Violence briefly flared in north near DR Congo border leaving 33 dead. Armed assailants coming from strongholds of armed group Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR) night of 4-5 Oct attacked Kinigi village in Musanze district in north leaving fourteen dead; security forces who pursued assailants killed nineteen attackers and captured five. Police arrested head of unregistered opposition party FDU-Inkingi, Victoire Ingabire, on suspicion of involvement in Kinigi attacks. Army chiefs of Rwanda, DR Congo (DRC), Burundi, Uganda and Tanzania 24-25 Oct met in DRC to discuss potential joint military operations against armed groups in eastern DRC. In Central African Republic (CAR), President Kagame and CAR President Touadéra 15 Oct signed agreements aimed at strengthening military and economic ties.
One year ago, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was mired in trouble, under serious time constraint because of the firm date by which its work had to be finished.
While a transition government is scheduled to be installed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in June 2003, the program of the United Nations Mission in Congo (MONUC) for voluntary disarmament and demobilisation, repatriation, rehabilitation and reintegration (DDRRR, henceforth DR) of foreign armed groups has remained a failure.
Nine years after the 1994 genocide, Rwanda has reached another crossroads. The transition period defined by the Arusha Accords will be concluded in less than a year by a constitutional referendum and by multi-party elections which should symbolize the successful democratisation of the country.
There are just over five years left for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to complete the mission conferred upon it by the United Nations Security Council in November 1994. The Tribunal is halfway through its mandate, and in the past eighteen months, a number of new trials have begun.
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda were once called the “new breed” of African leaders but hopes that they can deliver peace and prosperity to their countries are being severely shaken.
Ever since the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) came to power in 1994 in the wake of a genocide in which 800,000 people died, its government has mainly been assessed in relation to the way it has faced the legacy of the genocide and maintained stability.
Seeking the leadership of the Francophonie is clearly part of Rwanda's goal for a greater continental and global role.
It’s been essentially the Paul Kagame show [in Rwanda] for the last two decades, and not too many people see that changing.
Testimony by Mark L. Schneider, Senior Vice President, International Crisis Group to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights on “Examining the Role of Rwanda in the DRC Insurgency”.
Originally published in Le Soir
Originally published in The Africa Report
Originally published in The Boston Globe
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