Waugh, Colin M. 1955-

PERSONAL:

Born September 25, 1955, in Edinburgh, Scotland. Education: University of Aberdeen, M.A.; additional graduate study at London School of Economics and Political Science, London. Politics: Liberal Democrat (British party).

ADDRESSES:

Office—303 Park Ave. S., Ste. 1164, New York, NY 10010. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer.

WRITINGS:

Paul Kagame and Rwanda, McFarland (Jefferson, NC), 2004.

Contributor to the book Intelligent Commodity Investing, Risk Books (London, England), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Colin M. Waugh told CA: "In setting out to write an African political narrative, I had to choose which of the countries I had come to know was the one with the most worthwhile story to tell and the most potent message to deliver. The experience of the genocide makes Rwanda unique, at least in terms of modern history. Genocide is a particularly atrocious form of violence, a repugnant crime, an extreme form of persecution, and an act of mass murder all rolled into one horror story to whet the appetites of the most compulsive of audiences. Yet, while the European wars, the Nazi genocide against the Jews, or more recently the struggle for power in Vietnam have absorbed those with a fascination for humanity's darker side, somehow when it comes to Africa, everyone turns the other way.

"My book, however, is not principally about the genocide, although the events surrounding the tragic months of 1994 in Rwanda inevitably occupy a prominent place in any account of the country's modern political era. It is also about the alteration of Rwandan politics from the accepted norm of post-conflict recovery and development in Africa that this unusual country represents. Rwanda is run according to a formula that doesn't quite fit the usual mold for the western reader with a passing interest in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to civil war, poverty, and disease, the next thing that novice western readers associate with African societies is corruption. In this respect, Rwanda begins to break away from the conventional model. Corruption is not endemic in Rwanda in the way that it is in much of the rest of the world.

"I recall an incident in 1995 when, driving northward from Kigali on a Sunday afternoon with a colleague, and having just completed an illegal shortcut, I was stopped by a Rwandan officer who had observed the maneuver. After checking my license he informed me that I would have to come back to the police station the following day to retrieve my documents, quite an inconvenience as I had by now driven far from my base. I told him that I could not agree to this demand and a standoff then ensued. Remaining patiently seated in the car, I talked to the soldier about our respective home towns, sports, languages, and the like, while he held on to my license and I declined to agree to returning later to retrieve it. My colleague suggested a small bribe to break the impasse, which I at first resisted, then later agreed to, offering perhaps a day's pay to the young serviceman. As I anticipated, he rejected the offer and proceeded to carry on the conservation for another fifteen minutes. The light was fading and our urge to capitulate mounted by the minute. Suddenly when it seemed that only our surrender could break the deadlock, the officer leaned closer toward the car and looked straight at me, saying: ‘You know, you are very disciplined,’ and handed me back my license without emotion. I later learned that this was a fair compliment from a young member of Rwanda's armed forces who had just refused to be bought. The intrinsically ordered nature of Rwandan society stems in part from the tradition and history of its people, but also in recent times it is in good measure due to a leadership that has reinforced a natural tendency through authority as well as example.

"The story of Paul Kagame's ascent from junior officer in a foreign guerrilla army to the presidency of Rwanda is the story of how this leadership, this authority, and this reassertion of tradition came about in a country that had known only fear, division, and clan-based nepotism for many years. The personality of Paul Kagame and his centrality to the evolution of a different type of modern African state is another reason for my choice of modern Rwanda as the subject of my book.

"Kagame's story is also that of a battlefield general and latterly a politician who was often described in the past as secretive or mysterious, and who was given to neither public displays of emotion nor unnecessary discussions with members of the foreign media. I wanted to ensure that Kagame's views, often contested, were as much part of this record as the descriptions and conclusions that I came to through my own reading, research, or listening to the opinions of others. Being neither an accredited journalist from a major news organization nor an insider with Rwandan connections, for me the process of arranging interviews with President Kagame was a lengthy and frustrating one. Nevertheless, with a measure of persistence some helping hands were finally extended, and soon the formalities toward arranging my presidential encounter were underway.

"Once focused on the idea of my project, the president participated in the interview process with remarkable relish, particularly when the opportunity arose to recount experiences from the early days of his career. Advisors who were present at the sessions commented afterward that they too had been made aware of new details from their chief executive's early life that came as revelations about the person to whose service they consecrated most of their daylight hours.

"While much of the early work for this book was carried out in libraries, through consulting Internet archives, and talking to people living outside Rwanda, the journals kept from my visits during the 1990s are the source of much of the anecdotal material that is included. While avoiding personal references in the text itself, I nevertheless tried to open up a number of topics with relevance beyond the Rwandan experience for the reader's reflection."