By Prof. Peter Erlinder
Global Research,
February 2, 2009
On January 24, Rwandan President Paul Kagame sent 4,000 troops into the Congo to arrest rebel “tutsi”-warlord, Laurent Nkunda, and wipe-out the remaining “hutu-genocidaires” lurking in the eastern Congo . As the New York Times reported in early December 2008, Nkunda is a former Rwandan Army officer and many of his troops also came from Rwanda , including child-soldiers recruited with Rwandan assistance.
The arrest was a surprise because Rwanda ’s military and Kagame, himself, had been supporting Nkunda’s “terror” in the eastern Congo for years. The Times later reported that Nkunda is not actually imprisoned in Rwanda , and that the real reason for the "arrest" may have been that he had become a political liability for Kagame. He simply knows too much about Rwandan crimes in the Congo and during the 1994 Rwandan "genocide" for Kagame to permit him to remain "on the loose."
And, with good reason.
Over the past two years, many different sources have exposed the ongoing crimes of the Kagame government and military, both before and after Kagame seized power in Rwanda in July 1994. Long a favorite of the Clinton and Bush administrations (U.S. diplomatic recognition was immediate, and U.S. military advisors were in Rwanda within days), Kagame's crimes are reaching huge proportions that require him, and his U.S. admirers, to do something to divert attention from Kagame's own responsiblity for Nkunda's crimes, as well as many, many others, committed over the past two-decades, including "genocide."
UN and Media Confirm: “Kagame is the Author of Massive Congo Crimes”
In addition to the Times article, in early December Kagame's Congo crimes were further documented in a December 12, 2008 UN Security Council-commissioned report that describes Rwanda ’s 12-year occupation of a huge part of the Congo 5-times larger than Rwanda , itself. The UN report, which was also widely reported by the international media, makes clear that the Kagame’s Rwandan-elites, and well-connected Ugandans in the north, are getting rich on the resources of the Congo , while killing more than 6-million Africans in the process.
More people are being killed in the Congo every 4-6 months than the 250,000 that have been killed in Darfur in the past 10-years, allegedly by a Sudanese government the U.S. opposes.
A fact that raises disturbing questions about why the international "human rights" community has been relatively quiet about the massive crimes in the Congo , by surrogates the U.S. supports.
But this is not really new information for anyone paying close attention to the tragedy unfolding in the Congo . According to Security Council reports in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2008; reports by third-world “raw-materials watchdog” Global Witness; and, even President Clinton’s former Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Herman J. Cohen, (IHT December 13, 2008), Rwandan and Ugandan invasions of the Congo since 1996 have been fueled by the grab for Congo’s raw materials, and that neither Nkunda nor “hutu-militias” are the real reasons for the decades-long war, that again threatens to explode, in a repeat of the1998-2002 “First “World War of Africa.”
Kagame’s “About Face” on Nkunda: A Strategy for His Own Survival
The four UN reports, make clear that Rwanda has used the presence of Rwandan refugees in the Congo as justification for Rwanda ’s “resource grab.” Of the 2-million Rwandans who fled Kagame’s regime, only a small number could possibly have been involved in 1994 crimes and it is their sons and grandsons who are in the camps in the Congo , today. The arrest of Nkunda is yet another fig-leaf to cover the naked plunder that preceded Nkunda’s Congo adventure, and will go on after his "arrest", at least until Kagame of Rwanda and Museveni of Uganda, are compelled to withdraw from the Congo fields of “blood-diamonds,” “blood-casserite (tin)” and “blood-coltan (cellphones)” that have turned their respective capitals into international trading centers for mineral riches not found in either country….as UN reports over many years have described.
Kagame’s abrupt “about face” in supporting Nkunda does nothing to reduce Rwanda’s long-established resource grab-inspired military dominance of the eastern Congo, but does show that Kagame is being forced to change his tactics, to disguise Rwanda’s actual role in the creating and supporting violence wracking the African Great Lakes region. The most recent invasion to arrest Nkunda is a clever diversionary tactic. But, the UN report and Nkunda's “bad press” are not Mr. Kagame’s only problems of late.
