RWANDA NATIONAL CONGRESS (RNC) STRATEGIES FOR TRANSFORMING RWANDA

Source: Dr. Theogene Rudasingwa's Facebook Page.

STRATEGY 1: Mobilizing the People of Rwanda to Unite in the Struggle Against Dictatorship.

The most critical strategy for promoting freedom in Rwanda is to mobilize our people to unite and work together to assert their claim to the full range of universal human rights. Our struggle for freedom is constrained by sectarian and ideological cleavages that divide and weaken our capacity to hold our political leaders accountable. The position of the RNC on conflict in Rwandan society is that our people do not harbor any fundamental differences that cannot be resolved by peaceful means. The horrendous violence and suffering that Rwanda has experienced have always been masterminded and organized by political leaders as a strategy for strengthening their grip onto power. Political leaders and groups have fuelled sectarian divisions merely to cover-up their plans to monopolize political power.

Unfortunately, the victims of what have essentially been struggles between political elites for power and access to resources have been the people themselves. However, although political leaders bear responsibility for creating and fuelling conflict in our society, it is still undeniable that conflict (grounded in experiences of social, economic and political exclusion, as well as marginalization and violence) has left our people deeply traumatized and divided, especially along lines of ethnicity and region.

The transformation of Rwanda into the peaceful and stable society, for which our people crave, can only be realized to the extent that our society is able to overcome and transcend the legacy of fear, mistrust and hatred that sectarian violence and political discord have created. Our people‟s aspirations for freedom, democracy and sustainable peace can only be truly realized if the fissures that divide us are healed, and when our collective potential is single-mindedly harnessed to fight and end dictatorial rule to usher in a new era of freedom and peace in our motherland.

The Rwanda National Congress will prioritize the challenge of mobilization of the people of Rwanda over every other strategy for seeking the realization of freedom in our nation. We believe the following essential elements constitute the strategy for mobilization of the people of Rwanda to engage in the struggle for the establishment of democracy and lasting peace:

-Exposing the anti-democratic and anti-peace character and actions of Rwanda’s current government;

-Educating the public about the full range of fundamental human rights to which every citizen is entitled, in general, and the right of political participation, in particular;

-Empowering individuals, communities and societal groups to assert or claim their rights;

-Fostering collaboration and dialogue with other groups, wherever they may be located, and work with them to advance and establish democratic change in Rwanda.

STRATEGY 2: The Need for a Transitional Government.

The RPF government of Rwanda seeks to dominate Rwanda’s politics through undemocratic means. The RPF does not appear to have any interest in permitting democracy to be established in Rwanda. Under these circumstances, the political transformation for Rwanda can only be realized through the work of a democratic transitional government in which representatives of divergent political forces (including opposition parties), along with the RPF, have an equal opportunity for participation to determine the future of Rwanda. The establishment of an inclusive transition democratic government to lead the dismantling of the existing dictatorship is a pre-requisite for resolution of the political crisis that Rwanda faces. The proposed transition government would have responsibility for carrying out the reforms necessary to ensure a successful process of transition to democracy.

The reforms to make the transition to democracy credible will include:

The unhindered ability by political parties to function freely; Restoring freedom of the press; Permitting civil society to perform its proper watch-dog role; Disbanding informal security networks that currently serve to persecute opponents of the regime; Undertaking minimum reforms of the security sector institutions, including the RDF, Police, National Security Service, and prisons (part of the Army).

The transition government must also undertake needed reforms of the judicial and legislative branches. Further, a credible process of political reform will not be possible without a degree of separation of powers and checks and balances to ensure an even playing field for all players during the transition. In addition, the transition government will organize the voluntary return of Rwandan refugees to permit them to play an active part in shaping the processes of change that Rwandan society will have to agree upon with a view to ending the perpetual threat of violent conflict that continues to hover over our country and people.

STRATEGY 3: National Dialogue.

