VZCZCXRO2453
PP RUEHLMC
DE RUEHLGB #1223/01 3561116
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 221116Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY KIGALI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3590
INFO RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP PRIORITY 0031

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KIGALI 001223 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/C, DRL, AF/PD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL SOCI KDEM KJUS RW
SUBJECT: PRESS FREEDOM: END OF YEAR WRAP-UP 
 
REF: A. KIGALI 480 
     ¶B. KIGALI 790 
     ¶C. KIGALI 842 
     ¶D. KIGALI 595 
 
¶1. Issues of press freedom in 2006 remained the subject of 
much debate and action in Rwanda.  A year which began with 
public criticism of Rwanda's media by President Kagame and of 
individual reporters by other officials later saw clear signs 
that senior GOR officials recognize the importance of a free, 
effective press to the development of Rwanda's democracy and 
to international perceptions of the country.  The year 
concludes with evidence of a slow maturing of the media and 
of its relations with the GOR.  In spite of some reports of 
harassment, occasional run-ins with the police and other 
government authorities, and an alleged physical attack on one 
journalist during the year, 10 members of Rwanda's private 
media were, during a recent Embassy organized roundtable, 
unanimous in declaring that the press in Rwanda is 
considerably freer than it was even two or three years ago. 
Major complaints focused on economic obstacles to making 
journalism profitable, rather than charges of government 
control. 
 
------------- 
The Scorecard 
------------- 
 
¶2. In 2006 no newspapers were seized, no new legal cases were 
initiated against Rwandan journalists, there were no reports 
of journalists being detained, and one journalist who began 
the year in prison--Umuco reporter Jean Leonard 
Rugambage--was released after his case was reviewed by senior 
officials.  The number of independent Rwandan media outlets 
continued to grow: nine independent Rwandan radio stations 
are now on the air, and some 37 newspapers are now being 
published.  During the year New Times became Rwanda's first 
daily paper.  While the New Times and government newspapers 
continue to receive the lion's share of government 
advertising, several newspapers received advertisements from 
government bodies, including opposition papers such as 
Umuseso.  Newspapers such as Focus, Umuseso, Rwanda Newsline, 
and Umuvugizi published articles critical of senior 
government officials and institutions and the Rwandan 
Patriotic Front without being sanctioned.  Even 
pro-government New Times published allegations of fraud, 
waste, and abuse by government agencies and officials.  Some 
of Rwanda's radio stations expanded their news programming 
during the year and also began to tackle more politically 
sensitive issues that previously were ignored.  Local 
versions of "Crossfire" and "Hardtalk" on competing radio 
stations have been successful and, in some instances, 
influential.  For example, Deputy Police Commissioner Mary 
Gahonzire agreed to review the Rwandan National Police's 
(RNP) decision to close bars weekdays at 10:00pm after the 
issue was raised during her appearance on Contact FM's 
Crossfire, and the Kigali city government's decision to ban 
motorcycle taxis from city streets was rescinded in part 
because of heavy criticism of the decision on radio stations 
as well as in newspapers.  Contact FM also recently has 
collaborated with a local NGO, Institute for Research and 
Dialogue for Peace, in broadcasting two-hour debates on the 
role of political parties in the country and population 
control. 
 
¶3. Nonetheless, occasional reports of harassment and 
anti-press conspiracy theories persisted.  The year's most 
serious incidents and allegations centered on two 
individuals: Umuco editor Bonaventure Bizumeremyi and VOA 
stringer Lucie Umukundwa, and one institution: Radio France 
International (RFI).  As reported in Reftel B, Bizumeremyi 
ran afoul of the High Council of the Press (HCP) following 
publication in late July of issue 26 of the paper.  The HCP 
concluded that multiple articles in issue 26 violated 
Rwanda's media law and demanded that Bizumeremyi publish an 
apology and corrections.  The contents of at least one of the 
articles ultimately led the head of the Criminal 
Investigations Division of the RNP on August 3 to summons 
Bizumeremyi for questioning.  Bizumeremyi responded by going 
into hiding, published an apology in another Kinyarwanda 
newspaper, and, sometime between August 11 and August 14, 
crossed into Uganda. 
 
¶4. In a recent meeting with Emboff, Bizumeremyi confirmed 
that he returned to Rwanda in early November after completing 
two months of journalism training in Benin.  Bizumeremyi 
stated that he considers the incident surrounding issue 26 
closed, he was never charged with any offense, and he has not 
felt compelled to change his editorial line.  Asked how and 
when he determined it was safe to return to Rwanda, 
Bizumeremyi replied that he knew it was safe after hearing an 
 
KIGALI 00001223  002 OF 003 
 
 
August 14 presidential press conference at which Kagame, 
responding to questions about alleged harassment of local 
journalists, ordered the State Minister for Internal Security 
to investigate the allegations and told law enforcement 
officials to leave the journalists alone. 
 
¶5. As reported in Reftel C, August 14 also was the date of an 
alleged physical attack on Olivier Tibasumba, a part-time VOA 
employee whose sister, Lucie Umukundwa, was a VOA stringer 
and head of the VOA office in Kigali.  According to 
Tibasumba, the unknown assailants threatened to harm his and 
Umukundwa's families unless they stopped interfering in their 
work.  Immediately after the attack, Umukundwa and Tibasumba 
told Emboff they believed Umukundwa, who was publicly 
criticized for her reporting by a GOR official in January, 
was the real target of the threat.  Subsequently Umukundwa 
reported receiving threatening phone calls and suspicious 
visits from unidentified individuals.  Embassy officers had 
numerous contacts with high level GOR officials regarding 
Umukundwa's situation.  Several of these officials offered to 
speak directly with Umukundwa and to follow up on any 
tangible information she could provide regarding the reported 
threats.  Umukundwa declined to avail herself of the 
opportunity to speak directly to these officials. 
 
¶6. Umukundwa eventually left Rwanda via Congo and made her 
way to Uganda.  Umukundwa currently is studying journalism in 
France.  Tibasumba continues to live in Rwanda without any 
further reports of harassment.  Both the HCP and the RNP 
conducted investigations into the alleged attack.  The RNP 
concluded that the allegation "seems to have been fabricated" 
based on the following factors: 1) Neither Tibasumba nor 
Umukundwa ever filed a police report on the matter, despite 
having been advised to; 2) Umukundwa refused to take or 
return calls from police investigators; 3) Tibasumba was 
unable to furnish names of any of the individuals who he said 
helped him from the crime scene to his home after he was 
beaten, the motorist who was with him before he was beaten, 
or the hospital where he reported being taken for treatment. 
The HCP expects to release its findings in the next week. 
 
¶7. The deterioration of relations between Rwanda and France 
during the year had a direct impact on the operations of RFI 
in the country.  Per Reftel D, the GOR decided in June not to 
renew the visa of RFI correspondent Sonia Rolley and gave her 
48 hours to depart the country.  While the GOR has never 
publicly stated the reason for its decision, the Information 
Ministry had recently renewed Rolley's press credential and 
indicated that they had found nothing objectionable in her 
reporting.  According to the resident Agence France Presse 
reporter, RFI intended to replace Rolley at the beginning of 
¶2007.  On November 27, however, the last French officials 
departed Rwanda after the severing of diplomatic ties between 
the two countries.  The GOR decided at the same time to cease 
the activities of all projects and institutions in Rwanda 
affiliated with the Government of France, including the 
French school, the Franco-Rwandan Cultural Center, assistance 
projects, and local operations and broadcast of RFI.  The 
decision to suspend RFI operations in the country and to end 
transmission of RFI's signal is the direct result of the 
harsh break in relations between the countries and is not 
related to the content of RFI broadcasts. 
 
¶8. While Umuseso, Umuvugizi, and Umuco made allegations 
during the course of the year of verbal harassment and of a 
conspiracy to shut these opposition papers down, at year's 
end all three papers are operating without interference and 
have not scaled back their criticism of the government. 
 
