On May 26, President Jakaya Kikwete reportedly uttered what would have amounted to a terrible diplomatic gaffe had his government not defended the position.

At a regional heads of state meeting in Addis Ababa during the 50th anniversary of AU, he asked President Paul Kagame, Joseph Kabila of DR Congo and Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni to hold direct talks with rebels fighting their governments.

Read: Unease in Kigali over Kikwete’s call for talks with FDLR

The outfit President Kagame is supposed to talk to is the Congo-based Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

It is largely made up of remnants of Habyarimana’s army and the Interahamwe militia, both accused of perpetuating and overseeing the 1994 genocide. Due to the spirit of Never Again made in 1948 and the world’s failure to stop the genocide, it was unthinkable to imagine — leave alone suggest — that Kigali talks to the rebel group.

Until the Tanzanian president did.

Kigali’s response was swift and uncharitable. But although the proposal was made in the presence of President Kagame, in characteristic fashion he kept mum — until three weeks later at a military academy in northern Rwanda.

“I kept quiet about this because of the contempt I have for it. I thought it was utter nonsense. Maybe it was due to ignorance.”

Minister of Foreign Affairs Louise Mushikiwabo called the suggestion “aberrant” and “shocking.” Consequently, Kigali called for an apology.

To reinforce the perception that Kikwete, as it were, deliberately made the proposal, his minister for foreign affairs, Bernard Membe, told parliament: “Rwanda has issued a statement opposing the advice by Kikwete that this was the right time to hold peace talks with the country’s rebels, most of whom are in DRC forests and against whom the government has unsuccessfully fought for nearly 17 years....

"President Kikwete will not apologise because his statement was based on facts. We ask Rwanda to take this advice.”

But Kikwete’s “truth” is miles from Kagame’s and Rwanda’s and his strategy will be consequential for the region.

He is not known to be a loose talker or “ignorant” of Rwandan or regional dynamics. Again, Tanzania is largely known as a peacemaker, an old hub of the liberation spirit, rather than a troublemaker.

And while it has the potential to undermine Never Again and the fight against impunity, his “advice” is probable evidence that he (and maybe Tanzania) underestimates Kigali’s resolve to pursue the perpetrators of genocide and related ideology.

Finally, it is likely to undermine not only the search for peace in DRC but also stability in the region.

The bombshell comes as the world seeks to send an “intervention brigade” to DRC, which Tanzania and South Africa support but Rwanda and Uganda are skeptical of.

But I believe Kikwete’s strategy can only have ramification if given credence. That’s why I wonder what he might have whispered to visiting US President Barack Obama and how Kenya’s son received it.

For if his “truth” is adopted it will no doubt change the dominant narrative about Rwanda and the threat posed by the FDLR.

Genocidal grouping

Kikwete is now seen in Kigali as not only saying FDLR is like any other group but also legitimising what it stands for — Hutu supremacy and completing the “unfinished business” of genocide against Tutsis – and therefore perceived as suggesting that it is fighting for a just cause.

To Rwanda, FDLR is nothing but a genocidal grouping, which is the world view, and for that its war is considered unjust.

The US designated it as a terrorist group and placed a $5 million bounty on the head of Gen Sylvestre Mudacumura, its military leader. That standpoint is one Kikwete knows well and has been part of for 18 years.

Trying to explain the possible inspiration for the “advice,” President Kagame added: “...But if this is an ideological problem for anyone to be thinking this way, then it better stay with those who have it.

We will have another time to deal with this. As Rwandans, being who we are, achieving what we want to achieve for ourselves is not a myth; it’s real.”

That indicates the road Kigali would be willing to travel if Kikwete pushed the envelope.

A worrying prospect less publicly discussed is that the “advice” has nothing to do with ideology but friendship with dissidents Col Patrick Karegyeya and Lt-Gen Kayumba Nyamwasa, and FDLR is a proxy for a call for direct talks with all Kigali’s enemies.

However one looks at the Kikwete strategy, it is hard to envision how it engenders sustainable peace.

Christopher Kayumba, PhD, is a senior lecturer at the School of Journalism and Communication, National University of Rwanda (NUR) and Managing Consultant at MGC Consult Ltd in Kigali. E-mail: [email protected]