Land slide victory expected for Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame

I was recently in Rwanda for three days (from July 19 to July 22, 2010) to cover the President Paul Kagame’s presidential campaigns ahead of the August 10 general election. But from what I gathered on the ground, the man has a fanatical following. The man is just loved by the Rwandans. Contrary to international media reports that he is frustrating his opponents, and that he is oppressing his opponents, the situation is totally different on the ground!!!

Elections will be free and Rwanda will not go Kenyan way-Kagame

By Francis Mureithi

President Paul Kagame says he will not let Rwanda plunge into post election chaos similar to the one witnessed in Kenya 2007.

With less than 16 days left before the Rwandans go to vote, Kagame who heads the ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) has declared to the world that he has no intention of clinging to power incase any of the three opponents trounce him.

Challenging Kagame in the August 10 presidential elections are Jean-Damascene Ntawukuriryayo, the deputy speaker running for the Social Democratic Party, as well as Prosper Higiro, of the Liberal Party and Alvera Mukabaramba from the Party of Progress and Concord.

“If the people of Rwanda decide I should not continue, I will respect their decision 110 percent, take it from me,” Kagame said during a media conference in his Presidential office in Kigali barely hours before he kicked off his three-week official campaign.

“I have no doubt that these elections will be conducted in a free, fair and stable manner. We are going to keep our piece. There will be piece even after elections,” said the humble and easily accessed president.

But chances of any of the three opponents beating Kagame are extremely slim. The opposition is too feeble and hardly seen hunting for votes.

With only days left, no campaign poster of any of the opposition candidates is seen in the entire Kigali. None of the opposition candidates, or agents, was seen or heard campaigning during my three days stay in Kigali.

Kagame, 52 and who has ruled Rwanda since his RPF ended the 1994 genocide by the Hutu majority against his Tutsi minority, is expected to win with a landslide.

At Amahoro national stadium where he launched national campaigns, tens-of-thousands of his jubilant supporters sang and danced, their faces clearly betraying where their loyalty lies.

The almost fanatical support of Kagame was also displayed during his second day of campaigns in Rulindo and Gakenke in northern Rwanda some 50 kilometres from Kigali.

A number of groups, including the American based Human Rights Watch as well as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda Rwandan, rebel group based in the Democratic Republic of Congo have accused President Kagame of running a campaign of terror against his opponents.

But Kagame vehemently denies this claim, accusing foreigners of meddling with Rwanda affairs and attempting to decide for the Rwandese. He blames political detractors for soiling the image of his administration and that of his country.

“People who complain about Rwanda have never been in the country or cared to learn what is happening on the ground,” stated Kagame when asked if he was crumping on opposition.

To him, he has created an environment for the opposition to uplift itself, an opportunity he sees as wasted by those in the opposition.

“My job has not been to create opposition. Maybe one day I will be in the opposition one day, but as long as I am not in opposition, my job is not to create it,” he adds.

On June 14, deputy leader of one the opposition parties, the unregistered Green Party of Rwanda was murdered 8 days ago.

Andre Kagwa Rwisereka's body was found in the early hours on the banks of River Mukura near the border with Burundi, about 1km from where his Toyota pick-up was abandoned.

On June 24, a Rwandan journalist was shot dead by unknown assailants as he returned to his home in Kigali. Jean Leonard Rugambage, was the deputy chief editor of "Umuvugizi" newspaper, which was suspended for six months by the country's statutory Media High Council in April.

Some quarters have linked the death to a story Rugambage published on "Umuvugizi"'s online edition, which alleged that Rwandan security operatives were behind last month’s assassination attempt on exiled former Rwanda Army Chief of Staff Lt. General Kayumba Nyamwasa in South Africa.

Feuding questions from journalists from the East African Community, Kagame denied any involvement of his RPF party in the killings either directly or indirectly.

“What would be the reason to kill somebody from Green Party. He was not even the leader of the party. Why should my government kill a journalist as if there is something I am going to gain from,” said Kagame.

“You will probably not be here is there was such crampness,” states Kagame when asked if his party was muzzling the press.

“Journalist from the region or internationally work comfortably here, yet you claim that there is a clampdown. The country has invested to ensure every citizen has access to information to express themselves freely. Other journalists except Rwandese claim that. People spreading the rumors don’t live here and yet write stories,” says the President.