Rwanda remains a fractured nation that is yet to come to terms with its own history, both the good and the bad. The 1994 war and genocide were brought to an end by the outright military victory of the RPF. As a result of its military victory, the RPF has had unfettered discretion in all decisions relating to the reconstruction of post-genocide Rwanda. The RPF has not afforded other political parties or civil society meaningful opportunities for input or participation on major issues relating to planning for the collective future of our country.

Indeed, the default and common practice has been for the RPF to make decisions on issues affecting the future of the country and to, afterwards, inform the compliant political parties that remain part of the government. When the RPF has taken the trouble to consult other political parties, it has not seriously taken their views into account. Not only has the RPF failed to organize an honest debate about the country’s past and future, it actively suppresses independent debate about major and fundamental issues that still divide Rwandan society. Instead, the RPF has sought to unilaterally impose its own understanding of the country’s history and its vision of Rwanda’s future upon the rest of Rwandan society.

The over-riding consideration behind all the decisions that the RPF has made during the time that it has been in control of government has been to protect and entrench its monopoly of political power. As a result, post-genocide Rwanda has not had the benefit of an open, inclusive national debate on the root causes of the political problems that the country has experienced, or on strategies for ensuring a peaceful and stable future for the nation. As a result of the RPF’s unilateralist approach to the reconstruction of Rwanda in the aftermath of war and genocide – and its refusal to sanction or organize, an open, transparent and inclusive debate on the country’s future – the government’s initiatives to promote peace, national reconciliation and peace have largely failed. Rwanda remains deeply divided. The majority of the population feels excluded and marginalized. As a result, armed rebellion still poses threats to the security of the country.

Feelings of mutual mistrust and fear continue to fester in Rwandan society. The middle-class that played a vital role in the country prior to the genocide largely remains in exile. While the majority of the Tutsi community is disenchanted and does not feel any sense of liberation and emancipation, the majority Hutu feel politically marginalized and excluded. For many Rwandans, the path of violent conflict appears to be the only option of making right the injustice, discrimination and abuse to which they feel subjected. Groups committed to the overthrow of the government remain active in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Internally, Rwanda is becoming increasingly unstable, particularly as a result of the evident break-down of cohesion within the RDF, which is evidenced by the defections of both former Ex-FAR and RDF officers, and imprisonment and purges of many senior military officers who remain in Rwanda. The nature of defections and purges that have affected the RDF provide an indication that the problems it faces cut across the board and do not exclusively affect the Hutu or Tutsi in the military.

In order to defuse the crisis that Rwanda is now facing, it remains necessary for Rwandan society to engage in honest dialogue about the causes of the problems that the country faces and the solutions to those problems. Rwanda cannot move beyond the current quagmire without an honest, inclusive and comprehensive debate on the many issues that drive conflict in the country. Some of the critical issues that such a dialogue could address (issues on which the RPF does not see eye-to-eye with its opponents and critics) include:

-Rwanda’s history and the root causes of conflict in our society;

-The issue of ethnicity;

-The nature and causes of the conflicts that Rwandan society has experienced;

-The state of political governance in Rwanda today;

-Democratisation and apportionment of power and control of state institutions, especially the military and security services, in a newly- democratic Rwanda;

-Strategies for promoting reconciliation and peace-building;

-Protection of the minority from marginalization;

-Mechanisms needed to prevent “tyranny of majorities”;

-Exclusion in any post-transition political system;

-Rwanda’s relations with its neighbours.

The RPF has, to date, resisted all calls for national dialogue on the problems that confront Rwandan society. It opposes such dialogue out of fear that the dialogue could lead to calls for it to open up space for political participation and to share or compete for political power more fairly with other political groups. Nevertheless, this kind of dialogue remains indispensable as the only way of avoiding violent conflict that appears inevitable if the Kagame government cannot find a solution to the problems relating to governance that the country faces. National reconciliation and durable stability will remain elusive until Rwandan society can address these issues through a national dialogue and reach a consensus about how to deal with them.

