Incredible but True: Nkunda brandishes his Rwandan citizenship to delay his expected extradition to the DRC
By Le Parmares
February 23, 2009
Kinshasa-There is a new and dramatic rebound with regard to Nkunda’s extradition process. This sinister terrorist and war criminal is now claiming the Rwandan citizenship to obstruct and/or delay his expected extradition to the Congolese justice.
Nkunda, from his prison of Kigali, is making every effort to avoid being handed over to the Congolese authorities. However, nothing should stop the ongoing extradition process because we all know that Nkunda is the author or co-author of several war crimes against the DRC and the Congolese people. The butcher of the CNDP has no illusions about his fate.
Thus, in a very cleaver way, he just came up with a magic ticket to prevent Kagame from extraditing him.
In fact, from now on, Nkunda presents himself as a Rwandan. No kidding! To prove his Rwandan citizenship, Nkunda exhibited his old Rwandan identity card that he received when he joined the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) in 1991, as a sergeant.
Moreover, the former chairman of the CNDP movement is also waving his identity card as a member of the intelligence services during the liberation of Kigali in July 1994. In this last capacity, Nkunda stresses that he played a leading role for the current regime in Kigali, because he was instrumental in ousting Habyarimana.
We all know that such arguments are likely to please very well the Tutsi regime in Kigali. Thus, some RPF generals are now openly pressuring Kagame to not deliver “their country mate” (Nkunda) to the Congolese authorities.
However, the Congolese people are entitled to ask the following question: How Nkunda who fought hard in Jomba (DRC) as a truly thoroughbred Congolese at the point of aspiring to the highest office in DRC may overnight become Rwandan?
By the way, the most unfortunate man in this case is Paul Kagame who seems caught between the hammer and the anvil. On the one hand, he is pressured by his pro-Nkunda generals mostly owing to the legendary Tutsi solidarity. On the other hand, he is also pressured by the international community more determined than ever before to see Kagame respect the commitments made under the agreement with Kinshasa.
In both case scenarios, the pan seems very risky for the Rwandan dictator. Is it the end of Paul Kagame in offing?
Source:
Digitalcongo.net
The conflict in the Congo is a resource war waged by U.S. and British allies
By Kambale Musavuli
Online Journal Guest Writer
February 19, 2009
Since Rwanda and Uganda invaded the Congo in 1996, they have pursued a plan to appropriate the wealth of Eastern Congo either directly or through proxy forces. The December 2008 United Nations report is the latest in a series of U.N. reports dating from 2001 that clearly documents the systematic looting and appropriation of Congolese resources by Rwanda and Uganda, two of Washington and London’s staunchest allies in Africa.
However, in the wake of the December 2008 report, which clearly documents Rwanda’s support of destabilizing proxy forces inside the Congo, a series of stunning proposals and actions have been presented which all appear to be an attempt to cover up or bury the damning U.N. report on the latest expression of Rwanda’s aggression against the Congolese people.
The earliest proposal came from Herman Cohen, former assistant secretary of state for African affairs under George Herbert Walker Bush. He proposed that Rwanda be rewarded for its well documented looting of Congo’s wealth by being a part of a Central and/or East African free trade zone whereby Rwanda would keep its ill-gotten gains.
French President Nicholas Sarkozy would not be outdone; he also brought his proposal off the shelf, which argues for essentially the same scheme of rewarding Rwanda for its 12-year war booty from the Congo. Two elements are at the core of both proposals.
One is the legitimization of the economic annexation of the Congo by Rwanda, which for all intents and purposes represents the status quo. And two is basically the laying of the foundation for the balkanization of the Congo or the outright political annexation of Eastern Congo by Rwanda. Both Sarkozy and Cohen have moved with lightning speed past the Dec. 12, 2008, United Nations report to make proposals that avoid the core issues revealed in the report.
The U.N. report reaffirms what Congolese intellectuals, scholars and victims have been saying for over a decade in regard to Rwanda’s role as the main catalyst for the biblical scale death and misery in the Congo. The Ugandan and Rwandan invasions of 1996 and 1998 have triggered the deaths of nearly 6 million Congolese. The United Nations says it is the deadliest conflict in the world since World War II.
The report “found evidence that the Rwandan authorities have been complicit in the recruitment of soldiers, including children, have facilitated the supply of military equipment, and have sent officers and units from the Rwandan Defense Forces” to the DRC. The support is for the National Congress for the Defense of the People, or CNDP, formerly led by self-proclaimed Gen. Laurent Nkunda.
The report also shows that the CNDP is sheltering a war criminal wanted by the International Criminal Court, Gen. Jean Bosco Ntaganda. The CNDP has used Rwanda as a rear base for fundraising meetings and bank accounts, and Uganda is once more implicated as Nkunda has met regularly with embassies in both Kigali and Kampala.
Also, Uganda is accepting illegal CNDP immigration papers. Earlier U.N. reports said that Kagame and Museveni are the mafia dons of Congo’s exploitation. This has not changed in any substantive way.
The report implicates Tribert Rujugiro Ayabatwa, a close advisor to Paul Kagame, president of Rwanda. Rujugiro is the founder of the Rwandan Investment Group. This is not the first time he has been named by the United Nations as one of the individuals contributing to the conflict in the Congo.
