Saturday 6 October 2012

Britain under pressure to end all aid to Rwandan government


By , Investigations Editor
9:00PM BST 06 Oct 2012

Britain is under mounting international pressure to stop all aid to the Rwandan government.

Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, Britain’s Minister for International Development Andrew Mitchell and Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni talk in Kigali Photo: REUTERS
The United Nations and the European Union wants the UK to withhold millions of pounds it is due to hand to President Paul Kagame’s government as part of an international campaign to choke his regime of funds.
Rwanda is accused of arming rebels responsible for atrocities, including mass rape, in the neighbouring Democrat Republic of Congo.
They hope that Britain will fall in line after David Cameron replaced Andrew Mitchell as international development secretary in his Cabinet reshuffle last month.
Britain initially agreed to go along with international condemnation of Rwandan involvement and to cancel £83 million it gives it in aid each year.
But Mr Mitchell’s last act in the job, before he was moved to the role of Chief Whip, had been to restore about £8m aid to the regime, with another £8m to follow later this year, apparently against the advice of officials in his department and from the Foreign Office.
He based the decision on personal assurances from the Rwandan president and on his own experiences running a small Conservative “charity” project in the country.
Officials were told his personal experience with Project Umubano outweighed evidence from a group of experts from the UN, Human Rights Watch observers and Foreign Office officials.
The Sunday Telegraph has learned that the UN and EU privately expressed their “disappointment” with Mr Mitchell’s decision at a hastily convened international contact group meeting at the Foreign Office last month.
A source at the meeting said there were “obvious differences” between Foreign Office officials and “between different officials in the Department for International Development”.
Mr Mitchell apparently also ignored police intelligence reports that suggest Rwandan dissidents living in exile in Britain are being targeted by the regime.
Last year the Metropolitan Police took the unusual step of issuing the Rwandan exiles with formal warning notices stating that “the Rwandan government poses an imminent threat to your life”.
The United Nations and Europe have both accused President Kagame of giving support and weapons to the so-called 23 March Movement (known as M23) in the Democrat Republic of Congo, accusing it of attacking civilians and “acts of sexual violence”.
At a meeting at the UN in New York last week the EU directly accused Rwanda of backing the M23 rebels. President Kagame and senior figures in his regime may now face sanctions over their links to the group and human rights abuses it has carried out.
Two new confidential reports on Rwanda’s involvement with the M23 rebels were presented to Security Council officials last week and are likely to lead to further action being taken against the regime at the UN in the next few weeks.
A UN source said: “Britain’s position has come as a bit of a disappointment to those who are trying to alter the position on the ground. Everyone else is united in putting pressure on Rwanda.”
Britain is Rwanda’s largest aid contributor and the source said its involvement in bring pressure to bear on President Kagame was “vitally important”.
Internal documents from DfID, released under the Freedlom of Information Act, reveal that in a February 2011 telephone conversation, Mr Mitchell had promised the Rwandan president that Britain would increase its aid from £60m to £90m by 2015. Two months earlier, he had flown to Rwanda for a “90-minute tete-a-tete followed by lunch” with the newly re-elected president.
But the memos also reveal doubts within the department about the “political risk” in Rwanda. Mr Mitchell’s ministerial colleague, Stephen O’Brien, highlighted international concern about human rights in Rwanda.
Justine Greening, the new International Development Secretary, must now decide whether Rwanda should receive the second tranche of the money promised by Mr Mitchell. Her office did not respond to requests for comment last night.
It is understood that Mr Mitchell based his decision to continue aiding Rwanda on “personal assurances” from Mr Kagame who had previously attended the Conservative conference and lavished praise on Project Umubano calling it an “unprecedented” example of aid. He is also understood to claim, though, that the decision was later agreed by Downing Street.
The Conservatives’ Rwanda project was Mr Mitchell’s personal brainchild but was designed to show the caring side of Mr Cameron’s Party when it was in opposition.
Now also working in Sierra Leone, the project has seen more than 200 Tory supporters, including Mr Mitchell, his wife Sharon and their daughter Rosie, fly to Rwanda for two-week stints to help as the country slowly recovers from the genocide which saw an estimated 800,000 people murdered there in 1994.
Mrs Mitchell, a GP, has also spent several months working as a doctor in Rwanda.
The Prime Minister praised the project as “the first time that any British political party had engaged in a social action project in the developing world”.
He said he and Mr Mitchell had set it up “to raise awareness of global poverty and play a small part in tackling it on the front line”.
Yesterday a Conservative spokeswoman said the project, which includes an annual Tories versus locals cricket match, had “provided English lessons to over 3,000 Rwandan primary school teachers, renovated a school, established a small medical library and built a community centre”.
Conservative volunteers, including ministers, MPs, Parliamentary candidates and local councillors, pay their own airfares, but much of the start up money for the project came from a wealthy widow from Hove, Helena Frost.
Despite having little interest in politics, according to her family, Mr Mitchell personally persuaded Mrs Frost to provide the funding. Electoral Commission files show that before her death last November, she gave the party £250,000 in donations – £200,000 of which went to fund Mr Mitchell’s office in opposition and £50,000 directly to the Rwanda project.
Last night, Mrs Frost’s nephew Mark, who was close to his aunt and often accompanied her to charitable events, said he was “slightly taken aback” that she gave so much.
He said: “It would appear Mr Mitchell (was) very charming and very persuasive. It was quite a large sum which doesn’t necessarily seem to fit with the amounts she ordinarily gave to the many other charities she supported.
“She was not one to meddle in politics at all and was convinced the money was going to help the poor. She would have not have given money to politicians for political use or gain, she had understood that she was helping the poor in Rwanda.”
He added: “This was a private matter and she was reticent about this particular charitable donation.
“She was a wonderful woman who had a great passion for certain causes and for many people. I can only imagine that this may have been the case on this particular case for her to have contributed such large sums to a single cause.”
He said Mr Mitchell had been introduced to her through another charity that he was involved with and to which Mrs Frost, who had a considerable personal fortune and had also set up a £6 million charitable foundation in the name of her late husband Patrick, had contributed large sums.