Hence, there is a compelling need for the organization of a national dialogue about these and other issues. The dialogue must be transparent, inclusive and comprehensive. The outcome of such a proposed dialogue would be a grand compact or unifying agreement that would set the basis for continued collaboration in building a free, democratic and peaceful Rwanda.

STRATEGY 4: The Necessity of Reform of the State.

The Rwandan state has historically been strongly centralized and dominated by the Head of State, who to this day dominates all institutions of the state. Rwanda has never had a system of government where various branches of government exercise checks and balances upon one another. Rather, the Executive uses other branches of government to shield itself from accountability to the people and competition for political power. The establishment of democracy in Rwanda will require a profound reform of the state to make it accountable to the citizens of the nation and to take its position as a modern and democratic nation that respects the rule of law and the rights of its citizens.

STRATEGY 5: Establishing a Constitutional and Legal Framework that Advances Freedom and Democracy.

The RNC proposes that a new constitutional framework be established that will enable our people to live together in a society where conflicts are resolved peacefully and according to the rule of law. A new Constitution must reorganize the distribution of power between the various branches of government that would be established. The new constitutional order would be designed to enshrine the rule of law as the guiding tenet of political governance. The new constitutional framework should end the dominance of Rwanda’s political system by a single individual and ensure a strong and stable system of checks and balances among the three major branches of government.

The RNC proposes the establishment of a parliamentary system of democracy. Under the constitutional system that the RNC proposes, the powers of the Office of the Head of State would be substantially curtailed. The President would not be involved in the day today management of the state. Day-to-day management of the affairs of government would be the responsibility of the Prime Minister who would be answerable to Parliament. The legislature and judiciary would be genuinely autonomous and not susceptible to manipulation by the executive generally, and the President in particular, as has hitherto been the case. The legislature would be reformed through reforms such as giving citizens power to elect parliamentarians directly, establishing constituency-based parliamentary representation, and increasing Parliament’s powers of oversight over the executive branch of government.

The judiciary, while being required to be accountable, would be protected from interference by the Executive. Judges would be given security of tenure, which they do not currently enjoy. Disciplinary proceedings against senior members of the judiciary would be independent. Members of the judicial system would be screened through an independent and non-partisan process, to remove judges and prosecutors who are corrupt, have been used by the current government to persecute and prosecute political opponents and critics of the regime, and who are otherwise unfit to exercise judicial and law enforcement functions on account of other professional misconduct.

STRATEGY 6: Reform of the Security Sector.

Dictatorships, in Rwanda and elsewhere, rely on the coercive machinery of the state to suppress citizens‟ aspirations for democracy. Similarly, President Kagame has turned the military and security institutions of Rwanda into instruments to promote and protect his personal financial and political interests.

Rwanda’s security institutions lack transparent management and democratic oversight. The military and security services are all controlled by President Kagame, his former body guards and personal assistants. The formal leaders of Rwanda’s military structures often have no real power within the institutions they ostensibly lead. The command of military institutions is composed almost exclusively of members of President Kagame’s inner circle and come from the Tutsi community, resulting in the exclusion of Rwanda’s ethnic majority in the military and security services. Further, as Rwanda’s government is essentially a military government with a façade of a democracy, Rwanda’s military and security institutions do not have any civilian oversight.

President Kagame uses military and security institutions to prevent political groups other than the RPF to organize, recruit campaign or carry out activities to promote their policies and political agenda. Military and security institutions, instead of being used to guarantee the peace and security of the people, are abused and serve as instruments of repression and fear. The military and security institutions of the state enjoy impunity against human rights abuses, as these abuses are committed to keep President Kagame in power.

The military justice system of Rwanda does not meet the requirements for an independent and impartial tribunal established by law and bound by the rule of law. The system lacks the capacity and independence to ensure respect for fundamental human rights of both military personnel as well as civilian victims of human rights violations committed by state institutions. Currently, most military judges have no legal training; indeed, a large number of judges in the military justice system have minimum formal education. Military judges and prosecutors have no security of tenure and members of the military personnel are themselves frequently victims of the short-comings of the military justice system. Further, the military justice system is sometimes used to cover-up and hide crimes committed by military personnel for the purpose of persecuting the regime’s political opponents. Reform of the security system is a pre-requisite for democratization in Rwanda, as in other societies seeking political change.