Kagame’s Problems Deepen as Proof of His Own Crimes Grows
Following the December 2008 UN report, the Netherlands and Sweden cut-off all foreign aid to Rwanda , and others are considering doing so too. Other EU countries are taking their own actions as the true nature of the Kagame regime is being revealed. In early 2008, Spain indicted 40-leading members of Kagame’s government which followed a late 2006 French indictment charging Kagame and his followers with assassinating former Rwandan and Burundian presidents, the crime that triggered 1994 civilian-on-civilian killings in Rwanda.
The Spanish indictment details genocidal-style killings of more than 300,000 civilians by Kagame’s troops during, and after, the 1994 war. Before this indictment, the defendants in the dock at the ICTR had been blamed for all the mass-killings in Rwanda . But, because only the losing-side in the Rwanda war are in the dock, it is clear that the story of the “Rwanda-genocide” will have to be re-examined.
Particularly after it was revealed last year that U.S. Ambassador Pierre Prosper ordered ICTR prosecutor Carla Del Ponte to be removed from office, when she insisted on prosecuting Kagame for the assasination of the former president, the crime that touched-off the "Rwanda genocide" because U.S. policy was to protect Kagame, despite the evidence of his guilt.
In November 2008, Germany also arrested one of Kagame’s retinue under INTERPOL warrants based on the Spanish and French indictment. But, perhaps the least noticed, but potentially most important exposure of the manipulation of the " Rwanda genocide" story to “cover-up” the crimes of Kagame’s military and government occurred at the UN Tribunal for Rwanda in December 2008.
The UN Rwanda Tribunal December 2008: “No Genocide Conspiracy or Planning”
On December 18, 2008, a three-judge panel in the Military-1 case at the UN tribunal acquitted the top four military officers of the former Rwandan government of charges of “conspiracy to commit genocide” and “genocide planning”…which completely rejects the whole “Rwanda-story” that has been told by the Kagame regime July 1994, as a way of explaining the massacres that occurred during the 100-assault to seize power that began with Kagame’s assassination of the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi on April 6, 1994.
Not only were the four officers acquitted of conspiracy and planning genocide, including “architect of the genocide” Col. Theoneste Bagosora, the highest ranking officer, General Gratien Kabiligi, was acquitted of all charges and was released from more than 10-years of custody. The three-judge panel in the Military-1 case was the first to in the history of the Tribunal to have been presented with long-suppressed UN and US government files that make clear that Kagame and his RPF were the aggressors and Kagame’s military-strategy actually prevented both sides from using troops to stop the massacres the assassination of the two presidents touched off.[2]
The recently revealed documents, and testimony at the UN Tribunal ,confirm that massive civilian-on-civilian violence was predicted to erupt in Rwanda as a consequence of war, because of similar massacres that occurred in neighboring Burundi in late 1993, when the first popularly-elected Burundian president was assassinated by Kagame’s Burundi-military allies. In fact, in late 1993 the US ambassador to Rwanda personally warned Kagame that he would be responsible for the same kind of massive violence, if he resumed the war.
Now evidence ICTR evidence shows that Kagame not only resumed the war, but assassinated two presidents as the opening shot, triggering the same massive killings that had already happened in Burundi six months before.
Previously suppressed UN documents also show that two-weeks after he assassinated Rwandan President Habyarimana…along with a second Burundian president, Kagame told UN General Dallaire that he would not use his troops to stop the massacres because he was winning the war, and the civilian deaths were only “collateral damage for his their war-plan. The April 22, 1994 memo reporting this conversation is in the ICTR evidence.
Kagame also repeatedly refused a ceasefire, proposed by the former military to use troops to stop the massacres touched-off by Habyarimana’s assassination. Documents from the former government repeatedly asking for a ceasefire, and Kagame's rejections, are also in the ICTR record that the 3-judge panel had before it.
The Unraveling of U.S./UK-Assisted “Cover-up” of Kagame’s Crimes
But, the formerly suppressed documents also reveal that U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher knew of Kagame’s mass-crimes no later than Sept 17, 1994. Other documents confirm a U.S.-engineered “cover-up” of Kagame’s crimes has been going on since that time. UN documents confirm that the UN knew about mass civilian-killings by Kagame’s forces by May 17, 1994, at the latest.
The documents also establish that the UN prosecutor and former Canadian Supreme Court Justice, Louise Arbour, knew that Kagame had assassinated the former President in 1997, but refused to act despite the recommendation a former FBI agent; an Australian Queen's Prosecutor; and UN Gen. Dallaire's own Chief of Military Intelligence. First she refused to prosecute, then shut down the investigation team completely. All of this was merely prelude to Bush administration Ambassador Pierre Prosper removing Ms. Del Ponte from office in 2003, because of his usefulness to the U.S.
