Truth Be Told: Rwanda's Indictment

Kagame, in a sexy oversized leisure blazer, at right.

Aha! Perhaps Rwanda's indictment of senior French officials is not as altruistic as it seems. An IHT article published yesterday suggests that Rwanda's government, which is run by Paul Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front, is distracting international attention away from itself. The International Criminal Tribunal has accused the RPF of killing tens of thousands of Hutus in the aftermath of the genocide. The indictment is more of a political ploy than a legal proceeding. It may also be a response to France's effort to bring Kagame before the UN Tribunal for plotting the plane crash that killed the former Rwandan president, an event that, when it occurred two years ago, set off more violence in the fragile country.

Says Kenneth Roth, president of Human Rights Watch, and a personal hero of mine:

"The timing of this report is no coincidence. At a moment when international pressure to pursue the RPF trials is at its height, this is an effort to change the subject and put the international community on the defensive."

Read the Katrin Bennhold IHT article.