This is not the time to test the Rwandan spirit

Working in the media industry often requires means having your senses on the ground all the time. In the middle of the night or even on your wedding, a friend will inform you about a terrorist attack happening somewhere or the death of an important person. In today’s social media and technology driven world this news hunting is even more intense as one can follow an event as it happens. In other words the access to all this instant information keeps growing in speed and breadth. What may not seem to be growing at the same pace could be our understanding of some of these events. Yes we can know about Islamic State launching an attack in Tunisia, Kuwait and France but we may struggle to understand the context of the events. That said, I must really admit that I was quite confused when I got the news that the United Kingdom had arrested Rwanda’s intelligence chief, Lt. Gen Karenzi Karake, I was confused at so many levels that I even tried to step away from the news mill probably hoping for a surprise announcement that it was all some kind of joke. You know how British humour is set up, right? Anyway it was no joke and I had to bear the burden of confusion to this point and so if this article leaves you confused then that makes the two of us. My most basic understanding of all this is like when you have families that are friends with each other, then one day as your uncle is leaving the other family’s home, he is suddenly told he cannot leave because he has a case to answer with another homestead not far from where he had visited. I told you it would be confusing. UK is one of those countries with very impressive relations with Rwanda. In this life you cannot be loved by everyone but you can know who loves you and who doesn’t. UK has been quite the friend until this point where I think they thought they could score points as defenders of human rights by effecting an arrest based on dodgy arrest warrants that came from Spain a couple of years back. By the time of writing this, I think UK was beginning to realise that it had walked itself into a diplomatic swamp and now has to find ways of wading itself out and coming out clean – a Herculean task if you ask me. With that one move they seem to have swiftly ‘gone French’ if you get my drift. They touched a nerve among the Rwandan people and the public outrage has been there for all to see. This whole event sounds like a case of throwing a stone in a beehive and waiting to see what comes out. What is again confusing is that a couple of years back, Germany arrested Rose Kabuye. If it backfired then, why would the Brits think it will be different now? The Rwanda spirit has been growing over the years and I think what could not work then will most certainly not work now. The African Union has even come out to condemn the arrest of KK as he is fondly known in Rwanda. An emergency meeting by the African Union Peace and Security Council was convened in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and a statement was released condemning the arrest. I know that diplomacy ought to be based on mutual respect and understanding but this arrest comes off as provocation and Rwandans know what integrity and respect mean and are not will to stomach diplomatic bullying from those who view themselves as vanguards of international laws. Rwandans have developed a lot of trust in the current leadership and many have even expressed their desire to see the current pace of development and social reconstruction not interrupted by a constitutional clause that limits the terms of office to be held by a leader. Now these are not the kind of people you want to test with political machinations masked as judicial processes. The kind of people who have gone through much worse situations cannot be shaken by what Britain has done. Germany found this out a few years back and probably didn’t share the lessons with the Brits. The Rwandan spirit that is being tested has been through a furnace and has only grown stronger over the years. #FreeKK.

Opinions

This is not the time to test the Rwandan spirit