Category: Diaspora

“There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare. ” Sun Tzu, the Art of War

A highly regarded observer recently posted on his blog the following: “A lie repeated a thousand times becomes information, repeated by authorities it becomes truth”. He was referring to the narrative on the DRC crisis situation, I couldn’t agree with him more.

A couple of years ago, the Donor Community was consistent in describing the Democratic Republic of Congo as a failed state. Calls for a dramatic change in the political landscape of that country reached a record high when it came time to elect a new President.

Such criticism from the West has come to be widely expected, as Western Powers often view themselves as morally superior and irreproachable champions of ideals of human rights and freedoms; this delusion of grandeur and sanctity governs their approach to the rest of the World, especially Africa, serving us our daily dose of dependency on aid with unwanted dictates of how we should behave while receiving it.

The ‘white knights’ are there to protect us against “new” invaders, such as China, and serve the cause of our dependency to their systems; effectively convincing some of us Africans of our incapacity to come up with homegrown solutions to our problems, and our inability to come together in executing them for the benefit of our people. The truth stands at antipodes of this assessment, and they know that to be a matter of fact!!!

It seems to me that their greatest fear is not to see us fail, but rather to see us succeed… without them! For it is true that we are more likely to turn away from them rather than turn the other cheek, and rightly so!

Despite their grim depiction of Africa, a quick fact check on where we stand speaks of a totally different story; the reality is that Africa has steadily demonstrated exemplary growth, despite the current global crisis, with East Africa as its best performer in terms of economic growth; this is the result of almost two decades of stability, security and state capacity build up at a domestic and regional level.

The East African Community is the best example to illustrate how regional integration has been beneficial for member states, in terms of economic growth, sustainable regional peace and security.

That which was best understood by the founding fathers of the European Union after two World Wars and a continental one, didn’t escape our own analytical minds; the undisputable fact that strength lies in the numbers, that any given people are much stronger together than apart, that regional integration contributes towards economic growth, through peace and stability, and is, therefore, better than being at perpetual odds with your neighbors.

The Great Lakes Region of Africa could easily attest to that fact, if not for the troublesome DRC! Somalia and Sudan, in contrast, are, respectively, two examples of how regional players saw it in their interest to make contextual assessments of each situation, resulting in realistic roadmaps leading to stabilization and conflict resolution. In both cases, the International Community has been loudly supporting the African initiatives.

Why the different stance when it comes to DR Congo? Different strokes for different folks, you say? Not really. Truth be told, the mineral riches of this troubled land seem to have everything to do with this double standards ever changing approach; until recently, President Kabila was the bad guy who needed to be replaced… now he is the good guy whose ‘sins’ can be forgiven and forgotten, if only he would deliver the head of one Bosco Ntaganda on a silver platter to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

With his Presidency at stake, arresting the ex-rebel General, previously integrated in the regular army (FARDC) as a result of a peace deal, became Kabila’s number one priority as re-elected president, even if it meant plunging the country back into the pits of Hell.

It was either that or enlisting the assistance of the very country that helped broker the peace with the CNDP: Rwanda. After the visit of Belgian Foreign Minister in Kinshasa, it became crystal clear that the chosen path was war, as Kabila made the announcement of the end of AMANI LEO (which literally means Peace Today); the gloves were officially off.

Deprived of the wise counsel of his one-time adviser Mwanke Katumba, may his soul rest in perfect peace, Kabila found himself surrounded with warmongers who were convinced of their ability to defeat the ex-CNDP fighters, whom they believed to be in a weakened state.

This newfound confidence in their armed forces was based on the new training received from their Belgian counterparts; according to Kabila’s entourage, victory would be swift and unforgiving!

It is fair to conclude that the peace-loving, lesson-giving Donors pressured a poorly advised Kabila into launching a war with the risks of political escalation and setting the whole region ablaze… in the name of the WELFARE of the Congolese people!

Interestingly, Rwanda was asked to assist in the arrest of General Ntaganda, first by the DRC, then by the Donor countries, suggesting (and where is the evidence?) that he was frequently spotted tossing beers inside our borders.

This proved to be unacceptable to Rwanda’s Leaders, who plainly refused to subscribe to the notion that a solution for the DRC would be produced as a result of arresting a stakeholder in Congolese internal affairs; moreover, the approach was more accusatory then anything.

