Human Rights Watch accuses Rwanda of violations

The Human Rights Watch is accusing Rwanda of surveillance on political dissidents abroad, including threatening their relatives back home to force loyalty and support for the government.

In a new report, the US-based rights lobby alleges that Kigali has used various tactics, including threats, kidnaps and assassinations to silence critics or force others to turnover their support for the government.

The document, ‘Join Us or Die’: Rwanda’s Extraterritorial Repression, says critics are targeted wherever they are in the world and face physical violence, enforced disappearances, surveillance, misuse of law enforcement and online trolls targeted at perceived critics.

Rwanda rejected HRW’s assertions, with Government Spokesperson Yolande Makolo, saying the lobby has been consistent in an anti-Rwanda campaign. “Human Rights Watch continues to present a distorted picture of Rwanda that only exists in their imagination,” she said.

“Any balanced assessment of Rwanda’s record in advancing the rights, well-being, and dignity of Rwandans over the past 29 years would recognise remarkable, transformational progress. Rwanda will not be deterred from this work by bad-faith actors advancing a politicised agenda.”

The report is asking Rwanda’s global partners, including the UK, to rethink collaboration with Kigali.

“Rwanda’s partners should open their eyes and see Kigali’s wide-reaching effort for what it is: the consequence of three decades of impunity for the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front,” said Tirana Hassan, HRW executive director.

HRW specifically asks the UK to “rescind the agreement to transfer to Rwanda asylum seekers arriving ‘irregularly’ in the UK, in light of the real risks to their safety in Rwanda and inadequate safeguards to guarantee their international protection.”

Since Rwanda signed the deal with the UK to host the immigrants arriving irregularly on its shores, the deal has been subjected to legal challenges, stopping its implementation at least until the UK Supreme Court decides its validity.

The HRW report came as the hearing began in the UK Supreme Court after activists challenged the legality of the deal, and alleging that Rwanda’s human rights record was poor. HRW said the report was a result of interviews of 150 people across the globe, who discussed Rwanda’s silencing tactics against Rwandans abroad.

It says abuses by Rwandan agents was observed in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as within Rwanda targeting relatives of dissidents.

The lobby also says it had documented more than a dozen killings, kidnappings, enforced disappearances and physical attacks on dissidents since 2017.

Besides Rwandan intelligence agents, Kigali has also used its diplomatic missions abroad, diaspora association and inter-governmental cooperation including use of Interpol red notices and extradition requests to get hold of critics, HRW charges.

One such incident involved Hotel Rwanda “hero” Paul Rusesabagina, who thought his flight was heading to Bujumbura but landed in Kigali in August 2020. 

He would then be tried and jailed a year later for 25 years, having been found guilty of murder, membership in a terrorist group and other charges, only to be freed later in March this year after a diplomatic back channel involving Qatar and the US.

The Human Rights Watch is accusing Rwanda of surveillance on political dissidents abroad, including threatening their relatives back home to force loyalty and support for the government. In a new […]

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Kagame prepares list of achievements ahead of polls

As Rwanda prepares to hold presidential elections next year, the dominant ruling party — Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) is expected to front President Paul Kagame as its flag bearer.

The party held its internal elections on April 2 and re-elected him as chairman for the next five years alongside a new youthful executive team.

President Kagame was seconded as a candidate for re-election by Senator Marie-Rose Mureshyankwano, who said he has proven himself as a selfless leader who has already delivered positive results to the party.

“As Rwandans, we cannot do things as everybody else in the usual way. The challenges they face and those that we confront are different. The one thing that you can do, and everyone starts saying ‘Rwanda did this, Rwanda did that!’ Others would do things a hundred times worse, but no one will ever talk about them. For us to live well, we need to do things in a unique way so that even those who want to accuse us of all evils can hardly find any wrongs about us,” said President Kagame in his acceptance speech after being re-elected as chairman of the RPF-Inkotanyi.

While the National Electoral Commission is yet to release the official calendar, parliament recently approved the merger of the parliamentary election originally scheduled for September this year with presidential elections happening next year. The merger gave current Members of Parliament one extra year in office.

Now Kagame, 65, may have little competition when it comes to elections. But that doesn’t stop him from pitching his long list of achievements to the electorate.

Once in a while, he tours the country, reminding Rwandans to work hard, but also revealing what he has achieved and where he plans to improve. That may inform his continuous reforms of the public sector, including purging officials deemed to undermine the national goal of development.

Ismael Buchanan, a senior lecturer of Political Science at the University of Rwanda told The EastAfrican that President Kagame has been largely successful in instilling good governance under RPF.

“The way RPF has promoted good governance and the rule of law, unity among Rwandans and gender equality has stood out. Women’s empowerment has been a major achievement…,” he said, adding that it has also delivered peace and security to Rwanda.

On August 18, 2017, shortly after securing a new seven-year third term with 98.7 per cent of the votes, President Kagame pledged to “continue transforming Rwanda and ensuring a dignified life for every citizen.”

But he has faced criticism too including charges that he has turned authoritarian and limited political dissent.

Human Rights Watch, for example, says press freedom, human rights, and opposition suppression have featured this term.

“The ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) continued to stifle dissenting and critical voices and to target those perceived as a threat to the government and their family members,” Human Rights Watch argues in a bulletin.

“The space for political opposition, civil society, and media remained closed. Several high-profile critics, including opposition members and commentators using social media or YouTube to express themselves, went missing, were arrested or threatened,” Human Rights Watch said in its annual report 2022.”

Since 2017, his administration has focused on promoting investment, infrastructure development, and private sector growth. This has led to improvements in areas like healthcare, education, and technology, positioning Rwanda as one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies. One area that seems to keep giving is meetings and international conferences and exhibitions (MICE) which Rwanda has banked on to boost its tourism.

President Kagame is credited with positioning Rwanda as a hub for diplomacy and regional cooperation. He has made the country a major player in peacekeeping across the world currently ranked the 4th largest blue helmets contributor to the UN with 5,931 troops as of February, after India (6090), Nepal (6264), and Bangladesh (7269). He also entered bilateral deals with Mozambique to help them beat down insurgencies there.

Analysts say the challenge for the Kagame government over the past six years has been keeping peace with its neighbours, however. Until last year in January, Rwanda was at loggerheads with Uganda and Burundi and common land borders between these countries were closed almost three years. The closure of the major regional transport corridor border between Rwanda and Uganda- Gatuna/ Katuna in February 2019 significantly obstructed trade not only to Rwanda but also to Burundi and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Relations between Rwanda Burundi, and with Uganda have been restored but tensions remain high between Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo.

Kagame’s government also continues to grapple with job creation and enabling inclusive growth. The youth unemployment rate remains high. It decreased to 20.40 percent in the first quartre of 2023 from 29.70 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2022 according to figures by the National Institute of Statistics (NISR).

NISR figures show that Rwanda has been generating around 140,000 jobs per year since 2019 which is well below the target of 240,00 jobs annually set in the seven-year Government Programme: National Strategy for Transformation (NST1 2017 – 2024).

What are your thoughts about the achievements ?

As Rwanda prepares to hold presidential elections next year, the dominant ruling party — Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) is expected to front President Paul Kagame as its flag bearer. The […]

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UK Minister for Africa Mitchell in Kigali to launch development projects

Mr Andrew Mitchell, UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Minister for Africa, has arrived in Rwanda on a three-day as bilateral relations between the UK and Rwanda remain strong due to the existing controversial migration partnership that will see the transfer of illegal immigrants deported to Rwanda which is still subject to a court verdict.

Both countries await a decision by the Supreme Court after the UK High Court of Appeal ruled that Rwanda is not a safe third country for asylum seekers and the deficiencies in its asylum processes must be corrected for the country to receive asylum-seekers under its migration deal with the UK reversing an earlier decision that had deemed it safe.  

During his visit, he is expected to launch projects to support girls’ and children’s education worth approximately £72.3 million ($91.7 million) including Girls in Rwanda Learn (GIRL), a £60 million ($76.1 million) FCDO-funded programme that will run from 2023 to 2030 which is targeting to improve learning outcomes for at least 700,000 children. 

This is in addition to a £12.3 million ($15.6 million) partnership with Unicef that will last for seven years.

“Our two countries continue to work together on a range of issues important to both nations and the region, including climate change and women’s and girls’ education. The long-term partnership between the UK and Rwanda is underpinned by our support to help eradicate poverty, educate children, especially girls, and provide British expertise to improve the delivery of public services for all,” Mitchell said in a press statement released on Thursday. 

High-level discussions will also take place with President of Rwanda Paul Kagame and Minister of Foreign Affairs Vincent Biruta, focusing on bilateral relations and regional issues. 

Minister Mitchell will also attend Rwanda’s annual gorilla naming ceremony, Kwita Izina, which aims to highlight conservation efforts to protect these endangered species.

Booming relations between the two countries have since trade, business and tourism expanded between the two countries.

RwandAir, the national is set to launch daily flights between Kigali and London Heathrow on October 29 this year, a few months after it increased the frequency on the same route to four times a week.  

“Having first launched flights to the British capital in 2017, we have continued to build our presence following strong demand from customers here in the UK and Africa.

“We know these new daily direct flights will offer customers the convenience and connectivity which they have long asked for and look forward to welcoming more visitors to Rwanda,” RwandAir CEO Yvonne Makolo said in a statement.

The airline has flown between London and Kigali since May 2017 via an indirect service through Brussels, having launched flights from London Gatwick on 26 May 2017.

In 2020, RwandAir decided to switch flights to the UK’s busiest airport London Heathrow, helping to improve connections for those travelling from further afield.

Meanwhile, Rwanda continues to receive duty-free and quota-free trade and access to UK markets for all products except arms and ammunition under the UK’s new post-Brexit Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS) – which came into force in June, 2023.

DCTS, which covers 37 countries in Africa, 26 in Asia/Oceania/Middle East and 2 in the Americas, removes or reduces tariffs and simplifies trading rules so that more products qualify for the scheme, making it more generous than the EU scheme the UK was previously a member of, according to UK officials.  

“It will benefit developing countries looking to diversify and increase exports, driving their prosperity and reducing their need for aid.”

The scheme was announced last year, and legislation has since been finalized to bring it into force.

Rwanda’s imports from the United Kingdom, mainly road vehicles other than cars, telecoms and sound equipment, scientific instruments steadily increased over the last five years while exports to the UK – mainly coffee, tea, spices, minerals and apparel.

The country is now among Rwanda’s top five export destinations alongside the United Arab Emirates, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan and Switzerland.

Mr Andrew Mitchell, UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Minister for Africa, has arrived in Rwanda on a three-day as bilateral relations between the UK and Rwanda remain strong due […]

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Rwanda allocates over 7000 hectares of state forests to investors

In a move to boost the forestry sector and promote sustainable management practices, the government has authorized the allocation of 7,716 hectares of state forests to private investors for responsible harvesting and oversight.

The decision, approved by the cabinet, aims to enhance the country’s forest management while driving economic growth through strategic partnerships with selected companies.

The four companies chosen for the management and harvesting responsibilities are Ecopen Ituze Ltd, Kayonza Distributors Company, Ekaterra Tea Rwanda Ltd, and Ikizere Silviculture Limited.

The ambitious target set by the government is to privatize the management of 80 percent of state forests by 2024, amounting to 49,188 hectares. Notably, progress has been made, with 63 percent already achieved, a significant increase from 38 percent recorded last year.

There are currently ongoing negotiations covering an additional 15,198 hectares with potential investors awaiting cabinet approval. The negotiation process includes field visits, vetting, due diligence, and assessment of technical proposals before finalizing agreements under the supervision of the Prime Minister.

World Nature Conservation Day, celebrated on July 28, served as a backdrop to unveil the developments in state forests’ management privatization. This annual event seeks to raise awareness about the crucial need to preserve the environment and natural resources for the betterment of the world.

Forestry sector revenues have seen remarkable growth, surging from Rwf 164 billion in 2007 to Rwf 649 billion in 2021. With the privatization of all state-owned forests, the estimated annual revenue is projected to surpass Rwf 200 billion.

Rwanda currently possesses approximately 27 percent of the nation’s total forests, equivalent to 61,485 hectares, excluding national parks. The total forest cover across the country stands at 30.4 percent, encompassing 724,662 hectares. These forests are primarily 53 percent plantations, 21 percent wooded savannas in the east, 19 percent natural mountain rainforests, and 6.2 percent shrubs.

The Forest Sector Strategic Plan, executed between 2018 and 2024, has been a significant investment for Rwanda, amounting to Rwf 82.2 billion. Private investors have been required to engage in reforestation efforts following the harvesting of mature trees. To bolster the wood industry and ensure long-term sustainability, the Rwanda Forestry Authority (RFA) has designated five tree species with high economic value for reforestation purposes.

These species include Pinus spp, Eucalyptus spp, Podocarpus falcatus (Umufu), Cedrela odorata, and Entandrophragma excelsum (Umuyove or Libuyu). Notably, Umuyove was chosen due to its status as the only premium timber that naturally grows in Rwanda, making it highly sought-after in the local timber market.

As Rwanda continues to promote reforestation and sustainable forest management practices, there is a strong focus on native tree species to preserve the ecological balance. The timber industry has already contributed to the livelihoods of over 75,000 individuals, primarily in rural areas, with employment opportunities stemming from charcoal production, wood production, distribution, and selling.

A recent study revealed a substantial increase in employment within the wood processing and trade sector, growing from 12,000 jobs in 2017 to 23,000 jobs in 2019.

The trade of Rwandan forest timber is estimated to range from 215,000 to 235,000 cubic meters per year, with an approximate total value of $76 million annually.

In a move to boost the forestry sector and promote sustainable management practices, the government has authorized the allocation of 7,716 hectares of state forests to private investors for responsible […]

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Hard times lie ahead for EA citizens as states raise budgets to spur growth

East African governments this week presented their most expensive budgets yet, seeking to reinvigorate their economies, finance expanded government operations and repay ballooning debts.

Economists are warning the region’s citizens to brace for harder times as the fiscal measures proposed in the 2023/24 budgets are wont to further raise the cost of living, cause investor flight in some countries, and result in job losses.

