Citation
Unamir troops will return after over thirty of them have been killed
It is usually said that we predict the future, but the present revelation by Kangura is categorical. We have always held that the journalist that the people need is one who is capable of analyzing the time, on the basis of history, while contemplating the present and predicting the future. By so doing, he appreciates the good things and disapproves of the bad. This is how Kangura's articles have become successful. But credit for the success of Kangura does not go only to a single individual but equally to the behavior of the journalists and those supporting the publication.
How does the press succeed?
Journalism is quite an arduous task. If you plunge headlong into that profession without careful thought, you will quickly fade into oblivion without knowing it. That is why out of the over one hundred newspapers that were founded, not more than five have survived. The only reason is that some take up the profession just to earn a living, without conviction or love of the profession.
How did the Inkotanyi newspapers cease to appear?
We started the private press in 1985, over nine years ago. We [Hassan Ngeze and Vincent Ravi Rwabukwisi] were the first to realize the need for a private press. On the spot, we found publications like Kinyamateka, Dialogue and other government newspapers. As we loved the profession, we were even undaunted by the danger we incurred, namely death and imprisonment. With time, we continued to teach the Rwandan population the principles of democracy and how to fight for their rights.
Going back to the private newspapers we mentioned earlier, their journalists were not free, as they were in the employ of others. So much was expected from those of us who were self-employed.
Following our imprisonment at the beginning of this war, several publications were founded to sing the praises of the R.P.F. by declaring that the R.P.F. would win the war; that it had already won the war; that the R.P.F. was the future of Rwandans; that the majority was worth nothing. Those newspapers kept on insulting Habyarimana. Now that the truth has come to light, and the Hutus have united as Kangura urged them to do, those newspapers serving the Inkotanyi have stopped appearing, including those that made it a point of insulting President Habyarimana. And the simple reason is that the insults are no longer needed. The days of even the newspapers still appearing are numbered.
Journalists and politicians
One of the factors putting those newspapers out of business is that they were solely serving the interests of politicians, without living up to people's expectations When the politician finally attains his goals, he cannot even give you a lift in his car. When the money provided by the politicians to fund your newspaper runs out, your paper will no longer appear. This is because you were not serving the interests of the population, but rather those of the politicians. Besides the fact that they may be relieved of their functions, even if they are promoted and realize that they no longer need you, they will not even grant you audience at your request. Those are the sort of papers that publish things of which they are not convinced. It happens for this category of papers to want to change their style, but then they cannot find patrons, as they are blamed for following no apparent trend. Those papers keep switching their support from one person to the other. How then can anyone help you?
Thus, someone who passed for a journalist will not even dare to read the old articles he wrote without adopting the content. It is therefore obvious that there is no honest politician. His relationships are in terms of his interests. When his goals are not attained, he sets you at loggerheads with the people and, often, you die in his stead. When you both stumble on a group of people, they kill you and spare him. When you are thrown into prison, he does not visit you, nor does he visit the family you left behind. In politics it is give and take.
Why are the United Nations forces blamed?
As we have often said in Kangura since the signing of the Arusha Accords, we clearly stated the problem in Rwanda. The problem in Rwanda is ethnic, a problem between Hutus and Tutsis. The negotiators chose not to address the problem and spent their time telling lies. What happened was that the Rwandan State declared to the whole world that there was no ethnic problem in the country. The Inkotanyi also lied by saying that there was no ethnic problem within the R.P.F. But in the private lounges, the negotiators traded lies, whereas each party was suffering. We in Kangura like to say that when two elephants fight, it is the [bigger one?] that suffers. That is exactly how innocent peasants have gotten killed under Accords in which they had no hand.
What should be done? Kangura said from the early stages of the war that the R.P.F. ought to acknowledge that it was talking on behalf of the Tutsis and expose all the injustices committed against them. Where necessary, it should convene a Tutsi congress and compile a list of all the injustices committed against them. Regarding the posts allocated in Arusha, it should be written in the instruments governing our State organs that the Tutsis should occupy 40% of all the administrative positions, including the Army and 60% must go to the Hutus who are in the majority. It must also be stipulated that for a party to be legalized, membership should include both ethnic groups, the same applying to the party executive organs. Thus the problem between Hutus and Tutsis would be resolved.
