::Colored Opinions::

Ruling RPF mouthpiece tries to discredit Rwandan Greens

2009-11-10T09:56:00.000-08:00

Rwanda Green Party members anxiously waited to enter the hall and be seated, at the Rwanda Green Party's fourth attempt to convene, in Kigali, Rwanda, which ended in broken bones and arrests, after the disruption and violence of ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front agents.

Paul Kagame's ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front party is using its mouthpiece, the New Times, to discredit the Rwanda Greens as they approach their fifth attempt to convene in Kigali on 11.20.2009, and, to secure a ballot line in Rwanda's 2010 elections. AllAfrica.com posted this piece published in the New Times on 11.10.2009, http://allafrica.com/stories/200911100003.html

Rwanda: Aspiring Party Hit By Internal Wrangles

Innocent Niyonshuti

10 November 2009

Kigali — Hardly before it gets the green light to operate in the country, the aspiring Democratic Green Party of Rwanda is already embroiled in internal wrangles threatening to tear apart the infant political organization.

Two weeks ago, the party called a convention that ended in chaos triggered by disagreements among party loyalists who accused the interim executive of being 'hoodwinked' by foreign interests and failing to come up with a tangible national program for the party.

This wrangling has already forced some founding members to call it a day, quitting the political organization as it struggles to meet registration requirements.

One of the key members to quit the infant party includes its interim Secretary General, Andrew Muganwa, who threw in the towel over what sources attributed to 'dictatorial tendencies' of the current interim President.

"This is simply a surrogate political party sponsored by foreign forces and designed to create subversion, insecurity and division," Aimable Kanamugire, a member of the party who attended the botched convention told The New Times.

Kanamugire attributed the chaos that broke up during the party's maiden convention to discontent from party members bitter with its leadership that 'spent time repeatedly chorusing' what foreign forces wanted them to do instead of 'presenting a tangible national agenda.'

"The party has no formal line it follows---it is remote-controlled by foreign interests and there's a lot of internal confusion. Its leadership hardly has an agenda for this nation and this has been a source of frustration for many of potential members," Kanamugire said.

"They have been promising us money claiming that they have a strong network from the larger world wide green movement, but from the look of things, these funds are benefitting a few individuals."

Kanamugire said party members were also bitter when they learnt of a recent meeting between their interim President and some diplomats accredited to Kigali where they were 'coached' on what kind of message to preach to their followers.

Sources say the meeting held at Hotel Gorillas was coordinated by the First Counsellor in the Belgian Embassy and attracted two other infant political groupings.

"The youth should be particularly careful about the intentions of the Green party," Kanamugire insisted.

"The Ministry of Justice and Nyarugenge District officials who had in the past issued permission for these groups, should look carefully into their agenda before issuing a permit."

Relevant Links

The violence that broke up two weeks ago among party loyalists is also partly attributed to rowdy members of the new breakaway function led by the party's former Secretary General, Andrew Muganwa.

Muganwa fell out with interim president Frank Habineza over what party insiders described as 'a fight for power supremacy.'

In an email sent to The New Times yesterday, the interim leadership of the green party failed to explain the cause of violence during their convention and insisted that their party was not controlled by foreign forces.

Frank Habineza is a former Personal Assistant to former Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Drocella Mugorewera, who fled into exile. It is said that the two are still closely in touch.

San Francisco energy policy at odds with San Francisco Rep. Nancy Pelosi's

2009-11-09T19:18:00.000-08:00

Long awaited news in San Francisco this morning, 11.09.2009:

"San Francisco Requests Bids for an Alternative to PG&E: Local Power-Assisted RFP Seeks New 51% Green Power Supply for Residents & Businesses, 360 MW of Local Green Power

San Francisco, CA, November 09, 2009 --(PR.com)-- The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) today released a Request for Proposals authorized by City leaders to implement the Community Choice Aggregation Program, known as CleanPowerSF. . . Co-drafted by the San Francisco Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) with technical assistance of Local Power, Inc. following a decade of preparation, the RFP invites bids to provide a new electricity service to San Franciscans that consists of 51% renewable energy and demand technologies by 2017, and provides municipal financing for development of at least 360 Megawatts of new solar photovoltaics, smart grid, local wind, cogeneration, energy efficiency technologies and other local green power."

And, San Francisco's clean energy legislation, unlike the federal government's, clean means non-nuclear.

However, the City's new energy policy conflicts with that of its 8th District Congressional Representative, for the past 23 years, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Full text at http://www.examiner.com/x-8257-SF-Energy-Policy-Examiner~y2009m11d9-San-Francisco-energy-policy-at-odds-with-San-Francisco-Rep-Nancy-Pelosis.

Three reasons to support African Greens

2009-11-08T14:40:00.000-08:00

I sent invitations to join the Facebook group "We support the African Greens" to Green Party members and others who might, whether members of the Green Party or no.

Cross post from Examiner.com. Read more at http://www.examiner.com/x-8257-SF-Energy-Policy-Examiner~y2009m11d7-Three-reasons-to-support-African-Greens.

Photos of Rwanda Greens convention sabotaged in Kigali, 10.30.2009

2009-11-06T09:35:00.000-08:00

Photos of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda's
convention, sabotaged by ruling party Rwandan
Patriotic Front operatives, then shut down by
Rwandan police, in Kigali, on 10.30.2009. The
party now plans a fifth attempt to convene, again
in Kigali, on 11.20.2009.

Party President Frank Habineza, introduces Party Secretary General, Charles Kabanda, who greets the congress with the party symbol. On his right is Party Second Vice President, Jeanine UWINEZA.

Party President Frank Habineza greets the congress with the party symbol. On his left is Party First Vice President, Andrew Kagwa Rwiserweka. And on the right, Secretary General, Charles Kabanda.

