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Part II: West turns the heat up on Rwanda--Respondeat Superior
by Joseph Earnest June 10, 2014
Newscast Media WASHINGTON—When a person commits a crime or breaks the law with "orders from above", a legal doctrine called Respondeat Superior is often invoked, which means, "let the master answer."
We currently see a somewhat similar situation with Kenya's Uhuru Kenyatta who is being charged by the ICC for offenses that were allegedly committed by his supporters but he is the one to answer the case. The ICC alleges that Mr Kenyatta is criminally responsible as an indirect co-perpetrator pursuant to article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute for the crimes against humanity of:
- murder (article 7(l)(a));
- deportation or forcible transfer (article 7(l)(d));
- rape (article 7(l)(g));
- persecution (articles 7(l)(h)); and
- other inhumane acts (article 7(l)(k)). Kenyatta's trial is scheduled for October 7, 2014 according to the ICC calendar.
Whether or not he wins his case, a message is being sent to the Continent that there is hell to pay for behaving badly and abuse of power for those in office and aspiring to run for office.
It is self-evident as we've seen in Africa, that the longer a leader stays in power, the more he becomes a liability to himself, family and country because his rap sheet continues to grow as each day passes by. Even the crimes that he himself did not commit, but were committed under his leadership are eventually attributed to him as we saw with Laurent Gbagbo of Ivory Coast who was forcefully removed from office, Charles Taylor, whose rap sheet went back to 1983 as he led a rebel movement, even short-term leaders like Zambia's ex-president Rupiah Banda (no relation to Joyce) was arrested for robbing his country while in office for three years, as announced by the BBC. (pop-up).
We remember that Joyce Banda who finished a distant third in Malawi's election attempted to nullify the results by claiming her loss was due to election fraud or rigging. There is no doubt she got a very important phone call asking her to do herself a favor and step aside or she might face what Charles Taylor was subjected to.
Banda faced embarrassment in the "Cashgate scandal" of last year in which more than $100 million of state funds were said to have been embezzled. (pop-up)
Tanzania just happens to be one of those lucky and rare African countries where the leaders are willing to walk after they serve their two terms. President Jakaya Kikwete will be making his exit next year as Tanzania votes for another president.
Tanzania also hasn't rushed to fully embrace the East African Community, and appears to be exercising caution. Tanzania's minister for East African Affairs, Samuel Sitta and Zamaradi Kawawa, deputy director of Information Services rejected the single visa system and said a single visa system will compromise Tanzania's security because the country will be forced to surrender its control of who enters the country. The Tanzanians are well aware of the government corruption, rebel operations, land grabbing and the random acts of terrorism in neighboring countries, therefore one cannot blame Tanzanian officials and the Wanainchi for being cautious.
Tanzanians furthermore, played a big role in defeating the M23 Tutsi rebels whose intentions they appeared to distrust.
"Do they want to create another community?" An angry President Kikwete asked. "Are they angry with our country or me, or do they want push us out?" Mr Kikwete said in parliament. He then urged Rwanda's Kagame to enter talks with the M23 rebels, but Kikwete's suggestion was dismissed according to the BBC.
The result was swift. Tanzania joined its fellow Bantu presidents in South Africa, Malawi and Zambia covertly joined, because they weren't about to allow "another community" which is code-word for Tutsi empire, to be forged in Congo at the expense of their fellow Bantu, who have faced a genocide that has killed almost seven million Congolese. Tanzania insisted that the invaders were of "Tutsi origin," in fact Tanzania's Foreign Minister Bernard Membe said he would resign if proven wrong. (pop-up)
The Tanzanians, apparently were serious about protecting the Bantu bloodline, and within days, a Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) made of Malawi, South Africa and led by Tanzania, did a "clean sweep" operation and mopped up the M23 rebels. The rebels attempted to surrender their weapons and asked for talks, but the FIB wasn't having any of that. The result was a rapid and resounding victory and total defeat of the M23 rebels who had wreaked havoc on the people and area for decades.
As we can see, Tanzania, Rwanda, Congo and Kenya are tackling the challenges of the Great Lakes, but that's not all. Find out which other countries have been dragged into this in Part III>>
Related Stories:
Part I: West turns the heat up—Rwanda implements shoot on spot
Part II: West turns the heat up on Rwanda—Respondeat Superior
Part III: West turns the heat up—The Great Lakes is coming undone
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