Press Release PP No. 02/Aug./09

In a speech before the Council on Foreign Relations and more recently atone of her african stops, Secretary Clinton reiterated that ruling democratically is not limited to holding elections. But she emphasized that a democratic system “also requires strong institutions like an independent judiciary, an independent and free press, the protection of minority rights …”Based on these self-evident principles, the current rwandan regime isfar from meeting any of these requirements.

Although, above the surface,the rwandan government trumpets its achievements, a great majority ofrwandans live in abject poverty and endemic famine. More importantly,they have been denied their basic fundamental human rights. Hundreds ofthousands of rwandan citizens have been languishing without charges insqualid 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 courtshave become more an instrument of repression, intimidation, and coercion than a tool to heal the rwandan society.

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 withoutany recourse.

There is no viable internal political opposition since anychallenge to Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) and Paul Kagame’s rule hasbeen met with fierce repression. If not killed or thrown into 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.

There is no viable free press, since any journalist who challenges theofficial 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 revealing.

The entire economyis in hands of occult operators that are linked one way or another tothe 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 organization would like to remind that nolater 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 ondetailed accounts of eyewitnesses and was carefully made after severalyears 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 clearlythat Paul Kagame and his cronies were engaged willfully and knowingly incommitting horrible crimes against Rwandans, Congolese, as well asforeign nationals.The Spanish case recalls the indictments of Jean-Louis Bruguière, Frenchanti-terrorist judge, whose investigation concluded on the active roleplayed by Paul Kagame and his closest advisors in shooting down the Rwandan presidential jet on April 6, 1994.

According to the French judge conclusions, such terrorist act was planned and conducted by operatives who received direct supervision and orders from Paul Kagame and his co-accused. That deliberate terrorist act resulted into the death of both Presidents of Rwanda Juvénal Habyarimana and of Burundi Cyprien Ntaryamira, their aides, and the French jet crew sparking one the mosthorrible tragedies the world has ever known.

The situation in Eastern Congo is dire for both the congolese populationas well as rwandan refugees who have found protection in DRC while mostof the International Community looked away. To find lasting solutions tothe overall problem of the rwandan refugees in the region, it is important that the root causes of the political instability beaddressed.

As our organization has always pointed out, the Rwandan problem is political in nature and requires political solutions.It is our firm conviction that as long as the underlying causes of therwandan political problem would not genuinely be addressed, the populations of the region will neither enjoy lasting peace norsustainable development and prosperity.

That is why our organization strongly calls and will continue to call for an Inter-Rwandan Dialogueto be held under the auspices of the International Community.

We remain convinced that only this Dialogue would lead to the establishment of new political and security institutions that would be the reflection of the legitimate aspirations of all the constitutive groups of the Rwandansociety.

It is only after such process that rwandans and their neighbors will utterly engage in forging common goals that would guarantee stability, peace, and development to all.

9 August 2009
Augustin Dukuze, Ph.D.
Spokesperson