African Liberation be similar to theirs . For the RPF , it seems like early days to predict what will happen . However , right now there are strong indications that the political organisations to which it sold its vision and which have pursued it with as much commitment and zeal as the RPF itself , are content to remain part of the post-war ruling coalition , to continue to contribute to building a stable , peaceful , inclusive and prosperous Rwanda .
Clearly , success for a liberation movement does not lie simply in measuring up to international standards of anything or turning the country they inherit into an instant liberal democracy or runaway economic success . Rather , it lies in consistent pursuit of its original goals ; inclusion , as much as possible , of groups that might otherwise foment instability and even of ordinary citizens , in decision making ; and pursuit of self-reliance . Self-reliance , as the Eritreans point out , does not mean non-cooperation or non-collaboration with other members of the international community where and when it matters . Success lies also in recalibrating relations with traditionally dominant powers and claiming much-needed space for autonomy in decision making in both domestic and foreign policy ._
China ’ s Evangelising Mission
Lonzen Rugira
I
recently argued that Africa ’ s key challenge is that it has outsourced the right to self-define . Although I focused on political and economic management , this is a challenge that is across almost all key areas of society , including in education . In fact , it would be wrong to characterise the extent of the challenge as a struggle rather than a submission . There was a time when such struggle – for the right to self-define – existed .
On the struggle ’ s frontline were people like Kwame Nkrumah , Patrice Lumumba , Thomas Sankara , and a few others . However , their fate scared the generation of African leaders that came after , hence the total submission . A crop of leaders that is averse to trouble making – fighting over the right to self-definition – emerged thereafter and understood that the power they had did not include this prerogative . Those who quickly understood that they could live in the master ’ s house but they could not rearrange the furniture thrived , accepting the reality that they were to receive orders .
The entry of China into this equation is rearranging the chairs . It is messing with this settlement that is otherwise known as neo-colonialism . China understood that the submission of African leaders was an instinctive reaction to the demise of the Lumumbas . China ’ s entry was to disrupt this settlement .
If the African leaders were robbed of the right to self-define , how could the Chinese dangle this possibility ? What if African leaders were told that there was a way they could reclaim the ability to operationalize political and economic governance , that they could rearrange the furniture ?
Enter the principle of “ non-interference .” Chinese engagement with Africa is premised on the idea that it does not concern itself with the internal affairs of the independent states . In other words , it is an offer for its partners to substantiate independence , to self-define . This is the allure of the Chinese , from the perspective of African leaders .
Credit to the Chinese foreign policy architects . The set of tools at their disposal are diametrically opposed to those deployed by the Europeans and Americans . Whereas the Europeans and Americans usurped Africa ’ s prerogative to self-define , the Chinese insist that it is none of their business , a sovereign right that must be respected through non-interference .
This is disruptive . The disruption has been far-reaching . The traditional territorial subdivision of Africa along external interests increasingly makes less sense , for instance . Chinese influence cuts
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