Federico Donelli & Marie Roger Biloa: RWANDA 30 YEARS ARFTER THE GENOCIDE

Irene Horejs in conversation with Federico Donelli and Marie
Roger Biloa





RWANDA 30 YEARS ARFTER THE GENOCIDE – A CONTESTED PARTNER
FOR EU INTERESTS IN AFRICA?


 


30 years after the genocide, Rwanda is one of Africa’s
fast-growing economies and one of the most modern countries in
sub-Saharan Africa with remarkable rates of poverty reduction,
education, health and employment and relatively low corruption
levels.


This development has been achieved with a flaw of autocratic
rule, silencing critical voices and cracking down on opponents
even outside the country. In July 2024, President Paul Kagame was
reelected by 99% for a 4th term in office, in an election without
any serious contenders. Despite autocratic rule and flagrant
human rights violations, Rwanda remains well regarded among the
(guilt ridden) international community and foreign investors,
mainly due to its record in fighting corruption and its reliable
debt service with international banks.


Rwanda – one of the smallest countries in Africa – has also
become an important, – though contentious– player on the
continent. It has an important voice in the African Union and
other international organizations, is one of the most important
providers of troops to multilateral peacekeeping missions and has
signed contracts as a bilateral security provider in the Central
African Republic and in Mozambique, where Rwandan troupes are,
among others, securing the operations of TOTAL ELF.


At the same time, Rwanda´s military is accused to fuel war in
Eastern Congo by supporting one of the main rebel groups, the
M23. The war, which involves dozens of armed groups, has not only
generated massive displacement and one of the largest
humanitarian crises, but appears also to be linked to the illicit
extraction of valuable raw materials – essential for the
transformation of the EU economy under the Green Deal. Indeed,
Rwanda exports more raw materials than it produces. Nonetheless,
the EU has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding on
Sustainable Raw Material Value Chains with Rwanda – a move which
triggered immediately criticism in the DRC and EU member
countries.


How to understand these contradictions in both Rwanda´s foreign
policy and the EU policies towards Rwanda? What does this mean
for the EU and its interests on the continent? Is Rwanda a
reliable security partner for a renewal of the African security
architecture? Is it a reliable partner for improving governance
in mineral extraction and contributing to secure the raw
materials for the EU economy? How does the EU – one of the major
development donors and sources of foreign investment – deal with
Rwanda´s multiple human rights violations?


 


Federico Donelli, International Relations in the
Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of
Trieste


Marie Roger-Biloa, member of ECDPM’s board of
governors, media publisher and TV producer


Irene Horejs, former EU-Ambassador, Bruno
Kreisky Forum


 


Federico Donelli, Ph.D, University of Trieste,
expert in international politics and security of the Middle East
and Africa. Dr Donelli is also a Senior Research Associate at the
Istituto di Studi di PoliticaInternazionale (ISPI) in Milan and a
Non-Resident Fellow at the Orion Policy Institute (OPI) in
Washington D.C. He is a consultant on political and security
issues to a variety of governments, private companies, and
international organizations.


Marie-Roger Biloa is a member of ECDPM’s board
of governors since April 2023. She is  a Cameroonian
magazine editor, television show host, journalist, filmmaker and
president of various community-oriented initiatives. She lives in
France, from where she hosts a television talk show. In France,
she was named a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters. For
her work as a journalist, she has also received the Percy Qoboza
Award. Ms Biloa owns a website named Africa-international.