Not used to taking ‘no’ for an answer, the Donors Community retaliated by openly accusing Rwanda of aiding and abetting the M23 insurgents; yet, they (Donors) are the ones to carry the full blame for the ensuing human tragedy; thousands upon thousands have lost their lives and many more fled to neighboring Rwanda and Uganda, in spite of Kigali’s warnings of such inevitable ramifications.

Those who say that Rwanda has vested interests in Congo are partially correct: we do! But not the mercenary kind; the mineral wealth of the DRC is, indeed, not ours to share, contrary to claims from cynics and critics.

Rwanda’s interests lie in our own prospects for regional peace and the limitless potential for economic growth through the region of the Great lakes, through mutually beneficial economic cooperation, business partnerships and intra-regional trade.

That is what Rwanda has been doing in the past and the vision remains unchanged. The truth is that Western Donors made a tactical mistake and are now trying to make Rwanda a scapegoat , digging the ditch deep enough to bury their own guilt.

Threats of annihilation of the M23 rebel movement in the midst negotiations for the establishment of a dialogue, by and large favored by regional players, is as reckless as it is potentially destabilizing. Why the sudden obsession with the M23?

The FDLR, made up of remnants of the army and militia that championed the 1194 genocide, in contrast, never attracted nearly as much mobilization, yet their reign of terror and record of ruthlessness is a secret to none.

Most troubling though is the US and UK authorities willingness to go above and beyond the call of the duty sanctioning Rwanda for a crime, they, admittedly have no tangible evidence to prove. Calls from Rwanda to be treated with fairness have been met with frozen aid and fake smiles all across the board.

I am not so saddened by the withheld funds as I am outraged by the ease with which baseless accusations are given weight in the West when it comes to anything African. Not racist, you say?

I beg to differ. Race is the elephant in the room nobody ever wants to talk about, because it makes people ‘uncomfortable’… well, get over it! If you are not of color, for lack of a better term, you might want to try sucking up the minor discomfort it may cause in your life for it will never amount to the level of torment it causes in ours (the coloreds).

Western mainstream media has been propagating fictions labeled as facts without so much as second guessing their veracity for the sake of making news. And after repeating these falsehoods a thousand times, the lie became information, and as pointed out by the blogger at the beginning of this piece, authorities relayed the information and made it ‘truth’.

Once this train had left the station, there was no turning back; not the questionable profile of Steve Hege who single-handedly masterminded the ignominious UN report, and the whole mess that ensued… not even the tearful cries for justice and peace of the suffering masses of the Kivu region.

So why should I, as an African analyst, believe in those who have no moral authority to bring about a viable solution in this crisis? I’d rather trust the region and its stakeholders to come up with a comprehensive and lasting solution. Not a single one of them, let alone Rwanda, can afford to have this ‘Damocles Sword’ hanging over our heads for much longer.

The wisdom of Sun Tzu in the Art of War says it best: “There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare”.

Albert Rudastimburwa is a social commentator and media owner in Rwanda.

Our beloved continent, is currently dominated by a generation of noise makers: a people who can talk almost all the time, but don’t act.

It is very annoying to hear some “experts” giving speeches over the radio, while reserving the real action.

Africa has many scholars with PhDs and Master’s degrees in agricultural science, yet many of them will never set foot on the farm.

Many of our scientists are probably very good at teaching, but never good at inventions and innovations.

I have always wondered where our mechanical engineers have been hiding, as we continue to import motorbikes and even bicycles.

The taxpayer is often told: “Plans are far-advanced for the implementation of this project”, the other project is “in the pipeline,” the implementation phase comes “in 4 years,” and so on.

Our scientific researchers, religious leaders, acade­micians, scholars and politicians can perfectly demon­strate exactly what ought to be done in any given cir­cumstance, yet once in power, such ideas always remain either on paper or at best be held “in the pipeline.”

Instead of taking action and making things happen in a swift and decisive manner for the benefit of our people, it is rather very sad that even those tasked with such responsibilities are good at making speeches, while pushing the actual action onto the future genera­tions.

So far, it appears a few of those in the built environ­ment are physically making impact, while the majority of the other professions especially those in the manu­facturing fields remain to be seen.

The media, which ought to bring such topics for discussion, has always been focusing on politicians and their frustrations while ignoring the lack of action.

