By Ambrose Nzeyimana The Rising Continent October 2, 2012 The reference here is of a country called Rwanda and led by President Paul Kagame. With a different leadership, this exercise would be futile for understandable reasons. Some might not be aware of this news, but on 18 October 2012, Rwanda as a new member of the United Nations Security Council, this among the rotating membership of the Council will be confirmed, if nothing opposes its candidacy. However, it will be ironic if the seat to Rwanda is unequivocally approved, considered its persistent responsibility in the ongoing destabilization of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Let’s assume the country gets the aspired membership to the Council despite its non deserving behavior towards DRC. How can it use its new position to further its detrimental policies in the Great Lakes region? Destabilizing factor Before 1990, Rwanda would’ve hardly experienced genocide of the scale seen in 1994. If 800,000 people died during that period, part of the blame should be bared by the current president of Rwanda. Though the country had its own governance flaws, harmonious ethnic policies were gradually and positively changing its society makeup. His Rwandan Patriotic Front of exiled Tutsi mainly from Uganda started a guerrilla war which destroyed existing social harmony between Hutus and Tutsis. Kagame’s decision to shoot down the plane of his predecessor Juvenal Habyarimana sparkled massacres on April 6, 1994. Without US and UK backing, the Rwandan president, working with his Ugandan and Burundian allies, wouldn’t have invaded the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1996 and 1998. They supplied him with military intelligence and logistical assistance directly or through a network of intermediaries. No wonder the Anglo-Saxons achieved what the little Rwanda couldn’t on its own: controlling stream of Congolese minerals through a permanently destabilized country. By joining the UNSC, Rwanda would be part of a club of countries that share an imperialistic vision of the world, with whom it has been working with successfully over the years. It will be for Kigali, an opportunity to contribute closely to shaping that tendency, not anymore acting as agent but mainly too as decision maker. Enhanced impunity During the last eighteen years, the role of agent of US and UK in the Great Lakes region has so far enabled Rwanda to benefit from impunity for its criminal and persistent presence in DRC under different names. In recent months, with particularly the rise of the Congolese rebel movement M23, there has been a view among backers of Kigali that dialogue between Rwanda and DRC could bring peace. They know well it won’t. And that is why they push for it. They are aware that addressing the root causes of the issues – removing dictatorships in Kigali and Kampala and supporting democracy in the region, would fundamentally change their plans. From experience between Rwanda and DRC, especially during these years where Kagame has been seen by many and for the wrong reasons as the strong man of the region, he has time and again proven to be untrustworthy. With a seat at the UNSC, he could only strengthen his position on untrustworthiness and forcibly and always point at his detractors as the ones in the wrong. With certainly more offenses to come because of the new acquired position, Kagame could benefit from enhanced impunity. Imperialist in its own right “They back me, I back them.” This seems to have been the mantra of Paul Kagame so far. And that has created a “Win/Win” situation. In the process he can even blackmail his backers, like when the UN Mapping report on DRC was published on October 1st, 2010. The Rwandan president supported George Bush in his invasion of Iraq, which was undertaken without the consent of the international community. We remember what came to be of the weapons of mass destruction which were claimed as justification of going to war against Saddam Hussein. Last year, the Rwandan president was equally prompt to get behind NATO in its invasion and destruction of Libyan infrastructures and lives. In recent years Paul Kagame has been behind the majority of rebellions in Eastern Congo against their central government in Kinshasa. His support to M23 has gone unabated despite multiple condemnations from a variety of sources and governments assisting Rwanda. Will Rwanda of Kagame at the United Nations Security Council be another little “imperialist” joining the club, or could it be considered by permanent members as an embarrassment which does not have the required refinement to operate expertly as they do? The death toll in the Great Lakes region since Paul Kagame emergence from the guerrilla wars mounts today to almost 8 millions all nationalities included. What giving a seat to Rwanda at the Security Council will do, can unfortunately be to leverage its position in the commission of acts which led to previous and ongoing tragedies for Rwandans andCongolese particularly.