The New York Times carries a long profile of Paul Kagame called “The Global Elite’s Favorite Strongman” this week. The article gets into quite a bit of Kagame’s dark side, without dismantling his entire facade. But what jumps out at me is this startling sentence:
He acknowledged that some Rwandan churches have been sending money to Congolese rebels, as part of a Tutsi self-protection campaign.
This is amazing. I would like to know what question led to this answer, but to me, the only likely basis for the question is the support of bishops Rucyahana and Kolini for M23, publicly noted in three United Nations reports. What other reports of church funding for M23 have there been?
If so, this means that at the highest possible level, from the mouth of the dictator himself, we have total confirmation of the activities of Rucyahana, Kolini, and who knows who else, in support of M23. Just this week, Human Rights Watch said of M23:
Just in the last two weeks, M23 fighters executed two local chiefs, shot and stabbed to death a boy, and shot dead at least three other men. Their shelling of populated neighborhoods in and around Goma killed at least seven civilians and wounded more than 40. A 16-year-old girl was killed while bathing when a mortar landed outside her home. A 14-year-old boy was killed when a mortar hit his home as he slept. Another mortar landed on a school, crushing to death a child playing.
Since April 2012, the rebels have committed widespread war crimes, including summary executions, rapes, and forced recruitment of children.Yet Rwanda has supplied them with weapons and ammunition, provided them new recruits, and backed them with military forces. Other armed groups and Congolese soldiers have also committed serious abuses.
We may now have a case of “Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; your own lips testify against you.”
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