By Hassan Isilow
JOHANNESBURG (AA) – Amnesty International Friday accused Rwandan authorities of creating a climate of fear among the opposition and civil society groups ahead of presidential elections scheduled for August.
“Two decades of attacks on the political opposition, independent media and human rights defenders have created a climate of fear in Rwanda ahead of next month’s election,” the global rights watchdog said in a statement.
Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East Africa and the Great Lakes region, said: “Since the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front took power 23 years ago, Rwandans have faced huge, and often deadly, obstacles to participating in public life and voicing criticism of government policy”.
She said the climate in which the upcoming elections take place is the “culmination of years of repression”.
President Paul Kagame has already served two terms but will stand for re-election following a referendum in December 2015 which ushered in constitutional changes allowing him to contest a third term.
Five opposition and independent candidates submitted their nomination documents in June 2017. But only Kagame and Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda made it to the provisional list of qualified candidates published on June 27.
The other nominees were given five days to complete their files and the final list of candidates qualified to contest in the election is due to be published by the National Electoral Commission on July 7.
Kagame, who is credited for turning around Rwanda’s economy after the end of the 1994 genocide, is accused of silencing critics.
The Amnesty’s report documented how opposition politicians, journalists and human rights defenders have faced restrictions on their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly in the past two decades.
The rights group urged the Rwandan government to prevent harassment of opposition candidates and their supporters ahead of the polls.
They also called for far-reaching reforms that will open up political space before the 2024 elections, allowing diverse opinions to be expressed freely.
The Rwandan government is yet to issue a response to the Amnesty’s report.
