Rwandan President Paul Kagame said initial successes in Zimbabwe after independence had been overtaken by President Robert Mugabe’s many failures and he did not want his Rwandan Patriotic Front to become like Mugabe and his ZANU-PF.
He was addressing the party’s politburo where he criticised party officials against nepotism within the party and government.
Full cable:
Viewing cable 08KIGALI872, RWANDA – MONTHLY POLITICAL ROUND-UP
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Reference ID |
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VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB
DE RUEHLGB #0872/01 3591341
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 241341Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY KIGALI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5807
INFO RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS 0364
RUEHJB/AMEMBASSY BUJUMBURA 0463
RUEHDR/AMEMBASSY DAR ES SALAAM 1277
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 2053
RUEHKI/AMEMBASSY KINSHASA 0603
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0377
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 1385
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0636
C O N F I D E N T I A L KIGALI 000872
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/23/2018
SUBJECT: RWANDA – MONTHLY POLITICAL ROUND-UP
REF: A. KIGALI 810
¶B. 07 KIGALI 865
Classified By: DCM Cheryl Sim for reason 1.4 (b) & (d)
¶1. (U) In this edition:
– Effort to Form New Political Party
– Protests Continue at German Embassy
– FDLR Officer Reaches Rwanda
– President Kagame Presides at National Dialogue and RPF
Meeting
– New Labor Code Under Consideration
Disaffected PSD officer Tries to Form New Party
——————————————— —
¶2. (C) Bernard Ntaganda, a disaffected District President of
the Social Democratic Party (PSD), announced December 15
that he would begin efforts to establish a new political
formation, the Social Ideal Party (PSI). Ntaganda, a
lawyer and business consultant, told local and international
media that PSD leadership had failed the
party faithful, and he intended to start a party that would
truly function as an independent political body and attempt
to expand “political space” in Rwanda. In a later
conversation with Embassy staff, Ntaganda noted
his next step would be to hold a “constituent assembly” of at
least five persons from each of Rwanda’s 30 districts, as
required by Rwandan law, their identities to be verified by a
notary public in attendance at the assembly. Ntaganda said
he had found “great interest” among PSD members at the
district level, and he expected to have no problem meeting
the statutory requirement. In an earlier meeting, PSD Vice
President Marc Rugenara told pol/econ chief that Ntaganda in
fact reflected a fairly general “feeling of uneasiness”
within the party regarding its low political profile (note: a
profile adopted by all parties, aside from the RPF, in
Rwanda’s present political dispensation). However, “this is
a time for careful deliberation,” he said. At this point in
Rwanda’s political evolution, “cooperation, consensus,
working together,” were the values and messages that his
party members realized were required. “As time goes by, as
we work together, we hope to see the system open up,” he said.
¶3. (C) Comment. Of Rwanda’s nine political parties, aside
from the ruling RPF only two, PSD and PL, make some attempt
at true organizational independence, each having run its
own slate of candidates in the September Chamber of
Deputies elections, and each gathering funds and
maintaining offices. The other six parties joined the RPF
in an election coalition, and make little pretense of an
existence outside the RPF cocoon of support. PL went
through its own calvary of internal dissension in 2007 (see
ref B), with dissident senior officers cashiered, and the
party weakened as a result. Ntaganda’s announcement does
not appear to reflect a full-fledged revolt from within the
PSD. End comment.
Daily Demonstrations Continue at German Embassy
——————————————— —
¶4. (SBU) Although Presidential Chief of Protocol Rose Kabuye
is now back in Kigali, her arrest in Germany and six-week
stay in France (ref A) led to modest daily protests marches
outside the German embassy.
Police cordoned off the short lane outside the embassy, and a
small white tent directly across from the Embassy entrance
housed half a dozen women, who supposedly maintained a
24-jour vigil, awaiting Kabuye’s return. Bus drivers,
motorcycle taxi chauffeurs, retired soldiers, women’s groups,
civic organizations took turns in front the
civic organizations took turns in front the
embassy for an hour or more, sometimes with music or
amplified speeches. Some Some local merchants grumbled at
the interruption of their affairs. One woman recounted that
one day it was local residents, another day her women’s
group, and the next her market traders’ association — she
could not open her stall for a week. All agree that the
marches are staged by the RPF and government officials, who
command a daily stream of protesters. The German charge told
us that no one has interfered with the embassy’s activities,
visitors come and go, and local employees faced no harassment
or ridicule. He surmised the protests continued in front of
the German Embassy “because there is no French
embassy in Kigali.” (Note: Rwanda closed the French embassy
in the fall of 2006, when a French judge indicted nine
senior Rwandans on criminal charges related to the shooting
down of former President Habyarimana’s jet in April 1994 —
charges the Rwandans vociferously contest. End note). Now
that Kabuye is back home, these daily protests may
end.