Now we know that, because Kagame's Rwanda crimes were covered-up by the U.S. in 1994, and because he was not prosecuted at the ICTR for the assassination of the previous president in 1997 (when Bagosora and other Military-1 defendants were arrested) he has been free to rape the Congo of its riches and to massacre millions. The thousands of pages of UN and U.S. government documents in ICTR evidence, and subsequent events in the Congo will require re-writing the entire story of the “ Rwanda genocide.”
IF Kagame was the “good-guy” in Rwanda (despite the ICTR evidence that the 100-days of hell that his assassination of Habyarimana triggered, and which he told Dallaire in April 1994 was all part of his war-plan), the 2001-08 UN-Security Council reports of Kagame’s crimes in the Congo show that he and his military must have done complete “about-face” of another kind, as soon as they took power in Rwanda in July 1994.
Kagame Has Found Nkunda Expendable – Will President Obama Continue U.S. It “Kagame Impunity” Policy?
Mr. Nkunda must now appreciate the well-known risks of relying on a patron for one’s own power…the patron may no-longer have need of the client’s services. Nkunda has merely found himself in a situation similar to Panama ’s U.S.-sponsored dictator Manuel Noriega, whose arrest was used to justify the invasion of Panama by the Bush-1 administration, when Noriega outlived his Cold War usefulness.
And, this is not even the first time that Rwanda has invaded the Congo remove a “no-longer-useful” leader. In 1996, Congo ’s president for 30-plus “Cold War” years, Mobutu Sese Seko, was removed in a joint Rwanda/Uganda U.S. and U.K.-supported invasion, and replaced by Ugandan-client Joseph Kabila, once Mobutu's value as an anti-communist “bulwark” was outweighed by the public relations-downside of his well-known criminal rule.
At least Nkunda can be grateful that he didn’t meet the same fate as another leader who ran afoul of U.S. interests in the Congo in an earlier era. In 1961 Patrice Lumumba was assassinated, not arrested. Of course, if Nkunda begins to spill what he knows about Kagame's crimes in Rwanda and the Congo ...."accidents" can happen.
The most recent Rwandan invasion to throw Nkunda “under the bus” in an effort to shore-up Kagame’s image is actually an admission of the deep trouble in which Kagame finds himself, and the deep embarrassment he is becoming to his U.S. and U.K. patrons, who have protected him for over a decade. The December 2008 UN report; the European indictments; and, the formerly suppressed documents in ICTR evidence, taken together, raise the real possibility that the Obama administration may find that Mr. Kagame has also outlived his usefulness. When that day arrives, Paul Kagame’s name will be added to the long list of former U.S. clients who outlived their usefulness and paid the price, like Noriega and Mobutu, but also, lest we forget….Saddam Hussein.
THE ONLY MORAL U.S.-AFRICA POLICY: END SUPPORT FOR KAGAME
Cutting off all western aid to Rwanda, like the Dutch and the Swedes; arresting Kagame and his henchmen under existing INTERPOL warrants, like the Germans; and prosecuting Kagame at the UN Rwanda Tribunal, or the International Criminal Court, will save far more African lives than any “foreign-aid for Africa" program than President Obama or Secretary of State Clinton could possibly conceive. One difficulty, of course, is that the “cover-up” of Kagame’s 1994 crimes in Rwanda was initiated under her predecessor Warren Christopher….Bill Clinton 's Secretary of State. Which, in turn, raises difficult questions about Clinton ’s foreign policy in central Africa , as well.
If Mr. Kagame ever does find himself in the dock, after having been “Saddamized” by his former patrons, it will be very interesting to learn what he will have to say about his own crimes in the Congo and in Rwanda…and his "special relationship" with several US administrations that has assisted the “cover-up” of those crimes.…which, may have something to do with why the “Kagame Impunity” policy as continued this long.
On January 24, Rwandan President Paul Kagame sent 4,000 troops into the Congo to arrest rebel “tutsi”-warlord, Laurent Nkunda, and wipe-out the remaining “hutu-genocidaires” lurking in the eastern Congo . As the New York Times reported in early December 2008, Nkunda is a former Rwandan Army officer and many of his troops also came from Rwanda , including child-soldiers recruited with Rwandan assistance.