In April 2001, he was identified as Tibere Rujigiro in the U.N. Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as one of the figures illegally exploiting Congo’s wealth. His implication this time comes in financial contributions to CNDP and appropriation of land.
This brings to light the organizations he is a part of, which include but are not limited to the Rwanda Development Board, the Rwandan Investment Group, of which he is the founder, and Kagame’s Presidential Advisory Council. They have members as notable as Rev. Rick Warren, business tycoon Joe Ritchie, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Scott Ford of Alltell, Dr. Clet Niyikiza of GlaxoSmithKline, former U.S. President Bill Clinton and many more.
These connections provide some insight into why Rwanda has been able to commit and support remarkable atrocities in the Congo without receiving even a reprimand in spite of the fact that two European courts have charged their top leadership with war crimes and crimes against humanity. It is only recently that two European nations, Sweden and the Netherlands, have decided to withhold aid from Rwanda as a result of its aggression against the Congolese people.
The report shows that the Congolese soldiers have also given support to the FDLR and other armed groups to fight against the aggression of Rwanda’s CNDP proxy. One important distinction must be made in this regard. It appears that the FDLR support comes more from individual Congolese soldiers as opposed to overall government support.
The Congolese government is not supporting the FDLR in incursions into Rwanda; however, the Rwandan government is in fact supporting rebel groups inside Congo. The Congolese population is the victim of the CNDP, FDLR and the Congolese military.
The United Nations report is a predictable outgrowth of previous reports produced by the U.N. since 2001. It reflects the continued appropriation of the land, theft of Congo’s resources, and continuous human rights abuses caused by Rwanda and Uganda. An apparent aim of these spasms is to create facts on the ground -- land expropriation, theft of cattle and other assets -- to consolidate CNDP/Rwandan economic integration into Rwanda.
Herman Cohen’s “Can Africa Trade Its Way to Peace?” in the New York Times reflects the disastrous policies that favor profits over people. In his article, the former lobbyist for Mobutu and Kabila’s government in the United States and former assistant secretary of state for Africa from 1989 to 1993 argues, “Having controlled the Kivu provinces for 12 years, Rwanda will not relinquish access to resources that constitute a significant percentage of its gross national product.”
He adds, “The normal flow of trade from eastern Congo is to Indian Ocean ports rather than the Atlantic Ocean, which is more than a thousand miles away.” Continuing his argument, he believes that “the free movement of people would empty the refugee camps and would allow the densely populated countries of Rwanda and Burundi to supply needed labor to Congo and Tanzania.”
Cohen’s first mistake in providing solutions to the conflict is to look at the conflict as a humanitarian crisis that can be solved by economic means. Uganda and Rwanda are the aggressors. Aggressors should not define for the Congo what is best, but rather it is for the Congo to define what it has to offer to its neighbor.
A lasting solution is to stop the silent annexation of Eastern Congo. The International Court of Justice has already weighed in on this matter when it ruled in 2005 that Congo is entitled to $10 billion in reparations due to Uganda’s looting of Congo’s natural resources and the commission of human rights abuses in the Congo. It would have in all likelihood ruled in the same fashion against Rwanda; however, Rwanda claimed to be outside the jurisdiction of the court.
The United States and Great Britain’s implication is becoming very clear. These two great powers consider Rwanda and Uganda their staunch allies and, some would argue, client states. These two countries have received millions of dollars of military aid, which, in turn, they use in Congo to cause destruction and death.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame is a former student at the U.S. military training base Fort Leavenworth and Yoweri Museveni’s son, Lt. Gen. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, graduated from the same U.S. military college in the summer of 2008. Both the United States and Great Britain should follow the lead of the Dutch and Swedish governments, which have suspended their financial support to Rwanda.
With U.S. and British taxpayers’ support, we now see an estimated 6 million people dead in Congo, hundreds of thousands of women systematically raped as an instrument of war and millions displaced.
A political solution will resolve the crisis, and part of that requires pressure on Rwanda in spite of Rwanda’s recent so-called “house arrest” of Laurent Nkunda. African institutions such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union are primed to be more engaged in the Congo issue. Considering Congo’s importance to Africa, it is remarkable that they have been so anemic in regard to the Congo crisis for so long.
Rwanda’s leader, Paul Kagame, cannot feel as secure or be as arrogant as he has been in the past. One of his top aides was arrested in Germany as a result of warrants issued by a French court and there is almost global consensus that pressure must be put on him to cease his support of the destabilization of the Congo and its resultant humanitarian catastrophe.
In addition to pressure on Kagame, the global community should support the following policies:
1. Initiate an international tribunal on the Congo.
2. Work with the Congolese to implement a national reconciliation process; this could be a part of the international tribunal.
3. Work with the Congolese to assure that those who have committed war crimes or crimes against humanity are brought to justice.
4. Hold accountable corporations that are benefiting from the suffering and deaths in the Congo.
5. Make the resolution of the Congo crisis a top international priority.
Living is a right, not a privilege, and Congolese deaths must be honored by due process of the law. As the implication of the many parties in this conflict becomes clear, we should start firmly acknowledging that the conflict is a resource war waged by U.S. and British allies.
We call upon people of good will once again to advocate for the Congolese by following the prescriptions we have been outlining to end the conflict and start the new path to peace, harmony and an end to the exploitation of Congo’s wealth and devastation of its peoples.
