"A brief introduction of Rwandans to Mozambicans.”

There is a famous line in a classic film of the 40s titled "Casablanca”. It goes, "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." This line comes to mind when one thinks of Rwanda and Mozambique. 

This friendship I am afraid might make some jealous; it already has. As someone who lived in both countries, I would like therefore to take this opportunity, in Portuguese, to introduce Rwandans to our irmãos e irmãs from Mozambique, with the promise that I will ask a colleague from Mozambique to introduce his country to Rwandans and have his paper published in Kigali.

First, let’s address the prejudice: According to western media, Paul Kagame is an iron fisted dictator who relies on his police to rule over Rwandans through fear, and uses his army to plunder resources in neighbouring DRC.

That’s fiction for foreign audiences. In reality, for over fifteen years, the Rwandan army has frequently been invited formally by the DRC government to help fight insurgency in its eastern region. To date, there is a standing invitation in that regard, formulated by DRC President Felix Tshisekedi to his eastern neighbours, namely Rwanda and Uganda.

The current DRC army leadership was trained in Rwanda. Former president Joseph Kabila was a one-time protégé of a Rwandan general and most of the residents of Eastern DRC receive medical care, financial services, education, residence and, at times, asylum in the neighbouring Rubavu, a district in Rwanda.

That said, Rwandan sentiments towards Paul Kagame, the Rwandan military and police, is best observed through the prism of his personal deployment and that of his army and police outside of Rwanda.

On Paul Kagame’s personal deployment: He was appointed to reform the African Union since 2016 and elected as its Chairperson for the year 2018.

The reasons that Rwandans advance for keeping Kagame as president defy political orthodoxy. The percentage by which they elect him looks suspicious and the achievements frequently reported by the government sound too good to be true. 

It has been difficult to explain what it means to have a president like Paul Kagame to non-Rwandans, let alone human rights colleagues across the continent, without sounding like a sycophant. So it becomes easier for us to explain when others too have had a chance to ‘experience’ Paul Kagame’s leadership.

In the one year that Kagame was Chairperson of the African Union (AU) its self-funding increased by 17 percent:  from 43-60 percent. In 2016 when he was appointed to lead AU reforms, contributions by African states were at 36 percent of its total budget.

Through these reforms, a self-funding mechanism was adopted by the AU, establishing a 0.2 percent levy on eligible imports on the African continent. It was named "the Kigali Decision on financing of the Union”, after Rwanda’s capital city.

Before Kagame was called upon, the African Union had managed only 36 per cent of self-sustainment. As a result, our union was the source of pity by other continental blocs and a laughing stock of the African youth. Going by the graph below, AU funding was increasing by merely 2.4 per cent annually, while data shows that in some years it even decreased:

Foreign powers, notably the United States were readily opposed to this levy, while some African States too dragged their feet. Thankfully Mozambique has always paid its dues to the continental body.

And the levy made possible a dramatic 24 percent jump in self-funding by African States and is expected to generate around $1.2 billion annually and cover most of the AU activities, including programmes, operations and peace and security missions – such as the one in Cabo Delgado (although this operation isn’t funded through the AU instrument).

Alas! You will read several articles claiming that Africans are unable to fund their own continental body, but you will not find the story above anywhere.

Of Africa, stories of doom abound while those of light are distorted or silenced. People who read western media think Rwandans are mad, or coerced to keep Kagame as their president. They also suspect that the Rwandan government doctors figures and frequently lies about its impressive statistics.

To this day, Western media refuses to register that Rwanda has cut aid dependency by half every ten years (from 86 percent in 2000 to 45 percent in 2010 to 16 percent in 2017). They still report 40 percent, because the real figures are unheard of.

But there is a Kinyarwanda saying that goes: "Isuku igira Isoko”. (Literally translated: Thousands of candles can be lit by one.) Kagame’s character is reflected in the Rwandan troops who are deployed across Africa and beyond, to provide peace. How Paul Kagame, his army and police fare in those countries speaks for itself, and those they protect, are the ones who know how we Rwandans feel.

On Rwandan Army’s deployment: The story of Cabo Delgado isn’t different from the story of Africa as a continent. Upon independence, while Kwame Nkrumah called for an immediate unity, other African prominent figures were enumerating a set of prerequisites to our union, still to date.

