CALENDAR FOR LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS/LOWER CHAMBER (2008)

No.	ACTIVITIES		DUE DATE
1	Approbation of provisional calendar for elections		August 2007
2	Define, approve and seek the budget		March 2007- August 2008
3	Elaboration and approval of instructions regarding elections		March - September 2008
4	Preparation of voters’ list		July 2007 - August 2008
5	Distribution of voter cards		July - August 2008
6	Hiring and Training of electoral agents at Provincial, Kigali Ville and District levels		March - May 2008
7	Elaboration and voters’civic education training on electoral process		January - September 2008
8	Define and prepare sites and polling stations		August - September 2008
9	Looking for electoral materials		May - August 2008
10	Organizing consultative meetings with electoral stakeholders		January - September 2008
11	Accreditation of electoral observers		July - August 2008
12	Registration, Examination and approval of candidates list allowed to campaign	12.1 Reception of candidacies	12 - 21/08/2008
		12.2 Examination of candidacies	22/08/2008
		12.3 Publication of final list of candidates	24//08/2008
13	Electoral campaigns		25/08 - 13/09/2008
14	Legislative elections		15/09/2008
15	Elections of women representatives in parliament at provincial and Kigali City levels		16/09/2008
16	Elections of youth representatives in parliament		17/09/2008
17	Elections of a disabled representative in parliament		18/09/2008
18	Publication of provisional results of elections		22/09/2008
19	PUBLICATION OF FINAL RESULTS OF ELECTIONS		25/09/2008

Kagame calls for more efficiency in regional trade at Arusha summit

hursday, 5th June 2008	E-mail article Print article
President Paul Kagame and Ambassador Andrew Young, one of the organizers of the Sullivan Summit taking place in Arusha, Tanzania. (File photo).
BY GEORGE KAGAME IN ARUSHA
ARUSHA - President Paul Kagame has repeated his call for more efficient regional blocks as an effective measure for Africa to increase domestic investment and spur economic growth and development on the continent. The President first called for cross border reforms in customs operations in a speech he presented to the Commonwealth Heads of State’s meeting in Kampala in November 2007. Speaking to a packed hall Wednesday at the ongoing 8th edition of the Leon H. Sullivan summit in Arusha’s International Conference Centre (AICC), Kagame emphasized that only more investment and efficiency of regional integration will ensure Africa’s escape from poverty. He said that the absence of regional economic infrastructure is a major hindrance to Africa’s growth and social economic transformation. Kagame lamented the unnecessary administrative bureaucracy which makes doing business in Africa very difficult. He added that researchers had discovered that African investors spend a lot of time filing paper work rather than carrying out actual commercial transactions. He said the delays reduce the volume of trade on the continent and is counter-productive in the fight against poverty on the continent. “Each additional day an export transaction is held up in a country, that country distances itself from its trading partners by 1 percent,” emphasised Kagame. He also questioned the wisdom of transporting a container of goods from Mombasa to Kigali at a cost of $5600, yet the cost from Mombasa to Antwerp in Belgium costs only $1200. He added that the delay in carrying out commercial transactions was not only due to poor infrastructure in Sub Saharan Africa alone, “but also the result of regional bureaucratic obstacles such as cumbersome trans-border customs procedures, clearing, cargo inspections and corruption.” Kagame pointed out that the above challenges are even worse for landlocked countries including Rwanda, “whose products need to comply with different requirements at every border post.” He gave an example of one African country where preparations for exporting involved filing 11 documents, 17 visits to different offices, 29 signatures and 60 days to move goods from the factory to the shop. He said that such practices have made doing business in Africa very expensive, “and our competition dismal.” Kagame said the East African Community had set up the East African Infrastructure Strategy 2010 which calls for the rehabilitation of major interconnecting trade corridors and renovation of airports. Rwanda and Tanzania are set to build a railway line linking Rwanda and the seaport of Dar es Salaam to ease regional infrastructure problems. Ambassador Andrew Young, a representative of the US government and one of the organisers of the summit, sang to the tune of Bob Marley’s famous song ‘One Love’ and emphasised African unity as one of the sparks to African growth investment. James Patterson, former Prime Minister of Jamaica, extensively quoted Pan-African intellectual Marcus Garvey as he appealed for Africans on the continent and in the Diaspora to unite and develop each other. He said that Africans would one day be able to defeat poverty as they had defeated colonialism. Leon H. Sullivan was an African-American cleric and international humanitarian. He preached positively, encouraging commitment of resources of the African Diaspora and friends of Africa to promote positive change in the world. He also championed self-help, social responsibility, economic empowerment, and human rights. The Eighth Leon Sullivan Summit, whose theme is “Tourism and Infrastructure Development”, will focus on education, investment, environmental sustainability, energy, infrastructure and tourism. It aims at advancing physical and economic infrastructure, especially power, transport and information technology through regional economic community discussions. T he Sullivan Summits are a bridge between America and Africa, serving as a forum for economic and cultural cooperation. They bring together the world’s political and business leaders, delegates representing international organisations and academic institutions. Kigali will host the next Leon H. Sullivan summit in 2010.

Obama and crowd rise to occasion

By Kevin Connolly
BBC News, St Paul, Minnesota

The crowd in St Paul seemed to inspire Barack Obama

For the Obama faithful it was never going to be just another night of celebration.

They sensed that victory was theirs more than they calculated it from the returns in Montana and South Dakota - or from the steady trickle of reports that more and more super-delegates were declaring for their candidate.

And as they began trooping into the hall five hours before he was due to speak, it was clear they felt they had a role in helping the senator from Illinois set his seal on this pivotal moment in America where one election process ends, and another begins.

The primaries were over, the general election campaign was beginning.

Victory was his to declare, but the mood of the crowd as he outlined his vision would help to define this moment in the minds of the millions of Americans watching at home on television.

They did not let him down.

Making history

Many of Mr Obama's victory rallies have had a shattering intensity about them - he stirs the crowd's energy, but he feeds on it too, and in St Paul they seemed to inspire him.

Tonight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another - a journey that will bring a new and better day to America Barack Obama Full text: Obama victory speech

Not for the first time, Mr Obama's campaign managers picked an indoor sports stadium as the venue for their rally - this time an ice-hockey hall in which four tiers of seating towered far above the stage.

The next time it stages a professional hockey game, it is going to seem a little sedate.

Mr Obama performed in the middle of a force-field of noise which mingled the joy and relief and hope he has kindled in his followers.

Some of his older black supporters will tell you candidly that there is a bit of disbelief in there too - they never expected in their lifetimes to be able to support an African-American candidate with a real chance of winning the White House.

Political campaigning is about mapping strategies, booking halls, buying advertising and beating rivals.

But every so often, in private, Mr Obama and his closest advisers must surely lift their eyes to history's horizon and reflect on the powerful symbolism of his candidacy in a country which still lives with the legacy of racial division.

Within Mr Obama's lifetime, white racist groups in the Deep South tried to intimidate black voters out of registering to take part in elections.

Now he has a real chance of becoming president.

Reaching out

This was probably Mr Obama's most important speech of the year so far - the first time as candidate for the Democratic Party that he has spoken to Americans not just about why he wants to lead them, but where he wants to lead them.

Senator Obama was lavish in his praise of Hillary Clinton

From the faithful in St Paul, he was always going to get adoration at the very least.

But he has to reach out beyond them now - to people who voted for Hillary, people who might back Republican John McCain and people who might not vote at all.

His essential message of course, is of hope and change - but no candidate in history has ever campaigned for despair and the status quo.

He will need a lot more flesh on the bones when the campaign against the Senator McCain builds to a climax in the autumn.

He was lavish in his praise of Mrs Clinton, speaking of her "unyielding desire to improve the lives of ordinary Americans" and of how he expected to find her at his side in the Democratic battle for the White House.

He said he was a better candidate for having had to run against her.

At previous Obama rallies, I have heard loud booing break out when shots of President Bill Clinton appeared on the giant video screens.

Nothing like that in St Paul - there was cheering when Senator Clinton was praised just as there had been cheering a few hours earlier when Mrs Clinton took the stage in New York and spoke warmly of Mr Obama's campaign and his supporters.

Running mate?

It will take more than a couple of set-piece speeches delivered at a moment of high emotion to repair the wounds left by this most divisive of primary seasons.

But at least this all showed that the party's leaders know what has to be done.

In the end, Mr Obama did his job, reaching high-flown pinnacles of rhetoric.

But while he claimed victory in a spine-tingling moment, Mrs Clinton did not of course, quite concede defeat, leaving the impression in the air that she might be angling rather openly for the vice-presidential slot.