Kambale Musavuli is spokesperson and student coordinator for Friends of the Congo.
He can be reached at Kambale@friendsofthecongo.org.
Copyright © 1998-2007 Online Journal
The Asylum of Extreme Exclusion: How Rwanda Manufactures And Exports Genocide
By Keith Harmon Snow
An investigation has uncovered an asylum system scandal where bogus Rwandan “refugees” infiltrate the U.S. and U.K. and work as undercover agents to hunt down critics of the Rwandan dictatorship and legitimate refugees and drag them back to Rwanda.
This is yet the latest revelation on how the dictatorship in Rwanda manufactures and exports terrorism using an ideology of genocide and how the West supports terrorism by backing its Rwanda proxy.
Meanwhile, business in Rwanda is booming and the criminal networks of the Kagame military machine continue to plunder the blooddrenched Congo.
Click here for more detail
DRC: Pepe Kale's response to the article "A turn for the better in Congo?"
By Pepe Kale
The following is a comment written by Pepe Kale to the article A turn for the better in Congo? published in The Independent on Wednesday February 25, 2009.
The arguments in this article are very weak. The article starts by mentioning how artificial the borders are in Congo. This is the case in most if not all of African countries. This is therefore a non-argument. I invite the author to survey 99% of the people in the Kivu area and they will tell you without hesitation that "we are Congolese FIRST and FOREMOST." I am one of those 99%.
The article also fails to mention the fact that we, the general Congolese population, have REJECTED Rwanda's participation in the latest joint military operation. We have demanded their return to Rwanda as soon as possible. In addition, this whole operation has been carried out by the war criminal Paul Kagame and his proxy war criminals Bosco Ntaganda and the CNDP soldiers who are terrorizing the Congolese population.
The author of this article seems out of touch with the situation on the ground. The population in Kivu HATES Nkunda, the CNDP, and their sponsors from Rwanda: Paul Kagame and James Kabarebe. These war criminals have traumatized innocent populations, raped, killed, amputated, sodomized, and abducted children into their armies. We do not want these terrorists in the Kivu territory. When they come in we flee away. Has the author noticed the number of displaced people in the Kivu provinces? The fact that the Congolese parliament overwhelmingly rejected this joint military operation speaks for itself.
I myself have lost many family members to the CNDP and their Rwandan allies. Thousands of other Congolese have lost many family members too. Recently, an aunt of mine and her family members were shipped to Rwanda as part of this operation. The operation was a big sham. How can they ship a Congolese family to Rwanda and then claim that they are repatriating Rwandan rebels. This is ridiculous and I hope the author will go out and search for the truth instead of going out of his way to praise Kagame and the operation that flopped. Also, mark my words but this military operation is the end of president KABILA.
One more thing I would like to mention is that most of the representatives of the Congolese civil society, the clergy, and the Congolese PARLIAMENT have rejected this operation. There will be no lasting peace unless the Rwandan troops leave Congo and let the Congolese people manage Congo for their own people. We all say enough is enough on the looting of the Congo’s resources in the guise of chasing the FDLR rebels. Now that as the author claims the operation against the FDLR was a 'SUCCESS', please let the Rwandans leave our territory for good. No more looting of our resources.
Related Materials:
Rwanda, the key to peace in Democratic Republic of Congo
DRC: Failure or Victory, the FDLR rebels keep disappearing in the wild
North Kivu: The Rwandan troops are pulling out
North Kivu: The Rwandan troops are pulling out
By Marie-France Cros
February 25, 2009
Also available in French:
Lalibre.be - Nord-Kivu : les Rwandais se retirent
An official ceremony on Wednesday February 25, 2009 marked the withdrawal of the Rwandan troops from eastern DRC. The official mission of this joint military operation which was to forcibly disarm the FDLR is far from being fulfilled even though Kinshasa and Kigali seem to be satisfied with some gains. But many doubts still reign over the sustainability of these so-called “gains”.
Analysis
On Wednesday February 25, 2009, according to Congolese authorities, an official ceremony was held to mark the end of the joint military operation Rwandan-Congolese in North Kivu, and therefore the withdrawal of the Rwandan troops from the Congolese territory.
Only one-tenth of the initial goal was fulfilled
Initially, the goal was to forcibly disarm and repatriate the FDLR combatants (Rwandan Hutu rebels) who have been operating in eastern Congo for a decade. The FDLR rebels primarily terrorize local populations but may in the long term pose a serious threat to the Rwandan regime if the situation was to deteriorate.
While the number of the FDLR rebels is estimated at 6,500 fighters, the joint military operation has managed to disarm 375 and repatriate them to Rwanda, along with approximately 600 members of their families. Some other 2,000 Rwandans living in Congo (legally or not) also decided to be repatriated by the UN.
In addition to this so-called "success", it is estimated that between 100 and 200 FDLR rebels have been killed during the operation. In total, 500 to 600 FDLR fighters have been neutralized, i.e. less than one tenth of the FDLR rebels total number. The 6,000 remaining FDLR combatants have temporarily disappeared in the jungle, until the storm passes. Owing to the Congolese public opinion - which cannot stand the fact that the Rwandan soldiers, the strenuous enemies of the past, were allowed to legally enter in Congo - Kinshasa was forced to limit to five weeks the duration of the operation. This duration was deemed too short by the Rwandan parliament.
