Ignore Mr. Roth, for he doesn’t not know what he is saying

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has released its 2011 report and, unlike the previous reports that seemed to censure only developing nations, this time it’s turned its guns on the European Union and other western nations. Repudiating the United States, HRW said that ‘President Barack Obama’s famed eloquence ... has sometimes eluded him when it comes to defending human rights’. Well, it’s somewhat satisfying to hear these global giants getting a bit of the medicine we’ve been getting for years but that doesn’t remove the fact that HRW has erred in this, its latest report. Kenneth Roth, the group’s Executive Director said, while releasing the report, that “’dialogue’ and ‘cooperation’ with repressive governments is too often an excuse for doing nothing about human rights”. Only someone as arrogant as this man can attempt to bully, not only poorer countries, but the most powerful nations in the world as well. Let’s examine what he meant when he talked about ‘dialogue’. What I gleam from past interactions between the West and developing nations is that this so-called ‘dialogue’ is code for ‘telling developing nations what to do’. For too long, the poorer nations, such as Rwanda have had Westerners arrogantly saying that “our democracies haven’t been good enough for them, that our laws promulgated by our parliamentarians haven’t been to their liking and that we’d better listen to them or else”. Rwanda, in the face of this kind of bullying, has never wavered from the path that its citizens have chosen. And why should it? Just because some person from the EU or the State Department, who’s probably never been in the country or understood the challenges that this country has faced, said so? I laud our Government for not straying from the path it deemed necessary to get Rwandans where they should be, as a proud and self-sufficient people. I haven’t said that Rwanda should ignore all advice and counsel coming from our Western partners, but Rwanda must have the final say in the decisions that affect the future of its citizens. I guess that this kind of single-mindedness of purpose, on the part of this country, is what drives HRW and others of similar ilk up the wall. If they had their way we would remain client states of the West, without a voice or independent thought. I personally want to tell our detractors that we will not fold in that manner. And I’m pretty sure that MY government has done the same; which is why Mr. Roth, railing at all and sundry, is calling for “concrete” action. Because we haven’t been bullied by this ‘dialogue’, which we politely decline, he’s calling for concrete action. I’m interested in knowing what he meant when he said “concrete”. Having been an observer of the goings-on in the international arena, I’m pretty sure that these ‘actions’ would have been either sanctions or armed intervention. So, in my understanding, Mr. Roth wants to attempt to get Western nations to sanction our government or even, horror of horrors, get it removed forcibly. This Machiavellian plan must be exposed and combated fiercely. And the arrogance of his statements must be derided, on our part, and ignored by our partners in the West. On another note, I want to send my condolences to the families of the people killed in the cowardly Friday grenade attack in Remera. For those injured and in hospital, I pray that they get a full and speedy recovery. These terrorists think that they will change the optimistic outlook Rwandans have and somehow tarnish the achievements made by their government. This will not happen. I trust that our national security will bring these cowards to justice and I wish them Godspeed in this sunnynatyombya@newtimes.co.rw