Coordinators making sure that all members are seated.

Party members are anxiously waiting to enter the hall and be seated

One of the guys that sabotaged the meeting was handcuffed while others hid thier faces from the camera.

Commonwealth human rights group opposes accepting Rwanda before election

2009-11-06T05:58:00.000-08:00

The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative group now argues that Rwanda's application should not be considered until after the 2010 election, not at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting to be held this month, November 2009, in Trinidad and Tobago, even though British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Ugandan President, and current Commonwealth chairperson Yoweri Museveni, all strongly support Rwanda's application.

From the Rwanda News Agency, 11.04.2009:

Commonwealth group maintains opposition to Rwanda entry

By RNA Reporter

Friday, 06 November 2009

http://www.rnanews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2281&Itemid=1

Kigali: The Commonwealth advocacy group which opposes the entry of Rwanda into the block is standing by its stance – now accusing the British government of supporting Kigali membership “for reasons that are still not entirely clear”, RNA reports.

In the latest assessment, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) says Rwanda’s application should wait to be considered at the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), not the one to be held this month in Trinidad and Tobago.

“Recently years of Commonwealth diplomacy brought to the Maldives good elections and the end of a president who had ruled for 27 years. In this work the Commonwealth does a great job,” argues Derek Ingram, a CHRI Executive Committee member.

“On Rwanda it should wait for next year’s presidential elections, send a strong observer group to decide whether they are fair (the last ones were not) and then consider the application at the next CHOGM in 2011.”

Following the release of the 26-page report last in September prepared by Kenya academic Prof. Yash Ghai, Rwanda reacted with furry. Kigali envoy in London Mr. Gatete Claver accused the advocacy group of deliberately disregarding some essential facts. He dismissed the assertion that Rwanda’s laws against Genocide ideology are vague, saying the British laws against the holocaust are not any better.

President Kagame has repeatedly said Rwanda cannot be compared to most of the Commonwealth members in terms of human rights. Parliament also joined in with a strongly worded resolution committing to stand by the country’s application because it will benefit the people of Rwanda.

The former British PM Tony Blair and his successor Gordon Brown have shown unwavering support to Rwanda. One of the biggest members of the 53-strong block Australia also indicated to Foreign Affairs Minister Rosemary Museminali during her visit in September that it was fully behind the favourable side.

Another top backer for Rwanda’s bid is Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. The Ugandan leader, as host of the 2007 CHOGM, is until the November one in Trinidad, chairperson of the Commonwealth.

The strong voice in favour of membership argues that if Rwanda does not meet the Commonwealth standards, it should be allowed in which could be encouraged to conform. The reaction of many people is to point out that some member countries still do not measure up to set values.

For the India-based Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), “This is no answer. There is no point in the Commonwealth adding to its problems.”

In the assessment published in the Royal Commonwealth Society’s Commonwealth Conversation last week, Mr. Ingram, the CHRI Committee member says there are countries that have been allowed in over the same arguments, but do not change.

“In fact, Cameroon was admitted too early and for years now the Secretary-General’s envoys have been trying to get a more democratic situation there. President Paul Biya has been president for 27 years and wants to stand next year yet again,” he writes.

“No member will ever have totally clean hands, but there is only a handful such as The Gambia, Sri Lanka, Swaziland that present real problems.”

“The most fervent supporter of Rwanda’s membership is the UK for reasons that are still not entirely clear,” he says.

Greens fight for rights in Kagame's Rwanda

2009-11-05T15:26:00.000-08:00

Rwanda's Commonwealth application

2009-11-03T13:24:00.000-08:00

by Ann Garrison

Banner of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda

Members of the Global Greens community keep asking what we can do to protect Interim Rwandan Green Party Leader Frank Habineza and the Rwandan Greens. One of the only possible pressure points I know of is the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) which objects to accepting Rwanda into the Commonwealth because of repeated human rights violations and invasions of neighboring D.R. Congo.

The New Times, reported, in Rwanda: Kagame to Address London Summit on 11.03.2009, that Paul Kagame is in London right now, prepared to address the first "annual 'Private Equity in Africa" summit. Africa writer/investigator David Barouski believes that this is also a part of Kagame's bid to join the Commonwealth.

The London Guardian reported on the CHRI's human rights objections in Rwanda's Commonwealth hopes dented by human rights criticism.

The African Pambazuka News ran Rwanda's Commonwealth Application on 09.24.2009.

Rwandan government escalates threat to Rwandan Greens

2009-11-03T06:54:00.000-08:00

From Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda:

11/03/2009
Today's Update

Dear African Greens, Dear Greens,

Thanks so much for all your encouragement and all the different efforts made.

Thanks to Congolese Green Party for the motion of support, thanks to the USA Greens, you have really been helpful and thanks to European Greens and all greens of the world.

The situation is alarming, there is a lot of harassment going on, especially in my home area. Government agents are threatening party members and have summoned them a lot. Some members are feared missing. We have sent a group that is searching in all prisons.

The Global Greens coordination are preparing a declaration, once its ready, we shall share it with you.

The international community needs to take an immediate action, this should be the same case as was in 1994 during the genocide. When the West kept quiet and a million people perished.

The situation can be prevented and I believe if you act, our government would respect you.

Sorry, am avoiding some details, for the obvious reasons.

Keep us in prayers,
Frank

No rule of law in Rwanda

2009-11-02T07:12:00.000-08:00

by Ann Garrison

"There is no rule of law in Rwanda! . . . If you want to keep us out of the elections, and you want to get 99% of the vote, then you have to say it! Enough is enough! We are going forward! We are not going back!"
--Interim Rwandan Green Party leader Frank Habineza

On 10.31.2009, Rwandan state security operatives and police violently shut down the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda's fourth attempt to hold its founding convention in Kigali. BBC Radio reports:

The international network of Green Parties, continue to await pictures of the Rwandan Green Party's fourth attempt to meet in Kigali, and further news of those Rwandan Greens who were injured, or imprisoned, and of those who have gone missing, in the aftermath.