-------------------- 
Beyond the Scorecard 
-------------------- 
 
¶9. Rwanda's government and society remain very hierarchical 
and people quickly fall in lockstep with senior government 
officials, particularly President Kagame.  This tendency was 
evident early in 2006 when Kagame's January 24 public 
criticism of the media for a lack of ethics and skills set 
the tone for similar statements by other senior Government 
officials (including in a public meeting where one BBC 
stringer and Umukundwa reportedly were accused of 
insufficient patriotism and biased reporting).  Kagame 
subsequently stated that his comments were intended not to 
denigrate or threaten the journalism profession but to prod 
the journalists to improve their standards.  Kagame has been 
increasingly accessible to the media since the early months 
of 2006.  He has held regular, lengthy, and wide-ranging 
press conferences for local journalists, spent two hours 
fielding questions from panelists and the public on a live 
radio talk show (on an independent station), and chastised 
other government officials for not making themselves more 
 
KIGALI 00001223  003 OF 003 
 
 
accessible to journalists.  Official criticism of the media 
has, of recent, been less accusatory and more focused on the 
need for improved professionalism and skills.  One 
manifestation of this change in attitude is a renewed 
emphasis on providing training for journalists.  Both the 
Information Ministry and the HCP have organized journalism 
workshops, and the HCP intends to open a unit dedicated 
specifically to the task of coordinating and organizing 
journalism training.  Both the Information Ministry and the 
HCP have supported the establishment of a training center in 
Kigali for working journalists. 
 
¶10. Shyaka Kanuma, chief editor of Focus newspaper and a 
former Nieman fellow at Harvard, who has referred to 
President Kagame in writing as a benevolent dictator and 
criticized Rwanda for a lack of political space, nonetheless 
credits Kagame with creating an environment in which the 
press is free to express itself.  In a recent conversation 
with Emboffs, Kanuma expressed concern not about a lack of 
press freedom in Rwanda but about the fact that it is 
insufficiently grounded institutionally and depends too much 
on Kagame individually.  In extensive conversations with 
Emboffs, no Rwandan journalist has asserted that press 
freedom worsened over the course of the year.  In fact, 
during a recent roundtable discussion, members of Rwanda's 
independent media were unanimous in their belief that there 
is greater press freedom in the country today than in 
previous years. 
 
¶11. Rwanda's journalists themselves have shown signs of 
renewed vigor in recent months.  Following an 
Embassy-sponsored workshop on media management, participants 
in the workshop led by the president of Rwanda's Press House 
drafted a joint statement calling on the Government to remove 
tariffs on printing supplies that make newspaper publication 
in Rwanda cost prohibitive for most outlets.  Invited to 
provide comment on two pieces of legislation concerning the 
media sector currently before parliament, the Press House and 
Association of Rwandan Journalists have begun organizing 
sessions with their members in order to provide a thorough 
review of the bills.  Most recently, the journalists took it 
upon themselves to review controversial articles which seemed 
to deny the genocide in Rwanda, written by Agnes 
Nkusi-Uwimana, owner and director of the 
Kinyarwanda-lanagauge bi-monthly, Umurabyo.  An ad hoc 
committee of journalists selected by their peers criticized 
Nkusi-Uwimana for her lack of professionalism, for tarnishing 
the reputation of journalists in Rwanda, and for printing a 
revisionist article and called on her to publish an apology 
and corrections in the paper's next issue.  This first step 
toward self-regulation demonstrated greater initiative on the 
part of the journalists and an increased awareness of how 
they can work to build the trust of the government and 
ostensibly independent institutions such as the HCP (Note: 
this case will be reported in greater detail septel). 
 
------------- 
Looking Ahead 
------------- 
 
¶12. The many obstacles to further development of Rwanda's 
press outlined in Reftel A remain.  These include financial, 
technical, and human resource limitations, poor legislation, 
and weak institutions.  There are, however, two areas where 
significant progress can be achieved in the coming year. 
When parliament returns from recess in late January it will 
take up draft bills to revise the current media law and to 
replace the presidential statute that governs the HCP.  As 
currently written, post believes that the bills do little to 
address the concerns expressed by many international 
observers with respect to press freedom issues.  Parliament 
has, however, invited public comment on the bills and, as 
noted above, journalists will have an opportunity to present 
their views.  Parliament also has accepted the Embassy's 
offer to fund an independent analysis of the bills by a media 
law expert.  Properly drafted, these two bills could create 
the legal foundation necessary to expand press freedom in the 
country. 
 
¶13. USAID also is in the final stages of discussions to 
provide first year operating costs for the Great Lakes Media 
Center, a new institution established primarily for the 
purpose of providing training for Rwanda's working 
journalists.  Led by American photojournalist Sally 
Stapleton, the Center enjoys the support of local journalists 
and government officials alike.  All parties hope that the 
Center will, in the long-term, address the skills shortage 
among Rwanda's journalists and contribute to the development 
of a more professional and effective press. 
ARIETTI