Rwanda’s Leader Is Concerned Over Perceived US Ambiguity About Victims Of The 1994 Genocide

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame gestures as he gives a press conference at Kigali Convention Center in Kigali, Rwanda, Monday, April 8, 2024...(AP Photo/Brian Nganga)

BY RODNEY MUHUMUZA AND IGNATIUS SSUUNA

KIGALI, RWANDA (AP) — Rwandan President Paul Kagame said Monday he was concerned by what he saw as a U.S. failure to characterize the 1994 massacres as a genocide against the country’s minority Tutsis.

Kagame told reporters that the issue was an “element of discussion” in talks with former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who led the American delegation to a ceremony Sunday commemorating the 30th anniversary of the genocide in which Hutu extremists slaughtered about 800,000 people, most of them Tutsis, in a government-orchestrated campaign.

Many Rwandans criticized U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken for failing to specify that the genocide targeted the Tutsis when he wrote late Sunday: “We mourn the many thousands of Tutsis, Hutus, Twas, and others whose lives were lost during 100 days of unspeakable violence.”

Responding to a journalist’s question about Blinken’s post on the social platform X, Kagame said he believed he had reached an agreement with U.S. authorities a decade ago for them not to voice any criticism on the genocide anniversary.

“Give us that day,” he said, adding that criticism over “everything we are thought not to have at all” is unwanted on the genocide anniversary. Rwandan authorities insist any ambiguity on who the genocide victims were is an attempt to distort history and disrespects the memory of the victims.

U.S. officials did not comment on Monday. President Joe Biden issued a statement Sunday, saying, “We will never forget the horrors of those 100 days, the pain and loss suffered by the people of Rwanda, or the shared humanity that connects us all, which hate can never overcome.”

“In the 100 days that followed, more than 800,000 women, men, and children were murdered. Most were ethnic Tutsis; some were Hutus and Twa people. It was a methodical mass extermination, turning neighbor against neighbor, and decades later, its repercussions are still felt across Rwanda and around the world,” Biden wrote. “We honor the victims who died senselessly and the survivors who courageously rebuilt their lives. And we commend all Rwandans who have contributed to reconciliation and justice efforts, striving to help their nation bind its wounds, heal its trauma, and build a foundation of peace and unity. Those efforts continue to this day.”

The question of how to memorialize the genocide stems from allegations that the Rwandan Patriotic Front — the rebel group that stopped the massacres and has ruled Rwanda unchallenged since 1994 — carried out its own revenge killings during and after the genocide.

Kagame has previously said that his forces showed restraint. He said in a speech Sunday that Rwandans are disgusted by what he described as the hypocrisy of Western nations that failed to stop the genocide.

The genocide was ignited when a plane carrying then-President Juvénal Habyarimana, a Hutu, was shot down over Kigali on April 6, 1994. The Tutsis were blamed for downing the plane and killing the president, and became targets in massacres led by Hutu extremists that lasted over 100 days. Some moderate Hutus who tried to protect members of the Tutsi minority were also killed. As part of weeklong commemorations, flags flew at half-staff and public places across Rwanda were told to keep entertainment quiet.

Rwandan authorities also face questions over how to present commemoration activities in a way that acknowledges the efforts of some Hutus to protect their Tutsi neighbors.

“You see, those who are denying the genocide are saying, ’Ah, to commemorate? It’s a big serious barrier to unity. We have to move forward, to forget about commemoration,’” said Naphtal Ahishakiye, executive secretary of a prominent group of genocide survivors in Kigali. “Those are wrong. They have genocide ideology. They don’t want to remember what happened.”

The government has long blamed the international community for ignoring warnings about the killings, and some Western leaders have expressed regret.

French President Emmanuel Macron said last week that France and its allies could have stopped the genocide but lacked the will to do so. Macron’s declaration came three years after he acknowledged the “overwhelming responsibility” of France — Rwanda’s closest European ally in 1994 — for failing to stop Rwanda’s slide into the slaughter. Although Kagame is a U.S. ally and has friendly relations with many Western leaders, he is under growing pressure over Rwanda’s military involvement in eastern Congo, where tensions have flared recently as the two countries’ leaders accuse one another of supporting armed groups. In February, the U.S. urged Rwanda to withdrawal its troops and missile systems from eastern Congo, for the first time describing the M23 as a Rwanda-backed rebel group.

U.N. experts have said they had “solid evidence” that members of Rwanda’s armed forces were conducting operations there in support of M23, whose rebellion has caused the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people in Congo’s North Kivu’s province. Kagame said Monday that the M23 are fighting for the rights of Congolese Tutsis, with at least 100,000 of them now seeking shelter in Rwanda after fleeing attacks in eastern Congo.

Rwandan authorities say they want to deter rebels, including Hutu extremists responsible for the genocide, who fled to eastern Congo.

Rwanda’s ethnic composition remains largely unchanged since 1994, with a Hutu majority. The Tutsis account for 14% and the Twa just 1% of Rwanda’s 14 million people.

Kagame’s Tutsi-dominated government has outlawed any form of organization along ethnic lines, as part of efforts to build a uniform Rwandan identity. National ID cards no longer identify citizens by ethnic group, and authorities imposed a tough penal code to prosecute those suspected of denying the genocide or the “ideology” behind it.

But some observers say the law has been used to silence critics who question the government’s policies, including how to build lasting unity and reconciliation.

Rwanda’s President Says He’ll Run For A Fourth Term And Doesn’t Care What The West Thinks about it

FILE — President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame walks along Downing Street to a meeting with Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, in London, Thursday, May 4, 2023. Rwanda’s president says he will run for a fourth term next year and declares that “what the West thinks is not my problem.” President Paul Kagame made the announcement in an interview with the French-language publication Jeune Afrique published on Tuesday, Sept. 19. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, file)

BY IGNATIUS SSUUNA AND CARA ANNA

KIGALI, RWANDA (AP) — Rwanda’s president declared he will run for a fourth term next year, saying that “what the West thinks is not my problem,” after the United States and others criticized the earlier lifting of term limits to extend his rule.