The Rwanda National Congress advocates far-reaching reforms of the security sector, including the following:

-Ensuring democratic civilian (parliamentary as well executive) oversight over military and security institutions;

-Ensuring collective management of military and security sector institutions through establishment of a National Security Council responsible for determining national security and defence policy; and making appointments and promotions in the military and security services proposing appointments to senior positions in the military and security services that require Parliamentary approval;
-Ensuring fair representation of all communities in the military and security services, including at all levels of command;

-Integration into the armed forces of members of exiled armed groups who are not responsible for, or linked to, genocide or other gross human rights violations;
-Dismantling the informal security networks that are used by the current government to frustrate the exercise of fundamental freedoms
- Screening-out and removing persons responsible for gross human rights abuses from the Rwanda Defence Forces;

-Strict prohibition of military, police and security services involvement in partisan politics;
-Prohibition of the army and security services from carrying out law enforcement functions, other than in exceptional circumstances approved by Parliament;
- Professionalizing the military justice system to ensure that judges are independent, have the professional capacity to administer the law and that they respect fundamental human rights in performing their functions; providing for appeals to civilian courts for serious cases tried by military courts, to ensure the military does not cover-up human rights violations by its members; and abolishing military jurisdiction over civilians;

-Reduction of the army to a size that the country can afford and is commensurate with rational security and defense needs;

- Establishing Parliamentary control over the declaration of war.

STRATEGY 7: Opening Space for Political Participation and Good Governance.

The Rwanda National Congress advocates and supports a variety of measures to liberalize citizen’s participation in politics, including the following:

-Review of laws that limit the freedom of political parties to register and to function freely and without fear of repression;

-Fostering the development of a vibrant, independent, diverse, and responsible civil society, especially including independent human rights organizations and an independent media;

- Establishing mechanisms to ensure free and fair elections, including an independent and inclusive national electoral commission, and to ensure the independent exercise of political party financing

STRATEGY 8: A Democracy with Rwandan Characteristics- Adoption of Consociationalism as Rwanda’s Form of Organization of Political Governance.

Rwanda has long been a deeply-divided society. The violence (and particularly the genocide) that the country experienced over the past 20 years has sharpened cleavages in Rwandan society. One of the major and most significant fault lines in Rwandan society is ethnicity and regionalism. Despite the government’s assertion that the country has made or has achieved substantial progress towards reconciliation, Rwandan society today remains deeply divided along lines of ethnic and regional identity. There is a general consensus that the major factors that drive this conflict between the country’s two major communities include contests over the question of political participation, access to political power and access to important resources. As a result, Rwanda must find peaceful mechanisms to manage conflict over these issues if it is to avoid cyclical war and bloodshed.

One method of organizing governance in deeply divided societies (characterized by identity-related cleavages, such as conflicts based on ethnicity, religion or linguistic differences) is to deal with these societal splits at the political level through consociational power-sharing. Consociationalism is a form of democracy which seeks to regulate the sharing of power in a state that comprises diverse societies (distinct ethnic, religious, political, national or linguistic groups) by extending and allocating collective rights to these groups. Consociational democracy is characterized by decision-making processes that take into account as broad a range of opinions as possible, as opposed to systems where vote-winning majorities can potentially ignore minority opinions.

Consociationalism stands in contrast to the concept of “majoritarian democracy.”
Majoritarian systems call for the integration of minority groups and the distribution of individual rights only. However, the consociationalist approach consists of accommodating minorities and by granting them collective rights. Consociational democracy would help diverse Rwandan identities feel represented and safe while at the same time building a national identity that transcends ethnicity, regionalism or other identity.