Many of his supporters felt they were looking over their shoulders wondering what their defeated rival might do next.

At the very least she made sure that the story of the night was about her as well as about Mr Obama, even in the moment that the hand of history descended on his shoulder.

The night belonged to him all right, just as it should have done,

But somehow in the midst of all the noise and energy in St Paul, she could not quite be forgotten.

Clinton will quit and back Obama

Hillary Clinton will withdraw from the race to become the Democratic candidate for the US presidency, and back her rival Barack Obama, her campaign says. On Tuesday, Mr Obama gained enough delegates to win the nomination, after the final votes of the primary season.

Mrs Clinton has still not admitted in public that she lost the contest, but on Saturday she will do so "and express her support for Senator Obama".

Mr Obama has already announced a team to help select his running mate.

Reports that Mrs Clinton was ready to concede came after she made a conference call to senior Democrats in Congress.

At a Democratic Party event in Washington, Mrs Clinton will also "express her support... for party unity", her communications director Howard Wolfson said.

Earlier, it had been announced that the event would be held on Friday, but Mr Wolfson said it had been delayed a day "to accommodate more of Senator Clinton’s supporters who want to attend".

The BBC’s Jane O’Brien in Washington says that as Mr Obama was claiming victory, Hillary Clinton stunned even her own supporters with a speech that offered no indication that she was giving up.

There is speculation that the delay in conceding was an attempt to position herself as a possible vice-president, our correspondent adds.

Clinton ’open’

Mr Obama’s three-member panel to look for a presidential running mate comprises Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President John Kennedy, former deputy Attorney General Eric Holder and Jim Johnson.

Mr Johnson performed the same selection task for John Kerry in 2004.

"Senator Obama is pleased to have three talented and dedicated individuals managing this rigorous process," said Bill Burton, a spokesman for the Illinois senator.

"He will work closely with them in the coming weeks but ultimately this will be his decision and his alone."

Barack Obama addressing Aipac, 4 June, 2008 Mr Obama could be the first black candidate from a major political party

Earlier, Mr Obama had paid tribute to Mrs Clinton and hinted that she would play a role in any future Obama administration.

Mrs Clinton has said she would be "open" to the idea of being Mr Obama’s vice-presidential running-mate.

Referring to a brief conversation he had held with his defeated rival, the Illinois senator said: "I’m very confident of how we’re going to be able to bring the party together."

The Republican party’s candidate, John McCain has challenged Mr Obama to take part in debates in 10 town hall meetings before August’s Democratic convention, and the Obama team is said to be considering the invitation.

The final primaries of the season were held on Tuesday - with Mr Obama winning Montana and Mrs Clinton winning South Dakota.

A candidate needs 2,118 delegates to secure the nomination and Mr Obama now has the support of 2,154 delegates. Mrs Clinton has 1,919.

BBC

Looking Back

May 15, 2007You may leave Rwanda, but it doesn’t leave you. I’m back in Canada with Emmanuel’s genocide story in my head. And Theogene’s take on the process of forgiveness. And Emmy on the difficulties of practicing journalism in Rwanda. And the light in Jean-Bosco’s eyes when he talked about how his TV story helped fix the potholes on Kigali streets.They were four of my students and I like to think they taught me as much as I taught them. Only half of my time in Rwanda was spent in the classroom, but that time was a rich vein. At its best, teaching for me is a joyful negotiation: I’ll give you something, and you give me something back. Occasionally, I get the best of the bargain. This was one of those times.But it all happened accidentally. I was never supposed to be a Rwandan classroom at all. Blame it on a few loose words.Ever since my first reporting trip there in 1994, Rwanda has taken up residence in a small corner of my brain, in the form of an anguished question mark. How could this genocide possibly have happened? When I signed up for the Rwanda Initiative last year, I thought this might be a unique (and oblique) way of getting me closer to an answer. I agreed to spend three weeks in the newsroom of TV Rwanda. I would help the reporters develop some professional reporting skills. In return, I would use those contacts to pursue some stories of my own, as a freelance journalist.But something happened. In my first week in Kigali, I wrote a blog that upset some influential people, and these people decided that I would not be welcome in the country’s only TV newsroom. Something about my obsession with “shadows” that one still finds in Rwandan life. It was my first civics lesson in 21st-century Rwanda: Be careful—very careful-- what you say about life in the aftermath of the genocide. People are listening and reading, and weighing every word, every nuance, every opinion, especially if there might be an international audience. Some things in Rwanda may only be whispered. On reflection, I shouldn’t have been surprised. Rwanda is still in post-traumatic shock. When a visitor comes and unburdens himself of an opinion that may be even mildly critical of the government, it will set off alarm bells.As a result, instead of going to TV Rwanda, I was re-routed to the campus of the National University in Butare. I would be teaching the fundamentals of broadcast writing to a group of journalism and communication students. As it turned out, the fuss over my blog was useful preparation for me as a teacher: It gave me insight into the environment that these prospective communicators would be launched into after graduation. If they decided on journalism, they would have to learn to walk a fine line. Tightrope walking is not necessarily a bad thing in this business: if nothing else, you learn to step carefully, you learn balance, you learn to be intensely aware of your environment. Up on the high wire, you learn to focus. Or else.Happily, a number of my students also worked at TV Rwanda in their spare time. I could watch their work on the nightly news. We could discuss it. And day-by-day, I began to see things that they could do to improve their product—to create a better newscast—without risking the displeasure of their bosses, who have to be so mindful of politics. I told them that this was vital work: Television news can be—should be—a forum for public dialogue, and Rwanda was in urgent need of as much public dialogue as it could generate. Here are some of the things I told them:1. “Let me hear more voices, and see more faces, in your news reports. Average people, talking about things that matter to them, in simple language. This is where politics starts. People talking to other people. Make your newscast a more democratic platform.”2. “Don’t be in such awe of the politicians. Drop the titles, like ‘honorable.’ Ask them tougher questions. Be polite, but politely skeptical. Don’t take everything they say at face value. Ask them, politely, to back up their statements with facts.”3. “Convince your editors to expand their news agendas. Rwandan domestic news consists almost entirely of press conferences and seminars. The images are boring to the point of catatonia. TV news should not be a government bulletin board, it should be an informed conversation. Take the cameras outside, videotape people where they live and work and play, and tell stories that have a greater social import. Rwanda is full of powerful human stories. Tell these stories. Over time, both your editors, and the politicians who rely on television to ‘get their message out,’ will see that this makes for far more compelling TV news.”4. “In your writing, try to simplify, and try to stay away from bureaucratic jargon. You are professionals. Don’t parrot press releases. You are not publicists. You are journalists trained to think critically. Let that be reflected in the language and the scope of your reporting.”5. “Let me hear more people talk, especially in close-up. I want to see their eyes, glance into their souls. And don’t paraphrase them. Don’t put your narration over video of their lips moving. Give them voice, even if it’s in an unfamiliar language. That’s how you get authenticity.”6. “You, the reporters, are the agents of change. This change does not have to be confrontational. These things I’m talking about are not subversive, they’re common sense. So tactfully convince your bosses, convince officials, heck, tell the president, that it is in everyone’s interest to develop a more watchable, balanced and independent news media. It will be more work for you, but ultimately, much more satisfying. And it’s an exciting enterprise: you’ll be pioneers.”And so on. Some of the students complained that, in their work, they were constrained by what they called “the editorial line.” One student called their work “appeasement.” That sounded dangerously blunt, but it may hold some truth. Public broadcasting in Rwanda is not public broadcasting in Canada. “Freedom of the press,” in the Rwandan context, is seen by many as a dangerous two-edged sword that needs to be managed and contained. This argument has some strong historic underpinnings—in 1994, for example, leading radio stations and newspapers were organs of genocidal propaganda.But I also got the feeling that my students were holding themselves back, even censoring their own instincts. One student who worked regularly at TV Rwanda bluntly called it a culture of “laziness.” Many of the reporters, he said, just didn’t want to do the work needed to expand the boundaries of their craft. We didn’t have the time to explore this further in the classroom; it would be a great subject for some future master’s or doctoral thesis.With the lessons out of the way, I asked the students to talk about themselves, their own life histories, and their own motivations. To my pleasant surprise, they were expansive and candid—more candid, in fact, than any students I’ve ever taught in Canada. And this is where my learning came. I learned things about how they viewed the limits of forgiveness: where the personal anguish and loss they suffered in the genocide came crashing up again the social imperative of national unity. One student gave me insight into reconciliation of the “heart,” as opposed to reconciliation by political decree. As they talked, they gave me hope that the next generation of Rwandan journalists does indeed have a strong voice and a social conscience that will help to break ground and heal wounds. All that’s needed, perhaps, is a little more oxygen, a little more empowerment—an acceptance by authorities that the rewards of more open expression in Rwanda, may well outweigh the risks. Especially if the voices doing the expressing belong to people like Emmanuel and Theo and Emmy and Jean-Bosco . . .

