Kagame slams “new humanitarianism”

Vice-President Paul Kagame has lashed out at the “new humanitarianism”, questioning the effectiveness of international relief agencies. Opening a workshop on “humanitarianism and conflict in Africa”, being held in Kigali, he said international agencies and NGOs dominated the humanitarian landscape. “But how disinterested and apolitical are they?”, he asked, according to Uganda’s ‘Monitor’ newspaper. “How effective are they in empowering the African people to take charge of their own destiny?” Kagame said humanitarianism sometimes became a “pretext for blatant military intervention”, citing France’s ‘Operation Turquoise’ in Rwanda in 1994. He also condemned the international community’s “double standards” as highlighted by events in Bosnia, Kosovo and East Timor. “We are yet to witness a similar level of interest in Africa,” he said.