President Paul Kagame made the announcement in an interview with the French-language publication Jeune Afrique published Tuesday.

The 65-year-old Kagame has been president since 2000 and was declared the winner of the previous election in 2017 with more than 98% of the vote. He has been the de facto leader since Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.

Next year’s election will be the first in which people born during Kagame’s presidency and knowing no other leader will be old enough to vote.

Kagame is one of a number of African leaders who have prolonged their rule by pursuing changes to term limits. In 2015, Rwandans in a referendum voted to lift a two-term limit. Kagame could stay in power until 2034 if he wins a five-year term next year and then another.

When asked what he thought the West would think of him running again, he replied, “I’m sorry for the West, but what the West thinks is not my problem.”

Kagame was re-elected as chair of the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front party earlier this year for another five-year term. The U.S.-based watchdog Freedom House described Rwanda as “not free” in its latest report and said the party has been “banning and repressing any opposition group that could mount a serious challenge to its leadership.”

Political analyst Gonzaga Muganwa, a former executive secretary of the Rwanda Journalists Association, said Kagame’s control over the party is total and that “all the legal political parties in the country are subservient to his authority.”

Rwandans expect Kagame to be in power “until at least 2034 unless a major upheaval happens,” Muganwa said. “In the leadup to the polls, his biggest challenge is managing the cost-of-living crisis as food inflation is wiping away any rise in incomes” since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kagame and his government have received praise for stabilizing the country and developing public health and the economy since the genocide in which more than 800,000 people were killed. But human rights groups and other critics have long accused the government of harshly targeting opponents, including with extrajudicial killings even far outside the country’s borders.

The government has rejected such allegations. But earlier this year, under diplomatic pressure, Rwanda released Paul Rusesabagina, who had inspired the film “Hotel Rwanda,” after tricking onto a plane to the country and convicting him of terror offenses in a widely criticized trial.

The other candidate who has declared he will run for president next year is lawmaker Frank Habineza with the Green Democratic party, who received 0.45% of the votes in 2017.

Habineza told The Associated Press his party was not surprised by Kagame’s announcement and will continue to fight for democracy.

“As we speak now, there is a high level of poverty and people have no food and youth have no jobs. This is what bothers Rwandans,” he said.

Some Kagame supporters believe he needs more time. William Harerimana, a 53-year-old businessman, said “we need to be patient a bit more and under him, the country will register more economic growth and benefit all Rwandans.”

Anna reported from Nairobi, Kenya.

We Can Learn From Kagame's Ingenious Ideas

Paul Kagame

BY MARK OLOO

Rwanda’s government recently convened a special meeting to take stock of its achievements.

There were varied reactions, especially online, as the country’s Wanjikus and ‘hustlers’ got a chance to put long-serving President Paul Kagame’s regime on the carpet.

During the recent Umushyikirano (national dialogue) day, citizens questioned - without fear of reprisal - some of Kagame’s actions and inactions, and he startlingly gave forthright answers.

Kagame has remained a man for all seasons, admired for his wit and deeds. For the last 20 years, he has been keen on the legacy of making Rwanda great.

He often claims the West looks down upon Africa. In his ideal world, Kigali must be allowed its space.

The President knows best what works best for him and his country that has had a delicate past. He led his people into a powerful renaissance after the genocide of 1994 that followed deep-seated tribal and political antagonisms. Now, there’s no going back.

Listening to him during the national dialogue on February 28, many were left with the feeling that Kagame is no ordinary leader.

Call him a benevolent dictator or a strongman who has muzzled his critics in the opposition, the Rwanda Patriotic Front leader is a cut above the rest.

At the Umushyikirano, he chided officials who had slept on the job. Unity and reconciliation efforts also featured, with the event culminating in the signing of Imihigo – performance-based contracts for top office holders.

The president simply protected the common man’s interests by ensuring leaders and institutions performed.

Rwanda may not be a perfect democracy but at least its government works in unison. The county is in good books with the world. Graft is at its bare minimum, business is booming, investors are coming in droves, women are empowered, essential infrastructure and physical assets are sound and the levels of political noise tolerable.

Elsewhere in the continent, top government officials operate like headless chicken. It is all talk and no action. Senior officials have made political vengeance their portion. They abhor criticism. They have flatly refused to shut up and work. It’s a mad obsession with campaign rhetoric.

In some countries, you will find constitutional organs losing their grind. In Nigeria for instance, the country is on throes of political landmines following the recent sham election that left a bitter taste in the mouths of the more than 200 million citizens. It will take a miracle for Africa’s most populous nation to realise authentic progress. As if that’s not enough, many African states have become epitomes of mediocrity where critical appointments are made not on the basis of competence but relations, tribal or political ties. And when governments change, every high profile public servant is purged no matter their value.

Give it to him. Kagame has perfected public participation. The holloi polloi control key projects. In Kenya, citizens are tragically told they would be ascribed shares in government based on how they voted. Then the Fourth Estate is threatened for doing its work as top officials, be they the DPP or budget controller, blame their blunders on the previous leadership.

Cry the beloved continent. Some nations that had a great promise of becoming Africa’s ‘tigers’ are victims of recklessness. Last week, South Sudan’s Salva Kiir put a fragile peace deal into jeopardy by firing a key minister in controversial circumstances. At home, well-oiled offices for spouses of politicians have come ahead of important economic adjustments that would have eased the cost of living. Majority are struggling to put food on table. Meanwhile, tantrums are being thrown over the small matter of LGBTQ rights.

Like him or not, we’ve a lot to learn from Kagame. He speaks sense and never brings shame to high office. An unwavering leader with eyes set on the prize.

READ ORIGINAL NEWS STORY HERE

Africa Is doing Its Part But Must Do More, Says Rwandan President Kagame

UNITED NATIONS

President Paul Kagame of Rwanda addresses the general debate of the General Assembly’s seventy-seventh session. Image: Cia Pak/UN

Referring to a world in a state of turbulence, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda on Wednesday called for multilateral cooperation and efforts to address intersecting crises, including climate change, food price inflation, conflict and migration.

The Secretary-General’s landmark report Our Common Agenda has only grown in value since it was launched one year ago. But he cautioned that the perception that the international system is no longer up to the task has only deepened.

