RWANDA REPORT CARD - WEB SCRIPT
Benedict Moran: Jean Bosco Ngarama left Rwanda seven
years ago. But the memories of his torture there are still fresh.
Jean Bosco Ngarama: I
was brought into a small room, which I consider like a slaughterhouse. I saw
machetes, I saw axes, I saw electric cables. It was a room where they torture
people.
Benedict Moran: Ngarama says his problems began in 2010, when he lived in the capital Kigali.
He worked for a human rights organization, and was openly critical of Rwanda’s
government. In March of that year, unknown assailants launched grenade attacks
on the city. Soon after, Ngarama, was arrested and
imprisoned.
Jean Bosco Ngarama: They
asked me to admit that I know the people who threw the grenades. ‘You have no
information?’ I said ‘no.’ They said, ‘if you don't do it willingly, you'll do
it by force.’ They slapped me. Then they brought batons and they hit me with
electric cables. I was standing up. When I screamed, they took plastic bottles,
and shoved it in my mouth. Blood was pouring out of my mouth.
Benedict Moran: He says a soldier then electrocuted him, and he passed out. He was
held for eight months before being charged with conspiracy. Months later, he
was tried but was in fact acquitted. Ngarama now
lives in Philadelphia and is determined to speak out.
Jean Bosco Ngarama: They
knew I was innocent. But sometimes, the military soldiers said, ‘Jean Bosco,
even if you don’t do anything, we want to brainwash you.’ That’s the term they
used, to wash your brain.
Benedict Moran: Allegations like Ngarama’s tell a tale
about Rwanda at odds with the international reputation it has worked hard to
achieve. The East African country is known for making a remarkable turnaround
since the 1994 genocide. Today, it has one of the fastest-growing economies in
Africa. There’s universal healthcare. The streets are clean. These results have
earned the country and President Paul Kagame praise in the United States.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: “It's an honor to have you as a friend. Thank you."
JIM INHOFE: “Paul Kagame is the reason Rwanda is leading the way. Rwanda is a
clear example of what a strong strategic partner should look like to the United
States.”
Benedict Moran: Last year President Kagame was named African of the Year at the
All Africa Business Leaders Awards, for his role in the transformation of his
country.
Benedict Moran: This is the Kigali Convention Center, built for an estimated 2 to
300 million dollars. This week they are hosting the African CEO forum. It’s
labeled Africa’s biggest annual business summit.
Benedict Moran: It’s an example of how the country has branded itself a hub of
business and tourism.Through companies like Rwandair, the national airlines.
Kevin Rutikanga: Rwandair today covers about 26 destinations and we are
looking to open more new routes very soon
Benedict Moran: The goal is to seek investment and prosperity by portraying what
is safe and business friendly about the country. European Union Ambassador to
Rwanda, Nicola Bellomo.
Nicola Bellomo:
Rwanda is now on the map, Rwanda is on the radar screen everywhere. President
Kagame is becoming more and more the voice of Africa. Some consider his
development model, you know, something to be followed.
Benedict Moran: Despite praise from the United States, the 2018 U.S. State
Department’s own human rights report on Kagame’s Rwanda cites instances of
unlawful or arbitrary killings, forced disappearances, torture, and arbitrary
detention of Rwandan civilians by state security forces. Journalists have been
threatened by police or killed under mysterious circumstances. Most at risk are
those who directly oppose the government. In 2010 opposition leader Victoire
Ingabire was running for President when she was charged with quote “minimizing
the genocide” and so-called “divisionism,” which is a crime in Rwanda. She was
convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison. She is now out of prison, after
Kagame approved her early release in September of last year.
Victoire Ingabire: It is not easy to be in opposition in Rwanda.
Benedict Moran: In her office hang the pictures of nine party members who are in
jail, plus one who mysteriously disappeared while in prison last October.
Victoire Ingabire: The government has the characteristic of a [de] facto one party
system. We have so many political parties in the country, but they work together
as one party.
Benedict Moran: Even some of Kagame’s closest advisors have fallen out with him.
David Himbara worked for President Kagame as an
Economic Advisor, and then as his Private Secretary.
David Himbara: He’s
a one-man government. He’s in charge of the executive, the judiciary, and the
legislative branch.
Benedict Moran: Himabara says many of the original men and women who came to power with
Paul Kagame after the genocide have fled, or worse.
