Rwanda: A cry baby or a bellicose fudge

While in Dubai, Kagame was asked if the frosty relationship between Uganda and Rwanda would lead to a fight, his response was a coy allusion to the current fray as a family quarrel. The truth is that the two countries are conjoined at the hips and no amount of duplicity can change that simple fact.

So, Kagame was only emphasizing the obvious. However, depending on which family setting he was raised from, and we all know where, he should have realized that if family members fail to resolve a domestic brawl, a neighbor or a respected elder is outsourced to mediate the spat. This explains why the two parties flew to Luanda to pick the mind of the elders.

Kagame is the current chair of the East African Community, he had the opportunity to use his good offices to table the issues to his regional body, but it turns out that he has issues with almost every member state. The mediation is a structured process where all accusations that arise in one meeting are followed by documented facts in the next one.

In the Kigali meeting, it was agreed that Rwanda avails the list of names of the alleged 1,440 detained Rwandese in Uganda in the subsequent Kampala round of talks. This was to be the bedrock of the Kampala meeting. To the consternation of delegates, Rwanda failed to avail the list with a flimsy palliate that giving the names would expose their nationals to a witch-hunt by the Uganda government. The folly here is as plain as snow if you have a list of 1,440 people you want to be “rescued” why not make it hard for the “captors” to deny their presence?

The moment that “list” became the rallying call for the Ugandan delegation, the Rwandese fat lie was deflated and the meeting unceremoniously had to end. This single fickle act, portrays Rwanda as crybabies, seeking to hide the heinous acts of its murderous operatives, but rather depict Uganda as the aggressor.

The Angolan and Congolese facilitators were heart wrenched when the Rwandese delegation that was supposed to arrive in the morning, instead came at 4.50 pm and there was no remorse in the voice of Olivier Nduhungirehe, Rwandan Minister in charge of East African Community (EAC) and head of the delegation that included Patrick Nyamvumba of Internal Affairs, John Busingye of Justice and Prof Anastase Shyaka of Local governments. The time of arrival was a planned sinister move, intended to limit the time for discussions. Rwanda had twice skipped the Kampala meeting citing rickety reasons as they bought time to find a way out after being cornered to avail the “list”, so their coming was not for dialogue but rather a futile attempt to evade the “bad boys” tag.

Why does Rwanda want to portray Uganda as the aggressor in the wake of warming relationship with Congo after the ‘bad” Joseph Kabila has left power and the “good” Etienne Tshieskedi is in reigns. Kigali’s economic survival depends on all the antics it applies to roil the political waters in Eastern Congo, a stable and peaceful Eastern is a well-crafted obituary for a Kigali funeral and Kagame knows it too well.

Rwanda is a small country, that has no enviable resources to talk about but it is one of the leading high-value minerals exporters, the question is, are these minerals manna from heaven? They come from somewhere and that is Eastern Congo. That is why the Rwanda National Congress (RNC) mantra and Uganda as the rear base, gains traction in the propaganda machinery of Kagame. The Kigali armies in DRC are an occupation force, giving cover as a proxy to third parties working on behalf of western powers. These powers cannot directly engage in Eastern DRC; phony companies do the looting while Rwanda is the smiling tax collector. Of course, this does not mean that Rwanda only waits for the loot at the borders but it is an active participant in the thievery and plunder.

Uganda has category stated that the criminal justice system evenly applies to both nationals and foreigners, Rwandese iniquities cannot be waved because one is from Rwanda. All Rwandese found culpable have been subjected to the court process, which Rwanda opposes because some of those nabbed are part of the hit squads deployed to kill and abduct those opposed to Kagame.

The insistence that they should be released without due court process is a travesty of the judicial process. Why not let them go through that process and court exonerates them of wrongdoing. Rwanda is aware of the incriminating evidence that can be adduced against these criminals.

Recently, students of Kampala International University were arrested, the chilling intelligence is that these are part of a subversive cell that forge citizenship papers for Rwandese criminals deployed to carry out assassinations. Such are the type, Kagame wants to be released without question. Kagame is one person who abhors the judicial system, he just kills those opposed to him, so he can’t see the logic of having a suspect subjected to a court process. Most of these people he claims are illegally incarcerated in Uganda would be dead via summary executions if the same charges were preferred against them in Kigali.

His modus operandi is “shoot to kill” any imaginary enemy, this attitude is clearly discernible in the numerous border killings of desperate people starving due to the senseless border closure. How do you kill your people struggling to flee themselves from the pangs of hunger?

The Kampala meeting was destined to fail the moment it emerged that Olivier Nduhungirehe was designated as head of delegation. It should be recalled that as part of the Luanda MoU, it was agreed to allow free movement of nationals of both countries. Nduhungirehe, would the next day state that the travel advisory to Rwandese against traveling to Uganda was still in force, despite the signed peace and security pact. What high-level hypocrisy! He is constantly on social media berating the Luanda Memorandum of Understanding.

After this aborted meeting, the vitriol is awash on Rwanda’s social media, castigating Kampala for the failure of the dialogue. Praising its delegation while haranguing members of the Kampala delegation, a clear show of lack of direction and commitment to solving the impasse. The notion that since the lieutenants have failed, the two principals have to sit and resolve the debacle is just boiling the sea, Kagame has never had the interest to make peace, because a bellicose psyche defines his character.