Source: The Telegraph

Thursday 4 October 2012

Rwanda’s Kagame defiant over accusations of backing Congo rebels


Thu Oct 4, 2012 4:49pm GMT
* Western “bullies” are “dead wrong” -President Kagame
* Says freezing aid an injustice, will make Rwandans defiant
* Rwandan, Congo leaders fail to resolve row at UN meeting
* Rebel crisis fuels tension in Africa’s most volatile region
By Jenny Clover
KIGALI, Oct 4 (Reuters) – President Paul Kagame said on Thursday Western governments were “dead wrong” in blaming Rwanda for the rebellion in neighbouring eastern Congo and threatening Kigali with aid cuts, and he pledged to stand firm against his accusers.
The United States urged Rwanda on Monday to publicly condemn rebels who have seized parts of Congo’s east, an appeal that highlighted U.S. frustration over Kigali’s alleged involvement.
Kagame has not openly denounced the M23 insurgency, and instead told parliament that wanton killings were being carried out in the Congo “in broad daylight” but not being condemned by that country’s government or by the West.
“Even with these threats every day, threats of aid, threats of what, whatever it is you have, you are just dead wrong … The attitude of the bullies must be challenged, that’s what we live for, some of us,” he said.
Kagame said those responsible for Congo’s bloodshed were indigenous to tiny Rwanda’s giant central African neighbour.
“There is a bigger territory where worse things are happening … So if you ask me to condemn people or to blame them for anything, I know where to start from.”
Rwanda has denied having any links with rebels, including the M23 group, who have been fighting Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) government soldiers in North Kivu province since April, displacing some 470,000 civilians.
PUNITIVE AID CUTBACKS
Donors, including the United States, one of Kigali’s closest allies, have slashed aid to the tiny central African nation as the result of a U.N. report that concluded Rwandan officials were supplying the rebels with weapons and logistics.
“This persecution of people even at an international level is just unbecoming,” Kagame said to applause by members of parliament in front of ambassadors who were in the assembly.
“Freeze aid to Rwanda, freeze, freeze … This injustice does not make us compliant, this injustice makes us defiant.”
The EU said this week in Kigali that although existing projects would continue, a decision on additional budget support would be delayed until Rwanda’s role in Congo was clarified.
Countries including the United, Sweden and the Netherlands have suspended aid to Rwanda, which relies on donors for about 40 percent of its budget. But Britain unblocked part of its aid earlier this month, saying the Rwandans had constructively engaging in the search for peace in Congo.
Kagame has launched a so-called “dignity fund” to help wean Rwanda off its dependence on outside help.
Kagame and Congolese President Joseph Kabila met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly last week to discuss the fighting in the Congo, but no breakthrough was made.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met both leaders to push for a solution, only for Kabila to allude to Rwanda’s alleged support for M23 in his speech before the U.N. General Assembly last Tuesday.
Observers have lauded Rwanda’s economic progress since the 1994 genocide but say lack of political freedom and media curbs have hampered reforms. Kagame has rejected the accusations.
Kagame said Kigali should not be blamed for Congo’s woes.
“For over a decade you keep blaming Rwanda for the problems of Congo. Why don’t they have enough courage to blame themselves and take part of the responsibility?” he said.
“What is this blackmail about? Aid? .. They give you aid so that forever you glorify them and depend on them. And they keep using it as a tool of control and management.” (Writing by James Macharia; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Source: Reuters

