Guillaume had been in Rwanda under the French-led military operation ‘Operation Turquoise’ under the mandate of the United Nations.
He has, for long, been saying that France supported the genocidal government, but it is the first time to reveal particular massacre that was committed by French soldiers.
On April 7, 2014, twenty years after the genocide against the Tutsi, Guillaume told Jeunafrique’s journalist Mehdi Ba that French soldiers who had been in Opération Turquoise supported the government that committed the genocide in terms of providing weapons which were also used during freeing period to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and reorganization to attack the country.
Guillaume was explaining the content in previous book dubbed ‘Vents sombres sur le lac Kivu’ loosely translated as ‘Dark Winds on Kivu Lake’ which has testimonies of what he witnessed while in Rwanda and his 2500 colleagues since June 1994.
The new book set for launch was dubbed ‘Rwanda, la fin du silence’, ‘The end of the Silence’
The book will be launched next month in the France-based publishing house, ‘Les Belles Lettres’.
Guillaume who was Captain in 1994, says that though ‘Opération Turqouise’ was masqueraded as was targeting to save lives of victims of the genocide and stop it from happening, he says the target was to support the genocidal government and fight the Rwanda Patriotic Army, which was fighting to stop the genocide.
He said that all actions by French Army were masterminded by political interests which are yet to be revealed due to inaccessibility of archives containing all information.
The preface of the book says that there is unrecorded information about the massacre done by French army whether in self-protection acts and organized ones.
In 2014, Guillaume urged France to reveal the truth, if they want to avoid the recurrence of similar mistakes.
Convening for the 15th time, the retreat has attracted over 300 leaders that will discuss a range of issues.
Among the issues to be discussed are the assessment of progress towards sustainable development; foundations for sustainable development; industrial sector development; Urban development, economic development; education as the pillar of knowledge based economy, health services development and Rwanda’s position in Africa and International level.
Speaking to IGIHE, the State Minister in charge of Economic Planning in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN), Dr. Uzziel Ndagijimana said that the retreat comes at a time when stakeholders will be discussing the recently unveiled seven-year government programme.
This is the first retreat since the new cabinet was named following last year’s presidential election.
“When we observe different retreats in the past 14 years, good strides are being made towards implementing resolutions. Last year’s resolutions were implemented remarkably and the report will be discussed in this retreat,” he said.
“This retreat will assess economic development, people’s welfare, governance among others, but measures will be taken to fast-track the implementation of seven-year government programme,” Ndagijimana added.
The retreat will be chaired by President Paul Kagame. The Prime Minister Dr. Eduard Ngirente will present a report on implementation of last year’s retreat resolutions.
The retreat is a tradition in Rwandan culture where leaders convene in a secluded place in order to reflect on issues affecting their communities to get workable solutions.
Miss Iradukunda, 18, representing Western Province replaces Miss Elsa Iradukunda who has been holding the crown for a period of one year.
The Second Runner up is Ursule Irebe Natacha while the First Runner Up is Shanitah Umunyana.
Miss Iradukunda took away a zero Kilometer SUZUKI Baleno car, Rwf800,000 monthly salary and other prizes provided by RwandAir and Sebamed among other sponsors.
Twenty contestants have been in the boot camp in Bugesera Eastern Province during the last two weeks.
{{List of crowned }}
Miss Photogenic: Liliane Iradukunda Miss Congeniality: Liliane Uwase Ndahiro Miss Popularity: Anastasie Umutoniwase Miss Heritage: Lydia Dushimimana Second Runner Up: Natacha Irebe First Runner Up: Shanitah Umunyana
Miss Rwanda: Liliane Iradukunda
Briefing media about Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2017 report on Thursday, TI-Rwanda’s Executive Director, Apollinaire Mupiganyi, hailed media for the unrivalled role in pointing out corruption and sensitising the general public on preventing and fighting graft.
The anti-corruption watchdog’s report released on Wednesday ranked Rwanda as 48th globally with 55 score, reflecting a slight improvement compared to 50th position with 54 score in 2016 but retained best position in East Africa and third tying with Cape Verde in Sub-Saharan Africa which is topped by Botswana followed by Seychelles ranked 34th and 36th,respectively, globally.
Clément Musangabatware, the Deputy-Ombudsman in charge of Preventing and Fighting Corruption, also commended media role and called for concerted efforts from the general public, civil society, public and private institutions to intensify the battle
He listed government’s efforts against corruption including ensuring the recovery of misappropriated funds, digitising services to minimise provider-consumer interaction and tightening laws punishing corruption.
ACP Jean Nepo Mbonyumuvunyi, the Commissioner of Inspectorate of Services and Ethics at Rwanda National Police, also highly recognised media hand in the force’s work against corruption.
{{Journalists cite threats, suggest solutions}}
Despite their role also recognised by Patricia Moreira, the Managing Director of Transparency International, media practitioners and organs told IGIHE on Thursday that they can do even more were the conditions rendered favourable.
Announcing the CPI 2017 findings on Wednesday, Moreira called for increased protection of media and civil society, saying that among the journalists killed in the last six years, one in five was covering a story about corruption.
John Williams Ntwali, an independent journalist carrying experience of 17 years, said there are threats against investigative journalism in Rwanda including limited safety and financial constraints, adding that special mechanisms are needed to protect investigative journalists.
“Investigative journalism is highly risky and corruption is among the issues that are often investigated. Crimes done in the hiding are often shielded by strong powers. People often fear to point out people with extensive authority. We are sometimes forced to drop corruption investigations,” he said.
Ivan Mugisha, an investigative reporter with The East African, said “The major risk to investigative journalism in Rwanda is security. Reporters who try to uncover corruption involving influential politicians or businessmen are sometimes threatened. The second challenge is lack of information. Government institutions are sometimes adamant and refuse to give journalists information despite the existence of a law on access to information.”
Mugisha cited the establishment of Rwanda Media Commission (RMC) as “an important step towards facilitating investigative journalists because now we do not have to worry about jail sentences for writing stories like it was in the past. The other credible step government has taken is to decriminalise defamation.”
Albert Baudouin Twizeyimana, the National Coordinator of Pax Press, a local NGO operating in promoting media professionalism, said there are still security threats against investigative journalism in Rwanda despite good policies fighting corruption, adding that a stronger networking of civil society and media can help encounter the threats.
He also called for government’s special financial support to journalists doing corruption investigation, citing ombudsman office and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning as being in the right position.
Gonzaga Muganwa, the Executive Secretary of Rwanda Journalists Association, said that no journalist has been killed or reported facing threats covering corruption but cites financial constraints and skills gap as serious impediments for investigative journalism.
{{RMC, MHC speak}}
Emmanuel Mugisha, the Executive Secretary of RMC, also said the body has recorded no case of threats against a journalist doing investigation of corruption and called for increased public support to investigative journalism, urging media houses to come up with innovative approaches that can contribute to their financial means.
He also urged journalists to take safety precautions in their work of investigation, noting that investigative journalism carries safety risks everywhere in the world.
Peacemaker Mbungiramihigo, the Executive Secretary of Media High Council (MHC), acknowledged media’s limited financial and skills constraints, saying that MHC is doing the best in capacity building.
“We want to increase training focusing on specialised reporting so that we get professional investigative journalists who can do more in fighting corruption and other crimes. We also ask other concerned institutions to keep increasing media’s financial means,” he said.
He added that MHC has introduced training types that take reporters to a certain area and spend good days getting familiar with the residents, making it easier for citizens to open up and tell reporters about issues like corruption.
For the first time, CPI study examined the relationship between corruption levels and the protection of journalistic freedoms and engagement of civil society. It found that at least nine out of 10 journalists killed in the last six years were in the most corrupt countries scoring 45 and less on CPI.
On average, at least one journalist was killed in a country that is highly corrupt every week.
New Zealand leads the CPI 2017 ranking with 89 scores down from 90 in 2016, followed by Denmark, Finland, Norway and Switzerland.
Rwanda leads the East African region, followed by Tanzania ranked 103th, Kenya 143rd, Uganda 151st and Burundi 157th globally.
The bottom five countries are Somalia with 9 scores, South Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen with 12, 14, 15 and 16 scores respectively.
More than two-thirds of countries scored below 50 per cent while the global average score is 43 on the scale 0 to 100 with zero being the highly corrupt while 100 is for no corruption.
Makuza was speaking yesterday during a dinner in honor of EALA members who have been in the tour around the Northern and Central Corridors and concluded their tour in Rwanda yesterday.
Makuza said that the people of EAC expect the community to succeed and produce real opportunities. He said they want countries to demonstrate tangible commitment to unity and to stay together in order to achieve integration in terms of infrastructures and remove all obstacles and barriers from people to do business, to live and work in the region.
“The treaty for the establishment of the community stipulates that the fundamental principles to govern the achievement of the objectives of the community which include mutual trust, peaceful coexistence and got peaceful settlement of disputes and cooperation from mutual benefits,” he said.
“All fundamental principles of the community require unity; unity must be your starting point as you do the important work of passing bills, overseeing implementation of plans in the vision of the community,” he added.
He thanked members for overcoming the disagreements during the recent elections of the assembly’s speaker.
