Le Gouvernement britannique «juge l’ensemble des preuves de l’implication du Rwanda dans la milice du M-23 «crédibles et contraignantes».

LE SOFT INTERNATIONAL N°1217 ED. LUNDI 04 MARS 2013.

Vous, vous déclarez sur BBC qu’«il y a matière à discuter sur les faits». Pensez-vous vraiment qu’il y ait quelqu’un d’autre, à part vous-même, qui croit ce que le Président Kagamé dit quand il rejette en bloc toutes les accusations de son implication dans les Kivus? C’est l’une de questions pertinentes que l’ambassadeur de R-dC à Londres Bernabé Kikaya Bin Karubi pose en français et en anglais à l’ancien Premier ministre briutannique Tony Blair à la suite d’une tribune libre parue dans FP, Foreign Policy cosignée avec l’homme d’affaires américain Howard Buffet. Dossier ci-après.

Rt Hon Tony Blair Esq
Office of Tony Blair
PO Box 60519
London W2 7JU
United Kingdom

28 February 2013
Dear Mr Blair,
I am writing after reading some of the public pronouncements that you have made in support of the Government of Rwanda. I am referring in particular to the article entitled Stand with Rwanda published in Foreign Policy magazine on 21 February 2013 and to your reported remarks published on the BBC website about your interview on the BBC Focus on Africa website on 27 February 2013.

Your Role as a Consultant to Rwanda.
It is not clear to me in what capacity you make these remarks. It was reported in the Sunday Times on 27 January 2013 that you are «an informal personal adviser» to President Kagame of Rwanda and that your charity the African Governance Initiative employs «10 people in the Rwandan Government helping it to run more effectively». Can I presume that your remarks were made in your capacity as founder of the charity and after consultation with your team embedded in the Rwandan Government? Naturally that would explain your conduct as an apologist for the actions of the Rwandan Government.

When you were in office, I recall you spoke out in favour of transparency and good governance for Africa. In the spirit of transparency, could you confirm how many officials representing the AGI are in Kigali? Who is funding their salaries and expenses? Please could you list the donors to the AGI? Have you checked what business interests these donors have in the region? Providing this information would give a much clearer picture of the motives and interests of foreign politicians and business people. It would help officials who are trying to reach a comprehensive peace settlement in the region distinguish commercial opportunists from advisers who have a genuine passion for achieving peace and development for the Great Lakes Region.

Support for M23.
In your Foreign Policy article you concede that the group of experts appointed by the UN Security Council “makes serious allegations against the government of Rwanda”. Such allegations centre on Rwanda’s support for the M23 rebel movement. These allegations are not restricted to the UN, and are corroborated by British journalists as well as NGOs like Global Witness, Human Rights Project, the Enough Project and Amnesty International. These witnesses are there, on the ground. Do you believe these organisations?

The UK Government stated that they “judge the overall body of evidence of Rwandan involvement with M23 militia in the DRC to be credible and compelling.” Yet you stated on the BBC that “you’ve got to say there’s a dispute over the facts.” I take it from this that you are disputing the facts contained in the UN report. Do you seriously think that anyone other than yourself has bought into President Kagame’s line that he was not behind the M23 rebellion?

What have you, as his adviser, done to urge President Kagame to hand over the M23 leader Bosco Ntganda to the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes?

Suspension of Aid to Rwanda.
You state in your Foreign Policy article that cutting aid “risks further destabilising an already troubled region”. It was Rwandan support for M23 which caused the latest bout of instability. If these are not the circumstances in which cutting aid is appropriate, in what circumstances would cutting aid be justified? Full scale invasion of another sovereign territory?
The draft version of a special UN report to the Security Council seen by Reuters had applauded states who suspended aid to Rwanda. The report stated: “Actions taken by some bilateral donors to suspend aid and funds to those countries reportedly supporting in particular the M23 send a strong message that such practices must cease immediately».
This recommendation has since been removed. Do you deny that you and your associates were involved in getting the sentence removed from the report?

Work with us.
I know you have been involved in controversial foreign policy decisions in the past which have prompted long and involved inquiries. I recall, for example, the Hutton report into the circumstances of your decision to go to war in Iraq. It is hard also to forget the bridges you built with Colonel Gadaffi before the vile terror of his regime was exposed for the world to see. I would urge you to think about the bias that you are displaying now, and to think again before casting judgement on which countries and which leaders merit the moral high ground.
We all need to work together - with the support of governments from across the world and with former politicians with a genuine interest in peace - to achieve a comprehensive solution to the exploitation of resources and displacement of peoples in the DRC. I would appeal to you to work with us - not to reassert the false claims of old friends who you know are wilier than you would have the world believe.

Yours sincerely,
His Excellency Barnabe Kikaya bin Karubi
Ambassador to the Court of St James, United Kingdom.