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