Lonzen Rugira

1 month ago | panafricanreview.com | Peter Kagwanja |Maureen Barasa |Lonzen Rugira

Recently, Ugandan BBC host Alan Kasujja posted on X: “There’s a systemic coordinated messaging against Rwanda from Western capitals,” adding a rhetorical question: “Why aren’t we talking about their interest in critical minerals?” He isn’t alone in noticing the trend of actions by Western powers and in reflecting on what is driving them.

Nov 18, 2024 | panafricanreview.com | Peter Kagwanja |Maureen Barasa |Charles Onyango-Obbo |Lonzen Rugira

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the largest country in Africa. It shares borders with nine countries. As products of the Berlin Conference, Congo and its neighbours share communities with common ancestry and culture, which can potentially create tensions and, in extreme cases, conflict. But only one of these cross-border communities, the Tutsi Congolese, a sub-group of the Banyarwanda communities, is facing genocidal violence. Why is this?

Nov 9, 2024 | panafricanreview.com | Charles Onyango-Obbo |Lonzen Rugira

A most bizarre thing happened a few weeks ago: the Tshisekedi administration played spoiler in efforts to restore peace and stability in the country it governs. This came after the latest rounds of Angola-brokered negotiations, which now appear to have reached an impasse. The ministerial meetings in Luanda had identified the dismantling of the Rwandan genocidal group, the FDLR, as a key element in the search for peace in the DRC and the region.

Sep 27, 2024 | panafricanreview.com | Charles Onyango-Obbo |Mordecai Gisanura |Lonzen Rugira

In Part I, the author argued that Africa’s giants are structurally dysfunctional. In Part II, he argues that it is a crime to try to help them out of this crisis. In 2009, a remarkable development took place. The President of Rwanda,  Paul Kagame and then DRC President, Joseph Kabila, met and agreed to work together to neutralise the FDLR. This marked a significant change in the circumstances that had led to two regional wars in the Great Lakes region in the late 1990s.

Sep 25, 2024 | panafricanreview.com | Charles Onyango-Obbo |Mordecai Gisanura |Lonzen Rugira

The West’s control over Africa largely relies on the creation and maintenance of ‘anchor states’ – African countries that champion Western interests on the continent. Any country that resists this anchoring is considered a “rogue state”. For Africa to regain strategic autonomy, it must create its own anchor states to steer regional blocs in line with its own interests.