Category: News

Rwandan filmmaker Dieu Donne Gahizi Ganza won the BIOMOVIE award which is organised annually in London by United Kingdom’s TV1 and based on environmental themes. The third born in a family of five, Ganza, 26, spared time from his busy schedule to talk to our entertainment writer Diana Mutimura. Below are the excerpts.

Diana : Tell us much about your award ?

Ganza : At first, I was not confident that I would win since for the last 26 years, the award has been won by foreign film producers. But at the back of my mind, I knew that my work was worth it, I’m really overwhelmed to have put my country (Rwanda) and Africa at large on the world map and I intend to sustain the success. 

 A lot of people must be wondering how you climbed all the way up to even compete with renowned filmmakers. Can you share with us the secret or is it that you have long experience in the industry ?

I started my career four years ago after taking a six month course in Kenya and so far, I’ve worked with Jean Claude Uwiringiyimana, a renowned local film producer. I must say that hard work matters a lot, yet creativity is also important for a successful film.

 This is interesting. You are only four years in the profession ; yet you emerge a winner at a global competition. What encouraged you take part in the competition which has in the past disregarded African filmmakers ?

I understand your concern but as I had said earlier, hard-work and creativity are the two most important things for one to thrive in the industry. It is due to this attitude that one of my two films ‘One Day of the Blind Student’ emerged the best in last year’s film festival held at the National University of Rwanda (NUR). This film brought me to the limelight and I started to interact with renowned film producers who have been taking part in the award. Ezeyi was among the filmmakers who effortlessly persuaded me to apply for the BIOMOVIE award. 

 Wow, it seems your work has been yielding success all along. So tell us more about your award winning film which has been recognised for promoting authentic Rwandan practices ?

Creativity matters a lot, look at the title of the film, for instance, Change I Mean It. I had to find a unique aspect that was relevant to the competition’s theme which was environmental conservation and Umuganda ( a monthly communal cleaning) was my favourite since it involves every citizen in cleaning their neighbourhoods as well as planting more trees. At some point, I wished that the same practice should be replicated in other countries too, because if we want to save the world from global warming, we should double our efforts to change the situation.

 What would be your advice to upcoming filmmakers ?

I would like to encourage my fellow producers to always aim higher and they shouldn’t be discouraged by the so called international awards or even big film festivals. I urge them to always take part in the competitions and strive to show their work to the world.

 I imagine entering the competition might have cost you a fortune given the poor returns from films in Rwanda.

What you say is true. The film industry has not yet grown to make us millionaires like our colleagues in the neighbouring countries. I should really thank my sponsors including the National Youth Council which intervened and paid both my air ticket and accommodation in the UK after Nokia pulled out. I also can’t end without thanking the Minister of Lands and Environment together with the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) who facilitated in shooting the award winning film. Surf Survivors, an association of genocide led orphans also supported me financially. I also thank all those who voted for my film especially Rwandans in the Diaspora. 

 

The UN court for Rwanda handed a 30-year prison sentence to former army chief Augustin Bizimungu for his role in the 1994 genocide in which around 800,000 people were killed.

The court on Tuesday also convicted Augustin Ndindiliyimana, the former head of the paramilitary police, of genocide crimes but ordered his release as he had already spent 11 years behind bars since his arrest.

The court ruled that while Bizimungu had complete control over the men he commanded, Ndindiliyimana had only “limited control” over his men after the start of the massacres on April 6, 1994 and was opposed to the killing.

Two senior officers tried alongside the generals were also sentenced on Tuesday.

Major Francois-Xavier Nzuwonemeye, the former commander of the reconnaissance battalion, was handed 20 years in jail for killing as a crime against humanity and murder as a war crime.

His subordinate, captain Innocent Sagahutu, was also sentenced to 20 years.

Bizimungu and Ndindiliyimana are two of the most senior figures to be tried by the Tanzania-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in connection with the genocide.

Ndindiliyimana was arrested in January 2000 in Belgium and Nzuwonemeye the following month in France. Sagahutu was detained in Denmark and Bizimungu in 2002 in Angola.