International cooperation can address challenges

Despite shortcomings, he flagged that global health was an example that demonstrated how international cooperation can successfully address “the issues that matter to all of us.”

In his address to the annual high-level debate in the UN General Assembly, Mr. Kagame paid tribute to the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria for saving countless lives in Africa and beyond, while also strengthening health systems.;

To increase African’ resilience against future pandemics, he flagged that “external funding must go hand in hand with increased domestic financing for health.” He cited the efforts under way to work with partners to bring vaccine manufacturing to the continent.

The blame game does not solve problems

The Rwandan President cited the security situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which has exposed neighbouring states to cross-border attacks that are “entirely preventable.” Advocating for the political will to find and address the root causes of instability in eastern DRC, he stated that “the blame game does not solve problems”.

He also expressed support for regional initiatives as a way of complementing UN efforts to deal with counterterrorism and peacebuilding, citing successful efforts in this regard in the Central African Republic and to contain violent extremism in northern Mozambique undertaken by Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

The future is digital

He commended the decision to hold the Transforming Education Summit, underlining his view that the future of billions of children and young people across the world depends on overcoming the challenges of inclusion and the quality of education as the world recovers from the pandemic.

Mr. Kagame went on to call for public-private partnerships to create jobs for young people across the continent and equitable investment in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence. “The future is digital,” he stated, advocating for high quality digital jobs as a practical response to irregular migration and to close the income gap between rich and developing economies.

Rwandans Remember 1994 Genocide With Somber Events

FILE - Family photographs of some of those who died hang on display in an exhibition at the Kigali Genocide Memorial centre in the capital Kigali, Rwanda on April 5, 2019. Rwanda on Thursday, April 7, 2022 commemorated the 28th anniversary of the country's descent into an orgy of violence in which some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred by the majority Hutu population over a 100-day period in what was the worst genocide in recent history. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

BY IGNATIUS SSUUNA

KIGALI, RWANDA (AP) — Rwandans have begun a solemn commemoration of the 1994 genocide in which more than 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu who tried to protect them were killed.

President Paul Kagame on Thursday laid a wreath at a memorial site where more than 250,000 people are buried in the capital, Kigali. The ceremony marked the beginning of a week of somber events.

Kagame said he opposes any attempts to rewrite the history of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. The killings were perpetrated by extremist Hutu over a period of 100 days.

Some rights groups have accused Kagame’s soldiers of carrying out some killings during and after the genocide in apparent revenge, but Rwandan authorities strongly deny this allegation.

Kagame said that his group had shown restraint in the face of genocide.

“Imagine people being hunted down day and night for who they are. Also imagine if those of us who were carrying arms, if we had allowed ourselves to pursue those who were killing our people indiscriminately,” he said. “First of all, we would be right to do so. But we didn’t. We spared them. Some of them are still living today, in their homes, villages. Others are in government and business.”

Kagame, who is widely credited with stopping the genocide, has become a polarizing figure over the years as his critics accuse him of leading an authoritarian government that crushes all dissent. But he is also praised by many for presiding over the relative political stability allowing Rwanda’s economy to grow.

The mass killing of the Tutsi was ignited on April 6 when a plane carrying President Juvénal Habyarimana was shot down and crashed in Kigali, killing the leader who, like most Rwandans, was an ethnic Hutu.

The Tutsi were blamed for downing the plane, and although they denied it, bands of Hutu extremists began killing them, including children, with support from the army, police and militias.

Rwanda The 6th Safest country For Solo Travellers, New Survey Finds

Downtown Kigali. Image: Canva via Euro News

BY JONNY WALFISZ

KIGALI, RWANDA (EURO NEWS) -- Rwanda has been named as the sixth safest country in the world and safest country in Africa for solo travellers.

Switzerland topped the ranking, with Japan coming in third, the only other country not in Europe to list in the top 10 safest countries.

Usebounce, a luggage storage app, created the ranking by combining a crime index and a safety index to evaluate where solo travellers would feel safest. These indexes were made using data from Numbeo.



The rest of the top 10 includes Slovenia, Georgia, Iceland, Croatia, Czechia, Austria and Denmark.

For many people, Rwanda is still associated with the brutal genocide in 1994. But the country has become widely recognised as one of the safest in Africa for some time.

“Rwanda has invested much effort in its national security, by building competent and professional security organs,” the survey noted.

In the capital city Kigali, low levels of crime mean tourists don’t have to worry. In a 2018 Global Law and Order study by Gallup, 88 per cent of Rwandans said they felt safe to walk alone at night, the same figure as in Finland, Slovenia and Tajikistan.


The only places where more people said they felt safe were Singapore, Norway and Hong Kong.
Travel advice for Rwanda

With Rwanda recognised as one of the safest countries in Africa for solo travellers, it’s still worth noting some things to be considerate of while there.

Rwanda’s direct neighbours have experienced a lot of instability that sometimes spills over the borders. UK travel advice reminds potential travellers to be aware that conflicts on the borders with neighbouring countries of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi can flare up without notice.

Buses are a great way to travel around, but make sure to buy tickets direct from the company you are travelling with as touts are known to try and prey on unsuspecting tourists. Similarly, cabs are a safe and reliable way to travel around the city of Kigali.

Homosexuality is legal in Rwanda and there are a number of queer-friendly spots, but there is still not country-wide acceptance and LGBTQ+ people should be conscious of remaining taboos.

And a big no-no is taking pictures of anything related to the government or military such as post offices, banks or border crossings.
When you are there

One of the most exciting things to do in Rwanda is to see the gorillas. To do this you can go on gorilla treks. The Rwandan government has worked to make guided tours safe for both tourists and the animals so it’s important to book one of these if you want to see any of the protected animals.

In a move to help the environment, Rwanda also banned plastic non-biodegradable bags in 2008. Make sure you don’t bring any into the country as you could face a heavy fine. And you wouldn’t want to be that tourist getting into trouble with officials because you had to bring a plastic bag into Rwanda.

