By Aislinn Laing, Johannesburg 4:31PM BST 16 May 2011
[Since 1994, the world witnesses the horrifying reality : the Tutsi minority (14%) ethnic domination, the Tutsi minority ethnic rule, tyranny and corruption in Rwanda. The current government has been characterized by the total impunity of RPF criminals, the Tutsi economic monopoly, the Tutsi militaristic domination with an iron hand, and the brutal suppression of the rights of the majority of the Rwandan people (85% are Hutus), mass-arrests and mass-murder by the RPF criminal organization.
So long as justice and accountability for RPF past and current crimes are ignored and delayed, Peace and Stability will remain illusive and impossible in Rwanda=>ASIF]
Paul Kagame, the Rwandan leader and an avid tweeter, launched into a furious tirade on the social networking site after a British journalist labelled him “despotic and deluded”.
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| a “visionary leader” ! Said Tony Blair |
The 53-year-old former guerrilla commander spotted the tweet, by Ian Birrell, former deputy editor of The Independent, before responding over 14 posts heavy with exclamation marks which could be viewed by all of this 13,000 followers.
Mr Birrell had posted a link to a Financial Times interview with Mr Kagame, in which the president said that no one had the “moral right” to level accusations against him for human rights violations when the UN withdrew from Rwanda at the height of the 1994 genocide.
Mr Birrell commented that Mr Kagame was “despotic and deluded”, and used his Twitter name, increasing the chances of him seeing the post.
Within hours, the Rwandan president had responded, saying: “You give yourslf the right to abuse pple and judge them like you r the one to decide… and determine universally what s right or wrong and what shd be believed or not!!! Wrong u r… u have no such right.”
He added: “You have no basis for your comments and you dont kno what you r talking about me or Rw. I will only hold all that in contempt!
Ask Rwandans they will tell u I am not what u call me and I am sure they r not what you think they are…!
“In Rw.we hold ourselves and each accountable indeed to a high level and even deal with criticism honestly,openly and fairly..!” Mr Birrell responded by asking “why you think media, UN and human rights groups have no right to criticise you?” adding: “I know of people living in fear of their lives for daring to criticise you. And with good reason…”
He later wrote: “It is great (Kagame) engaging with a critic like me on Twitter. Just shame he doesn’t allow such debate in Rwanda with his own people.”
Mr Kagame, an ethnic Tutsi, came to power at the head of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, a force which seized control of Rwanda putting an end to a genocide which killed an estimated 800,000 people.
He was once described by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair as a “visionary leader and a great friend”.
But in recent years he has faced growing accusations about iron-fisted control and the silencing of opposition politicians and media outlets with arrests and attacks in the run up to last August’s president election.
In the absence of any opposition, Mr Kagame was re-elected with 93 per cent of the vote. The White House criticised him for suppressing of political activity and made clear that it did not regard Rwanda as democratic.
In October, the United Nations published a 550-page report which detailed the mass rape and torture of Hutu civilians after Mr Kagame’s Tutsi army chased Hutus fleeing 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.
African SurViVors International (ASI) is an international nonpartisan charity organization devoted to defending human rights. It’s an organization working to promote democracy and national reconciliation, inside countries of the African Great lakes Region.
ASI centers its work on the twin concepts of freedom of self-determination and freedom from tyranny. These ideals include the belief that all human beings have the rights to speak freely, to associate with those of like mind, and to leave and enter their countries. Individuals in a free society must be accorded equal treatment and due process under law, and must have the opportunity to participate in the governments of their countries;
ASI’s ideals likewise find expression in the conviction that all human beings have the right to be free from arbitrary detainment or exile and from interference and coercion in matters of conscience. ASI does not support nor condone violence.
The Truth can be buried and stomped into the ground where none can see, yet eventually it will, like a seed, break through the surface once again far more potent than ever, and Nothing can stop it. Truth can be suppressed for a “time”, yet It cannot be destroyed. ==> Wolverine
