RWANDA - MONTHLY POLITICAL ROUND-UP

C O N F I D E N T I A L KIGALI 000872 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/23/2018 TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM RW SUBJECT: RWANDA - MONTHLY POLITICAL ROUND-UP REF: A. KIGALI 810 ¶B. 07 KIGALI 865 Classified By: DCM Cheryl Sim for reason 1.4 (b) & (d) ¶1. (U) In this edition: - Effort to Form New Political Party - Protests Continue at German Embassy - FDLR Officer Reaches Rwanda - President Kagame Presides at National Dialogue and RPF Meeting - New Labor Code Under Consideration Disaffected PSD officer Tries to Form New Party -------------- -- ¶2. (C) Bernard Ntaganda, a disaffected District President of the Social Democratic Party (PSD),announced December 15 that he would begin efforts to establish a new political formation, the Social Ideal Party (PSI). Ntaganda, a lawyer and business consultant, told local and international media that PSD leadership had failed the party faithful, and he intended to start a party that would truly function as an independent political body and attempt to expand "political space" in Rwanda. In a later conversation with Embassy staff, Ntaganda noted his next step would be to hold a "constituent assembly" of at least five persons from each of Rwanda's 30 districts, as required by Rwandan law, their identities to be verified by a notary public in attendance at the assembly. Ntaganda said he had found "great interest" among PSD members at the district level, and he expected to have no problem meeting the statutory requirement. In an earlier meeting, PSD Vice President Marc Rugenara told pol/econ chief that Ntaganda in fact reflected a fairly general "feeling of uneasiness" within the party regarding its low political profile (note: a profile adopted by all parties, aside from the RPF, in Rwanda's present political dispensation). However, "this is a time for careful deliberation," he said. At this point in Rwanda's political evolution, "cooperation, consensus, working together," were the values and messages that his party members realized were required. "As time goes by, as we work together, we hope to see the system open up," he said. ¶3. (C) Comment. Of Rwanda's nine political parties, aside from the ruling RPF only two, PSD and PL, make some attempt at true organizational independence, each having run its own slate of candidates in the September Chamber of Deputies elections, and each gathering funds and maintaining offices. The other six parties joined the RPF in an election coalition, and make little pretense of an existence outside the RPF cocoon of support. PL went through its own calvary of internal dissension in 2007 (see ref B),with dissident senior officers cashiered, and the party weakened as a result. Ntaganda's announcement does not appear to reflect a full-fledged revolt from within the PSD. End comment. Daily Demonstrations Continue at German Embassy -------------- -- ¶4. (SBU) Although Presidential Chief of Protocol Rose Kabuye is now back in Kigali, her arrest in Germany and six-week stay in France (ref A) led to modest daily protests marches outside the German embassy. Police cordoned off the short lane outside the embassy, and a small white tent directly across from the Embassy entrance housed half a dozen women, who supposedly maintained a 24-jour vigil, awaiting Kabuye's return. Bus drivers, motorcycle taxi chauffeurs, retired soldiers, women's groups, civic organizations took turns in front the civic organizations took turns in front the embassy for an hour or more, sometimes with music or amplified speeches. Some Some local merchants grumbled at the interruption of their affairs. One woman recounted that one day it was local residents, another day her women's group, and the next her market traders' association -- she could not open her stall for a week. All agree that the marches are staged by the RPF and government officials, who command a daily stream of protesters. The German charge told us that no one has interfered with the embassy's activities, visitors come and go, and local employees faced no harassment or ridicule. He surmised the protests continued in front of the German Embassy "because there is no French embassy in Kigali." (Note: Rwanda closed the French embassy in the fall of 2006, when a French judge indicted nine senior Rwandans on criminal charges related to the shooting down of former President Habyarimana's jet in April 1994 -- charges the Rwandans vociferously contest. End note). Now that Kabuye is back home, these daily protests may end. FDLR Officer Defects, Dies in Rwanda; Numbers Up at Mutobo -------------- -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Local press outlets disclosed the arrival on December 14 of an FDLR major, Jacques Uwumuhizi, from South Kivu in the DRC. Gravely ill, he was apparently brought to the Rwandan border post at Cyangugu by MONUC and UNHCR. Rwandan Demobilization Commission officials told us later that the RDC had been in quiet contact with the officer for some time, encouraging his return. When the officer's continuing