The President has cited rapid infrastructure development during his presidency, improved health care and peace across Rwanda as the key reasons why the people of Rwanda should vote for his come voting day.

‘There are those self appointed spokesmen who live abroad and create impressions that are non existent. Voters will express their stand on a number of issues. Rwanda has made its commitment, dedication and determination to shape its own future. They feel they own others and want to speak for them,” he says.

Ends/..

COULD UGANDA HAVE PREVENTED THE TERRORIST ATTACKS?

On July 11, Uganda capital Kampala capital rocked by co-ordinated bomb blasts which targeted people gathered to watch the World Cup final. At least 76 people were killed and Somali Islamists Al-Shabab quickly claimed it was responsible for the attacks.
The blasts came two days after a commander with the Somali group, Al-Shabab, called for militants to attack sites in Uganda and Burundi, two nations that contribute troops to the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia.


But what did Uganda’s intelligence units do regarding this vital information that was carried on October 23rd, 2009?

Al-Shabaab: We Will Attack Uganda and Burundi
Islamist rebel group and al-qaeda proxy in Africa, al-shabaab, has threatened to attack the capitals of Burundi and Uganda in retaliation of what they say are attacks by peacekeepers in these countries which killed over 30 people in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. In a statement, Sheikh Ali Mohamed Hussein, a senior al Shabaab commander, said “We shall make their people cry. We’ll attack Bujumbura and Kampala; we will move our fighting to those two cities and we shall destroy them,”
The African Union’s (AU) AMISOM force in the Somali capital is made up of contingents from across Africa; and Burundi and Uganda both have 2,500 peacekeepers taking part in operations there. AIMSOM’s spokesman in Mogadishu, Major Barigye Ba-hoku said “Al Shabaab wants to drag us into their war; they shell us and then they also shell Bakara, then they tell people there it was AMISOM who killed civilians. We know their tactics.” “We do not take their threats lightly,” Ba-hoku said. He also said that “Any attempt to attack Burundi or Uganda will be met with decisive action and will be defeated.
(So is Uganda equal to task?)
*********************************************************
And what is Uganda, Burundi and even Kenya doing regarding the following crucial information? That came to light on July 15, 2010?
Kampala attacks just a beginning , warns Somali Islamist Al Shabaab leader


English.news.cn 2010-07-15 15:29:35

MOGADISHU, July 15 (Xinhua) -- The spiritual leader of the radical Islamist group in Somalia which claimed responsibility for the deadly Sunday twin attacks in the Ugandan capital Kampala on Thursday said the assault was "just a prelude."
In an audio tape posted on website of Islamist group of Al Shabaab, the Emir of the Islamist movement, Sheikh Muqtar Abdelrahman Abu Zubeyr, reiterated the movement's accusation of the African Union (AU) peacekeeping forces in Mogadishu of committing "massacres" against the people in Mogadishu.
Al Shabaab, which is fighting Somali government and AU forces in Mogadishu, claimed responsibility for the twin attacks over the weekend in Kampala which left almost 76 people dead and many more injured. "The incident in Kampala is just a prelude," said the reclusive leader of the Somali militant group that controls much of south- central of the Horn of African nation.
He congratulated the Islamist fighters who carried out the Kampala attack saying they were "honored" to carry out the deadly operation in Kampala. He called the group behind the attacks as "the Salah Nebhan Brigade" after the most senior foreign member of the Al Shabaab.
Nebhan, a Kenyan-born senior Al Qaeda figure, was killed last year after U.S. helicopters strafed a vehicle he was travelling in near the southern Somali town of Barawa. Abu Zubeyr claimed that the AU peacekeeping mission troops in Mogadishu known as AMISOM, of which Uganda and Burundi are the only contributing countries, have committed "worse massacres" in Mogadishu allegedly than the U.S. as well as Ethiopia whose troops withdrew early last year after two year presence in Somalia. "The so-called AMISOM have committed worse massacres in Mogadishu than the ones previously committed by the Ethiopians and the Americans."
The Islamist leader who has never been seen in public since assuming leadership of the movement in 2008 after the death of the former head, vowed to continue avenging against Uganda and Burundi.