The Green Party of the United States has created a web page for news, links, activist alerts, and images of the Rwandan Green Party's struggle to emerge.

http://www.gp.org/campaigns/international/rwanda/index.php

The Green Party of the U.S. feels specially obliged to speak out for the political and civil rights of Rwandan Greens, and all Rwandans, because Rwanda is the U.S.'s closest ally in Africa.

No Green Party banner over Rwanda; broken bones and arrests instead

2009-10-31T11:56:00.000-07:00

The Rwandan Democratic Green Party's third attempt to convene was shut down in Kigali, Rwanda on October 2nd, 2009. No photographs of the convention disrupted by state security operatives and police are available yet.

Inset: Green leader Frank Habineza.

This should tell the world what Rwanda, the U.S.A.'s closest ally in Africa, and its President Paul Kagame, are:

The Rwandan Democratic Greens tried, for the fourth time, to hold their founding convention in Kigali, on 10.30.2009, but the police appeared again, with even worse consequence.

This morning I spoke to Frank Habineza, interim Rwandan Green Party leader, who was in a Kigali hospital trying to arrange an X-ray for another Rwandan Green, a woman with a broken leg.

Another woman, and Rwandan Green, has a broken back.

More are injured, and I believe Frank said some are in jail. He was on a cell in a hospital and I always have to work to understand his sweet French/Kinyarwanda English accent as well.

He wasn't able to give me any more details because he had to hurry off to help his friend with the broken leg and I had to run too, but he said, "It wasn't a good day."

Indeed. Twelve hours later, at 3:00 A.M. in Kigali, 6:10 P.M. in San Francisco, I don't have any new e-messages Tweets, Facebook posts, or phone calls from Frank.

No news on the Web yet. Frank said to watch the BBC and the Rwandan News Agency websites. I told him that the state run Rwandan News Agency won't let me on their damn website. He himself had to pay them $250 to get on and pick up the articles he sends me, which are almost always yanked off as soon as they're posted.

I didn't have a chance to urge Frank to Twitter, but I'm going to try calling again to suggest that. Anyone on Twitter can follow Frank at http://twitter.com/habinef .

We obviously need to get on phones to the White House, Rwandan Embassies, and the press.

Greens of course, should call and I first addressed this note mostly to Greens, but, obviously, no one from any nonviolent political party should wind up in a hospital with broken bones, or in jail, for attempting to hold a founding convention.

This is the Rwanda that Bill and Hillary Clinton and Reverend Rick Warren point to as "a shining beacon of hope for Africa." Bill Clinton hung a Global Citizenship Award around Rwandan President Paul Kagame's neck a week before Reverend Rick Warren presented him with the same International Medal of Peace that he hung around George Bush's neck last year.

This is the Rwanda that criminalizes homosexuality and denies same sex lovers access to U.S.-funded HIV/AIDS services, in keeping with Reverend Rick Warren's abstinence-only-until-heterosexual monogamy HIV prevention proscriptions. The Rwandan Greens are the only political party with a "sexual diversity" plank in their platform, a plank that Frank Habineza and the Rwandan Greens defended adamantly during their attempts to register the party last week.

This is the Rwanda that the U.S. uses to control the vast oil and natural gas reserves, and many other natural resources of neighboring D.R. Congo.

Most of all, this is the Rwanda that the U.S. uses to control Congo's military industrial minerals. It has long been stated policy that the U.S. must be prepared to go to war in Central Africa, as it has, covertly, to control the cobalt reserves, in the Katanga Copper Belt which runs through southeastern Congo's Katanga Province into Zambia.

U.S. military industries cannot manufacture for war without cobalt and most of the world's cobalt is there.

(Anyone should feel free to post this note to Green Party lists and websites, and wherever else, ASAP.)

During the past two weeks, as we lobbied to see the Rwandan Democratic Greens emerge with full political rights, Greens posted this to Green Party sites around the U.S. and the world:

Green Party banner over Rwanda, http://www.greenpartywatch.org/2009/10/16/green-party-banner-over-rwanda/

Now we're all praying for Frank Habineza, his family and other Rwandan Greens.

Rwandan interim Green Party leader Frank Habineza, and his wife Edith and son Godwin.

"De blanke subcultuur van de ChristenUnie"

2009-10-30T13:05:00.000-07:00

Gert-Jan Segers, de direkteur van het Wetenschappelijk bureau, zegt in het AD:

,,De moslims moeten de waarden van de Westerse samenleving omarmen. Ze moeten echt voor Nederland kiezen. Met name de Marokkaanse gemeenschap zal duidelijk stelling moeten nemen tegen de criminaliteit. Ze moeten erkennen dat criminaliteit echt niet kan.

Concreet pleiten we bijvoorbeeld voor een verbod op subsidies voor religieuze en culturele organisaties vanuit landen die geen godsdienstvrijheid hebben. Er mogen dus geen moskeeën gefinancierd worden door Saudi-Arabië of Koeweit.

Ook moet de huwelijksmigratie zoveel mogelijk worden beperkt. Je moet niet steeds achterstanden importeren. En de lange arm van Ankara en Rabat moet weg. Het kan niet langer zo zijn dat zij bepalen welke namen een kind hier mag hebben.''

Wat dit met Christelijke politiek of Christelijk geloof te maken heeft blijft totaal onduidelijk. Blijkbaar staan bij het partijbestuur die deze persoon heeft aangesteld de westerse waarden hoger in het vaandel dan de belijdenis van het Evangelie. Die schofterige woorden over "achterstanden importeren" van dit broekje getuigt van weinig tot geen respect ten opzichte van zijn allochtone medeburgers. Als je als partijbestuur iemand aanstelt die zo over mensen spreekt dan heb je ergens de afslag gemist. Voldoende reden om als lid je lidmaatschap te heroverwegen of tenminste het partijbestuur hierover opheldering te vragen.

In een ander interview met de direkteur van het wetenschappelijk bureau, blijkt vervolgens dat hij op de hoogte is van het feit dat participatie van migranten binnen de ChristenUnie actief wordt belemmerd:

Het gebrek aan participatie van christenmigranten in de politiek wijt de directeur van het wetenschappelijk instituut van de ChristenUnie aan de gemakzucht van de politieke partijen.

„Het is eenvoudiger om in de eigen, blanke subcultuur te blijven. De migrantenwerkgroep van de CU heeft enige tijd stilgelegen, omdat er te weinig prioriteit aan werd gegeven. Dat is teleurstellend.”

Natuurlijk laat hij niet na migranten een trap na te geven in dat interview:

„Actief-zijn in de politiek vraagt een grondige kennis van ons staatsbestel, de taal en de politieke traditie.”

Om meer christenmigranten deel te laten nemen aan de politiek pleit Segers voor het opzetten van een buddyproject waarbij een CU-politicus wordt gekoppeld aan een migrant.

„Door actief mee te doen, kunnen migranten barrières overwinnen.”

Laat ik dat nu zo samenvatten: Migranten moeten nog veel leren, ze spreken de taal niet en kennen de politieke traditie niet. Daarom vormen ze een risico en daarom moeten we een buddy aan ze koppelen zodat ze geen rare streken uithalen. Segers en zijn vriendjes zullen wel even bepalen wie wel of niet geschikt is om buddy te worden. Wat dit nog met Christelijke politiek of met participatie van migranten te maken heeft, u mag het mij vertellen.

related articles: "De blonde messias van de biblebelt"

Copenhagen climate talkers

2009-10-28T00:33:00.000-07:00

by Ann Garrison

The Copenhagen climate talkers aren't going to put carbon caps on perpetual war for the world's fossil fuels, geostrategic minerals, and other natural resources.

"Militarization and global warming," by Steve Martinot.

"Peace activism = climate activism," by Ann Garrison.

Kick Ivan Kagame Out Of Westpoint

2009-10-27T11:06:00.000-07:00

The article "The Current Forced Brain Drain from Rwanda" has a long list of Rwandans that have fled the country because of the current military dictatorship in place there since more then ten years. One of them, Eugène NDAHAYO, wants to return to Rwanda in order to participate in the electoral process next year, but Rwanda has refused to hand him his passport, which is a clear sign that Paul Kagame is commited not to democratic development, but to military dictarship:

"Eugene Ndahayo was Director of Cabinet of the then Minister of Information Jean-Baptiste NKULIYINGOMA in the first RPF led government put in place on July 19, 1994. At the moment of his fruitless attempt to get application forms, he produced a copy of the Presidential Order published by the Official Gazette of the Republic of Rwanda appointing him Director of Cabinet among other papers."

I don't see how the US can let Paul Kagame, or the current RPF military junta, get away with this and I ask the US President to send a clear message to Rwanda by expelling Ivan Kagame from Westpoint.

Stuart Symington, current US ambassador to Rwanda, has a long history of supporting democratic development in countries to which he has been assigned. I hope he takes his duty seriously in Rwanda, makes use of his experience, and won't be fooled by the killer from Kigali and his clique.

Peace activism = climate activism

2009-10-25T14:31:00.000-07:00

by Ann Garrison

"Militarism is the way corporations maintain their access to their food supply — the planet." --Steve Martinot, Militarism and Global Warming

The best thing Copenhagen climate talks could produce would be protest. Not more ineffective international standards and protocols. Protest.

So it's no wonder that UK border police, on October 14th, invoked anti-terrorist law to arrest Chris Ktichen, a British climate change activist attempting to cross into mainland Europe for events leading up to the talks.

The Danish government is also preparing new "turmoil and riot" law to control expected protest.

Two days before Kitchen's arrest, Denmark's top climate negotiator, Thomas Becker, resigned and "could not be reached for comment." Some speculated that Becker was too determined to fight for agreements with real consequence, but the Danish government called it "purely an administrative matter," then claimed that Becker had put too many bottles of red wine on his state funded restaurant tab.

Reuters and most other outlets all published the same unattributed report, including this conclusion:

Although the host's chief negotiator can wield influence as a broker behind the scenes, Denmark's own position is tightly tied to European Union policy, and Becker's absence was seen as unlikely to change an outcome which will be decided primarily by the big powers. - --Reuters, 10.12.2009

But, no matter how much control, including police control, Denmark and the big powers organize between now and December's climate talks, there will no doubt be considerable angry protest. I hope that it will include anti-war protest, because, broadly understood, the wars for fossil fuels and other resources, are the greatest cause of global warming. Steve Martinot makes this argument with irrefutable logic in "Militarism and global warming," where he argues that "militarism is the way corporations maintain their access to their food supply --- the planet."

The U.S. military is the world's largest single consumer of fossil fuels---and uranium, to generate nuclear power and maintain the nation's nuclear weapons stock. We fight in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Africa, to secure the fossil fuels, fossil fuel transport corridors, uranium, and other military industrial minerals that we must have to keep fighting for more of the same, and, that U.S. military industries must have to continue to manufacture for war.

