Sweden stops aid to Rwanda after UN report
Sweden is suspending all aid for the government of Rwanda.
Sweden’s Aid Minister Gunilla Carlsson says that the aid for 2008 will be withheld.
This comes after a United Nations analysis that says Rwanda is supporting a rebel group operating in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.
The report says that the Congo rebel group, led by former Rwanda soldier Laurent Nkunda, receives material and military support from Rwanda’s government, something that the government has always denied.
And rebel leader Nkunda says that his group is just trying to protect Congo’s ethnic Tutsis from the same Hutu militia that carried out the genocide in Rwanda in 1994
Sweden’s Aid Minister Gunilla Carlsson says that the aid for 2008 will be withheld.
This comes after a United Nations analysis that says Rwanda is supporting a rebel group operating in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.
The report says that the Congo rebel group, led by former Rwanda soldier Laurent Nkunda, receives material and military support from Rwanda’s government, something that the government has always denied.
And rebel leader Nkunda says that his group is just trying to protect Congo’s ethnic Tutsis from the same Hutu militia that carried out the genocide in Rwanda in 1994
18-12-2008 – 05:26
The Swedish government said Wednesday it has withdrawn 80 million kronor ($10 million) in annual aid to the Rwandan government after a United Nations report concluded that the country is helping armed Tutsi rebels in Congo.
Sweden’s aid minister Gunilla Carlsson said her country takes the U.N. report “very seriously” and expects “constructive actions” from both Congo and Rwanda.The report prepared by five outside experts concluded Rwanda is helping ethnic Tutsi rebels fight the Congolese government and Congo is collaborating with ethnic Hutu rebels and other forces against Rwanda.
Sweden’s decision follows a similar move by the Netherlands last week. The Dutch overseas aid minister, Bert Koenders then said he was suspending aid to Rwanda’s government of around €3 million ($4.1 million) a year because of the report.
Kagame must stop butchering his own people and people from neighboring countries
Rwanda’s president Paul Kagame said the U.N. report was “baseless.”
Speaking to reporters in the country’s capital, Kigali he said Rwanda and its people will have to learn to become self-reliant because donors easily change their minds on how and when to give aid.
“Plan B is there in form of people of Rwanda … now they should be ready to survive under any circumstances,” said Kagame. “We need to work really hard.”
Kagame criticized donor countries, saying they upheld reports like the U.N.’s on the recent violence in eastern Congo when it was convenient for them.
“They withdraw their aid under the pretext of their taxpayers who would not keep on financing us with such allegations like that report,” he said.
Among other things, the U.N. report also said it found evidence that the armed groups being aided by Rwanda and Congo are using child soldiers, violating laws meant to protect women and children, and that the rebels on both sides make millions of dollars a year from illegal trade in minerals.
The Swedish government said it will continue sending humanitarian aid of about 60 million kronor ($7.5 million) a year to international aid organizations in Rwanda.
___
Associated Press Writers Mike Corder in The Hague and Felly Kimenyi in Kigali, Rwanda contributed to this report.
___
Associated Press Writers Mike Corder in The Hague and Felly Kimenyi in Kigali, Rwanda contributed to this report.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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
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