Claude Adams

Sarkozy named in Genocide financing schemeDate: 22nd-May 2007

Rwanda news Agency

Kigali - Testifying before the Mucyo Commission, a former major client with Caisse Centrale de Réassurance (CCR) company Mr. Martin Marschner Von Helmreich has revealed that 1 billion Francs (150m Euros) was “diverted” in 1994 “most probably” to finance the Genocide machine in Rwanda , RNA has established.

According to Marschner, CCR announced a loss of 1 billion Francs on August 29, 1994 that came as a “shock” to him because “78% of total deposits” managed by the French government insurance parastatal was for clients he represented as a financial broker. The money had apparently disappeared between the periods January to August 1994.
The German national who has lived and worked in France for decades explained that he himself was “surprised” when the money was refunded “directly” to CCR accounts from the French government treasury on September 14 1994.
Mr. Marschner told the commission that he picked interest to know where the 1 billion had disappeared just because he needed to regain his “professional” credibility before his clients on whose behalf he controlled their money.
After what he called a “profound investigation”, he found out that “everyday” in January 1994 alone, several million francs had been diverted “mysteriously”.
Reading from one of the booklets he had brought along, Mr. Marschner said on January 11 1994 “5 million Francs” was diverted from the company to a supposed “classified operation in Central Africa ”. He promised to give the commission 800-page dossier from his investigation.
He affirmed later during question time that a “friend” of his who was in charge of “special operations” confided in him (Marschner) that at the time (when the money disappeared), French “special forces” were actively involved in Rwanda .
The Kagame led Rwanda Patriotic Army rebels had actually launched war against President Habyarimana in October 1990.
Various witnesses have given corroborated evidence to the Mucyo Commission indicating that French soldiers were fighting along the Habyarimana government forces since 1992.
The corporately dressed Mr. Marschner said his “investigation” also led him to discover that the UN and Survie (French anti-genocide campaign group) had information pointing to arms trafficking through Goma (D R Congo) - into Rwanda .
According to him, the trail of the flawed accounts was traced to an account in Rochefort Finance (an affiliate of CCR) on which the “diverted” missing money had been deposited. He said he discovered “40m Francs” had actually been used to purchase arms for the Rwanda campaign. This was after
Put to task to clarify the relationship between the “Rochefort account” and arms trafficked into Rwanda , he explained that the UN had also landed on the “same account” from its investigations on arms trafficking allegations.
Asked to explain the link between French involvement in Rwanda and Comoros Islands , Mr. Marschner said arms were “trafficked” by a South African national, but that the entire French campaigns in central Africa were planned in the Comoros .
He revealed that the “diverted” money from CCR was “transferred through an account in BNP Paribas” - the French central bank. The money was then apparently spread to cover the “numerous undercover” campaigns in Rwanda and Bosnia .
According to Mr. Marschner, current French President Nicholas Sarkozy was Minister for Budget represented on the permanently CCR board by another official who was part of the decisional mechanism of the company. From 1993 to 1995, Mr. Sarkozy was Minister for the Budget in Edouard Balladur premiership.
However, falling short of pointing directly at Mr. Sarkozy to have had possible involvement with the decisions to transfer such sums of money from the treasury that he controlled, Mr. Marschner said he could not be sure.
“(Mr.) Sarkozy was the Minister for the Budget ... he may say he was not aware (of the dubious transfers)”, he told the attentively listening 7-member commission. In this position as Budget Minister, Mr. Sarkozy should have been a signatory to the refund of the 1 billion Francs into the coffers of CCR.
Put to task by commission president - Jean de Dieu Mucyo to assert whether he qualifies French involvement in the Genocide in Rwanda as “direct” or indirect”, Mr. Marschner just answered confidently and assertively “direct”.
“Based on evidence I have from transactions that CCR had and where the diverted money could have been channeled, I believe there is no doubt on their (French authorities) involvement”, he explained as he pointed to booklets besides him.
“The problem however comes to how the link between the French establishment (political or otherwise) can be linked to the transactions of CCR but the company was owned by the state”.
Bernard Kouchner twist
New French President Nicolas Sarkozy named his first 15-member Cabinet last week, radically revamping the government, with nearly as many women as men and including a humanitarian crusader.
Observers say the appointment of career diplomat and self acclaimed humanitarianist Dr. Bernard Kouchner to the foreign affairs portfolio could be a move to “calm down the ever rising temperature” over France ’s past in Rwanda .
As the war raged, Mr. Kouchner was allowed safe passage through the RPF rebel strong hold to the east of Rwanda in early 1994 as he negotiated the launch of the controversial “humanitarian cordon” - commonly known as ‘Zone Turquoise’.
Recently he was also in the country seeking to have Rwanda approve his nomination to head the World Health Organisation (WHO). He however lost to a Chinese.
With the above and several numerous encounters previously that Mr. Kouchner had with Kigali establishment, observers say he could be probable link between France and Rwanda . There have been several European led moves to bring France and Rwanda to talk but to very little movement from either party.

The woes of Kaduha survivors and witnesses

By Emmanuel Mungwarakarama
Apr 01, 2007 at 12:40 PM


For starters, Kaduha is a rather remote district 37 kilometers from Gikongoro town, in the western part of Southern Province. Though it may have hit the press headlines in 2003 when resident survivors were tortured and killed by the suspects of the genocide, it is one of the areas that were terribly hit by the 1994 genocide as over 200,000 are believed to have perished. Mediatrice Mukaneza, of Kavumu sector in Kaduha district, whose biological brother Emille Ndahamana was stabbed and strangled to death and thrown at a streamside in the vicinity, recounts her brother’s fate to The New Times with grief, but only after a lengthy haggle with this reporter. “Now let me trust and tell you about Kaduha killings, hopefully it (the story) will jog the memories of the Kigali-based authorities, and impel them to deal with the culprits accordingly,” Mukaneza says after putting this reporter to task of convincing her that the publication of the story was all in good faith. After assurances and reassurances, a rapport is created and the tall tale is told. “On the fateful day Emille left his home for a friend’s wedding. He delayed to return home. We waited for him in vain. His wife tried to inquire from the newlyweds and family friends only to be told that her husband had gone home after the wedding. After three days of vain searching, finally the wife, I, relatives and friends came across his clothes at Kigogo riverside and right away informed Gikongoro Police who partnered with us in the search for the corpse all through the bushes and latrines where we found it hidden alongside the same stream seven days later.”Since Ndahimana had always declared his willingness to testify against their tormentors during the 1994 genocide, Mukaneza says eight suspects led by one Mugenzi were nabbed and incarcerated by the Gikongoro police, tried in court and pleaded guilty later and sentenced to life imprisonment in Kigali 1930 prison. She then says; “And indeed 2 of them have confessed to have killed Ndahimana for fear that he would have exposed their illicit deeds during the genocide.” Nonetheless, the hundreds of kilometers between Kaduha and Kigali notwithstanding, the sister of the deceased is scared that corruption might come into play leading to the release of people who on top killing Ndahimana, even chopped off his private parts. Apart from her blood brother, Mukaneza intimated to this reporter that survivors; Rutinduka, Kabombo (nick name) and others were killed in a similar manner. She hints on the death of a man in Kaduha, who had just been released last year after confessing his role in the genocide. It is said that her spouse was involved in the plot for his death. It is said that the victim had plans of flying to Arusha-Tanzania to testify against Lieutenant Colonel Aloysius Simba, a notorious mastermind of the Genocide who is now behind bars at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.The 1994 Kaduha bloodshed According to Mukaneza, around 200,000 people in Kaduha were brutally murdered. “Our houses were set ablaze by these cruel Interahamwe militias. We were always on the run and greatly suffered during the genocide until we bumped into the Belgian and the French Zone Turquoise. But still the rescuers (Belgians and French) were mixed with Interahamwe. Had it not been the arrival of ‘Inkotanyi’ I don’t think we would have survived the machetes,” she recalls the ordeal adding, “most of those who perished had sought refuge in Kaduha Church on the expectation the priests would protect them as had been the case before, but this time even the ‘people of God’ connived with the killers to slaughter.”Asked to comment on the area Gacaca proceedings, Mukaneza says the suspects have completely declined to tell the true story of the genocide. She notes that the suspects’ reluctance to tell the truth coupled with their threats to the witnesses has adversely affected Gacaca as some witnesses have opted to reserve the accounts. She reveals that four witnesses have died through alcohol and food poisoning.Kaduha Killings before 1994The discovery of the remains of John Baptist Kanonora, in Ikinyana cell of Nyakiza sector in Kaduha district in may 2005 reflects how long the genocide ideology had been brewing.The late Kanonora, who was born in 1900, was brutally murdered by his neighbors in 1963 and the whereabouts of his body were not known until May 2005, when a confessed genocide perpetrator in Gikongoro prison, who also participated in burying Kanonora’s body, led the family members and the authorities to the burial site.According to a family member, Prosper Bitembeka, a fourth year Student in the School of Journalism and Communication in the National University of Rwanda, it is the Genocide prisoner one Fulgence Habimana who had participated in the killing and the rude burial of another family member during the Genocide who took them the site. “This occasion is enough to show everyone that there was Genocide in Rwanda even before 1994 especially those that have always refuted it” Joseph Habineza, the minister of Culture and Sports noted in May 2005 while officiating at the decent burial accorded to Kanonora by the family members including Protais Mitali the minister of Commerce and Industry.

