Rwandan Strongman Paul Kagame isolated more than ever

By Gasasira

Umuvugizi

October 3, 2012

 

Dictator Kagame .

Umuvugizi can report that the Rwandan strongman Paul Kagame is isolated more than ever due to his latest adventure in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The European Union recently froze new aid to Rwanda because of Kagame’s support to M23 rebels currently threatening to overrun Goma.

The UK is having second thoughts about resuming. Former British aid Andrew Mitchell who un-froze aid to Rwanda on his last day on the job has been exposed to have done so without consulting the rest of government. The new aid Minister Justine Greening is busy cleaning the mess left behind by Kagame’s friend Andrew Mitchell.

Both British Foreign Secretary William Hague, and the Minister for Africa, Mark Simmonds, have questioned the logic in Andrew Mitchell’s restoration of aid to Kagame. So has the Labour Party Opposition Ed Miliband who is pressing the Cameron Government to account for its actions.

In a letter to the Department for International Development (DFID), Michael Ashcroft, a life peer in the British House of Lords, wondered why Britain pours money into the coffers of some of the world’s most brutal regimes. In Rwanda, wrote Ashcroft, “British cash funded an electoral body that prevented President Kagame’s rivals from standing. Such is the desperation to find a country that proves aid works, we continued to lavish money on this unlovely regime even after Scotland Yard warned it sent a hit squad to kill British citizens living in Britain.”

And now this from the Americans. The United States on Monday demanded that Rwanda publicly denounce M23 rebels who have seized swathes of eastern DRC. Americans are increasingly frustrated by their protege Paul Kagame and his role in DRC’s conflicts.

Johnnie Carson, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African affairs, had this to say: “It is not and should not be too much to ask the government of Rwanda to denounce a rebel group that is preying on the lives of people or undermining the stability of a neighbour.”

Strongman Kagame’s usual denials do not appear to be working for him this time around. All eyes are on him – with little or no room to manoeuvre the tight corner in which he has painted himself.