Rwanda’s leader uses UN peace missions to maintain the dictatorship in Kigali and to enhance his formidable global financial and criminal network that liquidates his opponents

Rwanda's recent elections were a sheer wasteful circus, like previous ones since Paul Kagame came to power in Kigali. The ruling party has a choke-hold on the country's politics. Progressive forces have a difficult task to truly free Rwanda

The Congolese army has been flexing its muscles in killing hundreds of Rwandan and Ugandan soldiers in eastern Congo. Demonstrations by the Congolese masses have taken place as well as a new cooperation agreement among some countries in the Great Lakes region

The government of Paul Kagame continues to relentlessly support, arm and command rebel groups such as the M23, which commit war crimes and human rights violations in Congo

Street vendors are the hallmark of sprawling African cities. In Kigali, Rwanda's capital, life looks increasingly harsh for street vendors as the authorities seek to expand their tax base, in the face of commercial tax evasion. But who are the real culprits?

Rwanda has made significant steps in the pursuit of justice for victims of the genocide 19 years ago. But many suspected perpetrators living abroad have not been brought to justice and the government does not seem keen to fulfil its pledges to compensate survivors

'The pretense that everyone is wrong about Rwanda’s involvement with M23 except President Kagame, Tony Blair and Howard Buffet is in itself a symptom of the corrupting power of money and unchallenged political influence'

A revised penal code decriminalizing abortion under certain circumstances has met opposition from the community, reports Global Press Institute. In the revised Penal Code of Rwanda, Article 165 decriminalizes abortion when the pregnancy is a result of rape, forced marriage or sexual intercourse with a close family relative. It also decriminalizes abortion when the pregnancy jeopardizes the health of the unborn baby or the mother.

The series of prostitute murders that occurred this past summer in Rwanda’s capital has revived debate on the world’s oldest profession. On the whole, the country’s very modest population opposes the legalisation of prostitution. However, some young people, not to mention the sex workers themselves, are promoting more pragmatic solutions for safety in the industry.

Rwandan opposition leader Victoire Ingabire was jailed for eight years Tuesday after a court found her guilty of terror charges and denying the genocide. 'She has been sentenced to eight years for all the crimes that she was found guilty of,' judge Alice Rulisa told the court, adding however that she was innocent of another charge of 'calling for another genocide.' Rulisa said the leader was found guilty of the 'crime of conspiracy in harming authorities through terrorism and war' as well as denial of Rwanda's 1994 genocide.

The 65-year old Yvonne Ntacyobatabara was living quietly with her husband in the southern Dutch province of Limburg when, in 2010, she was arrested on suspicion of genocide. She is accused of leading a group of young men in the mass murder of Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda in 1994. Her trial begins today (22 October) in a court in The Hague.

Rwanda’s military intelligence department known as J2 has illegally held scores of civilians in military detention without charge or trial amid credible claims of torture, Amnesty International states in a new report. 'Rwanda: Shrouded in Secrecy: Illegal Detention and Torture by Military Intelligence' reveals unlawful detention, enforced disappearances, as well as allegations of torture by J2. The report details credible accounts of individuals being subjected to serious beatings, electric shocks and sensory deprivation to force confessions during interrogations.

Donors have acted hastily in suspending aid to Rwanda over allegations that it is supporting a rebel insurgency in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to a leading expert on 'fragile states'. Professor James Putzel, co-author of Meeting the Challenges of Crisis States, a report from the London School of Economics, questioned the decision of the EU, the US and Germany in partially freezing aid to Rwanda amid accusations that its military is supporting the violent rebel group M23. President Paul Kagame has vehemently rejected the allegations.

Paul Kagame has presided over the plunder of DR Congo's mineral wealth to consolidate Tutsi hegemony in Kigali. Now with the support of his powerful western allies, Kagame is eyeing Congolese territory.

Rwanda has defiantly denied claims at the United Nations that it was aiding rebels in Democratic Republic of Congo and rejected UN chief Ban Ki-moon's summary of a meeting on the crisis, diplomats said. According to Ban, most states attending a high-level meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly with Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Congolese President Joseph Kabila 'condemned all forms of external support' to the rebels.

It is regrettable that in the past decade, the so-called international community appears to have made a sport of blaming Rwanda, a tiny country of less than twelve million people, for every unrest experienced in Africa’s largest country - in terms of land mass - the Democratic Republic of Congo, a nation of over 70 million inhabitants.

The European Union is suspending new aid to Rwanda following allegations that the country is backing rebels in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, an EU spokesman said. The decision follows a report by experts of the UN Security Council's sanctions committee alleging Rwandan support for M23 rebels, who launched an uprising in April. The DR Congo government also accuses its neighbour of involvement.

With mobile subscribers on the rise and a supportive government backing new initiatives, information and communication technologies are taking off in Rwanda. Now, an innovative space invites young entrepreneurs to develop solutions-based technology for the country.

Germany has suspended millions of euros in aid to Rwanda over allegations that the country is backing rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Development Minister Dirk Niebel said on Saturday that Germany was putting on ice some €21-million in aid for Kigali planned from this year until 2015 in what he said was an 'unmistakable signal to the Rwandan government'.

The head of the US war crimes office has warned Rwanda's leaders, including President Paul Kagame, that they could face prosecution at the international criminal court for arming groups responsible for atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Stephen Rapp, who leads the US Office of Global Criminal Justice, told the Guardian the Rwandan leadership may be open to charges of 'aiding and abetting' crimes against humanity in a neighbouring country.