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Stanslas Kamanzi, Minister of Natural resources has urged Rwandese to participate in developing land and conserve the environment.

Hon. Stanslas Kamanzi, Minister for Natural resources

This was resolved on November 6^th�2012 during the meeting that gathered Southern Province leaders, Armed forces and police in districts and environment protection officials in Muhanga district.

The Minister asserted: �if land is not cultivated, then it should be a forest. There is no need of having un developed pieces of land.�

�Swamps should be cultivated as well instead of just lying idle,� he adds.

The minister of natural resources highlights that leaders and all Rwandese should embrace land development for sustainable development.

Minister Kamanzi asked them to imitate South Korea which was hilly and had swamps, but land was developed in a short time because South Koreans embraced afforestation and village settlement programs.

Governor of the Southern Province, Alphonse Munyentwali points out that �some places are called forests yet they are almost void of trees. If they are forests, let trees be planted in plenty.�

Minister Kamanzi calls upon all Rwandese to conserve the environment fighting land degradation like soil erosion and others.

Source: News Of Rwanda Group.

Andrew Mitchell has denied acting as a “rogue minister” by sanctioning a �16m aid cheque to Rwanda on his last day as international development secretary.
He told MPs it was a collective decision taken with the prime minister.

The move was controversial as Rwanda’s rulers have allegedly funded rebels killing and raping in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

David Cameron has said Rwanda is a “success story” but its leaders should not support militias in Congo.

Mr Mitchell was being questioned by the cross-party international development committee about UK aid to Rwanda while he was international development secretary between May 2010 and September 2012.

He denied Britain had gone “out on a limb” by continuing to fund development in Rwanda, when other European donors had suspended their aid.

He also denied having a “personal interest” in maintaining good relations with the country’s leader Paul Kagame, after visiting it several times to take part in�Project Umubano, which saw Tory MPs – including several members of the committee quizzing Mr Mitchell – help with local business and education projects.

‘Warm relationship’

The project, visited by Mr Cameron in 2007, was a key part of the Tory leader’s effort to present a more compassionate image.

But Mr Mitchell said he had stopped taking part in Project Umabano in May 2010 when he became international development secretary – and the coalition had simply continued with the “candid but warm relationship with Rwanda” established by Labour Prime Minster Tony Blair.

The �16m, which amounted to half of Britain’s annual aid Rwanda, was suspended in July over concerns about the country’s alleged behaviour in DR Congo, said Mr Mitchell.

But the money started flowing again in August after conditions set by Mr Cameron were “partially met”.

The only one that had not been met was the explicit condemnation by the Rwandan government of militia violence in DR Congo, he told the committee.

It was decided to channel half of the money directly to education and agriculture projects in Rwanda, rather than giving it to the Kagame government to spend.

The decision to give the money was “entirely proper” and in line with guidance from senior officials, the foreign secretary and prime minister and after visiting the country to see the situation on the ground for himself, he said.

‘Trust’

“The press have suggested that a rogue minister can sign cheques under the bed clothes and bung them out to dubious leaders. That is completely untrue.

“It is very insulting. I take deep offence at the suggestion that I would ever behave in that way,” Mr Mitchell told the committee.

He said Germany and the Netherlands had suspended direct support to the Kagame government but the EU had continued its aid programme unchanged, and while the US cut $200,000 (�125,000) from military support it had pressed ahead with a $160m development aid programme.

He said the British government had not come under pressure from other countries to suspend aid – and insisted the Rwandan government could be trusted with the money.

“Rwanda does exactly what they say they are going to do with our taxpayers’ money,” he told the committee.

“Taking away budget support would have no effect on the elite in [Rwanda's capital] Kigali, but it would, bluntly, take girls out of school elsewhere in that country.

“So it might make us feel better to remove budget support but it would not affect the people who make the decisions.”

He left the international development department in September to become Conservative chief whip, only to resign weeks later following a row outside No 10 in which he swore at a police officer.

In July, Mr Mitchell blocked the UK’s �27m annual contribution to the Rwandan government after he visited the Kivus region of the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

Rampage

However, in his last day at the department, he decided to unfreeze the aid, citing progress at international talks. This meant a �16m tranche of the total funding was paid.

Mr Mitchell’s successor in the role, Justine Greening, will decide in December whether to free up the remaining amount, after the final report of the UN Security Council’s Group of Experts on Rwanda is delivered at the end of November.

A leaked report by the expert group, seen by Reuters news agency, suggests Rwanda’s defence minister was relaying military orders to leaders of the M23 rebel group in the east of the DR Congo.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has been praised for improving the economic and social conditions in the east African country, in which an estimated 800,000 people were killed in ethnic violence during 1994.

But Mr Kagame, in power since 2000, has come under fierce criticism recently for allegedly funding the M23 rebels.

The rebellion started in April, when a militia that had been absorbed into the Congolese army mutinied and went on the rampage. Since then nearly half a million people have been displaced by fighting between the M23 and the army.

Source: BBC News.

Ex-development secretary says UK government made joint decision despite fears of Rwandan support for Congo rebels

Andrew Mitchell, the former international development secretary, has insisted that�the decision to restore �16m in aid to Rwanda was a collective one�and not the action of a “rogue” minister.

Mitchell told MPs on the international development committee that he had acted with “absolute propriety” when he took the decision on his last day in office before being appointed chief whip in a government reshuffle. Mitchell�subsequently resigned�as chief whip after admitting swearing at police.

Human rights groups have criticised the UK’s move because an�interim UN report has alleged Rwandan support for the M23 rebel group operating in neighbouring the Democratic Republic of the Congo�(DRC). Led by�Bosco Ntaganda, a warlord wanted by the international criminal court, M23 has been fighting government soldiers in eastern DRC’s North Kivu province since April. An estimated 470,000 people have been forced to flee their homes.

The UK is Rwanda’s biggest bilateral donor and plans to spend an average of �83m a year there until 2015. The Department for International Development (DfID) says�Rwanda�has made impressive progress since the 1994 genocide, although more than half of the population still lives in poverty. Donors have been impressed by Rwanda’s poverty reduction efforts through its use of foreign�aid.

Following the UN report, however, the UK suspended �16m in general budget support � money that goes directly to the Rwandan government � in July. Mitchell said he and David Cameron, the UK prime minister, expressed their concerns about Rwandan support for M23 to President Paul Kagame during a�family planning summit�in London. Mitchell subsequently visited Rwanda and the DRC’s Kivu region.

In mid-August, Mitchell said Cameron set out three conditions for the resumption of budget support. At the end of August, Mitchell wrote to the prime minister explaining that Rwanda had significantly met two of those: constructive engagement in regional peace talks and a continuing ceasefire in the Kivus. However, Rwanda had not publicly condemned M23.

“Given this reasonable progress”, wrote Mitchell in his 31 August letter, he decided to release �8m of the delayed �16m as general budget support and the rest for DfID programmes in education and food security. He said on Thursday it had been a collective government decision. “The press have suggested that a rogue minister can sign cheques under the bedclothes and bung them out to dubious leaders,” he said. “That is completely untrue. It is very insulting. I take deep offence at the suggestion that I would ever behave in this way.”

Mitchell rejected the notion that Britain was “out on limb”, asserting that it was in the “middle of the pack”. Although the Netherlands and Germany have suspended budget support, others � including the US, the EU and the UN � have continued their development programmes. The former development secretary pointed out that although the US had suspended $200m of military aid to Rwanda, it had maintained its development programme of $160m.

Carina Tertsakian of Human Rights Watch said: “The resumption of UK aid while Rwandan military support for the M23 is ongoing sends the wrong signal. Even if, as Andrew Mitchell claimed, holding back budget support will not affect the political elite, it will certainly have an impact: Rwanda is very conscious of its international image and these decisions matter to the Rwandan government enormously, especially coming from its closest ally, the UK.”

