In defending Paul Rusesabagina’s kidnapping by Rwandan dreadful security services from Dubai, Andrew Mitchell has again demonstrated that he cannot be trusted when it comes to Paul Kagame and his authoritarian government. By trying to compare the British judiciary system with the Rwandan kangaroo courts, Andrew Mitchell has only demonstrated that his syphocancy knows no limit.
This came as no surprise to Rwandans who know how consistent this former International Development Secretary has been in praising and rewarding Paul Kagame even as the international community unanimously condemns his criminal record. To mention just a few examples:
In 2012, when Andrew Mitchell was forced to resign as International Development Secretary of State, he chose as his last act, to reinstate the £16m aid to Rwanda, which the UK Government had decided to freeze, to protest against clear evidence that Rwanda was arming and fighting on the side of the criminal gangs of M23, in Kivu, DRC. He later denied acting as a “rogueminister” in doing so, but many Rwandans saw this as a clear indication that he was in support of Kagame’s criminal adventurism in DRC.
In June 2015 Andrew Mitchell again, defended Kagame’s criminal record during his intervention on BBC Newsnight. He was on a panel discussing the case of the then Rwandan chief spy General Emmanuel Karenzi Karake, who was arrested on 20th June 2015 at Heathrow Airport, following a Spanish internationalarrest warrant for “acts of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and acts of terrorism”. Andrew Mitchelll argued that any allegation of crimes against General Karenzi should be considered baseless, simply because the suspect is one of Kagame’s friends who claim to have stopped the Rwandan genocide, a false assertion that was dismantled by numerous witnesses at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and also expertly challenged in the BBC’s “Rwanda’s Untold Story” documentary.
The partisan view of Andrew Mitchell is always apparent when he intervenes on matters regarding Rwanda. While at times he seems to be sympathetic to the plight of Rwandan genocide survivors (regularly attending annual memorial ceremonies alongside President Kagame and advocating for the prosecution of those suspected of playing part in the genocide), his silence is always deafening when his friend assassinates and exiles the survivors of that same genocide. When in February 2020, Kizito Mihigo, a young gospel singer, Tutsi genocide survivor was assassinated while in police custody, Andrew Mitchell was not moved. Mihigo’s only crime was to publish a song where he pleaded for genuine reconciliation where all the victims of the 1994 genocide (including Rwanda Patriotic Front-RPF’s victims) are remembered. Similarly Aimable Karasira, another genocide survivor who claims that RPF soldiers decimated his family has been crying for help as he fears for his life, Andrew Mitchellis busy praising his torturers.
Andrew Mitchell does not say a thing even when the Metropolitan police warns British citizens of Rwandan origin that his friend’s security services are trying to assassinate them on the British soil. He applauds in admiration, when his friend spends millions of foreign aid money to rent a private jet that he sends to Dubai to kidnap the Hotel Rwanda hero or to buy sophisticated software that he uses to spy on his critics in the West, including in the UK.
Before accusing The Guardian of being partisan when it reports about Paul Kagame kidnapping Paul Rusesabagina, a hero who selflessly saved about 1200 lives during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Andrew Mitchell should revisit the record of his interventions about Rwanda. I promise him, if he looks objectively, he will easily come to the inevitable conclusion that, only Andrew Mitchell is partisan and surely, not The Guardian.
Jean Pierre Mushimiye is a Community Leader, British citizen of Rwandan descent.