Another "success" of the operation is the disruption of the FDLR rebels in North Kivu. Many of their abandoned camps were destroyed during the joint military operation. It is believed that the FDLR rebels may soon rebuild these camps once the danger has passed. But at what cost to the local populations?
In addition, the Congolese army, thanks to the joint military operation, was restored in several Congolese localities that were previously considered as the FDLR strong holds.
Will the Congolese army be able to keep strong hold on these localities? One should recall that last fall the offensive against the CNDP rebels of Nkunda has led to the defeat of the Congolese army, hence its weakness.
A failure with some gains
One can therefore conclude that the joint operation has failed. But with a closer look into the operation, both Kinshasa and Kigali have some reasons to be satisfied with it.
For instance, Kinshasa is free of Laurent Nkunda, who was arrested in Rwanda after being caught in a trap. Kinshasa still awaits Nkunda’s extradition to DRC but the process is so slow and the two capitals have many reasons to enjoy the status quo. Mostly Kigali because the idea of delivering Nkunda to Kinshasa is very badly perceived in the ranks of the Rwandan army. Indeed, Nkunda helped the RPF to take power in Rwanda in 1993-1994. But also Kinshasa because a Nkunda’s trial in Congo could be very destabilizing: how can one explain that Nkunda should be prosecuted for the Kisangani massacres committed in May 2002 and not his boss at that time, General Gabriel Amisi, the current commander of the Congolese Army in Kinshasa?
Most importantly, thanks to the joint military operation that helped Rwanda to demonstrate to the international community that Kigali was not an accomplice of Nkunda. In late 2008, the publication of an expert report of the UN has prompted the suspension of part of the aid from the Netherlands and Sweden to the current regime in Kigali. Both Rwanda and DRC depend on foreign aid for half their budget.
The epitome of the irony is that due to Kigali’s pressure a new leadership was installed to replace Nkunda as the head of the CNDP. This movement is now led by Desire Kamanzi who is negotiating the integration of his men into the Congolese army. Major problems still remain though: Up to date, only half of the CNDP rebels are prone to integration. Obviously, the peace process in the region remains unpredictable. Time will tell.
Source:
Lalibre.be
Related materials:
Congo, Rwanda Call Joint Offensive a Success - washingtonpost.com
Note:
On Tuesday February 24, 2009 negotiations began in Nairobi, under the UN mediation, with regard to an accord that might have recently been reached by the Kinshasa and the new direction of the CNDP – whose influence on the CNDP rebels remains unknown- disrupted by the latest dissidence of his military commander, Bosco Ntaganda in late 2008 and the arrest of its leader, Laurent Nkunda in early 2009. It is believed that the text is more likely calling for the integration of the CNDP rebels into the Congolese army and the creation of multiple “buffer” zones. This integration has already begun but the CNDP leadership has only provided half of its troops. In addition, confusion still reigns as to whether this accord also applies to other armed groups in eastern DRC i.e. Mai Mai and Pareco. The later are partly component of the FDLR.
Prof Leopold Munyakazi deserves your full support
Below is a letter that was written by Keith Harmon Snow on behalf of Munyakazi the Rwandan Professor of French at Goucher College, who was dismissed for allegations of having taken part in the Rwandan Genocide of 1994.
Have you already sent yours? It is not too late and It is so easy. Using the following template please send your Open Letter to Goucher College on the Suspension of Munyakazi today.
As a friendly reminder, please be advised that "He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it." Martin Luther King Jr.
-----
Dear President Sanford K. Ungar:
I am very concerned about the situation of Leopold Munyakazi, the Rwandan Professor from Goucher College who has been unjustly and maliciously targeted by the Rwandan government of Paul Kagame and the US government (http://blackstarnews.com/?c=135&a=5421) .
I have never met Dr. Munyakazi, but hope one day to do so. On that day I will express to Prof. Munyakazi my sincerest apologies about the unfair treatement he has received in the USA.
For the past 15 years, I have worked as an independent war correspondent, photographer and human rights investigator focused primarily on understanding and delineating the truth around events in Central Africa, with a particular interest in Rwanda and Congo. A former human rights and genocide researcher with Survivor's Rights International and Genocide Watch, I have also worked as a field consultant and researcher on genocide for the United Nations. I am also the 2009 Regent's Lecturer in Law & Society at the University of California Santa Barbara Regent's Lectureship program, and if you explore the reasons for my selection you will find that I was recognized for my work, outside academia, in challenging establishment narratives on genocide and war crimes. I am also a practitioner of non-violent peace activism
(https://artsandlectures.sa.ucsb.edu/Details.aspx?PerfNum=1386 ). I am not affiliated with any organization, political party, faction or otherwise.
My work on exposing war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Central Africa has brought the wrath of the Kagame government down on me, and I am, effectively, at present persona non grata in Rwanda. I have also been threatened by lawyers representing individuals and multinational corporations involved in plundering Central Africa. My crime is to be telling the truth, and this appears to be the sole crime committed by Prof. Munyakazi.
