Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06KIGALI726
2006-07-29 10:35:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Kigali
Cable title:  

GOR ON RELATIONS WITH CIVIL SOCIETY

Tags:  KDEM PGOV PHUM RW 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLGB #0726/01 2101035
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 291035Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY KIGALI
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 3045
C O N F I D E N T I A L KIGALI 000726 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/C, DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/28/2016
TAGS: KDEM PGOV PHUM RW
SUBJECT: GOR ON RELATIONS WITH CIVIL SOCIETY

Classified By: PAO Brian George for reason 1.4 (D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L KIGALI 000726

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/C, DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/28/2016
TAGS: KDEM PGOV PHUM RW
SUBJECT: GOR ON RELATIONS WITH CIVIL SOCIETY

Classified By: PAO Brian George for reason 1.4 (D)


1. (U) Summary. On July 5 Emboffs met with GOR officials to
discuss the relationship between civil society and the GOR.
The meeting provided an opportunity for the GOR to clarify
its relationship with NGOs, religious organizations, and
political parties operating in the country, and to address a
number of issues raised in the Human Rights Report,s country
report on Rwanda. End summary.


2. (U) The meeting, chaired by Ambassador Richard Sezibera,
also included the following GOR officials:
--Ambassador Joseph Mutaboba, Secretary General, Ministry of
Interior
--Dr. Alisa Kirabo Kakira, Mayor, Kigali
--Eugene Barikana, Secretary General, Ministry of Local
Government, Community Development, and Social Affairs
--Mary Gahonzire, Deputy Commissioner, Rwanda National Police
--George Rupenzi, Spokesman, GOR Civil Society Platform

Embassy representatives were CDA, PAO, POLOFF, USAID
Democracy and Governance team leader, and POL intern.


3. (U) Background: In an effort to fully engage the GOR on
human rights issues, Embassy Kigali has initiated a series of
meetings with key GOR officials. This was the second in that
series; the first meeting focused on press freedom. The July
5 meeting used the Human Rights Report as a framework for
discussion.

--------------
NGO Oversight
--------------

4. (U) The GOR recently forwarded to parliament a draft
amended bill on the regulation of domestic NGOs and cabinet
currently is reviewing a draft bill governing international
NGOs operating in the country. Both bills, Ambassador
Sezibera said, were drafted to address dissatisfaction with
existing laws and are the result of very long and extensive
consultative processes. He expressed his hope that these
laws, when passed, will adequately address the earlier
concerns. Sezibera stated, however, that at no point had the
registration of NGOs been suspended.


5. (U) The GOR began the discussion on NGOs by outlining the
many reasons it believes that government oversight is
necessary. Referring to the immediate post-genocide period,
Ambassador Sezibera and others noted the great influx of NGOs

onto the country. The rapid influx and lack of coordination
led to duplication of efforts, wasted resources, and a
proliferation of fake organizations that sought to capitalize
on the ready availability of assistance money. It is
important, they said, to protect donors from being duped into
giving money to disreputable organizations.


6. (U) GOR representatives argued that the number of NGOs
operating in the country (in some instances, as many as 200
in a single district) makes it a practical necessity to know
who is active and what programs they are working on in order
to effectively coordinate efforts. They cited the provision
requiring NGOs to register in each district within which they
are active as a logical outgrowth of the GOR,s
decentralization program. Local registration and oversight
is, Sezibera said, a way of empowering the local population.
The GOR, he added, is interested in knowing, not controlling,
what NGOs do, and he observed that NGOs should have no
problem with being held to standards of transparency and
accountability that governments themselves must meet.


7. (U) NGOs will, under the new law, be subject to bi-annual
evaluations in each district under the auspices of Joint
Action Forums. The GOR team was unmoved by expressions of
concern that this could, in effect, subject an NGO working
countrywide to 30 different evaluations, each of which might
employ different criteria to determine whether the
organization is performing satisfactorily, and that those
criteria are too vague. Sezibera said that the evaluation
criteria are sufficiently clear and that protection under the
law is spelled out in other parts of Rwandan law, but he
cited no specifics. The GOR made it clear that they believe
the role of civil society is to support the government, and
that their work should be in accordance with national and
local action plans. At the same time, however, they argued
that the action plans are sufficiently broad to permit a wide
range of activities. As a practical matter, it was noted,
only one NGO has ever been denied registration.


8. (SBU) The only NGO to have been denied registration is the
Community of Indigenous Rwandans (CAURWA),which purports to
advocate for the advancement of the Batwa people. Sezibera,
Ambassador Mutaboba, and Gahonzire were all adamant that the
GOR could not permit the registration of CAURWA since it is
organized on ethnic lines. Mutaboba said it is a mistake to
view the Batwa in the same light as the pygmies of Congo or
other countries. The Batwa are not, he said, an aboriginal
group. Historically, he added, they were part and parcel of
the administrative system of the Kingdom of Rwanda. It was
only during the colonial era that they were marginalized.
They were not alone in being marginalized, however, and the
GOR believes their grievances (poverty, lack of education,
etc.) can be addressed without resorting to an ethnic prism.
Gahonzire characterized CAURWA as an organization founded by
two unscrupulous individuals who do not have the backing of
the broader Batwa community. They are simply opportunists
looking for a chance to make some money off international
donors.


