Kagame’s Congressional Mercenaries Panic as Their Dictator Faces Further American Punishment

In his remarks during the U.S.–Rwanda Congressional Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., co-sponsored with the Rwandan embassy, U.S. Congressman Trent Kelly dropped a bombshell:

“Rwanda is a special country, President Kagame is a special person. He does a lot not only for Rwanda but for the whole of Africa.”

On what planet does Kelly live?

Is he not aware of the U.S. sanctions, foreign aid cuts, and Rwanda’s expulsion from AGOA due to its atrocities at home, in the region, and abroad? The same Washington that has begun treating Kagame’s regime as a liability is the one Kelly is trying to flatter with empty praise.

Meet Kagame’s lobby mercenary army, led by Congressman Trent Kelly. They call themselves the U.S.–Rwanda Congressional Caucus.

They are a bipartisan group in the United States Congress focused on an impossible task: strengthening diplomatic, economic, and security ties between the United States and General Paul Kagame’s dictatorship.

Embarrassingly, a complete roster of members is not publicly available — membership is opaque. Trent Kelly is the only publicly listed leader of the U.S.–Rwanda Congressional Caucus (also called the Congressional Rwanda Caucus).

They often visit Rwanda for a photo opportunity with their boss. They hold an annual U.S.–Rwanda Congressional Prayer Breakfast in Washington, co-sponsored by the Rwandan embassy. They issue statements, arrange meetings, and perform the familiar rituals of regime rehabilitation.

These men and women have assigned themselves an impossible job — whitewashing a dictator who is increasingly despised and discarded in Washington’s dustbin.

The sanctions are real. The aid cuts are real. The AGOA expulsion is real. The regional aggression and domestic repression are documented. Yet the Caucus continues its work as if none of this exists, as if prayer breakfasts and carefully staged photos can reverse policy reality.

Good luck to them.