Rwanda: " Who as you crawled out of the alleys of obscurity ."

New Times Rwanda reports

Kagame is a special ally – US senator

Oklahoma Senator, James Inhofe, has hailed President Paul Kagame for “incredibly” transforming Rwanda and massively contributing to regional peace through peacekeeping missions.

Oklahoma Senator, James Inhofe who I know nothing about other than he must be a complete idiot.  For Senator Inhofe's information M23 was not a peacekeeping force, they were a Rwandan raised militia that has raped, robbed and killed in the Eastern DR Congo. Kagame sum total contribution to regional peace is significantly less than zero. 

This, Inhofe said, was the reason the United States of America considers the President as a special ally of the American people.

No actually Jim that was never the case, America does consider Kagame a special ally because he has destabilised the Eastern DR Congo and allowed for the theft of billions of dollars worth of minerals to feed the American military / industrial juggernaut.

“I speak on behalf of many Senators back home and I assure you that USA doesn’t have a better friend than Paul Kagame,” he said yesterday after a delegation of US Senators House Representatives met the President.

A Senator who represents Senators, that might cause a few eyes to open in Oklahoma, as I said I know nothing really of James Inhofe but Google is as always my friend. From the Boring Old White Guy Blog. 

" Sen. James Inhofe voted no in January on a bill to provide $50 billion in disaster funding for states hit by Hurricane Sandy.

But yesterday, Inhofe seemed open to supporting a bill to provide extra funding for Oklahoma after a deadly tornado swept through the town of Moore on Monday afternoon.

Why the change of heart? “That was totally different,” Inhofe said on MSNBC, referring to the Sandy bill."

In other words Inhofe is a hypocrite, birds of a feather and all that I guess. Oh and no surprises he is also a Republican.

Inhofe was accompanied by his counterpart, Senator John Boozman of Arizona, alongside their spouses and five House Representatives.

Inhofe told the media that Rwanda’s commitment to development and contribution to regional peace makes it a valuable ally to the American government.

So much so in fact that America last year cut military aid and imposed sanctions. You sort of think an American Senator with an interest in Rwanda might have been aware of that.

" KIGALI - Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Friday angrily condemned a US decision to impose sanctions against his country for allegedly backing rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo who recruit child soldiers."

“I first came to Rwanda 17 years ago, and since then, I have come here each year. The country has progressed so much and you don’t see this in many countries – and we credit President Kagame for this transformation,” Inhofe said.

That probably says more about the Senators ability to be corrupted than anything else. I can't think of any issue his constituents in Oklahoma might have that require him to travel on I assume the American taxpayers dime to Central Africa.


The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mary Baine, said the delegation was impressed with Rwanda’s role in fostering regional peace by sending its troops to peacekeeping missions, most recently being the 850 RDF soldiers taking part in the International Support Mission to the Central African Republic.

If the American delegation were that gullible and I suspect they were, that is a massive indictment upon the US government.

Rwanda also contributed peacekeepers to volatile regions of Sudan and South Sudan.

It deployed its first peacekeepers to the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) in 2004 and since then, has emerged as one of the largest contributors of troops to peacekeeping missions.

I am guessing they didn't discuss the planned redeployment of Kagame's thugs, M23 to the Eastern DR Congo. 

“The delegation had fruitful discussions with the President on issues concerning regional peace and also talked extensively on how to bolster economic and political ties with both countries,” Baine said.

In their three-day visit that kicked-off on Thursday last week, the senators were briefed by the Minister of Defence, James Kabarebe, on peace and security in the Great Lakes.

Maybe the delegation could have read this before they discussed peace and security in the Great Lakes with Kabarebe out of whose office the orders of M23 were generated. 

They also met the Minister of Trade and Industry, Francois Kanimba, and officials from the Prime Minister’s Office to discuss prospects on increasing trade between Rwanda and the USA.

I think this was more about damage limitation, the Obama administration is clearly not impressed by the Rwandan regime.

Rwanda is one of the African countries allowed duty and quota-free access to the US market under the Africa Growth Opportunity Act initiated by former president Bill Clinton to encourage Africa export more to the US.

For now.

Rwanda also signed the US-Rwanda Bilateral Investment Treaty in 2012 and is part of the US-EAC Trade and Investment Partnership announced by President Barack Obama in 2013 as an important component of the US strategy towards sub-Saharan Africa.

And Rwanda joined the Commonwealth ......yawn.