine murdered Spanish Citizens how it was necessary to "dismantle the camps in eastern DRC" as he did in an interview last week on "booker rising" a blog that has fallen for Paul Kagame's cheap propaganda.
"We are quite well aware of Alison Des Forges at HRW. The same holds true concerning the French judge (Anti-terrorism judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere report can be read here) who issued those most dubious charges. Also aware of the Spanish charges, again dubious. No one including me --or Paul Kagame--claims that the RPA was innocent of revenge killings in 1994 into 1998. The issue has always been a question of whether government policy supported such killings. From my perspective on the ground from 1994 into 1996 it did not (ColoredOpions: Paul Kagame's own statement below contradicts this). From the perspective of my successor Rick Orth and my 2nd Ambassador Robert Gribbin it did not. Like me Bob has writtten a book on his time there"(I would advise these two clowns to read the Bruguiere report and listen carefully to what Jacques Hogard ,a French officer of the paratroopers of the " Légion étrangère" in Rwanda in 1994, has to say in this interview and come back with something more substantial then their usual hyped insults)
"From October 1990 onward, a group (RPF) political-military structure (--) initiated a series of criminal activities (--) and once in the power "created and developed a criminal structure parallel to the State (--), which invaded the Democratic Republic of Congo" causing indiscriminate massacres and looting. "In 2008 Paul Kagame commented:
"If I could meet him (Fernando Andreu), I would tell him to go to hell,"(if Fernando Andreu would live in Rwanda that would have probably meant that he would be found dead the next week, ditched in a river, and we would read in the newspaper that he was robbed)
and
"All the people indicted were under my command. He should put all the responsibility on my shoulders and wait until I am out of the office"It would probably be much better for Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero to invite Paul Kagame August 10, after a firm EU declaration that it does not recognize the rigged Rwandan election process, and no longer considers Paul Kagame protected by his Presidential immunity. Then Paul Kagame could continue his discussion on MDG's in Madrid for a much longer period. He might even be spending time together with his long time friend Kayumba Nyamwasa.
"calculated that even factoring in the profits of the mineral wealth Rwanda pillaged from Congo, the war there would have put it $100 million (£70 million) into the red, had it not been for the cushion of foreign aid. "In may 2010 Timothy Reid wrote:
"Having spent quite a number of years on the front line of this conflict myself and having seen the different players in action, I think this is definitely the best account to come out. If anything, he (Gérard Prunier) is too soft on the Western countries who through cupidity, stupidity or self-interest, have pandered to Kagame and greatly helped to kill millions. I note that the biggest critic, Tom Odom, has published his own book where he essentially brags of how he helped furnish US assistance to the RPF, despite its obvious war crimes.I think Timothy Reid is making a very valuable and noteworthy observation concerning activism in relation to the great lakes region:
What’s even more pathetic is that, contrary to the claims of many activists, Kagame’s actions have not generally been in the interest of either the US or the UK, but the Hitlers, Stalins and Maos always had their admirers in the West…."
"contrary to the claims of many activists, Kagame's actions have not generally been in the interest of either the US or the UK"Many activists have, for example, focused on Rwanda's current President Paul Kagame's training at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, as proof of US planning and backing of the 1990 invasion of Rwanda by his RPF rebel army. Statements (from the Jean-Louis BRUGUIERE arrest warrents) by Major Tom Marley and Hermann Cohen, contradict this:
"American Major Tom MARLEY, supervisor of the "International Military Education
Training" (I.M.E.T.) programme which had benefited Uganda allegedly stated to Remigius
KINTU, director of the "Uganda Democratic Coalition" (U.D.C.) that Uganda had misled US.
personnel by proposing candidates for training who were not in fact Ugandan but Rwandan
Tutsis and members of the F.P.R.;"
"Mr Hermann COHEN, former deputy US Secretary of State for African affairs stated duringAllthough Congo's mineral resources have certainly played a role in the continuation of Congo's conflict, I am convinced, with Tim Reid, that the quality of the debate concerning the great lakes region would profit if we would focus more on the devastating role the Pentagon has played, through it's IMET training programs, in "stoking the flames".
his 7 July 1998 testimony before the French Parliamentary Commission that "the United
States gave no assistance to the F.P.R. Approximately one dozen officers who were members
of the F.P.R. followed training in the United States but it was within the framework of
military cooperation between the United States and Uganda";
“Rwanda’s electoral commission has certified only four candidates,” says Aimable Mugara, a Rwandan exile, writer, blogger and activist now living in Ottawa, Canada, who survived Rwanda’s 1994 massacres. “The candidates are Gen. Kagame and three of his political friends, who have never ever criticized the ruling party for anything. This means that the people of Rwanda have no choice whatsoever. No choice means no election."