So, although there were rallies against global warming all over the world, yesterday, the most powerful, in effect, was the London protest against the Afghanistan War led by Lance Corporal Joe Glenton, who now faces court martial for refusing to return to fight in Afghanistan:

Moveon.org takes the fudge, in Iraq and Afghanistan

2009-10-24T08:21:00.000-07:00

by Ann Garrison

Obama's Peace Prize already took the cake, so this takes the fudge:

MoveOn.org, the Democratic Party's fundraising and PR PAC, is urging all of us to join a global rally, against global warming, on 10.24.2009. In San Francisco, they want us to show up at Justin Herman Plaza, at 3:00 P.M. And, they promise that: "There will even be events in Afghanistan and Iraq."

They seem to want us to appreciate them, now that President and Commander-in-Chief Obama, and the Democratic Party, are controlling and escalating the U.S. war(s) and occupations for fossil fuels, uranium, and military industrial minerals.

The U.S. military is the world's largest single consumer of fossil fuels. It wages war, in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Africa, to secure fossil fuels and fossil fuel transport corridors, and thus ensure its ability to wage more wars for more fossil fuels and transport corridors. War--and global warming--without end, Amen. Just as Moveon.org warned us, in their 2008 presidential campaign ad:

First published on Examiner.com, http://www.examiner.com/x-8257-SF-Energy-Policy-Examiner

Oil for blood: T. Boone Pickens wants his

2009-10-21T23:24:00.000-07:00

Oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens

Oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens has reversed the anti-war complaint "No blood for oil," He's upset that U.S. energy companies aren't getting enough oil for American blood----and U.S. taxpayer dollars. He complains that it's going to China instead.

From Examiner.com.

San Francisco recruits; Blue Angels over the Bay

2009-10-20T08:17:00.000-07:00

by Ann Garrison

San Francisco waterfront, during the City's

annual Blue Angels military recruitment drive.

Each September the City of San Francisco, California, submits its request for a Blue Angels Air Show recruiting drive, which the U.S. Defense Department confirms each December, as it has every year since then Mayor Dianne Feinstein requested it in 1981, eight years after the end of the U.S. draft, six years after the end of the Vietnam War, and three years after the assassination of Harvey Milk.

Global Greens follow Rwandan Frank Habineza on Twitter

2009-10-18T08:05:00.000-07:00

by Ann Garrison

Frank Habineza, interim leader of the
Rwandan Democratic Greens--"habinef" on Twitter.

I just posted this message and link to the top of my Facebook page, on Sunday 10.18.2009, in San Francisco, California:

"I'd like to urge Green and human rights Tweeters to follow Frank Habineza, interim leader of the Rwandan Democratic Green Party, for the sake of Frank's and other party members' safety, and, for political rights in Rwanda.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame's government should know that Greens and other human rights activists are watching Frank and the Rwandan Democratic Greens, especially during the next two weeks, as they continue their struggle to register as a political party with a ballot line, and convene in Rwanda's capital city, Kigali, on October 30th, despite have been shut down by the state three times.

Please post to your Facebook pages, websites, e-lists, and/or blogs, and urge others concerned with political rights, in Rwanda, Central Africa, and beyond, to do so as well.

Canadian, Australian, European, and African Greens have all spoken out for the Rwandan Greens, and some have spoken to Rwandan Embassies. We're waiting for a statement from the Green Party U.S.A., but this is not just about Green Party rights; it's about political rights, and the safety of those fighting for them."

LGBT human rights are also at issue, to say the least, in Rwanda, where official policy has long been that "homosexuality does not exist." Frank Habineza told me he would try to contact members of the LGBT community willing to speak to press outside Rwanda, but also said that "they are so beaten down here that they are very hard to find above ground."

Frank Habineza is also on Facebook.

For background on what is at stake, see:

Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, website
Rwandan Democratic Greens still struggling, Colored Opinions
Green Party banner over Rwanda, Colored Opinions and the OpEdNews
Rwandan Green Party cries foul over possible sabotage, Colored Opinions and the OpEdNews
Rwanda's Democratic Greens shut down, for the third time, Colored Opinions and the OpEdNews'
Barack Obama and Reverend Rick Warren, KPFA Evening News
End the conflict in Congo, San Francisco Bay View, National Black Newspaper
Holocaust in D.R. Congo, war for the sake of war itself, San Francisco Bay View, National Black Newspaper
All Things Pass, the website of investigative journalist Keith Harmon Snow

Thousands of Rwandan refugees in Burundi

2009-10-16T12:34:00.000-07:00

Allthough Burundi is a very poor country, the last three years at least 20000 Rwandans have crossed the border because they were fleeing either gacaca courts or political violence. The Burundi government has been sending most refugees back to Rwandan, claiming, under significant pressure from Rwanda(HRW), that they were no refugees. But now the UN refugee agency has issued a statement urging Burundi to stop deporting hundreds of Rwandan Hutus who fled across the border in the past month, UN staff Clementine Nkweta Salami, local representative of the UNHCR, said: "I want to recall that the policy of the (UN) High Commissioner for Refugees is against all driving out of refugees or asylum seekers,". Human Righs Watch states:"The interviews conducted by Human Rights Watch with several of the Rwandans indicated that some may have credible fears of persecution in Rwanda". Independent reports by journalists, human rights activists and Burundian officials to HRW of several bodies floating in the Kanyaru River that separates Burundi from Rwanda.

Rwandan Democratic Greens still struggling

2009-10-15T12:56:00.000-07:00

The state run Rwanda News Agency website still isn't letting outsiders in without a subscription, or sending e-mail verification for registering, or sending out requested subscription forms---or at least not to me. But, interim Rwandan Democratic Green Party President Frank Habineza e-mailed this news brief, which appeared in some form or other, at least to him, on the Rwandan News Agency website:

Nine hundred Rwandan Democratic Green Party delegates attempted to convene in Kigali, Rwanda, on October 2nd, only to be shut down, for the third time, by the Rwandan Government, but they now have official permission to meet, in Kigali, on October 30th. No one should need all this military bureaucratic permission just to hold a meeting, but at least they have it, for now. Hold on, Frank et. al, for all of us.