Currently due to the pandemic, COVID restrictions are still in place for travellers entering and exiting Rwanda. To curb the spread of the virus, the country has an active curfew between the hours of 10pm and 4am. Tourists must also take a PCR test 72 hours before visiting any of the country’s national parks.

25 Years After Genocide, Rwanda's Kagame Is Praised, Feared

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame, center, gestures as he and first lady Jeannette Kagame, center-left, lead a "Walk to Remember" accompanied by Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, far left, Prime Minister of Belgium Charles Michel, second left, France's Herve Berville, third left, and Governor General of Canada Julie Payette, fourth left, from the parliament building to Amahoro stadium in downtown Kigali, Rwanda Sunday, April 7, 2019. Rwanda is commemorating the 25th anniversary of when the country descended into an orgy of violence in which some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred by the majority Hutu population over a 100-day period in what was the worst genocide in recent history. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

BY RODNEY MUHUMUZA

KAMPALA, UGANDA (AP) — A quarter-century after Rwanda’s brutal genocide, President Paul Kagame remains a constant figure atop the country’s politics, feted by those who say it needs his visionary leadership and loathed by others who see a firm authoritarian with a malicious streak.

Kagame is so little-questioned that he speaks openly about the apparent assassinations of opponents. That fear factor keeps him in power, critics say, even as he embraces a global reputation as the man who helped bring an end to the mass killings of some 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus, and who has brought stability to the East African nation.

In a speech last month, Kagame spoke dismissively of the crime that launched his reputation as a hard-liner: The 1998 killing of exiled opposition leader Seth Sendashonga, a fierce Kagame critic, who was gunned down in the streets of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

Referring to the assassination, widely believed by Kagame’s opponents and rights activists to have been carried out by a Rwandan hit squad, Kagame said he had little to say. “But I am also not apologetic about it,” he added.

It was vintage Kagame, who has been Rwanda’s de facto leader since his rebel group seized power by force, ending the 100-day genocide that began on April 7, 1994. He has been president since 2000, and could rule until 2034 following changes to the constitution.

Now 61, Kagame shows no signs of giving up power.

A darling of the development community, Kagame is lauded by some as a driver of economic growth that has lifted many Rwandans from poverty, bringing improved health care and education. He has also pushed for more women in political office, and 64% of the lawmakers in Rwanda’s parliament are women, the highest percentage of any country in the world.

But for many others he is the architect of an authoritarian regime that has stamped out virtually all opposition in Rwanda as opponents are jailed, flee, disappear, or are killed under mysterious circumstances.

“There is absolutely no room for dissent within Rwanda,” said British writer Michela Wrong, who is researching a book on the country. “You agree, you accept Kagame’s supreme power, or you leave.”

Rights groups decry what they describe as rampant violations that include the arbitrary detentions of street children and other poor people as part of an unofficial government program to hide “undesirable” citizens from view, according to Human Rights Watch. Street vendors, many of them women, have been among the main targets, it said.

Civic groups, journalists, rights watchdogs and political opponents “cannot operate independently or criticize government policy,” Human Rights Watch said in its most recent assessment of conditions in Rwanda.

Amnesty International cited a “climate of fear” before Kagame was re-elected to a third term in 2017, a vote that the president described as “a formality” after the most serious challenger was prevented from running and later jailed.

Even government programs ostensibly aimed at forging national unity are criticized by opponents as tools to more tightly control society.

The U.S. State Department, which describes Rwanda as “a constitutional republic dominated by a strong presidency,” also cites the problem of impunity among civilian authorities and the security forces.

Still, Rwanda’s government remains a major recipient of U.S. and other foreign aid despite persistent allegations of abuses — a fact that has been sharply criticized by Kagame’s opponents. Some analysts have long noted that Western remorse over failure to stop the genocide allows Rwanda a measure of goodwill from benefactors who would act tougher with a similarly repressive regime.

Olivier Nduhungirehe, Rwanda’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, told The Associated Press that those complaining about human rights “should keep quiet,” as Rwanda marks 25 years since the genocide.

“We can’t say that everything is perfect, of course,” he said, of concerns voiced by some exiles, who say they are afraid to return home. “But reconciliation is a reality for the past 25 years.”

Some critics who have fallen out with the president, including senior ruling party members once seen as Kagame allies, have fled into exile, where safety isn’t always guaranteed.

British police have warned two prominent Rwandan dissidents of the threats to their lives posed by Rwanda’s government. Similar warnings have been issued to dissidents elsewhere in Europe.

In South Africa, an inquest continues into the death of former Rwandan spy chief and Kagame critic Patrick Karegeya, who was found strangled in a Johannesburg hotel in 2014. Kagame has denied his government had anything to do with the killing but warned that those who betray their country will “pay the price.”

Jean-Marie Micombero, a former army major who broke with the Kagame government and who has lived in exile in Belgium since 2011, said that 25 years after Rwanda’s genocide, the country has yet to truly heal from its violent past.

“Under Kagame’s leadership Hutus and Tutsis are forced to live together,” said Micombero, a Tutsi. He called for new leadership that would “work in the areas of truth and justice in the context of a broken society. ... There cannot be reconciliation without truth and justice.”

One group in exile that is leading the opposition against Kagame includes former members of Rwanda’s ruling party.

Outlawed in Rwanda as a terrorist group and accused of running rebel cells in eastern Congo, the Rwanda National Congress denies the allegations and says it is working toward “a united, democratic, and prosperous nation inhabited by free citizens.”

The group’s Johannesburg-based leader, former Rwandan army chief Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa, has been the target of multiple assassination attempts that he blames on Kagame.

Rwanda’s government dismisses charges it runs hit squads abroad. Nduhungirehe, the deputy foreign affairs minister, accused the Rwanda National Congress of “walking hand in hand with those who committed genocide,” something the group strongly denies.

But, says Wrong, the British author and journalist: “The level of invective Kagame dedicates to the Rwanda National Congress, the amount of energy he has expended trying to get Uganda and South Africa to expel or extradite or close down these players, suggests he sees them as a real threat.”

“These individuals were once incredibly close to Kagame, they know exactly what makes him tick,” Wrong said. “I think it’s a case of fearing no one quite so much as a former brother-in-arms.”

___

Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa

Rwanda Somberly Marks The Start Of Genocide 25 Years Ago

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame, center, and First Lady Jeannette Kagame, center-right, arrive at the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Kigali, Rwanda Sunday, April 7, 2019. Rwanda is commemorating the 25th anniversary of when the country descended into an orgy of violence in which some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred by the majority Hutu population over a 100-day period in what was the worst genocide in recent history. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

BY IGNATIUS SSUUNA

KIGALI, RWANDA (AP) — Rwanda on Sunday somberly commemorated the start, 25 years ago, of its genocide in which some 800,000 people were killed, as the country continues to grapple with the lasting consequences of the mass killings.

President Paul Kagame and first lady Jeannette Kagame laid wreaths and lit a flame at the mass burial ground of 250,000 victims at the Kigali Genocide Memorial Center in the capital, Kigali.

Those attending the ceremonies included the leaders of Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Djibouti, Niger, Belgium, Canada, Ethiopia, as well as the African Union and the European Union.

“I am moved beyond words at this memorial to tragedy,” said Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission.

There will be a procession through the capital to Kigali’s National Stadium where are many as 30,000 are expected to participate in an evening candlelit ceremony.

“Twenty-five years ago, Rwanda fell into a deep ditch due to bad leadership, today, we are a country of hope and a nation elevated,” Agnes Mutamba, 25, a teacher who was born during the genocide told The Associated Press in Kigali.

“Today, the government has united all Rwandans as one people with the same culture and history and is speeding up economic transformation,” said Oliver Nduhungihere, Rwanda’s state foreign affairs minister.

The mass killing of Rwanda’s Tutsi minority was ignited on April 6, 1994, when a plane carrying President Juvénal Habyarimana was shot down and crashed in Kigali, killing the leader who, like the majority of Rwandans, was an ethnic Hutu.

The Tutsi minority was blamed for downing the plane and the bands of Hutu extremists began slaughtering the Tutsi, with support from the army, police, and militias.

Kagame’s government has previously accused Hutu-led government of 1994 of being responsible for shooting down the plane and has blamed the French government for turning a blind eye to the genocide.

On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron ordered a government study into the country’s role in Rwanda before and during its 1994 genocide. Macron ordered a commission of researchers and historians to investigate the “role and involvement of France” in Rwanda from 1990-1994. It is to make conclusions within two years.

Kagame has won praise ending that violence and making advances in economic development and health care, although he is criticized for authoritarian control.

Ethnic reconciliation is a cornerstone of the rule of Kagame, Rwanda’s de facto leader since the genocide ended in 1994 and the country’s president since 2000. He is credited with bringing Rwanda stability, economic growth, and improved health and education.

However, Kagame’s critics charge that he is intolerant of criticism and his government is repressive, jailing opposition leaders. Some opponents say that Rwanda’s reconciliation is forced.

A quarter-century after the genocide, bodies of victims are still being found. Last year, authorities in Rwanda found discovered mass graves they say contain 5,400 bodies of genocide victims.

“Twenty-five years on, the victims and survivors should remain the center of everyone’s thoughts, but we should also take stock of progress and the need to ensure accountability for all those who directed these horrific acts,” Human Rights Watch said.

Rwanda Can’t Achieve Reconciliation Without Fixing Its Democracy

BY NOEL TWAGIRAMUNGU AND JOSEPH SEBARENZI

Rwanda’s Genocide Memorial burial site. Ahmed Jallanzo/EPA

KIGALI (THE CONVERSATION)--This month Rwanda marks 24 years since the genocide that left almost one million people dead. Healing is paramount in a society that’s not quite moved beyond the horrors of 1994. To ensure the past isn’t repeated, Rwanda needs to work towards meaningful political representation for all the country’s ethnic groups.

There is a model that other countries have adopted that could help it do this. It has been shown that consensus democracy is the best political mechanism to eradicate violent competition for power.

This kind of democracy – which is based on a power sharing model of government – has proven to be effective in the United States, The Netherlands and Switzerland. It also worked in South Africa during the country’s transition to democracy.

The challenge facing Rwanda is that it’s an autocratic regime. The democratic space in the country has shrunk dramatically. Independent thinkers and alternative voices have been silenced . President Paul Kagame has walked in the footsteps of his predecessors by concentrating power in the hands of a tiny political and military elite.

Should Rwanda continue this legacy, Kagame could be violently replaced by another autocrat. Experience has shown that a change of guard without deep structural transformation is not sustainable.

What is the way forward from here? We believe consensus democracy holds the answers.
Genesis of a genocide

To understand how Rwanda has reached this point, it’s important to explore the country’s history.

The intensity and destructive scale of the genocide in 1994 were unprecedented. But the underlying dynamics of ethnic violence started in the late 1950s when Rwanda was struggling to achieve independence from Belgium and to establish a democratic republic.

The First Republic led by President Grégoire Kayibanda and his Republican Democratic Movement – also known as the MDR-Parmehetu – was established in 1962 to heal the wounds left by colonialism and the Tutsi monarchy. The monarchy had been overthrown in 1961 by a Hutu elite which was backed by the Belgian administration.

The overthrow forced the monarch, his followers, and many ordinary Tutsis into exile. In the face of threats posed by exiled Tutsi insurgents, President Kayibanda consolidated his power, making Rwanda a Hutu republic, not a motherland for all its sons and daughters. Tutsis were executed or forced into exile. Those who remained became second class citizens.

The MDR-Parmehutu regime used the Tutsi insurgency as a pretext to silence all its political rivals. It killed some of their leaders and co-opted others. By 1965, Rwanda had become a one-party state.

It came as no surprise, then, that at the end of Kayibanda’s term in 1973 his associates called for constitutional change to allow him seek a third term in office.

But rather than focus on a power struggle that was simmering among the Hutu elites, the regime sponsored another wave of violence against the Tutsi. This scapegoating strategy proved counter productive and paved the way for a coup d’état in July 1973. The coup ended with the death of Kayibanda and his close aides. Many other key figures of the First Republic were imprisoned and held under harsh conditions.

