Rwagatare: Why US leadership in Great Lakes Region causes jitters

On April 7, 2024, Rwanda and the world commemorated the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994. Leaders from the region and across the world attended.

Kenya was represented by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua. The United States and France by former presidents Bill Clinton and Nicolas Sarkozy, respectively.

President Paul Kagame said some plain truths that brought a tear to some and discomfort to others. Only the thick-skinned or stone-hearted could remain untouched.

He reminded the world community of its inaction and double standards, and how the life of some has more value than that of others. He lauded survivors for their courage and resilience and for picking up the pieces to rebuild their lives and country.

He reserved his strongest criticism for some of the most powerful countries for their continued refusal to call the genocide by its proper name. It is baffling, he said, when it is known that “in 1994 all Tutsi were supposed to be completely exterminated.”

“Rwandans,” he said, “will never understand why any country would remain intentionally vague about who was targeted in the genocide. Such ambiguity is, in fact, a crime in and of itself.”

The same day of the commemoration, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken posted a message on X, saying: “The US stands with the people of Rwanda during Kwibuka30 in remembering the victims of genocide. We mourn the many thousands of Tutsis, Hutus, Twa, and others whose lives were lost during the 100 days of unspeakable violence.”

Genocide

The statement came on the day Rwandans remember and honour the memory of more than one million Tutsi killed in the genocide. It is widely seen to be vague, ambiguous, and an indirect refusal to acknowledge who was targeted.

However, it was not surprising, and nor was it the first time the US had exhibited what observers say is an intentional vagueness. They had done the same when the genocide was beginning to happen in 1994.

Thirty years later, the US still refuses to give the genocide against the Tutsi its proper name. But the reason today is not the fear of moral pressure and responsibility to act. Yet just across the border in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), killings of Congolese Tutsi are taking place and could easily turn into another genocide.

This time it is a more materialistic concern. The fear is losing the DRC and its minerals to rival powers. The notion of China and Russia gaining more influence and getting their hands on Congo’s minerals may be blinding the US to any other concerns.

This, too, is not new. Congo has always been at the centre of US interests in this region. For good or ill, the Americans have had a say in who is in charge in Kinshasa. The argument always is that Congo is too important to lose.

In today’s context and in the calculation of the Americans, recognising the genocide against the

Tutsi in Rwanda as such would inevitably mean recognising the killing of Tutsi in DRC. That in turn would entail putting pressure on President Felix Tshisekedi’s government.

The US is many things to different people: Benefactor or bully, guardian angel or the devil, and insufferably arrogant. But on one thing all are agreed. It is the most powerful nation and global leader.

However, the US sometimes abdicates this leadership as is the case in the genocide against the

Tutsi in Rwanda and relations with the DRC, and the result is what we see today: an increase in hate speech, violence, and killings. For a country that likes to present itself as the ultimate defender of human, and other, rights, that sounds like a serious failure of responsibility.

-Mr Joseph Rwagatare is a governance and diplomacy analyst