Rwanda strongman Paul Kagame’s predicament reminds me of Chinua Achebe’s classic novels Things Fall Apart, and No Longer At Ease. Both are tragedies – the former describes a man who could not cope with a changed world; the latter is about a man unable to adapt to a new world. Kagame is both.
His old world in which donors bankrolled his regime without looking too closely at his real character of violence and manipulation is gone. And hedoes not understand the new world where he needs to negotiate his way out of power before it’s too late to do so. He is falling in the old autocrat’s trap. Autocratic rulers can never sense danger to their regimes until it’s too late to escape their doom.
Here is unsolicited advice. With UN Congo Mapping Report that says the army of commander-in-chief Major General Kagame may have committed crimes of genocide, this is the time to make a “deal.” The global elite will find a diplomatic post for the Major General that maintains immunity for him when he is no longer head of state. Otherwise it’s game over. The ship will sink in shark-infested high seas.
Dr David Himabara
