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| President Kagame during a press conference in Kigali on Tuesday |
President Paul Kagame has said that Africans should not accept being
selectively picked on by the international justice system which doesn’t
understand Africa’s complex issues.
Kagame was addressing a press conference on Tuesday, when he stated
that the International Criminal Court (ICC) is just a tool of the west
being used to control others and it has become a punching bag for
African leaders.
“If ICC indeed is to be called international justice, let it be seen
to be trying people across the board. It is not a question of being for
or against ICC. This is taking things simplistic way.
Our stand on ICC is not as a result of the Kenyan trials. Our stand
was made 10 years ago, which is why we are not signatories,” said
Kagame.
African leaders under the African Union (AU) have backed the idea of
leaving Africans to sort out their issues especially in the case of
their Kenyan counterparts (President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy
president William Ruto) who are currently being pursued by the ICC.
Kagame did not also have kind words for the western countries that
have played politics on the DR Congo conflict, where the west has
accused Rwanda of supporting the rebel activities in the eastern part of
Congo.
On the DR Congo issue, Kagame said that the untrue stories about
Rwanda’s alleged involvement in the DR Congo conflict were being
manufactured and “thrown around” by some “people with vested interests.”
“Stories being thrown around about Rwanda are a creation of some
people for their own interests, people should dig for truth. The FDLR
has wreaked havoc in Congo for long, but all of a sudden it’s forgotten
like it never existed, focus now is on M23,” Kagame said.
The Head of State said that it is high time Congolese people to be
saved from their suffering and asked the Congolese government to stop
being dishonest and falsely accusing Rwanda.
“We need to stop the suffering of people in Congo and fortunately the world seems focused on finding a solution.
On the issue of security, Kagame said that the Rwandan government has
capacity and enough resources to guarantee the country’s security in
the wake of regional and internal security threats.
On the issues of EAC political integration, where it is speculated
that Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda are moving towards political federation
without other states of Tanzania and Burundi, Kagame said that so many
things may happen at different levels in EA.
“The best part is that people keep the original principles of the
community, and be ready to move on, the rest will catch up later.”
The president also assured the press that Rwanda was in good terms
with the US government even when people have jumped to their own
conclusions.
He said that Rwanda and the US are still allies and that as expected,
good friends have misunderstandings sometimes. But it does not mean
that their friendship has to end because of the misunderstandings.
RWANDA EYE
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