Rose Kabuye, we stand beside you

Being white can sometimes be a real tribulation, especially in view of the ignorance, obtuseness and downright deviousness of the white world in regard to Africa as a whole and more especially in regard to the abomination of the Rwandan genocide and its aftermath. Rose, my heart goes out to you locked up in that German prison cell awaiting extradition to France, where indeed, you will be surrounded by the enemy. It must appear somewhat surrealistic to you, like in a movie, like “unbelievable” and at the same time terrifying. But then, you have shown us your undaunted courage by accepting to be extradited. I know that you are facing up to it and the Rwandan people know that also, and believe me for the last week they have not let up showing it. Thousands braved torrential rain on Monday the 10th. They marched from KIST to the German Embassy shouting, “Twamaganye agasuzugiro k’Abadage n’Abafaransa”. (We challenge the disrespect of the Germans and the French). There was a message written on one of the banners which particularly touched me, as I’m sure it will you. It read, “Germany, shame on you, 70 years after the Holocaust you arrested the woman who stopped genocide”. One lady, obviously a genocide survivor, shouted angrily into the micro, “Y’en à marre, We’ve had enough, that’s enough, when are they going to stop torturing us, the genocide was enough”. One thing your arrest has achieved in this country is to provoke a public outrage that one of their highest officials could be arrested by a European state, especially someone so close to their President. For all Rwandans, the genocide is not so far away and its horror still looms in the presence of those genocide engineers who have found asylum in these same countries. The Germans have given safe haven to the head of the FDLR who still entertain the idea of coming back here to continue the extermination of the Tutsis and any Hutu who disagrees with them. Nothing has changed or evolved in these peoples way of thinking. April 2009 will be the fifteenth anniversary of the genocide. The Rwandans who live in this country have been experiencing peace over these past fifteen years. And not only that, they are experiencing progress and development at an incredible speed. Vision 2020 is on everybody’s agenda, which is to ensure a decent standard of living for all the citizens. Nobody wants to go back to ’94. I believe that next Wednesday the French are coming to get you and take you to France. It seems so incredible, Rose, that an obscure judge in any given country could issue an arrest warrant based on extremely dubious evidence, for a high official of another country. So some Rwandan judge could issue an arrest warrant for let’s say, Balladour’s role during the ’94 genocide. Or, could one suppose that the French government is using this fellow to get to more devious ends. According to Collette Brackman in her book , it was the French themselves who shot down Habyarimana’s plane. She argued that it would have been totally impossible for the RPA soldiers to have gotten anyway near that area which at the time was completely under the government forces control, with, as is well known, support from the French army. Furthermore, she pointed out the fact that it would have required a highly trained missile specialist to actually achieve the deed, especially in view of the fact that the first missile fired, missed, and furthermore, that there was nobody with such qualifications in the RPA at that time. This is starting to look like psychological warfare, destabilizing the trust that the people of this country have begun to show towards its government and more especially towards its leader, President Paul Kagame. This is trying to shift the blame, so to speak. It would also suppose that they are supporting those genocide engineers with a purpose. Dangerous thought, dangerous feeling if you are a Tutsi. Although the white supremacy philosophy has somewhat diminished over the past thirty years or so, do not be disillusioned in the idea that it no longer exists. It is very much alive and kicking. We’re dealing with colonialists here, people who not so long ago referred to all Africans as their “boy”. Even McCain made the blunder during the election campaign referring to “taking the whip to Obama”, which may have cost him a few votes. Believe me, there are a great many Americans out there, who are not at all happy to have “that black boy in their White House”. Neither the French nor the Belgians have ever accepted the fact that the Tutsi people have always refused to bow down to their “Yes Massa”, and they still can’t stomach it. The mere fact that they stand up for those mass murderers, whom they protect inside their borders, speaks reams for their ulterior motives. That’s what you’re up against Rose, and I do fear for you. Yet, at the same time I have hope because I believe that the absolute certitude of your innocence will prevail against all the lies and set ups they are trying to plot and scheme. This is an ordeal; this is a challenge both for you and your family and may you take strength in the knowledge that your country, your President and many far and wide are doing everything they can to counteract this absurdity and that in the end you will succeed and come home victorious to your beloved Rwanda.

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Rose Kabuye, we stand beside you