The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
Genocide deniers ‘piggy-back’ on Rwanda Bill criticism
PROGRESSIVES who oppose the Rwanda deportation policy are aligning themselves with genocide deniers, Rwanda’s government has claimed.
In an article for Alain Mukuralinda, an official government spokesman, said extremists intent on denying the 1994 genocide and undermining the stability of Rwanda were “piggy-backing” on the criticisms by “progressive” critics and politicians in the UK.
He accused “progressives” of using the Rwanda policy as a “proxy” for attacks on the UK Government as he insisted that his country was safe for asylum seekers, citing its support of more than 130,000 refugees including those sent by the United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees.
Rwanda has been ruled by the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) since the genocide in 1994 in which between 500,000 and 800,000 ethnic minority Tutsis were killed by the Hutus. Paul Kagame, the de facto leader of the RPF, served as vice president from 1994 and has been president since 2000. The RPF began a programme of rebuilding the infrastructure and economy of the country, bringing genocide perpetrators to trial, and promoting reconciliation between Hutu and Tutsi. But those perpetrators, and their supporters who deny the genocide, are understood to be trying to exploit criticisms of the Rwanda scheme in the UK to weaken the government.
The government has launched an offensive against refugee camps in Zaire, home to exiled leaders of the former regime and millions of Hutu refugees. This action started the First Congo War in 1996, which removed Mobutu Sese Seko, the long-time dictator and president, from power.
It is the first detailed statement of the Rwandan’s position since the Supreme Court verdict last November, which found the country “unsafe” for asylum seekers.The Government has since signed a new legally-binding treaty and introduced the Rwanda Bill to correct the concerns of the Supreme Court and limit the scope for legal challenges to block the deportation of illegal migrants to the central African state to claim asylum there. The article reflects the frustration within the Rwandan government at the criticism by opponents of the scheme.
Monday’s second reading debate of the Bill in the House of Lords is expected to be savaged by peers who believe it breaches international law and rides roughshod over migrants’ human rights.
The scale and brutality of the Rwandan genocide caused shock worldwide, but no country intervened to forcefully stop the killings.
Mr Mukuralinda said: “For the progressives, we have become a proxy for attacks on the UK Government, and for the extremists, it’s a hook to undermine the stability and unity of our country by piggy-backing on the unjustified criticisms levelled against Rwanda by UK politicians. Even though information is at everyone’s fingertips these days, we don’t blame progressives for not understanding who they are aligning themselves to. They simply do not know our history, or are rightly preoccupied by their own agendas. But if they paused to look into it, I’m sure they wouldn’t elevate the profile and status of individuals who are at best genocide deniers or dangerous ethnic ideologues by parroting their talking points.”
An aide to James Cleverly, the Home Secretary, said: “It’s regrettable that our partners in Rwanda have to spell some of this out at all... Some of the criticism they currently faceis at best unfair, at worst distasteful.”