DIRN: President Paul Kagame's Behaviour In Rwandan Parliament Proves He Is Unfit For High Office

- The U.S. State Department's 2014 Rwanda Human Rights Report Underscores Impunity

TORONTO, July 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ - June 25, 2015 will be remembered as a sad day in the history of Rwanda. Speaking in Parliament, Rwandan President Kagame addressed the arrest of General Karenzi Karake at the United Kingdom's London Heathrow Airport on June 20. The arrest was executed under European Warrant provoked by the 2008 Spanish indictment of Rwandan military officials for ordering massacres and the killings of Spanish and other European aid workers between 1997-2000. Kagame called both the Spanish and British authorities as "rubbish" for their respective roles in Karake's arrest.

The President then unleashed his anger at the U.S. Congress' House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, for holding a hearing on May 20 to examine Rwanda's deteriorating human rights record. Kagame described businessman Tribert Rujugiro and David Himbara as "petty criminals and thugs" for allegedly financing and organising the congressional hearing.

Sadly, on the same day Rwanda President was abusing the British, Americans, and fellow Rwandans, the U.S. State Department released its "2014 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices." The Report is further indictment of the Kagame government. According to the Report, "The most important human rights problems in the country were disappearances, government harassment, arrest, and abuse of political opponents, human rights advocates, and individuals perceived to pose a threat to government; disregard for the rule of law among security forces and the judiciary; and restrictions on civil liberties."

Adds the Report: "Other major human rights problems included arbitrary or unlawful killings, torture, harsh conditions in prisons and detention centers, arbitrary arrest, prolonged pretrial detention, and government infringement on citizens' privacy rights."

President Kagame resorts to the old ploy of attacking the messenger and not the message. Kagame should face the reality that he is unfit to govern. A government that is reported to kill, torture, and arbitrarily detain citizens has no redeemable qualities whatsoever. And rather than engineer the scheme of ammending Rwanda's Constitution to enable himself to cling to power for life, Kagame should peacefully exit the political scene to allow fellow Rwandans to move on.

Democracy in Rwanda Now (DIRN) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that promotes democracy, free speech and human rights for Rwandans.

SOURCE Democracy In Rwanda Now

Related Links

Democracyinrwandanow.org

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