Rwanda, despite being a former Belgian colony (one of the few colonies it had), wishes to join the British Commonwealth. Even cricket - beloved by every major Commonwealth nation except Canada - has become very popular there.
Rwanda now refuses to join its former colonial master Belgium in the Francophone equivalent of the British Commonwealth - the Francophonie - after declaring that the French were complicit in the slaughter of 800,000 Rwandans in 100 days. After cutting off all ties with France and Belgium it's now cosying up with Britain ..
Rwanda in drive to join Commonwealth
By Mike Pflanz in Kigali
23/07/2007
Daily Mail
On a ragged oval of dusty grass beside a school where thousands died in Rwanda's genocide, the thwack of leather against willow rang out at dusk yesterday.
The very British sound, accompanied by hopeful "howzats" from excited children, has until now been rare in the once staunchly Francophone African nation.
Cricket being played on a pitch in Kigali, Rwanda's capital, with equipment donated by the British Conservative Party
But a cricket academy has just been established, marking Rwanda's latest turn towards the British way of life as President Paul Kagame leads his country away from the orbit of Paris and Brussels.
The French embassy in the capital, Kigali, was abruptly closed in November. The ambassador was ordered out with 24 hours notice, French schools were shut down and Radio France Internationale was ordered off the air.
The purge came after a French judge said Mr Kagame should be investigated over the shooting down of Rwanda's presidential jet on April 6, 1994, the event which sparked the genocide.
Mr Kagame, in turn, says French officials were complicit in the slaughter of 800,000 Rwandans in 100 days - a claim vehemently denied by Paris - and plans to publish a report detailing the evidence in October.
The former Belgian colony has also applied to join the Commonwealth. This will go before all Commonwealth heads of government when they meet in Uganda in November for a summit attended by The Queen.
If the application is successful - and most believe it will be - Rwanda will be the first Francophone country to be admitted to the club of ex-British colonies. It will also become only the second member with no history as a Crown possession, after Mozambique, which joined in 1995.
Mr Kagame rarely speaks French, and has made English one of Rwanda's three official languages, with French and Kinyarwandan.
Signs above new shops being built along dusty streets are increasingly written in English rather than French: "Seven Seas Technologies" or "Price is Pretty Salon".
Out on the wicket in the rays of the setting sun, Andre Kayitera, an 18-year-old, who says his cricket hero is England bowler Andrew Flintoff, hit yet another boundary.
In halting English, he said: "I have not heard of this Commonwealth, but I know that cricket is in my heart and I want to play for my country."
Rwanda has just five cricket teams - up from only one in 2000 - and the "national stadium" is this rundown patch of green dotted with termite mounds.
"They don't understand cricket yet, but we'll get there," said Charles Haba, the president of the Rwanda Cricket Association, which he set up with university friends.
Members of the Conservative Party's 43-strong volunteering mission have donated six bags of kit including bats, balls, pads and stumps.
"By the time they join the Commonwealth, I want every kid here to know the lbw rule and how to bowl a googly," said Naweed Khan, a 27-year-old Tory central office staffer who has helped set up the nationwide Cricket Academy.
dailymail.co.uk
Rwanda now refuses to join its former colonial master Belgium in the Francophone equivalent of the British Commonwealth - the Francophonie - after declaring that the French were complicit in the slaughter of 800,000 Rwandans in 100 days. After cutting off all ties with France and Belgium it's now cosying up with Britain ..
Rwanda in drive to join Commonwealth
By Mike Pflanz in Kigali
23/07/2007
Daily Mail
On a ragged oval of dusty grass beside a school where thousands died in Rwanda's genocide, the thwack of leather against willow rang out at dusk yesterday.
The very British sound, accompanied by hopeful "howzats" from excited children, has until now been rare in the once staunchly Francophone African nation.
Cricket being played on a pitch in Kigali, Rwanda's capital, with equipment donated by the British Conservative Party
But a cricket academy has just been established, marking Rwanda's latest turn towards the British way of life as President Paul Kagame leads his country away from the orbit of Paris and Brussels.
The French embassy in the capital, Kigali, was abruptly closed in November. The ambassador was ordered out with 24 hours notice, French schools were shut down and Radio France Internationale was ordered off the air.
The purge came after a French judge said Mr Kagame should be investigated over the shooting down of Rwanda's presidential jet on April 6, 1994, the event which sparked the genocide.
Mr Kagame, in turn, says French officials were complicit in the slaughter of 800,000 Rwandans in 100 days - a claim vehemently denied by Paris - and plans to publish a report detailing the evidence in October.
The former Belgian colony has also applied to join the Commonwealth. This will go before all Commonwealth heads of government when they meet in Uganda in November for a summit attended by The Queen.
If the application is successful - and most believe it will be - Rwanda will be the first Francophone country to be admitted to the club of ex-British colonies. It will also become only the second member with no history as a Crown possession, after Mozambique, which joined in 1995.
Mr Kagame rarely speaks French, and has made English one of Rwanda's three official languages, with French and Kinyarwandan.
Signs above new shops being built along dusty streets are increasingly written in English rather than French: "Seven Seas Technologies" or "Price is Pretty Salon".
Out on the wicket in the rays of the setting sun, Andre Kayitera, an 18-year-old, who says his cricket hero is England bowler Andrew Flintoff, hit yet another boundary.
In halting English, he said: "I have not heard of this Commonwealth, but I know that cricket is in my heart and I want to play for my country."
Rwanda has just five cricket teams - up from only one in 2000 - and the "national stadium" is this rundown patch of green dotted with termite mounds.
"They don't understand cricket yet, but we'll get there," said Charles Haba, the president of the Rwanda Cricket Association, which he set up with university friends.
Members of the Conservative Party's 43-strong volunteering mission have donated six bags of kit including bats, balls, pads and stumps.
"By the time they join the Commonwealth, I want every kid here to know the lbw rule and how to bowl a googly," said Naweed Khan, a 27-year-old Tory central office staffer who has helped set up the nationwide Cricket Academy.
dailymail.co.uk
Last edited: