Displaying items by tag: Rwanda

French-Cameroonian author Charles Onana has been found guilty of downplaying the Rwandan genocide, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 800,000 people in 1994. He was fined €8,400, and his publisher was fined €5,000. The two must also pay €11,000 in compensation to human rights organisations which filed the lawsuit. A Paris court ruled that Onana’s book, published in 2019, trivialised and contested the genocide in an ‘outrageous manner’, violating France's laws against genocide denial and incitement to hatred. The book suggested that the narrative of a planned genocide by the Hutu government was a ‘scam’, a claim criticised for distorting historical facts. Rwanda's foreign minister has welcomed the court’s decision as a victory. This is the first time in Europe that those denying the genocide have been punished under French law.

The Government is considering a proposal to offer up to £3,000 to failed asylum-seekers to relocate voluntarily to Rwanda. This plan, aimed at reducing the backlog of asylum applications, is separate from the controversial 'Rwanda bill,' which seeks to deport most asylum-seekers to Rwanda. The new scheme builds on existing policies offering financial assistance for voluntary returns to home countries. In the past year, 19,000 people have voluntarily left the UK under such schemes. The new proposal allows recipients of the financial package to live in Rwanda, a country the Government deems safe despite concerns about political oppression. Under this plan rejected asylum-seekers who currently cannot work legally in the UK would be allowed to work in Rwanda and receive five years of additional support. The government’s Rwanda bill has already been ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court for violating human rights laws. Rishi Sunak is now pushing legislation to designate Rwanda as a safe country for asylum-seekers, hoping to circumvent legal opposition.

Rishi Sunak has pledged to enact emergency legislation and forge a new treaty with Rwanda to ensure the continuation of his key asylum policy, despite the Supreme Court's ruling against it. The plan had been to deport illegal asylum seekers to Rwanda, but the court expressed concerns that they might face the risk of being returned to their countries of origin, violating international law. Sunak now plans to convert the Rwanda agreement into a treaty to guarantee that relocated asylum seekers remain there. Controversially, he also wants to designate Rwanda as 'safe,' which would not be challengeable in UK courts. However, this legislation would not supersede the European Court of Human Rights, which could still block the flights. The PM’s stance raises significant questions about the UK's adherence to human rights laws.

On 25th January, Rwanda's military fired at a Congolese fighter jet that had violated their airspace for the third time recently. The DRC called the shooting ‘an act of war.’ This incident comes a week before Pope Francis is to make the first papal visit to Kinshasa since 1985. The Pope plans to shine a spotlight on the bloodshed of the conflict in eastern DRC, one of the world's most resource-rich yet conflict-ridden regions. On 15th January an improvised explosive device ripped through the congregation at a baptismal service conducted by a blind pastor. It severed limbs and killed at least 17 people. This attack in North Kivu province is just the latest terrorist outrage in the DRC by the Allied Democratic Forces, one of the most dangerous of dozens of armed groups in eastern DRC. As well as physical injuries, terrorist violence has left DRC Christians suffering serious emotional trauma.

Governments are blocking swaths of the internet. Pro-democracy activist Ko Jimmy was executed after condemning Myanmar’s military coup online. Idamange Yvonne was sentenced to 15 years in prison for YouTube videos criticising Rwanda’s repressive president. Nicaraguan authorities sentenced journalist Miguel Urbina to nine years in prison for Facebook posts and tweets they deemed threatening to national integrity. Siarhei Tsikhanouski, who ran a YouTube channel criticising Belarus’s government, was jailed for 18 years for inciting unrest. These are only a fraction of the cases in an internet freedom survey by Freedom House, which stated, ‘The same rights protected offline should also be protected online. Human rights are restricted online in 70 countries and 2022 marked the 12th consecutive year of decline in internet freedom’. But it also found that when societies push back against repression, under the right conditions, they can win. Pray for the digital rights groups who research, advocate against, and bring strategic litigation cases to overturn repression online.

In April, the UK said some people arriving on small boats from France to claim asylum would be sent to Rwanda - a policy meant to deter dangerous channel journeys. But MP Diana Johnson, chair of the home affairs committee, said it ‘appears to have gone unnoticed’ by migrants. A group of MPs said there is ‘no clear evidence’ that the UK's plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda will stop risky Channel crossings and numbers have significantly increased since it was announced.

Torrential rains causing floods and landslides displaced 100,000 people and killed about 200 in Kenya. Floods destroyed 8,000 acres of crops, and the extreme rainfall will continue until the end of May. In Uganda, a river burst its banks, causing people to flee for safety. The waters of Lake Victoria have risen to unprecedented heights, forcing shoreline communities to abandon their homes. Rwanda, too, has seen houses, roads, and crops destroyed, and many killed by mudslides. At the same time, trillions of locusts have descended on the region. They can travel over 100 miles a day. There are 18 separate swarms in Kenya at present, and weather conditions are expected to favour breeding, so that a third generation could hatch in June and July. Added to these two tragedies, coronavirus is spreading among huge numbers of displaced people and closed borders are delaying delivery of pesticides to locust-affected areas.

The Angolan government has put 1,106 churches on notice for operating illegally. The director for religious matters said they had been given a 30-day ultimatum from 4 October to regularise their operations or be shut. The number of illegal churches in the country has reached 4,000, and they need to change their status. According to the culture ministry, there are only 84 legal churches, and apart from the 1,106 churches on notice another 2,006 have already been shut. Pray for freedom of religion, and for legislation only to be applied where necessary. Meanwhile in Rwanda, where 81% of the population are believers, the government has closed 8,000 churches, believed to have ‘untrained leaders and poor accountability’, with pastors being accused of enriching themselves financially. Pray for the government to eradicate mental, spiritual and financial abuse by leaders and promote safe building standards for church structures. See

700 churches in Rwanda have been closed in a mass government clampdown. The board which monitors public and private organisations said, 'Some churches conduct worship services in shoddy, unclean structures, to the detriment of health and safety. Noise pollution has been reported, and some operate without the required operation permits.’ Pentecostal churches run by charismatic preachers claiming to hear directly from God or saying they can perform miracles have spread rapidly, and many operate out of tiny structures without planning permission. In order to start a church in Rwanda a pastor needs a government certificate that expires after one year. A new law will make it more difficult for a person to call themselves a preacher and start a new church without any theological training. Some preachers 'deceive their congregation with misleading sermons'. However the authorities are accused of trying to control preachers’ messages, in a country often accused of stifling free speech.

Onesphore Rwaje, Archbishop of Rwanda, told children to see themselves as future leaders of church and country. He made his comments as children gathered at an event organised by the Mothers’ Union of the Anglican Church in Rwanda. Their provincial coordinator said the MU is ‘helping to create an environment that is sympathetic to the protection of children and the advancement of their rights’. The archbishop asked them to do everything with a target to aim for, and encouraged leaders to build self-confidence in this generation of blessed children. Foreign missionaries and church-linked non-governmental organisations operate in the country. The missionaries are encouraged to promote their religious beliefs, and the government welcomes their development assistance. Pray for a strong Christian ethos to grow in Rwanda through these Christian bodies.