New rapes and massacre further expose Museveni, Kagame
Antoine Roger Lokongo
2014-10-03, Issue <
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/issue/696> 696
Ugandan and Rwanda troops are part of the African Union peacekeeping force
that was recently accused of sexual violence against women in Somalia. The
silence from the international community is shocking - but not surprising.
One only needs to look at the activities of presidents Museveni and Kagame
in DR Congo and inside their own countries to understand
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame
had hoped that the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, the genocide committed by
the Israeli army against Palestinian people, the "Boko Haram" crimes against
humanity, the killing of Black people in Ferguson in the United States and
the "Islamist State" in Iraq and Syria. would grab all the headlines to
cover up the mass rapes recently committed in Somalia by Rwandan, Ugandan
and Burundian soldiers serving under the banner of African Union Mission in
Somalia (AMISOM) but trained, fed and paid for by the United States of
America; as well as the recent massacres in Rwanda.
For us Congolese people, when the BBC broke the news on 8 September 2014
based on a [url=
<
http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/09/16/amisom-s-toll-somali-women-and-girls>
Human]
http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/09/16/amisom-s-toll-somali-women-and-girl
s]Human Rights Watch report[/url] that 'Africa Union troops' (that is
Rwandans, Ugandans and Burundians), 'raped Muslim girls in Mogadishu', it
was not a big surprise given the fact that for 13 years, Rwanda and Uganda,
backed by Britain and America have invaded Congo and killed more than 8
million people and used raped as a weapon of war and looted minerals. (The
Wall Street Journal reported on 18 September 2014 that of the 1,300 American
companies which source their minerals from eastern Congo, only four
companies were brave enough face an audit).
What was surprising was the dead silence of the United States of America,
'the leader of the world' when it comes to human rights, the United Nations
and the African Union itself, for reasons that we can understand: Since
1994, the Tutsi have become untouchable despite the fact that they have
committed and are committing the same crimes in Congo, in their own
countries and in Somalia - yet the whole world treats them as victims. How
come the victims of genocide are killing, raping and committing genocide in
other countries with the complicity of the international community yet the
same international community wants us to commemorate the 'Rwanda Genocide
Day'? For how long is the 'international community' and the African Union
going to shield Museveni and Kagame, these two Tutsi brothers, from
accountability for their crimes?
It took the courage of the Christian Science Monitor, after reading the
71-page report which documented 10 cases of rape and sexual assault and 14
cases of sexual exploitation in 2013 and 2014, to challenge the conscience
of the world in an article published on 8 September 2014 and titled:
'African Union forces accused of sexual abuse. Will anyone be held
accountable?'
As if that was not enough, AFP reported on 9/11 that a string of arrests of
prominent Rwandan military figures, some of them close to the central
African nation's inner circle of power, has prompted speculation of a major
political crisis. In fact, last month former presidential guard chief and
serving colonel, Tom Byabagamba, and retired brigadier-general Frank
Rusagara were charged in a Kigali court for inciting rebellion by 'spreading
rumours'. A retired captain, David Kabuye, was also detained.
AFP quoted analysts, critics and experts who all say that the arrests expose
the workings of a paranoid state that is increasingly nervous over the
activities of the dissident Rwanda National Congress (RNC), an exiled
opposition group that includes several former top members of the ruling
Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).
'Any critic is immediately associated with the RNC, even though sometimes
there is no connection,' said Rene Mugenzi, a Rwandan human rights activist
exiled in Britain. He said the latest arrests targeted people seen as 'loose
cannons' who were too outspoken, and that the authorities appeared worried
that the RNC, which includes several former military brass, had managed to
maintain their contacts in the armed forces.
But some analysts said there may be genuine concern about the threat from
the dissident RNC. 'I would not rule out that those arrested are suspected
of links' with the RNC, said the Belgian academic Filip Reyntjens, a fierce
critic of Kagame. He said the RNC was currently the central preoccupation of
the Rwandan government, especially given that a former Rwandan Chief of
Staff and founding member of the RNC, General Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, 'has
kept many contacts in the military, where he was rather popular.' Another
co-founder of the RNC, Rwanda's former intelligence chief Patrick Karegeya
and once a comrade-in-arms of Kagame, was murdered on New Year's Eve in
Johannesburg.
And the purge goes on in Kigali. In fact the President of the Rwandan Senate
Jean Damascene Ntawukuliryayo was forced to resign by President Paul Kagame
according to a report by L'Avenir on 19 September 2014. Reason?