A new startegy to improve education in Rwanda

Emmanuel MUNGWARAKARAMA

In order to lead their daily lives, People need a couple of things to satisfy; such as to be feed, accommodation, and other basic needs that are fundamental. But how can children learn with an empty stomach? Feeding a childat school tends to be an answer to this big challenge.A young child at an age to begin his primary school in Rwanda, whichis seven generally, he can't afford to concentrate on what he isstudying.
He is meeting friends and playing but when comes the hours to get lunch or a meal for the day, he may fall behind.The country is developing, with new technologies, the techniques inagriculture sector which covers almost 90% doesn't much with today'sworld. It needs to be improved. Though Rwanda withits development tends to promote its education by the principle ofEducation for all, but the constraints were very many. People couldnot send their children to school if they don't expect to come backand get what to eat. Strategies to get these children out of the trapcame into play.Feeding children at school began four years ago in 2003, and more came to join, the number of children increased from 1080 in 2003 to 1600 now. The headmistress of the primary school at Cyanika explained how thesituation changed with time. "By the days when this program hasn't yet started children could go home and were not coming back. Today parents are pushing them to come, because they are getting porridge for breakfast and lunch at noon". At a hilly top in Gikongoro, Nyamagabe district, children are playing,healthy apparently, NEW SENTENCE others can concentrate on thestudies, Cyanika primary school has a diversity of activities.
AN international organization Care based in Gikongoro, with itscollaborator Farmers to the Future Initiative managed to introduce inthe education curricula within nine districts of three provinces, three schools each and strengthen the agriculture assets. FOFI has contributed to the rural school areas by supplying seeds and even providing advice and consultancy by on soil technique.Karemera Protais, the project manager explains how the projects works:"We operate in close collaboration with primary schools in ruralareas; we support those schools in distributing seeds, advising andcounseling how to improve their agricultural techniques, we evenprovide cows." Protais continues by explaining the partners of the projects "this is a pilot project conjunctly governed by CARE and the Ministry of education, we offer training to teachers and the entire society through their children when returning home from schools."Students within their practical hours they can cultivate and have somemore foods to sustain themselves. They even provide some for a neighboring secondary school. They make money. The school had set a committee to manage the resources. Behind this an elected student's board by students has a full control of the management and can plan for their daily meal components.While at their home, children will help their parents with what they have learned from their teachers and improve techniques used in their rural areas.Parents can now learn from the children [and even] how to make an asset of a balanced diet. This improves nutrition standards for the children. Malnutrition in the region is being disappearing.Results are simple to observe but much remains to be done. Is this project being still helping? CARE uses funds from outside the country and those funds are budgeted annually. What will happen if the donors stop providing the little they give? The government of Rwanda should think how to maintain the momentum as it is planning to build another Rwanda. Some of the children will not be able to continue with higher level education and may return to their villages and join their peers. They will use the skills from the program. Managing a small scaled project and even techniques used to treats the terrain.The system has been implemented to push parents to let their children attend on a regular basis.
This may also be a step in the strengthening the government education policy. Education is not only a matter of attending but also performing. Does thegovernment think about increasing the quality of the teaching staff atall levels?

A new strategy for education sensitization

Emmanuel MUNGWARAKARAMA

Hunger has more effects on a person than simply being hungry. It affects almost every aspect of a person's life. Besides a diminished health, improper nourishment does not provide an ample supply of energy to a person, hampering an adult's ability to perform everyday tasks, and a child's ability to learn.
If you are seven years old, routine is very important. Things like regular meals, going to school, meeting your friends and bedtime are an essential pattern of daily life, there are special days and special treats, but in the end, it's the dependability of the daily routine that keeps you feeling secure and happy.
It doesn't sound like too much to ask for. Yet for some children around Gikongoro, it is something beyond their wildest dreams.
These are the children who start each day feeling hungry and generally go to bed hungry at the day's end. They may or may not get something to eat in between. Almost certainly, they will have spent a large part of the day working, maybe tending animals, fetching water or carrying out household chores. Some of them, school plays no part in their lives. And as a result, they will grow up to be as poor as their parents and their children will probably have no more hopes than they do.
But it doesn't have to be like that. For one thing, there is more than enough means to produce in the world to push everyone a step forward: education for all as a government principle, technological advances have made it possible to increase yields and develop strains of crops suited to the harshest conditions. We just need the courage and determination to provide people with the means to help them.
But in the meantime, we have to make do with food aid. In many parts of the developing world this is still the key to breaking the cycle of poverty. Malnutrition starts in the womb; underweight mothers give birth to underweight babies. Malnutrition slows down and limits physical and mental development. And hungry children - even if they get to school - find it hard to concentrate and learn.
School feeding programs, such as those run by the Farmers to the future Initiative (FOFI) Program, supported by CARE-Rwanda have already made a huge difference to hundreds of Rwandan children. The benefits are multifold. First, school feeding ensures that children get at least one nutritious meal a day. Second, a full stomach improves children's ability to learn. And third, school feeding gives parents the incentive to send their children to school in the first place - and access to the education they need to make their lives better in the future.
As Karemera Protais, the program manager said, to fund a school feeding program will provide a lesson to children at school each day. By investing in children’s' education, a hope to have a lasting effect on them that will enable them to break free of the poverty cycle.
CARE with its collaborator FOFI, aims to assist to incorporate natural resource management subjects and linkages to agro-processing, preservation, storage, farmer-entrepreneurship, asset creation, marketing, and farmers’ organizations into basic education curriculums in 24 primary schools in 9 districts of 3 provinces.
The feeding program began four years ago in 2003. It has reduced student absences from 1080 in 2003 to 1600 now. Children want to come to school now. Cyanika Primary Headmistress, Xaverine MUKAMURARA “If you saw them in the year 2003, they were all very thin. Today our students are robust.”

A hungry child cannot concentrate on learning.
Food ensures that he or she gets an adequate education. And education again strengthens the country’s ability to develop. Jean Damascene Nsengiyumva, 17, benefits from the feeding program: “The food helps me not to fall asleep. I can follow what the teacher says so I can learn. Maybe later I can teach others.”

The objectives of school feeding programs are to provide meals to reduce short-term hunger in the classroom so that the students can concentrate and learn better, and to attract children to school and have them attend regularly.

Newly introduced school feeding program by FOFI-CARE has the potential to improve children’s learning performance.

Gender policy, strategy for women empowerment

Emmanuel MUNGWARAKARAMA


To have an adequate appreciation of the far-reaching effects of disparities between women and men, we have to recognize the basic fact that gender inequality is not one affliction, but many, with varying impact on the lives of women and men, and of girls and boys. There are no good reasons to abandon the understanding that the impact of women's empowerment in enhancing the voice and influence of women does help to reduce gender inequality of many different kinds, and can also reduce the indirect
penalties that men suffer from the subjugation of women.

Gender is a fundamental part of our daily lives. It is critical to our sense of self-identity and a pervasive part of our dealings with others. The first thing we want to know about a newly born human (even before we ask whether it is healthy and whole) is whether it is a boy or a girl, and we find it virtually impossible to interact with others until we have first identified their gender category. But gender is much more than just a personal
characteristic of individuals.

Rwanda has made significant achievements in terms of women's rights in its Constitution and laws. The Law on nationality now gives Rwandan women the right to acquire citizenship rights for their children. Moreover, a law on gender-based violence is expected shortly. At 48.8%, Rwanda has the highest number of women parliamentarians in the world.
But Rwandans should not be complacent about the situation.

