Aid to despot must stop

Telegraph View: Andrew Mitchell, the Development Secretary, must cancel aid to Rwanda's president Paul Kagame immediately.

A French investigation into what sparked the 1994 Rwandan genocide appears to exonerate current President Paul Kagame and his Tutsi allies after Paris had previously accused him of triggering the killing of 800,000 people in 100 days.

Paul Kagame, who has been accused of supplying weapons and soldiers to rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo Photo: AFP

7:28AM BST 30 Jul 2012

How many guest speakers at the Conservative Party conference have been accused of helping an indicted war criminal to lay waste to a swathe of Africa? Step forward President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, a plausible and ruthless autocrat, who was favoured with a special invitation to address the party faithful in 2007. Even at the time, this was an odd decision. Mr Kagame’s subsequent behaviour casts doubt over whether he is fit to have any kind of relationship with Britain.

According to United Nations investigators, Rwanda has supplied weapons and volunteers to rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo who have inflicted yet more bloodshed on that benighted country and driven 470,000 people from their homes. The man behind the uprising is Bosco Ntaganda, a renegade general popularly known as the “terminator”, who appears supremely unconcerned about his indictment by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes. If the UN is right and Rwanda has been helping this warlord, then Mr Kagame’s behaviour is unconscionable. America clearly believes the UN: Washington has ended military aid for Rwanda.

And Britain? We are Rwanda’s largest bilateral aid donor, with a programme worth £75 million this year. Unusually, Britain gives Mr Kagame “general budgetary support”, meaning that £37 million goes straight into his coffers. Andrew Mitchell, the International Development Secretary, has “delayed” a payment of £16 million. Given the gravity of the charges, this inadequate response suggests that Britain is still inhibited by loyalty to the despot and embarrassment over having favoured him for so long. The idea that any leader who promotes murder and plunder should receive funding is abhorrent. Mr Mitchell should cancel aid to Rwanda's government immediately.
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