Rwanda remembers, quarter of a century after genocide

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Written by northsouth

Category: Africa

Published: 06 April 2019

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KIGALI - Rwanda on Sunday commemorates the 25th anniversary of the genocide in which at least 800,000 mainly Tutsi people were beaten, hacked and shot to death in a hundred days of slaughter.

A quarter of a century on, the country has recovered economically but the trauma casts a long and dark shadow over the country.

On Sunday, as has become the tradition every April 7, the day the genocide began, President Paul Kagame will light a remembrance flame in the capital at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, where more than 250,000 victims are said to be buried.

It marks the beginning of a week of commemoration activities, and the start of a hundred days of national mourning.

In the afternoon on Sunday, Kagame, who led the rebels that chased the genocidal killers out of Rwanda and has been in power ever since, leads memorial commemorations at a ceremony at Kigali's main football stadium.

The Amahoro National Stadium —"peace" in Rwanda's Kinyarwanda language—was used during the genocide by the UN to protect thousands of Tutsis from the massacres on the streets outside.

The Hutu forces, members of the old army and militia forces called the "Interahamwe", had been cheered on by blood-curdling anti-Tutsi propaganda that began on April 7 1994, the day after the assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu.

Kagame, then 36, was a rebel general when he led the mainly Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) into Kigali on July 4, and drove Hutu extremists out of the country.

Rwanda has changed nearly beyond all recognition since then.

But Kagame's rule has been at the helm of his nation ever since, steering the small, landlocked nation through economic recovery.

Growth in 2018 was a heady 7.2 percent, according to the African Development Bank (AfDB).

This boom has been largely boosted by the help received from an international community pained by its failures to stop the genocide.

"In 25 years, the things that we've been able to accomplish are really extraordinary," said Bruce Muringira, a 24-year old working for an advertising agency, and who like nearly two-thirds of Rwanda's 12 million people, was born after the genocide.

"I think we've evolved very much in such a short time."

Huge challenges remain, but the people are hopeful.

"We still see today that it is not perfect," Muringira said.

"But we're putting in the effort to find a way to live harmoniously."

For a people left divided by the bloodiest of legacies, reconciliation has been key.

Rwanda has banned any reference to ethnicity in public life.

It has prioritised justice for the genocidal killers, especially through the mass actions of the community courts, known as "gacaca", in a bid to rebuild relations between communities.

But the wounds of the tragedy have not all not healed. The reconciliation is far from perfect.

For families of victims, forgiveness remains difficult, when the bodies of their loved ones have not been found, and when many killers still evade justice.

Kagame is credited with overseeing rapid economic development in Rwanda after the genocide.

His successes earned him the status of model leader.

However in time, his iron-fisted rule—seen as needed to impose order from chaos—gained many critics.

Kagame's leadership was seen by those in the West as flouting freedom of expression and muzzling opposition.

Opposition to Kagame was silenced, or driven into exile.

He was re-elected for a new seven-year term in August 2017 with nearly 99 per cent of the vote.

Constitutional reforms adopted by referendum in 2015 would potentially allow him to stay in power until 2034.

But times might be changing, a bit.

Kagame, now 61, has been seen to be loosening control somewhat, perhaps aware of the questions about what will happen when he, someday, leaves power.

Some jailed opposition leaders have been released.

"Kagame sees it as prudent to shed off his old narrative of being autocratic and overly intolerant to opposition," said one Rwandan political commentator who asked not to be named.

"Don't forget that as time goes by, he is becoming more cognizant of which legacy he wants to leave behind."

Frank Habineza's Green Democratic Party, became the first opposition party to enter parliament last year, winning two seats in elections.

"I think the ruling party is no longer overly intolerant to opposing views. Over a period of time they have started listening to our views. Our manifestos have been now considered in government projects, not as before when they were ignored."

Several African leaders are expected at the ceremony, while former colonial ruler Belgium is sending Prime Minister Charles Michel.

But French President Emmanuel Macron is not attending, citing scheduling problems.

France, which Rwanda accuses of being complicit in the genocide, is sending Herve Berville, a 29-year old Rwandan-born member of parliament in Paris.

Perhaps most conspicuous by his absence will be former ally Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

Kigali now accuses Uganda of sheltering Rwandan rebels on its soil.