Even though gender is an important issue to consider while appointing and giving opportunities in our society, competence should also be considered. The fact of being a woman/girl should not be the only factor in who occupies the post.
The empowerment of women should go parallel with capacity building, mobilization, sensitization of the entire society: so that men and women can get a clear picture on gender balance.

Gender balance and positive discrimination doesn't mean a shortcut to overthrow the political and local government positions. It must spread the sparks in all sectors – transport, business, the private sector in general – if the policy makers are conscious of woman empowerment.

Therefore, much remains to be done in achieving gender equity in the country, particularly for the rural majority and forgotten field of work.

The owner of this agrees with Dr. Herman Musahara, Dean of Faculty of Economics at the National University of Rwanda when said that, "reduction of gender based inequalities would increase economic growth hence reduction of poverty".

Rwanda needs effective sex education

Emmanuel MUNGWARAKARAMA
Date: February, 15th, 2007

Not having enough information or having bad information about sex can put you at risk. Youth mainly get information about sex from their friends, but they are not the most reliable source of information.

Good communication, open relationships, and the will to make good
solid decisions are critical to staying healthy and meeting your
goals.

The family is one of the most powerful sources of messages about values. When parents are silent about important issues such as sex, youth often explore it on their own. This makes it even more important for parents to be the first and most reliable source of information for their children. A parent is in a good position to support and share knowledge, beliefs and attitudes with children and teach them the skills they will need to make their own decisions.

Youth today are facing some of the same challenges that parents/guardians may have faced as a child as well as dealing with newer issues like HIV/AIDS. Youth are looking for parental leadership, guidance and understanding. In today's world, it is a matter of life and death. Parents can be the role model that helps children stay safe from harm.

A child's sexual life begins at birth. Exploring body parts and those of other children, masturbation, sexual desire, and dating, are all normal, healthy parts of sexual development. Parents may be uncomfortable realizing that their children are sexual beings but they will develop sexually with or without their advice or assistance.
They could greatly benefit from parent's experience, guidance, and
knowledge about sexuality rather than getting their information from
peers.

How we assess and learn to reduce sexual risk is closely linked to our values. Our values help us to make decisions that are true to what we
believe in. Values can help youth resist peer pressure. For example, one may place a high value on more traditional cultural beliefs, such
as believing it is taboo to talk about sex with youth, or that it is
wrong for youth to engage in sex before marriage. This might prevent
a parent from reaching out to offer guidance to children about sexuality. Yet consider the value of their life- the value of staying healthy so that they can get reach their goals.

Not having sex can be a sign of emotional maturity. It requires maturity and honesty and integrity for a person to resist pressure and to make a decision that is consistent with personal values and beliefs.

Choosing not to have sex completely eliminates the risk of Sexually Transmitted Infections including HIV. It is the only method that is A 100%- effective way of preventing unwanted pregnancy. It is the 100%
safest choice and is 100% free of side effects.

Delaying sex may change a relationship in a positive way. A couple can get to know each other better, develop a stronger friendship by building mutual interests. It allows the couple to explore a wider range of feelings and ways to express love.

Some people have sex, not because they want to, but because they think
they have to for others to accept them. Pressure from peers to behave like them can be very strong and difficult to resist. However, if you stand up for yourself and what you believe people often respect you and like you more. It is often better to wait until you are ready to handle the commitments and responsibilities that go along with a sexual relationship.

Don't be afraid to set limits in your relationships. If you start to have sex, you need to know the consequences. What you do has an impact not only on you, but also your friends and family. Saying no to sex does not mean you are saying no to the relationship. You are saying no to something you are not ready for-possibly a pregnancy, a sexually transmitted infection, a serious commitment, or risking your future plans and well being.

From the bush to the newsroom

Emmanuel Mungwarakarama
Date: Feb 7th, 2007

He no longer holds a gun but can fight with a pen. From the bush to the newsroom, Emmanuel begins to write for you this column.
Many of you can ask why do this kind of writings. Yes, the question has an answer.
I was born in suburbs of the town, a man who never enjoyed his young age as many of his peers.
I was almost 22, in 1994, I joined the rebellion after finishing the secondary school. Sometimes back in Rwanda, joining a secondary school means a key to fortune; the education is a key to success. Can any one ask how it looks to be a young soldier at the front? People die, get injured, there are no houses in the bush, no drinking water, no consistent medicine other than moral commitment. How many friends do you have at the front? People come from different corners of the world – neighboring countries, European countries, America even Asia. Your only friend is your comrade in war just next to you.

Exchanging ideas, stories can make your brain work. Imagine yourself and try to understand the situation: two people sitting at a hilly point named OP(observation post) waiting for an enemy platoon armed and ready to fight, with no binoculars, no walkie talkies enough by the time, distance to run is not less than 300 m. The only thing that supports this cross is the age. The average age is 20.
The youth have problems; in wars they are involved in such atrocities. Most of them lose their parents, friends, brothers and sisters. The writer is a victim and so he has a lot to share with the readers.

He now works independently after joining the university precisely the journalism branch.

4 years in the way building my career, I worked intensively in acquiring theories in the field of journalism and journalistic tools and wrote some articles in the school newspaper, the new butarean, Ibanga, and now work with the national television station.


The year 1994 remains in so many heads all over the world. I still have the pictures of violence, assassination, murderers, so many kinds of atrocities. But I am not the only one to live the event. Lots of people have in their memory a piece of 1994 image.

Your writer has an ambition to promote justice, fight against any form of violence, injustice and of course ignorance. He is engaged in so many anti violence clubs and he actively follows his motto "stand up for your rights without violence".
I have already produced so many documentaries in fields of human rights: Gender based violence, Towards a professional journalism, Maraba coffee-a hope for tomorrow,…
I have traveled in 4 African countries, 2 European countries and have visited Canada in 2004. I am planning my master's in film, cinema or in journalism.
Your columnist likes reading, watching movies, photojournalism, listening to music, sports and he likes traveling and discovering the world.


After all the life still goes on. People need justice, food, accommodation … in brief they need life. How can rebuild yourself after losing hope and confidence in you? After loosing your beloved ones? Keeping moving with violence? No. Let's say stop to all forms of violence. Youth, young leaders the ball is in our hand, it is our turn to drive the bus. By using ideas, good ideas, and education for all strengthened by our dreams. One day we will realize them into reality. So lets stand up and all together work for a better world.

Being a journalist in Rwanda

Emmanuel MUNGWARAKARAMA

Being a journalist in Rwanda after the 1994 genocide requires lots of effort and experience. The challenges are many, but journalism professionals could be doing more to help meet them.

Media has a role to educate, inform and entertain, but educating hatred in 1994 was the main objective of the RTLM (Radio Télévision Libre des Milles Collines), the one private station by 1993. So many newspapers were found in the 1990 – 1994 period they were allied to political parties; they couldn't play their role as media but only the role of propaganda.

Media had played a huge role in the genocide, as a tool of hate propaganda.

How can a journalist overcome the situation?

After approximately a million to be killed within a short time of 100 days: political leaders, journalists, scholars, children, every kind of persons women and men were touched by this.

Do the people still have the hope in the Medias?

The answer can be yes, with an orientation. The school of journalism and communication born in 1996 came to give a help to the Rwandan media.

The trust in media was threatened, professionals were very few and the need to inform was crucial. Private newsrooms came to reinforce the public ones but of course with so many challenges. Beginning by in 1995, different newspapers came into place but people still have the image of a hatred media of hatred. Even the government has the same picture of the press as in 1994.

The need to establish a watchdog of media was inevitable considering the power importance that the media has to the population. The high press council of the press and the press law were put in place by 2002. The idea was good but the execution is different. The problem that these two institutions have today is that they are accused by the beneficiaries; journalists personally don't see their rights respected in order to allow them to play fully and freely their role.

Journalists need to express their views without any interference, within the law governing the country. Freedom of expression cannot be separated into compartments.

Do the journalists know their rights? If so, do they know how to marry them with what they do to the field exercising their job? Some of journalists don't have enough packages benefits? Compared to their backgrounds, so many private media are being run by unprofessional persons. They woken up in one morning and began to write. According to the report by High council of press, only 10% of those who exercise practicise journalism and are trained. The rest benefited from seminars by the school of journalism and communication, Internews, High council of press and ministry of information. This is not enough to be a good practitioner of the media.

