On a business trip to neighbouring Uganda last week I caught up with an old friend, who told me how the previous few days had been coloured by rib-cracking stories, including a reported saucepan that cost the Ugandan military Ush2 million and the sudden realisation by President of The Gambia, “His Excellency Sheikh Prof Dr Commander-in-Chief Aids Healer Lover-in-Chief” that the Commonwealth was “a colonial institution” and withdrew his country from it.

Then my host asked me: “What do you make of the latest sanction placed on your country by Obama? I heard that military aid to Rwanda was suspended due to your country’s use of child soldiers in (Democratic Republic of) Congo. Do you still have soldiers in Congo?”

The sobering inquiry relates to the State Department’s announcement that the US was withdrawing military aid to Rwanda over the latter’s “support for the M23, a rebel group which continues to actively recruit and abduct children.”

But suspension of aid to Rwanda isn’t new; in June, Western powers, including the US, did so following a leaked UN report that claimed the country was supporting M23.

The reason advanced for the latest suspension is under the “Child Soldiers Prevention Act” of 2008, the “evidence” relied on in June. So, Rwanda is being punished twice for the same crime and with the same evidence!

In the announcement, Rwanda is lumped together with countries such as Syria, Sudan and Myanmar, which are not known to receive military aid from the US. Yet, nations such as DRC, Yemen, Chad, Somalia and South Sudan, which are known to recruit child soldiers, received a waiver from the same benefactor.

This might mean that America’s action has nothing or little to do with the protection of children. Indeed, State Department spokesperson Marie Harf acknowledged as much to Reuters, saying the decision to excuse countries known to use child soldiers — such as DRC —"would be in the national interest of the United States.” In other words, punishing Rwanda and exonerating Congo for the same crime is in the national interest of the US.

Reflecting on this cold new reality, I remembered a column I read in The Washington Post. In “Obama’s reality check” by Eugene Robinson, the author argues that, in his recent UN General Assembly speech President Obama laid out his foreign policy which, unlike his earlier idealism, would be guided by “cold realism” aimed at protecting US’s “core interests”—such as resources, like ensuring the flow of oil (or precious metals?), defending allies and barring production or use of weapons of mass destruction.

For Obama then, promoting values like democracy or moral principles such as defending children is not of “core interest” and this “new” sanctioning of Rwanda has nothing or little to do with child soldiers; else DRC wouldn’t be let off the hook, along with the more than 20 rebel groups therein.

New direction

This action might point to a new direction in US policy in the region. Since the end of the genocide, “Uncle Sam” and allies such as the UK have steadfastly supported Rwanda, extending to it all forms of aid and recognising its legitimacy to defend itself against aggression from the DRC, particularly FDLR. This was, of course, against the wishes of allies such as France.

Now, it seems, to cut Rwanda’s wings and to partake of regional resources in countries like DRC, the two allies are inching towards common policy on Rwanda.

The US action shouldn’t be seen in isolation with recent happenings—the mass rush to suspend aid due to a leaked report, sustained assault from rights groups, President Kikwete’s sudden advice to Kigali to talk to FDLR, deployment of the first ever combat force by the UN in Congo against reservations from Uganda and Rwanda, undermining the Kampala peace process between M23 and Kabila, et cetera.

Instead of strengthening the comprehensive regional peace, security and co-operation framework, it seems, Western powers are, as The Independent reported, “pumping” Kabila. Thus stated, it seems, the issue of child soldiers is phony, only used to clip Rwanda’s wings while realigning regional powers.

Dr Christopher Kayumba, PhD, is a senior lecturer at the National University of Rwanda and Managing Consultant at MGC Consult Ltd. E-mail: [email protected]; Twitter: @ckayumba