The coup leader, Major General Juvénal Habyarimana, took over and vowed to build the Second Republic around the triple goal of “peace, unity, and development”. For many years, he succeeded at maintaining relative stability and economic development, becoming the darling of the donor community. Rwanda was hailed as a “model of African development.”

But Habyarimana failed to tackle two vital challenges: the ethnic tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi, and the Tutsi refugee problem.

The unresolved refugee problem paved the way for the 1990-1994 war, which pitted the Tutsi dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) against the Hutu-dominated government. The war also paved the way for the assassination of the president himself on April 6, 1994. This triggered the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, from which Kagame’s RPF emerged as the new ruling force.

Like its predecessors, Kagame’s RPF put forth impressive objectives, including reconciliation and national unity, good governance, and resolution of the refugee problem.

But the regime soon proved to be yet another dictatorship. It has been widely reported that Kagame’s regime is responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity and serious human rights violations against both the Hutu and the Tutsi. The regime operates on a de facto single-party system that’s increasingly intolerant of dissenters.
Consensus as a path to reconciliation

Consensus democracy in Rwanda would be characterised by free and fair elections, political accountability, rigorous check-and-balance mechanisms and concerted power-sharing arrangements. This model would entail the representation of all ethnic groups in every branch of government including in strategic cabinet departments and top security services.

Without these guarantees, extremists from each community will continue to have unfettered access to hijack the political system by harking back to past grievances and amplifying legitimate fears.

Consensus democracy could lay the foundation for healing by creating a sense of physical and emotional security within Rwanda’s two main ethnic communities. This would put an end to the historical cycle of vengeful violence.

It may seem unlikely at this stage to convince Kagame and his supporters that this is the way to go. As American journalist Stephen Kinzer once wrote, Kagame, who seemed to have “the chance to enter history as one of the greatest modern African leaders there is” could also be remembered as another failed African big man.

It’s high time Rwanda and its true friends heeded the call for collective healing through consensus democracy. Such a move would mark the beginning of a new journey that frees the energy and resources necessary to build a Rwanda that is reconciled, democratic and prosperous.

Rwanda’s Forever President

BY BERT INGELAERE

NEW YORK TIMES

AUGUST 02, 2017

Paul Kagame Supporters At A Political Rally In The Burera District Of Rwanda Image: Clement Uwiringiyimana/Reuters

ANTWERP, BELGIUM (NEW YORK TIMES) — There is an election in Rwanda on Friday, but its outcome already is nearly certain: President Paul Kagame will win a third seven-year term. Elections there are not a contest for power. They are the ritual confirmation of the power in place.

Mr. Kagame generally wins by margins that would make a dictator proud: In 2010, he scored some 93 percent of the vote. He is the only ruler most Rwandans born since the 1994 genocide know. The Rwandans who remember leaders before him have reason to wonder if they will ever see another: The state’s mighty security apparatus is quietly eloquent, with all those soldiers and police officers routinely patrolling both city streets and the countryside.

Mr. Kagame is up against two innocuous candidates after the national election commission disqualified Diane Rwigara, his strongest opponent, and two other independent contenders. The opposition leader Victoire Ingabire, who was placed under house arrest in the lead-up to the 2010 election, is now in jail serving a dubious 15-year sentence for threatening state security, among other things. Journalists have also been intimidated and stifled; Freedom House categorizes Rwanda as “not free.”

Mr. Kagame wasn’t supposed to run this time because he would be coming up against the two-term limit set by the Constitution. But in 2015 the government proposed an amendment and had it sanctioned in a referendum (roundly criticized by human rights groups), opening the way for Mr. Kagame to stand for re-election this year — and again until 2034.

Burundi was condemned internationally in 2015 after President Pierre Nkurunziza flouted term limits to run for a third mandate. Last year, President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo skirted term restrictions by simply delaying the next election, triggering protests and then a crackdown that led to sanctions against his government. Yet nothing of the sort has happened to Mr. Kagame or his administration despite its ploys to keep him in power basically unchallenged.

Why? Because Mr. Kagame has been masterful at deflecting criticism of his illiberalism by pointing to Rwanda’s economic performance. The country is touted as a model: The government claims that the economy grew by an average of about 8 percent a year between 2001 and 2014, and that the rate of poverty dropped from nearly 57 percent in 2006 to less than 40 percent in 2014. Neither Mr. Nkurunziza nor Mr. Kabila could proffer such results.

Mr. Kagame’s supporters, in Rwanda and beyond, sing to his tune. In a way, they have to. Western donors and international organizations may well prefer democratic values to big-man politics. But having poured great sums of money into Rwanda since the 1994 genocide, they want to be impressed by the headway Mr. Kagame claims to have made — on economic growth and poverty reduction, but also maternal health care and the prosecution of suspected mass killers. Asia has tigers; now Africa has found its lion. Many want to believe that while Mr. Kagame may have been cutting corners on democracy, he has delivered on development.

Has he, though?

In fact, his government’s record is shakier than it looks, including on some of the major achievements it is credited with.

Consider poverty reduction. Back in 2005, I was stationed in Rwanda with a World Bank team, working on a large-scale study of poverty. Six months into it, after we had collected hundreds of survey questionnaires about the well-being of ordinary Rwandans and conducted hundreds of discussions with villagers, the Rwandan security forces seized half of our files on the pretext that our research’s design was tainted by “genocide ideology” — a vague notion supposedly something like sectarianism that the government often invokes to criminalize what it sees as challenges to its authority. After lengthy negotiations between World Bank and Rwandan officials, the project was abandoned. We never determined what the poverty trends were: The information we had collected was destroyed before it could be analyzed.

Matters have hardly improved. Major studies can only be carried out by the Rwandan authorities or under their close supervision. Independent researchers have come to question the government’s methodology for analyzing data.

Officially, the poverty rate decreased by nearly 6 percentage points between 2011 and 2014. But Filip Reyntjens, a Rwanda expert at the University of Antwerp, has argued that it might actually have increased by about 6 percentage points during that period. Several articles published by the Review of African Political Economy also challenge Rwanda’s official poverty figures, as well as its G.D.P. growth rates.

