Why US universities should cut links with Rwanda
In controlling the narrative about the genocide in Rwanda, Paul Kagame’s regime has largely erased their crimes against humanity by claiming to simply be the victims of the genocide, the writer argues!
When they think of Rwanda, most people reflexively think of the civil war and genocide in 1994, or perhaps more recently of health and economic gains amid low corruption. Rwanda’s relationships with the right world leaders, universities and nongovernmental organisations offer an air of legitimacy to place the country apart, and perhaps above, its similarly authoritarian neighbours.
President Paul Kagame has some powerful friends, former president Bill Clinton and former United Kingdom prime minister Tony Blair among them, that contributes to rewriting the country’s narrative. As democracy gains a foothold in other parts of Africa though, we must ask when is the right time to stop backing authoritarian regimes such as Rwanda’s and how institutional support from the United States propagate tyranny there.
Also, the current situation glosses over the fact that Kagame’s army massacred tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, in the Democratic Republic Congo in the 1990s. In controlling the narrative about the genocide in Rwanda, Kagame’s regime has largely erased their crimes against humanity by claiming to simply be the victims of the genocide. The government is also assumed to be not corrupt, despite the fact that the president’s political party owns $500 million in assets, and continues to attract new international contracts.
In 2016, Harvard and Yale both invited Kagame to speak. As universities, academic dialogue, including from those whose views we may find repugnant, are a necessary part of the discourse. But, in their introduction of Kagame, Yale said he “has received recognition for his leadership in numerous areas, including peace building and reconciliation, development, good governance, promotion of human rights”. Harvard said his “remarks emphasised the growth of development and democracy in Rwanda under his leadership as president over the past sixteen years”. Both universities not only chose to ignore his human rights record, but actively tout his democratic record. Universities have an obligation to be places of discussion, but not to coddle tyrants, no matter how much grant money they bring in.
This type of praise has often come with aid dollars; Rwanda received more than the average for sub-Suharan Africa despite having lower rates of HIV, a source of much of the aid to the region. More than a third, the lion’s share of all US aid to Rwanda, goes to the health sector. International journalists assume a low level of corruption when discussing the pro’s and con’s of the Kagame regime, despite large assets held by the president’s party and his cronies. Several US universities, through the USAID programme called Human Resources for Health, profit directly from the preservation of the status quo in Rwanda. Not only are some of their faculties’ salaries paid for by the US government for their work in Rwanda, but they contribute to the wealth of research emanating from the tiny country.
Of late, the continent of Africa seems to be having a democratic rebirth, one that probably needs to be nurtured from the outside. As the middle class continues to grow across the continent, the time is ripe for democracy to finally take hold. Several countries such as Ghana and Nigeria held elections last year that were generally seen as free and fair. The Gambia just replaced a dictator of 33 years with an elected president, after a concerted campaign over years to allow a free and fair election and under the threat of force from its larger neighbours Senegal and Nigeria, both of whom underwent peaceful transitions of power recently. A raft of past opposition leaders are now in power across West Africa, except in East Africa, including Rwanda and Uganda, where President Yoweri Museveni won a fifth term last year.
All of this makes Kagame that much more of an anachronism and the US support of his regime that much more shameful. Much like Burundi’s leader Pierre Nkurunziza, who obliged the country to allow him a third term, Kagame is trying the same in Rwanda. In a 2015 referendum, the public voted to amend the Constitution with 98% of people approving, allowing him to potentially stay in power until 2034. Either Rwanda is more united behind Kagame than any leader in the history of mankind, or there is significant voter intimidation, fraud, and fabricated results. Rwandans head to the polls in August to decide whether Kagame deserves another seven-year term, and so far only one opposition candidate, currently in exile, has registered.
Vincent DeGennaro is an associate professor of medicine at the University of Florida.