Rwanda’s Kagame defiant over accusations of backing Congo rebels


Thu Oct 4, 2012 4:49pm GMT
* Western “bullies” are “dead wrong” -President Kagame
* Says freezing aid an injustice, will make Rwandans defiant
* Rwandan, Congo leaders fail to resolve row at UN meeting
* Rebel crisis fuels tension in Africa’s most volatile region
By Jenny Clover
KIGALI, Oct 4 (Reuters) – President Paul Kagame said on Thursday Western governments were “dead wrong” in blaming Rwanda for the rebellion in neighbouring eastern Congo and threatening Kigali with aid cuts, and he pledged to stand firm against his accusers.
The United States urged Rwanda on Monday to publicly condemn rebels who have seized parts of Congo’s east, an appeal that highlighted U.S. frustration over Kigali’s alleged involvement.
Kagame has not openly denounced the M23 insurgency, and instead told parliament that wanton killings were being carried out in the Congo “in broad daylight” but not being condemned by that country’s government or by the West.
“Even with these threats every day, threats of aid, threats of what, whatever it is you have, you are just dead wrong … The attitude of the bullies must be challenged, that’s what we live for, some of us,” he said.
Kagame said those responsible for Congo’s bloodshed were indigenous to tiny Rwanda’s giant central African neighbour.
“There is a bigger territory where worse things are happening … So if you ask me to condemn people or to blame them for anything, I know where to start from.”
Rwanda has denied having any links with rebels, including the M23 group, who have been fighting Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) government soldiers in North Kivu province since April, displacing some 470,000 civilians.
PUNITIVE AID CUTBACKS
Donors, including the United States, one of Kigali’s closest allies, have slashed aid to the tiny central African nation as the result of a U.N. report that concluded Rwandan officials were supplying the rebels with weapons and logistics.
“This persecution of people even at an international level is just unbecoming,” Kagame said to applause by members of parliament in front of ambassadors who were in the assembly.
“Freeze aid to Rwanda, freeze, freeze … This injustice does not make us compliant, this injustice makes us defiant.”
The EU said this week in Kigali that although existing projects would continue, a decision on additional budget support would be delayed until Rwanda’s role in Congo was clarified.
Countries including the United, Sweden and the Netherlands have suspended aid to Rwanda, which relies on donors for about 40 percent of its budget. But Britain unblocked part of its aid earlier this month, saying the Rwandans had constructively engaging in the search for peace in Congo.
Kagame has launched a so-called “dignity fund” to help wean Rwanda off its dependence on outside help.
Kagame and Congolese President Joseph Kabila met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly last week to discuss the fighting in the Congo, but no breakthrough was made.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met both leaders to push for a solution, only for Kabila to allude to Rwanda’s alleged support for M23 in his speech before the U.N. General Assembly last Tuesday.
Observers have lauded Rwanda’s economic progress since the 1994 genocide but say lack of political freedom and media curbs have hampered reforms. Kagame has rejected the accusations.
Kagame said Kigali should not be blamed for Congo’s woes.
“For over a decade you keep blaming Rwanda for the problems of Congo. Why don’t they have enough courage to blame themselves and take part of the responsibility?” he said.
“What is this blackmail about? Aid? .. They give you aid so that forever you glorify them and depend on them. And they keep using it as a tool of control and management.” (Writing by James Macharia; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Source: Reuters