The top officials of the Rwandan Government of Paul Kagame have been indicted in two international courts, and if you were to read the confidential dossier produced by the Spanish lawyers at the International Forum for Peace and Justice in the Great Lakes of Africa you would understand why. Traveling across Congo between 2004 and 2007 I collected testimony after testimony documenting the role of the Kagame military in Rwanda (1990-1994, 1994-2000) and Congo (1996-2007). The Kagame government is responsible for egregious acts of mass murder, war crimes, crimes against humanity and a well-orchestrated genocide against Hutu people. The evidence is overwhelming, but often well hidden.
While the International Tribunal on Rwanda has doled out victor's justice, the ICTR on Dec 8, 2008 dismissed all charges of CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT GENOCIDE in the long running MILITARY I trial (against top Hutu officials who were unfairly accused of being the "masterminds of genocide" in Rwanda). It appears more and more obvious that the only conspiracies have involved the Rwandan Patriotic Front/Army and its contemporary manifestation, the Rwandan Defense Forces, and always under the direction of Paul Kagame, James Kabarebe, and the other 38 military officials with indictments against them.
The Kagame government at present is reported to have dispatched over 300 agents around the world to target and criminalize innocent people who assume any position, no matter how mildly critical, against the Kagame government. The situation in Rwanda is equally grim for anyone who might step out of line in the mildest way there. Of course, these realities are subsumed by a climate of absolute terror that remains invisible to the ordinary visitor (tourist, aid worker, etc.) unless they step out of line. Please read my detailed account of how the Kagame "genocide" machine operates in England (I have pasted this story in below for your convenience); you will note similarity between what happened to one innocent Rwandan Doctor in London and the way in which events have unfolded in the case of Professor Munyakazi in the USA.
Not only has the Kagame military machine shattered millions of lives in Rwanda. With over ten million people dead since 1996, and over 1500 people dying daily in eastern Congo alone, the Rwandan government's role in Congo is absolutely unconscionable.
I welcome the opportunity to discuss these issues further with you. I would be happy to visit Goucher and share my recent UCSB Regent's Lecture (of January 27, 2009) on the Political Economy of Genocide -- an illustrated multimedia presentation which explores and elaborates the massive deception around the "Rwanda genocide" and the plunder and depopulation of Central Africa -- with you, your faculty, and your students.
I have copied this communication to the entire Peace Studies Department, and to select other individuals (based on the ease of access to their email addresses) at Goucher College in the interest that people speak up to protect an innocent man from wrongful accusation, character assassination, and persecution by a government wanted for war crimes, and I hope that people at Goucher will take action to understand the realities of this politically motivated targeting by Rwanda, and thus support and protect Professor Leopold Munyakazi.
However, I humbly beg you all to deepen your support for Prof. Munyakazi and resolve to do everything in your power to protect him from extradition, or prison or worse. One day soon the truth about the Kagame regime will be known and understood for what it is: terrorism.
"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protsting against it is really cooperating with it." Martin Luther King Jr.
Blessings,
keith harmon snow
THE ASYLUM OF EXTREME EXCLUSION, HOW RWANDA MANUFACTURES AND EXPORTS GENOCIDE
By keith harmon snow
An investigation has uncovered an asylum system scandal where bogus Rwandan “refugees” infiltrate the U.S. and U.K. and work as undercover agents to hunt down critics of the Rwandan dictatorship and legitimate refugees and drag them back to Rwanda.
This is yet the latest revelation on how the dictatorship in Rwanda manufactures and exports terrorism using an ideology of genocide and how the West supports terrorism by backing its Rwanda proxy.
Meanwhile, business in Rwanda is booming and the criminal networks of the Kagame military machine continue to plunder the blooddrenched Congo. Click here for more detail
Rwanda: 2008 Human Rights Report by the US Department of State
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
February 25, 2009
Link to the report in full:
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/af/119019.htm
Source:
US Department of State
Rwandan Military Court Aquits Two Officers and Sentences Two Others
Kigali, 24 October 2008 (FH) - The Military Court of Kigali Friday acquitted two senior Rwandan army officers but convicted two other juniors for their roles in the murder in June 1994 in Kabgayi, central Rwanda, of 13 officials of the Catholic Church, including three Bishops, reports Hirondelle Agency.
The acquitted are General Wilson Gumisiriza and Major Wilson Ukwishaka, who rejected throughout the proceedings their involvement in the killings of the priests, including three bishops. Those convicted for eight years are Captains John Butera and Dieudonne Rukeba, who both had pleaded guilty to the crimes from the beginning of the trial on 19 August.
On 24 September, Military Prosecutor, Captain Kayijuka Ngabo, had requested life imprisonment for General Gumisiriza and Major Ukwishaka and 15 years each for Captains Butera and Rukeba.
In his ruling, The Tribunal's President, Steven Karyango, said Gumisiriza and Ukwishaka did not have information that the murders were about to be committed and thus could not prevent them. The two Captains, he said, were given reduced sentences because of their guilty pleas and that the crime was not premeditated.
After the ruling, Gumisiriza and Ukwishaka walked away freely with their family friends and relatives whereas the other two officers were whisked away to the prison.
According to Rwandan law, the Prosecutor has 30 days to appeal against the decision.
The four officers were arrested on 11 June, after, according to the Rwandan army, following joint investigations by Rwandan General Prosecutor and Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
The ICTR Prosecutor, Hassan Jallow, clarified the day after the officers' arrest, that Rwandan justice could be dispossessed of the case if the trial would not meet international standards on the matter. Efforts to get comments from the Prosecution proved futile Friday.
