Harassment in run up to Rwandan elections

[dArKeR]

Days before Rwanda holds it first real presidential election, reports are piling up of police and security agents threatening the opposition as the country's largely government-run media demonizes the leading challenger.

The vote Monday has been billed as a showcase for how far Rwanda has come in the nine years since a genocide shattered the tiny country.

Officials deny the opposition is being harassed or that the media is biased. But foreign observers, diplomats and ordinary Rwandans say otherwise, raising concerns that fear stoked by a government with a strong authoritarian bent and headed by President Paul Kagame, one of the candidates, has poisoned the atmosphere.

http://theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030821.wrwanda0821/BNStory/International/

When you've seen what happens is a 'democracy' like the U.S. what do you think happens in a country where a leader would do anything to keep power?

Where is Rat Robertson's God?

http://darkerxdarker.tripod.com/

[LoneStarLiberal]

1. It's A Tough Situation

I like Kagame and the many things he has tried to do in order to balance authoritarian order with protections for Hutu and Tutsi alike. However, sooner or later in a country with Rwanda's demographics you have to expect that Kagame, a Tutsi, should be defeated at the polls by an electorate that is overwhelmingly Hutu and would probably vote for a Hutu candidate.

I don't know that much about Twagiramungu, but I do know that the prospect of a popularly-elected Hutu leader scares the bejesus out of the Tutsis on the verge of the 10th anniversary of the 1994 Genocide.

[kang]

2. I hope Kagame doesn't turn into an oppressive dictator

I must admit that the only background information I have on Rwanda was the book I read on the genocide ("We Wish to Inform You..."), but it would be very sad if Kagame turned out to be nothing more than a power-hungry ruler. As far as leaders go, he's done so much for that country and it would be a shame if he couldn't put his trust in the democratic process.

However, Tutsi fears are understandable since there's no reason to believe that the U.S. or the U.N. would do anything to stop the another genocide from happening.

[LoneStarLiberal]

3. The Example of Burundi

My fear is that Kagame might transform into someone like Pierre Buyoya next door in Burundi. Buyoya and a Tutsi-dominated army are waging a vicious civil war against the far more numerous Hutu (the ethnic breakdown is very similar to Rwanda), but Buyoya is the only one who thinks he can actually win. Truthfully, I don't think even he is that loopy. I think he profits immensely from his position of priviledge while the remainder of the country suffers greatly.

Buyoya, like Kagame, was a military officer before he decided to jump back into politics by ousting the elected President in 1996.