Years back, there were only a few “scholars” in Africa. At that time, the majority of the people had not received “formal education” as we often call it. Many had neither been to engineering schools, polytechnics nor the university. There were only a few tens of people who had the benefit of receiving “formal education”.

In spite of this, Africans were producing soap, shoes, body cream, different kinds of cooking oil and their very effective and powerful local African medicines.

They cured almost every major disease by relying on their local medication and eating organic food, which was very rich in vitamins and nutrients.

As a result, many of them lived long, averagely beyond the age of 90 years. It was common to see many of our parents living beyond the age of 120 years with good eyesight. Most importantly, many of our grandparents never wore glasses.

Ironically, today we call ourselves “intellectu­als”. We live in “hygienic environments,” eat “balanced diet” and use “modern medication”. Yet, many of us are dying below the age of 40 years!

Today, millions of chil­dren at age 10 are wearing glasses! As if that is not enough, several hundreds of incurable diseases are cur­rently threatening our very survival.

How many of our forefathers died of malaria? How many of our grandmothers were infertile? In fact, there are many reproductive health-related diseases in modern Africa than there were in the pre-colonial era despite the so-called advancement in medical research.

Isn’t it time we took a critical look at the quality of our food today? But of course, many will consider this to be some “conspiracy theory”. After all, once you success­fully discredit legitimate concerns such as the above, it becomes easy to ignore the need to take action.

Even though Africa boasts of millions of scholars and other professionals, one wonders the whereabouts of these experts as almost everything we use in Africa is imported from elsewhere, despite having all the raw materials here at home.

Forty years ago, Africa was importing a sizeable amount of matches, sugar, cooking oil, roofing sheets, steel, cars, bicycles, shoes, wristwatches, typewriters and others. Africa did not have the expertise to mass-produce some of these items.

Unfortu­nately, after 40 years, nothing has changed despite the fact that mother Africa has millions of intellectuals who currently hold the relevant qualifications.

After many years of importing mobile phones, com­puters, electric generators, sound systems, radio and television sets, fluorescent lamps, electric cables and many other electronic gadgets, there is no indication that this trend will change any time soon, though there are millions of African experts who have studied the production of these things.

Elsewhere in the Middle East and Asia, ordinary stu­dents are sending satellites into space. University researchers are actively engaging with their students in the production of mobile phones, digital tablets, com­puters and cars.

Their physical results can be seen everywhere. Unfortunately in Africa, our studies are charac­terised by reading theories, looking at diagrams and observing images with little or no practical demonstra­tions.

The educational system, instead of teaching our people “how to think” and solve problems, is teaching young ones “what to think”.

Today, one can write over a thousand pages of research, yet this research may not have a single practi­cal input. One can perfectly describe how to move a car, but it takes continuous practice to be able to practically drive the car.

Is it a wonder that many of our mechani­cal engineers therefore cannot even fix a car?

Our universities are overpopulated with politi­cal and social science courses. The technical schools and polytechnics are still reserved for students with poor academic backgrounds.

Many of our electrical engineers, mechanics and technicians out there did not learn their profession from schools.

Many of them were school drop-outs who learnt their profession as a “trade” and by the “road-side technicians”.When the scholar’s car suffers a mechanical breakdown, the individual will rather look for a road-side mechanic to fix the problem.

Many of these local technicians do not have any academic qualifications at all, yet they’re better at solving real-life problems than many of our so-called professionals who have acquired a number of degrees. Isn’t this a shame?

Our universities are increasingly producing intellec­tuals who talk too much, but lack the skills to personally contribute to problem-solving. Many of our intellectu­als only make noise, but push their real responsibilities to the man on the street.

Such acts of negligence must stop if Africa is determined to make any progress. African intellectuals must live up to their responsibili­ties. They must be part of the solution to our many challenges. It is time to be proactive.

Real leadership is demonstrated, not lectured. We’re tired of talks, seminars and workshops, which have become the hallmark of our current batch of intellectuals who ought to bear the responsibility of taking the action.

As long as our intellectuals continue to look up to the layman to take up their responsibilities, Africa will never make any meaningful progress.

Our destinies must be in our own hands. Long live the African intellectual! Long live Mama Africa!

Honourable Saka is a UK-based political analyst on African affairs and a social commentator on Africa.

The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is celebrated globally on the 17th day of October every year since its adoption by the international community in 1993.

It offers an important opportunity for reflection on the progress made by mankind towards the eradication of extreme poverty and renewing efforts at its realization.