Uniting against terrorism across the Sahara

Seven governments in the Sahara-Sahel region are combining efforts to counter terrorist groups, such as Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, which took credit for bombing of the UN headquarters in Algiers in December 2007 (above), an act that claimed the lives of 17 UN personnel. .
Photograph: UN / Evan Schneider
For countries bordering the Sahara Desert, terrorist attacks continue to pose “real threats,” says Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci. The menace, he adds, is compounded by the fact that terrorist groups often have ties with organized crime, including drug and arms traffickers who operate across the region’s remote and poorly controlled frontiers. To face the challenge, Mr. Medelci says, African countries must not only better coordinate their actions against terrorism and crime, but also improve the living conditions of the poorest people.
One sign of growing cooperation against terrorism among governments in the region was a 16 March meeting in Algiers between Mr. Medelci and the foreign ministers of a half dozen other countries — Burkina Faso, Chad, Libya, Mali, Mauritania and Niger — all of which border the Sahara and the semi-desert region to its south known as the Sahel. The following month, the military chiefs of the seven countries also met in Algiers, specifically to coordinate their security actions.
The ministers and generals were spurred on by fresh reminders in recent months of the seriousness of the problem: the seizure of several European and African hostages in Mauritania and Mali, an attack on a military post in Niger that cost the lives of five Nigerien soldiers and an ambush in the Kabylie region of Algeria that killed seven security guards. Most actions have been claimed by Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), known for its dramatic bombing of the UN offices in Algiers in December 2007. Although it is a predominantly Algerian dissident group, it also includes fighters from other countries and operates throughout the region.
Groups using terrorist methods have emerged elsewhere in Africa as well, including in East Africa and Somalia. Recognizing that terrorism has emerged as a continental problem, the African Union (AU) has developed a Plan of Action on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism in Africa. In addition to law enforcement measures, it emphasizes the need for governments to reduce poverty, deprivation and marginalization, which can foster discontent and be used by terrorist groups to recruit followers and justify violence.
In late April, AU Commissioner for Peace and Security Ramtane Lamamra reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to the struggle against terrorism. Noting that AQIM and other groups have seized hostages and demanded money or political concessions for their release, he urged governments to refrain from paying ransoms, as it may encourage yet further kidnappings. Fighting terrorism, Mr. Lamamra said, must include “refusing to cede to the blackmail of terrorist groups.”
The issue of how to deal with hostage-taking has stirred some controversy. A couple weeks before the Algiers meeting, a court in Mali released four suspected AQIM fighters, prompting AQIM to free a French citizen who had earlier been kidnapped in northern Mali. Both Algeria and Mauritania protested the release of the AQIM suspects (two were Algerian and one was Mauritanian).
The Algiers meeting took up the topic. All seven governments agreed to abide by an AU decision in July 2009 to condemn the payment of ransom to terrorist groups, as well as to enforce a December 2009 UN Security Council resolution that criminalizes any payments to listed terrorist individuals and organizations.
The ministers recognized that terrorist activities, especially in conjunction with crossborder trafficking in drugs, arms and persons, are “a threat and a factor of instability for the entire region, and pose an obstacle to socio-economic development.” By acting together, they affirmed, it would be possible to “restore to the Sahelian-Saharan region its role as an area of trade, peace, stability and productive cooperation.”
The ministers agreed on action in a number of specific areas:
Strengthening bilateral and regional cooperation to maintain the region’s peace, security and socio-economic development,
Pursuing programmes for sustainable development to improve people’s living conditions, and especially to ensure the social and economic integration of young people,
Combating terrorism and criminality by winning the support of local populations,
Developing an integrated anti-terrorism approach by governments, regional organizations and the international community,
Bolstering judicial cooperation and the monitoring of illicit financial flows, and
Improving coordination among the military high commands of the seven countries.
In April, the Algerian army launched a major operation against several hundred suspected AQIM fighters in that country. Then on 13 April the military chiefs of the seven countries met in Algiers. According to General Ahmed Gaïd Salah, the Algerian army chief of staff, he and his counterparts agreed to establish a security information coordination centre in Tamanrasset in southern Algeria and to step up joint monitoring of their borders to crack down on terrorists, smugglers and drug traffickers.
By addressing the region’s security challenges, General Salah said, it would make it easier for “our respective political authorities to devote themselves to the task of economic and social development for the benefit of our peoples.”
– Africa Renewal online
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Somali refugees face dangers and obstacles on their flight to safety

