Rwanda's dodgy politics of grenade attacks and genocide

The writer, Jean Paul Kimonyo makes the case that Rwanda has only had "plural politics" for two brief periods in its history, and both times it "led to mass killings."

Ergo too much liberal democracy killed Rwanda's Tutsis, so lets not have too much of that again.

Kimonyo adds for good measure a big reason for the slaughter were  "political parties and independent media". In his view, political parties and all media were as complicit as the  radio stations which spewed hate and politicians who whipped up passions that led to the 1994  genocide.

His conclusion, York tells us, is that Rwanda should suppress political parties, and tightly control independent media during its elections, 16 years since the genocide.

'Democracy - or "confrontational politics," as Kimonyo prefers to call it - would "almost certainly lead to renewed violence,"' York writes.

In the Huffington Post on March 8 Kimonyo wrote:

On the political front, change has been as dramatic but daunting challenges remain. How to reconcile the need for establishing a thriving democracy with a total genocide executed primarily by the population itself and the fact that the two short periods of plural politics, between 1957-1963 and 1991-1994 have both led to mass killings with political parties and independent media playing a big role in that violence.

York's focus is on the direct impact this is having on Rwanda's media and his insights are  can be read below, along with a link to Kimonyo's original article.

"This is a very convenient argument for those who are currently in power. But what about everyone else? Opposition political parties are already finding it almost impossible to get registered for the August election. Independent journalists are harassed and threatened.

In Kigali recently, I had an interesting chat with Didas Gasana, editor-in-chief of an independent weekly newspaper called Umuseso - one of the few sources of independent information in Rwanda.

Mr. Gasana (pictured below) has been a target of the authorities for years. Twice he has been prosecuted for "criminal defamation" for his investigative articles about corruption and wrongdoing. He was forced into exile for a year in 2005 after police warned that he could be killed for what he was reporting in his newspaper. A government media council has recommended the banning of his newspaper. Even now he gets anonymous calls from people accusing him of working for "negative forces" - code words for the armed rebels in neighbouring Congo, and a veiled threat that he could be killed.

Didas Gasana, editor in chief of Umuseso, the main independent newspaper in Rwanda, on the street outside his office in Kigali.

Any independent newspaper would struggle for survival in such an environment, but the government has further squeezed Mr. Gasana by prohibiting public agencies from advertising in his newspaper. Only one private company - along with some foreign embassies and organizations - is daring to advertise in the weekly. He estimates that his total advertising revenue is barely $300 a month.

"It's part of a broader pattern of intimidating us, silencing us and suffocating us financially," he says. "I try to shrug it off. But the situation is getting more tense as the election approaches."

In the last election in 2003, President Kagame claimed to have captured the election with nearly 95 per cent of the vote. This year the election will be even more lopsided, Mr. Gasana says. "People are afraid to make themselves heard. We are far from having a free election."

People like Mr. Gasana are crucial to the country's future if Rwandans want to learn the truth about the shadowy events that drive the political agenda here. In recent weeks, Rwanda has been shaken by a series of mysterious grenade blasts and the equally mysterious defection of a former army commander who fled to South Africa. The government was quick to blame the defector for the grenade blasts. But the reporting by Mr. Gasana suggests another possible explanation.

Mr. Gasana was at the scene of the first grenade blast within minutes of the explosion. An eyewitness told him that a man on a motorcycle had flung a grenade and raced on. The witness also noticed a police car parked nearby. Instead of following the motorcycle, the police car drove off in a different direction, the witness told Mr. Gasana.

Although he cannot prove it, he believes there is a possibility that the grenade attacks were orchestrated by state intelligence agencies to justify a crackdown on electoral politics. It's an uncomfortable question, but without the independent media in Rwanda there would be nobody to raise such questions."

Follow York's Africa Diary here 

Kimonyo's Huffington Post piece