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.