2 July 2010
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 2 July 2010, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
Despite the continuing deterioration in Somalia's security and humanitarian environments our latest data is showing that the flow of refugees into most neighbouring countries has decreased considerably compared to the same period last year.
The numbers of arrivals in Yeman and Kenya – countries which have traditionally borne the brunt of the Somali refugee – are down sharply. In Yemen there were 6,660 new arrivals in the first half of this year, compared to 13,801 in the first half of 2009. In Kenya, arrivals have fallen by a third from 44,385 in the first six months of 2009 to 29,848 in the same period this year.
The reasons for this drop are not safer or more stable circumstances. The situation is worsening and everyday violence and human rights abuses in Somalia continue to displace thousands of civilians. We estimate that more than 200,000 Somalis have been forced to leave their homes this year alone – with most becoming displaced internally.
Due to insecurity and a lack of access to many parts of the country, UNHCR and other humanitarian organisations providing aid are facing great difficulties in reaching the millions of needy.
Those who reach safety abroad speak of a dire situation inside the country. According to newly arrived refugees, it is becoming increasingly dangerous and difficult to flee Somalia. Many displaced civilians are effectively trapped inside the country.
Somalis arriving by boat in Yemen have told us that there are now a dozen checkpoints on the road from Mogadishu to the northern port of Bossaso where many of those trying to flee the country board smugglers boats. These checkpoints are manned by different armed groups.
In Kenya, refugees are telling us they have fled insecurity and indiscriminate fighting between government forces and armed militias. They say it has been difficult to reach Kenya as many fear forced recruitment and abuse along the way. Often there is no transport and, when there is, many cannot afford to pay for the trip to the borders. In addition, the rainy season has made some roads impassable. Some of the refugees arriving in Kenya have been walking for days, resting along the way often without any shelter.
The one regional exception in terms of arrivals is Ethiopia, which has received 12,639 Somali refugees in the first half of 2010 compared to 8,411 in the same period in 2009.
There are now almost 600,000 Somali refugees in the region – some 323,000 in Kenya, another 164,000 were registered at reception centres in Yemen on arrival, and 72,000 in Ethiopia. After Afghanistan and Iraq, Somalia is generating the largest number of refugees in the world. In addition, there are more than 1.4 million people who are internally displaced.