“I salute the resolution to move beyond disagreements you had in the house. It was a normal democratic debate to have. It was more important to move on and focus on the core mandate of the assembly,” he said
Makuza said that the EAC legislative assembly has the mandate to exercise its power and parliamentary diplomacy as the means to move in the right and positive directions, to ensure service delivery and to assure peaceful relations.
“I’m quite confident that the assessment you have completed today was done for the common good of our region in the interests of our population,” he said.
He recommended EALA members to move from the office and go to see what happening on the field.
“You have the legal authority to see what is happening to the ground, I can say even you have the authority to exercise your powers to oversight our respective governments, it is very important to move from the office and to go and see what is happening on the field and you can bring your contribution in a concrete manner without talking about things that you have not witnessed,” he said.
Bapfakurera has been elected with 137 votes against his contestant Françoise Mubirigi who got 18 votes.
In his manifesto, Bapfakurera pledged to support business development in the country.
“I’m a businessman; I will advocate for you, I will do all my best to develop business in Rwanda. I know everything needed to develop the sector,” he promised.
Eric Gishoma was elected first vice-president, beating Isabelle Uzamukunda while the second Vice-chairperson is Eugenie Mushimiyimana.
The outgoing chairman, Gasamagera commended his team for the commitment which enabled them to successfully perform their responsibilities.
He said that in past three years, PSF is consulted for advice before any business decision is taken; he said that the federation is represented in all corners of the country.
He said that their advocacy led to solving different problems, among them is the waive of taxes on public buses carrying over 30 people and waive of Value Added Tax on exported commodities and services.
He said that PSF encouraged investors to invest in big projects and led to the construction of different big structures in the country.
PSF also has been able to raise the level of self-dependency where today only 33% of the budget comes from funders while in 2013 it was 54%.
“This means that 67% of federation’s budget comes from private investors, federation’s services and organized events,” he said.
In past three years, PSF also conducted a feasibility study where they will construct a new International Trade Fair (Expo) ground at Gahanga Sector in Kicukiro District.
Private investors also attend study tours outside the country, Rwanda Day and international business conferences among others.
Gasamagera urged the new committee to concentrate on new Expo ground, promoting Made in Rwanda and the Federation’s capacity building.
Demonstrations started on 20th February where refugees marched out of the camp in protest over reduced food rations.
However, the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs (MIDIMAR), United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and local leaders urged the refugees to return to their camp as their grievances were being addressed. However, according to Police, these calls were met with strong resistance that turned violent.
“Refugees armed with sharp objects (stones, sticks and metal pieces) began to assault police officers, who then used tear gas to disperse the unacceptable riots and secure the nearby community,” Police said in a tweet.
“When the attacks persisted, we used proportional force that left 20 rioters and 7 Police officers injured. They were rushed to hospital, five rioters unfortunately succumbed to their wounds and 15 arrested for illegal demonstration, taking hostage and inciting violence,” tweet reads.
On Thursday, UNHCR urged the refugees to respect local laws and express grievances through dialogue, while calling on authorities to handle the situation with calm and restraint. Some refugees indicated their desire to return to the DRC, out of desperation.
To date, UNHCR’s 2018 appeal for US$ 98.8 million to support refugees in Rwanda only 2 per cent is funded. WFP warns about potential larger ration cuts if monthly requirements of US$2.5 million are not met. Prolonged ration cuts put at serious risk food security and nutritional needs of refugees, who are dependent on assistance. Rwanda hosts over 173,000 refugees in six camps, including Kiziba, where Congolese refugees have lived for over 20 years.
African countries continue discussions requesting for two permanent seats in UN Security Council and two non-permanent seats.
Speaking Thursday to the members of the press, Kagame said that having seats in the council would not be the case as Africans have so many things to concentrate on towards the development of the continent.
The Head of State held the discussion alongside his Zambian counterpart, Edgar Lungu, shortly after both heads of state held bilateral talks in Kigali.
On realising Africa’s vision Kagame said that his thinking is to do whatever is humanly possible together with other African leaders to bring progress and development in the continent.
“We are so behind as a continent and it’s a shame that Africa has everything it needs to be where we want to be but we are still far from achieving that,” he said.
On Africa having a permanent seat in Security Council Kagame said “it should have been the case but as we know things don’t work the way we want. There are ongoing discussions as to how the council can be reformed and part of that being inclusion of the African voice,” he said.
“What is important is to know that certain seats are permanently for Africa and how to rotate them depends on us,” he added.
Speaking about Rwandan refugees in Zambia and cessation clause, Kagame said that the whole idea is not to make a refugee seat a permanent one. He said that they can’t keep producing and having refugees as an end in itself.
He said that Rwanda has been in discussion with different countries and partners and as long as the environment allows for the discussion to be properly managed, the refugee situation will get better with time.
About the AU implementation of 0.2% levy tax, Kagame said that it is not bad to begin with 21 countries and added that more countries have intention to start using the formula.