The case had been effectively adjourned since June 2009 when prosecutors requested life sentences for all four defendants while their defence lawyers asked for their acquittal.

The long-running case is known as the Military II trial.

In the Military I trial, Colonel Theoneste Bagosora, presented by the prosecutor as the brains behind the genocide, was sentenced to life in prison in December 2008, along with two other senior military figures.

Bagosora appealed and the hearing ran from March 30 to April 1, but the appeal verdict has yet to be handed down.

President Paul Kagame has said that low financial capacity should not retard innovative ideas among students, adding that the problem is lack of proper entrepreneurial and developmental skills that matches with the modern society.

The Head of State made the comments yesterday while addressing over 12,000 students and staff of the National University of Rwanda (NUR) at the university stadium in Huye District, Southern Province.

Shortly before addressing the NUR community, President Kagame, officially opened a state-of-the-art ICT laboratory at the University constructed with the support of the Republic of Korea.

Addressing the students, President Kagame said that he was pleased to discuss the role of higher education and its importance to the nation, particularly the contribution of the university community in the transformation of the Rwandan society. He further asked students to work hard since nothing is easy in life.

“Nothing can easily come without working and sweating for it,” he challenged NUR students and staff.

Kagame called upon the students to be innovative and self reliant and capitalise on the newly established ICT laboratory to achieve new and constructive ideas that would help the nation attain sustainable development.

He urged the students to be job creators as the youth of 21st century observing that they should not rely only on their lecturers’ notes ; but should instead engage deeper into research.

The President assured them that the government was behind them adding that it would work closely with the university to meet various challenges. The president said the government considers education as one of the main pillars of development and will continue to invest heavily in the sector.

The Rector of NUR, Prof Silas Lwakabamba, said that the newly inaugurated ICT school would be important in offering ICT courses, adding that it represents a large and Important new resource for staff and students at NUR.

He noted that the structure has 11 laboratories with 400 computers and is the best of its kind in Africa. The facility was equipped at a cost of US$4.7m with the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) donating US$4m.

Prof. Lwakabamba commended the Korean government for the continued support, and added that more projects were yet to come, to expand the University infrastructure much needed.

Prior to his speech, the Head of State had listened to the University’s Guild President Hildebrande Niyomungeri read out the challenges the students at the national university face.

Niyomungeri thanked the president for the visit and further commended the head of state for boosting the bursary for Students Financing Agency of Rwanda (SFAR) sponsored students by 70 percent.

Middle East-based flight operations group Nexus is moving into Africa with plans to establish a flight operations center (FOC) in Kigali. Nexus has just signed a memorandum of understanding for the project with the Rwanda Development Board.

“We are very excited about the new Nexus Africa, since it is the first step in our global expansion and we believe Rwanda to be the perfect place for our inaugural Africa base,” said Nexus chairman, Mohammed Al-Zeer. “Our ultimate aim is to be globally recognized as the leading African provider of flight operations services, employing the best, serving the elite, and being respected by industry leaders. This is just the first step.”

The facility will be built in partnership with the government of Rwanda, which has been working through its Civil Aviation Authority to make the country a regional hub for air transport. The FOC will offer the same level of service Nexus currently offers at its centers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and Manama, Bahrain, catering to both local and international customers.

“We are delighted to welcome Nexus into our country as their services will provide links for travelers all over the world, not just to Rwanda but to the whole of Africa,” said John Gara, CEO of the Rwanda Development Board. “This move is aligned with our vision as well as our initiatives to promote tourism and trade and to also improve aviation safety and security within the entire region.”

Rwanda made headlines in the last decades due to its civil war, which officially ended in 2003. With its current stable political climate and central location, it is an ideal site for the FOC, according to Nexus. A date for commencing construction has not been set.

The son of
a man accused of lying to immigration officials about his participation in the
1994 Rwandan genocide took the stand Monday to testify about their life as
Burundian refugees in Rwanda and his father’s efforts years later to become a
U.S. citizen.