David Himbara: They're
either dead or in exile. No original person, they are nowhere to be seen. The
others, they are underground ‘shhhh’ they are keeping
quiet.’ Kagame is I think a person whose life is consumed by militarism and
violence.
Benedict Moran: Himbara now lives in Toronto, Canada, and advocates for Rwandan
opposition groups. Even those Rwandans who have left the country aren’t
guaranteed safety. In 2008, former Rwandan spy chief Patrick Karageya fled to South Africa, and set up an opposition
party in exile. He was found strangled to death in a Johannesburg hotel in
2014. This May, a South African police officer investigating the crime
testified that the murder was directly linked to the involvement of the Rwandan
government. Kagame denied any involvement in the attack. But two weeks after Karageya was assassinated, he issued this warning.
Paul Kagame: Betrayal has consequences. Anyone who betrays our cause or wishes
to harm our people will fall a victim. What remains to be seen is how you fall
victim. There are many ways.
Benedict Moran: Meanwhile, the man who represented Rwanda at the United Nations as
recently as 2016, Richard Gasana, has sought asylum
in the United States. His lawyer confirmed that Ambassador Gasana
fell out with Kagame and fled to the U.S. for reasons that quote “relate to his
personal safety.” But in a country recently ripped apart by ethnic divisions,
Kagame’s supporters say his strong-arm approach is necessary to create national
unity and so avoid another bloody conflict. Jean-Paul Kimonyo
is a policy advisor to President Kagame.
Jean-Paul Kimonyo: Now
we are trying to get back to a strong state of a strong nation. Without social
cohesion and national unity, there's not much you can do. And certainly not
mobilize the population to go ahead and transform things and be efficient.
Benedict Moran: Rwanda projects continued economic growth which it hopes will
bring it into the ranks of high-income countries by 2050. Kimonyo
says these lofty aspirations require a strong leader at the helm.
Jean-Paul Kimonyo: What
we want is profound change. And profound change takes time. It's not the time
of a journalist, it's not the time of researcher or observers. It's our time.
And our time is to change things profoundly.
Benedict Moran: It is difficult to judge how much support there is inside the
country for Kagame’s brand of profound change. In 2015, Rwandan voters approved
a change to the national Constitution, allowing Kagame to run for a third term
and possibly stay in office until 2034. And he was re-elected in 2017 with a
staggering 98.8-Percent of the vote. Advocates like Human Rights Watch said the
vote took place in a context of quote “limited free speech or open political
space,” and the U.S. State Department said it was marked by irregularities. At
the African CEO gathering, Kagame addressed his critics overseas, saying he
works at the behest of the Rwandan people.
Paul Kagame: “We have openly stated that it doesn't matter, anybody from
outside, whether you like me or you don't like me, President Kagame is here as
President of Rwanda, as a business of Rwandans. Their business. If they want
Kagame they'll have him, if they don't want Kagame they'll remove him, it
doesn’t matter.”
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|
TIMECODE |
LOWER
THIRD |
1 |
0:11 |
JEAN BOSCO NGARAMA RWANDAN |
2 |
2:06 |
JANUARY 2018 |
3 |
2:12 |
JANUARY 2018 SEN. JIM INHOFE (R) OKLAHOMA |
4 |
2:32 |
KIGALI, RWANDA BENEDICT MORAN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT |
5 |
2:46 |
KEVIN RUTIKANGA RWANDAIR |
6 |
3:03 |
NICOLA BELLOMO EU AMBASSADOR TO RWANDA |
7 |
4:03 |
[SUBTITLE] IT IS NOT EASY TO BE IN OPPOSITION IN RWANDA. |
8 |
4:16 |
[SUBTITLE] THE GOVERNMENT HAS THE CHARACTERISTIC OF A [DE]FACTO ONE
PARTY SYSTEM. |
9 |
4:18 |
VICTOIRE INGABIRE RWANDA OPPOSITION LEADER |
10 |
4:23 |
[SUBTITLE] WE HAVE SO MANY POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE COUNTRY BUT THEY WORK |
11 |
4:29 |
[SUBTITLE] TOGETHER AS ONE PARTY. |
12 |
5:05 |
DAVID HIMBARA ECONOMIST |
13 |
6:05 |
PAUL KAGAME PRESIDENT, RWANDA |
14 |
7:31 |
JEAN-PAUL KIMONYO PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR |
15 |
8:00 |
JULY 2017 |