Talk:Republican Rally for Democracy in Rwanda

article title

Google gets 91 hits (English language only) for Republican Rally for Democracy in Rwanda and 23 for Rassemblement Républicain pour la Démocratie au Rwanda. The English is more often used in English language sources and the article should be moved. - BanyanTree 16:29, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

I don't have a big problem with that. I was perhaps a little hasty in moving it. I was responding to the way that the article was written, which suggested that the French was the official name, but naming conventions suggest the most common English language name, so feel free to move it back. --OpenToppedBus - Talk to the driver 16:55, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

criticism paragraph

Isn't the use of the word 'wrongly' completely POV? Readers don't have the facts to know whether Phillip Gourevitch is right or wrong. It's not impartial and should be removed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.212.213.252 (talk) 08:19, 11 July 2012 (UTC)

POV

This article seems to be very much biased. This party is not simly a noble champion of democracy and reconciliation as is implied but a controversial group that is, according to many, associated with Hutu Power ideology and the genocide of 1994. According to this they denied genocide at their founding meeting. [1] Criticism cannot simply be declared to be wrong without evidence if NPOV is to be followed. --80.221.250.180 (talk) 19:14, 4 April 2013 (UTC)

I agree this article is biased and lacks references to independent literature. It seems made up and written by the party or their supporters. It should therefore be re-written by an independent editor or removed completely. Here are a few alternative opinions:

This is from a report by Medicins sans Frontieres dated July 1995:

On 4 April 1995, 13 senior commanders of the former Rwandan Armed Forces (ex-FAR) issued a public statement pledging their support for the RDR. The Zairian authorities have forbidden the RDR to hold public demonstrations and activities. As a result, the party carries out its activities clandestine. While some believe that these recent political developments herald the dawning of a new era, the host of new leaders appears to have emerged from the same Hutu extremist ideological position. The expansion of the camp leadership, the creation of the Société Civile and a new 'independent' political party have not broadened the political spectrum. Indeed, they have served to further the monopoly of extremism. In the highly polarized political climate of the camps, there is virtually no room for moderate voices to be heard.” http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news-stories/special-report/deadlock-rwandan-refugee-crisis-repatriation-virtually-standstill

This is a report to UNHCR by French scholar Gerard Prunier from August 1995:

The RDR is the creation of François Nzabahimana, former Minister of Commerce in the 1991-1992 Nsanzimana cabinet. As Executive Secretary of the Popular Banks network, he was later accused of being one of the financers of the interahamwe militias. As soon as his movement had been announced, he received the full support of the former Forces Armées Rwandaises (FAR), which does not exactly suggest a fresh direction. http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6a6b64.html

This is from an article by Richard Orth in the Journal 'Small Wars and Insurgencies' from 2006:

The MRND political leadership in the refugee camps created the Rally for the Return of Refugees and Democracy to Rwanda (RDR) as a means of disguising and legitimizing itself in the wake of the genocide. This organization included the EX-FAR. “The former commanders of the FAR, Rwandan Armed Forces, support us, ... Generals Bizimungu and Kabiligi, and the officers who were members of the general staff, but not militiamen. Only regular soldiers are part of the RDR.” http://mercury.ethz.ch/serviceengine/Files/ISN/46658/ipublicationdocument_singledocument/0f795a15-347d-49fa-b4a8-9037517f995d/en/GS25.pdf

This is from a report by the Social Science Research Council (SSCR) published in 2014:

The FDLR was established by former officers and political leaders from the government of the late President Juvénal Habyarimana in the wake of the 1994 genocide. The bulk of the Forces Armées Rwandaises (FAR) and the various affiliated militias fled across the border into Zaïre, as the Congo was then called, along with up to a million refugees.3 In Zaïre, the defeated army reassembled and rearmed itself by manipulating humanitarian aid and with the support of the late Zaïrian President Mobutu Sese Seko. The government in exile rebranded itself in 1995 as a political body advocating for the return of Rwandan refugees – Rassemblement pour le Retour des Réfugiés et de la Démocratie au Rwanda (RDR). http://www.ssrc.org/publications/view/fdlr-past-present-and-policies/

There was also coverage in 1995 issues of Kangura by convicted extremist Hassan Ngeze and in many other sources besides Gourevitch and the ones mentioned here. Saflieni (talk) 17:11, 10 February 2015 (UTC)