The need of creating a center for journalists in Kigali is one of major solutions to help journalists to upgrade their skills. The center will have the objective of training media practitioners without journalistic background. It is a mechanism by the government to put emphasis on the media industry.

The center will supplement the school of journalism and communication but my worry is how it is going to be conducted? The school itself has a shortage of teachers. How will the two institutions with an aim to shape good reporters, writers, media professionals within this situation will sustain and reach to its their objectives?

Graduates from the school of journalism prefer to be employed by the NGO's instead of working with media in the country. How can media improve when professionals don’t want to be used by these media houses?

The will to work for media is present but for some of the graduates argue that they can't work with an institution which hasn’t a clear picture of what journalist look like. The only one television station in the country can't cover national wide. More than 10 private radio stations operating in the country can't follow standards of a professional media. How can a trained journalist work for such media?

The challenge comes back to the professionals. Who else do you need to build and consolidate your career? It is upon you trained journalists to invade the field and show you are able to put into practice what you acquired from books, experience, peers and the school.

Heroic football unifies Huye veterans

Emmanuel Mungwarakarama


After work and off drinking pubs, 76 Huye veterans associated to ‘Intwari’ (heroes) football club, play football every Sunday, helping them to unify Butare society after 1994 genocide.

Apart from building their bodies by doing sport, the veterans, all men aged between 23 and 51 affirm that they no longer spend their money in bars
“After 1994 genocide, we (Intwari FC founders) thought about what to do to reorganize our destructed society. We are a group of Butare workers and businessmen. As, football is the king sport in Rwanda, we decided to entertain and be exemplary to our society by playing every Sunday, even though many of us are veterans” explained Albert Kayiranga, 41, and the first president of Intwari, on the question of how the idea came.

Later, a team became an association

Kayiranga went on saying that the number of players were progressing , making easier the aim of “together, we play”.
“In 1995, we formed a team called Intwari FC, simply meaning that we aim at being heroes and give such an education to our children” We play and after share a glass. No Hutu or Tutsi in Intwari family, we are Rwandans, heroic players” he added.

In May 1996, Intwari FC members were 102.
“We formed an association Intwari, so that officially recognised, we accomplish our mission to the society” said Léon Pierre Kayitare, an Intwari founder member.
The association counts now 76 members, being football fans, legends who live in Huye District.

Intwari, a family affair

Rutayisire Runuya, 48, is one of the Rwandan football legends who plays for Intwari FC, alongside his son Ishmael Rutayisire who is 25 years old.
“Playing with my father helps me to take and respect others as fathers. This has turned into my life” Said Ishmael.

After every session of playing, Intwari members share a glass. According to Nsonera Guido, this is proof to how Intwari is a family.
“ Our families know each other. Every new year, we share something, ” added Guido

Intwari members are preparing to commemorate , the 1st of February, a Rwanda national heroes day .
“ We will commemorate it as it is our aim to become heroes and we must train our children to be so ” said Traoré Niyomfura, the acting president of Intwari association

Coopérative Jyambere : Urutoke rutera rwasimbujwe ibirayi n’ ibigori birumbuka

Bagirishya Jean de Dieu


Ni muri Werurwe 2006 ubwo mu Murenge wa Cyuve ho mu Karere ka Musanze havukaga ishyirahamwe ry’abahinzi n’aborozi ba Kijyambere bagera ku 127 ryitwa Jyambere.Iri shyirahamwe ryakanguriye abaturage kureka ubuhinzi bw’urutoke ruteraga bakarusimbuza Ibirayi n’ibigori bijyanye n’ubwo butaka. Mu mezi 7 gusa ashize, Abari muri iryo shyirahamwe bafite imirima 147 ikoreye neza iri ku buso bwa metero kare 8348.Ubu ikaba irimo ibigori bieye amabengeza, batangaza ko bizatanga byibura umusaruro usaga toni 30.

Nk’uko Bwana Ndagijimana Jean Baptiste, umubitsi n’umubaruramari wa Jyambere yabitangarije ikinyamakuru Ibanga, ngo nyuma y’aho byagaragaraga ko urutoki rwari rwaranze muri ako gace k’Akarere ka Musanze, ushinzwe akanama k’ ubukungu mu Karere ka Musanze, Bwana Pasteur Nemeyabahizi Jean Baptiste yagiriye inama abaturage yo kurusimbuza ibyahera. We ubwe yakomye imbarutso maze yegera abandi baturage bo muri ako gace. We ubwe yashoyemo imari ye maze abo baturage bari batarumva neza agaciro kabyo , abakoresha abahemba amafaranga 400 ku munsi.

Abaturage babyumvise vuba

Ndagijimana yakomeje atangaza ko ngo ku ikubitiro intego yari ukwikenura kw’abatuye ako Karere n’ubwo batabyumvise. “Nk’umubyeyi Nyirambonigazi yari yaranze gutanga umurima ariko nyuma yaje kuwutanga abonye mu rutoki ahavaga udushyimbo twavagamo ibihumbi cumi n’umunani, tuhakuye ibirayi byatanze frs 47.000 ku mwero umwe” Niko yakomeje asobanura. Naho umubyeyi Mukayuhi Venansiya we yivugira ko uretse kuba amafaranga 400 ahembwa ku munsi amukenura mu rugo iwe, ngo ibirayi yariye byamugaragarije ko adahomba. Basezera Daphrose we ku kuba Atari yaratanze umurima mbere ubu akaba yarawutanze yagize ati “Ni ubujiji. Ubu ndarya ikirayi kandi mpinga mpembwa”

Inyungu irimo ni iyihe?

Umubaruramari wa Jyambere, Bwana Ndagijimana Jean Baptiste atangaza ko kuva mu kwezi kwa 3 kugeza ubu, amafaranga ishyirahamwe rimaze gutanga muri abo baturage mu rwego rwo kugira ngo bahugukirwe no kumenya ubuhinzi bubungura arenze miliyoni icumi. Muri yo, ngo asaga miliyoni 3 n’imigabane abanyamuryango bo ubwabo bishatsemo. Muri yo harimo ahembwa abakozi uhereye ku batemye urutoki bagatunganya n’imirima, ukageza ku bagikoramo ubu babagara ibigori byabo, kugeza ku miti ibiterwa.Ngo n’ubwo umusaruro w’ibirayi uteri mubi ariko utanabarumbukiye , ibigori birimo byo bigaragaza ko bizatanga umusaruro.

Gahunda bafite ni ndende

Jyambere nk’ishyirahamwe ngo bafite gahunda yo kwimura abanyamuryango bagituye mu buso bw’ahagomba guhingwa. Ndagijimana ati “ Tugomba kubatuza ahandi ubuso buhingwa bukagera kuri metero kare 10.300. Nyiramajyambere , umubyeyi nawe ufite umurima mu ishyirahamwe yatangaje ko hari n’abandi bifuza kuzamo ku buryo imirima izagenda yaguka uko abanyamuryango bashya bazagenda baza. Ngo abanyacyuve rero bagiye kubakirwa uruganda rusya ibigori kuko ngo ifu ariyo itanga umusaruro uruta mu kugurishwa. Nyiramajyambere ati “N’ubwo mpatuye ninimurwa nzimuka ntange umurima [……] ko twemeye ko badutemnera insina se, kwimuka nibyo bizatugora?”


Abagize Jyambere bo mu kagari ka Kabeza, Umurenge wa Cyuve ho muri Musanze bagiriye inama abandi bahinzi kwibumbira hamwe ngo kuko bituma babasha kwagura ubutaka kandi bafatanya bagahinga bijyanye n’igihe ari nako bungurana ibitekerezo bibafasha kunoza neza umwuga w’ubuhinzi, wo unakorwa na benshi mu gihugu cyacu. Umubyeyi Nyirarukundo ati “ Aho nakuraga ibiro 700 by’ibirayi, ubu nahakuye ibiro 1400! Mfite imiti n’ifumbira kandi mbwirwa icyo gukora ngo ndumbukirwe”

Bagirishya Jean de Dieu
Ni muri Werurwe 2006 ubwo mu Murenge wa Cyuve ho mu Karere ka Musanze havukaga ishyirahamwe ry’abahinzi n’aborozi ba Kijyambere bagera ku 127 ryitwa Jyambere.Iri shyirahamwe ryakanguriye abaturage kureka ubuhinzi bw’urutoke ruteraga bakarusimbuza Ibirayi n’ibigori bijyanye n’ubwo butaka. Mu mezi 7 gusa ashize, Abari muri iryo shyirahamwe bafite imirima 147 ikoreye neza iri ku buso bwa metero kare 8348.Ubu ikaba irimo ibigori bieye amabengeza, batangaza ko bizatanga byibura umusaruro usaga toni 30.

