PRESS RELEASE.
Date : 01 March 2013.
FDU-INKINGI AND RWANDA NATIONAL CONGRESS (RNC) COMMEND THE UNITED KINGDOMGOVERNMENT’S DECISION TO STOP GENERAL BUDGET SUPPORT TO RWANDA.
On 1st March, 2013, the United Kingdom’s Secretary for the Department of International Development announced that a £16 million package of development support to Rwanda will be channeled through aid agencies or directly to the poorest people. None of this funding will be released to Rwanda as general budget support – meaning that it won’t go through the Rwandan government, the announcement stated. In November 2012, the UK government, alongside many others in the international community, had suspended its aid package to Rwanda due to its support to the M23 rebellion in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
FDU-Inkingi and Rwanda National Congress (RNC) welcomed and supported the decision by the United Kingdom to suspend general budget support due to Rwanda’s involvement with M23 rebellion.
FDU-Inkingi and RNC welcome and support the UK decision to channel its aid package to Rwanda directly to the poor people or through aid agencies, an approach we have always advocated for.
FDU-Inkingi and RNC urge the UK government and the rest of the International community to increase and sustain pressure to the Government of Rwanda to open political space, release all political prisoners immediately and unconditionally, stop and account for human rights abuses in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, undertake unconditional dialogue with Rwanda’s political and armed opposition, and stop the support to the M23 rebellion in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Dr. Nkiko Nsengimana
Co-ordinator
FDU-inkingi
Lausanne
Switzerland
Dr. Theogene Rudasingwa
Co-ordinator
Rwanda National Congress (RNC)
Washington, D.C.
USA
02Mar