In our endeavour to strengthen the democratic process in Rwanda, to bring the current regime to accept the right of every Rwandan citizen to enjoy his/her full political rights, to allow Rwandans make a choice between different political programmes and to choose a leader who will have convinced them that his political programme is viable and will deliver on its manifesto ; In view of the many barriers, both legal and administrative, that the regime has put in place to prevent political parties from being formally registered ; In the face of increasing threats, aggressive acts and harassment against opposition parties in the period leading to presidential elections ; Taking into account the fact that the only party that has been registered has not been allowed to carry out its normal political activities among the general population at the grassroots level and to get access to the public media ; Considering the need to ensure that presidential elections planned for August 2010 are held in a democratic and transparent manner ; Convinced that putting together of our efforts is the best way to widen the political space for the political opposition, We the undersigned, representing the following political organisations : The United Democratic Forces–Inkingi, The Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, Le Parti Social IMBERAKURI, Have decided to form a common platform called the : Permanent Consultative Council of Opposition Parties, “Conseil de Concertation Permanent des Partis d’Opposition” (PCC/CCP) The main of the objective of the platform is : To define a common position and carry out appropriate work of lobbying and advocacy at the national and international level. Areas of collaboration will include at this point in time the following areas : 1. Registration of political parties 2. Diplomacy 3. Information and communication 4. Justice Other areas of collaboration will be examined later. Done at Kigali, 19th February 2010 Mrs. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza Chairperson, United Democratic Forces Mr. Frank Habineza Chairman, Democratic Green Party of Rwanda Me. Bernard Ntaganda Chairman, Parti Social IMBERAKURI
On Thursday 4th February 2010, around 15 30 hrs at Hotel Leprentemps in Kimironko, Kigali City, i was intimidated and threatened by an un-known man, whom I suspected to be a security operative. I had gone to the hotel to met a colleague : Jean Paul MUDAHERANWA aka. Sunday. When I arrived, I observed the presence of two other men. One of them left in about 10 minutes. Shortly thereafter, the unknown man who had remained behind, well dressed, presumed to be in his late thirties, brown and tall, suddenly stood up and walked towards me. He said in a rather strong voice “Frank, why don’t you recruit me in your party ?, I responded to him that no problem, and asked him his names, but he declined to tell me. He then continued, “Frank, we know whatever you are doing, we are following you very closely, remember, we paid school fees for you ( meaning government bursary at University), why are you fighting us ?. What do you want from that Woman Ingabire Victoire ?, be very careful, we are monitoring you very closely….”. I was disturbed by his abrupt aggressiveness and reference to what I had done two days ago and what I was to do later, Thursday evening. I was very surprised because the two events he referred to were factual. I responded to him that, aim not an enemy of the state and that having different ideas from the ruling party RPF does not make am an enemy of Kagame. I also pointed out to him that Victoire was given a Rwandan passport and National ID by the government, that had they believed that she was a state enemy, they should have not given them to her………….. , so they should stop to intimidate people like that. This incident follows, Ingabire Victoire’s attack on Wednesday 3rd Feb 2010, where her passiport and ID were stolen and her Aide Joseph Ntawangundi was seriulsy beaten and injured. Several other forms of intimidation and harassment have also been subjected to members of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda since 30th October 2009 during our Party congress that was sabotaged violently, and they were detailed in a press leases issued on 24th December 2009. This morning, 5th Feb 2010, I reported the matter to Remera Police Station and will make a follow up later in the day. I would like to appeal to the Government of Rwanda, to take these matters very seriously and ensure that security of all Rwandans and especially in the opposition political parties is guaranteed especially during this presidential elections period. I would also like to emphasize that being in an opposition political party does not qualify someone to be an enemy of the state, and disagreeing with the current regime in power, does not make one to be an enemy of government. Time has come for Rwandans to play mature politics. Politics that will ensure a sustainable development of Rwanda, a Rwanda that is free from poverty, free from fear and harassment, a Rwanda that fully recognizes freedoms of Press, Expression and Association. Done at Kigali on 5th February 2010 Frank HABINEZA President, Democratic Green Party of Rwanda
In Copenhagen the over-riding impression was chaos ! People queuing for hours outside in the freezing cold, and deadlocked talks inside. The conference failed on several fronts. Negotiations to protect the climate under the formal UN framework produced no meaningful result. Talks will continue through 2010 to the next Conference of Parties (COP16) in December 2010 in Mexico. The last minute ‘Copenhagen Accord’ was negotiated mainly between the Heads of State of China and the US, with involvement from India and Brazil. It also falls well short of all expectations with no guarantees for avoiding dangerous climate change and no legally binding mechanisms. Away from the formalities, Greens globally were part of the massive 12 December Day of Action. Over 100,000 people gathered in Copenhagen alone while hundreds of thousands more marched in countries around the world. The Global Greens also organised an information exchange forum for Greens in Copenhagen, and a public event featuring leading Green climate activists including Rebecca Harms, Marina Silva, Jose Bove, Christine Milne and Elizabeth May. Regrettably, at the last minute, Prof Wangari Maathai was unable to attend. More information : Beyond Copenhagen- where to for International climate policy : Green Group in the European Parliament, to be web-streamed live 4 February. http://www.greens-efa.org/cms/defau Global Greens call for honest, scientifically sound climate agreement. Media release from Copenhagen http://www.globalgreens.org/stateme Commonwealth Greens push for democracy in Rwanda The Rwanda Greens (Democratic Green Party of Rwanda) have tried numerous times in the last year to register formally as a political party. They have been blocked and their supporters harassed and intimidated by members of the ruling party, the Rwandan Patriotic Front. The Commonwealth Human Rights Commission was so concerned about the lack of human rights, including political freedom, that it recommended against Rwanda’s admission to the Commonwealth. Greens from Commonwealth countries including Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Canada, Mauritius and England and Wales united in calling on the Commonwealth to block Rwanda’s application. Rwanda was admitted, but now must improve its performance – the Greens will be watching ! Global Greens Secretary The Global Greens Coordination, meeting in Copenhagen during the climate conference, agreed to appoint a secretary, based in Australia, to help with administration, communication and networking. This is a big step forward for the Global Greens, giving us for the first time resources to become more effective. Global Young Greens – second congress in 2010 The GYG will hold their second Congress in August 2010 in Berlin, Germany. On the agenda, will be plans for restructuring, training, workshops and developing common positions on vital global issues. Join in with your ideas :www.globalyounggreens.org More dates African Greens congress : April-May 2010 in Uganda (date to be confirmed).http://www.africangreens.org/ Asia Pacific Greens Network congress : 30 April—2 May, Taiwan.http://www.apgn2010.org/ Greens of the Americas : Next meeting September 2010, Colombia.http://www.fpva.org.mx/ European Greens. Meeting schedule and other news :http://europeangreens.eu/ About this newsletter The Global Greens Coordination has representatives from each Green federation/network (Africa, Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe). It meets mostly by teleconference and occasionally face to face, most recently in Copenhagen in December 2009. It makes statements on current global issues, organises the Greens common presence at global events, and arranges Global Green conferences. Informal Global Greens news updates, like this one, will be published from time to time. Please circulate it to your Green-minded friends and colleagues. Click here to download a PDF document
On 19th January 2010, Rwandan Journalists from the Private media convened in order to elect two members amongst themselves to represent them to the National High Media Council-a government agency that has taken over most duties of the Ministry of Information. The Media Council answers to the Ministry of Information, with the role to monitor and regulate the media sector. The council is composed of nine members. The government appoints the executive secretary plus other three council members, two members are nominated by the private media through their professional association, one is nominated by the state/public media, one by the media training institutions and one by Rwandan citizens. According to Rwanda News Agency (RNA) story of 20th January 2010, the Director General of the Ministry of Information Mr. Ignatius Kabagambe, had sent out an invitation letter which indicated that each media house would have one vote. To the big surprise of the electorate present, The New Times Newspaper and Radio Contact FM mobilized and brought in all their entire staff members, including support-staff to participate in the elections and exceeding by far, the number stipulated by the Ministry of Information. Several Representatives of Private Media houses present, contested that action, but elections went forward and the controversial vote saw Mr. Arthur Asiimwe, The New Times Managing Editor, and Radio Contact FM’s Managing Director, Mr. Albert Rudatsimburwa elected to the nine-member media council. Both The New Times and Contact FM are private companies but other media houses consider them as government-owned, according to RNA. Other media houses dismissed the results of the election as a sham and walked out in protest. They argued that the process was sabotaged to bring in people close to government. They replaced the two outgoing members, Mr. Bahati Prince of Radio UMUCO and Father Pierre Nkusi – Editor of Kinyamateka Newspaper. The two also did not attend the elections. The Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, in its efforts to fight for Press/media freedom in Rwanda would like to make the following remarks : 1. We do not doubt the ability and competence of the two gentlemen elected. Indeed they are seasoned journalists, but we strongly condemn the manner in which the election process was conducted. Any election process to any office must be free, fair, transparent and devoid of any form of manipulation, coercion and rigging. 2. The Media Houses in Rwanda are part and parcel of the society’s fourth estate (arm of government) therefore, stand as a beacon of hope in the country that is trying to build its democratic institutions. Any type of election in which they are involved must be exemplary and above reproach, lest they loose the moral high ground they enjoy in the day to day life of the society and fail to properly report the upcoming August 2010 Presidential elections. 3. By refusing to adhere to the Ministerial instructions and doing it their way, those implicated in this scandal are indirectly bringing back and perpetuating the culture of impunity which has characterized Rwanda for so long. 4. We therefore strongly condemn that election process and call upon all peace loving journalists to challenge it, using legally acceptable, legitimate and non-violent means. Done at Kigali, 22nd January 2010 Frank HABINEZA Chairman, Democratic Green Party of Rwanda
As the Copenhagen COP enters its second week, the Global Greens today called for an honest climate agreement, based on science not tricky accounting. The Global Greens are concerned that rich nations are building loopholes into the agreement to give the appearance of strong targets without the reality. Land-use and forestry in particular are being used as let-out clauses to avoid actual emission reductions, according to the Global Greens Coordination, which includes representatives from Asia Pacific, African, American and European Green parties. Tackling climate change is crucial for a sustainable future for people and the environment. The Global Greens therefore call on the world’s leaders to agree on in the next five crucial days : 1. Targets to limit global warming to 2 degrees C or less. 2. Clear 2020 targets for developed countries of at least a 40% reduction in emissions below 1990 levels, with an interim assessment point in 2014. 3. Commitment of substantial new funding by developed countries for mitigation and adaptation by developing countries, including reducing deforestation and degradation. This is in part recognition of the historic responsibility of developed countries for past emissions. 4. Exclusion of carbon capture and storage from the Clean Development Mechanism, and rejection of nuclear power altogether. 5. Strong pro-active measures to protect biodiversity, water and nature, whilst respecting the rights of local communities. The COP15 should commit to finalizing a legally binding agreement in 2010 covering these and other issues, building on the Kyoto Protocol. For more information : [in Africa) Global Greens Coordination Representatives for Africa. Frank Habineza, fhabineza@africangreens.org Adamou Garba, agarba_99@yahoo.com Read the press release here
Meeting between Mrs. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, Chairperson of the United Democratic Forces (UDF-Inkingi) and Mr. Frank Habineza, Chairperson of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda On this 7th day of December 2009, the Chairperson of the UDF-INKINGI, Mrs. Victoire INGABIRE UMUHOZA and the Chairperson of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, Mr. Frank HABINEZA met in The Hague, Netherlands, and jointly examined some of the fundamental problems affecting Rwanda in general and the forthcoming presidential elections to be held in August 2010 in particular. With regard to the prevailing situation in Rwanda, both leaders reiterated their vehement condemnation of the ruthless policies of the RPF led government characterized by, among other things, the following acts : Keeping people in perpetual extreme poverty characterized by widespread malnutrition and poor healthcare, especially in rural areas. Denying people their most basic rights in their own country Continuous persecution and harassment of journalists and press Refusing members of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda to hold their inaugural congress. Both leaders therefore called upon the RPF regime and made the following requests : Remove all obstacles which hinder the registration of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda so that the Party can freely exercise its political activities ; Grant passports to UDF-INKINGI’s leaders so that they can go back home and start the process of registering their Party. With regard to the 2010 presidential elections in Rwanda, the two leaders deplored RPF’s malicious tactics aimed at rigging the upcoming elections. A striking example is the actual National Electoral Commission (NEC) which is wholly RPF dominated. In much the same way, the existing electoral law provisions are meant to stifle the opposition parties. Hence, the two leaders called upon all Rwandan citizens in Rwanda or abroad to unite and stand up as one person in order to strongly denounce RPF’s malicious acts against UDF-INKINGI and Green Party. Such acts are mostly designed to ban these two political parties from actively and freely participating in the upcoming 2010 presidential elections and to ensure that the RPF candidate wins with an overwhelming majority. Done in The Hague, 7th December, 2009 Victoire INGABIRE UMUHOZA (signed) UDF-INKINGI Chairperson . Frank HABINEZA (signed) Democratic Green Party of Rwanda Chairperson . Read the Press Release here
The Democratic Green Party of Rwanda would like to inform, the media, international community, Representatives of foreign diplomatic missions and Embassies in Rwanda and the general public that the Government of Rwanda has continued to do actions which are against democratic principles and human rights. According to what happened on 30th October 2009 in Kigali at St Paul, in our party Congress aimed at approving the party constitution, we faced extra-ordinary circumstances where by our members were beaten by people who entered in the conference room by force and clandestinely and started the chaos, shouting “RPF Oyeee, RPF Oyeee !”. We would like to say something about what has been happening to us and our members, since that time. After Congress, some of the people who caused it were caught by the police and taken for interrogation, but sadly enough, none of them stayed in the police custody for more than an hour, they were immediately released and continued their normal life and even though some of our members were wounded, hospitalized and others lost their valuables. Something else which is strange is that nobody summoned us -as Party representatives- to give explanations on the people who caused the chaos. We were again surprised to hear the explanations of the Police Spokesman on Radio Rwanda and Contact FM, in the evening of that day, confirming that what happened at St Paul (in Green Party’s Congress) was caused by Green Party members themselves. We would like to emphasize the following three issues : Our members have continued to be threatened and harassed by Local Government Authorities Oppression from the National Police denying us the permission to hold another congress Newspaper articles in UMUVUGIZI Vol. 66 and UMUSESO No. 386, showing a list of people suspected to be our members. Read the whole document in PDF
The Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, would like to bring to the attention of the public the malicious reports of some media houses in Rwanda. The party would like to point out that some people believed to be state agents have since, 30th October 2009, subjected our members to all forms of harassment, intimidation and illegal arrest. Read the whole press release.