Nk’uko Bwana Ndagijimana Jean Baptiste, umubitsi n’umubaruramari wa Jyambere yabitangarije ikinyamakuru Ibanga, ngo nyuma y’aho byagaragaraga ko urutoki rwari rwaranze muri ako gace k’Akarere ka Musanze, ushinzwe akanama k’ ubukungu mu Karere ka Musanze, Bwana Pasteur Nemeyabahizi Jean Baptiste yagiriye inama abaturage yo kurusimbuza ibyahera. We ubwe yakomye imbarutso maze yegera abandi baturage bo muri ako gace. We ubwe yashoyemo imari ye maze abo baturage bari batarumva neza agaciro kabyo , abakoresha abahemba amafaranga 400 ku munsi.

Abaturage babyumvise vuba

Ndagijimana yakomeje atangaza ko ngo ku ikubitiro intego yari ukwikenura kw’abatuye ako Karere n’ubwo batabyumvise. “Nk’umubyeyi Nyirambonigazi yari yaranze gutanga umurima ariko nyuma yaje kuwutanga abonye mu rutoki ahavaga udushyimbo twavagamo ibihumbi cumi n’umunani, tuhakuye ibirayi byatanze frs 47.000 ku mwero umwe” Niko yakomeje asobanura. Naho umubyeyi Mukayuhi Venansiya we yivugira ko uretse kuba amafaranga 400 ahembwa ku munsi amukenura mu rugo iwe, ngo ibirayi yariye byamugaragarije ko adahomba. Basezera Daphrose we ku kuba Atari yaratanze umurima mbere ubu akaba yarawutanze yagize ati “Ni ubujiji. Ubu ndarya ikirayi kandi mpinga mpembwa”

Inyungu irimo ni iyihe?

Umubaruramari wa Jyambere, Bwana Ndagijimana Jean Baptiste atangaza ko kuva mu kwezi kwa 3 kugeza ubu, amafaranga ishyirahamwe rimaze gutanga muri abo baturage mu rwego rwo kugira ngo bahugukirwe no kumenya ubuhinzi bubungura arenze miliyoni icumi. Muri yo, ngo asaga miliyoni 3 n’imigabane abanyamuryango bo ubwabo bishatsemo. Muri yo harimo ahembwa abakozi uhereye ku batemye urutoki bagatunganya n’imirima, ukageza ku bagikoramo ubu babagara ibigori byabo, kugeza ku miti ibiterwa.Ngo n’ubwo umusaruro w’ibirayi uteri mubi ariko utanabarumbukiye , ibigori birimo byo bigaragaza ko bizatanga umusaruro.

Gahunda bafite ni ndende

Jyambere nk’ishyirahamwe ngo bafite gahunda yo kwimura abanyamuryango bagituye mu buso bw’ahagomba guhingwa. Ndagijimana ati “ Tugomba kubatuza ahandi ubuso buhingwa bukagera kuri metero kare 10.300. Nyiramajyambere , umubyeyi nawe ufite umurima mu ishyirahamwe yatangaje ko hari n’abandi bifuza kuzamo ku buryo imirima izagenda yaguka uko abanyamuryango bashya bazagenda baza. Ngo abanyacyuve rero bagiye kubakirwa uruganda rusya ibigori kuko ngo ifu ariyo itanga umusaruro uruta mu kugurishwa. Nyiramajyambere ati “N’ubwo mpatuye ninimurwa nzimuka ntange umurima [……] ko twemeye ko badutemnera insina se, kwimuka nibyo bizatugora?”


Abagize Jyambere bo mu kagari ka Kabeza, Umurenge wa Cyuve ho muri Musanze bagiriye inama abandi bahinzi kwibumbira hamwe ngo kuko bituma babasha kwagura ubutaka kandi bafatanya bagahinga bijyanye n’igihe ari nako bungurana ibitekerezo bibafasha kunoza neza umwuga w’ubuhinzi, wo unakorwa na benshi mu gihugu cyacu. Umubyeyi Nyirarukundo ati “ Aho nakuraga ibiro 700 by’ibirayi, ubu nahakuye ibiro 1400! Mfite imiti n’ifumbira kandi mbwirwa icyo gukora ngo ndumbukirwe”

Nyungwe tourism industry improved in the last 3 years

Bagirishya Jean de Dieu

The number of the tourists in Nyungwe National Park rose from 2041 in 2004 to 3089 in 2006, reception statistics say.

The money from Nyungwe National Park also has increased from 257,000$ to 550,039 $ in 2006, according to Elias Musoni, an ORTPN reception at Uwinka camping site who went on explaining the reason for that improvement

“In 2003, the government made Nyungwe forest the 3rd national park (The volcanoes and Akagera ones being others). ORTPN, the Rwandan tourism and national parks Office began to market it (Nyungwe) internationally. The office formed and brought here12 tour guides and divided the forest into 4 trails. Then the number of tourists began to increase” explained Musoni.

According to Bahizi Edward, Nyungwe also is visited because it is best-known for its wealth of primates.
“Rwanda is also one of Africa’s top birding countries, where an incredible 670 different species have been recorded within an area intermediate to that of Wales and Belgium. For amateur botanists, the gorgeous wild flowers of the forests and mountains are capped by more than 100 orchid species in Nyungwe alone, as well as the otherworldly giant lobelia, a floral refugee from a science-fiction film set” said Bahizi


“Nyungwe is rightly celebrated for the rich variety of its flora and fauna. This is why we came here” Said Daniel Bowersax, 30, met at Uwinka camping Site in Nyungwe forest accompanied by his mother Sydney Bowersax, who is 61.

According to ORTPN website and as Edward Bahizi explained to the Rwandan National University fourth year journalism students, at t least 200 different types of tree are found in the forest, along with hundreds of different flowering plants, including wild begonia, more than 100 species of orchid, and sensational giant lobelias. Of the large mammals, primates are the most visible, with 13-recorded species representing 25% of the African primate checklist. Of particular interest is the Angola colobus – delightfully acrobatic arboreal monkeys that move in troops of several hundred – and an estimated 500 chimpanzee, often seen from the forest trails during the rainy season. Other primates likely to be encountered over the course of a visit are L’Hoest’s monkey, velvet monkey, olive baboon, grey-cheeked mangabey, and red-tailed monkey.


Nyungwe tourists to improve more

Tourists met yesterday in Nyungwe National park expressed themselves about what to do to gain more tourists and money from Nyungwe tourism industry
“I felt safe here as everyone can if he/she is here. Only one thing missing is the marketing of this beautiful place” recommended Sydney Bowersax, an American tourist.
As the prices for visiting, camping value from 20$ to 50 $, lowing prices is what will improve tourism in Nyungwe according to Mike Mc Fadyen.

“This year (2007), our aim is to register more than 5000 tourists and 1million$ from Nyungwe. We plan to low prices by next year as many tourists are requiring for it, but we will first hand the issue to the government. About marketing Nyungwe, we do it on our website (www.ortpn.gov.rw) and we plan to attend Berlin and London tourism exhibitions, this year” Said Rosette Rugamba, the ORTPN head officer, on a telephone interview.

Extending for 130 square kilometers across the majestic hills of southeast Rwanda, Nyungwe National Park is one the largest block of montane forest in East or Central Africa, and one of the most ancient, dating back to before the last Ice Age. A uniquely rich centre of floral diversity, the forest has more than 200 different types of tree, and a myriad of flowering plants including the other-worldly giant lobelia and a host of colourful orchids and mahoganies.

Home to more than 275 bird species, Nyungwe is the most important birding site in Rwanda. Most alluring to ornithologists are 24 Albertine Rift endemics – birds whose range is restricted to a handful of montane forests between southern Uganda and northern Burundi

“The 1994 Tutsi genocide was prepared and planned” affirmed Huye Gacaca witnesses

Emmanuel Mungwarakarama

The lists of the Tutsi who had to be killed in the former Karubanda sector of Ngoma commune, Butare prefecture were already elaborated before April 1994. The meeting planning the extermination of KarubandaTutsi used to take place in corbial bar, by the extremists Hutus, between the years of 1990-1994.

This was revealed on Wednesday the 18 of January 2007, by Venuste Nkurunziza and Françoise Kayirangwa, Gacaca witnesses during the session of Butare Ville Gacaca court of Huye district in the Southern Province of Rwanda. These testimonies come 3 months after Bourguière, a French judge, declared arresting mandates for the high military leaders of Rwanda, accusing them of having killed the former president of Rwanda Habyarimana Juvenal. According to Bourguière, the 1994 genocide was a direct consequence of Habyarimana’s death, and not prepared and planned massacres as the Kigali regime believes.

