PRESIDENT KAGAME HAS PRIVATE MEETING WITH PRESS

C O N F I D E N T I A L KIGALI 000962 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/01/2017 TAGS: PHUM PGOV KDEM RW SUBJECT: PRESIDENT KAGAME HAS PRIVATE MEETING WITH PRESS CORPS REF: KIGALI 562 Classified By: CDA Cheryl J Sim, reason 1.4 (B/D) 1 (C) Summary. President Kagame met with the Rwandan press corps on October 15 and 16, in private sessions described by the government-owned New Times as "highly interactive and candid." However, the editor of an independent newspaper described the sessions as "fake meetings" staged to upbraid journalists who did not portray the Kagame administration in a positive light. The meetings appear to have been a mixture of cheerleading and lecturing, with appeals to patriotism and national unity, and hints that those who are uncooperative could be in league with Rwanda's enemies. End summary. ¶2. (SBU) Following a formal request by Association of Rwandan Journalists (ARJ),President Kagame met with the Rwandan press corps in two lengthy private sessions on October 15 and 16. Kagame, accompanied by his Chief of Cabinet General Frank Mugambaje, Minister of Information Laurent Nkusi, and several other presidential advisors, discussed the state of Rwandan journalism and possible improvements with the assembled media representatives. The government-aligned New Times reported agreement on several "important resolutions," including commitments by the government to: 1) establish a "media basket fund" to assist new media outlets; 2) open the Great Lakes Media Center to train practicing journalists; 3) erect a commission to "speed up" the installation a planned government printing press; 4) create a permanent home for the ARJ; and 5) review licensing costs for private FM stations. ¶3. (U) While striking a positive tone throughout, the New Times did note that the opening day had been "tense," as the President and "some" journalists "tried to understand each other's positions," and journalists "took on each other" in challenging the "worthiness" of certain articles which "clearly undermined the government or the person of the President." The New Times asserted, however, that all ended in smiles and pledges of cooperation, with assembled journalists agreeing "to be more responsible in the performance of their duties." The meetings culminated in the presentation by the journalists of a giant birthday card to the President honoring his fiftieth birthday. ¶4. (C) Jean Bosco Gasasira, editor of Umuvugizi, an independent publication often critical of the Kagame �0A;administration, told pol/econ chief October 19 that the two meetings with the press corps had been "fake meetings," staged by the Office of the President, and convened with the central purpose of criticizing independent media practitioners. Of the several dozen people called to the meeting, said Gasasira, many were either representatives of publications which appeared infrequently, or who did not really practice journalism, such as professors of journalism. These invitees, he commented, were loyal to the government, and ready to join the concerted critique of independent journalism (which he listed as comprising four publications: Umuvugizi, Umuseso, Umuco, and Rushyashya). During the sessions, sharp attacks on the independent publications were led, he claimed, by Focus editor Shaka Kanuma and a Reuters stringer, Arthur Asiimwe, with other attendees (including the President and members of his staff) sometimes chiming in. ¶5. (C) In addition to the "undermining the president" charge listed in the New Times article, Gasasira said other criticisms included the allegation that some of the independent media was in the pay of foreign powers (this given specifically as the reason for the sudden closure of the new Weekly Post, he said - see reftel),and the notion that other articles critical of the Kagame government lent support to "negative forces" (FYI: common short hand for organizations bent upon the overthrow of the Kagame regime, including the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda -- FDLR -- based in the DRC and committed to completion of the 1994 genocide). ¶6. (C) In addition to criticisms, said Gasasira, the President announced the resumption of government advertisements for those publications willing to support his administration (note: an unofficial suspension of government advertisements in independent papers has been alleged for some time). In response, Gasasira claimed, he and Umuseso editor Charles Kabonero told the President they would not change their editorial line. Gasasira stated Umuco editor Bonaventure Bizimuremye was not present, but he doubted Umuco would change its line (he did not mention Rushyashya editor Jean Guarbert Burasa's response). Gasasira also noted one "resolution" not mentioned in the New Times article -- the "checking" of independent publications' stories by some new and apparently autonomous mechanism (note: the government-funded High Council of the Press has a monitoring office that examines all media; it is not clear what this new body will do differently). All these resolutions, he said, had been compiled and presented to the journalists by Cabinet Chief Mugambaje and Information Minister Nkusi with no input from the journalists themselves. ¶7. (C) Comment. When even the New Times notes that exchanges between President Kagame and "some" journalists were "tense," one can imagine the depth of hostility directed by regime loyalists toward the editors and other staff of the independent papers. While these independent journalists -- ill-educated and inexperienced as many of them are -- are often purveyors of poorly-sourced stories grounded in little beyond their own imaginations, they also offer pointed critiques of the Kagame government's policies and its senior members. In the peculiar style of Rwandan government discourse, the meetings with the journalists appears to have been half-cheerleading, half-lecturing, with appeals to patriotism and national unity mixed with dark hints that those considered uncooperative are in league, wittingly or not, with enemies of the state. End comment. SIM