Since their adoption in 2000, progress towards the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has constituted an important gauge for sustained poverty reduction.

The MDGs have succeeded in creating a common agenda which unites countries and peoples throughout the world around the agenda of poverty eradication and social and political stability.

Their time-bound, clear, and measurable targets have focused action on the most basic indicators of sustainable human development, which is an essential condition for durable stability.

The most recent (2012) global MDG progress report prepared by the United Nations indicates that the global target of cutting in half the proportion of people living under $1.25 per day was met in 2010.

Since 1990, hundreds of millions of people are no longer living in extreme poverty and have the opportunity to live better lives.

However, this overall favourable picture masks significant disparities in the progress made in the different regions of the world as well as towards individual MDGs.

There is consensus that, although African countries as a whole have made notable progress towards many of the goals, the continent is lagging behind the rest of the world in most of the areas.

More effort is, therefore, required on the continent in order to close the gap between Africa and the other regions during the period remaining through to 2015 as well as to reach those still untouched by the progress registered so far.

Even in the continent, disparities within and between countries remain striking. Overburdened and ill-equipped institutions, lack of sufficiently inclusive growth in a significant number of countries, neglected agricultural sectors, missing sanitation and energy services, chronic malnutrition, and discrimination against women and girls, ethnic minorities, and other groups, as well as high youth unemployment rates, remain barriers to progress in many countries.

It is for this reason that Rwanda’s very positive overall record is highly encouraging. At the current pace, the country is among the very few African countries that are on track to meet almost all the MDGs.

Rwanda’s experience provides vital illustration of how to accelerate progress towards the MDGs and even sustain this beyond their 2015 target date.

From the countries record, we know that committed, dynamic and competent leadership as clearly demonstrated by President Paul Kagame and his government, strong national ownership, and broad mobilization of the population, combined with judicious utilization of external assistance are critical for success.

We know that inclusive and direct poverty reducing growth in a significant manner is possible when appropriate policies are deployed, especially those that aim to impact simultaneously on inequality and empower the poor.

We know that gender equality, health improvements, and access to renewable energy can accelerate progress across the Goals. And we know that in our increasingly interdependent and volatile world, development will only succeed and endure if it is pursued in the context of transformational initiatives.

The theme for this year’s day is “Working together out of poverty” .
This reflects the fact that Partnership is key as the magnitude and complexity of tackling poverty requires strong systems and policies in place, but above all, a shared vision of the development path of a country.

In a recent visit to Gicumbi district in August 2012, the President of the Republic, H.E. Paul Kagame shared the following sentiment with the residents: “We should all work hard and eradicate — not reduce — poverty,” this is possible if we work together.”

In Rwanda, over a period of the last 5 years, the number of poor lifted out of poverty has surpassed the one million mark.

The impressive gains of the past 5 years also call for additional efforts to address obstacles to growth -widely acknowledged by the Government: removing further the barriers of a productive rural sector, unleashing the potential offered by the East African Community but also proposing innovative solutions for skills development and transformational growth.

In Rwanda, we have every reason to celebrate the progress made to eradicate extreme poverty, but we must also continue to work together on its eradication. We hope that the global development agenda beyond 2015 will reflect this level of ambition.

Author is UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP Resident Representative to Rwanda

Theogene Turatsinze a former BRD bank director (2005 -2007) has been found dead in Mozambique where he has been living.He had gone missing for two days.

Turatsinze disappeared on Friday evening after parting with a delegation of investors he had dropped off at a hotel.

Rwanda’s High Commissioner in South Africa, Vincent Karega confirmed the death.

HE. Karega said Turatsinze’s body was discovered’ tied with ropes and floating on a lake.

Turatsinze was businessman and a vice Chancellor at a private university in Maputo.

How It All Evolved

According to the Rwandan Mission in South Africa, On 12th October 2012, after dropping some of his business partners at hotel,Turatsinze went home for few minutes and then left for another meeting following a phone call that he received.

Turatsinze had another meeting with the wife who called him to find out why he was not coming.

She called him only to find out he was not free to talk and apparently close to sea. She could hear the wind of the sea.

It is alleged that Later on,she called him again to find out but the phone was off.

An sms was later sent to her saying ” Darling, you know i love you. Please pray for me. I am in a difficult situation.”.

