Human rights report “full of lies”

The Rwandan government on Thursday condemned a report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) organisation on communal settlements which accused it of “violating the basic rights of tens of thousands of people”. According to the Rwanda News Agency (RNA), the government described the report as “baseless and full of lies”. “It is regrettable that a reputable organisation like Human Rights Watch, which claims to promote human rights, is actually disseminating propaganda that undermines human rights by promoting ethnic division among Rwandans,” the government said in a statement. “Human Rights Watch need not be reminded that their actions are jeopardising the efforts to unite and reconcile the Rwandan people.” “The implemented government programme was based on the Arusha Peace Agreement of August 1993 and prioritised the village type of settlement, commonly known as Imidugudu,” the statement said. “The implementation of the resettlement programme was however faced with a number of problems due to pressure on the local administration to provide housing for a vast number of the population in urgent need of shelter and the large number of NGOs involved in the exercise.” It acknowledged that not all Imidugudu were planned and constructed according to government recommendations. The HRW report accused the Rwandan government of “forcing” tens of thousands of people to abandon their homes in rural areas and move to makeshift dwellings in government-designated sites.