Rwandan presidential hopeful makes Dayton stop

An exile from her native land, Victoire Umuhoza seeks ethnic reconciliation.

By Doug Page
Dayton Daily News
Staff Writer
June 28, 2009

DAYTON — Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza is one of the estimated 500,000 Rwandans living in exile.

The mother of three hopes to end her exile in September, returning to her country to get her political party on the 2010 presidential ballot.

Umuhoza is chairwoman of the United Democratic Forces, which espouses nonviolence and reconciliation among the various Rwandan ethnic groups following the 1994 genocide.

“It is time to get the (democratic) process back on track,” she said Saturday, June 27, prior to speaking to members of the local Rwandan community at the Holiday Inn North. “I am speaking to the exiles, telling them they can play a role in solving these problems.
“The first step is to end the use of violence. We must give a chance (to) a peaceful transition of power.”

Unlike some in her audience Saturday, Umuhoza did not witness the genocide that killed an estimated 1 million people. She left her country for school in the Netherlands several months before the start of the countrywide violence.

But what she saw on television started her down a political path.

Recently, several disparate exile groups formed a political coalition of the Umuhoza’s United Democratic Forces and the Rwanda Democratic Opposition Party to put forward a presidential candidate: Umuhoza.

There are several roadblocks the coalition must pass. It must be recognized by the current government, which prohibits opposition parties, to appear on the ballot.

And Umuhoza must get a passport and return to Rwanda for the first time since 1994. If allowed back and her candidacy is recognized, then comes a likely uphill campaign.

“I will do anything for my country,” she said, though admitted some trepidation about returning to Rwanda. “The regime does not accept dissenting voices.”

She hopes that her appearances before Rwandans in Europe and the United States will encourage Western governments with investments in Rwanda to speak out on her behalf to the current Rwandan government.

“I hope the United States government will support the democratic process, put words into action,” she said.

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