DR Congo: Celebrating 50 years of chaos

Page last updated at 08:17 GMT, Wednesday, 30 June 2010 09:17 UK
By Thomas FessyBBC News, Kinshasa First Congolese President Joseph Kasavubu was ousted in 1965
As the Democratic Republic of Congo celebrates 50 years of independence, President Joseph Kabila wants to use the occasion to overturn his country's image of chaos, endless war and bad governance.
A day before the celebrations, workers were still frantically repainting facades on the main boulevard of the capital, Kinshasa, despite starting the job 18 months ago.
A layer of paint will not give us food and salaries
Kinshasa resident
And when one young man, covered in white paint, knocked on my door requesting access to the balcony, he begged for food as he had not eaten all day.
The Belgian King Albert II, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon and other African heads of state in town for the anniversary will probably only see these revamped thoroughfares.
But for most residents of Kinshasa, Africa's third largest city, getting electricity and running water would have been a preferable gesture.
"A layer of paint will not give us food and salaries," one Congolese man said about the preparations.
DR Congo is rich in gold, but much of it has been plundered over the years
Once the personal property of the Belgian king, DR Congo - a vast country two-thirds the size of Western Europe with huge mineral wealth - gained independence from Belgium on the 30 June 1960.
Who will ever forget the massacres where so many of our brothers perished?
Patrice Lumumba Independence fighter
At a ceremony in the Congolese capital, then called Leopoldville, then-King Baudoin said, without a hint of irony: "Congo's independence constitutes the outcome of the work initiated by the genius of Leopold II, undertaken by him with a tenacious courage and continued with perseverance by Belgium."
The Belgian monarch did not expect the new charismatic Congolese Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba, to offer a different view of colonial rule in a speech made on the same day.
"Who will ever forget the massacres where so many of our brothers perished; the cells into which those who refused to submit to a regime of injustice, oppression and exploitation were thrown?" said Mr Lumumba, who was murdered the next year, reportedly with US and Belgian complicity.
Educated elite
Fifty years on, many Congolese are asking whether the years of independence have been any kinder than 80 years of brutal colonial rule.
Lucy Lusumba: "My hair-do is the only event in my life"
In pictures: The DR Congo at 50
Since 1960, DR Congo has only had four presidents - only the first and last democratically elected.
Independence President Joseph Kasavubu was toppled in a coup by then army chief Mobutu Sese Seko in 1965.
Mobutu stayed in power for more than three decades until he was overthrown by rebel leader Laurent-Desire Kabila, who was assassinated in 2001 and his son, Joseph Kabila, took over to lead a peace process and win elections.
Ntanda Nkere, a political scientist at the University of Kinshasa, says education could be seen as one success of the last 50 years, but it has not helped when it comes to leadership.
"When the country became independent, they were only nine people with university degrees. They are probably one million today," he says.
"But there has to be a clear commitment to changing this country. But that commitment is not there yet really," he says.
Eighty-year-old Justin-Marie Mbomboko, who was Congolese foreign minister in 1960, agrees.
"What has destroyed the country is the fact that there's been no political plan for the future," he says.
"Let's talk about mismanagement: Governance is not good. If the country isn't well managed, no matter what regime is in place, the country will fall in ruins."
The army has been accused of human rights abuses
The many ordinary Congolese grumbling about the jubilee put it in starker terms.
"Ever since we gained independence, happiness has only been for those close to the man in charge - they eat well and they are well paid. But a large number of people simply suffer," a street vendor in Kinshasa explains.
A woman nearby selling vegetables says: "It is all negative.
"Nothing works. The authorities don't care about the population, children cannot study properly - even human rights are not respected."
Blame game
The former colonial power acknowledges that it left Congo with pretty much no political arena.
It is very ironic: When we became independent, the UN was there to protect us. We celebrate 50 years of independence and the UN is here to protect us
Professor Ntanda Nkere
"We have to recognise that Belgium did a tremendous job during the colonial period but we haven't produced sufficient elite to run the country," Belgium's Kinshasa ambassador Dominique Struye says.
"But it's also now up to Congo to take up its full responsibility and not always find an excuse in the past not to run their country properly."
The Congolese authorities also say they do not want to play the blame game.
"After 50 years of independence we are adult people. It's not the time to recall what happened during the colonial rule," Foreign Minister Alexis Thambwe Mwamba told the BBC.
"Fifty years later, we cannot say that if things are not going well in Congo, it's the fault of Belgium or of Leopold II," he says.
And both countries hail the occasion as a turning point their difficult relationship. However, tellingly, King Albert II will make no speech, according to Belgian officials.
His visit also sparked controversy in Belgium particularly when prominent Congolese human rights activist Floribert Chebeya was murdered at the beginning of June.
Cha-cha
Analysts say that there has been a growing trend of repression against opposition members and rights activists since elections in 2006.
Mobutu Sese Seko ruled for more than three decades
After independence a UN force was sent to Congo to help maintain law and order after an army mutiny.
Security still remains a major problem in several provinces, especially in the east, the centre of what has been termed Africa's First World War in the late 1990s.
The country now hosts the biggest peacekeeping mission in the world.
Some blue helmets began a symbolic withdrawal this month even though Congolese security forces, blamed for repeated human rights abuses, are not ready to take over.
"It is very ironic: When we became independent, the UN was there to protect us. We celebrate 50 years of independence and the UN is here to protect us," says Prof Nkere.
"What does that reveal? That nothing has been done for the last 50 years."
Back in 1960, rumba singer Joseph Kabasale, sang the famous Independence Cha-cha - a tune known by all Congolese.
"We've gained independence; at last we are free," it said.
Baloji, a young Congolese-Belgian rapper, has recently adapted Kabasale's independence anthem, calling it "The Day After".
Like many Congolese, he is still waiting to taste the benefits of freedom.