Rwanda formally won independence from Belgium in 1962. Since then the country has been run by neo-colonial puppet governments financed and armed along divide-and-rule lines first by Belgium and, from 1975, by France. DAVID DORWARD, Director of the African Research Institute at La Trobe University argues that, far from being the saviour on a humanitarian mission, France is responsible for prolonging the misery in Rwanda and is now helping the old regime to regroup outside of Rwanda's borders. He is interviewed by Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly's REIHANA MOHIDEEN.
To what extent is the new government in control right now? How much area does it command?
The new government controls the capital Kigali and most of the north and east of the country. The only areas it doesn't are those occupied by the French.
The French troops are there ostensibly for humanitarian reasons under the umbrella of the United Nations. Yet it's quite clear that the French have been far from neutral; they are, in a sense, an army of occupation which is trying to get out as rapidly as possible. When they leave, the Rwandan Patriotic Front [RPF] will be able to lay claim to the rest of the country.
Do you think the French intend to hold a zone for the previous government?
The French had hoped to be able to force the RPF government into further negotiations so that its former clients [the old Rwandan regime] would have some kind of foot in the door. But exposure of the atrocities of the former government and the general feeling of the international community, makes it now very unlikely that the French will be able to carve out a place for themselves, or their clients, within the new government structures.
Who are the major international powers supporting?
The Americans have gone over to recognising the new government. Uganda already has; a number of other countries have. The UN has agreed that the old Rwandan delegation will be removed from the Security Council and that the new government will represent Rwanda in the UN General Assembly.
Obviously the new government needs a lot of financial and economic aid. Should we be calling for aid to go directly to the new government?
The new government will need aid; Rwanda is one of the 15 poorest countries in the world. In crude terms, cholera and the killings have probably reduced it from being the most populous nation in Africa, but it still has a large population.
Rwanda is very poor; it's sole cash crop is coffee and coffee prices haven't been brilliant for the last few years.
The country needs to rebuild a range of services. All the former President Habry Mania and Hutu extremist government did was to kill off as many of the potential rival elite as it could. It murdered doctors, lawyers, priests, human rights activists — anybody that had university education who wasn't on its side. That means that there's been a decimation — or worse — of the educated elite.
Even before this crisis, Rwanda's food crops had failed; they were down about a third on what they'd been the previous year. What Rwanda needs is aid that helps to improve agriculture and the capacity of people to feed themselves.
Unfortunately most of the aid so far (and there has been a lot over the last few years), has been military and non-developmental aid, or it's been earmarked for cash crop productions. Rwandans really need improved food crops — high yield beans, high yield sorghums and millets. For relatively little cost, these things can have a dramatic impact.
Surely the amount of military aid given to the old regime will be a problem for the new government. How will it disarm the old army and militia?
Most of the army and militia appear to be in Zairean camps which, in theory, are under the control of the UN. If the French really are peace keepers they ought to be disarming the people in refugee camps. It would not be too complex for the French Foreign Legion to do a sweep through the refugee camps. I don't think there are any Hutu extremists — the militia — who would stand up to battle-hardened Legionnaires if the Legionnaires can be convinced to do it. I don't see why they can't.
Why can't the Americans go through? We're not talking about a Somalia here. These militias are not running around with recoilless rifles; they're not operating in an urban environment where there are plenty of places they can shelter. The militia and the Rwandan soldiers are spread out on this barren landscape like the refugees. It wouldn't take much effort to do a line sweep.
Are there any signs of that happening?
No. If the United Nations and these countries are to be taken seriously, as really being willing to address the genocide, then they have to bite the bullet. It seems ironic that we spend billions on the military and then, having taken the king's shilling, nobody wants to get shot at.
What do you think the role of the Australian government should be?
Australia is sending doctors and nurses which is the right thing to do. I felt very proud that instead of taking the soft option and going into Goma, they went to Kigali and are doing the intelligent thing and setting up a situation within Rwanda that will encourage people to return.
There's a concern that Kenya and Zaire might possibly be used as holding camps for the old regime. What is the attitude of the Kenyan and Zairean governments towards the new government?
The governments of Kenya and Zaire are fairly corrupt; there are people in both who may find they have a vested interest in maintaining links with the old [Rwandan] establishment, or factions within it, for their own purposes. This is particularly true of Zaire.
The Kenyan government seems to be using the chaos in Rwanda as its rationale for delaying the transition to a democratic system. The Moi administration uses the self-serving argument that democracy is equated with tribalism which is equated with civil unrest and therefore Kenya needs some kind of benign one-party rule.
Is the exodus still continuing from Kigali?
There's an exodus out of Rwanda but it's unclear where it's coming from. There is increasing migration out of the south, the area ostensibly under French control, into camps further south in Zaire which is creating a new set of problems. There are two streams of refugees entering Zaire: one through Bukavu which is south of Lake Kivu, and the other to Goma, north of the lake.
The French are providing a zone outside of government control: they seem to be doing nothing about bringing the former government to book or disarming the militia; they don't seem to be doing anything about controlling the former politicians, much less arresting them. You would have thought they would have put some people under preventative detention.
I heard that the radio stations weren't in the hands of the new government. Is that true?
The radio station in Kigali, what is left of it, will be. When the former government retreated to Gitarama and then moved further south and west, it used mobile broadcasters.
Those were the stations that broadcast reports of reprisal massacres by Tutsi, but there is no hard evidence that any reprisal massacres have taken place. There's been individual killings. Much was made of a Catholic Bishop who was killed. He was very close to the government and was up to his elbows in other peoples' blood. It would appear that his death had not been ordered or orchestrated by the RPF.
I'm surprised that more young RPF soldiers who've seen their whole families butchered aren't taking the first Hutu militiaman they find and stringing him up.
Have these mobile radio units been asking people to leave?
Yes, and the French haven't shut them down. It seems ludicrous to me if the French Foreign Legion can't shut down a radio station. They can blow up the Rainbow Warrior in New Zealand but they can't close a radio station.
Will the opposition be demobilised when the French troops move out?
By now the opposition has had time to escape into Zaire and remobilise itself. That's the real problem.
The presence of French troops enabled Mobutu to rebreathe a bit of life into his shaky government in Zaire.
Could you give some background on the new Rwandan president, Beize Mungu?
The real power is Vice President and Minister of Defence, Paul Kagani who is a Hutu. The President has been active, but not in the RPF directly. He's been noted for his past human rights activities. There have been very active human rights groups in Rwanda and the RPF has always said that when it formed a government of national unity it would not only bring in Hutus but it also people of this ilk.