Kenya, the region’s biggest economy, has proposed a $26.3 billion spending plan, while Tanzania has a $19.2 billion budget. The Democratic Repulic of Congo is planning to spend $16 billion, Uganda $13.9 billion, Rwanda $4.7 billion, Burundi $1.5 billion and South Sudan $1.4 billion.

The region’s taxpayers are facing more levies, with Kenya introducing measures to raid payslips of the working class to finance election promises President William Ruto made to his “hustlers,” to shore up forex reserves and spur growth.

In Uganda, the Museveni administration is seeking to borrow to finance some 18 big-ticket infrastructure projects while promising more on household incomes through the Ush1 trillion ($271.9 million) Parish Development Model, a programme the government launched in February 2022 to bring 39 percent of poor Ugandan households into the money economy.

Tanzania’s Samia Suluhu ’s regime has sought more cash to finance an economy shaking out of slumber, with Finance Minister Mwigulu Ncheba proposing to boost domestic revenue collection through a raft of measures while reducing domestic and external borrowing.

Reduced incomes

In Burundi, Finance Minister Audace Niyonzima presented a $1.4 billion budget against a struggling economy where spending will rise 65 percent and the budget deficit is expected to rise to BF728.9 billion ($258.3 million), from BF197.4 billion ($69.9 million) in the ending financial year.

South Sudan and DRC are yet to read their budgets but the estimates have already been made public.

In Kenya, Prof Njuguna Ndung’u, the Treasury Cabinet Secretary, on Thursday presented a Ksh3.68 trillion ($26.3 billion) budget whose implementation will involve raiding the wallets of salaried workers, increasing fuel costs and heavy borrowing.

Salaried employees will part with more to finance the National Health Insurance Fund (2.7 percent) and pay a 1.5 percent of gross salary to support the affordable housing programme in addition to a 35 percent income tax.

Prof Ndung’u proposed an amendment to the Income Tax Act to adjust Pay as Your Earn by introducing two additional tax bands: 32.5 percent for individuals earning monthly incomes between Ksh500,000-Ksh800,000 (($3,570- $5,712), and 35 percent for those earning more than Ksh800,000.

He said the two new bands will affect 26,676 employees, who constitute 0.8 percent of the employed workers.

“It remains to be seen how much additional tax revenue will be generated from the two new tax bands and whether the government will achieve its objective in making the tax system more progressive,” said Dr Benson Okundi, a partner at audit firm PwC.

Prof Ndung’u proposed to allocate Ksh35.3 billion ($252.3 million) to Dr Ruto’s pet project, the housing programme, to reduce mushrooming of slums and create more jobs for the youth.

He proposed to amend the Employment Act, 2007 to introduce a housing levy payable by employers and employees at 1.5 percent of an employee’s gross monthly.

Yet the minister hinted at a possible retrenchment of lower-cadre staff in state corporations. He said the State Corporations Advisory Committee will start “rationalising staff establishment to keep them lean.”

Kenya proposes an increase in VAT of petroleum products from eight percent to 16 percent; zero rating of liquified petroleum gas from VAT and increase of turnover tax from one percent to three percent, with the upper threshold lowered to 25 percent.

The doubling of VAT on fuel will see the cost-of-living skyrocket as fuel has a ripple effect on transport, infrastructure, energy, agriculture and food and housing.

PwC, in its budget review, observed that an increase on VAT on fuel will impact inflation.

“The inflation rate in Kenya rose to eight percent in May 2023, from a ten-month low of 7.9 percent in the prior month. Increase in VAT of petroleum products is likely to have far-reaching consequences,” PwC said.

Prof Ndung’u indicated that the National Assembly will formulate a county revenue bill to provide governance around revenue generation for counties.

The government is seeking to raise Ksh2.57 trillion ($18.4 billion) – the highest amount in its history – from ordinary revenue, amid opposition by lobbies and the opposition in parliament.

Investor concerns

Foreign businesses, through lobbies, have expressed their concerns. In a letter to the National Assembly, Maxwell Okello, CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce, asked legislators to remove several proposals deemed detrimental to business.

Foreign businesses have also taken issue with the digital content monetisation tax – which has now been reduced to five percent from the proposed 15 percent – saying it will put undue burden on digital service firms, which are mostly foreign multinationals.

“The additional administrative requirements and possible additional tax costs may discourage the use of content creators for advertisement and other digital campaigns and kill this budding industry in Kenya,” Okello said.

The proposal to raise income tax for those earning above Ksh500,000 ($3,575) may also discourage foreign investors and expatriates from working in Kenya due to the high taxes.

“We will lose business to other countries that position themselves as global business and lifestyle destinations. The founders of businesses and expatriates have the option of setting up in other markets such as Rwanda, Tanzania and South Africa, and those currently in Kenya may relocate to these destinations,” he said.

A top executive in a regional petroleum company who asked not to be named told The EastAfrican the rise in VAT on petroleum products will depress demand, impacting the entire economy.

“In the end it’s a zero-sum game,” he said.

“If demand reduces, the private sector will have to take measures to reduce their overhead costs, including by reducing their workforce. On the other hand, if revenue is not met, government will take austerity measures, and if the state doesn’t spend as it should, it will depress the entire economy.”

However, Prof Ndung’u said the move is meant to enable oil companies “recover the VAT credits that they have been carrying forward over the years.”

On the flip side, foreign businesses in Kenya will now pay a lower corporate income tax of 30 percent – like local firms – down from 37.5 percent, to eliminate ‘discrimination’ of non-resident businesses.

Uganda austerity measures

Uganda’s Ush52.7 trillion ($13.9 billion) is dedicated to poor Ugandans but does not address the high cost of living. Instead, Uganda will borrow more to finance infrastructure.

Finance Minister Matia Kasaija proposed austerity measures, including a freeze on new administrative units, domestic borrowing and rationalisation of agencies to save the government Ush1 trillion ($271.9million) annually.

The decision to look for more credit to fund 18 new infrastructure projects is raising fears of disrupting the country’s debt management, amid risks of aggressive behaviour by local lenders and the consequences of shor-term loans.

The 18 projects are valued at $3.344 billion and are scattered across transport, energy, agricultural, education and ICT sectors.

Uganda borrowed $1.26 billion in the 2021/22 financial year to finance nine projects in those sectors, according to the latest government report.

Some of the new projects are industrial parks, which require a $173.8 million loan, expected from the China Exim Bank; and an Industrial Transformation and Employment Project that bears a $150 million loan from the World Bank.

The Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area Project requires a $518 million loan expected from the World Bank, while the Climate Smart Agriculture Project also bears a $325 million World Bank loan request. In addition, upgrade of Kitgum-Kidepo road carries a loan financing burden of $117.7 million expected from Standard Chartered Bank.

Uganda’s overall public debt portfolio increased from Ush73.5 trillion ($19.6 billion) in June 2022 to Ush86 trillion ($22.8 billion) by end of March 2023, government data shows.

Its annual debt servicing bill is projected to expand from $500 million in 2022/23 to around $1 billion by close of 2024/25, with a debt servicing costs to revenue ratio increase from 25 percent in 2022/23 to 30 percent in 2024/25, according to Bank of Uganda (BoU) data. The debt servicing costs to GDP ratio is forecast to rise from 17 percent to 22 percent in the period.

“We are still examining the viability of all the selected projects together with different lenders but we are confident that all of them will receive funding in the next financial year,” said Patrick Ocailap, deputy secretary to the Treasury at Uganda’s Finance Ministry.

“We also expect debt servicing to GDP ratio to remain at less than 50 percent after absorption of the new projects in government’s infrastructure portfolio in line with strong economic growth patterns.”

Uganda’s top borrowing priority lies with concessional loans for certain projects in the education and health sectors, while commercial loans will be used for a few high-yielding projects, the Ministry of Finance said.

Massive government borrowing is blamed for aggressive investor behaviour in local debt markets and lukewarm short-term credit ratings.

“The government’s latest move appears very risky in the financial markets. Dollar borrowing is very costly today,” argued Allan Lwetabe, director for investment operations at the Deposit Protection Fund of Uganda.

A commercial dollar-denominated loan would cost eight percent per annum over a five-year period. It cost two percent per annum three years ago.

“Borrowing so much in US dollars would also require matching loan repayments with dollar supply flows anchored on export earnings from coffee, gold, tea and fish among others,” Lwetabe told The EastAfrican.

Uganda will need to manage the two issues, as it may require more dollars than the local market has.

Dar plans

Tanzania’s Tsh44.39 trillion ($19.13 billion) budget tabled by Finance Minister Mwigulu Nchemba is meant to boost domestic revenue collection through a raft of measures while reducing domestic and external borrowing.

Projected domestic revenue has been pegged at Tsh31.38 trillion ($13.52 billion), an increase of 12 percent from the 2022/2023 target of Tsh28.02 trillion ($12.07 billion). It will make up 70.7 percent of the total budget and includes Tsh26.73 trillion ($11.52 billion) from tax collection as new levies, which appeared to target middle-income earners , take effect.

Just Tsh7.57 trillion ($3.26 billion) is expected from external sources, including grants and concessional loans (Tsh5.47 trillion, $2.36 billion) and non-concessional loans (Tsh2.1 trillion, $905.17 million), according to Nchemba.

Concessional borrowing will provide Tsh2.22 trillion ($956.9 million) for key projects compared with Tsh1.65 trillion ($711.2 million) in 2022/2023, while external commercial loans will drop by 30.8 percent from Tsh3 trillion ($1.29 billion) to Tsh2.1 trillion ($905.17 million).

The government expects to borrow Tsh5.44 trillion ($2.34 billion) from the domestic market. Maturing government paper is projected to yield Tsh3.54 trillion ($1.52 billion) while the remaining Tsh1.9 trillion ($818.56 million) will be canvassed from locals to help finance development projects.

Tanzania’s private sector is set to be fully incorporated into this fund-raising drive under a new public-private partnership law passed by parliament on June 13.

Some Tsh6.3 trillion ($2.71 billion) will be spent on servicing national debt which, by April 2023, stood at Tsh79.1 trillion ($34.09 billion), up 13.9 percent from Tsh69.44 trillion ($29.93 billion) in April 2022.

External debt stood at Tsh51.16 trillion ($22.05 billion) against a domestic debt of Tsh27.94 trillion ($12.04 billion), with concessional loans standing at Tsh37.69 trillion ($16.24 billion).

At least Tsh4.13 trillion ($1.78 billion) will go to external debt repayments including principal payments and interest. Nchemba said the concessional loans component in the new budget has been increased by 22.8 percent and non-concessional loans cut down by 14.4 percent.

The government’s spending plan also includes Tsh1.14 trillion ($491.37 million) to cover government subsidies in education (free primary/secondary school education and higher education student loans), Tsh1.5 trillion ($646.55 million) to complete the Julius Nyerere Hydro Power Project and Tsh1.11 trillion ($478.45 million) to the standard gauge railway project.

Other priority areas will include Air Tanzania revival, developing a special economic zone at the coastal town of Bagamoyo, and developing a Rare Skills programme aimed at increasing youth’s capacity for self- employment.

In Rwanda, Finance Minister Uzziel Ndagijimana proposed increased spending by six percent to Rwf5.03 trillion ($4.4 billion), from Rwf4.7 trillion ($4.1 billion) in 2022/23.

The government plans to finance 63 percent of its budget with domestic revenues while external loans would constitute 24 percent and external grants 13 percent.

“The budget reflects the government’s economic resilience efforts in the face of global shocks.

The government will continue to prioritise fiscal consolidation, ease inflation and invest in agriculture, scale up social protection coverage; improve the quality of education, create employment opportunities and support micro, small, medium and large enterprises affected by Covid-19 through the enhanced Economic Recovery Fund and Manufacture and Build to Recover Programme,” Dr Ndagijimana said.

Rwanda announced a 10 percent increase in customs duty on imported construction materials, including metal tubes, doors, windows, and their frames. Wheelbarrows, plastic bags, and cloth bags will also face a 35 percent import duty.

Import duty for second-hand clothes will remain at $2.5 per kilogramme, while second-hand shoes will be taxed at $5 per kilo. Under the EAC Customs act, import duty on second-hand clothes and shoes is $0.4 per kilogramme.

The government will allocate Rwf2.8 trillion ($24.7 billion — 55.9 per cent of the budget) to the Economic Transformation Pillar.

These resources will scale up agricultural productivity, create jobs, support private sector development and strengthen climate change adaptation and mitigation measures.

It will also increase access to electricity and clean water, support urbanisation and settlement, improve the national road network, scale up the adoption of ICT, and implement agriculture de-risking and financing facilities.

Under the Social Transformation Pillar, the government will allocate Rwf1.5 trillion ($1.3 billion — 30.4 per cent of the budget).

“Is government borrowing to invest or consume? And what is the actual return on investments on those projects?” pondered Paul Corti Lakuma, a senior research fellow at the Economic Policy Research Centre based at Makerere University.

On stays of application of import duty rates per the East African Communty Common External Tariff. Prof Ndung’u said it will apply for one year on rice (35 percent), imported iron and steel products (35 percent), vegetable products (35 percent), baby diapers (35 percent), leather and footwear products (35 percent), paper and paper products (35 percent).

It will also apply to timber (plywood and particleboard $120/MT – $200/MT), furniture (45 percent), plastic and rubber (35 percent), smartphones (25 percent), and billets (10 percent).

“Interestingly, one of the reasons for the introduction of a four-band EAC CET (version 2022) was to minimise the request for stays by partner states, but it seems this trend persists,” PwC observed.

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East African governments this week presented their most expensive budgets yet, seeking to reinvigorate their economies, finance expanded government operations and repay ballooning debts. Economists are warning the region’s citizens […]

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CIVIC SPACE IN NUMBERS

The CIVICUS Monitor measures enabling conditions for civil society or civic space. We provide ratings for civic space in 197 countries and territories (all UN member states and Hong Kong, Kosovo, Palestine, and Taiwan). At CIVICUS, we see civic space as the respect in policy and practice for the freedoms of assembly, association and expression which are underpinned by the state’s duty to protect civil society.