In Cabo Delgado too, there was always a paper to be signed, a last-minute preparation to be made, intelligence to be gathered, etc. – to date.

Rwandan Army does not operate like that; they have a bitter history with hesitation. When civilian lives are at stake, the time to act is now! They will not let the people of Cabo Delgado down.

Contrary to what critics say, it is impossible for a police or an army to be gentle once deployed abroad and not do the same at home. We have seen this with many armies, whom, whilst praised by their media and lionised by their film industries, have revealed their violent ways while serving in foreign countries.

Indeed, Rwandan troops are known as the most professional and disciplined force in both the African Union and the UN peacekeeping mechanisms worldwide. They have been repeatedly decorated for their service in Central African Republic, Sudan, South Sudan, Haiti, Ivory Coast and Mali, to name but a few.

To Mozambican readers, let me reassure them with a story about the Rwandan army: When Rwandan troops were deployed to Central African Republic, its capital, Bangui had been cut off of its supply routes with Chad and Cameroon, by the so-called Anti-Balaka rebels, and was quickly descending into hunger and deprivation of medical supply.

Photo: Igihe

In the meantime, trucks of humanitarian supply were stuck at the Cameroonian border with CAR, unable to traverse the dangerous, rebels-controlled zone. Other foreign troops that were the first to deploy in CAR had been utterly useless, keen to protect themselves and their big communication crew that reported daily on the dangerous nature of the ground operations and the looming human disaster.

Rwandans are always sent with one mission: You shouldn’t let what happened in Rwanda ever happen again anywhere. The life of people is put in your hands, don’t let them down.

As soon as they arrived in CAR, Inkotanyi – the nom-de-guerre of the Rwandan army, organised an operation to open up the so-called Bangui-Beloko route and escorted the vital supply from Cameroon’s border up to Bangui, thereby averting a certain human tragedy.

No single peacekeeper was killed and the road is still safely operational to date. The mission was a success – and as a result, Rwandan troops were chosen among all the peacekeeping forces in CAR, to be the ones to provide protection to former President Mme. Catherine Samba Panza, the new President Faustin Archange-Touadéra and other VIPs, to date.

Mine then, is an assurance to the people of Cabo Delgado. With the Rwandan army on their side, they will soon recover sleep. The guns will go silent, while peace and security will return to their province. The Rwandan army and police will serve them as though they were serving their own – Rwandans.

And John [the Baptist] heard from prison of the works of Christ, and sent his disciples to ask Him, "Are You the One who was to come, or should we look for someone else?” Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised…” – Paraphrased from the good book in Mathew 11: 1-5.

For having disparaged Paul Kagame and Rwanda for years, Western or South African reporters know no better. Unlike John the Baptist’s disciples, they won’t be reporting what they see or hear in Cabo Delgado, for it would contradict what they have been preaching for years.

However the people of Mozambique and the people of Africa shouldn’t be misled, or frightened by disinformation; they should rely on the reality on the ground, they should speak to the people of Cabo Delgado and to the people of Africa.

Friedrich Nietzsche once wrote: ‘those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music. "This quote was the Epigraph of "Rwanda Tomorrow”, a book by Dr. Jean Paul Kimonyo, Kagame’s former senior advisor, a man who worked with him for 25 years.

Paul Kagame’s story with Africans and with Rwandans is a bond that only they, can testify to, for as a Kinyarwanda saying goes, "it is those who sleep in the house, who know where it is leaking…”

Indeed, isn’t it extraordinary that a room full of darkness can be brightened by a single candle? The room in this metaphor being the bleak and gloomy portrayal of Kagame, Rwanda and Africa by Western media and NGOs. With its small size and limited means, Rwanda is demonstrating that a country armed with courage and Pan-Africanism can provide effective peace to an entire continent.

This article was first published in "O Pais”, a Mozambican newspaper. It was written by Gatete Ruhumuliza Nyiringabo, former researcher at the Faculty of Law, Universidade Edouardo Mondlane, in Maputo Mozambique. Gatete is a Business Lawyer in Kigali. He is currently with Rwandan troops in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique.