Rwanda: Save Rwanda held interview with Deo Mushayidi
Deogratias Mushayidi was once the President of the Rwandan association of Journalists for 4 years since 1996 .His articles and words he published on various radio and medias became bitter to the government of Kigali to the point that they created disagreement between him and these leaders, and in the year 2000 he decided to exile himself from this government to Belgium. These bitter articles could be read in news papers such as “L’Ere de Liberté”, “Le Baromètre”, and “Imboni”. After all these years Mushayidi spent in Europe never made him forget that Home is best Rwanda.
In his efforts to find his ways back home, Deogratias Mushayidi decided to push away the big rock which he says make a barrier to the entrance to Kigali. This barrier he says was put up by president Kagame, Mushayidi is determined to destroy it , as he mentions it in the following interview we had with him, so as to make Rwanda as a free of movement place, to make Rwanda a mother land to all Rwandans, to make Rwanda a place free of injustice, a place free of exile disease, Rwanda which breath calm in democracy, justice and peace.
Mushayidi with his political party known as PDP (Pact for People’s Defense), testify that what they are fighting for are the normal citizens who were not lucky to know how to read and write. These normal citizens are the majority in Rwanda population and are the most being suffocated by the selfish and criminal power of Paul Kagame and the click following him.
In this interview, Deo Mushayidi is emphasizing on crucial problems which take origin from the 1994 killings, killings qualified as genocide. Mushayidi is dismissing the new denomination which was recently adopted by the RPF’s government, denomination which makes the public to believe that this genocide was aiming only on Tutsi tribe. This politician talks about other serious problems such as hunger in Rwanda, Gacaca jurisdictions, the substitution of French by English in Rwanda, the FDLR problem in Congo, the 2010 elections and political parties operating in exile, he talks also on politics of suffocating and destruction of journalism in Rwanda.
On the field, interview done by Amiel Nkuliza
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Amiel Nkuliza: Mister Mushayidi, once for all, I greet you, how are you doing in KINIHIRA!
Deo Mushayidi: I greet you too, mister Nkuliza! In Kinihira we are well and kicking, and we greet you all! We hope that you also are doing well there in Europe!
A.Nk: There are rumours that nowadays you are located in Tanzania. Can you clarify this to our readers?
D.M: I often go to Tanzania as well in other countries in the region. The fact that we are working in Kinihira has troubled many and made them say much. Truly I have nothing new to tell the public concerning the siege of PDP. Unless you wish me to imitate Muligande and make the difference between the “real truth” and the “Truth of God”!
A.Nk: Since you have published the plans and programs of PDP, you are no longer frequent on Radios and internet as you used to do it. Your current scarcity may have scared some to the point that some are suggesting that you may have been bought by RPF and others are suggesting that since you reached the field you found the different realities. What can you tell them?
D.M: The issue of being bought is baseless. I am not on sale and neither can be bought. Even those to whom it said that I have been sold are aware of that it is impossible. But for those who suggest that the realities I found on the ground are a bit difficult, have they almost guessed right. It is true that doing politics in Europe or America and doing it in Africa that you call “on the ground” is very different. When you reach the field and meet different people and hear their sorrow and their worries, and see the hope they have, because - that hope is there- you really discover how actions speak louder than words, it is true, the time of words is over, it is time for actions.
When we were working in Europe some had taken us like people of words only because of many press releases, though there was not big they were blaming us for. Now since we hardly do press release we are blamed of being dumb. This tells you that no one can please man. I can only tell you that we have decided to reduce words and increase actions. The problem maybe is that we have not yet shown those actions to the public. We are kindly asking the public to bear with us a little bit, soon we shall let them see what we are busy preparing for them ,as we have taken them as witness in our press release of November 15th, 2008 when we published what we called the : “Kinihira message”.
A.Nk.: Among those who says that you may have been bought by Kagame are even some of your fellows, opposition leaders, whom you worked with, they claim that you were sent by Kagane to gather Hutus for him and hand them over to him. What do you answer them?
D.M: I find this issue of taking Hutus to Kagame is another case of extreme tribal misconsideration, are hutus beans or potatoes? Are they what some one grow in his garden and from which he decide what to keep in granary and what to eat? Are they domestic animals that the owner decide what to use to feed his guests and what to sell as to reduce his poverty? If there are politicians who take Rwandans like this, I want to let them know that they are not different from RPF they claim to be against. I can not understand how they can dare to blame PDP of taking Hutus to Kagame. PDP works beyond such tribalistic, regionalistic and linguistic politics. As far as I am concerned you can blame me of other things but I am not be Kagame’s messenger.
A.Nk: With PDP you claim to fight for people’s right, people who are suffocated by the selfish regime of Kagame. Do you have the proof of that after spending more than Eight years in Belgium?
D.M: Living in Belgium does not mean that some one may not know how Rwandans are being suffocated. To start with why are so many Rwandans in Belgium? Here I mean the problem of exile which has become a second nature to Rwandans since a long time and this problem is related to the way Rwandans are being suffocated by different regimes since the time of monarchy until now in the republic era where things have become worse.
The fact that the Kagame regime is suffocating the population is no more a secret, for example:
Refusing the broadcasting of BBC in Kinyarwanda only while the programs in French, Swahili and English are still in air, has which objective other than to suffocate the normal citizen? Do you want to tell me that if the program “Imvo n’imvano” were aired in one of these languages could prevent Kagame and his men from sleeping? So that the normal citizen does not get educated!!!! Ignorance of Rwandans is one of political tactics used by Kagame and his group.
Inducing the population to hunger by forcing them from fertile valleys and their properties, forcing them from farming from these valleys but forcing them to farm what a small group on power is interested in, does that have any other name other than suffocating the population voice? Impoverishing the population and sabotaging their tranquility every day where most of them have become witnesses of lies in “Gacaca jurisdictions” which have no other objective than to maintain a group of dictators on power, can that have other name than suffocating the population and denying them their freedom ?
Putting in prison outspoken men like Dr Niyitegeka Theoneste and filling the parliament of Dumbs as members of parliament can not have another qualification than suffocating and denying the freedom to the normal citizen!
Hunting Rwandans like wild birds all over the whole of Africa and the world under the pretext of “refugee repatriation” is nothing other than suffocating and denying freedom to the population.
A Nk: After the 1994 genocide may Rwandans fled the country most of them being Hutus to Zaire. In their camps, those who survived the RPA bullets have fled again to forests and have created the FDLR. The government in Kigali says that all members of this organizations have committed genocide while the human rights organizations like the : Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International” say that the FDLR is made of even children who fled while they were still babies, who don’t even know genocide history. What do you have to say in PDP, about this confusion between Rwanda and FDLR?
D.M: It is not only these organizations who have published these realities because we have also said it and I want to repeat it here. There are many young men and women who joined FDLR because they have no other wise or other alternative. Politics of Rwandans hunting under the cover up of returning them to their country is not a solution to bring back trust to this youth.
The confusing issues between RPF and FDLR are beyond understanding. Have you seen Rwarakabije being hugged by Kabarebe on his returning way back home! The RPF behaves like he has medicine to clean those he accuses of genocide. The wonder is that it cannot prescribe it to all of them so as to bring good news to the country and in the region. The fact is that even if the FDLR can get annihilated the RPF can create a similar kind.
A.Nk: As it sound in the PDP’s name, it seems that it is a political party which has the war as an option. Do you have means to overthrown Kagame by arms, as himself did by chasing his predecessor Habyalimana?
D.M. Means can not miss when there is the will and the will is there. The will to bring about change in Rwanda is there and we have just mentioned a few reasons .We are still looking for means and that is why we have decided to what we are doing now. However it is not necessary to imitate the RPF and go into volcano and attack Nyacyonga and shot down the aeroplane. There is a proverb in Kinyarwanda that no one does like have the other one done. But also no one should doubt of our decision concerning the changing of things in our country. The revolution that we have made public, we will carry it out together with many Rwandans who are in full support to it even though some are still afraid to come out in public. They should not get worried because when time comes they will come up openly and say what is in their heart and at that time there will be no more dictatorship which denies them their freedom of speech.
A.Nk: In Rwanda we remember the 1994 genocide every year, in the new Rwandan constitution there is a change as far as the 1994 genocide is concerned, it is no more the genocide and massacres but the genocide of Tutsis. Which means that only Tutsis are victims of this genocide? You as a Tutsi who have lost all members of family in this genocide, what do you say about this new naming in your PDP?
D.M: The genocide which took place in Rwanda is a complicated puzzle. However it is very important and urgent to unfold this chain which chains all Rwandans without leaving any one aside. Kagame and his RPF who are on power are part and parcel of this genocide even though they keep trying to hide their role in this genocide; but they are wasting their time because now their participation in known to public.
There are those who were overthrown by the RPF who have nothing to shield them, some are tried in Arusha, others in Switzerland, Belgium and in Canada, there is also the common man who were brought in killing by bad and selfish leaders. These common men are every day engulfed in “Gacaca”, others are rotting in prisons others in doing works instead of imprisonment. In short, all Rwandans are under the big jug of genocide and its consequences.
Most of those who have committed it are busy denying it, others overlook it, while those who provoked it and got power due to it are claiming to have stopped it. Those who perished in it are tortured and those who survived it are dying every day without protection.
Back to your question of the name, us we have maintained the name of massacres and genocide because we think that it tries to qualify what happened in Rwanda. Here I want to remind you that this name was adopted by the same RPF while IBUKA was insisting to opt for the new naming which is politically motivated.
If Tutsis were massacred as a tribe doesn’t refute the fact that many Hutus were massacred in Rwanda and in Congo. Those who massacred Tutsis did not spare Hutus who were qualified of accomplices. However in that yearly remembrance, those Hutus are not given any single attention. Why?
RPF exterminated many population Hutus and Tutsis together all along the areas where he passed fighting. If we really want to bring our Rwanda back to life it is paramount to bring to light the whole truth and make each and every one answerable on his or her responsibility. During the genocide and massacres, RPF have had its own and big contribution in various ways. The fact that it won the war contributed a lot to keep lying and hiding the real truth, however it did not help to keep hiding the truth because at the end it came to light.
The today’s problem of Rwanda is to be under the governance of a click of people who are afraid to answer one day of their crimes. That is what we mean when we say that Rwandans are hostages .When Kagame sees ahead after his presidency, he sees no life and hope, as well as Ibingira, that is what he meant when he told Twagiramungu in public that even if the fate can make him win the elections, he would himself, Ibingira, kill him. This is the continue aim of Kagame when he untirelessly keep hunting Rwandans all over Africa in the name of Tutsi security, though most of African leaders have now discovered his game.
A.Nk: In order to bring to justice the genocide perpetrators, the Rwandan government introduced what they call “Gacaca jurisdictions”. These jurisdictions even though their judges have no power and experience to carry out this justice(they are not qualified as judges),the government used them to track those opposed to it(Ex. Dr. Theoneste Niyitegeka).In PDP do you have a clear way to carry out the judgement over genocide crimes ?
D.M: I have just finished to tell you how this genocide is like a chain which chain all Rwandans .Up to now what the Kigali government is doing to judge the genocide cases, is done in favor of Kagame and his group. The PDP’s view is that it should not be up to Kagame to judge the genocide cases because himself should be arrested and be judged of his participation in this genocide. The PDP’way of removing this chain is the politic based on the truth and forgiveness among Rwandans.
We all agree that the politics of revenge has failed. That is why we fully support the way of broad dialogue (Inter Rwandan dialogue).
I want to take this opportunity and praise the conclusions and resolutions taken in the meeting held recently in Palma de Mallorca Island, in Spain.
However we want to let the public know that the time to beg this dialogue is over, that is why we have resolved to use all means in our range to make it a must.
A.Nk: Do you support the reconciliation way preached by Jean Paul Samputu who is in a big disagreement with the president of IBUKA?
D.M: I was not able to follow the BBC program with Samputu but I managed to read some articles about it. However I find his ideas far better than the extremism found in the Simburudari language.
A.Nk: Rwanda was a colony of a French speaking country (Belgium) In the new constitution, the Rwandan government says that English and Kinyarwanda are the only official languages. French was accepted in the removed constitution but now it was removed, which automatically dismiss the users of this language especially in education and in administration. What are you in PDP planning to do for the big number of Rwandans who have no more what to do because of this problem?
D.M: This is another example of suffocating the population.
The fact that Kagame and his fellows were brought up and learnt in English speaking country, this is history. Nobody should be victimized for that. As well those who were born in Rwanda and brought up there and did their studies in French should not victimized for that. These two foreign languages are equally important to those who use them and learnt in them.
Up to now I have never heard any body who did his/her studies in French who run away from English while they were learning in University of Butare however those who did their studies in English run from French but the government condemned this habit.
Now because of political reasons, French is banned .Those who did their studies in it and find that they need it are supposed to find their way out. I have told that PDP does not have a problem of languages. We have also said it publicly we will do all in our reach to oppose this ill advised decision. If I remember I talked about this issue in the interview I gave to the Umuseso news paper in January 2009.
A.Nk: You have been member in various political parties like Igihango and Partenariat/Intwali.In this last one you were even a member of the committed. If it is not a secret, in PDP with you struggle, are you in collaboration with Partenariat/Intwali leader General Habyalimana alias Mukaru? There is other news which claims that the Colonel Karegeya Patrick is busy helping you to find support. What can you tell the public on these issues?
D.M: It is true in the last eight years I have been in various political parties. That was in search of a better way to bring about the total and complete revolution in Rwanda. I want to let you know that in those eight years I have never gone out of the main agenda of uniting Rwandans.
In both political parties, Igihango and Partenariat/Intwali my main objective has always been of uniting Rwandans. As we have said it, PDP is not another political party but we came to realize that the ideas of these political parties should not just end there. PDP came as to put in actions these ideas, operating on the field. This does not prevent these political parties and coalitions to continue to exist and carry out their programs and more so we in PDP are ready to continue work together with them if at all it is possible.
