Latest news with #Rwandans
Scoop
2 days ago
- Business
- Scoop
Rwanda Must Avoid Balancing Budget On The Backs Of The Poor: UN Poverty Expert
KIGALI (30 MAY 2025) – The UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Olivier De Schutter, today praised Rwanda for its impressive progress in reducing poverty, but warned that much good work could be undone if plans to slash social protection are followed through, leaving the rural poor especially vulnerable. 'Rwanda has made remarkable strides lifting approximately 1.5 million Rwandans out of poverty in just seven years between 2017-2024,' De Schutter said in a statement at the end of his official visit to the country. 'The challenge now is to reach the approximately 3.6 million people still living below the poverty line, in an environment of cuts to international aid and the national budget.' According to the most recent data, the vast majority of people living below the poverty line live in rural areas, where poverty affects nearly one in three people – almost twice the urban rate. Regional disparities are also stark, with the Western and Southern Provinces, both of which the Special Rapporteur visited, registering the highest poverty levels in the country. Income and wealth inequalities also remain high. The top 1% of earners receive 20% of national income, nearly double the share of the bottom 50%. These challenges come at a difficult moment. Public debt reached 78.7% of Rwanda's GDP in January 2025, prompting the government to commit to a sharp reduction in its budget deficit – from 6.9% to 3.3% within two years – entering a period of what De Schutter referred to as 'economic shock therapy'. 'The persistence of poverty in rural areas, and especially among those who depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, should guide the hard choices facing the government to reduce its budget deficit,' De Schutter said. 'Rwanda must not make the same mistakes of other countries that have balanced the budget on the backs of the poor – making counterproductive spending cuts that hit the most vulnerable the hardest,' he warned. De Schutter pointed to 'concerning trends' in this regard, including a decrease in the health budget as a share of the national budget from 10% to 7% since 2020/21. Social protection allocations have been slashed by 22% in the 2024/25 budget, with an additional 30% cut anticipated next year. Funding of policies in areas such as healthcare and social protection depend largely on international donor support, which is becoming increasing unpredictable, leading De Schutter to call for 'an urgent rethink in how to sustainably finance these life-saving sectors by better mobilising domestic resources.' De Schutter pointed to a range of promising initiatives that he urged the government to protect and strengthen further: the universal school feeding programme; the introduction of Imibereho, a social registry to better identify and support households experiencing poverty; community-based health insurance schemes; and the Ejo Heza long-term savings scheme that allows both formal and informal workers to build financial security with government support. However, the expert expressed concern about the lack of unemployment, family and maternity benefits. The Ingoboka cash transfer remains limited, and with no minimum wage and low unionization, one in four workers lives in poverty. De Schutter urged the government to strengthen public participation in order to address these concerns, warning that dismissing people's criticism of its policies as 'instigating divisions' or as 'causing civil unrest' would ultimately lead to wasteful and ineffective policies. 'It is only by protecting human rights that Rwanda will maintain its momentum on poverty reduction and reap the benefits of its demographic dividend. Only governments that listen and learn are equipped to serve the population: participation allowing for genuine concerns to be put forward, and bottom-up solutions to be proposed, are an indispensable ingredient of development,' De Schutter said. The Special Rapporteur's final report on Rwanda will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2026.
Time of India
4 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Ex-Radio Rwanda journalist detained in France over 1994 genocide
Representative image (AI) PARIS: A journalist at the government Radio Rwanda during the 1994 genocide of ethnic Tutsis was charged and detained in France at the end of April, a source close to the case told AFP on Thursday. The anti-terrorism prosecutor's office (PNAT) confirmed that Hyacinthe Bicamumpaka was indicted for genocide, complicity in crimes against humanity and conspiracy. His pre-trial detention was upheld on appeal on May 9, according to a judicial source. Alongside Radio Mille Collines, which was nicknamed "Radio Genocide" or "Hutu Power Radio", Radio Rwanda was the official Hutu government radio station during the genocide. Bicamumpaka was a "prominent journalist" who was "very close to the main planners of the genocide", the executive secretary of the genocide survivors' group Ibuka, Naphtali Ahishakiye told AFP. In 2021, French online investigative news outlet Mediapart said Bicamumpaka was in France with two other Rwandans suspected of having taken part in the genocide. France's OCLCH crimes against humanity unit began an investigation soon after. Bicamumpaka arrived in France in June 1994, with Rwanda in the grip of the genocide, according to French authorities. His refugee request, consulted online, stated that the Hutu origin journalist claimed he could not return to his country where "members of his ethnic group are now persecuted", and said he actively worked through his broadcasts to promote peace. His asylum claim was rejected, with the refugee commission stating that Radio Rwanda was a "vehicle of government propaganda at a time when the Rwandan government notoriously tolerated and encouraged a genocide against the Tutsi population". As a journalist for the station, "Mr Bicamumpaka could not ignore that he contributed, even indirectly, to the perpetration of mass murder", it added. The genocide by the Hutu regime in power between April and July 1994 resulted in about 800,000 deaths, according to the UN. The overwhelming majority were from the Tutsi minority.
