There are more than 1000 Hutus rotting in Rwanda’s jails because of genocide. The west, led by former US President, Bill Clinton, and the former serpentine UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair, can never be outdone in singing praises to Paul Kagame for stopping the genocide. Two respected scholars from the University of Michigan, Prof. Christian Davenport and Professor Allan Stam investigated the genocide extensively and found that the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), Kagame’s killing machine cum political party, arrived in nearly 100% of the genocide spots long after the killing had stopped. Here is the worst part:
Kagame ordered the shooting down of President Juvenal Habryarimana’s plane. His motivation? To anger the Hutus who would start killing Tutsis, Kagame’s tribe, so that he would stage a crude power grab. What I am not sure of is whether or not Kagame foresaw the massive killing that ensued after his evil order. Kagame’s former inner circle officers, some of them from his Tutsi tribe have all confessed that he ordered the killing. The treatment that they have received for not accepting Kagame’s cruel antics will make one view Moammar Gaddaffi and Saddam Hussein as a saints. General Kayumba Nyamwasa,Kagame’s former Chief of the Army is in exile in South Africa where four attempts have been made on his life. These attempted assassinations have left him wounded. His opposition to Kagame’s invasion of theDemocratic Republic of Congo where the Rwandese army of mainly Tutsis butchered thousands of Hutu refugees cost him his lofty army slot. The useless United Nations has since declared the invasion genocide and in his trademark behavior, Kagame has denied it. Nyamwasa’s friend and Kagame’s former intelligence chief, Patrick Karegeya was not so lucky. Hired assassins lured him into a Johannesburg hotel in the name of discussing business and strangled him on the 1st of January 2014. The man was buried far away from his fatherland, a cemetery in South Africa. God Rest his sould in eternal peace. Another one, Dr. Thoegene Radasingwa, cannot dare step in Rwanda despite having served as Kagame’s Chief of Staff. He is now hiding in Washington, an unfortunate location since Democratic American Presidents, Bill Clinton and now Barack Obama are busy canoodling with Kagame even as he systematically kills opponents. Republican President George Bush, a great enemy of tyranny, did not like Kagame as much. Am sure he must have warned Kagame a couple of times.
Despite the Kinyarwanda title, the above investigative video by a BBC journalist is in English. It gives the largely ignored by true story of Kagame’s role in the genocide and how he has led Rwanda with an iron fist since he came to power.
Kagame’s murder machine, the RPF, shot and killed hundreds of thousands of Hutus in every area they toured after their pyrrhic victory during the genocide days. These Hutus are largely forgotten and no memorials are erected in Rwanda to commemorate Hutu genocide victims. Here is the worst part: According to Professor Stam, the Tutsis were less than or equal to 500,000 before the genocide. After the genocide, there were around 3000,000 of them. This means that 200,000 Tutsis died in the genocide. Official figures of the people killed during the genocide are at 1,000,000. Then common sense tells you that a whopping 800,000 Hutus were killed during the genocide. Hello Kagame and your minions…….before you open your ugly mouths and call me a genocide denier, I readily acknowledge that genocide happened in Rwanda. In fact, two.
Judge Carla Del Ponte who was overseeing the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was Kagame’s friend for the duration she was investigating the Hutus who killed Tutsis. This quickly changed when she pointed to evidence that Tutsis led by RPF killed Hutus and those too needed to be held accountable. Kagame dismissed her and with the help of the US and the UK, the judge’s term was never renewed. The hapless and hopeless Koffi Annan told her that it was all politics and that the US and the UK had refused to back her request to continue handling the case. The question is and will always be: what does the US and the UK gain by ignoring the reality that Kagame is a vicious dictator who needs to be investigated and indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity? Jim Lyons, the man hired to command the UN investigation into the shooting down of President Habyarimana’s plane came to the conclusion that RPF and Kagame indeed shot down the plane. This evidence was never accepted in Rwanda and once again, the US and the UK shunned it and kept on supplying Kagame with the money he needs to entrench himself. Colonel Luc Marchal, the chief of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda, has stated clearly that Kagame and RPF need to be held responsible for the killing of president Habyarimana, the genocide, and post-genocide repression of opposition. Will anyone listen?
