Urunana rw’Abaharanira Ubumwe na Demokarasi
Ralliement pour l’Unité et la Démocratie
Rally for Unity and Democracy
We are strongly of the opinion that the upcoming electoral process will neither be free nor fair therefore failing the basic and fundamental principles in a free and democratic society.
As it has been stated recently by several personalities including Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton in her speech before the Council on Foreign Relations and more recently at one of her african stops, ruling democratically shall not be limited to holding elections.
But it is important that a democratic system “also requires strong institutions like an independent judiciary, an independent and free press, the protection of minority rights …” We may also add that a democratic society shall foster a vibrant political opposition.
Based on these self-evident principles, the current rwandan regime is far from meeting any of these requirements. Although, above the surface, the rwandan government trumpets its achievements, a great majority of rwandans live in abject poverty and endemic famine. More importantly, they have been denied their basic fundamental human rights.
Hundreds of thousands of rwandan citizens are languishing without charges in squalid prisons for more than a decade while being denied due process. The justice system is rigged with incompetent and corrupt judiciary.
By administering unfair and inequitable trials, the so-called Gacaca courts have become more an instrument of repression, intimidation, and coercion than a tool to heal the rwandan society.
As per the current Constitution, all the political parties have to be members of the “Forum des Partis” that is managed and tightly controlled by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). Therefore, how can any candidate pretend to run for office when he/she has to report to the “Forum des Partis” that, in return, is supporting the RPF candidate?
It is fair to point out that there is no viable internal political opposition since any challenge to Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) and Paul Kagame’s rule has been met with fierce repression. If not killed or thrown in prison, the only other option opposition leaders or ordinary citizens
irrespective of their ethnicity have, consist of accepting the RPF hegemony or going into exile.
The right of lawful dissent has been systematically denied to rwandans; hence, anyone who dares to criticize Paul Kagame’s regime is quickly labeled as “genocidaire, negationist, and/or revisionist” . More recently, the regime has come up with an ingenious scheme to silence any person perceived as a threat: what it takes is to label the individual as “harboring a genocidaire ideology”.
Such labels are enough to have someone killed, disappear without a trace, or thrown in prison without any recourse.There is no viable free press, since any journalist who challenges the official doctrine or unearths corruption practices of the regime cronies is thrown in prison or elects to go into exile.
Recent accounts of Rwandans who fled their homeland are very reveling. The entire economy is in hands of occult operators that are linked one way or another to the RPF or to the Akazu of Kagame’s cronies who control, manage, and allocate the meager country resources while pillaging resources of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
No one should be above the law. From its inception, our organization has consistently advocated that all Hutus, Tutsis, and Twas criminals, irrespective of their ethnic background and/or political affiliation should be persecuted for their deeds. However, it is apparent that to date, the current justice system has been mainly set up to settle scores with the Hutu population.
Our organizations would like to remind that no later than February 6, 2008, Fernando Andeu, a Spanish judge, has indicted forty (40) rwandan army officers on several counts of genocide, human rights violations, and terrorism.
The judge decision was based on detailed accounts of eyewitnesses and was carefully made after several years of painstaking investigation that resulted in unearthing damning evidence that incriminated Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, and his senior Rwandan military leadership.
These indictments indicate clearly that Paul Kagame and his cronies were engaged willfully and knowingly in committing horrible crimes against Rwandans, Congolese, as well as foreign nationals. In any other jurisdiction, any person indicted on such grave accounts would not be allowed to run for office.
The executive interference in the functioning of the judiciary is blatant. Recently, in the north of the country, a person was recently stripped of his properties that were given to an individual who returned from exile. This decision was made by a local administrative council controlled by the RPF that overruled previous court decisions.
Shockingly, these repetitive judiciary decisions were all in favor of the defendant. Such executive intrusion indicates clearly that no matter what is done around the country, no decision can be made without the RPF, Paul Kagame and his cronies blessing.
There are indications that throughout the country, numerous citizen have been obligated to join and adhere to the RPF. Any one who refuses and/or hesitates may be subjected to imprisonment by the Gacaca courts, disappearance or assassination.
All Rwandan citizens irrespective of their ethnic backgrounds live constantly in fear and despair since coercion and intimidation are part of the “modus operandi” of the
Kagame’s regime.
Such strategy was advised to ensure the outcome of the next year polls as was the 2003 presidential election. However, the Kigali’s regime has to show to its supporters and the International Community a pluralistic slate of candidates in the upcoming process.
That’s why the regime has launched concerted efforts to lure several candidates even if the latter don’t stand any chances.
Since the upcoming election can not be qualified of free nor fair, the coalition RUD-Urunana and RPR will not take part in such distorted process that is aimed to legitimate an oppressive and anti-democratic regime.
In addition, our coalition does not and will not support any candidate who engages in such process. Our organizations will continue to call upon Rwandan people and the International Community to pressure the Rwandan Government to engage in a constructive Inter-Rwandan Dialogue with the opposition and the civil society.
Only this Dialogue will ensure the establishment of political institutions that are genuinely representative of the Rwandan society and will form the foundation of a transparent political transition.
Without such a Dialogue and whatever the outcome of these upcoming presidential elections, the rwandan political situation will not get better as long as the political opposition would be either be silenced and/or sidelined.
Since 1994, the world witnesses the horrifying Tutsi minority (14%) ethnic domination, the Tutsi minority ethnic rule, tyranny and corruption in Rwanda.
The current Tutsi-led government has been characterized by the total impunity of RPF criminals, the Tutsi economic monopoly, the Tutsi militaristic domination, and the brutal suppression of the rights of the majority (85% Hutus) of the Rwandan people by the RPF criminal organization.
10 September 2009
Augustin Dukuze, Ph.D.
Spokesperson
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
