THE United Kingdom is one of the donor countries that have worked closely with Rwandans over the past 18 years to rise above the consequences of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. The people of Rwanda are grateful for this support and hope this partnership will continue despite the current hiccups caused by a wave of venomous lies peddled against Rwanda with regard to its perceived role in the crisis that unfolded in eastern DRC in recent months.I have lived abroad and still travel there quite often. I can perfectly understand why some people out there have come to believe lies about my country. The truth is that media organisations shape people’s thinking and have a huge bearing on the actions of politicians and other actors in their countries.Unfortunately, major media organisations have been hoodwinked by ill-intentioned actors using that disgraceful UN experts report, whose main architect, Steve Hege, is a Genocide denier, and someone who has long publicly wished for a day the “international opinion will sour” on the current Rwandan government. Naive ordinary UK citizens have been overwhelmed by the negative reporting about Rwanda, and politicians are wary of the potential consequences of this unfavourable view about Rwanda if they kept supporting Rwanda. However, if there is one country in the world anyone interested in standing for the truth can easily defend, it is Rwanda. In his particular saga, the professional errors committed by Steve Hege and co. are compelling and easily constitute a weapon to disarm those who wrongly accuse Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebels. Rwanda’s accountability of aid is unquestionable and it’s no brainer to prove that no single penny of this financial support has done anything rather than building functional health and education systems, constructing roads, hospitals and schools, and providing other social programmes that directly impact the lives of the Rwandan people. The results speak for themselves; even the most ardent of Rwandan critics know it.Besides, anyone who has read Hege’s previous writings about Rwanda and the FDLR genocidal group will think twice before believing these allegations against Rwanda.The people and the government of Rwanda, too, need to do better in explaining this obvious bias.I really hope the British government rescinds their decision to freeze aid to Rwanda – over lies fabricated by Congolese and Hege and his fellow Genocide deniers.Philip Mwumvaneza, Kigali
