Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Rwandan Warlord Kagame Threatens Neighbors and UN Force
07 Aug 2013
🖨️ Print Article

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by BAR executive editor Glen Ford

After almost two decades of killing Congolese with impunity, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, one of Washington’s favorite warlords, is threatening the United Nations and his neighbor to the east, Tanzania. Kagame told Tanzania’s president: “I will wait for you at the right place and I will hit you!” A Tanzanian official responded that Kagame “will be whipped like a small boy.”

Rwandan Warlord Kagame Threatens Neighbors and UN Force

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by BAR executive editor Glen Ford

“Kagame must give up his delusional dreams of invading Tanzania.”

Paul Kagame, the minority Tutsi warlord of Rwanda, is in a dangerous mood. For 17 years, the United States armed Kagame’s military to the teeth as Rwanda and another U.S. ally, Uganda, plundered and destabilized the Democratic Republic of Congo, killing millions in the process. However, in the face of mounting international outcry, the U.S. reluctantly agreed to rein in its Rwandan warlord, first with a nominal cutback in military aid, and then late last month demanding that Rwanda halt its support for the Congolese Tutsi rebel group M23. It is no secret that M23 is an annex of the Rwandan military, an extension of Paul Kagame’s bloody hand in the Congo. M23 seized the Congolese city of Goma, on the Rwandan border, for two weeks last year, to show that Kagame’s military remains the strongest in the region. The United Nations, whose peacekeepers were chased away from Goma last year, responded by assembling a 3,000-man so-called “Intervention Brigade” with a mandate to use force against Rwanda’s rebel proxies. On August 1, the UN gave M23 an ultimatum to disarm. In defiance, the Tutsi guerillas are instead threatening to once gain capture Goma and its one million people, in a showdown with the United Nations combat brigade.

Such a conflict would constitute an escalation in the central African war. The UN brigade is made up of soldiers from South Africa, Malawi and Tanzania. Back in April, the M23 rebels issued a warning to Tanzania to withdraw its forces from the Intervention Brigade, or face unspecified consequences. No one doubted that the rebels were speaking for their boss, Rwandan President Kagame. Then, on June 30, just before President Obama touched down in Tanzania as part of his tour of Africa, Kagame issued an unmistakable threat against Tanzania and its president, Jakaya Kitwete. Kagame said that President Kitwete had “crossed a line that you should never cross…because I will wait for you at the right place and I will hit you!” When spoken by a warlord who has already killed millions, those are fighting words.

“Kagame’s regime is inherently warlike and unstable.”

Tanzanian President Kitwete did not respond in kind, but one of his foreign ministry officials did, on July 12, saying Kagame “must give up his delusional dreams of invading Tanzania.” If Kagame persists, said the Tanzanian official, he “will be whipped like a small boy.”

Tanzania, like the Democratic Republic of Congo, shares a border with Rwanda and with Washington’s other mercenary client state, Uganda. The threat of invasion must be taken seriously. However, it is more like that Kagame will be tempted to take out his aggressions on the United Nations combat brigade – one-third of which is Tanzanian.

The United States believes it can control the little African Frankensteins it has created, like Paul Kagame. But Kagame’s regime is inherently warlike and unstable, because it is a dictatorship of an ethnic minority, the Tutsis, who make up no more than 15 percent of Rwanda’s population. It remains in power through sheer force and terror, a lawless regime that fears its own people and covets its neighbors’ resources. The U.S. may soon decide that Kagame is more trouble to the imperial enterprise than he’s worth. One thing is sure: Kagame is one criminal who won’t go out quietly.

For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford. On the web, go to BlackAgendaReport.com.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.



Your browser does not support the audio element.

listen
http://traffic.libsyn.com/blackagendareport/20130807_gf_CONGO.mp3

More Stories


  • The History and Significance of Black August
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    The History and Significance of Black August
    19 Aug 2022
    Kalonji Changa is co-founder of Black Power Media and founder of FTP Movement. He joins us from Atlanta to talk about Black August, which has been a fixture of the liberation movement for 43 years.
  • Kenya Politics and the Presidential Election
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Kenya Politics and the Presidential Election
    19 Aug 2022
    Irene Asuwa joins us from Nairobi, Kenya. She is co-convener of Ecological Justice and supports outreach at Ukombozi Library. We discuss the recent presidential election in that country.
  • Nicaragua: Anniversary of a Revolution
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Nicaragua: Anniversary of a Revolution
    19 Aug 2022
    In a recent webinar hosted by the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC), Margaret Kimberley discussed what she witnessed during the commemoration events for the 43rd anniversary of the Sandinista…
  • Trump Derangement Syndrome Returns
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Trump Derangement Syndrome Returns
    17 Aug 2022
    Why would Black people laud the FBI or criticize protection against self-incrimination? The FBI search of Donald Trump's home has reawakened Trump Derangement Syndrome.
  • ESSAY AND PETITION: Massacre at Attica, The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service, 1971
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY AND PETITION: Massacre at Attica, The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service, 1971
    17 Aug 2022
    ​​​​​​​To commemorate Black August and in memory of the forty-two men massacred during the September 13, 1971 Attica Prison uprising we reproduce below an essay and petition from The Black Panther…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us