Asked why he restored the �16m, Mitchell said he wanted to “clear the desk” before his successor, Justine Greening, took over and that further delay would have breached the budget support agreement with Rwanda. In the 31 August letter, Mitchell wrote:

“As we have discussed, this balanced approach reflects my continued concern about the crisis in eastern DRC and Rwanda’s part in that. At the same time it ensures that our response does not undermine Rwanda’s progress in reducing poverty and delivering essential services.”

Mitchell insisted that budget support was the most effective way for a developing country to use aid money “if you can trust the system” and “they [Rwanda] do exactly what they say with our money”. He added at Thursday’s hearing:

“Taking away budget support would have no effect on the elite in Kigali, but it would, bluntly, take girls out of school elsewhere in that country. It might make us feel better to remove budget support and avoid taking these difficult decisions, but it would not affect who makes decisions in Kigali and it would have the effect of damaging the poverty programme.”

Questioned by MPs about the credibility of the UN interim report on Rwanda’s support for M23, Mitchell said the�allegations had been strongly contested by the Kagame government�but that he was in no position to say whether Rwanda backed M23 or not. Asked why the UK did not wait until the UN’s final report, which is said to be even more explicit on Rwandan government support for M23, Mitchell said delay would hurt Rwanda’s poverty alleviation efforts. As to whether he stood by his decision, Mitchell replied: “Absolutely.”

Greening, who will appear before the committee next week, is to make a decision on the remaining �21m in general budget support in December, after the UN releases its final report.

Source: � Guardian.co.uk

KIGALI�Nov 8 (Reuters) – Relations between Rwanda and its donors are strained after two U.N. experts reported alleged Rwandan support for a rebellion in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo and accused Rwanda’s defence minister of leading it.

Donors including the United States, the Netherlands and Germany have suspended some of their financial aid to Rwanda over accusations that it is backing M23 rebels in eastern DRC. President Paul Kagame denies the allegations.

Relations between Rwanda and DRC have also worsened, and a Congolese soldier was killed by Rwandan troops after a clash near the border.

Last month Rwanda won a revolving two-year seat on the U.N. Security Council to begin in 2013, something Kigali saw as a victory after high-profile accusations of its support for M23.

What to watch out for:

- Rwanda says that if the suspended aid isn’t restarted by January, it could harm the economy

- Britain has broken ranks with other donors by unblocking about half of its $25 million aid to Rwanda in September, welcoming Kigali’s constructive efforts to solve the conflict. Will other donors follow Britain and unfreeze aid?

- Will Britain’s new development secretary re-suspend aid?

- Will the fighting at the Rwanda-Congo border escalate?

- Regional states have agreed to a 4,000-strong force to try to neutralise the M23 rebels, but will this get off the ground?

POLITICAL OPPONENTS, INTERNAL RIFTS

Last month a Rwandan court jailed opposition politician Victoire Ingabire for eight years on charges of minimising the 1994 genocide and terrorism, a case seen as a test of the judiciary’s independence. Ingabire plans to appeal the conviction.

Kagame has been accused by critics of being authoritarian and trampling on media and political freedoms. He rejects the accusations, and points to his record of leading his country’s recovery from the genocide.

Kagame says he plans to transform Rwanda into a middle-income country by 2020. He was re-elected by a landslide in 2010 for a final term that expires in 2017.

Ingabire returned to Rwanda in January 2010 from exile in the Netherlands to contest presidential elections but was barred from standing after being charged in court.

What to watch:

- Will Ingabire’s appeal be successful?

- How will Kagame react to pressure from opposition parties and the West for political liberalisation?

- Will other opposition politicians face the same treatment meted out to Ingabire should they decide to run for top office?

- What’s in store for the Democratic Greens party when it seeks registration later this month?

Source:�Reuters: Rwanda News