Paul Kagame Spins Youtube

I just wasted 47 minutes watching Youtube's much hyped interview conducted by Khaya Dlanga, the South African blogger and "Youtube partner" with Paul Kagame, Rwanda's Life President. The interview is part of a series by Youtube. Previous interviewees include David Cameron and the Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero. Billed as "… the first YouTube World View interview with an African leader" and since forwarded around the web (with little comment by bloggers who I doubt even watched it), watching the interview is like seeing paint dry. But that's probably the point with the whole thing. Kagame basically gets away with saying nothing. And as we know he is good at that. Dlanga never got Kagame to answer any real questions whether about regime's destructive role in the neighboring DRC (violence against Hutus or his generals' mining interests) or the persecution and assassination of political opponents back in Rwanda, among other things. It felt like the questions–submitted online–were prescreened. They were all softballs. Kagame gets asked questions about "the future of Africa," the diaspora, "the youth," what advice Kagame has for "undemocratic leaders" (he also wins elections with plus 90 percent of the vote) or for countries "like Nigeria, Libya and the DRC divided along ethnic lines." Finally about 20 minutes in, a viewer gets to ask Kagame about stepping down after his second term ends only in 2017, but even Dlanga gets an annoyed Kagame to get away with it literally. And then this: "The final question: If you could dine with one person … who would it be and why?" Kagame has a strategy for being elusive in interviews (just say a bunch of platitudes and smile), but we have to ask what Dlanga and the producers were up to here. Did Dlanga actually prepare for this interview? Or was Dlanga, knowing how Kagame's supporters deal with his critics,  just wise.