I’m of the view that expanding individual freedoms is essential, not incidental, to a country’s long-term development. As Angus Deaton, a Nobel laureate in economics, said to a Rwandan minister in 2015, “improvements in public health can never be truly secure in nondemocratic states.” But I concede that Rwanda has made remarkable economic progress since facing near-total destruction in 1994, and that some think it is still worth debating the merits of trade-offs between democracy and development.

Whatever one thinks of these issues, however, everyone should be concerned that the Kagame government has been fudging, hiding or selectively presenting the raw facts of its economic record. Rwanda may be forgoing democracy for development only to wind up with no democracy and far less development than many think.

Bert Ingelaere is a lecturer in development studies at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. He is the author of “Inside Rwanda’s Gacaca Courts: Seeking Justice After Genocide.”

African Development Bank Group : African leaders urged to invest in jobs, infrastructure and protecting development gains

Opening an unprecedented gathering of experts in Kigali, present and former African Heads of State urged business, community and political leaders to help turn the continent's impressive growth into economic opportunities for ordinary citizens.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame, inaugurating the country's first African Economic Conference, said, "In Rwanda, we understand that politics and economics go hand in hand and we have made a conscious and deliberate choice of inclusive development based on our political reality. By and large, they have produced positive results. Growth has been consistent and poverty levels considerably reduced by 12 per cent from 56.9 per cent to 44 per cent in five years."

Organized each year by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the title for this year's African Economic Conference will be "Inclusive and Sustainable Development in an Age of Economic Uncertainty".

Africa has weathered the economic crisis and achieved considerable advances in the area of poverty reduction and human development. However, the region is still home to high levels of poverty, hunger, unemployment and inequality in political voice and access to resources.

"Over the first decade of this century, with the exception of 2008, Africa experienced exceptional economic performance and growth in GDP per capita," said Helen Clark, the UNDP Administrator. "But there is a way to go in many countries to translate that growth into higher human development.

Deliberate policy measures and targeted investments are needed to make growth not just fast, but also inclusive and sustainable."

Participants on the opening day said that the key issue for the continent was to shift from commodity-based to innovative, diversified economies at a time when foreign direct investment, aid and remittances were drying up.

Donald Kaberuka, the President of the African Development Bank, underscored the need for long-term solutions. He suggested that Africa's growth should include doing research on solutions on how African countries could internally finance their development, and learning from what has gone wrong globally to redesign their policies.

Africa must invest in quality education in order to stop children from inheriting poverty from generation to generation, said Kaberuka.

"This is how you stop children from inheriting living conditions of debt, and once you do that you have stopped the transmission of poverty," he told an opening session.

"Inclusive development must include equity, equality, popular participation not only in politics but also in the economy itself and then of course there must be transparency, and all those things that make the governed believe and have confidence in those who govern them," added the Former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo.

Participants at the conference also said that protecting communities from food and fuel price volatility, climate change and political instability required putting in place bold measures for social protection, including insurance, credit and employment schemes.

The African Economic Conference is organized as a series of open thematic debates, combined with sessions that review policy research from across the continent. The conference provides a uniquely open forum for political leaders, academics and emerging talent from the continent to discuss solutions to Africa's pressing development issues.

......NEWS 4 TRADERS

67th United Nations General Assembly (Photo Essay)

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE

US President Barack Obama addresses the 67th UN General Assembly at the United Nations headquarters in New York, September 25, 2012. Obama on Tuesday demanded "sanctions and consequences" for atrocities in Syria and said President Bashar al-Assad's rule must come to an end. "The future must not belong to a dictator who massacres his people," Obama told the UN General Assembly in a keynote address. EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/GettyImages

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 25: Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria addresses the 67th UN General Assembly meeting on September 25, 2012 in New York City. The annual event gathers more than 100 heads of state and government for high level meetings on nuclear safety, regional conflicts, health and nutrition and environment issues. (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)

President Macky Sall of the Republic of Senegal addresses the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 25, 2012. (Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times)

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon addresses the 67th UN General Assembly at the United Nations headquarters in New York, September 25, 2012. Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday that the Syrian civil war is a "calamity" that now threatens world peace and demands action by the divided UN Security Council. EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/GettyImages

U.S. President Barack Obama greets U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (C) before addressing the 67th United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New York September 25, 2012. REUTERS/Keith Bedford

Members of the Iranian delegation (L) listen to US President Barack Obama addresses the 67th UN General Assembly at the United Nations headquarters in New York, September 25, 2012. Obama on Tuesday demanded "sanctions and consequences" for atrocities in Syria and said President Bashar al-Assad's rule must come to an end. "The future must not belong to a dictator who massacres his people," Obama told the UN General Assembly in a keynote address. EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/GettyImages

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (R) shakes hands with Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 67th United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New York, September 25, 2012. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma addresses the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York, September 25, 2012. REUTERS/Ray Stubblebine

Rwandan President Paul Kagame takes a seat after addressing the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York, September 25, 2012. REUTERS/Ray Stubblebine

First Lady Michelle Obabma(C) listens the speech of US President Obama at the 67th United Nations General Assembly meeting September 25, 2012 at the United Nations in New York. DON EMMERT/AFP/GettyImages

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shakes hands with U.N. Special Envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi (R) during the 67th United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New York September 25, 2012. REUTERS/Keith Bedford

That African Presidents Wives' Annual Health Summit In Beverly Hills

Not much was talked about it. Not much was known about it. Not even the mainstream media mentioned it. In fact, it was not a big deal, because, as usual, knowing what should be expected from such a gathering of the wives of inept and corrupt African presidents, the errand boys, the opportunistic organizers had to run the show their own way which is typical of deceit and fraud. We've seen this kind of stuff happen many times as it ends up being a picnic and a loophole for money laundering.

I was socializing with some friends when the event and its issues popped up. We were discussing about a retarded African continent, Nigeria in particular, and what should be done about it until one curious-minded fella among us brought up the topic, and stressed on how we lost it here in Diaspora as a collective and the failure to complete ourselves.

