8/2/2019 Letter protesting Kagame’s visit to, and relations with, Carnegie Mellon University in 2011

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September 15, 2011

To: President Jared L. Cohon 

President - Carnegie Mellon University 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213

From: The African Great Lakes Coalition

C/O Friends of the Congo 

1629 K Street, NW Suite 300 

Washington, DC 20006

RE: Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s visit and relations with Carnegie Mellon University 

Dear President Jared L. Cohon, 

As a Coalition of Africa-focused human rights and peace organizations representing a broad range of individuals,

including Rwandans, Ugandans, and Congolese people, we write to express our dismay at your university’sdecision to welcome and inaugurate a partnership with Rwandan President Paul Kagame at Carnegie Mellon

University (CMU) on September 16th, 2011. 

CMU’s announcements about President Kagame’s visit represent his story as one of triumph. The institution

credits Kagame heavily for the country’s recovery and growth: “[u]nder President Kagame’s leadership, Rwanda

has become one of the world’s most compelling stories of economic development.”[1] He is lauded as a manreceiving “recognition for his leadership in peace building and reconciliation, development, good governance,

promotion of human rights and women's empowerment, and advancement of education and ICT.”[2] Given this

perspective, it is clear why you would be excited to deliver “an important announcement regarding the

collaborative role that Carnegie Mellon will play in helping Rwanda to realize its vision.”[3] 

We regret to inform you that your characterization is dangerously skewed, and that, in its haste to collaborate withPresident Kagame, your institution may become a collaborator in the pejorative sense by supporting an unjust,

oppressive regime, and an official version of Rwandan history that silences opposition and gives power to a leader

who abuses it. In 2010 a Human Rights Watch article insisted that, if "leaders continue to ignore the darker side

of Kagame's story, they will only compound the problem. Burying the truth about horrific crimes is a very

effective way to sow the seeds for future grievances and more violence.”[4] If CMU wishes to act as an agent of progress for Rwanda, it must take this darker side of Kagame’s story into account. 

Consider these recent charges and reports on Kagame’s militarily aggressive activities in Congo and politically

oppressive activities within Rwanda: 

•  In 2008, The Spanish National Court, The Audiencia National (charged disgraced Chilean dictator

Augusto Pinochet), indicted forty Rwandan military officers for terrorism, mass killings, and severalcounts of genocide against Rwandans, Congolese, and Spanish citizens, following the 1994 genocide.[5]

Spanish Judge Fernando Andreu has said he has evidence implicating Rwanda's current President Paul

Kagame, who has immunity from prosecution as a head of State.

•  Following the August 2010 election where Paul Kagame won with 93% of the votes, many observers

have called it fraudulent and noted that it was marred with political violence, incarceration, and

intimidation and repression of press freedom. The White House issued a statement raising concerns that“[n]o one should underestimate the enormous challenges born of the genocide in 1994. Rwanda’s

progress in the face of these challenges has been remarkable, and is a testament to the people of Rwanda.

Rwanda’s stability and growing prosperity, however, will be difficult to sustain in the absence of broad

political debate and open political participation.”[6]

8/2/2019 Letter protesting Kagame’s visit to, and relations with, Carnegie Mellon University in 2011

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•  On October 1, 2010, the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR)

published The United Nations Mapping Exercise Report, which documents crimes committed in the

Congo from 1993 to 2003. It singled out the crimes committed by the Rwanda army by noting that “theapparent systematic and widespread attacks described in this report reveal a number of inculpatory

elements that, if proven before a competent court, could be characterized as crimes of genocide.”[7]

•  In May 2011, British news sources reported of attempted assassinations carried out by Rwandangovernment personnel against Rwandan refugees and exiles. [8]

•  The June 3, 2011 report from Amnesty International condemns Kagame’s government, saying “TheRwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), in power since the 1994 genocide, tightly controls political space, civil

society and the media, contending that this is necessary to prevent renewed violence. Human rights

defenders, journalists and political opponents cannot openly and publicly criticize the authorities. People

who do speak out risk prosecution and imprisonment.”[9]

Many are beginning to exercise greater caution in cultivating relations with Kagame. Locally, the Pittsburgh City

Council adopted proclamation 1011-1897 on July 12, 2011, identifying the Rwandan government as a major

destabilizing force in Congo and scolding the federal government for continuing to fund the Rwandan government

in the face of its many human rights abuses. Giving resources and power to Kagame means underwriting what he

does with them. As a prestigious university you will extend many resources to President Kagame, making CMU

an underwriter for his vision of development and the manner in which achieves it. 

If CMU is genuinely invested in sustainable peace and development in Rwanda, and if it is determined to cultivate

a relationship with Kagame, we are insisting on greater caution and responsibility. We urge you to make your

partnership with Kagame conditional on improvements in his human rights record and extension of political

freedoms. Without these measures, you will open your university to a great deal of warranted criticism, negative

media attention, and an almost certain historical stain as one of the institutions that supported the despotic rule of another African strongman. We invite you to partner with our organizations to work towards prioritizing

economic progress as well as human rights in the East African community in general, and Rwanda in particular. 

Sincerely, 

The African Great Lakes Coalition (AGLC)

[1] http://www.cmu.edu/homepage/images/extras/emails/2011events/rwanda_invite.html 

[2]http://www.cmu.edu/event/rwanda/  [3]http://www.cmu.edu/piper/briefs/2011/september/september-8/rwanda-president.html 

[4]http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/09/21/rwanda-president-crisis 

[5]http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/02/06/spain.indictments.rwanda/index.html 

[6]http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/08/13/statement-national-elections-rwanda 

[7]http://www.ohchr.org/en/Countries/AfricaRegion/Pages/RDCProjetMapping.aspx 

[8]http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/05/20/uk-police-rwandan-government-threatens-exiles/,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq9hNWB7tbA [9]http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AFR47/002/2011/en 

8/2/2019 Letter protesting Kagame’s visit to, and relations with, Carnegie Mellon University in 2011

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THE AFRICAN GREAT LAKES COALITION

Africa Faith and Justice Network (AFJN), African Great Lakes Action Network (AGLAN), Congo

Global Action (CGA), Foundation for Freedom and Democracy in Rwanda (FFDR), Foreign Policy in

Focus, Friends of the Congo (FOTC), Hope Congo (HC), Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation

(HRRF), Mobilization for Justice and Peace in Congo (MJPC), Save the Congo USA.