All four defendants were at the time of the facts that form the case, members of the armed wing of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), former rebellion, currently in power in Rwanda.
Among murdered clergymen, almost all Hutus were the Archbishop of Kigali, Vincent Nsengiyumva, the Bishop of Byumba (northern Rwanda) Joseph Ruzindana, and the Bishop of Kabgayi, Thaddee Nsengiyumva, then President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Rwanda.
Archbishop Nsengiyumva, a former member of the "central committee" at the time of the single party, was a family friend of President Juvenal Habyarimana, whose assassination on 6 April 1994 sparked the genocide in which were killed, according to the UN, nearly 800 000 people, mainly ethnic Tutsis.
© Hirondelle News Agency
Rwanda: RPF government plans to block UDF-Inkingi’s participation to the 2010 presidential race
By UDF-Inkingi Information Desk
February 19, 2009
So far, elections in Rwanda remind us those held in South Africa during the apartheid regime. Are things going to change in 2010?
According to sources in Rwanda which asked not to be named for fear of harassment by security organs, the RPF leadership is considering options aimed at blocking UDF-Inkingi participation to 2010 presidential race.
The source adds that one of the options in consideration might be an amendment to the Constitution that could tighten the requirements a candidate has to comply with to compete for the top executive job in the country.
The Article 99 of the Rwandan Constitution stipulates that a candidate for the office of the Presidency of the Republic shall:
(1) be of Rwandan nationality by origin,
(2) not hold any other nationality,
(3) have at least one parent of the Rwandan nationality by origin,
(4) have irreproachable morals and probity,
(5) not have been convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of six months or more,
(6) not have been deprived of his or her civil and political rights,
(7) be at least thirty five (35) years old on the date of submission of his or her candidacy and
(8) be resident in Rwanda at the time of submission of his or her candidacy.
Our source reports that the RPF leadership is most likely considering imposing a period of at least two years of effective residence in Rwanda before the commencement date of the race.
UDF-Inkingi Policy Council announced last September 2008 that UDF-Inkingi will take part in the presidential election come 2010 and present a candidate alone or along with other political organizations. UDF-Inkingi was launched in Brussels in 2006 and most of its leaders still live in Western Europe.
If such an amendment is effectively introduced in the Constitution, it would bar them from participating in the forthcoming elections, a path that could leave them with no other option to implement their political program peacefully. In the recent past, hopeful candidates have been blocked from participating in presidential elections.
In 2002, former first post-genocide Rwanda’s President of the Republic Pasteur Bizimungu was sentenced to a 15 year jail term for having fallen out with the RPF and tried to launch an independent political party that could have most likely made him its flag-bearer in the last presidential election held in 2003, a trial and sentence that all independent observers described as meant to silence him and barring him from running for the top official job in Rwanda. He can’t stand for the coming election as well for that reason, since the Constitution doesn’t make any difference between common offences and political offences.
Last year, former hopeful candidate Dr Théoneste NIYITEGEKA was sentenced to a 30 year term by a Gacaca Court in Muhanga District, on concocted genocide charges in a trial that all independent civil society organizations described as politically motivated.
Ruling party RPF is an organization created by Rwandan refugees in 1986 with a very narrow political base that seized power by military force in July 1994 in apocalyptic conditions, a political and military calculation that plunged the country and the whole Great Lakes region in chaos up to now. The former rebel movement resumed hostilities on April 6th, 1994 after the shooting down of the presidential jet carrying President Habyarimana of Rwanda and President Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi, a terrorist attack that triggered the Rwandan genocide and buried the Arusha peace agreement that was being painfully implemented since August 1993.
The Arusha Peace Agreement that had been agreed on by the warring parties organized a power sharing transitional government that was due to last 22 months, concluded by general elections. The RPF strategists were convinced that they had no reasonable chance of winning them and opted for a resumption of hostilities.
Sixteen years down the road, the now ruling RPF party has not yet overcome its structural weakness and still uses a range of judicial, political and militaristic tactics aimed at delaying any peaceful, free and fair elections in Rwanda and rather maintains the country under a façade of multiparty environment that serves as a cover to a one-party political system.
Note:
The United Democratic Forces (FDU-Inkingi) is a political framework whose goal is to install the rule of law in Rwanda, underpinned by the respect of democratic values enshrined in the universal declaration of human rights and other international instruments relating to democracy and good governance. It is made up of organisations and individuals who are determined to offer to the Rwandan people an alternative political system to the dictatorial system of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). The FDU have the conviction that the building of a State must be based on the respect of the dignity of the human person, his freedoms and rights, and on accountability.
Rwanda: Declaration on the shooting down of Habyarimana's aircraft on April 6, 1994
By Jean-Pierre Mugabe
The International Strategic Studies Association
PO Box 20407, Alexandria, Virginia 22320,
United States of America.
Telephone (703) 548-1070.
Facsimile (703) 684-7476.
E-mail : StratConf@aol.com
Website : http://www.strategicstudies.org/
The following is the authorized translation of the Declaration by ISSA adviser and consultant Jean-Pierre Mugabe.