South Africa xenophobic attacks escalate

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Written by northsouth

Category: Africa

Published: 01 April 2019

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PRETORIA - South Africa's Minister of International Relations, Lindiwe Sisulu, will meet ambassadors from several African countries today to discuss a recent spate of attacks against foreigners in the city of Durban.

The talks come after dozens of people - many from Malawi - were forced from their homes by angry mobs that have also looted shops.

South Africa's unemployment rate has reached more than 27% and many people take out their anger on foreign workers, accusing them of stealing their jobs.

It's a key issue ahead of May's election. The opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) says the governing African National Congress' (ANC) policy has failed - with corruption, porous borders and a vast number of undocumented foreign nationals.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni recently spoke of the need to attract highly skilled people and said narrow nationalism led to economic stagnation.

But many more jobs need to be created to help reduce the xenophobia in South Africa.

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has condemned the latest spate of xenophobic attacks in the country and called on security agencies to arrest perpetrators.

He said the violence, which mostly targeted Malawian and other African nationals, in KwaZulu-Natal was regrettable, "particularly on the eve of Freedom Month" marking 25 years since the country's first democratic elections.

Last week, dozens of people were forced from their homes by angry mobs who also looted shops.

President Ramaphosa said in a statement: "Today, our economy and society benefits from our extensive trade and investment relations with partners on our continent and many of our continental compatriots live in South Africa where they are making important contributions to the development of our country.
Today, our economy and society benefits from our extensive trade and investment relations with partners on our continent and many of our continental compatriots live in South Africa where they are making important contributions to the development of our country.

"African development depends on the increased movement of people, goods and services between different countries for all of us to benefit. We will not allow criminals to set back these processes. African development depends on the increased movement of people, goods and services between different countries for all of us to benefit. We will not allow criminals to set back these processes.”

Mr Ramaphosa said he welcomed Monday's meeting between South Africa's Minister of International Relations Lindiwe Sisulu and ambassadors from several African countries today to discuss the violence.

South Africa's Police Minister Bheki Cele will accompany his International Relations counterpart Lindiwe Sisulu to a crisis meeting with African diplomats later today to discuss the wave of anti-foreigner attacks in the coastal city of Durban, reports the BBC's Milton Nkosi from the commercial capital, Johannesburg.

The attacks are embarrassing for South Africa, as other African states gave refuge to many South Africans during white-minority rule, he adds.

At least two people were killed and more than 100 were displaced in the violence last week, police said.

South Africa's firebrand opposition leader Julius Malema has condemned the spate of attacks on African migrants in the coastal city of Durban, telling his supports: "There is no foreigner that took your jobs. If you fail in business, do not blame other people."

Mr Malema - the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) - took a tough line against xenophobia while on the campaign trail in the North West and Free State provinces ahead of a general election on 8 May.

"I know you call foreign nationals derogatory names, but they are Africans like yourself," Mr Malema said.

"From Cape to Cairo, Morocco to Madagascar. African unity is key," he added.(FA)

About 1.85m people affected by cyclone in Mozambique: UN

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Written by northsouth

Category: Africa

Published: 26 March 2019

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BEIRA, Mozambique - About 1.85 million people have now been affected by Cyclone Idai and its aftermath in Mozambique alone, U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA said on Tuesday, as aid workers raced to fathom the scale of the disaster and determine what help is most urgently needed.

“Some will be in critical, life threatening situations. Some will sadly have lost their livelihoods, which whilst an appalling tragedy is not immediately life threatening,” OCHA coordinator Sebastian Rhodes Stampa said.

Idai flattened homes and provoked widespread flooding when it made landfall near the Mozambique port city of Beira on March 14. It then ripped through neighboring Zimbabwe and Malawi.

At least 686 people have been killed by the storm and its aftermath across the three countries, a figure that could rise as relief workers prepare for what they say are inevitable outbreaks of diseases including malaria and cholera.

Mozambique remains the hardest hit by the humanitarian crisis with tens of thousands of homes destroyed and hundreds of thousands displaced across an area of some 3,000 square km - roughly the size of Luxembourg.

“We can determine the size, we can’t determine the circumstance. So we’re now going out on the ground, dropping people off from helicopters to determine what the critical needs are,” Stampa said.