Clare Short Interviews Rwanda’s Kagame

IN a new twist, Clare Short, the former British secretary for international development, has paid a visit to Rwanda to conduct an image-building radio interview for President Paul Kagame, writes John Kakande.

The interview was later broadcast on a primetime BBC Radio 4 current affairs programme in the UK on June 25, a statement issued by President Kagame’s office to The New Vision, yesterday said.

Short, who resigned from Cabinet due to disagreement with Prime Minister Tony Blair over the Iraq war, was the chief mediator between President Yoweri Museveni and President Paul Kagame.

She resigned on May 12, four days after the two Presidents met in London under her auspices.

“During her five-day visit to Rwanda last week, the former UK minister, Rt. Hon. Clare Short MP, held an interview with President Paul Kagame on the achievements of the Government of National Unity since 1994 and his vision for the development of the country over the next few years,” the statement said.

Short is currently a Labour backbench MP for Birmingham Ladywood. She is a career politician without any journalism background.

In her interview, Short asked: “You are about to have democratic elections. The country has voted overwhelmingly in the referendum for the new constitution. Are you confident that no matter the outcome, Rwanda will move forward?”

Kagame replied, “Rwanda inevitably will move forward and continues to move forward. We now have a constitution that has been agreed upon democratically. We have a constitution that reflects the views of a very big part of our population.”

Kagame re-affirmed that Rwanda sent troops to Congo because there were “genocide forces which kept on crossing our borders to kill our people and exterminate one section of our population.”
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