Dealing with Rwanda’s Dark Side

In business and policy circles throughout the West, Rwandan President Paul Kagame has emerged as one of Africa’s shining stars, illuminating a bright path for the once-labeled dark continent.In business and policy circles throughout the West, Rwandan President Paul Kagame has emerged as one of Africa’s shining stars, illuminating a bright path for the once-labeled dark continent.In Washington, D.C. last October, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Rwanda a model for African nations to follow. At the end of last year, Rwanda became the 54th member of the Commonwealth, only the second member state not formerly a British colony. Recently, French President Nicholas Sarkozy has pursued a policy of rapprochement, with the goal to repair strained relations with the government in Kigali.Africa’s shining star has a dark side however. President Kagame has a deplorable record on political rights and good governance. Rwanda is hardly a model state; the government has become a de facto one-party state where opposition parties are harassed and political freedoms are sidelined.To date, politicians in the West have not found a way to slow the growth of President Kagame’s authoritarianism. Western governments’ inaction as Hutu militias brazenly slaughtered 800,000 innocent Tutsis on international television has created a sense of remorse and guilt. To criticize Kagame now, an ethnic Tutsi and army leader who forced Hutu militias out of Rwanda, would almost equate to a denial of the 1994 genocide.Kagame has used a similar logic to suppress dissent at home. Critics of the government are marked as genocide deniers, subject to harassment, imprisonment, or disappearance. In August 2009, police arrested the head of Rwanda’s leading newspaper for speaking out against Kagame. Earlier this year, the government shut down the BBC’s broadcasts for interviewing Hutu opposition leaders living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.Kagame has also used the national reconciliation process to consolidate his authority. In an attempt to create a single national identity, he pushed stern laws through parliament that outlaw references to ethnicity. Even mentioning the word Hutu or Tutsi could land you in jail. As a result, the Hutu minority has lost its voice, stirring ethnic tensions below the surface. It is no surprise the pro-Kagame Tutsi party, Rwandan Patriotic Front, won 92 percent of the vote in the September 2008 parliamentary elections.Additionally, Kagame has been waging a bloody war against Hutu refugees who fled to the following the genocide. The Rwandan military has been trampling through the eastern Congo since the late 1990s. It has taken control of diamond and coltan mines, raped women and children, and displaced millions of Congolese citizens.Kagame has gone to great lengths to present his government in a positive light. In September, he published an article in The Washington Post encouraging U.S. private sector investment in Rwanda. His persistence has paid off. On CNN’s Sunday talk show, Global Public Square, political pundit Fareed Zakaria, an outspoken Kagame supporter, hosted the Rwandan leader, covering him with praise for the wise investments of his government.The Obama administration is sending mixed signals in its own dealings with Rwanda. Secretary Clinton praised the authoritarian regime for its policies, which came only two months after President Obama highlighted good governance as the cornerstone of United States’ policy towards Africa.The administration must be direct in dealing with Rwanda. Given Rwanda’s increased focus on economic development, the Obama administration should target foreign assistance and economic investment to ensure positive improvements in its government.Good governance entails strong political institutions. That means an active, undeterred opposition, an independent judiciary, and a system of checks and balances with the power to restrain the government’s excesses. These institutions must remain strong, otherwise ambitious leaders will seek to gain advantage and exploit the weaknesses to concentrate power with themselves. While Rwanda does possess these institutions, their strength and independence is quickly diminishing. As it does, the space for opposition parties and other expressions of democracy will diminish as well.Legitimating Kagame’s authoritarian political policies by trumpeting his liberal economic policies will lead to further consolidation of his authority. Africa’s shining star has a devious dark side. The Obama administration must target its foreign assistance to push back against Kagame.Because of Rwanda’s infamous history, American relations with it are made more complicated. But American policymakers do have a tool to influence the centralization of power and open the political system for a vocal opposition: curtail positive rhetoric and hold back economic assistance. Only then can strong political institutions thwart Kagame’s growing influence.The photo in this article is being used under licensing by creative commons. The original source can be found here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Paul_Kagame,_2009_World_Economic_Forum_on_Africa.jpg.