We view civic space as a set of universally-accepted rules, which allow people to organise, participate and communicate with each other freely and without hindrance, and in doing so, influence the political, economic and social structures around them.

CIVIC SPACE IN 2022

Today, only 3.1% of the world’s population lives in countries with Open civic space. 

For better accuracy and comparison over time, this year we added a decimal point to the percentages.

GLOBAL CIVIC SPACE RESTRICTIONS 

Over the past year, civil society across the world has faced a variety legal and extra-legal restrictions. Below we document the top ten violations captured in the CIVICUS Monitor.

Top 10 Violations to Civic Freedoms

COUNTRY RATINGS

The CIVICUS Monitor currently rates 39 countries and territories as Open, 41 rated as Narrowed, 42 rated as Obstructed, 50 rated as Repressed and 25 rated as Closed.

REGIONAL BREAKDOWNS

 OpenNarrowedObstructedRepressedClosed
Africa2413246
Americas 109952
Asia and Pacific8710114
Europe and Central Asia1921644
Middle East and North Africa00469
This page was last updated on 22 June 2022

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The CIVICUS Monitor measures enabling conditions for civil society or civic space. We provide ratings for civic space in 197 countries and territories (all UN member states and Hong Kong, Kosovo, Palestine, and Taiwan). […]

Continue reading "CIVIC SPACE IN NUMBERS"

DR Congo EALA representatives boycott Kampala meeting

The Democratic Republic of Congo representatives at the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) have boycotted a retreat of the members of the regional body that is being held in Kampala, Uganda.

Mr Stephen Odongo, a Ugandan representative in the EALA, said their DRC counterparts were concerned about their security while in Kampala. They are said to have avoided entering Rwanda for the committee sessions of EALA on the same grounds.

Members of the regional body were Monday evening hosted to a dinner by the Speaker of the Ugandan Parliament Anita Among at her residence in Kampala where she committed to have the Speakers of the respective parliaments in the region develop standards to be observed by EALA members.

“Let us have a meeting as Speakers and agree on what should be done by our members who are in the community,” Ms Among said.

Caution

Speaking about the boycott, Ms Among cautioned members against involvement in matters that do not concern them.

“Don’t enter into wars that do not concern you,” she said.

Ms Among’s remark was prompted by Mr Odongo when he raised concern about the boycott and called upon her to give assurance to the legislators about the state of security in Uganda.

“As the number three in the country, we would wish that you make a very strong statement of the state of our security to inspire confidence in our colleagues who are not here with us that this country is safe and we are here for regional integration,” Odongo had appealed.

EALA Speaker Joseph Ntakirutimana said he was shocked when he received the communication from the DRC representatives that they would not attend the committee sessions both in Kigali and Kampala.

M23 rebels

DRC last year severed relations with Rwanda as the former accused Kigali of providing material support to the M23 rebels who have captured swathes of territory around North Kivu province.

Both the United Nations and the United States accuse Rwanda of supporting the rebels but Rwanda has vehemently denied the allegations.

However, the relations between Kampala and Kinshasa appear to have been warm, signified by the signed Status of Forces Agreement which has allowed the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) to hunt down the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group in the jungles of eastern DRC.

The same cannot be said for Rwanda whose deployment of the country’s army as part of the East African Joint Regional Forces has been objected to by DRC.

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The Democratic Republic of Congo representatives at the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) have boycotted a retreat of the members of the regional body that is being held in Kampala, […]

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EU blames Rwanda, DR Congo over fighting amid calls for ceasefire

The European Union is blaming Rwanda, again, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), for ignoring proposals of regional peace initiatives even as Kinshasa’s government forces battle the M23 rebel movement.

A statement issued on Tuesday said Rwanda, the DRC and the M23 should adhere to regional peace processes and lay down arms. 

The European bloc said all armed groups should also withdraw from the positions they occupy and take part in the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration process. It blamed Rwanda for fanning M23, and DRC for continued collaboration with other armed groups.

“The European Union condemns their violent actions and urges Rwanda to cease its support to the M23, and to use all means to put pressure on the M23 to withdraw from the occupied areas, as foreseen in the plan agreed between the East African Community heads of state and government on 9 February in Nairobi,” the EU said.

Attacks on civilians

It said the Congolese army, FARDC, should stop collaborating with armed groups, including the FDLR, seen by Rwanda as remnants of the 1994 genocidaires.

The EU “strongly condemns the repeated attacks targeting civilians carried out in particular by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and the Cooperative for the Development of Congo (CODECO) in North Kivu and Ituri,” it said.

In December, the EU had accused Rwanda of fomenting rebellion in eastern DRC by arming and supporting the M23, claims that Kigali denied.

On Tuesday, the EU said the peace process under the EAC — known as the Nairobi process — and another under the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region — known as the Luanda process — must be supported.

Withdrawal of M23

The Nairobi Process is pursuing both military and diplomatic solutions. On February 9, military chiefs from the East African Community proposed that the M23 should begin its withdrawal from February 28 for a period of one month.

DRC’s Deputy Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs Christophe Lutundula says the new withdrawal timetable and the new deployment plan for EAC member countries’ troops are only proposals at this stage that the government will assess.

“We are following this with great attention, anything that is not in the sense of allowing the republic to fully exercise its sovereignty, to safeguard its territorial authority, to safeguard the independence of our country, we will not accept it, that’s for sure,” said Lutundula.

“We will further decipher the content, not only the writing, but the spirit of what has been proposed. We are following that very carefully”, he added.

Rapid EAC troops deployment

The European Union also encouraged the rapid deployment of the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF) and the continuation of an inclusive dialogue.

The deployment is supposed to follow the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) but the Congolese government has not yet confirmed the arrival of new troops this week.

“We will evaluate the SOFA without any omissions. I can say that we will not hesitate to put an end to it. But we don’t want to. Our view is that we must continue to review the SOFA,” said Lutundula on Monday.

Despite this roadmap signed on November 23, 2022, and the appeals of heads of state, the parties continue to fight, causing civilians to flee en masse.

The European Union noted that “the lack of implementation of commitments and decisions taken by the various parties, and the continuation of fighting, particularly around Goma, is aggravating a disastrous humanitarian situation”.

Though critical of Kigali’s involvement in the conflict, the EU last week renewed a refugee holding programme with Rwanda for Kigali to help with hosting refugees rescued from Libya as they await processing to other countries. The programme is to last for three years.

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The European Union is blaming Rwanda, again, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), for ignoring proposals of regional peace initiatives even as Kinshasa’s government forces battle the M23 rebel […]

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Ugandan exports to Rwanda flourish on food supplies, raw materials

Rwanda’s appetite for imports from Ugandan grew to a record $60.55 million in the fourth quarter of 2022 from $15.64 million in the first nine months to September as Kigali turned to her regional neighbours for food supplies and raw materials.

Latest Bank of Uganda trading data shows exports, which had stagnated in single-digit millions of dollars between January and September 2022, grew to an average of $20 million monthly between October-December.  

Ugandan economist Fred Muhumuza attributed the growth to lower harvests in Rwanda that necessitated food imports.

“The importer … has to import a lot of food to restock. In future, we might see export levels reduce,” he told local media in Uganda.

Highlights published in the East African Cross Border Trade Bulletin by the Food Security and Nutrition Working Group (FSNWG) show that Rwandan authorities were under pressure to provide adequate food and also ensure sufficient supply for raw material, especially for breweries.

Goods traded

The FSNWG data shows Rwanda breweries imported 3,991 tonnes of sorghum from Uganda, 2,065 tonnes of maize and 2,866 tonnes of rice from Tanzania.

However, small scale cross-border traders – who used to dominate the informal trade business – complain they have not fully benefited from the reopening of the border in January last year.

Previously most of the informal trade at the Gatuna-Katuna border was in foodstuff such as maize flour, rice, Irish potatoes and beans. But the traders say this has stopped because Rwanda now demands for licences to bring in goods.

The licence requirement has also drawn complaints from bigger exporters.

Kanakulya Mulondo, the secretary for security, environment and mediation at the Kampala City Traders Association, said traders remain sceptical about exporting to Rwanda.

“We remain cagey about the Kigali export market because our push to be compensated for losses when the border was closed in 2019 fell on deaf ears,” he said.

The association had sued Rwanda at the East African Court of Justice for closing the border. The court ruled that the closure of the border and restriction of Rwandan nationals from accessing Uganda was in violation of the East African Treaty rules of free movement across member states.

DR Congo

The association says some Ugandan traders now prefer markets in DR Congo, South Sudan and Burundi. Bank of Uganda data shows that in the region, DR Congo remains the biggest informal export market for Uganda, closely followed by Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania and Rwanda respectively.

Before the closure of the border in 2019, Ugandan exports to Rwanda – predominantly cement and food – totalled more than $211m in 2018, according to World Bank figures, while Rwanda exported $13m worth of goods to Uganda.

John Lwere, the exports executive at the Uganda Export Promotion Board, said trade was just picking up after the reopening of the border a year ago.

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Regional forces mull next step after M23 decline ceasefire

Regional forces assembling in the Democratic Republic of Congo have underlined the priority of guarding civilians suing for peace, by providing a buffer against M23 rebels, The EastAfrican can reveal.

The decision came in response to a defied ultimatum given to the M23 last week by leaders who had gathered in Luanda, Angola.

And as community and armed groups representatives from the Democratic Republic of Congo gathered in Nairobi this week, seeking long-term peace, military experts were holed up in Goma mulling the next step after M23 rebels defied a ceasefire call.

The three-day dialogue forum, the third in a series of the Nairobi Process, is backed by the East African Community.

Yet to ease hostilities

In Goma, military experts from EAC member states contributing troops to the regional force (EACRF), as well as the UN stabilisation mission (Monusco) were activated after participants of the Nairobi process reported that the group was yet to ease its hostilities in spite of publicly vowing to do so last week.

As the first step, sources told The EastAfrican the Kenya Defence Forces troops which have been on standby in Goma will be tasked with creating a ring around civilians to reduce casualties among local communities.

The idea is to ensure M23 attacks are thwarted by the Congolese forces, FARDC, the regional EACRF and Monusco, if the regional heads of state under the East African Community approve it.

The decision was first mooted in Angola last week, where a mini summit of the EAC and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), under the chairmanship of Angolan President Joao Lorenco, called for ceasefire by all armed groups or they be forced out of occupied territories.

“Kenya to initially deploy its contingent in Goma, DRC and subsequently in Banagana, Rutshuru and Kiwanja upon the withdrawal of M23 to its initial positions not beyond the line along Sabinyo (DRC side), Bigego, Bugusa, Nyabikona, Mbuzi, Rutsiro and Nkokwe,” the communique stated.

Continued battles

The M23 in a statement had agreed to the ceasefire call by the Heads of State after the Luanda process with a rider that they would not cease to defend themselves if they were violated by FARDC. But this week, locals reported continued battles between the rebels and Congolese forces.

The peace bid is, however, challenged by DRC’s own local politics. Kinshasa had opposed the idea of the buffer zone, fearing it could incite political heat, including ethnic divisions. Such an eventuality could hurt President Felix Tshisekedi as he bids for re-election due on December 20, 2023.

In the DRC, well before the announcement of the election date, candidates had already declared themselves for the elections and political parties had already put themselves in order of battle. Among the candidates is Martin Fayulu, his challenger in the 2018 election, who claims he won. Others are Moïse Katumbi. The former governor of the ex-province of Katanga is currently allied to Tshisekedi but is expected to challenge him.

Party dynamics

Former president Joseph Kabila’s camp has remained uncertain as his party the Common Front for Congo has yet to reveal its intentions. The other is Dr Denis Mukwege, the famous gynaecologist who co-won the Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2018. 

Some Congolese have asked him to stand, something he hasn’t taken on but which has attracted jibes on him from Tshisekedi.

After the announcement of election dates, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission Denis Kadima mentioned “constraints that may hamper the implementation of the elections.”

Among the challenges is insecurity, with Mr Kadima admitting that parts of DRC in rebel hands “have an impact on the smooth running of the elections.”

“No electoral operation can be organised properly without security for voters, electoral agents, sites of operations, materials and candidates,” he said last month.

Corneille Nangaa, former chairman of the electoral commission, said DRC’s “number one enemy of the electoral process is mistrust between actors and stakeholders.”

The registration of the estimated 50 million voters has not yet started, he told The EastAfrican.  In 2018, the electoral body needed 15 months to be ready.

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Regional forces assembling in the Democratic Republic of Congo have underlined the priority of guarding civilians suing for peace, by providing a buffer against M23 rebels, The EastAfrican can reveal. The decision […]

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The sweet and sour of the Luanda summit on DRC and the M23 rebels

If Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi has ever dreamt of lifting a magic wand to have M23 rebels and Congolese Tutsi instantly vanish from his country’s territory, the mini-summit in the Angolan capital Launda last week might have been the closest he’ll ever get to realising such a dream.

It was a heads of state summit’ communiqué which read as though it had been written by some bored Congolese populist on Twitter, living on welfare in Brussels who’s never set foot in eastern DR Congo.

Essentially, the Luanda mini-summit stipulated that:

•M23 would withdraw from all seized territories and retreat into their initial positions.

•The relinquished territories would be taken up by a buffer regional force led by Kenyan troops, who form part of the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF).

•The Rwandan genocidaire forces in DR Congo, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) would then be disarmed and repatriated.

It pains to say that nothing from that communiqué will be implemented, mainly because none of the recommended actions are realistic. For starters, the five days’ ultimatum to M23 was not feasible. At the time of the communiqué, in which warring parties were called to a ceasefire, fighting was ongoing in Kichanga, Masisi territory, and the 1,000 troops Kenyan contingent is too small to man a territory twice the size of Rwanda.

Not a total waste

That said, although Luanda wasn’t the turning point we all weren’t expecting, it wasn’t a total waste of time either. By asking M23 to relinquish Ruchuru and return to its initial positions, Tshisekedi unwittingly admitted for the first time that M23 did not come from Rwanda, that they were always within Congolese forests – and they listed them: Bigega, Bugusa, Nyabikona, Mbuzi, Rutsiro and Nkonkwe. The second takeaway from the summit was the admission of the threat posed by FDLR.