The RNC believes that the ultimate objective in Rwandan society should be to develop a single cohesive national identity based on common and equal citizenship for every citizen of the nation. The RNC recognizes – given the history of violence, repression, exclusion and marginalization that the different groups have been subject to at one time or another – it is not possible to eliminate citizens‟ sense of identity and fear of victimization by “the other community” in the short run. It is necessary to provide adequate guarantees to the Tutsi community that democratically-elected governments in the future will not again succeed in organizing genocide against them.

The RNC further proposes that Rwanda must avoid conflict by adopting a consociational form of distribution of political power in all political, military and security institutions of the country. All communities must enjoy the opportunity to participate effectively in the management of the state and to protect their fundamental rights and interests.

As such, the Rwanda National Congress believes:

-All communities should have the opportunity to participate in the management of the state as Rwanda gradually develops a national identity that transcends ethnicity
– There must immediately begin an orientation towards building consensus rather than mutual exclusion;

-Rwanda must embrace open, transparent and accountable government, civil society, and a thriving and entrepreneurial private sector;

– The rule of law permeates all aspects of society;

– Effective and efficient institutions must be created forthwith that respond to the needs and aspirations of all communities in an inclusive and democratic way.

STRATEGY 9: Economic Empowerment and Development.

Post-genocide Rwanda has had notable achievements in economic reconstruction. Nevertheless, the country still faces significant economic challenges. Rwanda today is kept economically afloat by foreign aid. President Kagame takes pride and gives priority to investments in conspicuous projects, mostly in Kigali, while rural areas remain mired in poverty. Disparities between the rich and poor are growing. Rwanda’s economic life is dominated by the state and the ruling party. Private enterprises and entrepreneurship are stifled by unequal access to business opportunities, financing and credit.

Meanwhile, the phenomenal rise of the RPF as a business conglomerate over the last several years has been driven, in part, by illegal and/or criminal transfers of money and other assets (including privatized state-owned enterprises) from the government and the Democratic republic of Congo to corporations owned by the RPF. The illegal transfers of government assets to the RPF has been facilitated, in part, by donor agencies that provided their development assistance through budget support, making it easier for the RPF to use government resources for its own business purposes. The system has also allowed President Kagame to use informal security networks to harass, silence or kill his opponents at home and abroad.

The Rwanda National Congress will support and promote economic policies based on equity and growth. The RNC will support economic policies that aim to promote economic growth, rather than simply redistribute scarce resources among a privileged few as is now the case. The RNC will promote and support policies and programs for:

- Redefining the role of government to create stable macro-economic conditions conducive to trade and investment;

- Investing in rural agricultural transformation to provide jobs and income, especially to the millions of women and unemployed youth;

- Investing in science, technology, entrepreneurship and innovation to meet many of the unmet and under-met social, economic and business needs;

- Building the capacity of Rwanda’s industries and businesses to add value and trade nationally, regionally and globally;

- Consolidating and establishing platforms for collaborating, creating and sharing knowledge and skills in government, private sector, and the non-governmental sector;
- Reducing the role of the RPF and other political parties in the economy, and ensuring fairness in access to business opportunities, financing and credit;
- Promoting climate-smart, environmentally-friendly “green” actions to make Rwanda’s path to social and economic development sustainable;

- Mobilizing, developing and deploying Rwanda’s managerial and leadership talent and other human resources within Rwanda and the Diaspora towards national, regional, African and global development

STRATEGY 10: Truth-Telling, Justice and Memory.

Rwanda has experienced violence involving horrendous human rights abuses, including genocide, since 1959 and particularly, during the early 1990s. In response to this violence, the post-genocide Government of Rwanda undertook what is arguably the most ambitious attempt in human history to bring perpetrators of atrocity to justice. The Government opted to pursue a maximal approach to accountability that aimed to identify and hold accountable each and every person who participated in mass atrocity. Rwanda has used the formal judicial system, Gacaca and international justice to deal with the genocide. These processes of transitional justice should not be an end in themselves.

The success of transitional justice processes, in Rwanda as elsewhere, can only be measured in terms of their lasting impact on the society in which they have been adopted; on whether they have contributed to consolidating the rule of law; and whether they build social cohesion and enhance prospects for long-term peace and development.