The arrest was a surprise because Rwanda ’s military and Kagame, himself, had been supporting Nkunda’s “terror” in the eastern Congo for years. The Times later reported that Nkunda is not actually imprisoned in Rwanda , and that the real reason for the "arrest" may have been that he had become a political liability for Kagame. He simply knows too much about Rwandan crimes in the Congo and during the 1994 Rwandan "genocide" for Kagame to permit him to remain "on the loose."
Prof. Peter Erlinder teaches at the Wm. Mitchell College of Law, St. Paul , MN
[1] Prof. of Law, Wm. Mitchell College of Law, St. Paul, MN; past-President, National Lawyers Guild, NY; President, ICTR-ADAD (Association des Avocats de la Defence), Arusha, TZ; Lead-counsel, ICTR-Military-1 Trial, Ntabakuze Defence. 651-290-6384/ peter.erlinder@wmitchell.edu
[2] In the interests of full disclosure: As Ntabakuze Lead Defence Counsel, these documents were unearthed and put into ICTR evidence for the first time by the author between 2005 and 2007.
Global Research Articles by Peter Erlinder
Thanks for this summary which is entirely true.
ReplyDeleteIt's unbelievable that US and UK, as model of dmocraty governance, have been protecting such killers!
Of course that individual interests have been mixed with public ones. Take the example of BLAIR who is actually private advisor of Kagame.
But still it's not too late to corect. We hope that Obama will show us a different leadership image.
What we have seen is more than enough!
CONGO-RWANDA CRIMES: READING BETWEEN LINES
ReplyDeleteDown the ages, one of the most earnest quests for humankind has been that of establishing the truth; but it seems to me that telling or knowing the “truth” is so elusive an endeavour, hence a rare commodity. It has at times come to humankind’s attention that even what we read as “history”, which otherwise represents empirical reality, is flawed with some “untruths”, especially due to varying, and often conflicting, interests of the authors and whom they are writing for, about and against. So has been journalistic work generally, but particularly propagandist versions of “truth-reporting” that is often either in favour of or against the powerful or those in government power. How about truths that are hidden from masses but only kept by “the chosen few” as privileged, secret archives?
As one reads between the lines of Professor Peter Erlinder’s interesting article, therefore, he/she cannot fail to see his biased position that makes him look at the whole scenario with biased “spectacles”. If he were to give us a more balanced panoramic view of Rwanda’s historical situation, it demanded him to adopt a neutral perspective devoid of “revealing” to the reader who he is taking sides with and who he is against. I wouldn’t be surprised if he openly told us that there was never a genocide targeting Tutsis in Rwanda and in the Great Lakes Region (GLR); that even “a few” Tutsis who might have died deserved to die because they provoked the innocent Hutus by killing their beloved President Habyarimana and were failed by their son, Kagame who did not want to stop the massacres; that a “genocide” in the GLR means only massacres of Hutus; that ex-FAR military genocidaires are all innocent because they participated in killing Tutsis and moderate Hutus in line of duty to defend “their” nation and government; that the FDLR are clean and that they’ve been forced to wreck havoc they have and hatch genocidal plans only because they are victims of the Kagame Crime Machine on the run; and that if he were God he would take FDRL back to Congo, arm them to the teeth and give them the freedom to match to Rwanda not only to hunt down Kagame and complete the Tutsi genocide, but also wipe out anybody or anything that looks like an obstacle!
That said, I do admire the professor’s detailed and “revealing” research. I also respect his views, although I don’t agree with some of them and even suspect the authenticity of some of his supposed-to-be empirical evidence. Nonetheless, I admit that there are some military or other types of intelligence secrets I myself do not know even though I am a Rwandan.
I will not go into details of questioning each detail that the author gives us; I will only frankly “speak out” what I read between his lines. As a Rwandan and being part of Rwandan history, I have witnessed or otherwise known a lot of “reality” about the crimes and other atrocities perpetrated against us Rwandans at least since the neocolonial, Independent Rwandan state began in the early 1960s. Kagame’s regime is the Third Republic after Kayibanda’s First Republic and Habyariman’s Second Republic. During the 1994 Genocide, there was a shaky self-installed transitional government which never ruled the country really because a genocide was being carried out (mostly by the government) on one side of the country, while there was a war on the other side between government troops and RPA guerrillas. The more the government troops lost to RPA, the more the Tutsis died on the other side apparently because of “war frustration” and the “deep” belief that RPF/RPA was “Tutsi” (which is another “untruth” our learned professor – and others who are alien to our situation – should know from now). May be, saying “Tutsi-majority” RPA might approximate the truth better.