"Certains milieux bien informés affirment qu’un budget de 15 millions de dollars vient d'être été alloué à l’opération UMUSAMBI « Grue couronnée ». Comprenne qui pourra ou plutôt qui voudra. Mais, Kayumba le sait. C'est pourquoi il veut se rendre en Espagne. Mais Kagame refuse. Un bras de fer entre L'Espagne, Kayumba et surtout Paul Kagame. Qui en sortira vainqueur? Qui des trois protagonistes risque-t-il d'attendre la semaine des quatre jeudis? A suivre!"Since two days we now know that France has added it's extradition request too, which sets the number of protagonists that wan't to reach "la semaine des quatre jeudis" (the impossible) at four in my view. It's premature to speculate on the outcome.
" The Kigali government accuses Kayumba of terrorism (linking him to the FDLR). In global comparison, Kayumba and Karegyeya are terrorists like Osama Bin Laden. It is the stated policy of the US government to find Bin Laden and, if he cannot be captured alive, kill him. Therefore, the government in Kigali would not need to deny or apologise for trying to kill a terrorist."Rwanda's government has consistently accused it's "ennemies" of links to the FDLR. For example: Robert Krueger (respected gentleman from Texas) and Paul Rusesabagina (Hotel Rwanda hero) have been accused in 2008 of sending arms to the FDLR by Rwanda's Ambassador to the US. Claims that have obviously not been substantiated since.
`For those who do not know much about Rwanda's history of the last 40 years, it is the likes of Rusesabagina who brought Rwanda close to extinction --men/women who talk from both sides of their mouthes, political opportunists whose ambition comes before the lives of their countrypeople. Rusesabagina must be stopped.`
"Rwanda is a country that has enemies. That is not a secret - that are trying to discredit this country before elections, and to create trouble,"In the context of this transparent public relations effort of linking political opponents to the FDLR, a listed terrorist organisation, the regime in Kigali is consistently working on it's strategy to some day be able toclaim it had no "need to deny or apologise for trying to kill a terrorist"
"Rwanda should publish the names of FDLR fighters accused of violating human rights."Leadership is more then tactics and public relations. Leadership is grabbing a hand extended in reconciliation and listening carefully when humble advice is given, like that from the above mentioned respected gentleman from Illinois. If this election cycle in Rwanda was a test of "leadership", not just the tragic figure of Paul Kagame has failed, but especially his advisers. People like Louise Mushikiwabo and Michael Fairbanks.
“We pay no allegiance to the Ndamases. My father (Nkosi Ferguson Gwadiso) never paid allegiance to them until he died and we will never pay allegiance to the house of Ndamase, never"Gladstone Dumisani Gwadiso is probably no fan of the iconic Nelson Mandela Vukani shirts that are designed by Sonwabile Ndamase:
"Some insinuations emanating from official circles in South Africa and carried in the media appear to be pointing a finger at the Rwandan government,"
"I have summoned the South African ambassador (Gladstone Dumisani Gwadiso) on Tuesday to convey the concern of the Rwandan government over the way the investigation is carried out"
"Naturally, there is no truth to this. We find these insinuations very alarming,"Aimable Mugara, a Rwandan immigrant living in Canada, in his weekly letter to President Paul kagame in the run up to august "elections" comments on Louise Mushikiwabo's statements as follow:
"Your government’s spokesperson, Ms. Mushikiwabo has been admonishing anyone who dares think that your government could have been behind the killing of this journalist as well as the failed assassination of the General. Unfortunately, the list of people who have worked with you and ended up dead soon after there were any disagreements with you or perceived disagreement is extremely long. The following are just some of the names:
1. The Late Colonel Charles Ngoga
2. The Late Colonel Lizinde
3. The Late Colonel Augustin Cyiza
4. The Late Lt Col. Wilson Rutayisire (alias Shaban)
5. The Late Major Rachid Mugisha (alias Kyojo)
6. The Late Captain Serwanda
7. The Late Major Alex Ruzindana
8. The Late Major John Birasa
9. The Late Captain Eddy
10. The Late Captain S. Kavuma
11. The Late Captain David Sabuni
12. The Late Lieutenant Aloys Rupari
13. The Late Second Lieutenant Dan Ndaruhutse
14. The Late Lieutenant Karegeya
15. The Late Lieutenant Rwagasana
16. The Late Lieutenant Dan Twahirwa
17. The Late Lieutenant Fred Gatumbura
18. The Late Second Lieutenant Peter Sempa
19. The Late Lieutenant Jean-Claude Ruraza
20. The Late Sergeant Nyirumuringa
21. The Late Interior Minister Seth Sendashonga
22. The Late Bank CEO Pasteur Musabe
23. The Late Deputy Chief Justice Vincent Nsanzabaganwa
24. The Late Your former presidential advisor Assiel Kabera
25. The Late Parliamentarian Leonard Hitimana"
