Think-tank urges international community to withhold finance for elections

A leading think-tank, the International Crisis Group, has said the international community should refuse to finance the Rwandan elections planned for July 2003, unless the government liberalises political activities and displays "a marked improvement" in respect for basic freedoms of association and expression.

"The international community cannot remain silent accomplices to the authoritarian actions of the Rwandan government," the ICG said in a new report titled 'Rwanda at the End of the Transition: A Necessary Political Liberalisation'.

It added, "It cannot finance elections that offer no political guarantees for a minimum of equity among the forces present," the report continues.

The think-tank said that multiple restrictions on political and civil liberties in Rwanda, such as the forcing of opposition groups into exile and the silencing of the independent press, were working against the government's stated objective of leading the country towards reconciliation in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide. The government's repression of critical voices, it said, created a vicious circle by radicalising the opposition both inside and outside of Rwanda.

It added that following the Rwandan withdrawal from the Kivus in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the government must now display the same good will for the end of the transition period.
"The Rwandan Patriotic Front must allow public criticism and stop being judge and jury, as well as participant, in the process of political competition," the ICG said.

Furthermore, it added, it must not destroy the institutions of common ground where Hutus and Tutsis can meet, talk, argue and ultimately decide on the country's future.
Full report