The rest of the communique was meant to appease the Congolese hoi polloi – and that too is a first. I suspect that following the episodes in August this year, when angry mobs looted Monusco headquarters in Goma and Beni in reaction to its spokesperson’s declaring that the UN body had no proof of Rwanda’s support to M23; and that the Monusco had no force, strong enough to face M23, it seems the international community seems to have agreed with Tshisekedi to “protect the Congolese from the truth,” so to speak, to avoid further attacks on, say the American and French embassies and the UN headquarters in Kinshasa. Also, to de-escalate the possibility of UN forces having to open fire on Congolese mobs attacking them.

Indeed, to appease the masses, the honest Monusco spokesperson was given 48 hours to leave the country, while the Rwandan ambassador who insisted his country wasn’t supporting any militia in DR Congo suffered the same fate.

Self-defence

The Monusco elements returning from a rest and recreation and shot in self-defence and killed Congolese mobs charging at them at the border with Uganda, were repatriated and the incident silenced.

The issue with this new theatrical approach is that if negotiators keep-up the smokescreen, they’ll lose all legitimacy.

Is it necessary to remember that M23, which stands for “Movement of March 23, 2009”, refers to peace accords signed on that date between its ancestor the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) and Kinshasa.

On November 20, 2012, M23 took control of Goma, and was asked to relinquish it in exchange for the implementation of its grievances captured in said accords.

The M23 movement has its roots in the “Banyarwanda question.” Communities of Rwandan ancestry, speaking Kinyarwanda and practicing the Rwandan culture, are estimated to number 40 million, all located in the Great Lakes region. Only 13 million of them are Rwandan citizens. The majority are Ugandan citizens and the rest are located mainly in Burundi, DR Congo and Tanzania. The presence of Banyarwanda in those areas predates both colonialism and African borders, and their Congolese nationality is a consequence of the division of Africa at the Berlin conference on 188-1885.

Catastrophic déjà-vu

When the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) was fighting for the return of Tutsi refugees to Rwanda in the 1990s, the government in Rwanda brought in the question of their citizenship. To then president Juvenal Habyarimana, the Tutsi had no place in Rwanda and were to be “sprinkled” across countries of the region. Today, Congolese are saying the same thing.

But Tutsi aren’t spices that are to be peppered into other communities and expected to shrink into oblivion. That is what the 1994 genocide perpetrators in Rwanda wanted. Tutsi are a community with an identity and one of the oldest cultures in the region. They trace their ancestral homestead in this region and in current DR Congo since the seventeenth century. It is uncanny that the colonisers’ Berlin Conference of 1884/1885 should be the prism through which Africans interact with one another in this day and age.

Tshisekedi’s request for M23 to withdraw to their initial position has the hallmarks of FDLR leaders written all over it, straight from Habyarimana’s disastrous playbook of the 90s.

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Mediators walk a tightrope with mention of fear of polls

When Rwanda President Paul Kagame this week gave a speech criticising his Congolese counterpart Felix Tshisekedi, it looked like he was merely responding to Kinshasa’s incessant accusations that Kigali fuels rebel activity in its territory.

President Kagame, while addressing legislators in Kigali, said, “This problem can be resolved if one country headed for elections next year is not trying to create an emergency so that the elections don’t take place…”

“If he is trying to find another way of having the next elections postponed, then I would rather he uses other excuses, not us,” Kagame said.

He did not name Tshisekedi by name but DR Congo is heading into elections in December next year.

Initially political friends, Kagame and Tshisekedi have been exchanging barbs, often cooling on mediation, but resuming exchanges soon after. The bone of contention is rebel movements in eastern DRC. The region has at least 120 armed groups but the main focus has been on M23 and the FDLR, which the two countries alternately accuse one another of sponsoring to interfere with each other’s stability. Each side denies the charge.

Focused on M23

In his speech that lasted for over an hour, President Kagame said the country has focused on the M23 rebel group, even when over several other armed groups are operating in the Eastern DRC.

There is a historical problem to it. The M23 is mostly made up of ethnic Tutsi, who are in Rwanda. The Forces Démocratiques de Liberation du Rwanda (FDLR) is seen as made up of remnants of the genocidaires who fled Rwanda after Kagame defeated the Hutu-led genocide gangs.

Kagame said he offered President Tshisekedi assistance to fight off some of the rebel groups including the FDLR, which is responsible for the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, but the latter refused. DR Congo in fact has argued the FDLR, having been disarmed, is not a big problem.

The ethnic link and association with past atrocities have elevated hate speech in the DRC, a UN official warned this week. The United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide Alice Wairimu Nderitu expressed concern that the spread of hate speech and armed groups and violence in Eastern DRC could trigger a genocide. Some of those massacres have been linked to people who originally fled genocide in Rwanda.

Warning sign

“The current violence is a warning sign of societal fragility and proof of the enduring presence of the conditions that allowed large-scale hatred and violence to erupt into a genocide in the past,” she said after completing her three-day visit to Eastern DRC.

Her visit followed a technical-level mission by her office that established that indicators and triggers contained in the UN Framework of Analysis for Atrocity Crimes, including dissemination of hate speech and absence of internal mechanisms to address it, were present in DRC

Other triggers are the politicisation of identity, proliferation of local militias and other armed groups across the country, widespread and systematic attacks including sexual violence against the Banyamulenge on the basis of their ethnicity and perceived allegiance to neighbouring countries.

According to Ms Wairimu, the current violence in Eastern DRC mainly stems from the refugee crisis that resulted from the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, leading to formation of armed groups that have led to the conflict that has rocked the region for two decades.

Mediators headache

The complexity of ethnic compositions, political grievances and interested parties mean mediators must walk on eggshells in seeking peace. That burden is now carried by former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, the EAC Facilitator for Peace in the DR Congo.

Mr Kenyatta must push for penalties on errant parties, while rewarding those suing for peace. Peace, however, is not the reward everyone wants.

This week, all the EAC leaders except South Sudan’s Salva Kiir took part physically or via video link in the discussions in the Nairobi Process that are meant to lay the foundation for continuous dialogue between the government in Kinshasa and the armed groups as well as neutralise negative forces in eastern DRC.

“There are groups that are yet to honour promises to lay down arms and we urge those who are not yet with us on the table to still give support to the Nairobi process. The resources of Congo are supposed to foster development and not to shed blood,” said Mr Kenyatta.

Agreed to disarm

The armed groups agreed to disarm and gave their proposals including withdrawal of foreign armed groups, freeing of imprisoned fighters by the FARDC and amnesty for those wanted for running armed groups.

The call for ceasefire was partly heeded by more than 52 armed groups that showed up for the Nairobi peace process.

The armed groups include those from North and South Kivu, Ituri armed groups, Maniema and Tanganyika as well as a small portion of the M23 rebels.

In attendance at the Nairobi meeting included Cooperative for the Development of Congo (Codeco), a mystical-military organisation that claims to defend members of the Lendu community in Ituri region; Collective Movement for Change (CMC), based in Rutshuru, Masisi, and Nyiragongo; and the Mai Mai. 

The Ugandan rebels based in DRC, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), and the M23 were not invited. Both the governments of Yoweri Museveni and Felix Tshisekedi have designated the two groups as terrorist organisations.

DRC’s plans

President Felix Tshisekedi’s Special Envoy Prof Serge Tshibangu said DRC has plans to absorb the local armed groups’ ex-combatants into the army after the due recruitment process has been followed.

“The amnesty will however, not be automatic to all armed groups that lay down their arms as some will have to go through the transitional justice process and be held accountable for their atrocities,” he said. In the past three weeks, Mr Kenyatta has visited Bujumbura, Kinshasa, Goma and Luanda in his diplomatic endeavours.

However, some of the armed groups that are involved in the diplomatic process are concerned that EAC leaders are not doing enough to pressure President Felix Tshisekedi to listen and act on their grievances. Basa Zukpa, the spokesperson for Codeco, said they have had formal talks with President Tshisekedi since 2019, but Kinshasa instead prefers to send delegations to tell them to lay down their arms.

“We are willing to lay down our arms but we need the EAC leaders to make serious efforts to bring peace to eastern Congo because our previous talks with the government have not produced any formal agreement,” said Mr Zukpa.

He said that Codeco is more concerned about intermittent attacks by the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) while their only intention is to defend their people from negative forces.

Jules Mulumba, the spokesperson for the Collective Movement for Change (CMC), expressed similar sentiments, saying they have been in touch with the government but there is no official communication yet.

Expressed frustrations

However, President Tshisekedi, while addressing the gathering via a video link, expressed frustrations that criminal activities are sabotaging diplomatic efforts to bring peace.

President Kagame said that persistent insecurity in eastern DRC is due to the failure to implement various agreements in the past years. He, however, sees some hope in resolving the conflict because the recent resurgence has attracted attention globally.

On the other hand, President Museveni said that the region should adopt a dual approach: Political dialogue and military action against those groups that don’t want peace.

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When Rwanda President Paul Kagame this week gave a speech criticising his Congolese counterpart Felix Tshisekedi, it looked like he was merely responding to Kinshasa’s incessant accusations that Kigali fuels […]

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M23 urged to stop targeting civilians as 50 killed in east DRC

Emotions are still running high after the killing of civilians in Kishishe, in the chiefdom of Bwito, Rutshuru territory, about 100 kilometres from Goma in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

According to the Congolese army, 50 civilians were killed by the M23 rebels with the massacre being condemned by various agencies.

In the DRC, the government declared three days of national mourning while the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Monusco) denounced “these appalling acts”.

In its statement, Monusco called on “all relevant authorities to investigate without delay and bring the perpetrators to justice”.

Amnesty International also reacted by calling on M23 to cease targeting civilians following the killing of dozens of non-combatants in towns in the east of the DRC in recent days in indiscriminate attacks and, in some cases, summary killings.

“The M23 rebel group must immediately end deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on civilians,” said Flavia Mwangovya, Amnesty International’s deputy director for East Africa, the Horn and Great Lakes Region.

Protect civilians

“We urge all forces in the area, including the Congolese army and the East African Community Regional Force, to take all necessary measures to protect the civilian population while respecting international humanitarian law,” Ms Mwangovya added.

Human Rights Watch is also calling for an independent investigation and sanctions. The massacre of civilians in Kishishe could constitute a war crime, said Stephanie Miley, chargé d’affaires of the US embassy in Kinshasa.

Young men targeted

According to local civil society sources in North Kivu, the M23 targeted young men from Kashishe who had previously ambushed the rebels through community defence groups.  The bloody attack also claimed the lives of children and elderly people.

According to the Congolese army (FARDC), several other civilians are now missing or have been kidnapped by the M23.

General Sylvain Ekenge, the spokesman of the Congolese army, also denounced the forced recruitment of young people by the M23 and the use of children in the fighting.

The fighting resumed Thursday in North Kivu in violation of the ceasefire decreed in Luanda, Angola.

On November 23, East African heads of state and other political leaders from the region declared a ceasefire.

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DR Congo accuses M23 rebels of civilian massacre, breaching truce

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s army on Thursday accused M23 insurgents of killing 50 civilians and breaching a five-day-old truce in the country’s restive east.

The rebel group issued a statement late Thursday denying the alleged massacre of civilians.

The ceasefire took effect in North Kivu province at the weekend following a summit between DRC and its neighbour Rwanda.

It was to have been followed by a rebel pull-out from captured territory, a withdrawal that has yet to take place.

General Sylvain Ekenge said the M23 group was “carrying out massacres… the most recent of which is that of 50 Congolese civilians, heinously murdered on Tuesday in Kishishe,” a village some 70 kilometres north of the eastern city of Goma.

‘Baseless allegations

Ekenge claimed that while Congolese forces had “scrupulously observed the truce”, the M23 had attacked government positions.

The M23 responded with a statement describing accusations of a massacre in Kishishe as “baseless allegations” and insisting that “it has never targeted civilian populations”.

Sources said earlier that fighting had resumed Thursday in Kirima in the same region, about 10 kilometres from the town of Kibirizi.

“The rebels have crossed the bridge, heading for Kibirizi… there’s panic,” said Paul Lutibahwa, head of civil society groups for the Bambo region.

A security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, accused the M23 of having breached the ceasefire and “carrying on looting and fighting”.

“The fighting is heavy — we are using heavy artillery,” said a DRC army officer who also asked not to be identified.

Contacted by AFP, M23’s military spokesman Willy Ngoma confirmed that there was fighting with the army.

Resurgent force

The March 23 movement, or M23, is a predominantly Congolese Tutsi rebel group that was dormant for years.

It took up arms again in November last year and seized the town of Bunagana on the border with Uganda in June. 

After a brief period of calm, it went on the offensive again in October 2022, greatly extending the territory under its control and advancing towards the city of Goma.

Kinshasa accuses its smaller neighbour Rwanda of providing M23 with support, something that UN experts and US officials have also pointed to in recent months. 

Accusation disputed

Kigali disputes the charge, and in turn accuses Kinshasa of collusion with the FDLR — a former Rwandan Hutu rebel group established in the DRC after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. 

Talks between the two countries in the Angolan capital of Luanda unlocked a truce agreement on November 23.

The ceasefire was scheduled to take effect on Friday, November 25 at 1600 GMT and be followed by a pull-out by the M23 two days later.

A parallel initiative has been undertaken by the East African Community (EAC), a seven-nation regional bloc that includes Rwanda.

It has decided to deploy a regional force to help stabilise the region, for which Kenyan troops are already deployed in Goma, and on November 28 launched peace talks, to which the M23 are not invited.

Until Thursday’s violence, there had been no fighting between government forces and the M23, although the rebels had clashed with local militia, especially in the Bambo area, where civilian casualties were reported.

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The Democratic Republic of Congo’s army on Thursday accused M23 insurgents of killing 50 civilians and breaching a five-day-old truce in the country’s restive east. The rebel group issued a […]

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Kagame claims Tshisekedi using DRC crisis to delay presidential poll

Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Wednesday accused DRC leader Felix Tshisekedi of exploiting the ongoing insecurity in eastern Congo to postpone next year’s presidential election.