That testimony came as the defence team for Lazare Kobagaya began
laying out its case. The 84-year-old Topeka, Kansas, man is charged with
unlawfully obtaining U.S. citizenship in 2006 and with fraud and misuse of an
alien registration card. The indictment also seeks to revoke his citizenship.

Prosecutors have said the case is the first in the U.S. requiring
proof of genocide. An estimated 500,000 to 800,000 people, mostly ethnic
Tutsis, were killed by Hutu militias in Rwanda between April and July 1994.

Jean Claude Kandagaye testified that his father is a Hutu and his
mother is a Tutsi. Kandagaye told jurors that while he was growing up in
Rwanda, his family was discriminated against because they were Burundian
refugees. As refugees, they could not join political parties, attend public
secondary schools or get some jobs and social services.

Kandagaye told jurors that as a refugee his father was not a
leader in the Rwandan village of Birambo where they lived — a key point as the
defence team tries to counter the government’s allegations that Kobagaya was an
influential community leader who led others during the genocide.

Kandagaye, who filled out an immigration form in 2005 for his
father, is considered a key witness as the defence tries to show jurors that the
elderly Kobagaya did not understand English well and depended on others to
translate documents and help him fill out immigration paperwork.

Earlier Monday, prosecutors rested their case after putting on the
stand the immigration official who interviewed Kobagaya during his citizenship
application in April 2006.

Adjudication officer Jeryl Bean testified that Kobagaya responded
“no” when asked whether he had ever persecuted anyone or ever
committed any crimes for which he was not convicted. Kobagaya also denied ever
giving false information to immigration officials or lying to them to gain
entry into the United States, she testified.

Prosecutors used Bean to attack Kobagaya’s claim that he did not
purposefully misrepresent to immigration officials that he was not living in
Rwanda during the 1994 genocide because he was unfamiliar with the English
language and may have misunderstood that question on the immigration forms.

The defence has argued that it was one of his sons, Kandagaye, who
actually filled out the paperwork because Kobagaya did not speak English at the
time.

However, Bean told jurors that Kobagaya spoke English and that no
interpreter or family member was present during the 2006 interview for his
citizenship.

The National Bank of Rwanda will aim to keep inflation below 7.5 percent this year, lower than a previous estimate of 8 percent, newly appointed Governor Claver Gatete said.

The inflation rate climbed to 5 percent in April from 4.1 percent a month earlier as food and fuel prices increased. Last month, former Governor Francois Kanimba said inflation may reach 8 percent this year. Gatete, who was appointed as Kanimba’s replacement on May 6, said the official estimate is that inflation will reach 7.5 percent by the end of the year.

“We don’t want it to go that far,” he said in an interview after his swearing-in ceremony on May 13 in Kigali, the capital. “We are fighting inflation.”

The National Bank of Rwanda kept its key lending rate unchanged at 6 percent last month, after three reductions in the past year, to help boost lending and support the economy’s expansion. Rwanda’s Finance Ministry has forecast economic growth in the coffee-growing country will slow to 7 percent this year from 7.5 percent in 2010 as poor rains curb agricultural production.

The central bank hasn’t decided whether it will raise interest rates to curb inflation, Gatete said.

Rwanda’s national budget will increase to 1.12 trillion Rwandan francs ($1.85 billion) in the 2011-12 fiscal year, from 984 billion francs a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Finance. The increase has been accounted for in the central bank’s inflation projection, Gatete said. Inflation advance last month largely because of higher food and fuel costs, he said.

While food prices are still rising, the rate of increase has slowed, he said. In April, food prices climbed 6 percent, after jumping 8 percent in the previous month. Higher fuel prices are mainly due to political instability in the Middle East and are beyond the bank’s control, he said. Gasoline prices in Rwanda increased 14 percent between January and April, according to industry regulators.

“We can only control the effects,” Gatete said.

Gatete, a former ambassador to the U.K. and previously a deputy governor at the central bank, replaced Kanimba after his predecessor was named as the new minister of trade.

Gatete said he plans to focus on modernizing communication systems, training staff and improving research capabilities at the bank during his tenure as governor.