MINISTER OF INFORMATION ON "BIASED" VOA AND BBC

C O N F I D E N T I A L KIGALI 000603 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/02/2018 TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM RW SUBJECT: MINISTER OF INFORMATION ON "BIASED" VOA AND BBC PROGRAMMING REF: KIGALI 323 Classified By: CDA Cheryl J. Sim for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Summary. Charge met with Minister of Information Louise Mushikiwabo August 28 to discuss her recent comments regarding possible suspension of the BBC and VOA broadcast transmissions for "non-factual" reporting. The BBC is now officially "boycotted" by the GOR, while the local Kinyarwanda VOA stringers continue to have great difficulty getting access to GOR events and officials. Mushikiwabo expressed "surprise" at the reaction to her comments, and said they had been taken out of context. However, she said the Government of Rwanda (GOR) has "protested" BBC and VOA Kinyarwanda programming for some time, and reiterated the position that, if the BBC and VOA did not "improve and change," the GOR would "cut them off." Charge suggested the GOR should engage more vigorously with VOA, including on the Sunday morning Kinyarwanda program, rather than cutting off the stringers. The Charge added the message the GOR was sending internationally by limiting access or announcing boycotts of individual reporters was the GOR does not support press freedom. Separately, VOA local stringers contended they were excluded from GOR events. However, Embassy learned they recently were invited to two major GOR events they opted not to attend. In a follow-on conversation, the Minister told Charge President Kagame had asked his press office to confirm whether VOA had been shut out of events; his press person reportedly responded "no." Embassy will continue to follow-up on the VOA/GOR relationship and continue to urge the GOR to accept there is room for peaceful dissenting views. End summary. ¶2. (C) On August 28, Charge, accompanied by poloff, called on Minister of Information Louise Mushikiwabo to seek clarification on her recent comments on BBC and VOA that had been carried in the local press and picked up internationally. Charge noted the comments had renewed concerns about the GOR's commitment to press freedom (ref). The Minister began by expressing surprise over the reaction to her comments and then asserted that the GOR did not have any problems whatsoever with BBC's and VOA's English language service or with their Kinyarwanda newscasts. However, she took exception to both services non-news programming (the VOA airs a one-hour debate program on Sunday mornings), describing the programming as frequently biased, and said the programmers "pick and choose topics and views that undermine government policies." She claimed these programs "create an opposition" to the GOR and "force" upon Rwandans a negative view of GOR leadership. "If they cannot respond positively to government warnings to abandon their non-factual reporting, then suspending them is inevitable." She said some journalists wished to "advance their own agendas," and lamented programming that "criticizes everything" done by the GOR. She singled out BBC and VOA correspondents living in exile in the UK and US as being especially "problematic." ¶3. (C) When asked about GOR engagement with BBC and VOA, Mushikiwabo said the official GOR policy, approved by the Cabinet, is to boycott the British Kinyarwanda service, and that GOR officials are not to speak to their Kinyarwanda reporters. She said there was no similar stance on VOA's Qreporters. She said there was no similar stance on VOA's local stringers, although some VOA broadcasts posed "a very serious problem." As an example, she recalled VOA coverage of the GOR's release of the Mucyo report on French involvement in the 1994 genocide (septel) and said all expert guests interviewed on the subject were "anti-Rwanda." She contended the GOR can only work with media outlets "who operate in good faith" and the BBC and VOA "have set views" against the GOR. ¶4. (C) In response, Charge suggested the situation described by the Minister warranted more, not less, GOR engagement with the press. Rather than cutting off journalists' access to GOR officials, the Charge stated the GOR should engage them more vigorously and participate in the Sunday morning VOA program. Additionally, the Charge stressed the message the GOR was sending internationally by limiting access or announcing boycotts was the GOR does not support press freedom. Continuing, Charge added that if the GOR was unhappy with VOA Sunday morning programming, it should consider addressing those complaints directly to VOA headquarters rather than denying VOA stringers access to events locally. ¶5. (C) Changing topics, Mushikiwabo noted the four newspapers previously blacklisted by the GOR had made some recent improvements although these were "inconsistent," and that they and other media bodies "need to get past focusing on Kigali RPF leadership and focus on serious issues." (Note: The Rwandan Patriotic Front, RPF, is the ruling political party. End note.) She expressed a desire to "move forward," but did not rule out the GOR taking unspecified actions against media to "get its point across." ¶6. (C) In a separate meeting with Charge on August 28, three local VOA Kinyarwanda service correspondents disputed Mushikiwabo's claim not to have banned them from government events, saying they were in practice being boycotted. The reporters alleged the Prime Minister had issued a letter to GOR officials instructing them not to give comments to VOA, but none of the three present had seen a copy of the letter. As a result, they said they had not been invited to Presidential press conferences for three months, and that GOR officials hung up on them and refused to return their phone calls. They had been refused entrance to cover the RPF campaign kick-off as well, they commented. The correspondents said the GOR had disliked VOA reporting for some time, particularly certain programs originating in the Washington office. The journalists noted they experienced increased difficulty with the GOR around "sensitive" times, such as during the annual genocide commemoration period in April and in the current run up to the September 15 legislative election, and that the GOR was attempting to intimidate them. They also expressed the opinion that Mushikiwabo, who was named Minister in February, used "stronger means" (unexplained) than her predecessor in dealing with journalists who the GOR felt were biased. ¶7. (C) Interestingly, the three correspondents did acknowledge "anti-government bias" on the part of the Washington-based VOA Kinyarwanda programmer, and said that GOR opposition to his Sunday morning program made their own work all the more difficult to carry out. They said support from the Washington VOA office had not been forthcoming, noting that their engagement with the Kinyarwanda chief was limited to a couple of emails per month that contained little guidance on what was expected from them other than a list of officials whom they should try to interview. This coupled with the GOR's purported stance against speaking to them had made it all but impossible to present GOR views from direct sources. Under the circumstances, the Charge asked if the correspondents thought it would be useful if she raised their concerns with the Minister - they all readily agreed. ¶8. (C) Since these two meetings, Embassy has confirmed the VOA stringers were invited to two major GOR events in which the USG had a role: the "Cup of Excellence" coffee competition on August 29 where President Kagame was present for nearly three hours, as well as our turnover of peacekeeping equipment to the Rwanda Defense Forces (RDF) on September 3. The President's Office and the RDF organized the press for both events. In each case, the VOA stringers chose not to participate. In a follow-up discussion on September 3, Charge raised with Mushikiwabo the journalists' Qassertion that the Prime Minister had written a letter instructing GOR officials not to meet with VOA. She categorically denied any such letter had been written and surmised their contention was based on a misreading of the decision to ban BBC reporters from GOR events. She added President Kagame had personally raised with his press office whether VOA had been excluded from GOR events; his press assistant responded in the negative. When the Minister again complained about the VOA's Sunday morning program, Charge reiterated the importance of the GOR communicating those concerns to VOA. ¶9. (C) Comment: While the Embassy does not plan to put itself between the Minister and the VOA stringers on a routine basis, we will continue to monitor closely whether the stringers are being excluded from major non-USG-affiliated events, with the big test being President Kagame's monthly press conferences. The GOR's current proclivity of "banning" or "boycotting" reporters or programs that it finds objectionable remains of deep concern for freedom of press issues here. The Embassy will continue to urge senior officials to acknowledge and accept that peaceful dissenting voices ought to be heard in Rwanda. End comment. SIM