Gulf Today
5 days ago
- Business
- Gulf Today
Congo's budget goes mainly for arms spending
The Congo government is in an economic tight spot. Its eastern provinces which have lucrative mineral resources like gold, tin and coltan reserves are in the eastern provinces now controlled by the rebel M23 soldiers, supported by the Rwandans. The main challenge for the Congo government is to feed the war machine, and the budget exercise is to equip the army and pay the soldiers' salaries. This is turning out to be a financial burden because the rich provinces under rebel control also reduce the tax potential of the government. It has been calculated that the tax revenue is expected to fall from 15.1 per cent to 12.5 per cent. And the military expenditure has gone up because of the war. The government had promised to double the salaries of soldiers and the police, costing $500 million in the year. The army counts 268,602 personnel, among whom 74,000 are in combat zone. More than 36,000 are considered non-active, and 3,618 are retried soldiers waiting for $145 million unpaid benefits. Unnamed sources told Reuters that the salaries have not been paid. It is also reckoned that defence and security-related spending that was incurred in the first four months of the year was $1 billion. According to an unnamed military source, 'The bulk of these funds are handled outside the formal budget framework. We don't have full visibility either.' This pertains to just rise in the defence expenditure. It is estimated that the budget deficit would increase from 0.8 per cent to 1.2 per cent. The economics of war is negative, to put in simple terms. Valuable money is spent in destructive armaments and precious lives of human beings as soldiers and as non-combatants is lost. There just does not seem to be an iota of regret and penitence in the minds and hearts of politicians and generals about the countless lives of people lost in meaningless wars. The only people who seem to be thriving are the arms merchants and the countries that are hubs of arms manufacture. Ironically, Western lending agencies like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) end up lending money for supporting these local conflicts. It does not mean that if the IMF and WB do not give money, the wars would end. They would not. Politicians of countries at war with each other are going to fight them anyway, and they will buy the arms and create an underworld market of arms smugglers. What is happening in Congo is indeed the fate of many countries in Africa, especially in West African countries like Burkina Faso, Male, where military governments are fighting armed rebels. It is the civilians, young and old, and women who are caught in the crossfire. As normal life in cities, towns and villages is disturbed, people are forced to migrate to the neighbouring countries, where they are not welcome. Almost all countries in Africa are facing economic stress, and they cannot bear the burden of refugees. There is also the new element of private armies for hire. In many of the western African countries, the presence of private armies like Wagner from Russia, for example, has become quite prominent. Earlier, the French had stationed their troops in some of these countries. But due to political fluctuations, the military rulers have asked French troops to leave, and they have been replaced by mercenaries of the Wagner type. Wars have become anarchic. It is not always the armies of one state fighting the armed forces of another. So, when the peace terms were worked out, there was the guarantee that the nation-states would keep the promise. But with the presence of militants and their nexus with the arms dealers, ending wars has become a big problem.
Time of India
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
M23 fighters expel civilians to Rwanda
GOMA: Armed fighters from the M23 group, which has taken control of eastern DR Congo's key major town of Goma, on Saturday set about expelling thousands of people they say are illegals from , AFP witnessed. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now On Monday the group's military spokesman Willy Ngoma had presented to the media 181 men whom they referred to as "Rwandan subjects" illegally in the country at Goma's main sports stadium. All of the men shown had ID papers from the DRC which the M23 asserted were bogus. An AFP reporter said the armed group had summarily burned the documents on the stadium pitch. Several hundred women and children, relatives of those detained, joined them at the stadium aboard trucks chartered by the M23. One of the men arrested, who gave his name only as Eric, had told AFP on Monday that he was from the town of Karenga, located in North Kivu, which is considered a stronghold of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda ( ). The FDLR is an armed group founded by former Rwandan Hutu leaders of the 1994 Tutsi genocide. Early Saturday, 360 people were loaded onto buses from Goma, Eujin Byun, a spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ( ), told AFP. The UNHCR stressed that "returns of refugees to their countries of origin must be safe, voluntary, and carried out with dignity, in accordance with international law". The convoy crossed the border to Rubavu, in western Rwanda, an AFP correspondent reported. "We will do everything to reintegrate them into society, so that they have the same responsibilities and the same rights as other Rwandans," Prosper Mulindwa, mayor of Rubavu district, told reporters. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The M23 and Kigali accuse Kinshasa of supporting the FDLR and have justified their offensive in eastern DRC by a need to neutralise that group. The majority of the families expelled by the M23 are from Karenga, and had been prevented from returning there after the M23 took over Goma, according to security and humanitarian sources. The families were living in a reception centre for displaced persons in Sake, some 20 kilometres (13 miles) from Goma, the sources said. In March, 20 suspected FDLR fighters, dressed in Congolese Armed Forces uniforms, were handed over to Rwandan authorities by the M23. Kinshasa denounced the incident as a "crude fabrication" intended to discredit its army.
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Rwanda to accept deportees from United States
May 5 (UPI) -- Rwanda and the Trump administration are in talks to have the central African nation accepted deportees from the United States. Rwanda's foreign minister Olivier J.P. Nduhungirehe confirmed the talks Sunday but it was not publicized whether a deal would be for individuals already deported or those who will be in the future. Nduhungirehe said his country was in "early stage" talks about the possibility. Nduhungirehe said in an interview with the Rwanda Broadcasting Agency Sunday that Rwanda is involved in "talks with the [United States] about a deal on migration." It is also unclear if any deal would be to accept deported Rwandans or if migrants from other countries would also be involved. The Handbasket first reported in April that the United States deported Iraqi and alleged terrorist Omar Abdulsattar Ameen to Rwanda. Rwanda already has a history of deals with Western nations in regard to migrants. It had made an agreement with Britian in 2022 to receive third-country asylum seekers, but the deal was ended in 2024 by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The Trump administration has already deported hundreds of alleged gang members from Venezuela to El Salvador and has asked several countries to take back their own citizens who the United States has deported. Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked visas for all South Sudanese nationals in April after the country wouldn't accept a deported migrant. Should a deal be reached, it would make Rwanda the first African nation to accept deportees from the United States.