What is the crux of the matter?
We said that those taking part in the negotiations continued to tell one another lies, by claiming that there were no problems between ethnic groups in Rwanda and that the Arusha Accords must be entirely implemented. But we noticed that the signatories themselves were the first to violate the Accords. As a matter of fact they violate the Accords even before those who rejected them. Thus the problem between Hutus and Tutsis within the P.L., M.D.R. and P.S.D. is putting the country to fire and the sword. How is it possible for Ngurinzira and Nsengiyaremye to be the first to condemn the Accords they negotiated from beginning to end?
The international community was also led into error
The United Nations forces came to Rwanda as an intervention force between two adversaries in conflict. The rules governing their presence in Rwanda provide that the troops return to the troop-contributing countries, should hostilities resume. This means that should war resume, the Hutus and Tutsis would exterminate each other and the illiterate peasants would meet with an atrocious death. The two signatories to the Accords would be mutually decimated and misunderstanding would prevail owing to ill-conceived accords. What is more, in that event, the signatories or those who negotiated the accords would perish in the fighting, whereas they did not foresee that the Arusha Accords were like a house built on a steep slope. It could be destroyed with its contents at any time.
For this to be better understood, an illustration is called for. It is like asking a seven-months-pregnant woman giving birth in order to get a present upon the happy event, whereas it is patent that a pregnancy comes to term only after nine months. Both the pregnant woman and the person promising a gift know that it is quite impossible and that even if that happened, there would be problems. Even if you raise objections and explain the risks to them, they will fail to understand, as they believe you are saying so through jealousy because you have not got such a present.
That is how people are secretly forcing Rwanda to hurriedly set up a Transitional Government before the present problems are resolved and threaten to withhold aid if we failed to do so. In the example cited above, Rwanda is the pregnant woman, whereas the United Nations and international community are the ones promising to give the woman a gift if she delivers at seven months. The root of all the evils is the author of the pregnancy, that is to say, "Mr. Arusha."
How will U.N. troops perish?
As happened in Somalia, where about two hundred U.N. soldiers were killed because of their partisan stance, in Rwanda, the government will soon be formed and those who will be left out will fight against it, and so will those participating in the government but without recognizing it. The country will be teeming with opponents. The United Nations troops will continue supporting the Arusha Accords because they justify their presence here. Those who reject the Accords will take it out on those soldiers and will massacre them; they will throw grenades at them and they will die each day. A time will come when those soldiers grow weary and leave. And it is after their departure that blood will really flow. All the Tutsis and the cowardly Hutus will be exterminated. The Inyenzi would once more enlist Museveni's support in attacking the Hutus, who will be tortured to death. The tragedy would be as a result of the ill-conceived accords.
Conclusion
Of the Inyenzi, government or U.N. Forces, nobody has raised those problems. Nobody has enough courage to ask that the Arusha Accords be adapted to the present situation. If only they were reasonable, they understand that a single day in Rwanda now is equal to three years of age. Times change so fast that when you sign a contract with somebody, the next time you meet certain terms of that contract would have changed due to time that is running so fast.
How is it possible for the Arusha Accords, which were signed seven months ago to remain unchanged, whereas they have turned out to be out of line with the situation prevailing within the country?
Apart from the fact that the U.N. soldiers will be killed because of difficulties arising from the ill-conceived Arusha Accords, this year is bad for the U.N. troops stationed in Rwanda. It seems that of the funds allocated for their upkeep during the two years they are expected to stay in Rwanda, the equivalent expenses for seven months has already been made, even though nothing has been done yet. That is why the Security Council is about to meet to consider the following issues:
- repatriation of the U.N. troops because they are useless in Rwanda
- allocation of additional funds, the source of which is still unknown
- reduction of the transitional period for elections to hold in one year and three months. In this way, the initially envisaged two years would be observed.
These are the predictions of Kangura about what will happen; what the future holds, how people are going to be killed in the next few days and no inquiry will follow, and all that being a consequence of the Arusha Accords.