The RNC supports truth, justice and memory processes that reflect the experiences of all our people without discrimination. The RNC shares some of the concerns of many Rwandans about the processes of accountability that Rwanda has undertaken. The judicial processes that the government of Rwanda has implemented have had very many shortcomings. The attempt to investigate and prosecute each and every suspected case of genocide, in a situation where the justice system was too weak to cope with the work load, led to violations of the rights of persons accused of genocide and to the denial of fair trial rights.

Rwandan society has yet to openly address the issue of violence that victims in the Hutu community experienced during the conflicts of the 1990s. The trials that both Rwanda and the ICTR have undertaken have not been even-handed; they have dealt exclusively with the genocide and have not addressed the grievances of Hutu victims of human rights violations. Far from expressing remorse and seeking the forgiveness of the victims, most of the perpetrators of the genocide remain in denial. Instead of bringing healing and reconciliation, Gacaca has led to confrontation among victims of the genocide and the rest of their communities. By bringing victims and the rest of their communities into confrontation, Gacaca has served to enhance divisions, rather than unite communities. Victims of the genocide resent the way in which the RPF has exploited the genocide to serve its political interests and goals. The Hutu community largely perceives the transitional justice processes that Rwanda has undertaken as “victors‟ justice.”

As a result of these and other shortcomings, the processes of justice that Rwanda has undertaken have failed to achieve some of their principal objectives: eradicating a culture of impunity for gross human rights abuses; enhancing respect for human rights; promoting the rule of law; facilitating reconciliation; enhancing social cohesion; preventing conflict; and ensuring sustainable peace. The hope that justice would promote reconciliation and bring closure and healing to the victims has not been realized. In fact, Rwandan society remains deeply divided along ethnic lines and, in many ways, is collectively traumatized.

The contributions of Rwanda’s transitional justice processes to national reconciliation have been constrained by a lack of even-handedness in the administration of justice for prior atrocities and the absence of progress in democratization. Impunity for gross human rights violations is still deeply entrenched. Rwanda’s transition to democracy and the rule of law has been unsuccessful. The major causes of Rwanda’s conflict (namely lack of freedom, conflict over political representation and access to power and resources) remain unresolved. Prospects for violent conflict remain high.

The Rwanda National Congress supports accountability for all human rights violations, regardless of the identity of the victims or the identity of the perpetrators of the alleged crime. The RNC also recognizes that it is not possible to investigate and prosecute all crimes that take place in a situation of mass atrocity in which large numbers of ordinary people participate and comply with applicable human rights standards. The RNC seeks, without discrimination, to ensure truth, justice and memory for all victims of the human rights violations that have taken place since 1990.

To this end, the Rwanda National Congress supports:

– The creation of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to establish a historical record of the Rwanda conflict that reflects the experiences of all communities of our nation;

– Criminal prosecutions of persons who bear the greatest responsibility for the most serious human rights violations that have been committed during Rwanda’s conflict since the 1990s;

– Restorative justice processes for the remainder of persons who took part in committing human rights abuses during this period;

– Review of cases of persons who have been tried, convicted and punished by Gacaca or national courts, where there is evidence that the accused have been victims of gross miscarriages of justice;

-The provision of reparations for all victims of serious human rights violations that have been committed during Rwanda’s conflict since 1990s;
– The establishment of museums and monuments, days of remembrance and other ways and means to collectively remember, celebrate and honor all victims of all human rights abuses that have taken place in Rwanda;
– The development of positive expressions of gratitude to past leaders who contributed to the social, economic and political development of a progressive, modern, and democratic Rwanda.

The RNC recommends that the government that will prepare the country for transition to democracy should organize a national dialogue on the aforementioned proposals as a matter of urgency. The RNC also recognizes that the transformation of war-torn, deeply-divided societies with histories of gross human rights abuses, into democratic, peaceful and stable states is a process fraught with difficult challenges. Accountability for past atrocities is a critical component of strategies to facilitate such transformation.

