(12 Sep 2011)
1. Rwandan President Paul Kagame getting out of car, entering building
2. Kagame at news conference
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Paul Kagame, president of Rwanda: (answering a question by a Reporters Without Borders member about sentenced journalists)
"Me, the government, the people of Rwanda, are not answerable to you, but answerable and accountable to Rwandans and the global international system, how we fit in it. And you are the kind of people I was talking about, who attack countries, who do all sorts of things when you are not accountable yourselves. I don''t think you are accountable and I am not accountable to you."
4. Mid of audience
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Paul Kagame, president of Rwanda:
"If we have people who want to manage Africa in this way, from outside in the disrespect of the views and the traces and the aspirations of African people, that''s exactly what I was pointing to. This attitude of always sizing up Africans, African leaders, African governments, African this, well that is why you become silent about many wrongs that go everywhere, even in your own backyard."
6. Pan of conference
7 Set up shot of Ambroise Pierre, Reporters Without Borders member in charge for Africa
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambroise Pierre, RSF Africa:
"Two lady journalists are currently in jail in Kigali because they''ve criticised the government and they were sentenced to very harsh terms, 17 years and seven years to jail. One journalist was killed last year, some others leave the country as some journalists do in Erithrea or Somalia so it is not a place where it is easy to be a journalist and if Paul Kagame comes to France for reconciliation and having good diplomatic relations, we consider that the French government should also talk about human rights, freedom of expression."
9. Paul Kagame entering his car
STORYLINE
Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Monday said he wasn''t accountable to non-governmental organisations (NGO''s) probing his country''s handling of journalists and opposition leaders.
NGO''s such as Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders have suggested the Rwandan government was targeting journalists and politicians that were critical of the regime.
"Me, the government, the people of Rwanda are not answerable to you, but answerable and accountable to Rwandans and the global international system how we fit in it," said Kagame, on his first visit to France since the 1994 genocide.
Members of opposition parties were frequently arrested in the lead up to the August 2010 presidential elections and journalists who have published articles critical of the government have been jailed or found dead.
The mutilated body of one senior opposition figure was found three weeks before the presidential election.
Kagame was re-elected with 93 percent of the vote.
He warned outside powers against trying to "manage Africa" and criticised "this attitude of always sizing up Africans African leaders, African governments."
Outside the Kagame''s news conference on Monday, Reporters Without Borders'' (RSF) Ambroise Pierre said two women journalists had been given harsh prison sentences for criticising the government and another was killed last year.
"If Paul Kagame comes to France for reconciliation and having good diplomatic relations, we consider that the French government should also talk about human rights, freedom of expression," Ambroise, who handles the African branch of RSF said.
Rwanda has been struggling to move beyond the 1994 genocide, when extremist Hutus killed more than 500,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in the country.
Find out more about AP Archive: www.aparchive.c...
Twitter: / ap_archive
Facebook: / aparchives ​​
Instagram: / apnews
You can license this story through AP Archive: www.aparchive.c...