From Rwanda News Agency:

Green Party allowed to hold delegates conference
By RNA Reporter
Thursday, 15 October 2009

Kigali: The Nyarugenge district has granted permission to newly founded Democratic Green Party of Rwanda to hold the delegates conference which was at the center of an unexpected controversy on October 02, district officials confirmed to RNA.

“Referring to your letter issued on the 6th October, 2009”, writes Nyarugenge mayor Origène Rutayisire to the Green Party, “I would like to inform you that your request has been considered and your founding congress of the Democratic Green Party is allowed to take place on 30th October, 2009…”

The conference which has been canceled four times, most recently abruptly halted when it was in session – will take place in at St. Paul hall here in Kigali.

However, it is not clear if the party has secured the notaire who is supposed to verify the signatures of the delegates who nominated the party. It is these verified signatures which will be submitted to the Ministry of Local Government. The party needs at least 600 signatures from nominations spread across the country.

http://www.rnanews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2148&Itemid=1
(If anyone has more luck with that Rwanda News Agency link than I did, please let me know.)

Green Party banner over Rwanda

2009-10-11T11:59:00.000-07:00

by Ann Garrison

stands with the:

The international network of Green Parties may achieve something far larger, in Africa, than anything they've achieved locally, anywhere.

By creating an internationally recognizable banner for democratic forces in Rwanda to rally round, the international Greens have helped Rwandan Democratic Greens blow a hole in the IMF/World Bank/U.S.-U.K. State Department/Clinton/Rev. Rick Warren lie about Paul Kagame's Rwanda, the U.S.-sponsored dictatorship they all point to as a beacon of hope for Africa. And, in all the lies hiding the covert U.S. War in Central Africa---the most lethal, but least understood, conflict in the world.

The Rwandan News Agency took its website offline, after removing news of state suppression of the Rwandan Democratic Greens, and Reuters is, on October 12, 2009, on its way to Kigali to speak to interim party leader Frank Habineza and other members of the fledgling party, including defectors from Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front.

May the international LGBT flag now fly over Rwanda as well, because Kagame's Rwanda, suppresses, and persecutes Rwanda's LGBT community even more severely than the Rwandan Democratic Greens. According to official policy, reinforced by de facto U.S. Ambassador Reverend Rick Warren, homosexuality is not a problem in Rwanda because it does not exist.

The Green Party doesn't even have an official international banner--or, at least none that I know of-- but it's flying over Rwanda right now anyway---figuratively. And, unlike the long list of obscure Central African parties, militias, and armies---RDF, RPF, CNDP, FARDC, FDLR, LRA, RCD, UPDF, and MONUC---it's understood, internationally.

See:

Rwandan Green Party cries foul over possible sabotage
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Rwandan-Green-Party-cries-by-Ann-Garrison-091007-846.html

Rwanda's Democratic Greens shut down, for the third time
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Rwanda-s-Democratic-Greens-by-Ann-Garrison-091003-891.html

Rwanda president petitioned over registration of opposition party,
http://www.apanews.net/apa.php?page=show_article_eng&id_article=108738

Rwandan President Paul Kagame questions Euro justice
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Rwandan-President-Paul-Kag-by-Ann-Garrison-090930-906.html

Rwandan Green Party cries foul over possible sabotage

2009-10-06T08:23:00.000-07:00

by Ann Garrison

Frank Habineza, co-founder, Rwandan Democratic Green Party

As of 2:25 P.M., PST, on 10.06.2009, "New Green Party cries foul over possible sabotage," seemed to be the only story about Rwandan state suppression of the Rwandan Democratic Green Party still accessible on the website of the state run Rwandan News Agency (RNA).

I reported on state suppression of the Rwandan Democratic Greens and state media suppression of the news on Colored Opinions and on the OpEdNews.

The Rwandan News Agency has made all other stories about this unavailable, as a result of "big pressure" on the agency's editor, according to Green Party co-founder Frank Habineza, so I'm saving the story here, as I did the other now unavailable story, "Sad day for democracy in Rwanda":

"New Green Party cries foul over possible sabotage By RNA Reporter Thursday, 01 October 2009 Kigali: Officials of the newly formed Democratic Green Party of Rwanda (DGPR) were in disbelief Thursday evening after government officials informed them they will not be available Friday to notify some of their registration documents, RNA can reveal.

Interim party leader Frank Habineza told RNA the development means the delegates conference scheduled Friday may not take place because that is when the signatures of the 1000-plus delegates expected in Kigali were to be verified.

"The 'Notaire' rang me at 5pm informing me that he will not be available because he has not been granted permission to verify our signatures by the minister of Justice," said a visibly angry Habineza. "When I called the minister of Justice, he told me the Notaire does not need his permission to conduct such a function. Now I dont know who to believe and what to do."

According to Mr. Habineza, he has already postponned the delegates conference for "three times", with every of the previous timetables, the Notaire claiming he is not in position to notify the party's nomination signatures. However, Mr. Habineza declined to name the Notaire in question, but the minister is Tharcisse Karugarama.

"We have made a lot of losses financially because for example we called the delegates and diplomats last Sunday for the same function but we had to cancel it because there was no one to verify our documents," he said.

The new political party law requires that a government Notaire is present to verify all the signatures of those nominating a given party for registration before they are submitted to the Ministry of Local. The party needs at least 600 “verifiable signatures” from across the country to be able to register.

RNA was not able to get official response by press time. Interim president Habineza said last month that the party will “call for a delegates Congress in September, after which we shall deposit our dossier to [the Ministry of Local Government]”.