However, justice, whatever its form, must ensure the rule of law and be the insurer of peace and stability. Reform of political governance systems is ultimately more essential to the process of building more cohesive, peaceful and stable societies in the aftermath of mass atrocity. Transitional justice processes are unlikely to achieve their intended objectives if they are not part of a wider process that addresses the root causes of a country’s conflict.

STRATEGY 11: Repatriation and Re-integration of Refugees

The problem of refugees has long been and remains one of the most visible manifestations of poor governance and enduring social cleavages in Rwanda. The problem of refugees is also a major driver of conflict in Rwandan society. The failure of successive governments to organize the voluntary repatriation and peaceful re-integration of significant numbers of refugees has been one of the major causes of violent conflict in Rwanda. The 1990 – 1994 war was partly a result of the unwillingness of the post-colonial governments to address and resolve the problem of Tutsi refugees. In 1994, the fall of the government that carried out the genocide led to an unprecedented exodus of Hutu refugees.

The majority of these refugees have returned to Rwanda. However, a very substantial number of Rwandans who fled the country after 1994 (including most of the middle class that populated Rwanda’s government, business and civil society institutions up to 1994) remain in exile. A substantial number of Rwandans of all identities have fled the country since the RPF assumed power in 1994. While there may be some refugees whose decision to remain in exile is motivated by a desire to evade justice for crimes they may have committed during the genocide, the majority of this group remain in exile on account of legitimate fears of persecution. The factors that account for the unwillingness of these refugees to return to Rwanda include concerns over the absence of democracy and the rule of law; concerns for personal security; fear of political persecution; social and political exclusion; marginalization; and lack of confidence in the country’s judicial system. Citizens of all ethnicities and identities continue to flee the country on account of these pervasive factors.

The return and peaceful re-integration of refugees is essential for the creation of conditions for national reconciliation and harmonious co-existence among the country’s communities. The RNC will promote and support policies to end the problem of Rwandan refugees. The RNC is of the view that conditions for the peaceful return and re-integration of all refugees in Rwandan society do not yet exist. The current Government of Rwanda has colluded with some governments and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to forcefully repatriate some Rwandan refugees against their will. The RNC opposes and will campaign to cease forced repatriation of Rwandan refugees while Rwanda remains a repressive and authoritarian nation.

All repatriations of Rwandan refugees should be voluntary. After the era of dictatorial government, the RNC will work to address the historical root causes of the problem of refugees in Rwandan society, including lack of security, policies of discrimination against certain sectors of Rwandan society, violent persecution of critics and opponents of the government and their families. The RNC also commits itself to ensure that the issues that compel Rwandans to stay in exile shall be addressed and that conditions necessary to give refugees confidence that they can voluntarily return in dignity and freedom shall be established. The RNC will support the successful economic, social and political re-integration of returning refugees.

STRATEGY 12: Unity, Reconciliation and Collective Healing

Rwanda has a long history of violent upheaval and ethnic and region-based cleavages. These cleavages were radicalized by long periods of poor and ineffective governance that included identity-based discrimination. Cleavages between the country’s two major communities reached their worst level as a result of the violence, including the genocide, which the nation experienced during the 1990s. Post-genocide Rwanda has undertaken various initiatives to promote reconciliation in the aftermath of violent conflict, including genocide.
While the current government of Rwanda claims credit for having reconciled Rwandan society, it remains deeply divided along lines of ethnic identity. Several factors have acted as a hindrance to the process of national reconciliation, including:

– Reluctance of the majority of Rwandans to admit to knowledge of the circumstances in which genocide was carried out in their respective communities;
– Unwillingness of perpetrators to express remorse for their crimes;
– Commission of human rights abuses against members of the Hutu community during and after the genocide (including atrocities human rights violations against refugees in the Congo);

– Arbitrary arrests and detentions, extending to many years in most cases, of tens of thousands of genocide suspects;

– Failure or omission of the judicial processes that Rwanda has undertaken to address human rights violations against members of the Hutu community
Prospects for reconciliation have also been undermined by various policies and practices that discriminate against certain sections of the population (including the abolition of French as a national language) and the Rwandese Patriotic Front’s maneuvers to monopolise political power through unfair, undemocratic and often criminal means.