illness took a turn for the worse, he decided to come home, they said. Unfortunately, his illness was in an advanced state, and he died soon after his arrival. Despite this loss, demobilization officials noted that the number of returned FDLR combatants at Mutobo Camp in northern Rwanda was higher than it had been for months, with 176 officers and men at the camp (note: the camp stages training programs every three months for the returned fighters). Although still a modest number, the 176 returnees was double what it was a year ago, noted the officials. Additionally, there are 52 FDLR child soldiers, some as young as eight years old, in a separate facility in Muhazi. Comment: although the numbers of former FDLR solders who return to Rwanda fluctuates month by month, the recent efforts by MONUC and the Congolese army to press the FDLR might explain these higher numbers. Kagame Presides at National Dialogue, RPF Political Bureau -------------- -------------- ¶6. (U) On December 18-19, President Kagame presided at Rwanda's sixth National Dialogue, a meeting of hundreds of senior and mid-level Rwandan officials, including ministers, mayors, provincial governors, heads of parastatals, military and police officers, and parliamentarians. Topics ranged from economic development, prosecution of genocide cases by gacaca courts, and the planned transition to English as the language of instruction in Rwanda's schools. Each topic also had a question-and-answer segment, in which officials from various parts of the country could put questions directly to President Kagame and his ministers. Kagame also made comments on the DRC and the recent UN report on alleged Rwandan assistance to the CNDP (septel). As a capstone to the two day event, each of the nation's 30 mayors signed new performance contracts with President Kagame, undertaking to meet various goals from education to health care to rural development. In a particularly frank presentation, Ombudsman Tito Rutaremara castigated four presentation, Ombudsman Tito Rutaremara castigated four categories of local officials for their corrupt practices: the "abunzi," mediators who handle local disputes, many concerning land; the Local Defense Force, a quasi-police force that assists the regular police throughout the countryside; gacaca judges, who preside over village-level genocide trials; and administrative heads of sectors (Rwanda has 416 sectors, operating one step below the district mayors). At the end of his remarks, he said, "there are people in this room abusing their office. I won't name you, but I will be watching you." In later remarks, President Kagame reinforced the Ombudsman's remarks with a call for greater action on corruption. ¶7. (C) The following day, President Kagame presided over a meeting of the Political Bureau of the ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF). According to several participants, Kagame had blunt words for those suspected of assisting Laurent Nkunda's CNDP recruitment efforts in Rwanda. Kagame reportedly said he would put these RPF officials in jail "himself" if the assistance occured. Kagame also cautioned the assembled officials about reports of nepotism within party and government ranks -- this criticism taken by some to be aimed at Finance Minister James Musoni, who plays a large role in the appointment of senior cadres throughout the government. Drawing a parallel with Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, Kagame said that the initial successes in Zimbabwe after independence had been overtaken by Mugabe's many failures in recent years, and he did not want the RPF to become like Mugabe and his ZANU-PF. New Labor Code Coming -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Labor Minister Anastaze Murekezi discussed a new labor code for Rwanda at a recent workshop in Kigali, praising the draft act as an important step forward in aligning Rwanda with international labor conventions and with Rwanda's own constitution. The draft includes such advances as enhanced death benefits for workers, greater maternity leave, and adjustments in contract law. Eric Manzi, Secretary General of CESTRAR, the largest of Rwanda's several labor union confederations, echoed these comments to pol/econ chief in a later conversation, saying that the labor movement regarded the new code as an overall advance for the nation's workers. The most important accomplishment, he said, was clear statutory recognition of all categories of Rwandan workers, including day workers, rural and seasonal workers, and domestic workers, as covered by the labor code. Two areas in which the unions did not succeed, he said, included the continuation of provisions that allow subcontractors to avoid requirements imposed on the main contractor by the code, and a limited compensation clause for what he termed "abusive" terminations. However, Manzi said he was hopeful that the new National Labor Council mandated by the code, in which employers, unions and government serve, would give a useful avenue to continue discussions on these and other issues. SYMINGTON