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Categoría: Actualidad en inglés
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Publicado el Viernes, 11 Marzo 2011 15:59
Contributing to an increase in democratic space in Rwanda through a collective and coherent approach
2010 was an important year in the Great Lakes region because of the elections which took place. The Burundian elections which confirmed President Nkurunziza in power also resulted, unfortunately, in the opposition being no longer represented in any of the institutions. The DRC celebrated its 50th independence anniversary. The Head of State used this anniversary as a platform to launch his campaign for re-election, which he seeks to organise in as closely controlled a political environment as possible.
In Rwanda President Kagame’s re-election took some unexpected turns. The elections, expected to be a mere formality, were marked by the emergence of a genuinely independent opposition and above all by the fact that individuals who had for long been part of the president’s inner circle of power turned against the President. Members of the international community, while recognising that the elections were peaceful and well organised, nonetheless expressed their concerns about the run-up to the elections, particularly the attacks on opponents and the restriction of political freedoms1. The Rwandan authorities, not being accustomed to truly competitive elections, tried to stifle any divergent opinion. Furthermore, from March 2010 onwards it appeared that the extreme nervousness shown by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) regime was due not so much to the existence of opposition parties as to the emerging rifts within the inner circle of power in Rwanda. General Kayumba’s escape into exile provided a focal point around which various types of discontent could crystallize.
This situation raises the stakes with regard to regional stability beyond Rwanda, given this country’s central role in the African Great Lakes region. Lasting stability in Rwanda and good relations between Rwanda and its neighbours are an essential condition for central Africa to break the cycle of violence it has experienced over recent decades. However, the tragic events in Rwanda 16 years ago remain in everyone’s consciousness to such an extent that it has become difficult to form an analysis or express a point of view about Rwanda dispassionately, without emotion and without attracting accusations of partiality. The shock of the genocide and the guilt so widely felt have in some ways given rise to the continued lack of consensus about Rwanda on the international scene.
The destabilising potential of the internal divisions within the RPF
The emerging internal divisions and power struggle among members of the RPF political and military élite are a cause of growing concern for Rwanda’s internal stability, and that of the wider Great Lakes region.
The arrest of a number of officers in 2010 shed light on divisions within the army2. In addition, a series of grenade attacks in Kigali led to fears of a return to insecurity, especially as the Rwandan authorities publicly accused opposition figures of being behind these attacks3.
General Kayumba Nyamwasa, former Chief of Staff of the Rwanda army, who was serving as Ambassador to India when he decided to flee the country in February 2010, was amongst those accused by the government. He survived an assassination attempt while he was in exile in South Africa which led to diplomatic tension between Rwanda and that country. As with other former RPF leaders4, he has become an opponent of the government and one of the most outspoken critics of the Kagame regime, not hesitating to attack President Kagame in the foreign press.
Elections against a backdrop of political violence
The ruling party, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), won an overwhelming majority in the legislative elections of 2008 and the presidential elections of August 2010. In fact for years there has not been an effective and legally registered political opposition in Rwanda. Nevertheless in the run-up to elections in 2010 a number of opposition parties were created but were not allowed to register or to take part in the electoral process. Members of these parties were intimidated and in some cases attacked or even arrested. The Vice President of the Green Party, Andre Kagwa Rwisereka, was assassinated on 14 July. To date the Government of Rwanda has denied responsibility for these violent attacks. The Social Imberakuri party was registered in July 2009 but subsequently experienced internal problems and split into various factions. Its founding President, Maître Bernard Ntaganda, was arrested in June 2010. The High Court of the Republic of Rwanda has just sentenced him to four years in prison with a fine of 100,000 FRW for endangering state security, “divisionism” and for attempting to organise an unauthorised demonstration.
Since the elections the attacks and pressure on opposition parties have continued, in spite of Paul Kagame’s re-elected as Head of State with 93% of the vote. Victoire Ingabire, President of the FDU-Inkingi party has been imprisoned since 14 October 2010. Prior to this she was placed under house arrest for several months following her earlier arrest and release on bail in April 2010.
In the medium to long term, the exclusion of the political opposition from the country’s public life and the ruling party’s attempts to keep Rwandan society under total control could risk further polarising and radicalising a large section of society, given Rwanda’s past experience. Such a scenario would undermine what have generally been seen as encouraging results achieved by Rwanda in terms of socio-economic development.
The European Union, through its partnership with Rwanda, should commit itself resolutely to the promotion of civil and political rights and to Rwanda holding truly free and transparent elections in future, while supporting civil society as a vital agent for building an inclusive and democratic society in Rwanda.