In order to build unity and reconciliation, the RNC will seek to ensure that there is synergy between the strategies mentioned above, notably the establishment of a democratic government, the adoption of consociational democracy, the repatriation and re-integration of refugees and the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission and other forms of accountability for past human rights abuses. To further promote national unity and reconciliation, the Rwandan National Congress will seek to promote the healing of victims of the various human rights violations that have taken place, affected families and communities and the nation as a whole.

Our belief is that every individual, family and community in Rwanda has to some extent suffered trauma as the result of the violence that Rwandan society has experienced. Rwandans are victims, perpetrators or both. All Rwandans need healing for unity and reconciliation to become a reality.

The Rwanda National Congress will also support the following additional policies and programs to promote reconciliation and unity among Rwandans:

-Reform of public sector institutions, including security sector bodies, to ensure fair representation of all communities, especially in management or command levels;
-The re-integration into the armed forced or civilian life of members of armed; groups that have been waging war against the Rwandan state.
-Restoring the French language as an additional national language;
-Public debates and education programs on citizenship, diversity and co-existence, directed especially towards the youth;

- Affirmative action in favour of marginalized groups, such as Batwa.

STRATEGY 13: Progressive Foreign Policy Based on Common Values and Interests, Adherence to International Law, and Mutual Respect Between States.

Rwanda has a deplorable record of relations with the international community, in general, and its neighboring states, in particular. The Rwandan state has fueled endless and deadly conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has engaged in premeditated schemes to destabilize other states in the region. President Kagame’s arrogant and often predatory approach to relations with Rwanda’s neighours has undermined the efforts of the international community to bring peace and stability to the Great Lakes region.

Rwanda’s policies towards its neighbours have also antagonized governments of the region and generated bitter hatred against people of Rwandese descent in some countries. Rwanda owes its disproportionate blame in the Great Lakes region to efforts on the part of the international community to contain Rwanda’s aggressive posture and to dissuade Rwanda from continuing its role of a “spoiler,” ever eager to undermine regional peace, especially in the DRC. Rwanda’s relations with states farther afield lack a principled basis. Its relationship with the West, for example, has been built on the foundation of exploiting the West’s guilt over its failures in relation to the 1994 genocide.

Rwanda’s policies and actions undermine peace and security in the Great Lakes region, as various United Nations reports, including the recent report on mapping of human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of Congo have demonstrated. Rwanda’s utter disregard for international law and the sovereignty of other states, its direct aggression towards neighboring states, its sponsorship of proxy groups to wage war against legitimate governments, and President Kagame’s gratuitous arrogance towards the leaders and peoples of nations in the Great Lakes region fuel instability, conflict and immense suffering in the region. Rwanda’s policies towards neighboring states are also a very significant hindrance to regional economic cooperation, as well as Rwanda’s own security and development needs. As a result of Rwanda’s foreign policies, Rwanda is deeply isolated in the region and its relations with major development partners continue to deteriorate.

Rwanda’s prospects for long-term stability, peace and economic prosperity require an urgent review of the foundations of its relations with the international community. Rwanda’s security and development is best served by peace and stability and good relations with its neighbors. Rwanda’s image as a predatory and aggressive rogue state is detrimental to the long-term interests of nations in the Great Lakes region.

The Rwanda National Congress will endeavor to promote reconciliation and harmonious relations with neighboring states – based on mutual respect and respect of the sovereignty of other states – and peace in the Great Lakes region. The RNC will seek to strengthen regional organizations in which Rwanda is a member and to enhance Rwanda’s positive contributions to promoting regional peace and advancing economic and cultural cooperation between Rwanda and her neighbors. The RNC will support the establishment of relations with the wider international community based on shared values and interests, rather than exploitation of the guilt over the failures of other nations with regard to the 1994 genocide.