By Aimable Mugara
Rwanda Human Rights and Democracy
June 3, 2010
H. E. General Paul Kagame
Office of the President
Republic of Rwanda
P.O. Box 15 Urugwiro Village
Kigali – Rwanda
Fax: +250 572431
Copy:
Prosecutor General
Martin Ngoga
National Public Prosecution Authority
BP 1328
Kigali – Rwanda
Fax: +250 589501
Commissioner General Emmanuel Gasana
Rwandan National Police
Kigali – Rwanda
Fax: +250 586602
Chief Executive Officer
Editor-in-Chief
The New Times Publications SARL
Immeuble Aigle Blanc
P.O. Box 4953
Kigali – Rwanda
A Citizen’s Weekly Open Letter to General Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda
Dear General,
There are 10 weeks left before the elections. This is my twelfth letter and there are 10 letters left. This past week’s events in Rwanda was a rollercoaster for human rights and democracy lovers around the world. Towards the end of last week, someone at the highest levels of your government thought it was a good idea to arrest an American defense lawyer who is in Rwanda to defend the opposition leader Mrs Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza with regards to the political charges against her. In the past week, we also heard from your former friend who you fought the war together with, General Kayumba Nyamwasa. All these events shape a picture of your leadership that appears unpleasant to the objective eye.
The arrest of Professor Peter Erlinder shocked the world. All the 3 real opposition parties in Rwanda called for his release. Human rights groups and lawyers groups from around the world were outraged. Thousands of people from around the world, people of all colors, nationalities, ages, social status, genders, political opinions, joined the Facebook group Free Prof. Erlinder Now to request his immediate release. In the end, the National Lawyers Guild, an association of American lawyers committed to human rights put it best when they said “There can be no justice for anyone if the state can silence lawyers for defendants whom it dislikes and a government that seeks to prevent lawyers from being vigorous advocates for their clients cannot be trusted.”
Throughout this entire rollercoaster week, I was waiting for your advisors who usually defend your government’s actions to chime in. I thought we would hear from Prime Minister Tony Blair about the merits of such action. Or may be Pastor Rick Warren could have told us why this action was a divine one. Or Starbucks’ chief executive, Jim Donald could have explained to the corporate world what is the sense behind this. Or at least Mr. Michael Fairbanks or Dr. Jean Paul Kimonyo could have written something in their usual Huffington Post venue explaining this puzzling act. Alas, none of them was anywhere to be seen. It appears that they all need a lot more time to figure out how to justify this act of temporary government insanity.
Instead, we were treated to police spokespeople who on June 2nd told us that the Professor attempted suicide. But the next day on June 3rd, the same spokespeople came back to tell us that they were mistaken, that he did not attempt to commit suicide. As I write this, the Professor is still in hospital and has not been released from the custody of your police. There are signs pointing to the likelihood that this ordeal will end soon. But the entire incident will leave a lot of people who had so far been disinterested in Rwandan human rights scratching their heads.
As for your former friend and colleague General Kayumba Nyamwasa, in 2008 a judge in Spain, Judge Fernando Andreu issued an arrest warrant for him and 39 of your other senior officers for mass killings of thousands of Hutu civilians. But as far as Gen. Nyamwasa’s recent interview with the Daily Monitor goes, he raises important questions. In response to your recent comments about him, he asks “If people who participated in the struggle from day one and served at the highest level of the Army and Security are not colleagues in the Rwandan context, who is?” He goes on to say that “Furthermore, he (Kagame) alleges that the people who run away from 1995 and 1996 were maybe running away from me. Does he imply that he was not in charge at that time? Now that I have gone, let us see if there will be an exodus of returnees from exile. Kagame talks like someone who is wronged and aggrieved.” He continues by saying “I saved President Kagame’s life twice during the struggle when everyone else had abandoned him in Nkana and Kanyantanga. Where were all those who are telling him that I am a traitor? History will tell who betrayed who.”
One of General Nyamwasa’s deeply philosophical comments is when he says “President Kagame said he does not understand and cannot put his finger on the reasons why people run to exile. Surely the President must be having a very short memory; his entire family spent more than 30 years in exile. Does he insinuate that his parents were adventurers when they left Rwanda and somehow they gained their senses after 1994? The answer is simple. In a democracy, people resort to courts of law for conflict resolution and in a dictatorship, people run for their dear lives. If a leader does not know why his/her citizens are running away then he is incapable of governing.”
Mr. President, I started writing these weekly letters to encourage you to ensure that all Rwandans are guaranteed all the fundamental rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, especially in this period leading up to the elections. After writing 12 letters, I lose hope each week. But I continue to write, just in case you surprise me positively.
Aimable Mugara
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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