Addressing a parliamentary session after the signing in of new members of the Cabinet, President Kagame said he believes the current leadership of the Democratic Republic of Congo is creating a security emergency a year before the country holds presidential elections in order to find a reason to postpone the elections scheduled for December 2023.

“This problem can be resolved if one country headed for elections next year is not trying to create an emergency so that the elections don’t take place, not that he won the first elections as we know. If he is trying to find another way of having the next elections postponed, then I would rather he uses other excuses, not us,” Kagame said.

ReadCaution greets DRC deal on rebel violence

Tshisekedi came to power in January 2019 and DRC will hold its next presidential election in December 2023.

President Kagame was addressing MPs on Wednesday while officiating the swearing-in of Rwanda’s new minister of Health, Dr Sabin Nsanzimana, and the permanent secretary in the ministry, Ivan Butera.

In his speech that lasted for over an hour, President Kagame said Congo has focused on the M23 rebel group, even when over 400 other armed groups are operating in eastern DRC.

The M23 is among armed groups that have turned eastern DRC into one of Africa’s most violent regions.

‘Assistance declined’

He said that when the conflict resumed, he offered President Tshisekedi assistance to fight off some of the rebel groups including the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR), which is said to be responsible for the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, but the DRC leader declined.

ReadRwanda army kills ‘unidentified’ DRC soldier

Given how long the conflict has been ongoing and how attempts to solve the issue remain ineffective, President Kagame said that he believes that someone somewhere wants the issue to remain unresolved.

“It has become so convenient for a long time that all problems are put on the shoulders of Rwanda. Rwanda is always the culprit, not FDLR. The government of DRC should be responsible for its people, not the UN, not the powerful countries like the US, UK, and France. Why does it always come back to Rwanda,” Kagame said. 

ReadLuanda hosts summit on DRC, Rwanda crisis

He added that “the blame that Rwanda carries for DRC issues should be carried by Congo and those who want to alleviate DRC’s responsibilities”.

Military clashes between rebel groups in the eastern DRC have forced thousands out of their homes. By Monday, a ceasefire between government troops and M23 rebels appeared to hold for a third day despite clashes between rival militias.

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Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Wednesday accused DRC leader Felix Tshisekedi of exploiting the ongoing insecurity in eastern Congo to postpone next year’s presidential election. Addressing a parliamentary session after […]

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Reprieve for Rwanda as China cancels $7.1 million debt

China has offered Rwanda a $7.1 million debt relief or 50 million RMB Yuan on a loan used to build the 6.36-kilometre Masaka-Kabuga road under the Kigali urban road upgrading project.

According to a statement issued by Rwanda, the move is part of the Chinese government’s decision to cancel the outstanding interest-free loan in accordance with the agreement on economic and technical cooperation between the two countries.

“The two countries enjoy a healthy bilateral cooperation. This is evidenced by the substantial contribution of the Republic of China towards Rwanda’s development aspirations. The agreement we signed today cements this relationship,” Rwanda’s Minister for Finance and Economic Planning Uzziel Ndagijimana said on Monday after signing the debt cancellation agreement. China was represented by its ambassador to Rwanda Wang Xuekun.

Strong economic cooperation

Dr Ndagijimana acknowledged the strong economic cooperation between the two countries which has seen Rwanda benefit from China’s support in various sectors including infrastructure, energy, education and health.

China says the debt cancellation is part of the economic package announced by President Xi Jinping at the 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

“China hopes, by offering this financial support, to make a contribution to Rwanda’s all-round transformation and recovery from the malign impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the future, China will work with Rwanda for deeper practical cooperation in various fields under the Belt and Road Initiative framework to deliver more benefits to the two peoples,” Wang said in a statement.

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China has offered Rwanda a $7.1 million debt relief or 50 million RMB Yuan on a loan used to build the 6.36-kilometre Masaka-Kabuga road under the Kigali urban road upgrading […]

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Kinshasa, Kigali row spells trouble for regional economic recovery

The diplomatic feud between Kigali and Kinshasa threatens to undermine the region’s favourable economic outlook if tensions escalate as both sides trade accusations of aiding armed militias in the volatile eastern DRC region bordering Rwanda.

In its latest sub-regional economic outlook report for Eastern Africa to be released next week, UNECA projects the region will marginally grow at 4.3 percent in 2022 — well above the continental forecast of 2.7 percent and the global 2.5 percent.

“This is a relatively good performance in East Africa when compared with others. However, compared to itself, a growth rate of 4.3 per cent this year shows a slower economic expansion from 2021, when we recorded an average growth rate of 6 per cent,” Mama Keita, Director, Sub-Regional Office for Eastern Africa, UNECA based in Kigali told The EastAfrican on Thursday.

Multiple shocks

However, the region now faces multiple shocks that have stalled recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic-induced economic downturn including climatic shocks that have intensified across the region with severe droughts and heavy rains being recorded more frequently and for longer periods than before.

The situation is worsened by the cost of living crisis, which is based on high fuel and food costs due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine earlier this year.

“Added to this are the effects of internal tensions or security threats in the DRC, Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan. These multiple shocks are of course taking a heavy socioeconomic and humanitarian toll, with millions of lives and livelihoods at stake,. Keita said.

She underscored that the multiple crises not only negatively affect growth but also fuel other risks including the cost of living, the level of debt and the exchange rate — all of which affect the purchasing power of populations, reduce the fiscal space for governments and prevent them from investing and fostering growth.

Risk profile advisory

“This situation increases the vulnerability of countries,” she said.

Stakes remain high as analysts are also beginning to raise the risk profile of the region due to the ongoing crisis. For instance, in its latest rating released October 28, Fitch ratings gave Rwanda a ‘B+’ rating citing its low level of GDP per capita and persistent twin budget and current account deficits, which have resulted in high and rising public and external indebtedness.

While the country’s strong governance and highly concessional nature of its public sector debt mitigate these risks, analysts at Fitch said its outlook is negative with risks partly linked to the ongoing “adverse global economic and financing environment, and risks to grants and concessional government financing related to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.”

Fitch expects Rwanda’s real GDP growth of 5.9 percent in 2022 and 5.5 percent in 2023, largely driven by a strong rebound in tourism and service sectors. Inflation is expected to average 15 percent in 2022 and 12.5 per cent in 2023, before easing in 2024.

Rwanda’s Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning did not respond to our request for comment by press time on Fitch’s ratings.

Tensions remain

The forecast comes as tensions remain despite renewed regional diplomatic efforts to avoid an escalation.

Angola’s President Joao Lourenco, who is leading mediation on behalf of the AU, and Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Alfred Mutua were expected in Kigali on Friday in the latest attempt to quell tensions.

Their visit comes after Rwanda this week accused the Congolese government of violating its airspace after a Sukhoi-25 fighter jet from Congo briefly touched down at Rubavu Airport in Rwanda’s Western Province.

Rwanda this week accused the Congolese government of violating its airspace after a Sukhoi-25 fighter jet from Congo briefly touched down at Rubavu Airport in Rwanda’s Western Province.

“No military action was taken by Rwanda in response, and the jet returned to DRC. Rwandan authorities have protested this provocation to the DRC Government,” the Rwandan government said in a statement issued 7th November.

In their defence, the Congolese government said its jet “unfortunately” entered Rwandan airspace and that it has “never harboured intentions of violating that of its neighbour’s.”

Despite the simmering tensions, officials have so far ruled out going to war.

In a recent communique after a meeting between foreign ministers of both countries in Angola’s capital, Luanda on November 5, both parties agreed “to continue the political dialogue between the leaders of the DR Congo and the Republic of Rwanda, as a way of resolving the bad political atmosphere between the two neighbouring countries.”

In Rwanda, officials have raised concern about “provocation” but maintain that they are committed to the ongoing regional mechanisms to resolve the standoff.

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RwandAir starts non-stop flights to London

Rwanda’s national flag carrier RwandAir has launched direct flights between Kigali and London, England, shortening the flight time for travellers between the two cities as the airline seeks to expand its service portfolio.

The new direct flight replaces the existing service between London and Kigali, launched in 2017, with one stop in Brussels, Belgium.

The inaugural flight left Kigali Sunday afternoon and landed in London Monday morning.

The carrier said there would be four direct flights weekly from Kigali to London – Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday – with return flights on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

The direct flight will also help the carrier link travellers from London “via Kigali to a wealth of destinations in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia,” it said in a tweet just before the first flight left for London.

“The UK is an incredibly important market for us, and we know our customers will value the shorter flight times and increased connections that will be offered by the new service,” Yvonne Makolo, RwandAir’s chief executive, said last month while announcing the direct flights’ plan.

RwandAir is ranked among the best ten African airlines by British airline review and rating company Skytrax. It currently serves 28 routes across East, Central, and Southern Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Europe, from Kigali International airport, its hub.

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Rwanda’s national flag carrier RwandAir has launched direct flights between Kigali and London, England, shortening the flight time for travellers between the two cities as the airline seeks to expand […]

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Uganda, Rwanda to beat Kenya in dollar millionaires growth

Kenya will trail Uganda and Rwanda in terms of growth in the number of super-rich individuals with investible assets worth more than $100 million over the next decade, due to more conducive business environments in the two East Africa Community states.

Kenya is projected to post a 55 percent growth in the number of centi-millionaires over the next 10 years to 2032, trailing Rwanda at 70 percent and Uganda at 65 percent, said a report by research firms New World Wealth and Henley & Partners.

Globally, Vietnam, India and Mauritius are expected to post the fastest growth in centi-millionaires in the decade at 95 percent, 80 percent and 75 percent, respectively.

The report said Kenya remains strong in wealth creation partly due to well-developed and neutral news media outlets that form investment decisions.

“It is important that most major outlets in a country are neutral and objective. A well-developed financial media space is especially important as it helps disseminate information to investors,” the report says.

Besides a favourable financial media, Kenya remains a favourable holiday destination for the centi-millionaires. The country is ranked the 9th top holiday destination for the mega-rich, with the Hamptons in the US, leading the pack.

Read: Tanzania has the only dollar billionaire in East Africa: report

“American centi-millioanires travelling to Kenya for the annual migration boosts the nation’s tourism industry, with luxury hotels and lodges such as Giraffe Manor (the most Instagrammed hotel), Kichwa Tembo tented and Angama Mara cashing in to accommodate the moneyed guests” Maryanne Maina, the chief executive officer of Swan Maison Concierge Paris, said in a comment in the report.

A separate report by New World Wealth and Henley & Partners last month ranked Nairobi fifth in terms of the number of dollar millionaires. The report showed Nairobi has 5,000 high net worth individuals (HNWI).

The report showed Nairobi is also home to 240 multi-millionaires, who have a net worth of more than $10 million, and 11 centi-millionaires, who are worth more than $100 million. It, however, does not have a dollar billionaire.

Kenya has 8,500 dollar millionaires, according to the Africa Wealth Report 2022, which was released by the same firm in April. This means that Nairobi is home to 59 percent of Kenya’s HNWIs, underlining its status as Kenya’s economic hub and richest city.

However, no African city made it to the list of the top 20 cities globally that have the highest number of dollar millionaires, which was dominated by US cities.

Henley & Partners Chief Executive Juerg Steffen noted that 14 of the Top 20 wealthiest cities in the world are in countries that host formal investment migration programmes, and actively encourage foreign direct investment in return for residence or citizenship rights.

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Kenya, Rwanda ride on AfCFTA to enter West Africa

Kenya and Rwanda are eyeing the West African market with Ghana becoming the next partner for both countries under the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.

On Wednesday, Kenya’s President William Ruto flagged off Kenyan tea to Ghana. He was with AfCFTA secretary-general Wamkele Mene.

Last week, a consignment of Kenyan batteries worth $77,000 was received in Tema Port, Ghana in a historic ceremony that marked Kenya’s first exports under the AfCFTA agreement.

“When we began the journey to consolidate the market in Africa, and provide the infrastructure using the AfCFTA statute, it looked like it was a dream but today we are living that dream as a reality,” said President Ruto.

“This event today marks the first step in a journey that will liberate our continent from export of raw materials to the rest of the world to the export of processed, manufactured products not just in our continent but to the rest of the world.”

And this week, Rwanda exported coffee products to Ghana as part of the AfCFTA Guided Trade Initiative.

Kenya is among six countries selected to participate in the pilot phase of the AfCFTA Initiative on ‘guided trade’. Others are Rwanda, Tanzania, Cameroon, Egypt and Mauritius.

“What Kenya and Ghana are doing is to give commercial meaning to the whole project which we all stand in the African Union, the project of integrating our market, our economy as a continent and placing our continent to global competitiveness one day,” said Wamkele Mene, secretary general of the AfCFTA.

“The display we have seen here in the packaging (Ketepa) is value added production for Africa to trade in industrial products, to create opportunities to uplift millions of people out of poverty, for SMEs industrial products and for young people.”

Mr Mene recalled that in 2015, the African continent exports recorded $6 million worth of unprocessed tea and coffee, thereby making huge losses for failure to include value addition.

“The global market for coffee and tea is estimated to be over $100 billion. The processing and repackaging is done elsewhere outside our continent and you can see the losses in the value chain. And so today is the beginning of reversing that trend which has sustained in the last 60 years or so,” said Mene.

“Another example that disturbs me is that in 2019 our continent imported $6 billion worth of pharmaceutical products but those components that make those pharmaceutical products that we import from the rest of the world are made in Africa. They are here in Africa.”

He added, “Our capacity as a continent to industrialise and accelerate our opportunities in terms of global competitiveness I believe starts today with this initiative. On Friday Cameroon, Tunisia, Egypt and Mauritius will follow, and will also be trading in manufacturing.”

Outgoing Trade Minister Betty Maina said Kenya was eyeing other export markets in Africa.

“We have identified other markets in Mauritius, Egypt and Cameroon, of products which we will be piloting under this initiative,” said Ms. Maina.

“This pilot’s initiative of guided trade under the AfCFTA has been preceded by preparations in our country. Our trade facilitation agencies such as the Kenya Revenue Authority, and Kenya Bureau Standards and others have all aligned themselves and have prepared the necessary documentation to support this initiative.”

