The following is the PRESS RELEASE for the GREX 2023 International Convention. This is the website of the Rwandan People`s Government in Exile:

https://www.gouvrwandaexil.org/fr/acceuil

image: Padri Thomas Nahimana, President of GREX

GREX 2023

GOUVERNEMENT DU PEUPLE RWANDAIS EN EXIL -THE RWANDAN PEOPLE’S
GOVERNMENT IN EXILE

ICYANZU CY’ IMPINDUKA
AN OPPORTUNITY FOR CHANGE
THE TIME FOR PEACE & STABILITY

INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION

THE TRANSITION OF PAUL KAGAME AND THE END OF THE POLITICAL MONOPOLY
OF THE RPF-INKOTANYI IN RWANDA

A momentous and pivotal movement uniting the Rwandan Diaspora with the People of Rwanda

1.The Rwandan Diaspora of Africa, Europe, the United States of America, South America,
Canada, Australia, and Asia will gather for the momentous Convention of the Rwandan
People’s Government in Exile (GREX) 2023. Formed in 2017, the GREX is led by Mr. Padri
Thomas Nahimana. The GREX 2023 Convention offers a united front open to all
organizations of political opposition, members of civil society, and political activists who recognize the critical need for the peaceful transition of government in Rwanda. GREX 2023
represents the best means to declare and recognize the unification and solidarity of all
oppressed Rwandan people, both inside and outside Rwanda. GREX 2023 is a platform to
articulate the suffering of Rwandans (and Congolese) long endured under more than 30 yearsof a bloody regime where Beatings and Bullets and other Brutalizations have always been the modus operandi of Paul Kagame and the RPF-Inkotanyi (RPF-I). The progressive and pluralist GREX therefore proudly but also sadly introduces itself as «THE VOICE OF THE
VOICELESS».

2. The GREX 2023 International Convention is taking place in Paris and includes regional
delegates, exiled citizens, and political activists all seeking the peaceful transition from powerof Paul Kagame and the RPF-Inkotanyi. This is a critical and timely initiative which includes many diverse people and organizations, friends of the Rwandan people, and representatives of countries of Africa’s Great Lakes region, all committed to peace, solidarity and the demandfor change.

3. On this occasion, the Convention will officially launch the candidacy and campaign of the Presidential Candidate of GREX, Padri Thomas Nahimana and his honorable campaign team, for the 2024 Rwandan presidential election. We also recall that authorities in Rwanda denied Padri Thomas Nahimana the opportunity to stand as a candidate for the Rwandan Presidency in the previous presidential election (2017). Upon arrival at the airport in Nairobi, Kenya, Mr. Nahimana was denied permission to board the plane to Rwanda due to instructions from Kigali that he could not enter into Rwanda, and was forced to return back to Paris (November 2016 ).
In January 2017, he flew from Paris to Brussels and was again prohibited from boarding the direct flight to Rwanda, again on orders from Kigali refusing his entry into Rwanda. This injustice was another motivation for the formation of the People’s Government in Exile (GREX) on February 20, 2017.

4. As a candidate standing for the Presidency in Rwanda in 2024, Mr. Padri Thomas Nahimana will be presenting a broad outline of the GREX’s political program to the Rwandan people.
To reiterate, this GREX program is centered on an inclusive, pluralistic transition of
government in Rwanda, and a new era of peace, prosperity, and progress in Africa.

5.The time for change in Rwanda has long since passed. GREX is calling on the International Community to support the opening of political space in RWANDA, the assurance of the rule of law, and the holding of free and fair democratic elections, replacing the ballot for the bullet, and respectfully ushering aside Paul Kagame and his exclusive RFF-Inkotanyi regime. It is time to recognize that the incumbent RPF-Inkotanyi government — having reconstituted a form of the feudal monarchy of the pre-colonial and colonial era — has also maintained an apartheid system that obtains at every level of national life. In fact, as various international organizations have many times confirmed, the entire national economy is held captive by a small group of individuals. This elite group has controlled and commanded the defense and security forces with no constraints on their criminal activities perpetuated throughout the Great Lakes region of Central Africa. National education is neglected to the benefit of private schools intended only for children of this elite network. Rwandan judiciary power has been instrumentalized to further enslave people and protect the regime. The massive violation of
human rights is legendary, being the subject of countless annual and quarterly reports of
international organizations. The unceasing wars of aggression against neighboring countries, Democratic Republic of Congo in particular, have ruined millions of lives, ended millions more lives. The human rights atrocities, war crimes and crimes against humanity are compounded by the impunity and denial. Further, while economic growth and development in some sectors ate presented as monumental successes, this is a facade that simultaneously limits the real and dynamic potential of the region, and has spawned an ever-increasing spiral of losses in all sectors we could measure.

6. The people of RWANDA, the Great Lakes region, and certainly of the entire world have for decades been held hostage by Paul Kagame and the elites of the RPF-Inkotanyi. The new presidential candidate and the GREX propose a new government grounded in a commitment to peace and harmony in Rwanda and the region. This we undertake under the slogan « UNIT POUR BATIR », « CONNECT TO BUILD », and « NIMUHAGURUKE TWUBAKE».

7. The Candidate of GREX intends to also show that his foreign policy will be based on the
respect of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of neighboring countries and those of the African Great Lakes region. It will also be an aggressive foreign policy committed to working with the support of the international community. The GREX proposes a new era of
fundamental and much needed change premised on sincerity, intelligence, transparency and peace that will be a huge win-win for international cooperation and the rule of law. GREX has a clear plan to transform the regional violence into a peaceful coexistence with the Democratic Republic of Congo — Rwanda’s neighbor that has suffered the most horrible successive wars and rebellions initiated and perpetuated under the absolute command and control of Paul Kagame and his regime. This GREX plan will be presented to the Rwandan people, the Congolese government, and the international community.

8. The war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide that have occurred throughout the Great Lakes region from (at least) 1990 to today have left deep wounds within all families, all communities, and even across national and international borders. The entire Rwandan population has been deeply wounded, causing unprecedented physical and psychological trauma that demands immediate and unprecedented remediative action. It is imperative that solutions be devised and programs implemented to bring comfort to the broken-hearted, to assure access to justice for all victims, and to guarantee to all the rights of memory, remembrance and spiritual closure with their deceased family members and friends. It is imperative that the Ballot be substituted for the Bullet, that a new era be ushered in to insure a lasting peace and reconciliation that have more than empty promises and punitive persecution behind them. We are speaking here of obligation, responsibility, and hope for the people of RWANDA, the region, and all of humanity.
9. Concerning the presidential election of 2024, the GREX is ready to brave this historic
moment, and the necessity for change, through peaceful means, including reconciliation,
respect, justice and the rule of law.

10. To do this, the GREX demands that the outgoing government of the RPF-Inkotanyi must open political space, insure the respect, viability and security for all political parties, organizations and individuals who want to enter the arena. GREX demands that all legal and material obstacles erected by the regime to block the access to the elected posts for political opponents be removed. GREX demands that the outgoing government undertake a sincere dialogue with opposition candidates in order for the latter to also be represented within the National Electoral Commission. The GREX also humbly but definitively calls upon the international Community to cease being complacent towards the abuses of RPF-Inkotanyi, to ensure the safety and security of candidates and their representatives, parties, and supporters, to demand the requisite transparency so often touted as a high ideal and necessary requirement of more progressive countries, and to facilitate these parameters through the monitoring of the 2024 presidential election, which is to be transparent and held in a peaceful climate.

Nothing will ever be like before;
a new era is sketched.
The change is now.

Source:

https://www.gouvrwandaexil.org/