My review of Healing a
Nation - A Testimony by Dr. Theogene Rudasingwa, Create Space Independent Publishing Platform,
North Charleston, SC, 2013.
This is a difficult book to characterize. It is in part a memoir of Rudasingwa’s life,
but it also contains meditations on scripture, political and economic
treatises, a scathing critique of Rwandan President Paul Kagame and exposés of Rwandan Patriotic Front lies and
fallacies. The author, born again both
religiously and politically, concludes with a program for action designed as
the sub-title states for “Waging and Winning a Peaceful Revolution to Unite and
Heal a Broken Rwanda”.
Rudasingwa begins by recounting his childhood and youth as a
Tutsi refugee in Uganda. His family headed
by his widowed mother Coletta Bamususire, to whom the book is dedicated, was
poor and barely scraped by, but Mama insisted on cleanliness, order and
education. Her kids went to school no
matter what and at least two of them, Theogene and his brother Gerald, ended up
with university educations. Life for
rural refugees was hard not just because of poverty, but also because being
refugees they had little acceptance in Uganda at large. They were always outsiders.
Some Rwandan Tutsi refugees, including current president
Kagame, joined Ugandan firebrand Yoweri Museveni in his struggle for power in Uganda in the
mid-eighties. However, even as they were
helping Museveni succeed, Rwandan Tutsi were also organizing their own return
to Rwanda. Emboldened and empowered by
their role in Uganda’s National Resistance Army, Rwandan refugees under the
leadership of Fred Rwigyema deserted from Uganda and invaded Rwanda in 1990.
Rudasingwa was not yet part of that movement. He was pursuing a medical degree at Makarere
University in Kampala, but became enamored of revolutionary thinking. He became an atheist and a self described
Marxist. His medical studies lapsed as
he studied and meditated on how Africa should free itself from external
bondage. Finally, he had to choose -
join the action with the Rwandan Patriotic Front or mold away as an eccentric
critic. He opted to join and became a
foot soldier and a medic on the front lines.
From there he was tapped by Major General Kagame, who
assumed command after General Rwigyema was killed, to undertake a series of
diplomatic missions. (Given some of the
revelations later in the book I was disappointed that Rudasingwa offered no
opinions on how Rwigyema, Bayingana, or Bunyenyezi died). For Rudasingwa one thing led to another as
he became more entrenched in the RPF/RPA quest, culminating as a member of the
RPF team in Arusha that negotiated the peace accords.
The most startling revelation in the book is Rudasingwa’s
discussion of the shooting down of President Habyarimana’s plane by the RPA,
the incident that sparked the genocide.
Rudasingwa acknowledges that he was part of the RPF conspiracy regarding
this event that overtly blamed the genocidaires for the action. The discussion of this comes late in the book
when Rudasingwa is reciting the bill of particulars against Kagame. I was disappointed that Rudasingwa offered no
discussion of what Kagame expected as a result of this action, or if Kagame
expressed any regret at the scale of violence that ensued.
Chronologically, Rudasingwa describes his activities as the
Secretary General of the RPF in post-genocide Rwanda, then his tour as
ambassador to the United States. In both capacities he was still a believer in
the revolutionary cause of empowering the Tutsi and ending the philosophy of
genocide. As ambassador from Rwanda he
found the intricacies of maneuvering in Washington to be complex. He said he
shamelessly played the guilt card that blamed America for non-action while a
million Rwandans died. This had some effect
in generating sympathy and support.
Returning to Rwanda in 1999 Dr. Rudasingwa resumed duties as
Secretary General of the RPF and later was assigned as director general of the
president’s office. Throughout the latter
phases of his career Rudasingwa admitted to growing scruples about RPF power
and how Kagame wielded it - concerns about his predilection for
violence, real or character
assassination of opponents, sly
backstabbing of anyone who differed from his narrowly defined pathway. Rudasingwa
devotes a full chapter to a description of how the Kagame government operated
and maintained control through fear and intimidation. Rudasingwa reported his
objections to the political path that vested all power in the RPF at the
expense of opening the system to all citizens, Hutu included. He got particularly upset with the intrigue
that characterized Kagame’s style. This became more acute as his stock was
falling and he tried to extricate himself from the vortex.
Finally, Rudasingwa did leave Rwanda and establish himself
in the U.S. As he acknowledges that in
itself represented a complete turnabout from the Marxist convictions of his
youth that equated America with evil imperialism. He also found God. Ultimately Rudasingwa wrote this book, both
to relate what happened to him and to Rwanda, but also to put forward a program
of action designed to change Rwanda.
Rudasingwa’s vision is a nation ruled by law - not fear - where all
citizens are equal - not just the chosen few.
He hopes this can be achieved peacefully because he acknowledges that
all government transitions in Rwanda to date have been violent. It is time to
change and to change the process of change.
To this end, Rudasingwa and others have created a multi-ethnic coalition
of like minded exiles called the Rwanda National Congress. The struggle
continues.
