Human of Kigali

When a book is that good, it’s almost impossible to match it with a film, Petit Pays – the film won that bet! The descriptive talent of the author must have made it easier for the film director, but still, a faithful rendition of the opus magnum that is Gael Faye’s ‘Petit Pays’ – the book. Bravo Eric Barbier! You ...

La France, encore elle… Le Senat français s’apprête à accueillir les négationnistes du dernier génocide du 20e siècle. 26 ans après les faits, la responsabilité complice de la France dans le génocide perpétré contre les Tutsi entre Avril et Juin 1994 n’est plus à prouver. Des témoignages des chercheurs, des militaires français, mais surtout des survivants révèlent dans les moindres ...

Why are young people hired in top positions in Rwanda? In Greek mythology when Icarus’ father made him wings of wax to fly out of Greece, he warned him of complacency and hubris. Master Daedalus, Icarus’ father warned him to fly neither too low nor too high, so the sea’s dampness wouldn’t clog his wings nor the sun’s heat melt ...

An advanced class on etiquette.. Urban legend has it, President Kagame was traveling to the Eastern province and happened upon old sages sipping on local Kanyanga as the cows grazed nearby. The ever pious that he is, advised them to stop drinking so early. The elders shook their heads in disbelief, the most eloquent among them begun, clearing his throat ...

An essay about the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF)’s Business Arm: It isn’t an easy fit for political parties in power to run clean, efficient and profitable businesses. So many things can go wrong and often do. Most parties have tried and failed, others still run white elephants, parasites to the systems they rule. Yet a political party without a stable ...

S’il y a un Français qui de son vivant a pu heurté la conscience des rescapés du Génocide perpétré contre les Tutsi en 1994, il s’agit bien de Pierre Péan. Son livre “Noires fureurs et Blancs menteurs” était d’un cynisme sans nom. Confondant les bourreaux aux victimes, et accusant ceux qui ont stoppé le genocide, à savoir l’Armée Patriotique Rwandaise d’avoir provoqué la mort de leurs propre frères et soeurs pour accéder au pouvoir. Le livre de Péan ...

‘with friends like these eh, who needs enemies…’ Following a quadripartite summit held in Angola under the auspices of President João Lourenço and bringing together Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Rwandan President Paul Kagame and DRC President Felix Tshisekedi to discuss security issues within the region, I would like to come back, for the layman to the outstanding issues between Rwanda ...

I am standing here with my sister Yolande. In the Car Free Zone, in Kigali, in Rwanda, in April 2019.  It has been 25 years since the Genocide against the Tutsi ended. Behind us is a #Kwibuka25 sign. Kwibuka means remember.  On the right is former president Habyarimana’s office, which also housed the media. On the left is the former headquarters of #RTLM, ...

In a candid interview, the head of Ugandan opposition, Colonel Kizza Besigye explains in details the source of conflicts between Rwanda and Uganda. The interview is in Luganda on this link: https://youtu.be/sBmf3_iECmE “If you want to understand the problem between Rwanda and Uganda, you have to understand two things: One: Mr. Museveni thought that since President Kagame was here as ...

Last week I read with bewilderment our Nigerian expert Chude Jedeonwo declaring: ‘Kagame could be the next Mandela -if he steps down’.  I know he thinks he means well, but although I do not speak for all my countrymen, I must decline the offer, here is why. As we commemorate a century since Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born, this is ...