PRESIDENT KAGAME CONTINUES TO CASTIGATE THE WEST

C O N F I D E N T I A L KIGALI 000266

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/10/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR RW
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT KAGAME CONTINUES TO CASTIGATE THE WEST
ON INDICTMENTS

REF: KIGALI 246

Classified By: CDA Cheryl L. Sim, reason 1.4 (B/D)


1. (U) At April 7 genocide commemoration ceremonies at Nymata
in eastern Rwanda (scene of extensive massacres in the 1994
genocide),President Paul Kagame (speaking consecutively in
English and Kinyarwanda so "there could be no
misinterpretation" of his comments) continued his harsh
criticism of "certain elements in the West" who "claim
authority over human rights." While particularly critical of
the French and Spanish judges who issued indictments of
senior Rwandan officials and military officers, wondering why
these judges did not investigate the slave trade and
colonialism and their governments' role in the 1994 genocide,
he also criticized "a wider context of arrogance" among some
Westerners with regard to human rights. Kagame asserted that
his own and his military officers' human rights records were
better than those of many western leaders, noting the RPA had
fought and defeated a murderous regime in defense of those
rights. He added those who fought were not the kind of
people who will be "put down by this nonsense and trampled
on." He called upon his "fellow Africans" to unite in an
effort to fight for "our dignity." However, he also said
that the "best way" to fight those opposed to Rwanda and
protect Rwanda's dignity was to "work hard to overcome the
past and build the future." He concluded by exhorting those
present to look Rwanda's critics in the eye and tell them to
"mind their own business and go to hell."


2. (C) President Kagame also made reference in his remarks
to an incident several years ago, in which certain donors
urged his government not to intervene in the Congo, allegedly
threatening to withdraw development funds. Kagame recounted
that a minister from one specific government telephoned him
to warn him it would cut its direct budgetary support if his
troops entered the Congo. He asserted he told the minister
that the minister could "take his money," as Kagame "needed
my people alive - did they want to give money to people who
had died?" Then, said the President, he hung up the phone.
British Ambassador Nicholas Cannon told Charge on April 8
that Kagame had been referring to an exchange with a senior
British official, and Kagame had exaggerated what had
transpired, noting that the impact of Rwandan intervention in
the Congo on UK assistance levels had not been conducted by
telephone.


3. (C) On April 8, in a meeting between Senior AF Advisor
Timothy Shortley and Envoy of the Great Lakes Ambassador
Richard Sezibera (Charge also attended),Sezibera also raised
the Spanish indictments and the GOR's unhappiness that one of
the indicted RDF generals had been unable to attend a
conference in the U.S. Sezibera maintained that
Rwanda'spolitical opponents were consciously using western
nations' legal systems to both "tie up" the Rwandan
government, and to achieve revisionist goals regarding the
established history of the genocide. "Please have a global
policy on the indictments," said Sezibera, urging recognition
of the political nature of those judges' actions. Sezibera
also stated that President Kagame would take the matter up
within the African Union and other appropriate international
Qwithin the African Union and other appropriate international
fora. Shortley responded that the USG had legal processes in
place that had to be used to examine the impact of those
indictments on such matters as the travel of senior Rwandans
to the U.S., a legal reality that did not signal respect for
or acceptance of the indictments.
SIM