Declaration on the Shooting Down of the Aircraft Carrying Rwandan President Juvénal Habyalimina and Burundi President Cyprien Ntaryamira on April 6, 1994
April 21, 2000
ADRESSED TO:
All Rwandans, UN, OAU, International Tribunal,
Countries: Tanzania, Ouganda, Burundi, Belgium, France, Holland, Germany, United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada.
Human Rights Organizations.
The Press and Media.
WITNESS:
Jean-Pierre MUGABE
-Former Director of the Rwandese newspaper, Le Tribun du Peuple.
-Former Intelligence Officer of the Department G2 of National Gendarmerie (Rwandan Patriotic Army).
-Graduate Expert Detective (Belgium).
-Currently Consultant and Research Fellow at International Strategic Studies Association (ISSA), Washington DC, USA.
THE PERPETRATORS OF THE PRESIDENTIAL AIRCRAFT CRASH
Major-General Paul KAGAME
Maj.-Gen. Paul Kagame is the son of Rutagambwa and Siteriya and comes from Gitisi and Nyamagana near Ruhango (GITARAMA). He studied primary school in Uganda and finished four years of Secondary school at Ntare school in Mbarara (Uganda). He became a Major in the Ugandan National Resistance Army with the function of Deputy Chief of the Ugandan Directorate of Military Intelligence.
He subsequently became Vice-President of Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) and Commander-in-Chief of the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA). He became Vice-President of the Republic of Rwanda and its Minister of Defense.
He is now nominated to be President of the Republic of Rwanda, and was scheduled to be confirmed in that office on April 22, 2000.
Colonel James KABAREBE
Colonel James Kabarebe was the private Secretary and aide-de-camp (ADC) of Major-General Paul Kagame [see above]. He became Commander of the High Command Unit at Mulindi. Later, this Unit became the Republican Guard under his leadership.
James Kabarebe was the Commander-in-Chief of the Congolese Army Forces (FAC) after Mzee Laurent Desiré Kabila took power in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 1997. Soon after, James took the control of forces determined to overthrow Mzee Kabila. He is now the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA).
Lieutenant-Colonel Charles KAYONGA
Lt.-Col. Charles Kayonga was chief in charge of the Operations Unit of High Commmand Unit at Mulindi ó at that time with the rank of lieutenant ó from December 1993 until July 1, 1994. From lieutenant, he was promoted directly to the rank of lieutentant-colonel and given the command of the RPA battalion sent to Kigali to what is now the National Assembly (then the NDC: National Development Council) after the signing of the Arusha Accords. Kayonga had under his command more than 3,200 RPA troops, wearing civilian clothes, who clandestinely entered into the city of Kigali.
PREPARING FOR CONFLICT WHILE NEGOTIATING PEACE
Both the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) and the Habyalimana Government were preparing for war while engaged in the Arusha Peace Process.
Preparations on the side of Habyalimana's Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR):
The Rwandan Government was heavily involved during 1993 in buying military equipment: arms and ammunition. This is shown by the funds of 2.5-billion Rwandese francs, paid to Dominique Lemaunier, a French businessman, who was supposed to deliver the equipment. It was Marc RUGENERA, by then Finance Minister, who signed the contract for the purchases on the Government side. The deal was followed up by Lt.- Col. Kayumba Cyprien of the FAR (Rwandan Armed Forces).
In March 1994, arms purchased in Egypt and sent to Kigali by a British aircraft were distributed to the Interahamwe militia of Pres. Habyalimana's political party, the MRND. These Interahamwe militia units were being trained militarily and receiving arms and ammunition specifically to undertake a genocidal assault against the nation's Tutsi population. They also planned a massacre of some political opposition leaders, including those who happened to be moderate Hutu. At the same time the Interahamwe were recruiting, with their numbers growing to 50,000. Army [FAR] Reservists, too, were given instructions to train the Interahamwe. All prefectures of Rwanda received funds from the Government, to distribute to the Interahamwe.
President Habyalimana in 1993, meanwhile, deliberately delayed the implementation of the Arusha Peace Accords, in order to allow more time for his Army units and militias to prepare for the coming mass destruction.
Radio Television of Mille Collines (RTLM) was strengthed in human and financial terms from the Akazu [clan, support base] of Habyalimana, specifically to propagate ethnic hatred against the Tutsi and to mobilize all Hutu extremists favoring the genocide against the Tutsi population.
Preparations on the side of Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) :
During and after the signing of the Arusha Peace Accords, the Rwandan Patriotic Front was preparing for the final battle. After the signature by both sides involved in the conflict, [then] Major [now Major-General] Paul Kagame started visiting all Unit Commands under the areas controlled by RPF. He met with us (Rwandan Patriotic Army soldiers) and assured us that we should not believe at all in Arusha Peace Accords.
"Be ready with your military equipment, we are going to fight for the final war against the Kigali Government," Major Paul Kagame told the RPF troops.
Thereafter, the military forces in different units received intensive training in Karama, a political-military center in Byumba prefecture. In addition, the nominally-civilian cadres of RPF also received some military and political training in Karama to support the RPA. When the RPF had sent its RPA battalion of 600 troops to Kigali under command of Lt.-Col. Charles Kayonga, other military units in civilian clothes also infiltrated the town of Kigali.
