No Rwandan would fail to see what Kagame’s com­ments meant

In an art­icle by Andres Schipani and David Pill­ing on the Rwanda elec­tions (Report, July 16) the Rwandan gov­ern­ment spokes­per­son stated that I am neither an oppos­i­tion politi­cian nor a defender of demo­cracy, but an
“unre­pent­ant crim­inal”.

The spokes­per­son’s com­ment is the latest example of the Rwandan
gov­ern­ment’s refusal to allow me to present the people with an altern­at­ive to 30 years of author­it­arian rule. This is because, in Rwanda, the only oppos­i­tion tol­er­ated is one that toes the gov­ern­ment line.

The spokes­per­son referred to my con­vic­tion in Rwanda. This is not the com­plete story. I was arres­ted in 2010 as I was pre­par­ing to run in the upcom­ing pres­id­en­tial elec­tions. The UK par­lia­ment­ary under-sec­ret­ary of state for Africa declared that my arrest was based on trumped-up charges. My trial was widely cri­ti­cised as polit­ic­ally motiv­ated by Human Rights Watch, the European par­lia­ment, and the US Depart­ment of State.

I took my case to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which found my rights had indeed been viol­ated, and ordered the Rwandan
gov­ern­ment to pay com­pens­a­tion. The gov­ern­ment has refused to do so. In Rwanda, there is no inde­pend­ent judi­ciary, as was acknow­ledged by the UK Home Office. Polit­ic­ally sens­it­ive cases are decided in line with the Rwandan gov­ern­ment’s agenda.

As untrue and offens­ive as the spokes­per­son’s com­ments about me were, they pale in com­par­ison with the recent threats made against me by Paul Kagame, the Rwandan pres­id­ent.

While cam­paign­ing, the pres­id­ent told the press that I would “not end up well” if I per­sisted in “talk­ing evil about Rwanda”. He added the state would “find an appro­pri­ate solu­tion” to com­bat the lies of crit­ics like me. He told the gathered journ­al­ists: “When they tell lies, refute what they say. But if they cross the line, the con­sequences are clear.”

No Rwandan will have dif­fi­culty under­stand­ing what was meant by these words. It is this kind of viol­ent rhet­oric in polit­ical dis­course that must be con­demned by all who sup­port the rule of law and demo­cratic freedoms. These freedoms remain unavail­able in Rwanda. This is the real­ity that motiv­ates me to con­tinue.

Vic­toire Ingabire Umuhoza
Kigali, Rwanda