Lord Collins of Highbury, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Africa
The British High Commissioner in Rwanda has been summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MINAFFET), to explain comments the Rwanda Foreign Minister called on twitter (X), insulting and unacceptable.
During questions to the government, in the House of Lords, the second chamber of the British Parliament, Lord David Alton, rose to raise a question on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
David Alton, who chairs the parliamentary committee on Human rights, wanted to know about the details of a massacre in North Kivu, last Thursday, and what the government proposed to do about it.
“Can the noble lord tell us what happened in Kasanga, in Kivu…when seventy people were hacked to death with machetes, and with hammers, as they took refuge in a church, by an organisation that is said to be linked to ISIS (Islamic State). Will the noble lord say what we are doing to confirm those reports, and secondly whether we’ve raised this with the international criminal court and the African Union, to ensure that those responsible for this terrible…atrocity are brought to justice?”
In a response that can only be described as bizarre, on behalf of the government, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Africa, Lord Collins, seemed to want to use the opportunity to threaten Rwanda, as though the country had any connection with the terrorist group.
“The noble lord is right to draw that to our attention…the reality is that we are trying to ensure that all crimes that are committed in the process of this advance are properly investigated so we can hold people to account. Certainly when I met the foreign minister of Rwanda, this morning in Geneva, I made it absolutely…he denied all these accusations about things happening…I reassured him that we would be absolutely determined, not only to ensure that they comply with that communique but we will hold people to account for crimes against humanity.”
Perhaps the ‘noble lord’ Collins, was a little dazed and tired after his flight from Geneva, but the response brought to mind the proverbial dialogue of the deaf. It certainly left the Rwanda Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Olivier Nduhungirehe, bemused and far from amused.
Taking to twitter (X), the normally mild mannered minister, declared somewhat forthrightly, that “this level of ignorance, confusion and misinformation by Lord Collins, UK Minister of State for Africa, is insulting and UNACCEPTABLE (his caps)!”
“He was asked…a specific question about 70 Christians who were killed with machetes and hammers by ADF, a Ugandan terrorist organisation affiliated to ISIS, in Kasanga, Lubero territory, North Kivu, and he dares answer that ‘when I met the Foreign Minister of Rwanda this morning, he denied all those crimes happening’?”
Oddly enough, when, as is now customary, Lord Alton himself took to twitter (X), to announce that he raised the question, he did not refer to the somewhat incoherent response, which seemed to imply that Rwanda was in some way to be held accountable for the atrocities in question. Might it be an injustice to lord Alton to suggest that he might have been more interested in raising the question, and much less in the the answer. In any case, the ‘noble lords’ managed to earn the British High Commissioner a carpeting, one which it is difficult to argue that it will not be deserved.
Luckily for the High Commissioner, it is difficult to imagine the urbane Nduhungirehe so much as raise his voice, and in any case, culturally for any Rwandan, it seems that the greater the offence, the calmer the expression of displeasure. Accordingly, the meeting with the British High Commissioner, will almost certainly be courteous, but it is likely to be uncomfortable for the British envoy, who may be expected to defend the indefensible.
Lord Collins’ comments were certainly provocative, contemptuous and somewhat eccentric, but they were also revealing of the British government’s current disdainful attitude towards Rwanda, a country on which until recently, they could certainly count as a friend.
The comments in the House of Lords, come hotfoot, after Britain’s announcement of hostile measures against Rwanda, which were announced in a seemingly ostantious show of support for the DRC President Felix Tshisekedi’s diatribes, that blame Rwanda for all of DRC’s ills, especially the current AFC/M23 conflict between the rebel group and the DRC government.
The paternalism is perhaps to be expected. What does come as a surprise however, is the cackhanded manner in which the British government seems to be bending over backwards to sour relations with Rwanda. If nothing else, the Britain could normally be relied upon for some discretion, and nuance.
The adoption of a crude, incoherent, anti Rwanda stance is a strange development that Britain my live to regret. While Britain’s voice is of course, the stronger in the world, perhaps emboldening the UK to believe they holds all the cards in this particular disagreement, but when all is said and done, it is by no means certain which side will most come to rue the needless quarrel.