“Some people are not clear on what this implies; a lot of effort has been put into trying to explain this. We have the tax to explain, show the origin, the need and the actual possibility of achieving other goals that are important to African,” he said.
He noted that accountability process will have to be put in place so that Africa can move forward and stop being dragged back.
The report released on Wednesday shows that Rwanda has scored 55%, one score higher than the 54 scores with the 50th position in CPI 2016 which studied 176 countries.
Apollinaire Mupiganyi, the Executive Director of Transparency International Rwanda commended Rwanda’s improvement in the fight against corruption while most countries have dropped scores including the top five countries.
He was speaking Thursday at a media briefing on the report in Kigali.
“Rwanda has slightly improved its scoring and ranking on CPI 2017. However, despite such little progress, this is a commendable improvement on such perception-based index as an improvement of one point in CPI would generate an average additional Financial Direct Investment of 0.5% of national GDP,” said Mupiganyi, attributing the estimates to researchers Kusum W. Ketkar, Athar Muruza and Suhas L. Ketkar.
Clément Musangabatware, the Deputy-Ombudsman in charge of Preventing and Fighting Corruption, called for concerted efforts to perform even better and listed government’s strategies including ensuring the recovery of the bribes, promoting further use of ICT in service delivery and tightening laws punishing corruption.
He also commended media role in reporting corruption and sensitising citizens on reporting and not involving in bribery, adding it is due to every Rwandan’s efforts that the country has moved from the 66th position in 2010 to 48th globally.
{{A peek into the report}}
The index which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and business people, uses a scale of 0 to 100 with zero being the highly corrupt while 100 indicates a country free of corruption.
New Zealand leads the ranking with 89 scores down from 90 in 2016, followed by Denmark, Finland, Norway and Switzerland.
Botswana is the least corrupt country in Sub-Saharan Africa and 34th globally scoring 61, followed by Seychelles with 60 while both Cape Verde and Rwanda come third.
Rwanda leads the East African region, followed by Tanzania ranked 103th, Kenya 143rd, Uganda 151st and Burundi 157th globally.
The bottom five countries are Somalia with 9 scores, South Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen with 12, 14, 15 and 16 scores respectively.
The best performing region is Western Europe with an average score of 66 and the worst performer is Sub-Saharan Africa scoring 32, below the global average score of 43.
For the first time, the study examined the relationship between corruption levels and the protection of journalistic freedoms and engagement of civil society. It found that at least nine out of 10 journalists killed in the last six years were in the most corrupt countries scoring 45 and less on CPI.
“On average, at least one journalist was killed in a country that is highly corrupt every week. One in five journalists was killed covering a story about corruption. Sadly, justice was never served in the majority of these cases,” reads the report.
Announcing the CPI 2017 findings of Wednesday, Patricia Moreira, the Managing Director of Transparency International, said “Given current crackdowns on both civil society and media worldwide, we need to do more to protect those who speak up. No activist or reporter should have to fear for their lives when speaking out against corruption.”
Kagame was speaking to his Zambian Counterpart, Edgar Lungu who is in the country for a two-day state visit.
In a State Banquet that took place in Kigali Convention Center yesterday, Kagame told Lungu that it was a pleasure to welcome him to Rwanda.
He said that Rwanda and Zambia share many things including similar aspirations of prosperity and dignity for people.
“You may have noticed that there are many of us, with Zambian-sounding names. But Rwanda and Zambia share more than that. We have similar aspirations, of prosperity and dignity for our people, and a common vision for our continent,” Kagame said.
Kagame said that both countries are linked by membership in regional organisations, for the realisation of different common objectives.
In Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Kagame said both countries are connected by the desire to foster greater trade in the region, and ultimately across Africa.
“The International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, brings us together to foster peace and security, so that our people can achieve their ambitions. Rwandans and Zambians are now more connected than ever before,” he noted.
He said Rwanda’s national carrier, RwandAir, has regular flights to Lusaka, “We can take advantage of this opportunity, to increase visits and do more business,”
He said Rwanda and Zambia are united by commitment to building a stronger, and more efficient African Union, able to deliver quality services, to the citizens of the continent.
“This is a continuation of Africa’s liberation, and all of us are stakeholders, in working towards this goal,” he added.
Kagame said that Lungu’s visit to Rwanda is a sign of the warm friendship, between Rwanda and Zambia, and a catalyst for more collaboration.
President Lungu arrived in Kigali yesterday and was received by President Kagame and other senior government officials at Kigali International Airport.
He visited Kigali Genocide Memorial Center where he paid tribute to the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi by laying a wreath to the graves.
Yesterday, President Lungu also visited Kigali Special Economic Zone (KSEZ).
