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

Kreisky Forum Talks

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.