APA-Kigali (Rwanda) The newly formed Democratic Green Party of Rwanda is threatening to challenge Rwanda’s democracy which describes as not allowing political pluralism but operating a directed political activity. The interim President of the DGPR Frank Habineza flanked by the party’s Secretary General told APA in Kigali on Friday that there had been lack of democracy in Rwanda since monarchical time and the ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) was only blind-folding the world with imaginary multi-party politics when in reality it was a single party taking decisions and others follow. “RPF wants all the 10 million Rwandans to be members but if that is the trend then we are living a worse political situation than we found. Everything in Rwanda needs to change for the sake of democracy, the institutions need to work independent of the government and political parties need to have sound voices like other democracies,” said Muganwa. He said Rwanda’s political parties were silent not because they agreed with all that the government does but that they were working under fear created by the government, noting that the constitution and electoral laws have been manipulated to serve RPF’s interests which were not necessarily in the public interest. “RPF has manipulated all the laws to its advantage, the constitution is changed without any consultations, there is no functioning civil society, no press freedom not even freedom of association. Why would the world be blind-folded to believe the country is democratic ?” they wondered. The party whose activities were launched on Friday seeks reforms in the constitution, and electoral law without which the members threaten to boycott the 2010 presidential elections They believe the party will rid Rwandans of the blanket of fear which they attribute to ‘the historical rule of terror’. They said the party would field a candidate for the presidential race if only the constitution and electoral laws were changed, adding that the electoral process was all faulty from registration to vote counting which provided room for vote rigging. “Why hold expensive electoral processes when the winner is known before elections ? Its only months to the presidential elections but no one has declared their candidature, no one is allowed to campaign because the constitution was manipulated. Our party would not be involved in such an exercise that deprives our members of their democratic rights,” Habineza noted. They however appreciated some achievements by the ruling party, noting the ending of the genocide, improved security and some orderliness in the country which they however say are over-shadowed by bad politics and a failing democracy. “Without democracy, no economic development can be attained,” they said. Rwanda has about ten political parties, six of them recently formed a coalition with the ruling RPF. Therefore, only two can be regarded as real opposition and another two are not yet allowed to operate. BB/daj/APA 2009-08-14 Source APA
New political party in Rwanda (17.08.09) Click links below to read various articles about the launching of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, as reported by other media Interim president Frank Habineza says free and independent media needed to report rampant human rights abuses New political party in Rwanda (17.08.09) Exclussive : New political party born “to counter RPF” Bamwe mu Bahoze muri FPR Inkotanyi, Bashinze Ishyaka ryabo Rwandan Green Party blocked from meeting by officials Title : Rwanda’s Democratic Greens shut down, for the third time Rwandan Green Party cries foul over sabotage Kagame lauds China’s role in Africa, slams West Rwandan Green Party struggles but receives help from Global Greens Rwandan Green needs protection Green Party banner over Rwanda Green Party banner over Rwanda(Diffrent source) Green Party banner over Rwanda(Diffrent source) Green Party banner over Rwanda(Diffrent source) Green party calls for international support Global parties petition President Kagame over Green party Green party calls for international support “Sad day for democracy in Rwanda” Green party blocked from meeting [Green party blocked from meeting : “Sad day for democracy in Rwanda” (05.10.09) Des transfuges du FPR décident de créer un parti d’opposition (21.08.09)