"Did any of you hear about the summit held in Beverly Hills? Can you imagine the wife of our president was here and nobody knew about it?" he asked sarcastically.

"Yes, I heard about it but it was nothing to talk about," I responded without feelings.

As it happened, most, if not all, among us never heard of Nigeria's First Lady visiting the Los Angeles area for a summit, except, probably, the organizers who were the opportunists. I am not sure why it was too much of an event from the errand boys who ran their mouth in praise of the First Ladies of Africa visit, and particularly, "our own" Turai Umaru Yar'Adua who sneaked in and the numerous Nigerian women's organization in the Los Angeles metropolis did not know or heard about it and did not do anything about it.

The health summit which was held at the Jewish Skirball Cultural Center was attended by Turai Umaru Yar'Adua (Nigeria); Queen Inkosikati Mbidiza (Swaziland); Ida Odinga (Kenya); Laraba Tandja (Niger); Penehupito Polamba (Namibia); Thandive Banda (Zambia); Maria da Lu Dai Guebuza (Mozambique); Mathato Sarah Mosisili (Lesotho); Sia Nyama Koromo (Sierra Leone); Adelcia Barreto Pires (Cape Verde); Chantal Bida (Cameroon) and Ana Paula Dos Santos (Angola).

After the summit at Skirball which eventually would produce no effective result for what the continent has been known for over three decades since the colonists of various European enclaves had left for the new rulers to figure things out. Nothing in the long run was figured out but widespread scandals of bribery and corruption, political and economic instability, and anarchy coupled with civilian and military staged coups.

The gist: The summit gala at the Beverly Hilton Hotel was sponsored by US Doctors for Africa and ExxonMobil which is a clear indication that the organizers were up to something.

Who does not know ExxonMobil and other oil companies and how they destroyed the environment of the oil-producing countries in that ailing continent? Who does not know how the doctors in collaboration with the medical errand boys to save according to Amanda Peabody who reported the event for The Beverly Hills Courier the "critical issues of HIV/AIDS, infants and maternal health and girls education?" Who does not know how the US DOctors for Africa and the so-called medical mission and how they misused the priorities meant to carry out a sound, thorough and effective project that should have been in the obvious?

Unfortunately, it is pointblank. The motive is deceptive, unclear and fraudulent on the ground it is evident that all the money being poured in by charity organizations, United Nations International Children Emergency Fund, World Health Organization and several other independent caring institutions over the years for the projected developments, has not yielded any meaningful dividend save for misappropriation of funds and things like that. In most cases, these funds are wasted due to lack of accountability and transparency.

But the irony of this kind of disturbing propanganda is when well-intentioned people get involved by way of financial contributions and other voluntary works "to provide primary care, strategic planning, education and training first as aid and then to empower the people of Africa to respond to the health crisis they face" and later to find out something is not right somewhere; and that the whole project has become a cock and bull story.

Hollywood celebrities -- Sharon Stone, Kristin Davis, Danny Glover, Paris Hilton, Naomi Campbell, Rosario Dawson and Chris Tucker -- who came to the gala and got excited about a comatose summit, had no idea what the entire event would lead to. Deadend, to be precise.

Has any of these celebrities who've been giving their moral and financial support ever asked why Africa remains toxic despite its enormous natural resources and abundant human capital? Has any asked why would such staggering amounts in the millions, if not in the billions, been invested in the continent annually yet there's nothing to show for it? Has any attempted to approaching the root cause of the problem dealing with it once and for all so the continent can march toward onward objectivity? Has any considered the importance of a radical step by way of an organized and timed political revolution to effect change? Has any thought of the normalcy of due process taking into account prosecuting to the limit of the law those that raped their country's public funds and caused all sorts of hardship to its people, as a result, and learning from the steps taken by Paul Kagame of Rwanda?

Today, Nigeria in particular, is on the list of the world's highest number of malnourished children and yet it is the one called the giant of Africa.

Until the thought of the above-mentioned necessary steps is taken, the African continent will continue to sink beyond imagination and like in a situation where no matter how many gallons of palm oil is used in preparing a dog's meal, its stool will not change; it will still be black. Since the event was a success as the organizers made us believe, the point here is, as the First Annual Health Summit by Africa's First Ladies, its too early to start applauding because from my observation it will end up like any other African summit where nothing gets done. Davis who was at the gala pointed it out clearly: "It's really amazing to have the First Ladies (in Beverly Hills) and hear what their countries are going through and what they need..."

Yes, everybody wants to help but the people in question are cocky and crooked. So why don't we weep for those shattered people and also for the poor and penniless who have been oppressed and crushed instead of applauding a sect that intends to rape the peoples fund.

2009 Time's 100 Most Influential People.

The opening shot of Time's 2009 100 most influential people was veteran Democrat Edward Kennedy who was described as the most bipartisan politician in congress, and whose story was told by California Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, whom the governor called 'Uncle.' Schwarzenegger writes;

"How do I describe Uncle Teddy? Everyone knows him as the Lion of the Senate, a liberal icon, a warrior for the less fortunate, a fierce advocate for health-care reform, a champion of social justice here and abroad and now even a Knight of the British Empire. But I know him as the rock of his family: a loving husband, father, brother and uncle. He's a man of great faith and character."

Time's 100 has an array of lists: leaders and revolutionaries; builders and titans; artists and entertainers; heroes and icons; and scientists and thinkers. The list includes Hilary Clinton, Norah al Faiz, Paul Kagame, Angela Markel, David McKeirnan, Asfaq Kayani, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, The Twitter guys, Ted Turner, Nouriel Rouboum, Oprah Winfrey, the drug addled Rush Limbaugh, Joaquim Guzman and Maya Arulpragasam (M.I.A.) among others.

Read story as told by Schwarzenegger

Spike Jonze on M.I.A.


Michael Elliot on Angela Merkel

T Boone Pickens on Ted Turner

Madeleine K. Albright on Hillary Clinton

Aston Kutcher on The Twitter Guys

J.K. Rowling on Gordon Brown

Tim Padget on Joaquim Guzman


Rick Warren on Paul Kagame

Gordon Brown on Barrack Obama

Photos cortesy of Time Magazine