Freedom of expression undermined
During the genocide of 1994, the Rwandan media was used to incite ethnic hatred and the mass killing of the Tutsi minority. In this context there is legitimate concern that without some kind of control free expression could allow for the revival of sectarian political discourse along ethnic lines. Yet it can equally be said that the legacy of genocide has until now been exploited politically to silence dissident voices, particularly through recourse to ill-defined legislation aiming to prevent « genocidal ideology» and « divisionism ». The result of this has been to stifle political opposition and discourage civil society in its role as a citizens’ watchdog.
As for the independence of the media, the suspension of the Umuvugizi and Umuseso newspaper and the assassination of the Umuvugizi journalist, Jean-Léonard Rugambage, in Kigali on 24 June 2010, have dealt a fatal blow to the independent press. While the editor of Umuvugizi and other critics have blamed the Rwandan security services for the assassination, the authorities deny any involvement in the affair. Following the ban on publication, the editors of the two journals fled the country. They remain in exile and have not re-launched their publications although the suspension has now been lifted.
Since 2003, any ideas about the Rwanda’s history, the war and the RPF which differ from the government’s line have tended to be classified as ‘divisionism’ and ‘genocide ideology’. Although the government had failed to clarify the meaning and scope of the term ‘divisionism’, it adopted a law in June 2008 to criminalise “genocide ideology”.
The Government of Rwanda now plans to revise the genocide ideology and divisionism laws with a view to making these “so clear that there is nothing you can be mistaken about’”5. .This provides an important opportunity for Rwanda to revise these laws so that they can no longer be used to stifle public debate and legitimate dissent. It could also be a chance for more inclusive public debate.
The European Union should continue to take an interest in this revision process and encourage the Government of Rwanda to keep to its promises and include civil society and specialist organisations in the process.
Promoting equitable economic growth
The authorities in Kigali have succeeded in less than 15 years in transforming Rwanda’s situation as a country totally devastated by genocide. They developed policies and economic reforms with the aim of developing Rwanda which has always been dependent on international aid. Taking into consideration macroeconomic indicators such as the increase in Gross Domestic Product, growth since 1996 appears impressive. In fact, although the Rwanda economy depends mainly on the agricultural sector, the growth rate in 2010 reached around 7% according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Through its ‘Vision 2020’ strategy the Government of Rwanda set out various ambitious objectives for modernising the economy and reforming the financial sector so as to tackle poverty and maintain a high rate of economic growth.
According to United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) Rwanda has also made tremendous progress towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), especially in the fields of primary education6, gender equality, and the prevalence of HIV/AIDS and malaria. For the other goals much more needs to be done, but nevertheless these successes have led to Rwanda being considered as a development model by some and have provided a basis for continued foreign political support and development aid.
Much progress has been made in the area of financial administration, especially with regard to preparing and monitoring the budget, reforming the tax system and eradicating corruption. Although transparency is key to a more efficient use of public money in the citizens’ best interest7, Rwanda scores badly in terms of transparency and citizen participation in the budgetary process.
Despite this undeniable progress, inequality is increasing and risks undermining efforts made towards human development8. The improvements achieved should not blind us to the increasing poverty in rural compared to urban areas (mainly Kigali) and the unequal distribution of wealth, with a small elite benefiting from most of the advantages. This growing gap between poor and rich and between the capital and the rural areas only accentuates the disconnection between the policies imposed and the daily reality of life for the majority of Rwandans. Although the population mainly depends on small-scale family farming for its living, Rwanda has developed agricultural and land policies, supported by overseas development partners, which promote highly capitalised « modern » agriculture. Given this unequal access to resources, especially land, the dependence and poverty of the small farmers has worsened. This undermines equitable human development and contains the seeds for future social conflict9.
The promotion of shared socio-economic growth is vital to guarantee sustainable development and social cohesion in Rwanda. To this end the European Union should promote pro-poor state policies and an institutional environment more favourable to small-scale agriculture which has shown its potential for achieving a more socially just type of development. This would require a review of the direction taken up to now in agricultural and land policy. The search for strategies for rural job-creation to address the enormous pressure on land should include the promotion of micro-enterprise.
In order to develop relevant and sustainable government policies, Rwandan citizens must be involved in policy design, implementation and monitoring. Civil society has an essential role to play in this process.
Strengthening civil society
EurAc has always promoted the consolidation of democratic governance as an essential factor for stability and development in central Africa. The role of civil society is paramount as an intermediary between the citizens, the state and the private sector.
Formal structures for dialogue between civil society and the government have been established. At national level ‘Sector Working Groups’ have been set up bringing together government ministers, donors and civil society organisations carrying out or supporting work in a given sector. At district and sector level a ‘Joint Action Development Forum’ has the aim of coordinating development activities at local level.
