Author Adam Jones asks John Pilger to retract his endorsement of a controversial recent book on the Rwandan genocide.

An editor of an independent newspaper Agnes Uwimana is at the mercy of a Rwandan prosecutor who is pushing for a 33-year prison sentence, according to state radio on Thursday. She has been accused of denying the 1994 genocide and would know her fate on 4 February at the High Court. Uwimana appeared before the country's High Court on charges of negating the 1994 genocide, defaming senior officials - including President Paul Kagame - and disturbing the peace, all through articles published last year, Radio Rwanda reported.

The physical laying of the optic fibre cable in Rwanda, which includes civil works, laying of ducts and installation of the fibre is complete. Patrick Nyirishema,the Deputy Director of Rwanda Development Board (RDB) in charge of Information Technology said. The infrastructure will boost access to various broadband services including fast tracking government initiatives like e-Governance, e-Banking, e-Learning, e-Health, and other applications.

France's highest court has upheld an order to extradite Rwandan rebel leader Callixte Mbarushimana to face trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC). A lawyer for Mbarushimana said the court had rejected his client's appeal against extradition. Mbarushimana is accused of 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, allegedly committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo last year.

A French judge placed Rwanda's defence minister and five other aides of President Paul Kagame under investigation in a probe into an attack seen as sparking the African country's 1994 genocide, legal sources said on 16 December. Placing the men under investigation means that international arrest warrants issued for them - which led to Rwanda cutting off diplomatic relations with France in 2006 - can be dropped, reports The Independent.

Following concerted efforts to deny the Rwandan genocide from Edward Herman & David Peterson, Adam Jones urges Pambazuka readers to ‘do what they can to spread word of Herman & Peterson's denialist enterprise’.

The Rwandan authorities are trying to tackle gender-based violence by addressing the role of security personnel in ending the scourge. 'Violence of any sort is an affront to society, an abomination that is simply unacceptable,' Rwandan Prime Minister Bernard Makuza said. 'Security forces in Africa must recognise gender-based violence as a crime.' The prime minister, who was speaking at a recent high-level conference in the Rwandan capital of Kigali on the role of security bodies in ending violence against women and girls, called for community involvement in efforts to root out the vice.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has sentenced a Rwandan businessman to 30 years in jail for his part in the bulldozing of a church which killed around 2,000 ethnic Tutsis during the 1994 genocide. The tribunal, backed by the United Nations, found Gaspard Kanyarukiga guilty of genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity.

Rwanda and Syria joined a list of the 10 most repressive countries toward journalists, while Northern European countries continue to lead the world in respecting free expression, according to the just released annual ranking of press freedom by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). RSF said press freedom in the 10 countries - rounded out by North Korea, Burma, China, Iran, Yemen, Sudan, Turkmenistan and Eritrea - continues to deteriorate. 'It is getting harder to say which is worse than the other,' RSF said.

Opposition politician Ingabire Victoire Umuhoza, who was banned to contest in the recent presidential elections in Rwanda, has urged the country’s development partners to build institutional capacity, not President Kagame’s political capacity for continued stay in power. In a wide-ranging policy paper titled: 'Development partners need to support lasting solution', dated 20 September 2010 and accessed by the Newsline, the fiery politician notes that whereas aid and political conditions attached to it had obliged some dictatorships to open up the political space and level the playing field, in the case of Rwanda, it has allowed the regime in power to put in place a controlled ‘democratisation’ process with no opposition or elections with no competitors.

Perspectives on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Tanzania’s forthcoming election and a new report accusing British banks of complicity in Nigerian corruption are among the topics in this week’s round-up of the African blogosphere, by Dibussi Tande.

In April, Rwanda's media council suspended Umuseso, the nation's once-leading independent weekly paper, for a period of six months. By June, life had become too difficult for the main players behind Umuseso. Chief editor Charles Kabonero and web editor Richard Kayigamba found themselves in exile along with Gasana. Undeterred, the exiled editors launched a new independent weekly called The Newsline. Their first edition was ready in July, and they attempted to ship it into Kigali in advance of Rwanda's elections.

In an attempt to meet the development goal of universal access to primary education by 2015, Rwanda’s government has decided to reallocate a large part of its tertiary education budget to the primary education sector. As a result, thousands of students who rely on bursaries fear that they will have to abandon their studies if their allowances and merit-based college scholarships - which cover students' tuition fees, accommodation and living expenses - are scrapped.

The Rwandan government should fully respect the rights of opposition party members and allow them to carry out their legitimate activities without fear for their safety, Human Rights Watch has said. Human Rights Watch issued its statement in response to the re-arrest of Victoire Ingabire, president of the opposition party FDU-Inkingi, and the transfer from prison to a hospital of Bernard Ntaganda, president of another opposition party, the PS-Imberakuri, both on 14 October 2010. Both parties have been critical of the Rwandan government and were prevented from participating in the presidential elections in August.

In August 2009, Rwanda's health ministry launched an mHealth (M-Ubuzima) initiative to support community health workers in maternal and child health interventions by utilizing mobile technology. Community health workers, who are responsible for maternal health in the Musanze district, were given mobile phones equipped with Rapid SMS tools. These mobiles allow health workers to report difficult cases, complications or emergencies to the nearest clinic or hospital, and improve maternal health information tracking by capturing data about pre-natal health, delivery, and birth outcomes.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said the arrest on Monday of Rwandan rebel leader Callixte Mbarushimana in France for serious crimes in the Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2009 sends a strong signal to other abusive commanders that the International Criminal Court (ICC) will be persistent in its apprehensi on of suspects. French police arrested Mbarushimana Monday morning in Paris, where he has resided since 2003.

Rwanda, home to Africa's largest solar power plant, is eager to harness renewable energy to ensure economic development. But its grand ambitions face many challenges. The US$1.3 million plant, known as Jali, is covered in 4,000 solar panels covering 2,880 square metres. It produces 325,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a year - but this is still just 0.1 per cent of Rwanda's total electricity production.

Gado's latest cartoon captures the contrast between the United Nation's response to Rwanda's genocide and its recent report on the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Research carried out in Gasabo district of the central province of Rwanda with a focus on the lived experience of lesbians living in Kigali has concluded that there is a need for more sensitisation, lobbying and advocacy to better the livelihood and well-being of the LGBTI community. The research was an initiative to recognise the problems faced by lesbians after several attacks and arrests.

Rwanda President Paul Kagame and security…