Blinken Raises ‘Serious Concerns’ On Human Rights In Rwanda
Antony Blinken and President Paul Kagame

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has revealed that he raised ‘serious concerns’ over human rights in Rwanda during yesterday’s talk with President Paul Kagame in Kigali.

‘As I told President Kagame, we believe people in every country should be able to express their views without fear of intimidation, imprisonment, violence or any other forms of repression,’ said Blinken.

He said he also raised the case of ‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero Paul Rusesabagina, a fierce Kagame critic who was sentenced to a 25-year prison term last year on terrorism charges.

Africa Today News, New York recalls that in May, the US State Department revealed that Rusesabagina had been ‘wrongfully detained’ by Kigali.

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Blinken said he ‘underscored our concerns about the lack of fair trial guarantees provided to (Rusesabagina)’ during his talks with Kagame.

Rusesabagina, then a Kigali hotel manager, is credited with saving hundreds of lives during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and his actions inspired the Hollywood film ‘Hotel Rwanda.’

Since his arrest in August 2020, when a plane he thought was headed for Burundi instead landed in Kigali, he has been imprisoned. His family has expressed worry over his declining health.

Blinken’s visit to Africa is seen as part of a competition between Russia and Western powers for support from African countries over the war in Ukraine. His trip to Africa follows recent tours by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and French President Emmanuel Macron.

South Africa is one of many African countries that have maintained a neutral stance on the war and have not publicly criticized Russia.

After an early morning arrival, Blinken visited the Hector Pieterson memorial in Soweto township, on the outskirts of Johannesburg, which honors a student killed in 1976 when protesting South Africa’s regime of racial oppression, apartheid, which ended in 1994.

Africa Today News, New York

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