About me.

Andrew M. Mwenda is the founding Managing Editor of The Independent, Uganda’s premier current affairs newsmagazine. One of Foreign Policy magazine 's top 100 Global Thinkers, TED Speaker and Foreign aid Critic



Wednesday, August 25, 2010

IS RWANDA REALLY A POLICE STATE?

President Paul Kagame last week won presidential elections by 95 percent of the vote. Such high performance was common in Sadam Hussein’s Iraq and other dictatorships. Basing on this analogy, many observers have concluded his victory was a product of political repression. But such an approach ignores the internal political dynamics that drive Rwanda and thus strip it of its history, context and specificity. A serious discussion of Rwanda must be rooted in its internal dynamics.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

DO THE HUTU AND TUTSI OD RWANDA NURSE ACIENT HATRED

In the summer of 1995, former US president, Jimmy Carter, organised a conference on Rwanda in Tunis to “convince the RPF to be more ethnically inclusive by appointing Hutu politicians to cabinet”. In attendance were the presidents of Rwanda’s neighbours: Zaire’s Mobutu Sese Seko, Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni and Tanzania’s Ali Hassan Mwinyi. Rwanda’s Pasteur Bizimungu was in attendance as well as former Tanzanian president, Julius Nyerere. During the coffee break, they sat down for an informal chat with Carter.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

WHY MUSEVENI IS WRONG ON SOMALIA.

I read with particular keenness President Yoweri Museveni’s article on July 25 where he defended Ugandan troop presence in Somalia. I use the words “particular keenness” because I highly respect Museveni’s analysis of security issues. While his article is strong and persuasive, I was not convinced about intervention in Somalia.