‘For progressives, we are a proxy for attacks on the UK Government’

Ever since the announcement of the UK-Rwanda migration and economic development partnership, an unsettling alliance has been formed. Self-proclaimed progressives have, perhaps unwittingly, joined with advocates of the extremist Hutu Power movement, the very same people who perpetrated the genocide against the Tutsi, to launch attack after attack on Rwanda.

Critics of the partnership have questioned our motives; expressing doubts over our ability to care for those who would come here under the partnership; seemingly ignoring the truth that we currently support over 130,000 refugees in Rwanda with more arriving every day. They’ve used the partnership as a cover. 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.

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

‘For extremists, it’s the hook to undermine the stability and unity of our country’

talking points.

In one recent article, the case was made for why, to the author’s mind, Rwanda wasn’t safe for migrants and asylum seekers. Written by someone who consistently promotes genocide denialism, the piece raised some of the concerns expressed by some MPs and Lords, but these were interwoven with outlandish claims about Rwanda’s history and our efforts at reconciliation. The NGO that the author represents, pushes a double genocide theory – a false equivalence tactic to obscure the responsibility of those who planned and perpetrated the massacre of at least a million Tutsi children, women and men, as well as those who stood in the way of a meticulously planned genocide. It has given political cover and platforms to the leaders of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) genocidal militia, made up of the remnants of the killers who fled Rwanda in 1994. These genocidaires regrouped and have launched deadly attacks on Rwanda ever since, in a bid to bring down a government that has turned Rwanda around and is delivering transformational change.

When progressive politicians next take aim at the partnership, look into the people they’re joining forces with – genocide deniers and people who want to use violence and hate to take our country back to the days of chaos and conflict. I hope they take a minute to consider whether it’s appropriate to take shots at a country, simply because they disagree with the UK Government’s migration policy. Surely progressives shouldn’t be attacking a country for putting into practice successful, forward-looking values, simply to advance their own agenda?