“Right now, we are recruiting members from all districts of Rwanda," said Habineza.
Last Updated ( Monday, 05 October 2009 )"

San Francisco says yes to war

2009-10-04T08:53:00.000-07:00

by Ann Garrison

The City of San Francisco, California, now prepares to host Fleet Week and the Blue Angels Air Show, a high tech, all forces, recruitment drive and military festival, which the City has requested every year since 1981.

As the world awaits Barack Obama's decision on Afghanistan Commander General Stanley McChrystal's request for another 40,000 pair of "boots on the ground" in the Afghanistan War, and Barack Obama appeals to NATO to view the Afghanistan War as their own, the City of San Francisco prepares to host its annual all forces recruitment drive and military festival, also known as Fleet Week and the Blue Angels Air Show, from October 8th to 13th.

In 2007, I studied the official procedures for scheduling a Blue Angels Air Show on the FAQs page of the Official Website of the Blue Angels Air Show and learned that, in order to have a Blue Angels Air Show, a city must submit a request to the Secretary of the U.S. Navy by the end of September, a year in advance, so I called California Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, and Representative Nancy Pelosi, to ask who had requested that year's show. Barbara Boxer's office called me back the next day to say that "it was a local request," and gave me San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's telephone number: (415) 554-6141.

I dialed and Mayor Newsom's staff confirmed, then sent me written copies of his exchanges with Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter, including a letter promising to "take care of Supervisor Chris Daly."

Supervisor Daly failed to win majority support that year, 2007, for a resolution that would have required the Blue Angels to fly over San Francisco Bay rather than the City of San Francisco, to avoid the risk of a jet fighter bomber crash, at the speed of sound, with thousands of gallons of kerosene based jet fuel on board. A Blue Angel bomber had crash in Beaufort, South Carolina earlier that year.

In 1981, then San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein invited Fleet Week and the Blue Angels to recruit and promote the U.S. military, in San Francisco, eight years after the end of the draft, six years after the end of the Vietnam War, and three years after the assassination of Harvey Milk. They've returned, every year since, at the City's request.

In 2008, I myself tried and failed to organize a signature drive to put an initiative on the San Francisco ballot, as an anti-recruiting, anti-war measure, that would have made the whole Fleet Week/Blue Angels recruitment drive and military fest unwelcome.

However, that year I did at least succeed, in a KTVU Channel 2-San Francisco Bay Area News interview, in pushing San Francisco Mayor Newsom to finally admit that Fleet Week and the Blue Angels Air Show are indeed a military recruitment drive. Or, rather, the Blue Angels officer who spoke, on KTVU, after me and just before Mayor Newsom, pushed him to, unintentionally I'm sure, by simply stating that of course they come here to recruit and wouldn't come if they couldn't recruit.

Mayor Newsom had, up until that time, proudly acknowledged that he invited the Blue Angels here to "support the troops in an unpopular war," and "to honor the veterans." (Quotation marks around words Mayor Newsom used, in his response to my Sunshine Ordinance Requests for information, as to who invites the Blue Angels, and, why.)

Veterans make up much, if not the majority, of the homeless population in San Francisco, which the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, which tracks the criminalization of homeless people, identified, as the seventh meanest to the homeless in 2009.

Earlier this year, I spoke to anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan about San Francisco's choice, which is hardly surprising, despite its long past Summer of Love and anti-Vietnam War rallies. This is the city that sends House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Congress, every other year, including 2008, when Cindy ran against her.

Here's the archive, from Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox, April 12th, 2009, posted to Current TV:

Rwanda's Democratic Greens shut down, for the third time

2009-10-03T09:27:00.000-07:00

by Ann Garrison

On October 2nd, 2009, over 900 delegates from every district in Rwanda came to Kigali for a conference of the new Rwandan Democratic Green Party, formed on August 14, 2009. The meeting was abruptly stopped by the Mayor of Nyarugenge District, as party delegates looked on in disbelief. (Inset) Party leader Mr. Frank Habineza.

It's hardly surprising that, on October 2nd, 2009, 900 delegates to the new Rwandan Democratic Green Party weren't allowed to meet in Kigali, Rwanda. The Kagame government, which former President Bill Clinton, Reverend Rick Warren, and the Obama/Clinton State Department all point to as the triumph and future of Africa, shut them down, again, for the fourth time.

How much longer will so much of the world accept the U.S. State Department's official lies about the Rwandan police state, U.S. puppet Rwandan President Paul Kagame, and the Rwandan Defense Force, the U.S.A.'s African proxy army in D.R. Congo, Sudan, and elsewhere in Africa, as needed?

During the previous week, on September 29, 2009, former President Bill Clinton presented Rwandan President Paul Kagame with a Global Citizenship Award. On Friday, Reverend Rick Warren hung his International Medal of Peace around Kagame's neck at a "Saddleback Civil Forum on Peace and Reconciliation," at Warren's evangelical Saddleback Church in Orange County, California. (Warren hung his first "International Medal of Peace" around George Bush's neck last year.)

Alphonse Rutazigwa, reports "A Sad Day for Democracy in Rwanda," for the Rwanda News Agency:

Friday, 02 October 2009

Kigali: They moved hundreds of kilometers – some for the first time to the capital. Others braved the trouble of having to move with babies. Some abandoned their jobs to be in Kigali for the event that did not happen. Up to 900 supposed delegates of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda (DGPR) found themselves at the center of an unexpected controversy, RNA reports.

The newly formed party was on Friday told it could not hold a scheduled delegates’ conference. Interim party officials had booked St. Famille CANA hall – owned by the Kigali catholic diocese. The large number of delegates meant some had to stand outside anxiously waiting for the grand event to start.

These delegates had come all the way to give their nomination signatures to the new party. It is these signatures which party officials hoped would form part of the registration dossier with the Ministry of Local Government.

“I don’t know how I will get back to Rusizi district [in western province] - a five hour journey, moreover without accomplishing what had brought me here,” said Annonciata Nyirakanyana, while breast feeding her son.

