French meddling over

Date: 12th-December 2006
By James Munyaneza
The New Times

The days of France’s interference into the internal affairs of Rwanda are long gone, President Paul Kagame has said. Kagame, who was addressing a press conference yesterday at Village Urugwiro, said the French government has had a history of arrogance and dictating what should be done in some African countries, especially the former French colonies.
“It happened here (in Rwanda) for a long time, but it won’t happen any more,” said Kagame, who lashed out at France’s policy in Africa. He said it was disrespect for some Western leaders to think that they are more conversant with African dynamics than Africans themselves.
He described as “serious insult” previous remarks by French President Jacques Chirac that South African President Thabo Mbeki needed to understand the uniqueness of Ivory Coast at the time Mbeki was trying to broker a peace deal in the West African nation. “I took it as a serious insult. That shows how Chirac and other Western leaders think. It’s a big problem,” the President said.
He said the French government did not only back the 1994 Rwanda Genocide, but is behind the violence in such some African countries such as Ivory Coast, Chad and the Central African Republic. “For the French to fight in Chad and in Central African Republic, I find it ridiculous. Look at a situation like that of Ivory Coast, a country that not so long ago was being praised the world over.
“Why is like that today? Finding the French (soldiers) shooting people on the streets of Abidjan (Ivorian Capital) is a disgrace,” Kagame, a strong critic of France, said.
However, Kagame said African leaders and the continent’s peoples should espouse resistance to the continued meddling into the internal affairs of African countries by some western countries.
“Whereas our development partners constitute one of the problems of Africa, even Africans, ourselves, we are a problem of ourselves. Because we don’t give ourselves dignity, that is why we have leaders put in power by outsiders not by their people,” a visibly irritated Kagame, said.
He added: “Much as the French and other Western countries must change their attitude and start to give Africans the dignity they deserve, we Africans should also been seen to be wanting that change.”
The President said that much is needed to be done by the African Union and individual African nations about the continent’s destiny. “The African Union can and should do more in representing Africa ’s interests. There’s room for improvement,” he said.
Kagame also castigated the recent move by a French magistrate, Jean-Louis Bruguiere and the French government, to seek his prosecution over the April 6 1994 assassination of former president Juvenal Habyarimana.
“The French coming to ask me about the death of some dictator who was presiding over a system that killed its own people....as if I care! Why don’t they ask why I and Rwandans had to take up arms to fight that system?” he asked.
He also laughed off Bruguiere’s indictments for nine Rwandan army officers, saying it was a manifestation of how the French were gambling.
“They are even in a way I think foolish. If they are claiming that RPA (Rwanda Patriotic Army) shot down the plane (that carried Habyarimana), why would they want to try (Chief of State Protocol) Lt. Col.Rose Kabuye, who is sitting behind there? Why want the Kabarebes (Chief of General Staff General), Kayongas (Chief of Land Forces) ... I was the guy in charge (of RPA), why not come for me?” he wondered.
Kagame also said that the role of the French government in the Genocide would be fully brought to light by the Commission of Inquiry that is currently investigating the matter. Speaking on BBC’s Hard Talk programme last week, Kagame said that the current French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin is among the French government officials that backed the genocide which claimed an estimated on million ethnic Tutsis and Hutu moderates. He said Bruguiere was indictable because “he accesses and works with people wanted for Genocide crimes and they cannot be accessed by ICTR (International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda ).”
“How can Bruguiere, a judge deal with criminals who are wanted for Genocide? A person like Niwiragaba. Isn’t Bruguiere himself indictable?” wondered the president. Some of the ‘witnesses’ have distanced themselves from what is attributed to them in the 64-page report. The President praised the solidarity shown by Rwandans of all walks of life both within and outside the country, in the wake of Bruguiere’s “scandalous” report. The reports sparked tens of protests against France by Rwandans at home and in the Diaspora.
And, just last week, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni was in tow, describing France as ‘Africa’s problem which needs an immediate solution’.
Meanwhile, President Kagame described the UK as one of the development partners that have since significantly supported Rwanda in its recovery from the Genocide and in her long-term development programmes. Last week, he was on a state visit to the European nation and he met Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Tony Blair.