As time clocked away, she decided to contact the police with her family. Patrol was conducted throughout the beach until his car was
found about 7 kms from the beach in a good condition.

On sunday 14th October 2012, in the wee hours of the morning, a body was found on the ocean and dropped to the mortuary and the family identified the body.

The body is to be flown for burial to Rwanda. Arrangments are being finalized.

Investigations are going on to determine the culprit.

Over the last decade Rwanda has made incredible strides economically.

According to the CIA World Factbook the country has nearly quadrupled per capita GDP since the mid-nineties, putting it within range to meet President Kagame’s goal of “increasing gross domestic product by seven times over a generation”.

However, sustaining this growth will not be achievable without a larger portion of Rwandan’s entering the private sector as entrepreneurs.

In order to meet these prodigious goals Rwanda must further embrace and develop an entrepreneurial culture. Here are some reasons why entrepreneurship is important to Rwanda:

Entrepreneurs are Job Creators

One of the most powerful ways in which entrepreneurs impact an economy is by creating jobs. Increasing the amount of money coming into the economy is important, but hiring employees and paying fair wages is an even stronger indicator that an entrepreneur is benefitting the local community.

These jobs help to elevate the lives of other’s within the country as well as redistributing money throughout the marketplace instead of allowing it to accumulate at one point. Serge Ndekwe is a prime example of the way in which entrepreneurs can impact the lives of their employees.

Serge has held a number of different jobs over the years ranging from taxi driver and public phone operator to working for INGOs.

Unfortunately Serge was fired twice for “little reasons that seemed to be unfair”. After being fired for the second time, he decided “I would never work for another person again”.

Since then he has managed to build a number of successful businesses including Papyrus restaurant and Masaka Farms. Serge’s decision to become his own boss has allowed him to do more than provide his own livelihood.

He now employs eighty-five people through his businesses, many of them vulnerable women, helping them to provide for their families as well.

Entrepreneurs are Problem-solvers

Many people believe that an entrepreneur must first find capital or be given a great idea before starting an enterprise.

This is not the case; instead entrepreneurs must be able to identify a problem and seek solutions for that issue. This helps to ensure that innovation and adaptability are a part of a nation’s skillset.

As a college student Meilleur Murindabigwi noticed that there were two major issues with much of the media Rwanda had received.

The majority of articles took a negative slant on life in Rwanda and much of it was written by people living outside of the country. Together with a group of friends Meilleur set out to provide quality coverage of Rwandan news events by in-country correspondents.

Meilleur and his partners also decided to launch their media platform on the web instead of via print because of the push towards stronger ICT connections by the government at the time. Since 2008 the team has seen IGIHE.com grow from a site receiving thirty views a day to well over seventy-thousand.

Meilleur and the IGIHE team have not allowed their success to stop them from looking for other problems to solve either. They noticed a need for someone to provide web design for companies looking to keep their edge technologically by developing a web-site. So IGIHE has also branched into the web services field in order to solve this problem.

President Kagame has said that “Rwandans would create their own strategic vision”, and Meilleur and the IGIHE team have done just that, helping to strengthen Rwanda’s economy and its perception on the world stage as well. Rwanda faces a number of challenges in the future and entrepreneurs will find innovative solutions for them.

Rwanda’s Entrepreneurial Outlook

Fortunately Rwanda is strongly positioned to become a hotbed for entrepreneurship on the African continent. The Heritage Foundation recently ranked Rwanda #59 in its 2012 Index of Economic Freedom making Rwanda Africa’s third-highest ranked country behind Mauritius and Botswana.

Rwanda scored a 64.9 on a 100-point scale; ten points higher than its 2008 score due largely in part to major reforms expediting the registration process for businesses. Rwanda’s score is also five points higher than the world average and ten points higher than the regional average.

Rwanda was also ranked highly on the World Bank’s 2011 Ease of Doing Business report in the ease of starting a business category where it was ranked #8—the only African country to make it into the top ten.

Not only does Rwanda’s regulatory environment benefit entrepreneurs but the education system has also begun to embrace entrepreneurship.

Back in 2008 mandatory entrepreneurship classes were added throughout the secondary school curriculum in Rwanda. The Rwanda Education Board has since developed a strong entrepreneurship curriculum with assistance from the United Nation’s Industrial Development Organization.

This focus on entrepreneurship at the secondary school level should help to ensure that students come out of secondary school with the skills necessary to start and run their own businesses.