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Kenya and Rwanda are eyeing the West African market with Ghana becoming the next partner for both countries under the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement. On Wednesday, Kenya’s […]

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Rwanda genocide ‘financier’ Felicien Kabuga trial to open in The Hague

Alleged Rwandan genocide financier Felicien Kabuga will go on trial in The Hague on Thursday, one of the last key suspects in the 1994 ethnic slaughter that devastated the small central African nation.

Kabuga’s trial will open at 0800 GMT before a UN tribunal, where he has been charged with genocide and crimes against humanity for his role in the Genocide against the Tutsi 28 years ago.

Read: Rwanda protests Kabuga trial delay at Hague court

Also read: Genocide survivors welcome decision to begin Kabuga’s trial

Prosecutors and the defence are expected to make their opening statements on Thursday and Friday, with evidence in the case to start the following Wednesday.

Kabuga’s lawyers entered a not guilty plea to the charges at a first appearance in 2020.

Once one of Rwanda’s richest men, prosecutors say the octogenarian allegedly helped set up hate media that urged ethnic Hutus to “kill Tutsi cockroaches” and funded militia groups in 1994.

Now in his mid-80s, Kabuga was arrested in France in May 2020 after evading police in several countries for the last quarter of a century.

He was then transferred to the UN’s International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague, set up to complete the work of the now defunct Rwanda war crimes tribunal.

Read: Rwandan genocide suspect Kabuga denounces charges as “lies”

Said to be in fragile health, Kabuga in August appeared before the judges in a wheelchair — and it was not known whether he’ll be in court on Thursday as judges are permitting him to attend the hearings via a video link.

Kabuga was originally scheduled to appear in court in Arusha, where the other arm of the IRMCT — also referred at as the MICT — resides, but judges had ruled he would remain in The Hague “until otherwise decided.”

Also read: Kabuga’s trial in Arusha will lift the lid off a dirty East African family secret

In June, the judges denied a defence objection, ruling Kabuga was indeed fit to stand trial.

Swift trial wanted  

The UN says 800,000 people were murdered in Rwanda in 1994 in a 100-day rampage that shocked the world.

Read: Felicien Kabuga: The quiet businessman from Byumba who took over Kigali

An ally of Rwanda’s then-ruling party, Kabuga allegedly helped create the Interahamwe Hutu militia group and the Radio-Television Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), whose broadcasts incited people to murder.

The radio station also identified the hiding places of Tutsis where they were later killed, prosecutors said in the indictment.

More than 50 witnesses are expected to appear for the prosecution, which said they needed about 40 hours to wrap up their case.

Prosecutors said Kabuga controlled and encouraged RTLM’s content and defended the station when the minister of information criticised the broadcasts.

Kabuga is also accused of “distributing machetes” to genocidal groups, and ordering them to kill Tutsis.

Read: Felicien Kabuga pleads not guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity

Later fleeing Rwanda, Kabuga spent years on the run using a succession of false passports.

Investigators say he was helped by a network of former Rwandan allies to evade justice.

Following his arrest in a small apartment near Paris, his lawyers argued that Kabuga, whose age is now given as 87 on the indictment, should face trial in France for health reasons.

But France’s top court ruled he should be moved to UN custody, in line with an arrest warrant issued in 1997.

Kabuga is one of the last top wanted suspects for the Rwandan genocide to face justice.

Others, including the man seen as the architect of the genocide, Augustin Bizimana, and former presidential guard commander Protais Mpiranya have both died.

Victims of the genocide have called for a swift trial for Kabuga saying “if he dies before facing justice, he would have died under the presumption of innocence.”

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Alleged Rwandan genocide financier Felicien Kabuga will go on trial in The Hague on Thursday, one of the last key suspects in the 1994 ethnic slaughter that devastated the small central African […]

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Rwanda, DR Congo differ on M23 threat, offer parallel solutions in French mediation

Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo agree that M23 and other armed militia are a major security threat and are hurting bilateral ties. However, the two countries are prescribing different solutions to the problem.

This week in New York, presidents Felix Tshisekedi of DR Congo and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame met under mediation of French President Emmanuel Macron. They agreed to resume talks on how to tackle the M23 threat.

“The two presidents agreed to act together to obtain, as soon as possible, the withdrawal of the M23 from all occupied regions and the return of displaced people to their homes, with the support of the United Nations and their partners in the African Union, the East African Community and the Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR),” the DR Congo presidency said in a statement.

The dispatch said President Kagame and President Tshisekedi “have also agreed to intensify their co-operation in the long term to fight against impunity and put an end to the action of armed groups in the Great Lakes region, including the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). These efforts will take place within the framework of existing regional peace initiatives, including the Nairobi process.”

Kigali did not release the “joint statement” but indicates that the leaders had discussed solutions to the conflict in the DR Congo’s eastern region.

The New York meeting, however, was preceded by harsh words for Rwanda by President Tshisekedi in a speech on Tuesday at the UN General Assembly.

He said that Rwanda was undermining peace efforts in the DRC.

“Despite my goodwill for the search of peace, some neighbours have found no better way to thank us than to aggress and support armed groups that are ravaging eastern Congo,” he said.

President Tshisekedi added: “In defiance of international law, [Rwanda] has once again not only interfered in the DR Congo since March by direct incursions of its armed forces, but also occupies localities in North Kivu province by an armed terrorist group, the M23, to which it provides massive support in terms of equipment and troops.”

President Kagame hit back a day later, noting that the insecurity situation in eastern DRC had exposed Rwanda to “cross border attacks that are entirely preventable”.

“The blame game does not solve the problems,” he said in his speech to the UN General Assembly.

“There is an urgent need to find the political will to finally address the root cause of instability in eastern DR Congo. These challenges are not insurmountable and solutions can be found. This would ultimately be much less costly in terms of both money and human lives,” President Kagame added.

Tensions have persisted, with officials from both governments telling The EastAfrican that no progress has been registered since the height of hostilities earlier this year.

“There is no improvement in relations at all. DR Congo has insisted on Rwanda as its scapegoat for the insecurity in the east, even when they have so many rebel groups operating there,” a Rwandan official said on condition of anonymity.

Kinshasa sees Rwanda as a state aggressor, particularly with the capture of Bunagana town by the M23 rebels. Rwanda sees the DRC as a supporter of former genocide masterminds FDLR group, which is hiding in DR Congo.

“Bunagana has to be free for RwandAir to be allowed to resume flights to DR Congo. This is DR Congo saying, ‘M23 is Rwanda’,” a DRC official told The EastAfrican.

Takeover

Since June, M23 rebels have controlled Bunagana town in the North Kivu province that borders Uganda.

The advance of M23 culminated in the suspension of RwandAir flights to the DRC, as well as the shelling of rockets into Rwandan territory by the Congolese army.

This week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told France 24, that the only way to achieve peace is through “serious” discussions between the DR Congo, Uganda and Rwanda.

“We need to have a joint perspective to avoid this situation that always takes us backwards when we make progress.

“These countries need to understand each other. These countries must co-operate effectively for the security of the Congo and also to guarantee security in Rwanda and Uganda.”

The DRC and Rwanda had opened dialogue under a Joint Commission. But the two countries have only had one meeting, in late July. Previously, the Joint Commission had not met for 10 years.

After the resurgence of the M23 rebels, this year the DRC accused Rwanda of supporting the Congolese rebels militarily and in the supply of arms.

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Emmanuel Macron meets Paul Kagame and Felix Tshisekedi over DRC war

French President Emmanuel Macron has met with the leaders of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, seeing progress in easing tensions that have flared in recent months.

On the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, Macron on Wednesday invited Rwandan President Paul Kagame to lunch with his DR Congo counterpart Felix Tshisekedi, who a day earlier had accused Kigali of backing rebel attacks in his country.

Read: Tshisekedi accuses Rwanda, again, of backing rebels

The three leaders together “noted their concerns about the resurgence of violence in the east of the DRC,” the French presidency said in a statement.

France said that Kagame and Tshisekedi agreed on the need for the pullout of M23 rebels from the strategic town of Bunagana on the Ugandan border.

The three leaders want to “intensify lasting cooperation to fight impunity and put an end to activities of armed groups in the Great Lakes region,” including the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or FDLR, the statement said.

Kagame’s government has demanded a crackdown on the FDLR, a Rwandan Hutu group that Kigali views as a threat due to links to the 1994 genocide.

But the M23, a separate group in the violence-wracked east of DR Congo, has been the focus of recent tensions. 

In his address to the General Assembly on Tuesday, Tshisekedi alleged that Rwanda has provided “massive support” to M23, which he blamed for the shooting down of a UN peacekeeping helicopter in March, in which eight people died.

“Rwanda’s involvement and responsibility are no longer debatable,” he said.

Kagame called for calm in his own address on Wednesday.

“There is an urgent need to find a political need to find and address the root cause of instability in eastern DRC,” Kagame said.

“The blame game does not solve the problems. These challenges are not insurmountable and solutions can be found,” he said.

“This would ultimately be much less costly in terms of both money and human lives.”

Kagame’s government has long rejected allegations of backing the M23, but US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on an August visit to Kinshasa, said there were “credible” reports of Rwandan support.

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Tshisekedi accuses Rwanda, again, of backing rebels in DR Congo

DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi has reignited an accusation against Rwanda, insisting that Kigali is still fanning rebel groups in his country’s territory.

In a speech to the UN General Assembly, Tshisekedi claimed his efforts to reunite the country and pursue peaceful settlements have been dragged by continual external interference, accusing Rwanda, in particular, of fomenting rebel movements.

“Despite my goodwill for the search of peace, some neighbours have found no better way to thank us than to aggress and support armed groups that are ravaging eastern Congo,” he told an audience on Tuesday night.

Read: DRC, Rwanda agree to ease tension and normalise diplomatic relations

Also read: The M23 demon: Could Rwanda ultimately invade eastern Congo?

Turning to Rwanda, he said: “In defiance of international law, has once again not only interfered in the DRC since MARCH by direct incursions of its armed forces (Rwanda Defense Force RDF), but also occupies localities in North Kivu province (eastern DRC) by an armed terrorist group, the M23, to which it provides massive support in terms of equipment and troops.”

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Tshisekedi accuses Rwanda, again, of backing rebels in DR Congo

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 21 2022

    

DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi at the UN headquarters.

Democratic Republic of the Congo President Felix Tshisekedi addresses the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York City on September 20, 2022. PHOTO | ANGELA WEISS | AFPADVERTISEMENT

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DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi has reignited an accusation against Rwanda, insisting that Kigali is still fanning rebel groups in his country’s territory.

In a speech to the UN General Assembly, Tshisekedi claimed his efforts to reunite the country and pursue peaceful settlements have been dragged by continual external interference, accusing Rwanda, in particular, of fomenting rebel movements.

“Despite my goodwill for the search of peace, some neighbours have found no better way to thank us than to aggress and support armed groups that are ravaging eastern Congo,” he told an audience on Tuesday night.

Read: DRC, Rwanda agree to ease tension and normalise diplomatic relations

Also read: The M23 demon: Could Rwanda ultimately invade eastern Congo?

Turning to Rwanda, he said: “In defiance of international law, has once again not only interfered in the DRC since MARCH by direct incursions of its armed forces (Rwanda Defence Force RDF), but also occupies localities in North Kivu province (eastern DRC) by an armed terrorist group, the M23, to which it provides massive support in terms of equipment and troops.”

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The accusation against Rwanda, which has been rejected many times before by Kigali, is likely to elicit a response when Kigali’s representative addresses the UN later in the week. But it could also signal simmering differences between the two countries that had initially cut official communication between them before resuming talks.

In July, after meeting in Angolan capital Luanda, under mediation of President Joao Lourenço, Rwandan President Paul Kagame and President Tshisekedi agreed to reopen dialogue and have their differences solved diplomatically.

Read: Region steps up diplomatic firefighting in Rwanda-DRC tensions

Tshisekedi told the audience he is always ready to pursue peace, speaking of recent arrangements to hold dialogue with rebel groups that did not succeed as other parties to the talks pulled out.

“Since my election as head of state of the DRC, I have not stopped fighting every day for peace. In order to definitively eradicate insecurity, restore lasting peace and ensure stability in the East of my country, several agreements have been signed with armed groups and even neighbouring countries.

“National and international mechanisms have been created. All these prospects for a final settlement of the conflict lasted only a few months. Soon, the architecture cracked and the building collapsed; we always start with the same tragedies.

Read: Rwanda: ‘Leaked UN report’ on DRC invasion a distraction from real issues

Tshisekedi spoke at the opening of the regular session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. And for 38 minutes, the Congolese head of state touched on global security issues, including terrorism, which he argued had not spared the African continent. He also talked about the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the need for a peaceful settlement between these two countries.

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DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi has reignited an accusation against Rwanda, insisting that Kigali is still fanning rebel groups in his country’s territory. In a speech to the UN General […]

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Benin officials in Rwanda for talks on support to fight insurgents

Police chiefs of Rwanda and Benin have discussed ways to strengthen cooperation and support the West African country, seeking military assistance to tackle the worsening terrorism insurgency.

Rwanda’s Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dan Munyuza, hosted the Director-General of Benin Republican Police, Soumaila Allabi Yaya, in Kigali on Monday for the talks.

The Benin delegation is in Rwanda for five days “to learn and draw inspiration from Rwanda’s peacekeeping experience” as both countries seek to enhance security cooperation, including fighting organised and transnational crimes.

Benin government spokesperson had told Reuters on Saturday that Kigali could provide logistical support but would not involve deploying Rwandan troops to the country.

On whether there are plans to deploy in Benin, the Rwanda National Police deputy spokesperson, Apollo Sendahangarwa, told The EastAfrican that “there are no signed agreements for now”.

“For that to happen, a memorandum of understanding would have to be signed and legal grounds would be established, which has not happened for now,” he added.

Deadly assaults

Benin, alongside the Gulf of Guinea states Togo and Cote d’Ivoire, has seen increasing attacks from militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State as violence creeps south from the Sahel countries of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

Benin, alongside Togo and Cote d’Ivoire, has been battling strings of deadly assaults by jihadists in the northwest from a spillover of militant activity in neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.

