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| The White House Peace Vigil |
By Frank Samvura
Gicumbi District
Northern Province
Rwanda
Gicumbi District
Northern Province
Rwanda
21st January 2014
The Gospel of Saint
Matthew, Chapter 26, Verse 52, says “Put
your sword back in its place”, Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword
will die by the sword” (New International Version).
Let’s go back and look carefully at the circumstances that led Jesus to instruct Peter to put his sword back in its place (“subiza inkota mu rwubati”). Jesus had just been arrested by a group, which was armed with swords and clubs, sent by the chief priests. The time to suffer his passion had come. One of his disciples, Peter, did what a good bodyguard would do. He tried to defend his Master, Jesus Christ, and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. But Jesus told Peter that instead of fighting, he should stop and let God’s will be done according to what has been written by the prophets. Jesus had the power to destroy the enemy. But he chose not to. He let it happen and was crucified to fulfil the Scriptures.
Paul Kagame, the current ruler of Rwanda, has the power to save the lives of the people of Rwanda. Instead, he uses his power and authority to hunt them down, one by one. He recently confessed in public to the killing of Patrick Karegeya, his once close confidant (inshuti magara). He killed the man who would have taken care of his family the day he will no longer be on this planet. This is a very bad thing in the Rwandan culture “yatatiye igihango or yarahemutse”.
The “prophet” Léon Mugesera is in jail today for predicting things that ended up occurring. He had no control over the events that followed his speech in Kabaya in 1992 and was not even there when it happened. But he said that Tutsis would be sent back to Abyssinia via the Nyabarongo River. Indeed, hundreds of corpses were seen floating down the Kagera River for nearly six months after April 6, 1994. Unlike Léon Mugesera, Paul Kagame controls events that follow his clumsy and wicked utterances. If Léon Mugesera could be arrested in Canada and be extradited to Rwanda to face genocide charges that he did not commit but only predicted, why would Paul Kagame be still at large after confessing to the killing of innocent people?
At the Amahoro Stadium, Paul Kagame said that French troops prevented him from killing the people who fled to Congo (“batumye ntabatura umujinya”). He promised to “grind” those who flee his regime “kubaskya”. That’s exactly what he did when he sent his goons to Nairobi to assassinate Seth Sendashonga, Augustin Bugirimfura and Colonel Théoneste Lizinde. He planned and ordered the shooting down of President Habyarimana’s plane, an event that precipitated the genocide in 1994. Believe it or not, if President Habyarimana and his Burundian counterpart and their high ranking advisors had not perished on that fateful night of April 6, 1994, the genocide and massacres that followed would not have happened. Prosecuting the perpetrators of the genocide without looking closely into the single incident that sparkled it is meaningless. This event will continue to haunt the people of Rwanda for several decades, unless the case is carefully investigated and properly closed.
Like Léon Mugesera,
another Rwandan “prophet”, Rwanda’s Minister of Defence, General James Kabarebe,
recently said that “When you choose to be a dog, you die like a dog, and the cleaners will wipe away the trash so that it does not stink for them”. He was
not only referring to what happened to Col. Patrick Karegeya in South Africa but
also he was predicting what may happen to his boss. Let’s go back and look carefully at the circumstances that led Jesus to instruct Peter to put his sword back in its place (“subiza inkota mu rwubati”). Jesus had just been arrested by a group, which was armed with swords and clubs, sent by the chief priests. The time to suffer his passion had come. One of his disciples, Peter, did what a good bodyguard would do. He tried to defend his Master, Jesus Christ, and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. But Jesus told Peter that instead of fighting, he should stop and let God’s will be done according to what has been written by the prophets. Jesus had the power to destroy the enemy. But he chose not to. He let it happen and was crucified to fulfil the Scriptures.
Paul Kagame, the current ruler of Rwanda, has the power to save the lives of the people of Rwanda. Instead, he uses his power and authority to hunt them down, one by one. He recently confessed in public to the killing of Patrick Karegeya, his once close confidant (inshuti magara). He killed the man who would have taken care of his family the day he will no longer be on this planet. This is a very bad thing in the Rwandan culture “yatatiye igihango or yarahemutse”.
The “prophet” Léon Mugesera is in jail today for predicting things that ended up occurring. He had no control over the events that followed his speech in Kabaya in 1992 and was not even there when it happened. But he said that Tutsis would be sent back to Abyssinia via the Nyabarongo River. Indeed, hundreds of corpses were seen floating down the Kagera River for nearly six months after April 6, 1994. Unlike Léon Mugesera, Paul Kagame controls events that follow his clumsy and wicked utterances. If Léon Mugesera could be arrested in Canada and be extradited to Rwanda to face genocide charges that he did not commit but only predicted, why would Paul Kagame be still at large after confessing to the killing of innocent people?
At the Amahoro Stadium, Paul Kagame said that French troops prevented him from killing the people who fled to Congo (“batumye ntabatura umujinya”). He promised to “grind” those who flee his regime “kubaskya”. That’s exactly what he did when he sent his goons to Nairobi to assassinate Seth Sendashonga, Augustin Bugirimfura and Colonel Théoneste Lizinde. He planned and ordered the shooting down of President Habyarimana’s plane, an event that precipitated the genocide in 1994. Believe it or not, if President Habyarimana and his Burundian counterpart and their high ranking advisors had not perished on that fateful night of April 6, 1994, the genocide and massacres that followed would not have happened. Prosecuting the perpetrators of the genocide without looking closely into the single incident that sparkled it is meaningless. This event will continue to haunt the people of Rwanda for several decades, unless the case is carefully investigated and properly closed.
Paul Kagame is cornered. He has no way out. His options are dwindling day after day. He lives by sword. He has no wisdom to follow the teaching of the Great Book and put his sword back in its place. And yet, he is a regular attendee of the so-called Prayer Breakfasts. There is only one possible outcome remaining. As Jesus Christ said “all who draw the sword will die by the sword”.
Amen.
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