Massacres au Congo: Le Rwanda a-t-il volé la vedette à l'Ouganda

ANALYST: Uganda accuses Rwanda of thunder ‘theft’

Analyst

Written by The Analyst   

Wednesday, 08 September 2010 17:39

Source: The Observer

KAMPALA, September – The authorities in Kampala have accused Rwandan President Paul Kagame and his Rwanda Defence Forces (formally Rwanda Patriotic Army) of stealing their thunder once again.

Seething with anger, a self-appointed “spokesman” of the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) told The Analyst, that Rwanda has, once again, hogged all the headlines for the “beautiful show” the two countries put up in the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 1993 and 2003.

“Reading what the international media is reporting, you would think that the UPDF has nothing to show – zero – for all the time it spent in Congo. In fact, you would think that we were never there, and all the bloody work of art was accomplished by the Rwandan. Why always Rwanda?” he complained.

The UPDF “spokesman” was apparently ticked off that although a leaked United Nations report accuses the Ugandan army of perpetrating equally horrific crimes in the Democratic Republic of Congo during its occupation of large parts of that country, everyone is only talking about the Rwandan crimes, “as if Ugandan troops were simply playing children’s games in Congo”.

“The UN report is very clear: Ugandan troops slaughtered Congolese civilians; Ugandan troops raped Congolese women; Ugandan troops recruited Congolese children into rebel armies and Uganda troops pillaged Congolese resources. So, why is everyone only talking about Rwanda? What did the Rwandan do that we didn’t do?” he complained.

The leaked UN report, widely covered in all the world’s major media, said that Rwanda, Uganda, Angola and other national and rebel forces that participated in the wars in Congo committed what amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity and, in the case of Rwanda, possibly genocide against Hutu refugees. But almost all the media focused on Rwanda’s transgressions, only mentioning the other countries in passing.

“Rwanda is already getting a lot of attention. Everyone is singing Kagame’s praises, how he is modernising Rwanda, how he is fighting corruption, how he has cleaned up Kigali, and even how handsome he looks. What about us? What about Mzee? What about the UPDF? What about our rigged elections?” the UPDF “spokesman” complained.

“I swear if anyone mentions the name Kagame again, I am going to jump from the 50th floor of Workers’ House,” he vowed.

analyst@observer.ug