Interested in Entrepreneurship in Rwanda?

Rwanda is clearly on the right path for creating a more entrepreneurial culture. Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) was brought to Rwanda to celebrate this. GEW is the world’s largest celebration of entrepreneurship – engaging 7.5 million people each November through tens of thousands of activities around the world.

In 2011, Rwanda joined 122 other countries to participate in this incredible movement for the first time, reaching 12,000 people through twenty-six local events.

In 2012, GEW/Rwanda has partnered with the Ministry of Youth and ICT (Strategic Partner), the Rwanda Development Board (Strategic Partner), IGIHE, Ltd. (Media Partner) and GW Creators (Design Partner) to reach upwards of 25,000 people through fifty different activities around the country.

Hosted nationally by the Babson-Rwanda Entrepreneurship Center, the initiative is powered globally by the Ewing M. Kauffman Foundation, sponsored by Dell and the NYSE Euronext Foundation, and enjoys the support of dozens of world leaders, hundreds of national hosts, and a growing network of 24,000 partner organizations.

For more information, visit rw.unleashingideas.org, and follow GEW/Rwanda on Facebook or Twitter.

Rwandan nationals living in South Africa have contributed over Frw60Million to Agaciro Development fund.

The contributions were made during a dinner event held at Sandton, Johannesburg, presided over by the High Commissioner, Vincent Karega.

The event was organised by the Rwandan Diaspora committee in collaboration with Rwanda’s High Commission in South Africa.

Over US$ 92,356 (Frw 60 million) was raised at the saturday event.

The High Commissioner of the Republic of Rwanda in Mozambique with residence in South Africa, H.E Vincent Karega, presented a letter of credence to HE. Armando Guebuza, of the Republic of Mozambique and current chairperson of Southern African Development Community (SADC).

In his exchange with H.E President Armando Guebuza, H.E Vincent Karega reiterated October 10, the value that Rwanda gives to her relations with Mozambique, particularly because of the historical political similarities that Rwanda share with Mozambique.

Both countries went through liberation struggles and are actively involved in bringing stability and economic development in their respective nations.

H.E President Armando Guebuza expressed his appreciation on booming investment in Rwanda. He reiterated the need to trade and work together.

Prior to this ceremony, The High Commissioner Vincent Karega held a lengthy discussion with Mozambique Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Henrique Banze, with whom they exchanged on progress registered in Rwanda, the revival of Joint Permanent commission between Mozambique and Rwanda and opportunities offered by the invocation of the cessation clause to Rwandan refugees.

The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs reiterated Mozambique’s continuous will to work with Rwanda and the need to multiply meetings between different key stakeholders in a view to exchange experience and information for the welfare of their respective people and the stability of both countries.

At the end of his visit in Mozambique, the High Commissioner Vincent Karega took this opportunity to visit some of the businesses of Rwandans in Maputo (Mozambique).

It was noted that they are well established and are contributing to both their well-being and their country through different personal projects in Rwanda.

The High Commissioner called upon them to make a contribution to the economic development of their country.

The Rwandan community in Mozambique pledged to make available their contribution to the Agaciro Development Fund. An announcement in that regard will soon be made public.

The number of Rwandans living in Mozambique is estimated to be around 4,000 people from different sectors, but mostly in small scale business.

Mozambique is currently holding the chairmanship of SADC and has got good relations with Rwanda. Both Presidents have been meeting in different international fora.

Given what is transpiring across Africa in terms of political dispensations, one is tempted to wonder if we are not moving back to barbarism of dark ages that threatened the forward march of civilization.

Colonialism made Africa lose independence and Africans had to struggle to regain it. A wind of change swept across Africa and fora got created to address this issue. OAU was one of them.

Emerging independence leaders sought one another across the board from the south to the north and east to the west.

The imaginary lines (the white corridor and the blue belt) ,one running south from Tripoli to Cape Town and the other running from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean through the great lakes, drawn by the imperial world for effective strategic control of the African continent got conversely used by freedom fighters in quest of African liberation.

Nelson Mandela before being tragically getting incarcerated on the infamous Roben Island had met leaders in various calibers across Africa seeking political, military and moral support to end Apartheid in South Africa.

Indeed the African countries got independence one after the other. Even South Africa whose ANC had to struggle for 82 years finally got it.