Of all Kagame’s cruel acts, firing bombs and mortars to Hutu refugee camps in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and then having the women raped and killed systematically stands out. His defense? That these poor, malnourished, emaciated, and hopeless refugees whose only food was dead monkey meat and wild fruits were planning to invade Rwanda. The Rwandese people have been brainwashed to the point where Hutus whose family members were killed by the RPF stupidly confess that only Tutsis were killed in the genocide. Maybe it is not brainwashing. It would be utter fear. An opposition candidate in the 2013 election where Kagame won a sham election was jailed for 8 years for having genocide ideology when she asked why Hutu victims of the genocide are forgotten. Her name is Victorie Ingabire. Bernard Ntaganda, President of the Ideal Social Party, had met the same fate in 2011 when he got 4 years under vague and clearly primitive laws.
Here is why the Rwandese story matters: For stupid African presidents who are busy stealing, Rwanda is a ticking time bomb. The nearly 80% Hutu majority in the country will not be servile forever. They will revolt and this is coming. Kagame’s largely Tutsi government will come to an end one day and it will not be pretty. It will be another case of the AU sending peacekeepers who will arrive too late with too little to save too much. It won’t work. For the West, get ready to witness genocide. The Hutus are witnessing Kagame’s behavior and burning in their hearts quietly. The people who will suffer are the innocent citizens who will be butchered for crimes they have not committed. I hope they do not fight. It is not possible to bomb Hutus into smaller numbers. Kagame surely knows this has failed because he has tried it. I pray that the Hutus who are outraged by Kagame’s behavior never attack Tutsis because it is Kagame not all the Tutsis.
What can be done…..
Kagame can choose the high road-he can choose not to confess his sins before humanity but do so before his God. He can then transform his government and reach out, genuinely reach out to Hutus, recognize the evidence that Hutus too died in the genocide, perhaps in larger numbers than Tutsis, build an all-inclusive government, accept those who question his rule, and stop arresting and killing them. Democracy is self correcting when practiced well. If Kagame decides to be democratic, the opponents will have nothing to oppose. And if they do, it will be a healthy debate. Kenya has tried it and hey, it is working. Really well so far.
The second solution is for the West and African leaders to pressure Kagame to realize the landmines he is planting all over his small country. He should stop doing so unless he wants all his people dead when he leaves the presidency.
The third option is based on Kagame’s future actions. If options one and two fail, it will be the duty of the West and African leaders, especially the democratic ones, to support Rwandese opposition, stop all support to Kagame, and undermine his leadership. Kagame’s government spending is 60% aid, meaning that if it is stopped, he will be nowhere in the political map. Such support should then be channeled to the opposition who must meet the condition of complying with all tenets of democratic governance as they prepare to take power.
The people of Rwanda are ready and willing to live together. In fact, they already are. Kagame, unknowingly, is jeopardizing this harmony by his dictatorial tendencies. When Victorie Ingabire is arrested and jailed for merely making a statement that Kagame does not like, it is the same as President Obama ordering for the arrest and jailing of the entire Fox News employees who badmouth him for a living. How does Obama get to live with Kagame’s behavior? But forget about Obama. He has done more harm to the world than good since his election. How do African leaders live with Kagame’s behavior? Why should the ICC pursue Uhuru Kenyatta, a man who can pass for a saint in comparison to Kagame? Why should the UK and other Western countries treat Mugabe so harshly when Kagame can send a hitman to kill Patrick Karegeya in S. Africa?
Professor Rawlings Otieno Omuga works with the Research Center of the African Union. Investigative story detailing Kagame’s Crimes
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