It seems to me that the professor is disturbed by one thing that unfortunately makes him fixed on a skewed moral standpoint: Kagame’s “powerfulness” and “look-good” image particularly in the UK and US. That makes the author lose sight (but it could be deliberate because he has a purpose) of others who are even major players in the current state of affairs in the DRC, Rwanda, Burundi and the entire GLR. No wonder, then, that what he tells us is full of “intent” and “interest” and thus makes us “hate” Kagame, particularly for those readers who are on the side that is “unfavoured” by his regime in one way or another, regardless of their ethnic affiliation. This is also true (here I go again with “truth”!) for those readers that know little or nothing about Rwanda’s history or the history of the GLR at large.
I am asking myself a rhetorical question: Is Kagame’s “criminal record” (from the author’s perspective) his own making, or is it his being a victim and a product of a criminal world he was born to and grown up and worked in, which might have forced him to cooperate and perhaps participate in some criminal acts against Rwandans, Congolese and others? Here I am thinking about how the issue of plundering Congo’s wealth is not new, hence neither Rwanda’s or Kagame’s issue per se. If Rwanda or Kagame have been doing so for a few years, they have come in too late! Belgium was there before I was born (I’m now 45). France and other European colonial and neocolonial powers have been there. The US has been there. So, perhaps what Kagame is doing is mainly to aid a power like the US, and then get his reward for his cooperation, but at the same time infuriate other powers that have contrary interests in the region, or have been pushed aside and denied a share in the “grand plundering enterprise”.
Where Professor Erlinder goes very wrong is that he concludes by promising false prospects and hopes for Rwandans and other concerned Africans by writing: “The only moral US-Africa Policy: End support for Kagame”. For me, Kagame is a drop in the sea of Africa’s and Rwanda’s misery that is not his own making really, and what he is “doing”, if there’s any truth in what the author tells us, is just a tip of the iceberg, the iceberg that has been there for very long. In Africa’s history major players have been the slave traders, then the colonialists, then the neocolonialists and new and bigger stakeholders like the US. Reasons for their involvement in Africa have ranged from political, to economic, and to sheer insatiable greed. I am concrete sure that ending support for Kagame’s regime would not turn Rwanda, GLR, Africa, into paradise. Instead, it would starve out Rwandans for no good reasons. If I were in a position to eradicate misery in Rwanda and Africa characterized by war, poverty, hunger and disease, I would first go to the root causes of what we see now. Some of the big players from Europe and US are dead now, so I would only remember them “badly”. Then, I would indict most, if not all, of those who are still alive. I would do similarly to all African leaders – dead or alive – who have cooperated and participated in killing, starving or otherwise exposing their own people to misery. I am not trying to exonerate Kagame or other African leaders by saying that Europe and US have had a “bad” hand. In Africa and the GLR we have had reigns of terror perpetuated by Africans themselves, and at least part of the gruesome history we have gone through has been their own authoring independent of “outsiders”. When Iddi Amin Dada ruled I was a growing youth. But he is not the only one, as we know.
Let me end by asking my learned professor (and any other interested reader) these “big” questions: WHO WILL ARREST BUSH AND HIS FATHER, CLINTON AND OTHER BIG SHOTS IN THE US AND EUROPE THAT HAVE BEEN PLAYERS IN RWANDA’S, CONGO’S, AFRICA’S PROBLEMS? I believe if this question is answered, there will no longer be any reason to arrest Kagame and his “henchmen”, as the professor chooses to call them. Another question: SUPPOSING THESE BIG SHOTS WERE ALL APPREHENDED, WHAT GUARANTEE DO WE HAVE THAT A BETTER BREED WILL BE BORN TO RULE THE WORLD?