“On 7th April 1994, a short while after the crash of Habyarimana’s Faustin Twagirayezu who was our local leaders in 1994 was circulating with a list of Karubanda Tutsis to be killed. On 21st, he and Habyarimana’s regime soldiers used the same list and killed many of our neighbours Tutsi.” Said Venuste Nkurunziza.


Tutsis were imprisoned, mistreated before 1994

Françoise Kayirangwa, a 1994 genocide survivor and widow of late Innocent Gashayija, killed during the 1994 genocide, said that since October 1990, after FPR inkotanyi rebellion attacked the Habyarimana regime , Tutsis were considered as enemies of the nation, she said, “ In Groupe( a catholic secondary school in Huye District) where my husband was working, emerged the Pawa (power) group. It was a group of extremists Hutu professors, resigned to exterminate their Tutsi fellows. This is the reason why Nyabusimba Benoit (accused of participating in 1994 genocide at Karubanda) imprisoned my husband in November 1990.” Nyandwi, another witness currently on studies in Canada, wrote in his testimony that he, also, has been imprisoned by Nyabusimba in 1991, for the same reason of seeming to be inkotanyi inside the country

Gacaca jurisdictions, a way to Rwandans unity and reconciliation

More than one million of people were killed during the 1994 Tutsi genocide. More than 115,000 other taken in jail. . The twelve specialised courts have been able to give a decision on about 5,864 cases between December 1996 and 2000. It would, then have been necessary to work during about 60 years in order to try the 115.000 persons who have been detained until that time in addition to those suspected of participation to genocide but still free. According to Kigali regime, It was therefore necessary to use a one of a kind justice system, inspired by the traditional Rwandan system of settling disputes and the aim of which was, not only the punishment of the guilty person, but also and above all social harmony and cohesion. According to the Rwandan government, the system requires the participation of every one to rebuilding justice, because it is in that participatory manner that the crimes have been perpetrated in broad daylight.

In 2000, the Supreme Court has been endowed with a 6th court called "Gacaca Courts Department". Since 2002, Gacaca Courts Department was replaced by the National Service of Gacaca Courts so as to coordinate the Gacaca Courts activities and speed up this process. According to the National Service of Gacaca Courts report of December 2006, more than 152,000 of the persons accused of participating in the 1994 genocide have already been judged from April to December 2006, and more than 650.000 others are to be judged this year (2007) by the elected and integrated local persons.

Interview exclusive avec Karekezi Olivier

Bagirishya Jean de Dieu

D’ici deux ans, Olivier Karekezi n’était qu’un simple médiateur de l’équipe nationale Amavubi et d’APR FC. Aujourd’hui, l’attaquant populaire de Helsingborg HIF (équipe de la première Division en Suède) est l’un des stars de la région des grands lacs et le troisième meilleur butteur d’Allsevnskan (Championnat suédois) pour la saison récente. Etant en vacances de Noël ici au Rwanda, Karekezi s’est exprimé sur sa carrière en tant que footballeur professionnel et capitaine des Amavubi.

Grand Lac Sport (GLS) : Olivier Karekezi, tu viens de boucler une belle saison avec ton équipe de Helsingborg, que tu as rejoint, voici deux ans, qu’est ce qui se trouve derrière ce succès ?

Olivier Karekezi (Ol.Kar) : (….petit rire) L’essentiel c’est d’être discipliné, et faire des entraînements comme il faut. Rien d’extra ordinaire que je suis parti en Suède. Et d’ailleurs avec l’ancien coach national (Le Suédois Roger Palmgren), je m’étais habitué aux entraînements du genre. En premier lieux, c’était difficile car j’ai terminé la saison avec 5 buts seulement. Mais, je viens de boucler ma deuxième saison avec 11 buts à mon compte, étant troisième meilleur butteur du championnat, le premier ayant marqué 15 buts. Si jamais je ne change pas d’équipe dans la saison prochaine qui démarre en Avril, je crois que je vais faire encore plus pour honorer mon pays.

GLS : L’arrivé de Henrik Larson en provenance de FC Barcelone n’aurait pas eu d’influence sur la bonne saison que vous venez de réaliser ?

Ol. Kar : (….Un rire exclamatif) Larson est un joueur, je ne sais pas comment le dire mais c’est un joueur excellent. Beaucoup disent qu’il est un peu vieux pour jouer mais moi je ne l’ai pas vu. A voir son jeu, il est trop intelligent. Il me facilite trop la tache car partout où je suis, il y pointe son regard et me donne la balle. Je me réjouis d’avoir évolué à coté de Larson au cours de ma carrière footballistique.

GLS: Il y a d’autres Africains en Helsingborg dont le Kenyan MC Donald Mariga et le Malien Adama Tamboura, des relations que vous menez avec eux, n’auraient pas eu un impact positif sur votre belle saison ?

Ol.Kar : Rien de spécial avec les Africains, nous semblons avoir tous une même culture .Ils m’ont trouvé la bas et j’ai fait de mon mieux pour leur aider à s’adapter très rapidement. Il y a aussi un Ougandais qui approche, lui et les autres comme tant d’autres recevront mon accueil chaleureux et je ferai de mon mieux pour rehausser mon jeu.

GLS : Olivier, vous avez un nouveau coach au nom de Stuart Baxter (ancien coach de Bafana Bafana), votre Capitaine Granvqist vient de signer pour Wigan Athletics d’Angleterre et Larson est désormais attaquant de Manchester United. Un nouveau coach suivi par le départ de deux grands joueurs, je crois que c’est une mauvaise chose pour une équipe qui bientôt joue l’UEFA cup ?

Ol.Kar : Notre nouveau coach est venu quand notre équipe était classée dixième, en deux mois, nous avons terminé la saison étant quatrième. C’est un excellent leaders je t’assure. Larson reviendra en Mars et le championnat se rouvrira en Avril. Granvqist, notre capitaine actuellement en Wigan, va revenir après six mois je crois. Si le coach les a laissés partir, c’est qu’il est assuré de leur couverture. Moi je ne vois pas de problème sérieux si Larson revient en Mars.

GLS : La fois passée sur rwandafootball.com, vous aviez promis au Rwandais de leur dire un mot sur votre future en Helsingborg, allez vous changer d’équipe d’ici peu ?

Ol.Kar : Mon contrat avec Helsingborg s’étend sur d’autres six mois. Je suis en contact avec une équipe hollandaise et Wigan Athletics d’Angleterre. Si je garde ou j’augmente mon niveau de jeu au cours de ses six mois qui reste, je crois que je vais changer d’équipe en été sans problème.


GLH : Egalement, tu fait partie du capitanat de l’équipe nationale Amavubi, que souhaiteriez vous pour réaliser une 2007 fructueuse ?

Ol. Kar : Je ne demande par de merveilles. D’abord que les Rwandais accordent du temps à l’équipe dirigeante de la FERWAFA. Et puis que ces derniers ramènent certains des joueurs qui ont déserté l’équipe. Je ne me réjouis pas du fait que mon équipe nationale chute de jour à jour. Et puis, que le coach change positivement notre équipe, nous en sommes prêts.

GLH : Votre ancien club, APR FC, entame la CECAFA Kagame cup, aujourd’hui, un rendez vous que vous n’allez pas raté, je pense ?

Ol. Kar : Bien sur que je vais être là. J’ai suivi les matchs d’APR FC pendant la Primus Cup. J’ai constaté une belle qualité des joueurs comme Kabanda et Lomami. APR FC qui avait remporté la coupe en 2004, n’était pas si bon que celle que j’ai vu. Je vais leur aider car je suis ici jusque le 16 de ce mois. Mais je suis sur que nous (Rwandais) allons remporter la coupe sans doute.

GLH : Dernière question Olivier, vous etes parti en Europe, et vous y tenez bon, L’on se demande pourquoi nous ne voyons pas beaucoup de Rwandais en Europe. Qu’est ce que vous en dites ?

Ol.Kar : Je vous assure qu’il y a beaucoup de joueurs Rwandais, capables d’évoluer en Europe. Palmgren (ancien coach d’Amavubi) avait essayé de connecter pas moins de 8 joueurs à l’Europe. Maintenant que l’Allemand Michael Nees a pris sa place, je crois et je souhaite qu’il fasse du même. Nous sommes plus fier quand nous avons plus de cinq joueurs en équipe nationale.

GLH : Olivier, merci pour cette interview.

Ol.Kar : Je vous en prie.