|
The failure of liberation
The liberation of Rwanda, so acclaimed by the ‘patriots’ of
the Rwandan Patriotic Front, has only ever been a slogan which rings hollow when
faced with reality. After this liberation, the Rwandans were massacred with
impunity, died of hunger or fled the country. Amongst the exiles of these last
years there are businessmen crushed by the intolerable burden of taxes and
duties, who flee to countries such as Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Angola and
even Madagascar to seek happiness. This is ‘capital flight’. It is a fight for
the life which their own country can no longer offer them. Such a shame! The
great hope in the spirits of the Tutsis of the diaspora and of the interior, and
of the moderate, democrat Hutus, was replaced at the moment of victory by
deception, doubt and today’s silent revolt.
The process of democratisation began in 1990. Negotiations
following the war centred on the division of power between the Rwandan
government and the FPR, the fundamental law which resulted and all the
fundamentals for a durable peace have today been swept away with the, oh so
touching, excuse of having stopped the genocide.
As a refugee and victim of this crime, I cannot comprehend
how this can always be the justification for all the crises, the lack of faith,
the incompetence and the other flagrant weaknesses attributable to the FPR.
A deceptive Power
The Rwandan people were deceived by the FPR who promised them
a democracy but which quickly turned to dictatorship.
The tradition of democracy that is the foundation of the
abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of the Republic, is attacked
from within by incomprehensible regulations of a Stalinist nature, and eaten
away by the destructive virus of base political, material and partisan
interests.
From all the evidence, the feeling which currently dominates
the vast, silent Rwandan majority, ground down by terror and the fear of
disappearance, is that the process of democratisation, begun in 1990 and
accepted by the Arusha Peace agreement in August 1993, has been emptied of all
its content to be replaced by a one party system, the FPR. The FPR is disguised
under the ‘Forum of Parties’ and the current Kigali regime wants to make this
constitutional to prevent any form of organisation of political expression
outside this.
It follows that the change, so longed for by the people since
1990, cannot be strangled by egotistical manoeuvrings without, yet again,
dangerously mortgaging the future of the Rwandans. This communising system of
the past, imposed at the price of crimes committed in silence, is heavy with
consequences. One must measure the long-term damage to agree the need to
democratise national political life. This route requires courage and sacrifices
by the current power holders, but in reality it is the only remedy for the evils
from which our country suffers.
The Rwandans want to get rid of an obscure system imposed by
the regime that rose from the ashes of violence and not from a peaceful
changeover of parties. They want freedom to express themselves, freedom to
belong to a political party of their choice, freedom to act, move around and
think. In other words, they want the basics of fundamental law, the adoption of
democratic liberties and the definite rejection of a single party, however
disguised or veiled.
The fundamental question today is not to know, yes or no, if
there was a genocide in Rwanda, a civil war, interethnic massacres or a war
between the FPR and the RDC under the pretext of fighting the genocidaires. The
Rwandan people who suffer all these ills have the right to hope for better
tomorrows, to await appropriate solutions to their multiple sufferings. The
people want to shake themselves free of it rapidly and with dignity.
Now the fundamental question is to consolidate our basics of
the democratic purpose and to know if the workings of the political system, the
national institutions, the organisation and conduct of political, social and
economic matters, obey the rules and fundamental principles of democratic
management. Democratic management, so hoped for by the Rwandans in the respect
of rights and duties of each citizen, is embodied by national and international
instruments to protect the rights of the human being.
A deluded international community
I consider that everything which happened in Rwanda since
1994 could not have been done by the current regime without the suggestion of,
or even covert interference by, the international community. The latter
unfortunately had no thought of insisting, at an opportune moment, on either
true democracy or service to the nation by the regime. The country is run as the
personal property of the president of the Republic who appoints and dismisses
ministers, MPs, governors and other senior state officials at a whim. This state
of affairs is unacceptable. A change for democracy and in the method of
government is absolutely essential.
One should not delude oneself. The lobbying by democratic
countries of the international community even now makes use of regimes with
military power but little popularity in this region to guarantee their interests
in the Great Lakes region. The same countries close their eyes to the abuse of
democracy, its use of intolerance, exclusion, of terror and of deliberate,
repeated violations of Human Rights.
I am not the only one to note this indifference. The people
of Rwanda, Congo and Burundi do not understand why certain democratic countries
support these oligarchic and autocratic regimes. Democratic futures are always
interrupted by the memories of bloody events (Rwanda 1990, Burundi 1993, RDC in
1996 and 1998) and by intimidation from the current regimes.
Today the democratic countries which support the Rwandan
regime should take responsibility and lead the leaders into the path of respect
for the democratic process, instead of encouraging them to follow their
nefarious ‘single party’ policy and financing almost communist style elections.
Without a clear position on their part with respect to the current situation,
Rwandan citizens will stay under the yoke of a contented oligarchy, guaranteed
to remain in power by putting itself at the service of the great powers to the
detriment of the Rwandan people.
Pressure must be exerted to stop the current dangerous drift
towards the imposition of a truncated version of democracy through a
constitution tailored to the current power holders. Noone can remain unaware
that the democratic and constitutional DIY which is taking place can lead us
only to mounting frustration and to multiple consequences for the future.
A Hegemonic and dictatorial power
How can one understand the criticisms addressed previously to
the MRND, the sole party before 1990, if one ignores the criticisms that should
be levelled at the FPR, currently the sole party, because of its undemocratic
force which it uses against the people in order to retain power.
Some will say plainly that the FPR’s regime is worse than
that of the MRND. I too believe it and in saying this I only repeat out loud
what many Rwandans whisper because I feel so disappointed. I often wonder if we
all consented, without exception, to so many human sacrifices only to live other
nightmares: intolerance, chaos, war, oligarchic power, dictatorship, injustice,
hypocrisy, terror, treachery, exclusion and political cronyism.
Like many Rwandans, I note with consternation the emergence
of a republican monarchy which is being built on the corpses of my countrymen,
both Hutu and Tutsi, my friends, my brothers and neighbours. And this to satisfy
the interests of an oligarchy with no plan other than to destroy all those who
contest their power.
To want to install a strong hegemonic power, to want to
impose one’s erroneous, if not dictatorial, politics on the sole pretext of
having stopped the genocide (and how!), to want above all to do it in the
current climate where we all aspire to a change in the Stalinist policies stuck
onto democratic politics, is totally unacceptable. Obviously if power takes an
illegal route it must one day be stopped by public rejection.
|
Politics