“I know you (Rwanda) have a lot of experience in the fight against terrorism, and we want to draw inspiration from it to protect our country, which has been plagued for some time by sordid demonstrations by lawless people,” Mr Yaya said.

Rwanda deployed a peacekeeping mission in Mozambique in July last year, with 1,000 soldiers and police deployed to fight Isis-linked militants in the Cabo Delgado province. The country also deployed troops to the Central African Republic.

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Police chiefs of Rwanda and Benin have discussed ways to strengthen cooperation and support the West African country, seeking military assistance to tackle the worsening terrorism insurgency. Rwanda’s Inspector General […]

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Joint Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda power project nears completion

The Regional Rusumo Falls Hydroelectric Project (RRFHP), a joint venture by Rwanda, Tanzania, and Burundi, is 95 percent done, with completion set for November this year.

The 80MW project was started in February 2012 to supply electricity to the three countries by December 2021 but was extended by two years following procurement flaws that increased its cost by over 20 percent.

Read: Rusumo power project delayed by two years

The three governments received $468 million worth of grants and loans from multiple development partners, including the World Bank and the African Development Bank, for the project.

Taking over the one-year rotational chairmanship at the weekend, Tanzania’s Energy minister January Makamba said the project is expected to catalyse development in the three countries.

Each country is expecting 26MW to be added directly to its national grid.

“This project shows the willingness of these countries to use natural resources to bring about the development of their citizens,” said Mr Makamba.

Respective governments expect the project to help plug power supply deficits. Rwanda specifically banks on the project to help reach its 100 per cent electrification target by 2024.

The project is located at the Tanzania-Rwanda border, Rusumo Falls.

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The Regional Rusumo Falls Hydroelectric Project (RRFHP), a joint venture by Rwanda, Tanzania, and Burundi, is 95 percent done, with completion set for November this year. The 80MW project was […]

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Rwanda ruling party RPF waits in the wings as rivals bicker

Wrangles in Rwanda’s main opposition party could hand a walkover to the ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections in 2023. And the dominant party in the country could ride on that to the presidential elections in 2024, leaving opponents politically dead.

The Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, led by Frank Habineza, is the only opposition party in the country not in a ruling coalition of the RPF.

Habineza unsuccessfully contested against President Paul Kagame in the 2017 presidential elections, managing a paltry 0.48 percent of the vote. He is currently under pressure after dismissing some members he accused of “harboring treacherous plans of destroying the party from within by creating another political party.”

“We had two members in our committee who were conspiring against the party. We investigated the issue and found they were in touch with opposition groups outside Rwanda, including RANP — Abaryankuna (Rwandan Alliance for The National Pact) which has a different cause than us. So, we dismissed both…” Habineza told The EastAfrican. The RANP are said to be exiled in Mozambique.

However, the duo contested his version. Ferdinand Mutabazi and Jean Deogratius Tuyishime who were dismissed by the party claim the disagreement is linked to Habineza’s leadership.

Both were influential leaders of the officially registered party with 400,000 members wanting to contest in their internal election to lead the party in 2023.

Mr Mutabazi represents the party in Southern Province while Mr Tuyishime represents the party in the Northern Province.

In a separate interview, Ferdinand Mutabazi, told The EastAfrican that the dismissal was based on factless accusations and that Habineza was threatened by his “growing influence” in the party.

Mutabazi says he plans to sue the party president for defamation and run against him in the next parliamentary election either as a private candidate or another party’s candidate. He did not deny or admit to planning to form another political party. He denied all the allegations and counter-accused Habineza of being “a paranoid, self-centred leader who leads the party as his own company”.

Observers say the infighting puts the party on the verge of splitting. Frederick Golooba-Mutebi, a researcher, and political analyst says the splitting and intra-conflicts hurt the parties and their influence in Rwanda’s political space.

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Wrangles in Rwanda’s main opposition party could hand a walkover to the ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections in 2023. And the dominant party in […]

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US senator questions aid to Rwanda over human rights, role in Congo

The chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee said he would place a hold on US security assistance to Rwanda in Congress over concerns about the Rwandan government’s human rights record and role in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Senator Robert Menendez called for a comprehensive review of US policy towards Rwanda.

Menendez said he would begin by placing a hold on several million dollars in support for Rwandan peacekeepers participating in UN missions, according to the letter, which was leaked to the media and which his office confirmed was authentic. A hold is a Senate procedure that prevents a motion from reaching the floor for a vote.

Menendez said he feared that US support for the Rwandan military, while it is deployed to Congo and backing rebels, would send “a troubling signal that the US tacitly approves of such actions.”

Read: The M23 demon: Could Rwanda ultimately invade DRC?

The M23 rebel group began a major offensive in Congo’s eastern borderlands with Rwanda at the end of March. Congo has accused Rwanda of backing M23, which Kigali denies.

Read: The M23 problem, Kigali’s headache and some hard truths

The United States allocated more than $147 million in foreign assistance to Rwanda in 2021, making it Rwanda’s largest bilateral donor.

Menendez also cited what he said were credible accusations that the Rwandan government was muzzling critics at home and targeting dissidents living outside the country.

The US State Department reviews its policies in response to events on the ground and would consult closely with Congress on the question of aid to Rwanda, department spokesperson Ned Price said on Monday.

“We’ve said before that we’re concerned about the rising tensions between the DRC and Rwanda,” Price told a regular press briefing, urging both sides to exercise restraint and engage in dialogue.

A Rwandan government spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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The chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee said he would place a hold on US security assistance to Rwanda in Congress over concerns about the Rwandan government’s human […]

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The smallholder farmers feeding the long food supply chain in Rwanda

Rwanda is one of the smallest countries in East Africa, but one of Africa’s most densely populated nations. It has the highest bean consumption per capita globally, followed by Burundi, and is the second-largest per capita consumer of bananas.

On a Thursday afternoon, under the scorching sun, hundreds of farmers lined up in Kigali’s suburb, Mulindi, known to be a junction of cheap fresh food from different parts of the country.

Energetic and enthusiastic, they got down to the business of selling fresh from-the-garden foods. Among them was Charles Mwizerwa. He isn’t a farmer. He is an innovator who had showed up to present different solutions to the challenges the country’s agricultural sector has faced for ages.

An agronomist and researcher at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Mr Mwizerwa talked about an application called ICT4BXW, which, he said, has helped smallholder farmers across Rwanda combat banana disease.

“Over 8,000 smallholder farmers have downloaded the app, and they teach others about the information they find there. The ICT4BXW is an ICT-based tool with information in Kinyarwanda that acts like an early warning system to provide real-time data on the incidence of Banana Xanthomonas Wilt disease,” Mwizerwa said.

He added that farmers who do not own a smartphone can call 845 toll-free and learn about banana farming and how to fight diseases.

“This will increase food security in the country. About 20,000 farmers have used the platform,” he said.

Morris Haragirimana, another innovator, has gone in a different direction. He has developed a solar-powered irrigation system that he sells to farmers in his home area in Bugesera at Rwf 60,000 ($59).

“This drastically reduces the cost of production for farmers. It has made irrigation possible in some remote areas where electricity has not yet reached. This system is durable and farmers who buy it no longer need to worry about electricity or fuel bills. It is environment friendly and requires little maintenance,” Mr Haragirimana said.

Harvest Day

But these are only a small representation of what is happening behind the curtains in the struggle to feed 12 million in the predominantly agricultural country, where 72 percent of the working population is employed in agriculture.

Largely a subsistence agricultural country — much like the rest of the East African Community partner states — there is now talk of a “silent agricultural revolution” taking place in Rwanda.

Every first Friday of August, Rwandans gather in their communities to celebrate the National Harvest Day, Umuganura — meaning “thanksgiving day.” It is a century-old practice, and the food is communally shared in a large flat basket to reflect Rwanda’s food production.

The food mostly includes beans, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, maize, green vegetables, cassava, and sorghum cake — the most productive crops in Rwanda, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Rwanda, ranked the highest in bean consumption per capita globally, with an average resident consuming 34.8kg, is followed by neighbouring Burundi, where an average person consumes 31.5kg. The country also consumes a lot of banana, which is grown at different levels by at least 90 percent of households, according to the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture.

Rwanda is ranked the second-largest consumer of banana in the world, with an average Rwandan consuming about 227kg of banana per year, according to the Helgi Library which utilises data from the FAO corporate statistical database (Faostat) .

Although 75 percent of Rwanda’s agricultural produce comes from smallholder farmers, the sector employs about 70 percent of the population and contributes to around 30 percent of the country’s GDP.

In addition to the challenges of climate change and the fact that 90 percent of Rwanda’s terrain is sloppy, which makes it prone to soil erosion and land degradation, the UN reports that 81.3 percent of the country’s population is food secure.

Also read: Warning over hunger crisis gets louder in E. Africa

Food production

However, Rwanda’s food production is only a drop in the ocean of what the East African region produces, although production still varies.

Tanzania, for instance, contributes more than 80 percent of the total rice production in EAC, with the rest of the members supplying 20 percent, according to the Regional Agricultural Investment Plan.

Take Uganda, for example, 89 percent of the population is food secure. The FAO describes its population as still having normal access to food from own production as food prices in the market are affordable and have an “acceptable food consumption score” and can afford at least three meals per day of a diversified diet.

In contrast to Kenya, 36.5 percent of the population is food insecure. Kenyan farmers, whose crops depend on rain, are becoming increasingly vulnerable to drought and the unpredictability of weather patterns resulting from climate change, although this is a shared problem. Nevertheless, agriculture accounts for 65 percent of the country’s export earnings, and provides employment for more than 80 percent of the Kenyan population.

Although Rwanda’s population is generally food secure, the 2021 Global Hunger Index ranks Rwanda 98th out of the 116 countries, with a score of 26.4.

“Rwanda has a level of hunger that is serious,” the report says, an outlook compounded by data that shows that stunting has been a persistent issue in the country, despite efforts to eradicate, or at least reduce, it.

The UN estimates that 800,000 Rwandan children under five are stunted. Although the rates of chronic malnutrition among children under five decreased from 44 percent to 38 percent, rates are still too high. It is estimated that 18 percent of children between six and eight months are stunted, and 49 percent for children aged 18-23 months are stunted, with children in rural areas are more stunted than those in the city.

Part of the reason for stunted growth in Rwanda is high poverty rate, where more than 30 percent of the population is under the poverty line. Farming, perhaps unsurprisingly, has become one of the frontlines in the battle against poverty and hunger.

Agriculture jobs

One of the high-profile figures in this fight is Gerard Sina, 59, who has created more than 280 full-time jobs and 600 part-time jobs in Rulindo District, where he was born.

Mr Sina, who started his business when he was only 20, has also built a school in his home area, with the nursery to secondary sections, where learners study free, even those in boarding school.

His successful career started from his parents’ sweet potatoes harvest in 1983, whose puree Sina used to make his famous Urwibutso doughnuts, kick-starting his success and the transformation of the area where he was born.

Mr Sina, who works with more than 3,000 farming families, also offers free seeds, fertiliser, training and buys crops when ready for harvest. His flagship, “Akabanga,” a chilli pepper oil, has gained attention for himself and the country, and is probably one of the most well-known Rwandan products globally.

Many pieces have been moved to solve the Rwandan agricultural puzzle. One of them is seeds. After years of spending millions of dollars on seed imports, Rwanda says it has reached its target of becoming a self-sufficient in seeds supply. It is no longer importing maize, soybean and wheat seeds.

Before 2017, it depended on imports to meet its need for these seeds, bringing 3,000 tonnes of hybrid maize seed, 800 tonnes of wheat and 700 tonnes of soybean every year. Well up to 463,500 farmers now have access to improved seed. One of the many who moved the pieces is the pan-African agricultural organisation the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa.

In 2009, AGRA, through a grant, supported Rwandan maize farmers with the first hybrid seeds and, later, partnered with the Rwanda Agricultural Board in capacity-building of local seed companies under a project named “Securing Early Generation Seed for Emerging Seed Industry in Rwanda.” Before then, the country relied on imports.

One of the beneficiaries of the programme is Norah Kamashaza, 36. She has two farms in the Eastern province; one in Bugesera and another in Nyagatare, but she also rents out land to grow maize. Now, she has a significant market in the Eastern province, and sometimes also sells her produce through the government-owned “smart nkunganire” platform, where dealers search for stock and buy at a wholesale price.

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Rwanda is one of the smallest countries in East Africa, but one of Africa’s most densely populated nations. It has the highest bean consumption per capita globally, followed by Burundi, […]

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The M23 problem, Kigali’s headache and some truths few want to hear

Soon after Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni was elected President of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) – the predecessor to the African Union — the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) composed of Rwandan exiles and refugees, mostly Tutsis, decided to attack Rwanda on October 1, 1990 using his country as a launch pad.

Four years earlier, the Rwandans had helped Museveni rise to power in Kampala and had held key positions in the new Ugandan army. Paul Kagame, the current president of Rwanda, was a senior officer in the Ugandan military intelligence, while his comrade in arms Fred Rwigema, killed at the frontline in the early days of the campaign, had been minister of State for Defence.

Museveni was upset, his election at the helm of the continental body meant the elevation of the former rebel leader, brought to power by the force of arms, as an equal among world peers. And now these “boys,” as Museveni used to call them, risked ruining his moment. The situation seemed all the more upsetting as he had trouble convincing anyone that he was not behind this “aggression” on a neighbouring and brotherly country.

Museveni recounted how it happened while he was attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York: “The news reached me at night, I tried to wake President [Juvenal] Habyarimana in vain. The man was a heavy sleeper.”

Thirty years later, Rwanda was likely in the position Museveni was, following the recent attacks of the Congolese rebel movement of March 23rd, as M23 – in reference to an unfulfilled peace treaty signed on March 23, 2009, between its leaders and the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

It came as Kigali was getting ready to host, in less than a month, 50 heads of state, members of the Commonwealth. While relations between Rwanda and the DRC had finally warmed up with the advent of Félix Tshisekedi to power in Kinshasa, Kigali would have done without another M23 attack, which put it in a delicate geopolitical situation, provoking fresh anti-Rwandan rhetoric in DRC.