Despite the existence of these consultative frameworks provided by the government, it is clear that civil society in Rwanda is not able to make use of this space to play an active and independent role in monitoring government policies. There are several reasons for this. Civil society does not have enough room to express itself in a climate hostile to genuine dialogue and to the expression of critical analysis.
Several civil society organisations in Rwanda have been victims of attacks and persecutions, forcing their leaders to live in exile abroad. The high number of such cases of repression has led to a constant climate of fear and the practice of self-censorship to avoid reprisals. Moreover, the government as well as some civil society organisations consider that the role of civil society is merely to provide services in line with government priorities and not to act as a citizen counterweight to the government. Consequently the Rwandan state emphasises the duty of citizens to account to the state for their actions rather than the reverse.
In addition Rwandan civil society suffers from various weaknesses resulting from internal divisions and a lack of solidarity. There is also a lack of capacity due to lack of experience and shortage of donor funding mechanisms support civil society.
However, it is vital that within the existing space for co-ordination, communities can be able to express their concerns without fear of reprisals. For this reason the European Union should push for the creation of spaces where freedom of expression and association are respected and where diversity of opinion is encouraged. More funding should be allocated to support civil society initiatives in budget monitoring and in the participatory planning and monitoring of government policy.
An effective administration exercising strong control over the population
One of the Rwandan authorities’ key achievements has been its ability to rebuild the public sector and state services in a short timeframe. In rebuilding the state, a huge challenge was the reform of decentralised institutions which in principle should have seen the transfer skills and resources from the centre to the local level.
In spite of the efforts made, this reform remains for the time being, a top down process to the extent that those authorities with the most influence are still those nominated by central government, to the detriment of the elected authorities. Accountability flows from the local entities up to central government . Thus to date there has been the decentralisation of structures without any decentralisation of financial and material resources, nor any transfer of power to the local level.
Decentralisation in Rwanda works through performance contracts whereby each household and each local authority commits to certain objectives in line with the government’s priorities. The official discourse is that the performance contracts are a means by which citizens get involved in decision-making. In reality the people are constrained to work towards objectives which have been drawn up without any popular participation. In addition, under this system each decentralised level is obliged to report on results achieved to the superior administrative level in the hierarchy. This reporting system leads to over-zealous local officials pursuing unrealistic targets with repercussions for the households. Local authorities are thus accountable to the state structures above them, rather than their fellow citizens.
Performance contracts mean therefore that the power of the central authorities goes beyond ensuring respect for the law and the public interest: these authorities actually control the needs of citizens and the way in which they are formulated. The establishment of effective institutions in Rwanda is therefore an important achievement but the government uses these to consolidate its political and social control.
Recommendations :
In order to accompany Rwandan society in its reconciliation and democratisation process, EurAC urges the European Union and Member States to:
Develop a common vision and a more co-ordinated approach towards Rwanda and the Great Lakes region;
Develop a clear political dialogue between the international community and the Government of Rwanda which aims to contribute loyally (through funding and expertise) to the country’s development, accompanied by real pressure on areas of concern (human rights, good governance, democratic space) with a detailed road map comprising mutually agreed reference criteria;
Promote respect for civil and political rights by:
drawing attention to the importance of human, civil and political rights and systematically demanding independent investigations into human rights violations;
supporting the Rwanda authorities to revise the laws on genocide ideology and divisionism in a way that stops these being used for political ends;
acting in co-ordination with other international partners to ensure that democratic space and political development are at the heart of future bilateral discussions;
promoting the respect and protection of democratic space for the opposition parties, civil society and the independent press. To this end the independence of the « Rwanda Media High Council » vis-à-vis the government should be monitored;
Support civil society in Rwanda so that it can fully play its role in the constructive but critical monitoring of government action by:
taking decisive diplomatic action to protect human rights defenders, journalists and other civil society actors; and ensure the implementation in Rwanda of the ‘European Union Guidelines for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders’;
engaging in regular dialogue with civil society actors and international NGOs so as to be well informed about the context in which they operate;
increasing aid to civil society and international NGOs, ensuring that appropriate mechanisms exist to translate political commitments into significant funding opportunities;
Place support for small-scale farmers and pro-poor investment at the heart of development strategies, in favour of inclusive rural development, based on a thorough analysis of the priorities and needs of the people. This could be delivered through increased EU support to innovative NGO programmes in these areas;
Promote the creation and use of spaces for dialogue within Rwanda and with the diaspora, including by supporting measures to accompany the voluntary repatriation of Rwandan refugees and ex-combatants, assuring them a safe and dignified return home.
further details:
Kris Berwouts
Rue des Tanneurs, 165 B - 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Tel: +32 (0)2 213 04 000
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www.eurac-network.org
