The letter written by Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey to Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling for the US to sanction the Rwandan government is a pack of untruths and a rehash of tired allegations against Rwanda peddled by its detractors.

 

It’s shameful for the Senator to serve as an advocate of anti-Rwanda lobbies’ narrative built on mere fabrications. These lobbies are paid by the likes of the terror-group Rwandan National Congress (RNC), and its backers.

 

Menendez alleges that President Paul Kagame changed the Constitution to remove term limits. That is baloney. Following people’s demand, and a plebiscite, Rwandans opted for the change in the Constitution.  Mendez questions that in elections, Kagame got 99 % of the vote. Rwandans know why.

 

The country, 28 years ago, was ravaged by a genocide which claimed over one million lives that Mendez and others in the Congress watched passively. Kagame stopped the genocide.

 

Rwanda was on the brink of turning into a failed state. But Kagame made sure we avoided that. People voted for his accomplishments.

The US senator also purports that the 2017 presidential election was carried out under a campaign of harassment and intimidation of opposition activists.

 

This is exactly the baseless reports of alleged climate of fear circulated at the time the by the likes of Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International. This was just a red herring. You should visit Rwanda on Election Day yourself. In Rwanda, voting is a festival.

 

It’s regrettable that Menendez borrows some of the criticism of Rwanda from the discredited HRW. It’s not surprising because both Menendez and HRW are known for their corrupt practices.

 

HRW’s anti-Rwanda government is well established. Richard Johnson’s “Travesty of Human Rights Watch on Rwanda” exposed how this organisation financed by the State Department works to undermine the Rwandan ruling party, RPF, and promotes genocidaires and their genocide ideology.

 

Next time the Senator talks about anything regarding Rwanda and using HRW to back up his   evidence, he should know that his organisation has lost all its credibility before Rwandans.

 

As for freedom of speech in Rwanda, there are laws protecting that freedom. But there are also laws which punish those who use the same liberty to foster genocide ideology, genocide denial and social divisionism.

 

The senator talks of Rwanda targeting dissidents living abroad. This is fanciful and smells of fabrication cooked up by Rwanda’s enemies and detractors.

 

His letter was written on the behest of the same elements which work to undermine Rwanda and its leadership. Menendez accepted to be their vehicle.

 

In his attempt to further damage the reputation of the Rwandan government, the senator cites “worrisome” reports bring into focus what he calls “the extent of Kagame’s efforts to target critics not only in Europe and Africa but also in the United States.”

 

Mendez repeats the same accusation which was rife in the media and in some global north organisations, that Rwanda uses Israeli spyware to spy on so-called dissidents. Kagame already responded. Rwanda cannot afford such  very expensive technology and has never used it.

 

Nevertheless, Menendez is happy to put this allegation in his letter so as, he thinks, to add more damage to Rwanda and its President.

 

So, Mendez also knows Paul Rusesabagina? The Senator uses the latter to prove his case about Rwanda’s forcible rendition of people abroad. Terror kingpin Rusesabagina’s tale comes in handy. He said he was lured into charter flight to Rwanda where he was arrested, tried, and sentenced to 25 years in jail.

 

Information that Rusesabagina was funding terrorists and genocidaire organisations like the FDLR and his MRCD/FLN was provided by the FBI and other western entities like the Belgian Prosecution. Mendez doesn’t have these facts. Or, does he?

 

The terrorist activities Rusesabagina sponsored inside Rwanda cost human lives and caused loss of a lot of property. At least he was arrested and judged, and not treated like Osama Bin Laden was treated by the US.

 

Being a resident of the US doesn’t give Rusesabagina a licence to commit acts of terrorism against his country of birth. It also doesn’t make him immune from prosecution.

 

Another spurious allegation contained in that letter is that Rwanda is engaged in destabilising actions regionally. His unfounded accusation of Rwanda supporting the M23 rebels fighting the Congolese government is another blatant lie.

 

He dares to claim that Rwanda has once again sent troops across the DRC border and reactivated M23 as a proxy militia now responsible for killing Congolese civilians, Congolese troops and UN peacekeepers.

 

But there is no shred of evidence this the case and MONUSCO has rebuffed this tall tale. In his delusion, Menendez wants to review all assistance “starting with several million dollars in support for Rwandan peacekeepers.”

 

 Rwanda peacekeeping operations will go on, with or without, the assistance of the US. The M23 problem is a Congolese problem.  Rwanda isn’t involved in it. The lies spread by the likes of Mendez won’t deter resilient Rwanda’s march.