However, ambivalences dawned in majority of countries because the leaders who took over the mantle of leadership immediately after the colonial rulers continued with the tactics of divide and rule employed by the colonialists.

This engendered movements commonly called liberation phase two. This was an attempt to break away altogether from the policies above.

In some cases it entailed engaging in armed struggle either to remove military dictatorships or civilian governments that were using the same tactics as military rulers.

The politics obtaining now on the African continent is a bit baffling because one wonders whether the common ideals pursued by leaders of independent Africa are not being jeopardized.

The politics of Ambivalence Costing Lives

Joseph Kony of Uganda has lingered on for more than 20 years unleashing mayhem.

He started with Uganda and now his diabolism has engulfed Central African Republic, The Sudan, DRC and it is affecting the socio-economic development of surrounding regions who do not know his history.

Al-Shabaab are said to be a youth movement otherwise known as “movement of striving youth”.

An off-shoot of Islamic courts union, they subdivided into smaller groups and have been in control of South Somalia. They are said to have imposed a strict form of Sharia law.

They have of recent caused Kenya to get involved in effective combat since the Mau Mau struggle. They are not only focused on removing the Somali transitional government but are said to wage jihad against enemies of Islam hence their mission transcends boundaries.

Al-Shabaab members are said to have at one time or another intimidated, kidnapped and killed aid workers.

This caused suspension of humanitarian operations and some relief agents to move away hence humanitarian catastrophe.

Boko Haram in Nigeria is said to be against western education which they equate with sin.

That they are not only opposed to the western education but western culture and modern science so is wearing of pants, shirts and voting in elections.

In 2009 BBC interview, according to en.wikipedia.org, Mohammed yusuf, then the group’s leader is said to have stated he would reject the fact that the earth is a sphere, rain comes from water evaporated by the sun and Darwinism if they were contrary to Islamic teaching.

They are an Islamist group that aims at imposing Sharia law throughout the whole of Nigeria with attendant Jihadist tendences.

They are said to have come to international attention during sectarian violence in Nigeria in 2009. In 2011 at least 327 people have been killed by the group according to the associated press

According to Reuters,the sect is widely considered to be the biggest security threat in Africa’s biggest oil exporter. That it has been blamed for more than 1,000 deaths since its insurgency – which is aimed at carving out an Islamic state in northern Nigeria – intensified in 2010.

FDLR/FNL

According to Afro America Network as informed by sources in Bukavu on August,8,2011,Burundian(FNL) and Rwandan(FDLR) rebels intensified attacks And moved closer and closer to the major cities of South Kivu, especially Fizi and Bukavu.

The coalition of FDLR/FNL is said to operate in the area connected to the region surrounding Bujumbura, the Burundian capital.

They are alleged to have on the night of Saturday to Sunday, August 7, 2011, attacked a vehicle carrying passengers and goods killing or wounding several people including FARDC soldiers.

According to en.Wikipedia.org, for the leadership of the FDLR, the movement is both a structure that protects them from a life in prison and a vehicle that allows them to acquire enough wealth to purchase a new identity, home and retirement allowance.

For them, it is of utmost importance that the rank and file combatants of the FDLR do not find out about this hidden agenda.

Consequently, the FDLR leadership invests a significant amount of effort in propaganda, and continues to develop plans for military operations to overthrow the Rwandan Government.

The leadership, however, knows that these plans are unlikely to succeed in the current environment, and they recognise that the Rwandan Government is unlikely to weaken in the near future.”

According to the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, the FDLR is believed to be responsible for about a dozen terrorist attacks committed in 2009. These acts of terrorism have killed hundreds of civilians in Eastern Congo.

That FDLR after getting a tough blow when their top command(leadership) got almost decimated, is has been trying to move towards the north of Northern Kivu province.

That one may not rule out the fact that they are moving towards Kony and other diabolical forces so that they can live longer. They intend to continue unleashing havoc just as Kony is doing.

FNL are an extremist Hutu rebel outfit that has refused inclusive government in Burundi. FDLR are an extremist Hutu outfit that has refused to join the inclusive government in Rwanda.

These are the major extremist groups operating across boundaries. Leaders who sought to end colonialism on the African continent looked for one another across Africa. They did not see the solution in divisions.

Although there are huddles yet to jump, the AU is in place as a successor to the OAU.

There are regional groupings that are a precursor to the true African unity which can work through the frame work of African union and achieve real socio-economic development of Africa.

