MONTHLY POLITICAL ROUNDUP

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KIGALI 000325

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 5/06/08
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM RW
SUBJECT: MONTHLY POLITICAL ROUNDUP

REF: A. KIGALI 269

B. KIGALI 266

C. KIGALI 002

Classified By: Ambassador Michael R. Arietti, reason 1.4 (B/D)


1. (SBU)
This edition of the monthly political roundup includes:

- Four Political Parties In Breach of Financial Regulations

- Minister of Justice Campaigns Against "Judicial Sadism"

- Killings of Genocide Survivors Climb?

- Fighting "Genocide Ideology"


Ombudsman Criticizes Four Parties
--------------


2. (SBU) On April 3, Ombudsman Tito Rutaremara presented
his yearly report to the Senate, listing numbers of
complaints received, numbers of cases resolved, and numbers
of referrals made to the police and prosecutor's office. By
far the most newsworthy item concerned his yearly listing of
those public officials who had not disclosed their assets to
his office, as required by Rwandan law. Four small political
parties also failed to declare their assets, and in comments
that hit the local headlines, the Ombudsman called upon the
Senate to consider dissolving them, or not allowing them to
participate in the September Chamber of Deputies elections.
Officials of all four parties, the Ideal Democratic Party
(PDI),the Democratic Union of the Rwandan People (UDPR),the
Rwandan Socialist Party (PSR) and the Party for Progress and
Concord (PPC),quickly promised to either meet the
requirements of the statute, or claimed they had in fact
already declared their party assets.


3. (C) In comments to pol/econ chief April 24, Senate Vice
President Prosper Higiro noted that the Senate only had
authority to refer serious infractions by political parties
to the High Court, which then adjudicates the matter (with a
right of appeal to the Supreme Court). He commented that
this was "not a really serious issue," and there was "no
sentiment" within the Senate to refer the case to the courts.
"This is more a matter of training and capacity-building
then a legal problem, " he said.


Minister of Justice Campaigns Against "Judicial Sadism"
-------------- --------------


4. (U) On April 18 in Addis Ababa, Rwandan Justice Minister
and Attorney General Tharcisse Karugarama presented a
statement to assembled African Union (AU) Ministers of
Justice and Attorneys General condemning the principle of
"universal jurisdiction" cited in recent indictments against
senior Rwandan officials and military officers. Karugarama
framed the issue as one in which politically-motivated judges
abused the principle "to serve their neo-colonial ambitions
to control and dominate the targeted countries" of Africa.
He said the revisionist take on the Rwandan genocide within
the French and Spanish indictments (see Embassy view in
reftel) was a form of "judicial sadism" and labeled them
collections of "falsehoods, gossip and rumors." Karugarama
recommended the AU adopt a resolution condemning the French
and Spanish indictments, and that universal jurisdiction not
apply over independent sovereign states except after
examination and approval by the UN. He finally called for
further study of the issue by the AU.


5. (U) Following Karugarama's remarks, the assembled AU
Ministers of Justice and Attorneys General issued a
declaration naming the abuse of universal jurisdiction "an
affront" to the sovereignty of states and formalizing a
request for a comprehensive legal study and recommendations
Qrequest for a comprehensive legal study and recommendations
on the principle to be completed by July.


6. (U) In an April 23 address to the International
Association for Court Administrators in Dublin, Karugarama
continued his campaign against "foreign judges who have been
compromised to join a network of genocide revisionists and
deniers," and called for other governments to adopt
legislation criminalizing the Rwandan genocide. Karugarama
described Rwanda,s own judicial "innovations and

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achievements" in dealing with the aftermath of the genocide,
and negatively compared the pace of the work of the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to Rwanda,s
gacaca court system, especially given the latter,s lack of
resources. Karugarama again criticized universal
jurisdiction and the French and Spanish indictments as
"shocking and paradoxical."



7. (SBU) Comment. Karugarama's statements on universal
jurisdiction in general and on the French and Spanish
indictments in particular can be added to the ongoing Rwandan
chorus condemning the documents. End comment.


Killings of Genocide Survivors Rising?
--------------


8. (C) The President of Ibuka, a genocide survivors'
organization, made several speeches in April decrying an
increase in insecurity for survivors and witnesses.
Contacted by political assistant May 5, the Ibuka secretary
general reported nine killings of survivors since January 1,
killings which he attributed to the actions of suspected or
convicted genocidaires (Note: many of those convicted have
been released from prison, awaiting assignment to TIG
community service work). For the 2007 calendar year, Ibuka
reported 15 killings of survivors.


9. (C) Comment. Eight of the nine killings Ibuka reported
occurred in either March or April, which generally are
heightened months for tensions between genocide suspects and
survivors and witnesses (see ref A). Although we would
expect the numbers to lessen in the next several months, the
trend for the year is worrying. End Comment.


Fighting "Genocide Ideology"
--------------


10. (C) On April 17, President Kagame saluted forty thousand
teachers attending a national solidarity rally at Amahoro
Stadium in Kigali, the culminating event of a two week series
of district level camps for teachers around the country. The
rallies were meant to promote national reconciliation, and
inculcate the nation's corps of teachers against "genocide
ideology." A months-long nationwide campaign, consisting of
workshops, rallies, meetings with parliamentarians, and other
events has been conducted by various government bodies in the
wake of reports of genocide ideology in the nation's
secondary schools (ref B). The camps were conducted under
the "Intorero" banner, or "those who are honest and correct,"
a subset of "Ingando" camps and rallies, which encompass a
wide variety of civic education camp activities. Several
days after the rally at Amahoro Stadium, the new Minister of
State for Education, Theoneste Mutsindashyaka, who has
primary responsibility for secondary school education, made
remarks critical of a number of Jehovah's Witnesses who
either declined to participate in the teacher solidarity
camps or who left after initially attending them. Jehovah's
Witnesses leaders told emboffs April 23 that local officials
imprisoned two Jehovah's Witnesses teachers on April 9, and
that several teachers "fled" their schools after refusing to
attend the camps.


11. (C) In late April, the Chamber of Deputies debated a
parliamentary report on genocide ideology, and considered
recommendations to the executive branch to focus on the
Southern Province and border areas with Burundi, where
Deputies believed relations between Hutus and Tutsis were,
some Deputies claimed, "particularly problematical." While
noting that reports of genocide ideology appeared to have
Qnoting that reports of genocide ideology appeared to have
declined in other areas of the country, the Deputies
collectively called for renewed action to reduce its
occurrence in the Southern Province. Earlier this month, the
Chamber passed and referred to the Senate a draft genocide
ideology bill, with stiff penalties for ill-defined
expressions of that ideology. Ministry of Justice contacts
told us that the bill was drafted without the input of the
their ministry or other executive branch offices. This and
other donor missions are communicating to the GOR the many
failings of this ill-considered draft legislation.


12. (C) Comment. Ethnic tensions in Rwanda are rarely
discussed beyond the rubrics of "genocide ideology" and
"divisionism," theoretical and policy straight-jackets which

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make open dialogue difficult. The new Minister of State for
Education has a history of ill-considered statements, and we
are hopeful that cooler heads will prevail regarding the
participation of a tiny religious minority in the solidarity
camps. The larger issue Rwandans must grapple with is this:
can two groups officially required to deny their existence as
distinct ethnic groups find a way to speak to each other and
build a common future? End comment.



ARIETTI