Looking at the crowd, many were youths. Notable among the delegates were also a few older men and women. There are about a dozen mothers. Since all have now been informed the conference is taking place anymore, they all stand outside looking like people who have lost their jobs.

The genesis of the chaos that these people were witnessing first hand started at 8:30 am when an official from Nyarugenge district arrived at the event venue with a letter from the Nyarugenge district mayor Rutayisire Origène.

The mayor writes in response to another letter sent September 29 from the Green party which had informed him of the intention to have their meeting on Friday. Party officials were letting him know that they already had a place booked.

“I hereby first inform you that you write [a] letter requesting permission to hold this meeting on this date [October 02]”, writes mayor Rutayisire, in a four-sentence official letter.

However, Green party officials had also informed him in their letter that since the Nyarugenge notary was not available, they would secure another notary – which they indeed effected.

The mayor’s response meant that the even with a new notary, the Green party would not be allowed to hold the meeting – only after seeking new permission. This will now be the forth time the conference has been forced to postpone. The party has had to incur expenses to transport the delegates.

“From what I have witnessed today, I do not think there is democracy in Rwanda,” retorts Munyankumburwa Innocent. “To me, this means that the government is not yet ready for multiparty democracy. If they say parties do exist, then what is this?”

For interim party president Mr. Frank Habineza: “Someone is sabotaging us”.

“Imagine all the expenses we have incurred. I really cannot explain who is behind all this,” he furiously shouts as he speaks to reporters. “This really is a sad day for democracy in this country.”

The smartly dressed female party officials keep loitering around to calm their seemingly frustrated sympathizers. In a corner, one official – looking disturbed slams a bunch of books on a table, when RNA put to her that the party should write another letter for permission as requested by the mayor.

“We are tired of this kind of way of doing things in this country,” she dismissively says. “No one seems to be able to tell you the truth. This one says the other is responsible, the other says the next one is responsible.”

Last Updated ( by the RNA), Friday, 02 October 2009.

Two days after publication, "A sad day for democracy in Rwanda," became inaccessible on the state run Rwandan News Agency (RNA), as did other stories about suppression of the Rwandan Democratic Greens. At 8:00 A.M. PST, on 10.06.2009, the web page where the story had been still read: "You are not authorized to view this resource," http://www.rnanews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2073&Itemid=1. In a SKYPE conversation, from California to Rwanda, party co-founder and leader Frank Habineza told me that the RNA's editor was under "big pressure."

Neither I nor others received the e-mail verification promised after attempting to register on the RNA website to gain access. In an e-mail response to a subsequent inquiry, sent to rna@rwanda1.com, the RNA said that I would have to subscribe, but offered me no form for doing so, despite my request for one. Other, officially approved RNA content remains readily accessible at http://www.rnanews.com/.

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 06, October 2009 )

Rwandan President Paul Kagame questions Euro justice

2009-09-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

by Ann Garrison

Rwandan President Paul Kagame now questions the fairness of the International Criminal Court, and, says that most people who organized the Rwanda Genocide are outside Rwanda's borders.

On September 21, 2009, the Associated Press published "Kagame: Rwanda and Congo are making very good progress toward peace in conflict-wracked region." At first, this seemed like a standard corporate press reproduction of a U.S. State Department release championing their puppet, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, and the so-called peace process that they engineered to maintain control of the vast, geostrategic resources of D.R. Congo. But then AP reporter Edith M. Lederer, quoted Kagame himself:

"Genocide in Rwanda — the causes of it are not Rwandan, are not African. The genocide has its roots somewhere else."

Lederer went on to say that:

"Without naming any individuals or countries, Kagame said most people who organized the genocide were outside Rwanda's borders, yet none have been held accountable.
. . .

The Rwandan leader questioned the fairness of the International Criminal Court, (ICC), the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal, saying it is widely seen as targeting Africans, developing countries or weak countries and not dispensing justice equitably on a global basis."

(How very true, though Kagame failed to point to the ICC's recent indictment of Omar al-Bashir, the sitting head of state of Sudan, a nation hostile to U.S. and its allies' interests, with immense oil reserves now being tapped by Chinese corporations.)

Nevertheless, Kagame begins to sound very much like Africa and human rights investigator/reporter Keith Harmon Snow, who has also characterized the ICC as a court for "African fall guys," dictators, and human rights criminals who have outlived their usefulness to the U.S. and its allies, and/or, have become liabilities, because so many other Africans have testified to their crimes.

The trials of African fall guys, at the ICC in the Hague, reinforce the morality of Euro-justice, without mention of the foreign manipulations that Kagame alluded to.

It sounds as though Kagame now fears becoming another African fall guy, despite receiving Bill Clinton's Global Citizen Award, on September 24, 2009, and Reverend Rick Warren's International Medal of Peace award, on September 25, 2009.

Last year Rick Warren presented his first International Medal of Peace award to George Bush, and I don't think we should take either of Kagame's recent awards any more literally than that, or than the countless environmental stewardship awards that Exxon-Mobil, Peabody Coal, Chevron, Lafarge, ADM, Monsanto, and other multinational miscreants present to one another in year round ceremonies.

Kagame might be indirectly attempting to protect himself by protecting his partner in crime, former "General" Laurent Nkunda, who was arrested by a joint Congolese-Rwandan force on January 22, 2009. If Nkunda were brought before the ICC, he might well start talking about Kagame, and, if Kagame were brought before the ICC, he might well start talking about Bill Clinton and other members of the U.S. State Department, military, and national security apparatus.

Would anyone listen? Most likely not, but Kagame seems to be warning, "without naming individuals or countries," that, should he one day find himself on trial in the Hague, he would start "naming names and countries," "outside Rwanda's borders," who organized and benefited from the 1994 bloodbath.