There should be oneness of purpose on the part of African leaders and peoples and struggle to end the diabolical destruction of innocent lives.

For these groups to receive support of any sort is absurd. How can someone who opts to destroy oneself and innocent lives struggle for the socio economic progress of Africa and the world which has after all become a village due to advancement in information technology.

While I’m trying to see what the outcome will be of the high-level discussions on the crisis in the DRC, held in margin of the UN General Assembly, some trends have become increasingly annoying for most African observers, including me.

After all the progress made by the African Union (AU) and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), the so-called International Community, through its press corps and politicians, simply chose to act as if it never happened and instead proposed another one of those ‘one size fits all’ solutions they always seem to have in store for Africa.

The idea that a solution could originate from the region simply seems unacceptable in some circles. Case and point: the Chicago Tribune’s latest exclusive report on how Secretary of State Hilary Clinton “pressed the two feuding countries to end the crisis”.

The report only highlights Secretary Clinton’s initiative- a welcomed move – but failed to mention anything about the important strides made by African Heads of State contributions and Secretary Clinton’s apparent lack of awareness on the progress made at the ICGLR.

This naturally takes me back to President Kagame’s intervention at the UN General Assembly, as he once again denounced the international community’s parachuted solutions and their failure to provide lasting solutions in everlasting conflicts.

The following passage clearly illustrates the President’s assessment of the Congo situation;

— One, we must appreciate that many conflicts are caused when people are, or feel excluded from full participation in the affairs of their country, particularly around issues that affect their everyday lives.

— Secondly, deep analysis of specific political and cultural contexts of any given conflict is key to lasting solutions. Too often, the inclination is to parachute into a situation with ready-made answers based on superficial examination of the conflict’s dynamics, doing considerably more harm than good, despite the intentions.

There is no one-size-fits-all remedy; these issues are complex and should be approached as such for the best possible outcome.

— And finally, it is increasingly obvious that local or regional initiatives aimed at resolving conflicts yield more positive results because those involved have a deeper understanding of the issues at hand.

Their proximity to the conflict makes them more invested in a comprehensive resolution, and enables the necessary support for whatever process is agreed upon. We need to see these initiatives strengthened. We should be highlighting root causes as we address conflicts.”

Neither Secretary Clinton nor any Chief Editor West of the Eastern seaboard seem to connect with this truly African perspective on how to go about solving any given conflict… which brings us back to square one and the US and UN perspectives.

The problem with those is their absolute disregard of the interests of frontline actors such as the countries in the region and the people involved in the conflict.

The root causes are being ignored by black mailing the rebels and reducing the problem to being of Rwanda’s doing.

Every member of the international community has declared that there was no room to negotiate with the M23 insurrection; how quickly they forget that these so-called rebels are the very same ones who, under the leadership of Laurent Nkunda, repeatedly defeated government troops without any outside help.

Nothing has changed under the Congolese sun since March 23, 2009 (date from which the mutineers derived the ‘M23’ acronym); President Kabila never implemented the provisions of their peace agreement and unilaterally decided to maintain the status quo.

How do you find a lasting solution while excluding half of the equation, full-fledged Congolese nationals with legitimate concerns and the determination to fight for them?

Or is the International community shying away from its own responsibilities by throwing Rwanda under the bus, hoping to have President Kagame clean up the mess of their own making?

And this, while Rwanda has just received all the praises for achieving the Millennium Development Goals before the ultimate deadline of 2015, as defined by the UN.

Topping up, Rwanda is the 6th top contributor to the UN peacekeeping missions on the planet. Aren’t all these threats to freeze or cut future aid not contradicting the UN’s own vision of conflict resolution and development?

Everyone seems to want to move out of this embarrassing situation but no one wants recognize regional process that has already achieved more than any international initiatives, and has more credibility that the notoriously onerous international alternatives to the regional process that has definitely way more advantages and credibility than the International initiatives which have undoubtedly been way too costly colossal failures.

Meanwhile, the mechanisms proposed by the AU are being implemented and deserve everyone’s support.

It is interesting to point out that the process initiated by the ICGLR and the AU includes the kind of recommendations expressed by the Rwandan President at the UN.

The US or the UN will have to take in consideration African initiatives. The African Union and ICGLR’s efforts usher in a new era of African solutions to African problems… or should I be so bold as to call this the ‘audacity of hope’?