Congo problem, Rwandan exhibits

rebels
A rebel group in Ituri Province, the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo on September 19, 2020. PHOTO | AFP

The DRC public often conflates the M23 with the Rwandan army, and for good reason. Some commanders of the rebel group had joined the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA), the military wing of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) in its own armed struggle of the 1990s which put an end to the genocide against the Tutsi.

Once the war was over, the Congolese Tutsi returned home to their highlands of Kivu, eastern DRC, where in the meantime, anti-Tutsi hatred had been shifted by the genocide perpetrators, who had been defeated back home. Supported by then Zairean strongman Mobutu Sese Seko, the “genocidaires” were targeting the Tutsi in Zaire.

This is how, with the support of Rwanda and Uganda, they took up arms again to defend their community in a struggle that galvanised other Mobutu opponents with their own national grievances, leading them to march on Kinshasa, ousting Mobutu, and replacing him with Laurent Désiré Kabila in September 1997.

Once installed, Kabila would fall out with his hitherto allies who had brought him to power, even going as far as collaborating with the same genocidaires. His replacement by his son Joseph Kabila would not change much.

In Rwanda, there was hope with the advent, at last, of a new first name in the Congolese political spectrum since its independence in 1960: in the absence of Antoine, the patriarch; his heir Felix!

Read: Kagame stars in DR Congo Tshisekedi ceremonies

All seemed well at first, with the coming to power of Felix Tshisekedi, relations between the DRC and Rwanda were almost repaired. It was mostly the Congolese diaspora, aggrieved by “the aggression of little Rwanda on great Zaire,” who disliked the new rapprochement.

Short-lived honeymoon

To understand the “M23 problem” one needs to appreciate that there are three types of rebels in the DRC. The first, small militias with no national political agenda, that attack civilians, rarely fight each other, coexist with the regular army (FARDC) and UN peacekeepers (Monusco). These constitute the majority, their interests do not go beyond their communities. There are more than 100.

Then there are foreign groups that exploit the weakness – some read it as an absence – of the state and national army, to use the vast DRC territory as a breeding ground for attacks against their countries of origin. It is in this category that we find the Rwandan genocidaires, known as FDLR, and the Ugandan terrorists known as ADF-NALU. In the past, there were other Sudanese and Ugandan groups – including the infamous Lord Resistance Army (LRA) of Joseph Kony, Congo-Brazzaville groups and even Angolans. The dense forests of the DRC are a festering ground for all manner of armed groups from the region.

Then there is the M23. Congolese citizens, with national grievances linked to lack of security, discrimination of their community and poor governance at large.

The first and second categories of militias are rarely bothered because they do everyone’s business: smuggling, illicit trafficking of minerals, enriching FARDC commanders and multinationals, sponsor political careers in Kinshasa and justify the presence of both UN forces in the DRC for more than 20 years and that of the Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) for 10 years.

The M23 pose a (geo)political problem, because they seize territory, threaten power in the capital Kinshasa, which in turn exposes the weaknesses of the national army, of national politics, and of the UN. To make themselves heard, the M23 are fighting against everyone, including the two other categories of rebel groups, the FARDC, and even Monusco – sometimes all three in a coalition.

Read: DR Congo’s M23: A rebel group re-emerges

According to an “incident monitoring think tank” manned by international researchers in eastern DRC, the Congolese army FARDC is one of the most violent against civilians, at times their killings surpass those of Ugandan Islamists ADF-Nalu, and Rwandan FDLR genocidaires.

Ten years ago, M23 was defeated by a UN-backed Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) made of South African, Tanzanian and Malawian armies. FIB’s mission was to defeat “all the negative forces” in eastern DRC. At the time, M23 posed little resistance and with some political assurances, withdrew into Rwanda and Uganda.

The FIB seems to have since “acclimatised” to Congolese “Rumba” like everyone else, read: doing nothing, and allegedly engaging in illicit trade.

Rock and hard place

map showing conflict-prone DRC provinces

Upon accession to power, President Tshisekedi wanted to be seen as tackling the protracted armed conflict in eastern DRC. So he declared a “State of Siege” in North Kivu and Ituri. State of emergency means the region is run by the army and most civil rights are suspended. State of emergency also means a hefty budget sent to eastern DRC and managed by the army.

Read: Military replaces civilian authorities in eastern DRC

However, a recent parliament audit revealed that of the $74 million allocated to “State of siege” to be sent to Kivu and Ituri, 68 percent was “eaten” in Kinshasa, 12 percent went to unknown expenditure of the army, and only the remaining 20 percent was sent to eastern Congo.

Following the recent attack by the M23 two months ago, the occupation of the towns of Bunagana and the province of Ruchuru on the border with Uganda, Tshisekedi accused Rwanda of supporting the rebel movement, a charge Kigali vehemently denies.

But what alternative did Tshisekedi have? Should he have explained to the Congolese that they have no army? That they never had one? That Mobutu appealed to mercenaries (Jean Schramme, Bob Denard) or to foreign countries (Morocco, Senegal, Chad, Togo) to help keep security and power? There are more than 58 countries contributing troops to Monusco for over 20 years, with dismal results.

Read: DR Congo wants UN mission to leave

monusco
Monusco soldiers fire at Codeco militia during the extraction of a Red Cross team which had been ambushed in Dhedja on December 19, 2021 in Ituri, DR Congo. PHOTO | AFP

The FARDC spend their time playing “Sobels” (Soldier by day, Rebel by night) – a sobriquet borrowed from Sierra Leone and Liberia civil war of the 90s. They change clothes to loot the populations they are supposed to protect, collaborate with the FDLR, and sell weapons and ammunition on the black market from Uvira to Beni.

Read: How M23 and Congolese army commanders benefited from $57m illegal trade in Kivu

Are the Congolese ready to listen to these truths? The first politician to venture there would immediately sign his political death, a year before the elections, and Tshisekedi is not suicidal. Using Rwanda as a scapegoat seems like the only political card in his hand.

Read: DR Congo, Rwanda agree to ease tension

Hate speech revived

While no proof of these accusations has been brought forth, the streets, from Kinshasa to Brussels, need no further convincing. Unfortunately, accusing Rwanda brings with it the old demons of “Tutsiphobia”. Anti-Tutsi hate speech across DRC has risen to troubling proportions. Congolese social media is awash with anti-Rwanda hate speech, lists of Tutsi members of the FARDC are being published online with rewards promised to anyone who would “cleanse our army”.

Tutsi of Banyamulenge community in South Kivu’s high plateau have left their homesteads after their cattle were looted by various militia, and now live in UN-protected IDP camps.

Images of young militias affiliated to Tshisekedi’s ruling party (UDPS) were seen in the streets of Kinshasa, armed with machetes, stopping cars looking for Tutsis. Several people have been killed by Congolese mobs, for allegedly “looking” Tutsi, including one Lt-Col Joseph Kaminzobe, member of the Banyamulenge community and officer of the regular army, burnt alive by young people in Lweba, South Kivu. Many Congolese Tutsi civilians are reported to have been burnt alive, and at least in one case, Mr Semutobo, a Munyamulenge, was lynched by a mob of young people in Kalima district who posted it online.

Read: Rising hate speech in Congo conflict alarms UN

M23’s beef with Kinshasa

peace agreement signed in Nairobi in December 2013, between the Congolese government and the M23 consisted of:

  • Amnesty to all M23 fighters who did not commit war crimes and crimes against humanity;
  • Register M23 as a legitimate political party.
  • Repatriation of “Rwandophone” of Congolese nationality, sheltered in refugee camps in Rwanda and Uganda.

The agreement has never been implemented for ten years hence, causing the recent attack by the M23.

Ironically, M23 claims it doesn’t want to fight. While they are occupying important towns of Bunagana and Ruchuru in Noth Kivu, they claim to do so to compel the DRC government to implement the Nairobi accords and are ready to relinquish them.

bunagana
Bunagana in the Democratic Republic of Congo on the border with Uganda. PHOTO | MORGAN MBABAZI | NMG

Amid the accusations against Rwanda and its denials, there is one fact: Kigali is not going to fight the M23.

Indeed options of possible support to the DRC army in fighting M23 were being studied in Rwandan quarters until Congolese politicians started accusing Kigali and FARDC shelled Rwandan territories of Rubavu and Kinigi, heightening tensions between the two neighbours.

As a reminder, the M23 political wing, which has been sheltered in Rwanda for the last ten years, has not left their camps, while those of Uganda, led by Commander Sultani Makenga quietly left Uganda five years ago, and have since been based in DRC forests near the Ugandan border.

Following routs on the battlefield during the war that opposed it to the RPF in the 90s, then Habyarimana’s government accused “Ibyitso Tutsi” internal spies of the loss. My mother, who had run a hairdressing salon in Kigali for 10 years, and who had never been involved in politics, was arrested and detained for a year with thousands of other civilians, for the simple reason that they were Tutsi. Today, it is the turn of any Congolese with “Tutsi facial expressions” to “prove their citizenship”.

I am not worried about the repeated calls by Congolese populists to attack and annex Rwanda, after all, as Wole Soyinka would say, “A tiger does not proclaim his tigritude, he pounces”. What worries me is the resurgence of hate speech and violent killings targeting Congolese Tutsi, and anyone with “doubtful” features; the Luba, Ngbandi, Bashi… all Congolese citizens.

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Soon after Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni was elected President of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) – the predecessor to the African Union — the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) composed […]

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Hope springs eternal for UK-Rwanda migrant deal

The UK-Rwanda migrant deal is likely to go on despite leadership change in the Conservative Party after the resignation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

A judicial review to consider the lawfulness of the asylum arrangement is due to be heard in the High Court in the UK soon. The hearing is expected to last three days and a decision delivered by end of July.

While the change of leadership in the UK’s Conservative Party is expected in October, a change of policy is unlikely as the party had already backed the asylum arrangement.

This is part of a broader package of reforms in the recently enacted Nationality and Borders Act, which the UK government says will “deter illegal entry into the UK, breaking the business model of people smuggling networks, and speed up the removal of those with no right to be in the UK.”

“The (refugee ) policy will continue,” a well-placed UK official told The EastAfrican. “I am sure this important relationship will only be invigorated by a change of leader at this point. Rwanda won applause for the Chogm and there are great hopes for the Commonwealth under its new Rwandan chair.”

This is part of a broader package of reforms in the recently enacted Nationality and Borders Act, which the UK government says will “deter illegal entry into the UK, breaking the business model of people smuggling networks, and speed up the removal of those with no right to be in the UK.”

“The (refugee ) policy will continue,” a well-placed UK official told The EastAfrican. “I am sure this important relationship will only be invigorated by a change of leader at this point. Rwanda won applause for the Chogm and there are great hopes for the Commonwealth under its new Rwandan chair.”

The UK and Rwandan governments are promoting the arrangement as an innovative solution for a “broken” international refugee protection regime. They contend it will deter criminality, exploitation and abuse and support the humane and respectful treatment of refugees.

Kigali says migrants will be entitled to full protection under Rwandan law, equal access to employment, and enrolment in healthcare and social care services as well as the issuance of necessary identification documents.

But the deal has been criticised by a broad range of stakeholders. Some Conservative MPs have voiced doubts about its legality, practicality and value for money.

Asylum rights advocates have practical concerns about the arrangement and Rwanda’s suitability as a host. They also say the deal undermines the post-WW2 international protection regime.

Last week, the UK announced a migration deal with Nigeria to “tackle illegal migration and speed up the removal of foreign criminals.”

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Photo: AFP

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DRC, Rwanda agree to ease tension and normalize diplomatic relations

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda on Wednesday agreed to immediately cease hostilities between the two countries, Angolan President João Lourenço has announced.

Following the Wednesday meeting in Luanda, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame also agreed to create an ad-hoc observation mechanism to help ease tensions, he added.

Luanda will next Tuesday host the Rwanda-DRC bilateral joint commission meeting, President Lourenço, who is also the chairman of the International Conference for the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), said in his capacity as mediator.  He was appointed by the African Union to mediate in the Kinshasa-Kigali crisis.

“I am pleased to announce that we have had positive results, in our view, in that we have agreed on a ceasefire, among other measures that are contained in the roadmap that has just been presented,” President Lourenço added.

Presidents Paul Kagame (Rwanda), João Lourenço (ANgola) and Felix Tshisekedi (DR Congo) speak following a mediation meeting in Luanda on July 6, 2022. PHOTO | COURTESY | DR CONGO PRESIDENCY

Rwanda and DR Congo have been at loggerheads following counter accusations of each country supporting different rebel groups in eastern DRC hostile to the other nation.

DR Congo and Rwanda relations deteriorated after Kinshasa accused Rwanda of backing the M23 rebels, who have been involved in a series of clashes with the army since the end of May. Kigali denied the allegations, but in turn accused DRC of supporting FDLR rebels who are hostile to Rwanda.

On Sunday, President Tshisekedi said that there was no doubt that Rwanda was backing a rebellion in his country after the resurgence of the M23 rebels active in the east of the country, near the border between both countries.

Kinshasa had earlier also suspended Rwandan carrier RwandAir from flying into the country, and summoned Rwanda’s ambassador to warn him of the country’s position.

The medication process was meant to help restore confidence between Rwanda and the DRC.

“This objective will be achieved gradually via a so-called Luanda roadmap based on the re-launch of the DRC-Rwanda joint commission, which has not met for several years,” Tshisekedi’s communication office said. This commission will hold its first meeting on July 12, 2022 in Luanda.

The roadmap stipulates a willingness to normalise diplomatic relations between Kinshasa and Kigali.

“Angola has amassed vast experience in solving conflicts thus I think this conflict between DRC and Rwanda will come to an end with President Lourenço’s mediation,” Macolino Tavares, a political analyst, told The EastAfrican.

“This conflict between brothers has no deep reason to keep on. With Angola mediation it will come soon to an end,” Matias Pires, another analyst, told Angolan state-owned Rádio Nacional de Angola.

SOURCE

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda on Wednesday agreed to immediately cease hostilities between the two countries, Angolan President João Lourenço has announced. Following the Wednesday meeting in […]

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