9. (SBU) Mutaboba went on to explain that he himself visits
regularly a Batwa community near his own Immigration
Department and cited--apparently as a sign of the GOR,s
tolerance--the fact that there is a cultural group that
promotes a particular Batwa form of dance. Asked to clarify
how it is possible for this group to promote a specifically
Batwa dance, Mutaboba backtracked somewhat and said the group
promotes a specific dance, not Batwa dance per se. Asked
whether a group advocating on behalf of the Batwa could be
formed as long as its membership was open to all ethnic
groups, he said that this was not possible. (Comment: It
appears the GOR is in the difficult position of reconciling
tolerance for forms of cultural expression closely identified
with the Batwa while at the same time strictly enforcing in
the political realm the Constitutional ban on groups formed
along ethnic lines. End comment.)


10. (U) Contrary to the Human Rights Report,s assertion,
Ambassador Sezibera said there is no prohibition on advocacy
activities; civil society organizations--including labor
unions--are allowed to advocate. The misunderstanding, he
said, resulted from a poor English translation of the
original Kinyarwanda text of Article One of Law 20/2000
passed 26 June 2000. With respect to lobbying, Sezibera said
that lobbying is permitted but noted that lobbying
organizations, because they are businesses, are regulated by
commercial law rather than by the NGO law.

--------------
Religious Organizations
--------------

11. (U) Registration of new religious organizations was
suspended in 2003, Sezibera said, but only because religious
organizations were unhappy with the terms of the law under
which they were being registered. Religious organizations
have been able, however, to register under the NGO law
pending approval of a new law on religious organizations.
Sezibera also noted that in reality, there have been very few
new church applications since 2003 because of the large
influx of churches prior to that date.


12. (U) The GOR team confirmed that the authorities must be
notified if a large meeting (religious or otherwise) is to
take place at night, but noted that this is a safety and
security issue (large daytime gatherings also require advance
notification, but the requirements are less strict because
nighttime events pose a greater challenge to security and
emergency workers). The Ministry of Local Government
(MINALOC) representative added that the Government has a very
positive relationship with religious groups and noted that
the Ministry meets with religious leaders every three months
and additionally as needed.


13. (U) With respect to Jehovah,s Witnesses, the group
denied that there were any widespread problems. Problems may
exist with individuals, but because of their transgressions,
not because of they are Jehovah,s Witnesses. Mayor of
Kigali Dr. Alisa Kirabo Kakira denied that there is a ban on
the construction of new Kingdom Halls, and the group said
that it has been accepted that Jehovah,s Witnesses, like
many other groups, are permitted to perform other civic
duties in lieu of serving on night patrols if it violates the
strictures of their religion.


14. (C) In spite of these statements, it was clear that on an
individual level there are some government officials who are
uncomfortable with the practices of Jehovah,s Witnesses.
Kakira, for example, expressed concern about Jehovah,s
Witnesses practice of going door to door proselytizing and
stated that their unwillingness to participate in civic
education had a negative effect on the patriotism the GOR is
trying to instill in Rwandans (as a replacement for ethnic
identities).

--------------
Political Parties
--------------

15. (U) The GOR officials, as in earlier exchanges with
Emboffs, explained that the Democratic Movement of Rwanda
(MDR) was not banned. Rather, the party fell apart of its
own accord and failed to re-register. Asked why then there
was a need for the government to have legally dissolved the
party, Sezibera explained that the GOR did not &dissolve8
the party but rather &liquidated8 it after it failed to
re-register. The confusion over the GOR,s action arose, he
said, from an English translation of Law 20/2000 which
incorrectly used the word &dissolved.8

16. (C) MINALOC Secretary General Eugene Barikana said that
there are no barriers against the organization of political
parties; any group interested in registering as a party need
only submit a membership list and demonstrate its capacity to
function as a party. Barikana went on to add, however, that
the Government must also be satisfied that a party's platform
is one that will contribute to the development of society.
When asked by Emboffs if that is not a judgment best left for
the electorate to make, Sezibera interjected and suggested
that we first review the relevant legislation and statues
which, he said, clearly spell out the criteria for
registration of a party and then see if we have any specific
questions.

--------------
Pillars of Rwandan Society
--------------

17. (SBU) Sezibera identified the Forum of Political Parties
(FPP),the gacaca courts, the National Unity and
Reconciliation Commission, and the Human Rights Commission as
&pillars8 of Rwandan society. Sezibera was particularly
animated by what he termed the uninformed criticism of the
Forum of Political Parties in the HRR. The GOR, he said,
took great offense to that portion of the report and
suggested that their objection was so strong that they
preferred not to put in writing what they really felt in
their official response to the HRR. Whoever wrote that
portion of the report must, Sezibera argued, have an
ideological aversion to the FPP. In fact the FPP was, he
said, created to give an opportunity for all parties--even
those who do not receive enough votes to be represented in
parliament--to have a seat at the table. The general idea,
he added, is that if a group of people feel so strongly about
certain issues that they decide to form a party, then they
should have an opportunity to express their opinions. (Note:
Sezibera used the example of land reforms and said, due
especially to Rwanda's history, "all people" must have a
voice. End Note) The FPP is designed to encourage Rwandans
to work together and it promotes a culture of dialogue that
Rwandans highly value. It is also part of a broader effort
to get people comfortable enough to participate in political
change in a country where, traditionally, getting a voice has
been difficult if one party is in the majority.
THURSTON