Paul
Kagame flew to UK for Champions League match while national police told
citizens to restrict activities including football
The
president of Rwanda, whose police force has asked the country’s people to
restrict football-related activities during the 30-year anniversary of the
Rwanda massacre, is facing questions after flying to the UK and watching
Arsenal play Bayern Munich.
Paul
Kagame visited on Tuesday 9 April to watch the Champions League match in north
London. Before the match, he visited Rishi Sunak at No 10 Downing Street, after
giving civil servants just a few days’ notice of his visit. They discussed the
UK’s deportation deal, which aims to send asylum seekers to Kigali to be
processed there.
The
Rwanda national police’s website tells Rwandan they should withdraw from
celebratory and sporting events in the week after the 30th commemoration of the
1994 genocide, which took place on 7 April.
According
to the website, “restricted activities during the commemoration week include
projecting football matches, sports competitions, betting games, concerts,
theatres and playing music not related to the commemoration; wedding and other
mass celebrations”.
A
spokesperson for the Rwandan government has rejected the criticism, saying that
the police website is “wrong” and does not reflect the Rwandan government’s
policy.
However,
Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, an opposition leader in Rwanda, said: “It is
understandable that the people in Rwanda and abroad question the fact the
president went to watch a football match during the period of mourning for the
victims of the genocide against Tutsi – especially since the authorities here
in Rwanda had issued directives during this period. It creates confusion among
Rwandans,” she said.
Kagame,
66, has been at the heart of Kwibuka, the Rwandan word for remembrance, which
aimed to pay tribute to the more than 1 million men, women and children who
were massacred over a 100-day period.
He
has also been vocal of his support for Arsenal on social media, with his posts
on X about the north London club dating back to 2011.
His
country sponsors the Visit Rwanda sponsorship deal that covers Arsenal’s men’s
and women’s teams, as well as the tourist board’s agreement with Bayern.
Home
Office staff first learned of the visit five days before the match, sources
said, while Downing Street regarded it as a surprise. “He was here to see the
football and came in to see the prime minister to discuss a number of things
including the Rwanda partnership including getting flights off the ground,” one
No 10 source said.
After
the Downing Street visit, Kagame was seen being driven to north London by an
entourage of cars, escorted by two police motorbikes.
Kagame
was last re-elected as president of Rwanda in 2017, having first taken office
in 2000. He was elected to serve his seventh term with 98.8% of the vote,
according to the Rwandan National Electoral Commission. Human Rights Watch
(HRW) said that the election “took place in a context of very limited free
speech or open political space”.
A
number of key opposition figures have disappeared, or been murdered or
kidnapped, inside and outside Rwanda. At least six Rwandans living in the UK
have been given letters from special branch warning them that they face
possible execution after they defied Kagame.
Kagame
leads the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) party, which has been credited with
helping to defeat the civilian and military authorities responsible for the
killing campaign.
A
Rwandan government spokesperson said the police appeared to be basing their
demands on old guidance, which had since been updated. “[The Rwandan police]
misspoke when they put that guidance up. In the past, these have been the
rules, but as the country has moved on so have the guidelines,” the
spokesperson said.
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