FDLR Officer Defects, Dies in Rwanda; Numbers Up at Mutobo
——————————————— ————-
¶5. (SBU) Local press outlets disclosed the arrival on
December 14 of an FDLR major, Jacques Uwumuhizi, from South
Kivu in the DRC. Gravely ill, he was apparently brought to
the Rwandan border post at Cyangugu by MONUC and UNHCR.
Rwandan Demobilization Commission officials told us later
that the RDC had been in quiet contact with the officer for
some time, encouraging his return. When the officer’s
continuing illness took a turn for the worse, he decided to
come home, they said. Unfortunately, his illness was in an
advanced state, and he died soon after his arrival.
Despite this loss, demobilization officials noted that the
number of returned FDLR combatants at Mutobo Camp in
northern Rwanda was higher than it had been for months,
with 176 officers and men at the camp (note: the camp
stages training programs every three months for the
returned fighters). Although still a modest number, the
176 returnees was double what it was a year ago, noted the
officials. Additionally, there are 52 FDLR child soldiers,
some as young as eight years old, in a separate facility in
Muhazi.
Comment: although the numbers of former FDLR
solders who return to Rwanda fluctuates month by month, the
recent efforts by MONUC and the Congolese army to press the
FDLR might explain these higher numbers.
Kagame Presides at National Dialogue, RPF Political Bureau
——————————————— ————-
¶6. (U) On December 18-19, President Kagame presided at
Rwanda’s sixth National Dialogue, a meeting of hundreds of
senior and mid-level Rwandan officials, including ministers,
mayors, provincial governors, heads of parastatals,
military and police officers, and parliamentarians. Topics
ranged from
economic development, prosecution of genocide cases by
gacaca courts, and the planned transition to English as the
language of instruction in Rwanda’s schools. Each topic
also had a question-and-answer segment, in which officials
from various parts of the country could put questions
directly to President Kagame and his ministers. Kagame
also made comments on the DRC and the recent UN report on
alleged Rwandan assistance to the CNDP (septel). As a
capstone to the two day event, each of the nation’s 30
mayors signed new performance contracts with President
Kagame, undertaking to meet various goals from education to
health care to rural development. In a particularly frank
presentation, Ombudsman Tito Rutaremara castigated four
presentation, Ombudsman Tito Rutaremara castigated four
categories of local officials for their corrupt practices:
the “abunzi,” mediators who handle local disputes, many
concerning land; the Local Defense Force, a quasi-police
force that assists the regular police throughout the
countryside; gacaca judges, who preside over village-level
genocide trials; and administrative heads of sectors
(Rwanda has 416 sectors, operating one step below the
district mayors). At the end of his remarks, he said,
“there are people in this room abusing their office. I
won’t name you, but I will be watching you.” In later
remarks, President Kagame reinforced the Ombudsman’s
remarks with a call for greater action on corruption.
¶7. (C) The following day, President Kagame presided
over a meeting of the Political Bureau of the ruling Rwanda
Patriotic Front (RPF). According to several participants,
Kagame had blunt words for those suspected of assisting
Laurent Nkunda’s
CNDP recruitment efforts in Rwanda. Kagame reportedly said
he would put these RPF officials in jail “himself” if the
assistance occured. Kagame also cautioned the assembled
officials about reports of nepotism within party
and government ranks — this criticism taken by some to be
aimed at Finance Minister James Musoni, who plays a large
role in the appointment of senior cadres throughout the
government. Drawing a parallel with Robert Mugabe in
Zimbabwe, Kagame said that the initial successes in
Zimbabwe after independence had been overtaken by Mugabe’s
many failures in recent years, and he did not want the RPF
to become like Mugabe and his ZANU-PF.
New Labor Code Coming
———————
¶8. (SBU) Labor Minister Anastaze Murekezi discussed a
new labor code for Rwanda at a recent workshop in Kigali,
praising the draft act as an important step forward in
aligning Rwanda with international labor conventions and
with Rwanda’s own constitution. The draft includes such
advances as enhanced death benefits for workers, greater
maternity leave, and adjustments in contract law. Eric
Manzi, Secretary General of CESTRAR, the largest of
Rwanda’s several labor union confederations, echoed these
comments to pol/econ chief in a later conversation, saying
that the labor movement regarded the new code as an overall
advance for the nation’s workers. The most important
accomplishment, he said, was clear statutory recognition of
all categories of Rwandan workers, including day workers,
rural and seasonal workers, and domestic workers, as
covered by the labor code. Two areas in which the unions
did not succeed, he said, included the continuation of
provisions that allow subcontractors to avoid requirements
imposed on the main contractor by the code, and a limited
compensation clause for what he termed “abusive”
terminations. However, Manzi said he was hopeful that the
new National Labor Council mandated by the code, in which
employers, unions and government serve, would give a useful
avenue to continue discussions on these and other issues.
SYMINGTON
(22 VIEWS)
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