By Charles Karoro Muhirwe, Rwandan scholar
As a fellow Rwandan, I would like to thank Mr Muhirwe for seeing through the author's flawed and blatantly biased report on Rwanda, Nkunda and especially President Paul Kagame. Anyone reading this article with no previous knowlegde on the historical FACTS of Rwanda would walk away very misinformed. It is deeply disturbing to see this "concern" for the poor people of Congo and the Hutus who are dying; when for years and years I personally witnessed blatant discrimination, killings and forced exile of Tutsis for 38 years and even with constant efforts to get the UN (Monday morning quarter-back) to address the issues NEVER did anything at all - it did not even take innocent lives being macheted at 1000 bodies per hour in 1994, or even Bhoutros Bhoutros Ghali (however you spell his name!) to come from his vacation during the massaces to do anything to help - So, Professor Erlinder, I suggest you make a trip away from your comfortable home in MN and visit a couple-thousand Tutsi widows who live with no fingers, missing ears, and huge scars in their heads and ask them what their lives have been like since the 60's? - or maybe better yet ask you client Mr Ntabakuze how come he and all his relatives are alive and how they survived 1994..Hmnnnnnnnnnnn, I wonder!
ReplyDeleteDear Muhirwe and sympathizer,
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading and commenting.
However, the following are some of my concerns about your comment:
Keep your hands off Prof Peter Erlinder.
The following is one of his statements:
….”I have to disclose my own bias because, under the laws of Rwanda , I too am a criminal “negationist” for writing this essay and President Kagame has personally denounced me as a “genocidaire” for my work as an ICTR defense lawyer. My former investigator is seeking asylum in Europe and the ICTR Prosecutor who replaced Carla del Ponte is now prosecuting defense investigator for asking too many questions in Rwanda, but denounced Judge Bruguiere’s request for the UN to prosecute Kagame and Spanish Judge Abreau, as well”…...
So, as Kagame’s sympathizers as you all seem to be, your comments are simply an other misleading propaganda straight from Kigali.
Please note the following:
Kagame did not commit his war crimes alone.
However, carrying out four rounds of genocide in a span of 10 years only is the signature of his RPF movement and his henchmen.
These genocides/ mass killings include but are not limited to the genocide of Hutu in Byumba and Ruhengeri in 2003, the genocide of Tutsi in 1994, the genocide of Congolese people in 1996-2002, and the genocide that is in process in Rwanda since 1995 of slowly killing Hutu physically and mentally.
So, believe me or not, these genocides/mass killings cannot be attributed to Westerners but solely to Kagame and his henchmen.
Kagame had many choices of satisfying their selfish interest but chose the extermination of a whole people. I do not think that the Western figures whom your fingers are being pointed at, have ever asked Kagame to go and wipe out villages and villages.
Even without denting the role of Western Powers in the Rwandan tragedy, the responsibility comes back to the country leaders who have the responsibility in designing the course of action that would satisfy western supporters but also provide care for their fellow citizens.
Kagame alone is not the Problem of the GLR. Even the whole Kagame's system alone is not the problem. The root cause stems from UK/ US his current western sponsors. That is the truth. This is why Kagame's successor will have to deal with this unfortunate reality. I personally believe that whatever happened in Rwanda had to happen in order to reach the DRC for its mineral resources.
Rwanda is and will still be a bridge to DRC. Unfortunately, Kagame and his henchmen were easy to use and excelled in the killing of their fellow citizen and Congolese people. In the near future, I wish that the RPF leadership and their followers will come to understand that there were and will still be many peaceful and honest ways of doing business with the West without having to kill innocent civilians.
Kagame is still a tool, like a weapon if you will. If someone is attacking you with a weapon, the first thing you need to do is get the weapon out of the way and then move forward to fight that person. If you allow such an aggressor to keep the weapon, he/she will have a much bigger advantage over you.
In Rwanda, it needs to be Kagame first. Next, Rwandans will have to freely choose for themselves someone who MIGHT be different, who for once might have a "HEART OF A LION" to fight against the western imperialism/neo-colonialism. That is, someone with principles. That opportunity is not guaranteed but at least the chance is there when the current puppet is removed.
Once again, I do think that you’re right in some respect. But I also strongly believe that a given leader has proven to be a war criminal like Kagame, change is needed.
Though you seem to come off intelligent, READING between the lines against evidence does not sound very scholarly as you claim to be. Anyone who is corrupt enough to accept the role of facilitator (as you are claiming Kagame to be) should still be expelled.
Watch out shortly for a more detailed response to your comment.