Ntawukuliryayo invited a delegation of Congolese parliamentarians in Kigali
convinced that time has come for Rwanda and Congo to dialogue. Kagame does
not see it that way! So how can we restore peace?
In addition, the Hutu FOUND NOT GUILTY by the International Criminal
Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania, Hutu exonerated by the ICTR
in Arusha, still remain unwanted and undesirable in Rwanda or elsewhere in
the world! For Kagame, whether found not guilty or not, they are still
'genocidists'! When international justice does not lean on the side of
Kagame, he vilifies it. But is Rwanda not currently a non-permanent member
of the UN Security Council? Has Rwanda not been joined by Sam Kutesa from
Uganda as the current president of the 69th session of the United Nations
General Assembly? So why should they not respect the verdict of the a UN
tribunal?
In fact, a Reuters report on 28 September 2014 highlighted the plight of
Justin Mugenzi and others who might also be acquitted soon, who live in
limbo in safe houses in Arusha because they are too scared to go back to
Rwanda, where political rivals now hold sway. According to Reuters, the
plight of Mugenzi and others like him is a setback to years-long efforts to
create a system of international justice by using special courts such as the
ICTR - set up to try those accused of carrying out the Rwandan genocide - or
permanent tribunals with a more general remit such as the Hague-based
International Criminal Court.
Worst of all, the culture of machete, massacres and genocide is still rife
in Rwanda and Burundi. Proof? Up to 40 dead bodies, including some wrapped
in plastic, were discovered by Burundian fisherman in Lake Rweru in July and
August. The identity of the bodies and the circumstances surrounding their
deaths remain unclear. Reuters quoted Burundian authorities on 25 September
2014 as saying that 'there are no indications the bodies are of Burundian
citizens. They say they have asked families living in the area but have not
had reports of any missing individuals.' The head of the criminal
investigation division of the Rwandan police, Theos Badege, repeated
previous statements that the bodies were not Rwandan nationals. As the two
tiny countries traded accusations, the Burundian ambassador to Belgium
spilled the beans and revealed that the 40 bodies were floating from Akagera
River from Rwanda into Lake Rweru which separates Rwanda and Burundi,
suggesting that a slaughter had taken place in Rwanda. President Kagame
requested an explanation from the Burundian government (led by a Hutu) but
the explanation was not forthcoming. So he decided to expel the ambassador
Burundian, according to a report by L'Avenir 16 September 2014.
America's double standard again came to light when the US called on Rwanda
and Burundi to investigate the discovery of up to 40 dead bodies. 'We firmly
believe that these victims deserve to be identified. Their families deserve
to know their fate, and those responsible should be brought to justice,' Jen
Psaki, a spokeswoman for the State Department, said in a statement. The
United States called on the two countries to conduct a 'prompt, thorough,
and impartial and concerted investigation' into the deaths with the
assistance of 'independent, international forensic experts,' she said.
For more than 16 years, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and the so-called rebels
they have masterminded in Congo have killed more 8 million Congolese people.
The United States has never called on them to be brought to justice because
Rwanda and Uganda act as mercenaries for the U.S. in Africa, especially in
the Great Lakes Region of Africa. In fact in 2005, Uganda was found guilty
by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of violating the sovereignty of
the Democratic Republic of Congo, plundering its natural resources and was
responsible for human rights abuses when it sent its troops there. And the
Museveni state has not paid the $10 billion Congo demanded as part of the
court ruling. Rwanda's turn will come.
For Museveni and Kagame using the 1994 genocide as a tramp card does not
bite anymore. Even recently at the 69th UN General Assembly, Museveni, not
long ago nicknamed as the 'Bismarck of the Great Lakes Region of Africa',
devoted a big chunk of his speech on the history of the ancient Kongo
Kingdom, arguing that 'the Kingdom of Kongo covered parts of Northern
Angola, Cabinda, parts of the Republic of Congo and Western parts of the
DRC. As a consequence of the actions of colonialism, that polity declined
and disintegrated. It is only now that the modern countries of that area are
regenerating that portion of Africa'.
The truth of the matter is that Museveni and Kagame have failed in the
macabre and sinister mission Anglo-Saxon powers assigned to them in the
Great Lakes Region of Africa, especially that of balkanizing the Democratic
Republic of Congo. Just recently, the Congolese army and its SADC allied
defeated Rwandan and Ugandan troops in eastern Congo masquerading as M23
rebels and drove them out of there.
* Antoine Roger Lokongo is a Congolese journalist studying for a PhD in
Biejing, China.
Received on Fri Oct 03 2014 - 14:30:16 EDT