The dark side of an African success story

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It is President Paul Kagame himself who supports the commitment of the state, where about 60 percent of the population still lives below the poverty line. He is the man who ended the genocide – in just over 100 days nearly a million people, mostly Tutsis – were slaughtered in 1994 by the actual conquest of the country by his Rwandan Patriotic Front. He became vice president and in 2000 president. Therefore, the 65-year-old is untouchable. He was recently re-elected with 98 percent of the vote.

And he is – a huge football fan. Favorite club for over 30 years: Arsenal! And because he is untouchable, he managed to close the deal with the Gunners in 2018: Rwanda transferred 34 million for three years.

That seems a bit strange considering that the country received 70 million euros in development aid from Britain in 2017… Never mind. A package was also put together with Paris Saint-Germain, with advertising in the Parc des Princes, on the training clothes and on the kit of the women’s team. And extended the deal with Arsenal.

A model for the whole of Central Africa

And now Kagame can rejoice, who was terribly upset in tweets about the opening defeat to Brentford early in the season. At a press conference on March 1, he said: “If we become champions, it will definitely pay off more. I’m going straight to the bank to collect some money…”

The deal with Arsenal was a success anyway. “We have long since exceeded the investment.” Tourism turnover increased by 20 percent. Kagame has big plans for Rwanda. Economically, the story of its 13 million inhabitants, which is half the size of Switzerland, serves as a model for all of Central Africa. Tall buildings are rising in Kigali. State-of-the-art hotels offer business people every conceivable luxury. A round conference center is the new eye-catcher of the metropolis.

What a contrast with Cameroon, for example! There is not a single top hotel in the capital Yaoundé. Even the Hilton, by far the best hotel, falls short of the usual Hilton standards. The roads are often unpaved. Dirt is a constant companion. In contrast, in Kigali, it is collected and cleaned by the population every last Saturday on Umuganda, Community Day.

Rwanda: a de facto dictatorship

Only: The beautiful facade has its dark sides. Kagame has severely curtailed freedom of press and assembly, as well as freedom of expression.

He has eroded democracy and established a de facto dictatorship. Threats, intimidations and mysterious deaths are said to be frequent. And when his former companion Paul Rusesebagina (the hotelier made famous by the movie “Hotel Rwanda”) began to publicly criticize him, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison in a show trial for supporting terrorism.

Source : Blick