"Rwanda to hold 2d presidential election since genocide" by Associated Press | August 9, 2010
KIGALI, Rwanda — Voters will go to the polls today in Rwanda’s second presidential election since the 1994 genocide, and few doubt President Paul Kagame will win.
Kagame is expected to win the loyalties of the country’s 5.2 million voters easily. But the campaign has been marred by recent attacks on outspoken critics of Kagame’s government, and some of the more vocal opposition politicians say they’ve been barred from participating.
For weeks, Kagame has rallied his supporters with thumping pop music and promised to build on his economic and social development record, which has won him accolades abroad.
Then he is one of ours.
At rallies he shed his business suit and tie for a shirt and jacket emblazoned with his Rwanda Patriotic Front insignia. He has joined in dances with crowds numbering in the hundreds.
His supporters say the huge crowds represent genuine support for the leader who transformed this central African nation after the 100-day genocide that left at least 500,000 dead.
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So how did the vote go then?
"President predicts win after Rwandan vote" by Associated Press | August 10, 2010
A voter cast her ballot in the capital, Kigali, during Rwanda’s presidential election yesterday. (Finbarr O’Reilly/Reuters)
KIGALI, Rwanda — President Paul Kagame called Rwanda’s election democratic and predicted victory, though critics said political repression and attacks in the run-up to yesterday’s vote ensured that he faced no real competition.
Related: Rwandan Politics Are Rough
I guess this guy was lucky he was let go.
The presidential election is only the second since Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, when at least half a million people were slaughtered. Since then, Kagame has guided the country through a period of mostly peaceful prosperity, though the government cracks down harshly on dissent.
And with no criticism coming from the United States.
A former high-ranking member of Kagame’s inner circle said yesterday the government plans and orders assassinations of political opponents, a charge the government denies.
The chairman of Rwandan’s electoral commission, Chrysologue Karangwa, said voting went smoothly across the country and that polling stations saw a high turnout.
Kagame won election in 2003 with 95 percent of the vote.
Those are dictator numbers.
If elected, Kagame will gain another seven-year term. He was elected president by parliament in 2000 and by voters in 2003.
This year’s campaign was marred by a series of attacks on outspoken critics of Kagame’s government, and other opposition politicians say they’ve been barred from participating.
But don't let any of that trouble you.
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And who knew they were right next door?
"Immigrant hid genocide involvement, prosecutors say; Rwandan in N.H. facing fraud case" by Lynne Tuohy, Associated Press | August 9, 2010
CONCORD, N.H. — Beatrice Munyenyezi brought her three daughters to the United States from war-ravaged Rwanda in 1998 and focused on the American Dream: private schooling for her girls, a home with a swimming pool, a sport utility vehicle.
Are those your dreams, America?
See: Slow Saturday Special: Boston Globe Swimming Pool
Yeah, who would want a pool?
Before long, she had a $13-an-hour job at Manchester’s Housing Authority in New Hampshire, her children were enrolled in Catholic school, and she was on her way to financing a comfortable American lifestyle through mortgages, loans, and credit cards.
I'll take that.
Now the 40-year-old mother sits behind bars, held without bond while she awaits trial on federal citizenship fraud charges: She stands accused of lying about involvement in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, when at least 500,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.
Authorities say she was an extremist Hutu who killed and enabled the rapes of untold Tutsi victims — not the innocent refugee she claimed to be in 1995 to gain US entry, when she applied for a visa and for citizenship.
Munyenyezi has pleaded not guilty to two counts of lying to obtain US citizenship on her refugee and naturalization applications. She is scheduled for trial in May 2011.
Her dream life started falling apart years ago. She filed for bankruptcy in May 2008, walking away from hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt: a $222,000 mortgage, $14,125 in student loans, $4,198 in municipal taxes and fees, and $30,000 in credit card and other unsecured debt.
She was just helping the economy and working hard to put food on the table.
“She didn’t pay her bills for a good two years,’’ said Tom Prince of Manchester, who lived across the street from Munyenyezi. “We all feel she took advantage.’’
Yeah, but that's okay. Americans are very open-minded when immigrants don't pay their bills as they are being kicked out of their homes.
I can't think of anything that makes Americans more upset. Tell an American someone didn't pay their taxes or bills and watch them get angry because THEY PAY THEIR BILLS!
In early 2003, Munyenyezi was sworn in as a US citizen and bought a three-bedroom home for $190,000 in November of that year, according to city records. She refinanced it three years later for $235,000.
She worked full time from 2001 to 2005 as a family services coordinator for the Manchester Housing and Redevelopment Authority....
That's not a job you would have wanted, American.
Both men said they saw large scars on Munyenyezi’s shoulders and arms when she wore halter dresses. At least once a year she traveled to Africa for two to four weeks at a time, they said. Her RAV4 vanity plate read “Shalom,’’ her husband’s name.
Neighbor Scott Silver, a real estate agent, said he was shocked when Munyenyezi refinanced her modest home. He said she had consulted him in advance about refinancing, and he told her he did not think she had a shot.
“How in the world she ever did that, I don’t know,’’ Silver said. “She knew how to work the system.’’
And she MUST HAVE KNOWN SOMEONE!
I wish I had learned how to "work the system."
In a 2005 interview with New Hampshire Public Radio, Munyenyezi gave a glimpse of her determination.
“I am a fighter,’’ she said. “I like to be independent. I worked so hard to be here. I do what I have to do to survive.’’
Including cheating, lying, and stealing.
You know, no lives were at risk, lady.
Last year, Munyenyezi obtained an associate’s degree in liberal arts from Manchester Community College.
A worthless degree if there ever was one.
I wonder who paid for that.
By the time she filed for bankruptcy, Munyenyezi was working as a nurse’s aide at Elliot Hospital....
?????????
Federal prosecutors declined to say how Munyenyezi came to their attention. But in court documents, immigration agents describe interviews with alleged witnesses to the atrocities. A federal affidavit says Munyenyezi and her husband, Arsene Shalom Ntahobali, were extremist Hutus who participated in roadblocks and ID checks that resulted in numerous Tutsi rapes and killings.
Of course, when western forces blow away Afghans and Iraqis at checkpoints it is barely a ripple.
Court papers give a graphic account of Munyenyezi allegedly striking a young Tutsi boy so hard in the head with a wooden club that he died instantly.
Ntahobali and his mother, Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, are prominent defendants in the United Nations’ international war crimes tribunal on Rwanda, both charged with genocide and crimes against humanity. Incarcerated in Tanzania, they await a verdict this fall.
Oh, the hubby is already at the Hague, huh?
Munyenyezi testified as a defense witness at her husband’s trial in 2006. In her bankruptcy filing, she described herself as single, but her criminal attorney, David Ruoff, said last month she was still married....
She couldn't even tell the truth about that, huh?
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