David Himbara
Living in the past is something anyone else would not like to do, especially in the new year. Save for David Himbara. Two days ago he was at it again calling on the European Union and whoever else would still be naive enough as to follow his past sell-by date advice, to follow it anyway.
This sellout son of Rwanda craves for action against Kigali. In his wishful thinking he assumes Rwanda’s development partners do not know what they want, or indeed what their own national interests are! Worse still, he thinks these nations are ignorant of the truth pertaining to the conflict between Kigali and Kinshasa.
Blubbering uncomfortably like a kid urging his adoptive parents to listen to his childish advice, Himbara makes his futile nostalgic plea to European countries to do something for him: “suspend foreign aid to Rwanda” for whatever he tells them is Kigali’s responsibility. That M23 exists only because Rwanda lends them a hand. This “is a very expensive lie,” according to President Paul Kagame.
Himbara is desperate, wants to see particular action, from entities who know exactly why they are not acting the way he assumes they should. What specifically frustrates him is that this time around the course of action is not similar to what happened ten years ago.
“Recall that in 2012 when Rwanda supporting M23, Rwanda’s biggest aid donor, the European Union, partially froze its financial support to Rwanda…” That, he wants people to recall, without himself recalling that the exact reason we are still facing the very challenge of a decade ago, is because the verdict was incorrect. It was a wrong remedy administered to this chronic insecurity problem. The misconception of Himbara, and his ilk if you wish, was and still is a result of laziness.
These simple minded people like Himbara, for lack of a better description, do not care to pause and ask themselves, why these presumably informed Western governments they urge to do a repeat, would want to recycle a failed solution. Himbara and company are lethargic, so to speak. They do not bother to for a moment think a motivation is required here. And at the moment motivation is critically lacking, owing to the failure ten years ago of this kind of armchair solution. Would they still want to apply it even today? How and why would any discerning leadership in the North expect a different result South, if an equally ineffective approach to the the same old problem was to be applied? There is no point not learning lessons.
And a number of things probably are not of any point anymore. Not your problem reader if Himbara and co. are not aware of that. Not anyone’s problem indeed that they might be living in the past. See they still talk of brute force and money as cards that could be effectively used against Rwanda. Really? Such expired ways of making strategic calculations will only remain with the likes of Himbara. The world has moved on mate, with new understandings being constructed behind the scenes where you are not. So you won’t know.
Just one example for you to consider. For your information David, using its own brute force and modest money appropriately, at the request of Mozambique, Rwanda confronted the jihadist terrorists in Cabo Delgado, dealing them a fatal blow. From this constructive point, the country is currently viewed.
Wake up man! But if you are still snoring, I will volunteer further telling instances of what President Kagame meant when he said thus in his new year address to the nation: “it is high time that the unwarranted vilification of Rwanda stopped.” Just let me know.