PDP is not made only by people from Partenariat/Intwali. It put together people from all various political parties and those who belong to no political party. Concerning Colonel Karegeya, I want to let know that me and him we do not know each other. I remember hearing Kagame calling him “nothing” and “useless” and later I heard that he ran away. Until now I have never seen him.
A.Nk: Mister Mushayidi, recently you were replaced from the post of General Secretary of Partenariat/Intwali. What do you have to say about that?
D.M: According to the statement made public by the person who took over from me, to whom I wish well in his new post, my replacement was necessary because I do not attend to meetings and I agree with that. I can not often travel from here to attend to meetings in Brussels, Paris or Geneva. The problem is not our replacement. However in order to complementarily and solidarity, I think that we in PDP are ready to meet with leaders of Partenariat/Intwali if they wish.
A.Nk: Your fellow politicians who do their politics outside the country, I mean like FDU, have resolved to go campaign for presidency in the coming elections due to be held in August 2010 in Rwanda. This political party is just doing what Mr. Faustin Twagiramungu did in 2003. What do you in PDP think about these elections especially that FDU has decided to take part in them?
D.M: The 2010 elections like the previous ones of 2003 and 2008 are just a make up. PDP has no intention to join and has nothing to say about the FDU decision of taking part in them for the only reason that we have never got time to sit with them and get clarifications from them.
However I can not miss to let you know there are many Rwandans who have a lot of expectations from us and wish to know what our next step towards these elections is. Sincerely speaking, to participate in them or not, are not the only possibilities.
For those who are ready to participate in them, things are clear now because at least Rwandans will be able to follow how they will campaign. And for those who will not take part in them, the question is to know what they are planning to do.
In the near future PDP will let the Rwandan and International community know what is our intention towards these elections.
A.Nk: Kigeli the Rwandan king has said to be ready to go back to Rwanda before these elections of 2010.His followers like Dr. Christian Marara claim that only the king can bring answers to Rwandans problems. What can you tell those who support the king and those who support the Republic in Rwanda?
D.M: The only thing I can tell them is that it is every one’s right. Those who support that the king is the only solution let them work for it. Those who support the Republic, they should know that what goes round comes round and work for the Republic which does good to all Rwandans.
A. Nk: As for you in PDP what is your position between these two forms of governance: Republic or the monarchy?
D.M: We are supporting the Republic which does not sideline any Rwandan. It does mean that the Republic we are looking for will not sideline the king neither. It is good news that those who support the king are also in support of elections. We are campaigning for the Rwandan Republic. We opposed the Hutu Republic, there is no reason to support the Tutsi Republic. Because the Hutu Republic makes the Hutu army for it’s protection and a Tutsi Republic a Tutsi army for it’s protection.
A. No: Recently we heard General Charles Kayonga, one of the Rwandan army commanders saying that the Rwandan army has a big role in peace keeping in the world and that powerful countries like America and UK are aware of that.
D.M: Let it be. But what is the need of bring peace to other countries when you refuse peace to those you were supposed to protect? Is the Rwandan army made for hunting Rwandans? Are we afraid of any neighboring country which may attack us? Or we are still in the old days of expansion of the Rwandan territory?
The problem concerning mission of the army is one to be debated in the great inter Rwandan dialogue that we are asking for
.
A.Nk: Do you mean that in Rwanda we do need an army?
D.M: That can be a possibility and that can only depend on the agreement between Rwandans and remember that it can not be a unique case of a country without an army. Truly speaking, the politics of Kagame and his group are suicidal.
Rwandans need to be at peace in the region of the great lakes countries. The forceful politics of Kagame in search of that peace is to be condemned because it is not in the interests of Rwandans of today and those to come not forgetting for those of the regional inhabitants.
A.Nk: What do you have to say about the FDLR politics of causing havoc in Congo?
D.M: We can not support that kind of politics and whoever may be doing it. However what I can tell you is that the existence of FDLR is of a big gain for RPF more than it may be for those who are opposing RPF.
A Nk: Those words you have said can put you in trouble with Hutus who consider FDLR like their saviour!
D.M: That may be possible because it is not the first time I disagree with those who call themselves saviours. Even the RPF which calls itself a saviour of Tutsi we are in a great disagreement. What I am sure of is that Rwandans consider RPF and FDLR as part of their problem than the solution.
However we must bear in mind that those who opt to join such organizations do it because there is no otherwise. Therefore we have the obligation to forge this otherwise and bring it to life so as to give rest to the public.
A.Nk: Thanks a lot Mr. Mushayidi, I thank you very much for your answers in our interview.
D.M: Me too I thank you very much.
Done in May 29th, 2009
By Amiel Nkuliza