Wednesday 3 October 2012

Rwanda donors were too quick to suspend aid, says fragile states expert


  • Wednesday 3 October 2012 07.00 BST
LSE’s Professor James Putzel warns against aid donors sticking rigidly to formulas on democracy, human rights and governance
President Paul Kagame has strongly denied claims that Rwanda has backed rebel insurgents in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Photograph: Jason Szenes/EPA
Donors have acted hastily in suspending aid to Rwanda over allegations that it is supporting a rebel insurgency in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to a leading expert on “fragile states”.
Professor James Putzel, co-author of Meeting the Challenges of Crisis States, a report from the London School of Economics, questioned the decision of the EU, the US and Germany in partially freezing aid to Rwanda amid accusations that its military is supporting the violent rebel group M23. President Paul Kagame has vehemently rejected the allegations.
Britain’s position has been more ambiguous: after initially freezing £16m of general budget support to the country in July, it unblocked half that amount last month, which provoked criticism.
“Donors have been precipitous in suspending aid,” said Putzel. “The evidence is much more mixed and it’s complicated. Of course there are some ethnic and family links across the border, but generally the Rwandan government has been judicious in staying its hand.”
Puntzel’s comments highlight the sometimes testy relations between donors and aid recipients, especially at a time when donors place increasing emphasis on the importance of good governance and human rights. The EU, the world’s largest aid donor, last year said it placed far greater focus on democracy, human rights and governance in its aid programmes under its new “agenda for change” development policy.
However, the LSE report cautions against too formulaic an approach towards democratic rules, formal state institutions and elections. “If democratic rules are likely to lead to significant exclusion of either powerful elites or important regional, ethnic, language or religious groups, then they may be inferior to forms of power sharing,” says the report.
Warning that donor attempts to promote democratic or market reforms can lead to violence, it says sometimes tolerating corruption, unproductive rents and less than democratic governments has actually been the price of peace.
“The promotion of democracy in a country needs to focus on establishing mechanisms for checks and balances on executive authority rather than the form of political party competition,” said the report, which looks at why some fragile states – understood as countries particularly vulnerable to outbreaks of large-scale violence – slide into collapse while others manage to achieve periods of “resilience”.
Putzel and his co-author, Jonathan Di John, cite Zambia as an example of “resilient stagnation”, a state that managed to avoid violent conflict throughout its post-colonial history but also became an example of peaceful regime change. Stability was the result of “an inclusive bargain” among contending elites, underpinned by a dominant national political party, they said, but the trade-off has been economic stagnation because economic policies – the deployment of subsidies and access to valuable economic (mining) rights – were based more on political than economic criteria.
“Good governance reforms promoted by aid agencies need to take into account existing elite bargains or they may have unintended negative outcomes on democratic and developmental possibilities,” says the report.
Another uncomfortable message for aid agencies is that the failure to prioritise security in state building threatens to undermine aid efforts. Where the state cannot maintain power without unleashing violence against its own population, as is currently the case in the DRC, external efforts need to put the construction of accountable security forces ahead of other aid programmes, argues the report.
“Most of the attention of the international community towards security in fragile states has been related to downsizing the state’s security forces, demobilising programmes … and wider concerns or providing ‘human security’ and respect for human rights,” it says. “While these are desirable objectives, they are unattainable without the establishment of a basic security capacity within the state.”
A key finding is the importance of taxation, cited as a major indicator for measuring state performance. The report urges western donors to support the creation of taxation systems in developing countries. It also urges donors to channel aid through the state rather than bypassing it, which can contribute to the creation of a “dual public authority”, a scenario that – over time – can weaken states “in favour of rival networks of patronage”. This chimes with one of the outcomes at last year’s aid effectiveness conference in Busan, South Korea, when donors reaffirmed that aid used for general budget support should be the “default” option.
The authors’ main contention is that rather than democratic institutions, the “underlying political settlement” determines political or economic outcomes. Focusing on the political settlement, they argue, directs attention to the crucial role of elites in securing stability in a state, which should lead donors to be concerned “about the incentives elites face to play by the rules of the state”.
Source: Guardian

Mitchell insisted on handout to dictator: £16m aid ‘a parting favour’ for his friend in Rwanda


