Rwanda: Diane Rwigara arrest and her family is persecution

It was reported that the Kagame’s Police today arrested the former Presidential Candidate Diane Rwigara on concocted charges. Paul Kagame is the Rwandan worst postcolonial dictator worse than the atrocities committed by his predecessors combined.
His grave human rights abuses are often excused or overlooked by supporters who venerate their defiant opposition to western imperialism. Kagame once described by Tony Blair and Bill Clinton as a new breed of African leaders, he has even continued to win broad admiration in the west. There is credible evidence of massacres by Kagame’s forces of tens or hundreds of thousands of people after Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, and his political opponents are almost all in exile, in prison or dead.
The death of the farther of Diane Rwigara who is regarded as the financial God father of the RPF/A during its (4) four years Bush war which ended with genocide of the Tutsis left many Rwandans speechless asking themselves who is safe in the Kagame Rwanda.
It’s unfortunate that the West is still indifferent on the gross human rights committed by Kagame. Indeed he has continued to head several prestigious UN development initiatives. Harvard and Yale invite him to speak about democracy and human rights. It is even fashionable to celebrate Kagame’s leadership of Rwanda. The extent of this hypocrisy is an indication not of Kagame’s dictatorial achievements or crimes, but rather of the world’s hunger for postcolonial leaders and narratives. Kagame is held up as a counter to western hegemony.
Kagame is an expert in crafting postcolonial myths that resonate powerfully in a world still grappling with colonial legacies. He claims he ended Rwanda’s genocide, which killed nearly a million people in just 100 days, while a morally bankrupt west stood idle. However, the real people he claimed to have saved from Habyarimana have been exterminated by him or on his orders. Among them is Rwigara Assinapol , Asiel Kabera, Andrew Rwisereka Kagwa, just to mention a few.
Although there is merit in his argument that the world should be held accountable for not deploying peacekeepers during the genocide, however, genocide survivors and many Rwandans are afraid to mention that Kagame had himself opposed the deployment of those UN peacekeepers. He was concerned they would interfere with his military takeover of the country.
Kagame claims to stand up to western imperialism, though he is himself a stark example of it. Always elected in rigged polls applauded by the west, his government relies on western funding and military support to maintain power – the very definition of imperialism. Such ironies are lost in popular narratives of Kagame. Just recently his own Electoral commission refused the candidature of Diane Rwigara and Kagame declared himself with a landslide victory of 98%.
Those who support Rwanda’s leader are responding to a genuine need in our world for postcolonial leaders who will help the so-called “third world” break free of the debilitating imperial discourses so eloquently described by scholars such as Edward Said, Homi Bhabha and Gayatri Spivak. And the crimes of these authoritarian regimes are no secret: Rwanda’s history textbooks also position Kagame in such terms, placing him among alleged good military leaders such as Castro and Muammar Gaddafi. However, in choosing as our postcolonial symbols oppressive leaders such as Kagame, we do ourselves and all colonised nations a disservice. We make a mockery of lives and families laid waste by these leaders, and we deepen the very inequalities that we seek to redress.“Rwanda is like a pretty girl with a lot of makeup but inside is dark and dirty”.
Kagame’s recent re- election came after a constitutional amendment, which ended a two-term limit for presidents and theoretically permits Kagame to remain in power until 2034. The amendment was approved by 98% of voters. Kagame’s re- election means that people like Deo Mushayid, Victiore Ingabire, Col. Tom Byabagamba, Gen. Frank Rusagara and now the Rwigara family will never see the sun rising again.
Phiona Mutoni
Germany