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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

RWANDA: Polls threaten to renew ethnic divide, says gov't

KIGALI, 19 August 2003 (IRIN) - Rwanda's presidential campaign threatens to be reopening ethnic wounds in the tiny central African nation, as exemplified by allegations of divisive talk by some candidates, according to the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (NURC).

The NURC said in a statement on Tuesday that the process of uniting and reconciling Rwandans was "at stake and facing difficulties", and accused the main opposition presidential candidate, Faustin Twagiramungu, of using divisive talk and material calling on the "majority Hutu to turn against the Tutsi-led regime" by voting for him.

"Twagiramungu and his campaign agents are spreading negative and divisive ideologies geared at planting seeds of ethnic hatred amongst Rwandans," the NURC executive secretary, Fatuma Ndagiza, told a news conference in the capital, Kigali.

Rwanda witnessed the worst manifestation of divisive politics in 1994 when Hutu extremists killed about 800,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus in a period of 100 days.

Ndagiza told reporters that Twagiramungu's campaign officers had been threatening the population in rural areas with war should they vote for incumbent President Paul Kagame. "They are creating confusion and an atmosphere of fear within the population. This is jeopardising what we've already achieved on the ground. It is awakening old wounds," she said.

However, Twagiramungu has dismissed the accusation, describing it as an accusation conjured up by the ruling party, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) aimed at undermining his credibility. "I have in my history been fighting the ideologies of ethnicity. This is merely an RPF weapon being used to intimidate me," he protested.

Twagiramungu, 58, seen as the only real challenge to Kagame, has accused his opponent of harassing and intimidating his supporters in the run-up to the first presidential vote since the 1994 genocide.

For his part, Kagame has denied allegations of foul play by the RPF, saying that any government intervention in campaigns for the 25 August poll were intended to prevent the type of ethnic division between Hutus and Tutsis that led to the genocide.

Themes: (IRIN) Conflict, (IRIN) Governance, (IRIN) Human Rights

[ENDS]

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