  • New chief whip said to have made the decision in his final hours as International Development Secretary
  • Senior Foreign Office source tells the Mail it was a ‘mistake’ and that Mitchell overruled civil servants
  • Rwandan president Paul Kagame accused of backing  militia leading a bloody uprising in neighbouring Congo
PUBLISHED: 00:33, 3 October 2012 | UPDATED: 00:33, 3 October 2012
‘Parting favour’: One of Andrew Mitchell’s final decisions as International Development minister was to unfreeze aid to Rwanda
Andrew Mitchell overruled Foreign Office advice to hand £16million of British aid money to a controversial African dictator accused of fuelling a bloody civil war.
A senior Foreign Office source told the Daily Mail that Mr Mitchell’s decision to lift the freeze on aid to Paul Kagame’s Rwandan regime was a ‘mistake’ which would damage Britain’s reputation for standing up against human rights abuses.
Mr Mitchell, now David Cameron’s chief whip, is reported to have overruled his own civil servants by making the decision in his final hours as International Development Secretary last month.
Half of the money will go directly into the Rwandan government’s coffers – despite fears that it will be used to fund a murderous rebellion in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
One human rights campaigner yesterday described the move as a ‘parting favour’ to President Kagame, a personal friend of Mr Mitchell.
The revelations will pile pressure on the chief whip, who is already fighting to save his job after being accused of hurling foul-mouthed abuse at police officers who stopped him riding his bike through the gates of Downing Street.
Labour yesterday called for the publication of the civil service advice received by Mr Mitchell. Shadow International Development Ivan Lewis accused him of putting ‘personal friendship above proper foreign policy considerations’.
The Department for International Development insisted his decision had been ‘based on advice from policy officials within the department’, but refused to detail the advice.
In June, a United Nations report produced detailed evidence showing that Rwanda is backing the notorious M23 militia which is leading a bloody uprising in the DRC.
Dictator: Rwandan president Paul Kagame (pictured with David Cameron in 2007) is accused of backing a murderous militia operating in neighbouring Congo
The militia, led by alleged war criminal Bosco Ntaganda, is accused of widespread murder and rape and has driven 470,000 people from their homes in recent months. Kagame, who was re-elected in 2010 with 93 per cent of the vote, has also been accused of suppressing political opponents and journalists in his own country.
A senior Foreign Office source said: ‘The evidence against Kagame’s regime is absolutely overwhelming. The UN experts’ report found incontrovertible evidence that there had been support from Rwanda to the M23 rebels in terms of supplying weapons, uniforms, tactical advice and command and control assistance. There was also evidence of Rwanda fomenting strife in the area.
‘Most people in the Foreign Office think the time has come to take a really tough stand.’
Sources close to the new International Development Secretary Justine Greening have indicated she is also unhappy about the decision and will review it when the next aid payment to Rwanda is due in December.
Congolese troops and tanks hunt for M23 rebels in the east of Congo: The UN found evidence of support from Rwanda to the M23 rebels in terms of supplying weapons, uniforms, tactical advice and command and control assistance
Foreign aid accounts for more than 40 per cent of the Rwandan government’s income, and Britain is the country’s single biggest donor, giving £75million this year. A £16million aid payment was frozen at the end of July following the publication of the UN report. It was released just six weeks later on Mr Mitchell’s last day in office.
Aid freezes imposed by the United States, Germany, Holland and others remain in place.
In a statement last month Mr Mitchell said he was releasing the cash because Britain had a ‘responsibility to protect the poor’ in Rwanda. He said he had ‘sought assurances’ from Kagame that he was not abusing human rights.

Source: DailyMail.co.uk

Monday 1 October 2012

US Calls on Rwanda to Denounce Congolese Rebels




VOA

Andrew Mitchell under fire over Rwanda aid

MONDAY 01 OCTOBER 2012

























Andrew Mitchell was under further pressure last night after Labour demanded he publish the civil service advice he received over his decision to reinstate Britain's suspended aid programme to Rwanda.

Mr Mitchell used his last few hours as International Development Secretary, before being moved in the reshuffle, to sign off on a plan to hand over £16m of frozen aid.

The UK suspended the payment in June, under pressure from the US and EU, after a UN report said the government of President Paul Kagame was sponsoring rebels in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Sources suggested that Mr Mitchell was reluctant to suspend aid in the first place because of his close links to President Kagame – and overruled advice from his own officials on reinstating the funding in the last act before being moved to the Whips Office.

Labour's shadow International Development Secretary Ivan Lewis said: "Andrew Mitchell's irresponsible decision to reinstate aid put personal friendship above proper foreign policy considerations and undermines the strong message sent by other donors."

An International Development Department spokesman denied the decision was improper.