RWANDA: PROMINENT HUMAN RIGHTS NGO UNDER FIRE?

C O N F I D E N T I A L KIGALI 000300

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/29/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM RW
SUBJECT: RWANDA: PROMINENT HUMAN RIGHTS NGO UNDER FIRE?

REF: A. KIGALI 113

B. KIGALI 204

C. KIGALI 259

D. KIGALI 266

Classified By: Ambassador Michael Arietti, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: The executive secretaries of Rwanda's two
most outspoken human rights organizations recently described
their relations with the Government of Rwanda (GOR). The
Great Lakes Human Rights League (LDGL) alleged harassment and
attempts to damage the organization, while LIPRODHOR spoke
cautiously of productive relations. Each executive secretary
saw the human rights situation as better than in previous
years. LDGL appears, however, for the moment as the more
critical observer of GOR actions. LDGL's description of GOR
attempts to harass and damage it are troubling, although some
progress appears to have been made in its approaches to
government officials. Government delay in processing LDGL's
re-registration application may affect its plan to monitor
the September elections; mission will engage with GOR
officials on that issue. End summary.


2. (C) EmbOffs and visiting AF/C desk officer met with Pascal
Nyilibakwe, Executive Secretary of the local umbrella human
rights NGO LDGL April 1 to discuss the group's work and
current government relations. Nyilibakwe, on the job for
eight months, first described the regional structure of LDGL
and outlined several of the organization's primary areas of
concern: land disputes, agricultural policy, and political
space and the expansion of political parties.


3. (C) Nyilibakwe reported LDGL had experienced increasing
difficulties in its relations with the government. He
believed the GOR was delaying the NGO's yearly registration,
with months having gone by with no response to LDGL requests
for action. He also mentioned several visits by young men
who claimed to be students, but who he asserted had "a
military bearing" and asked several hostile questions about
LDGL, including the source of its finances. Nyilibakwe also
described occasions when police had taken extensive
photographs of the LDGL offices.


4. (C) Most disturbingly, Nyilibakwe charged the GOR wanted
to "destroy LDGL from the inside." He presented a copy of an
unsigned internal communication from a Ministry of Local
Government (MINALOC) official to the Minister in which LDGL
and several other organizations were listed as "unfriendly"
to the GOR (the document was in Kinyarwanda and was briefly
examined by Embassy's political assistant). The document,
dating from the first of the year, discussed potential
strategies to undermine those groups, such as sending pro-GOR
individuals to infiltrate them or by delaying their
registration.


5. (C) In a follow-up meeting on April 23, Nyilibakwe said
he had met with the author of the unsigned communication at
MINALOC, and discussed LDGL's approach to human rights
investigations and its work in Rwanda. Nyilibakwe said the
MINALOC official had welcomed his visit and had acknowledged
his poor understanding of LDGL's work. Since this meeting,
said Nyilibakwe, no more visits from police photographers or
hostile questioners had occurred, and he hoped a new
understanding had been reached with the Ministry. However,
he said his organization continued to have difficulty
obtaining its re-registration certificate (a process now
transferred to Immigration from MINALOC),and worried that
transferred to Immigration from MINALOC),and worried that
LDGL might have difficulty conducting election monitoring for
the September House of Delegates elections if not officially
re-registered. Further, he said he had a meeting with
officials at the Electoral Commission, who appeared
non-committal on the subject of LDGL election monitoring
efforts.


6. (C) In a separate meeting April 1, EmbOffs and DeskOff met
with Gertrude Nyampinga, the recently-hired executive
secretary of local human rights NGO LIPRODHOR, who reported

SIPDIS
productive relations with the GOR. Nyampinga took the place
of the former executive secretary, who reportedly left last
fall for training outside Rwanda and never returned.
Cautiously claiming no knowledge of his whereabouts,
Nyampinga cited improvements in human rights in Rwanda in
recent years, while noting ongoing concerns, particularly
regarding irregularities in the gacaca process (Note: Gacaca
is the traditional justice system adapted to try most of
Rwanda's genocide cases. End note.). As an improvement,
Nyampinga said members of LIPRODHOR have now been granted
access to each of Rwanda's 14 prisons (the prison in Butare
was previously off-limits due to an unhelpful prison
director) and that they were invited to "relevant" government
meetings on human rights issues. Nyampinga claimed LIPRODHOR
was not required to re-register on an annual basis, and
professed surprise that LDGL had problems re-registering.
The biggest challenge to LIPRODHOR, according to Nyampinga,
was a scarcity of funding.


7. (C) Comment: Human rights groups in Rwanda range from the
docile to the outspoken regarding GOR policies and actions,
with many more of the former than the latter. LIPRODHOR head
Nyampinga is the organization's fifth executive secretary in
the past 18 months, and her cautiously optimistic view of the
human rights situation in Rwanda may be more reflective of
LIPRODHOR's continuing personnel changes than of the current
human rights situation. LDGL's Nyilibakwe was in contrast
more open in his critique of the GOR. The GOR's continuing
unwillingness to accept criticism from "outside" groups
(reftels) in the case of LDGL takes on a more disturbing
aspect. Nyilibakwe's accounts of GOR moves to quietly weaken
his organization are quite troubling, although we are
somewhat encouraged by his discussions with MINALOC officials
on that ministry's attitude toward his organization. LDGL
was critical of the 2003 Presidental and Parliamentary
elections, and this may be a factor in the delay of its
re-registration. Mission will engage with election officials
and other GOR contacts on this issue. End comment.





















ARIETTI