Every time that RPF trucks came to our headquater in Mulindi to load military supplies and firewood to be sent to the battalion in Kigali (at the CND, where the RPA battalion was based), arms and ammunition were also loaded, concealed among the supplies which were legitimately supposed to reach Kigali.
Heavy arms, including light artillery (such as mortars), were disassembled, before being loaded and later re-assembled upon arrival at the CND building.
The RPA officer in charge of that secret operation at Mulindi was Sub.-Lt. Moses of the High Command unit and Captain Charles Karamba of the DMI was based in CND building, orchestrating events from that end.
Captain Charles was the liaison officer between Mulindi and Kigali for that operation.
He was later appointed military attaché in Eritrea, where he has the particular mission of buying arms and military equipments for the RPF. A day before the genocide started, there were 4,000 RPA troops in Kigali. The RPF's high-ranking officers in Kigali under MINUAR [United Nations International Monitoring Unit in Rwanda] were there to survey the preparations of the then-Government Army.
RPF officials tried at their best to convince other opposition political parties to address the Rwandan crises by eliminating President Habyalimana. Pres. Habyalimana has been reported as the key person who brought disaster to the country and the person who delayed the implementation of the Arusha Peace Accord. There were, however, other factors. The main political parties, the MDR and PSD, were reluctant to support the RPF proposal in the belief that the RPF itself would not respect the Arusha Peace Accord.
Gatabazi Felicien, the incumbent Secretary-General of PSD (Partie Socialiste Democrat), was killed by RPF gunmen while entering his compound in Kigali in February 1994, because he had opposed the RPF plan. The killers used a known and standard RPF method called "standing up".
The RPF held a meeting between February and March 1994 at Mulindi with RPF-member businessmen, the sponsors of RPF's guerilla operations. Major-General Paul Kagame, closing that meeting , spoke about the Arusha Peace Accord, accusing Habyalimana of delaying its imprimantation. A businessman named Kalinda Sweet Bread (who subsequently fled Rwanda in 1998 after the RPA killed his child), speaking on behalf of other RPF members, declared that the Arusha Peace Accord delayed the RPF program and that this would cost a lot of money which they would not be capable of providing in the coming days. Major-General Kagame asked for solutions. Kalinda responded that the real solution was to re-attack the Rwandan Government. That proposal was well-received by other businessmen and Kagame did not oppose it.
THE COLLAPSE OF THE ARUSHA PEACE ACCORD WAS THE OPPORTUNITY FOR THE RPF TO SEIZE POWER
It was clear that if the Arusha Peace Accord was to be implemented then both the Habyalimina Administration and the RPF would face possibly insurmountable difficulties. The extent of the corruption by the incumbent Hutu Government of Pres. Habyalimana meant that, if the Accords were to be implemented, senior officials, including the President, would be open to charges of corruption and abuse of power, including the many political murders which they had undertaken. Maj.-Gen. Kagame, for his part, recognized that, because the Arusha Accords called for one-man, one-vote, the Tutsi minority ó which the RPF in large part represented ó could not win outright power at any stage. [It was well-known that elections would not favor the RPF because Hutu power cores of the MRND, MDR, CDR, PSD and PL parties were composed mostly of Hutu.] As a result, both leaders, for different reasons, knew that implementation of the Arusha Accords was not acceptable, despite public posturing to the contrary.
Generals Habyalimana and Kagame were known, therefore, to believe that the power sharing was weakening both sides. The Arusha Accords were becoming increasingly meaningless to both of them, but they were required, for domestic as well as international reasons, to continue paying lip-service to the process.
Maj.-Gen. Kagame at this stage was clearly committed, therefore, to continuing the guerilla war against the Habyalimana, up to and including the assassination of the President. It has become clear that, in this process, Maj.-Gen. Kagame was aware of the fact that killing Pres.
Habyalimana would initiate mass destruction and genocide. RPF officers, such as myself, were told in 1993 by the RPF leadership that intelligence reports indicated that President Habyalimana's Hutu followers would begin a campaign to kill all Tutsis in the event that Kagame attempted to sieze power. This intelligence was leaked to the exiled King of Rwanda, King Kigeli V, by his supporters within the RPF, and the King subsequently used the information to issue written warnings to the United States Government and the United Nations that a campaign of genocide was expected. These warnings are now a matter of public record.
It is understood that President Habyalimana confirmed these warnings in separate messages to the King.
As an intelligence officer, I knew that Maj.-Gen. Kagame was well-informed of the fact that Pres. Habyalimana's Presidential Guard and Interahamwe militia were trained and armed to eliminate Tutsi groups in case Paul Kagame attempted to take power. He knew very well that almost all Tutsi were registered on the list of those who had to be exterminated. Militia Interahamwe units were deployed throughout the country, waiting to kill all Tutsi inside Rwanda.
The RPF's clandestine broadcasting unit, Radio Muhabura, consistently and openly broadcast at the time details of the Interahamwe's plans for attacks on Tutsis.
The following examples demonstrate that extent of that situation:
Gatabazi Felicien, noted above, was assassinated by the RPF because he had refused to endorse the plan to kill Habyalimana. The RPF had been afraid that he might reveal the plans to Habyalimana who was a close associate in an arms business which weapons supplied to Palipehutu, a criminal-extremist Hutu group in Burundi, and through Mr Minani, who was at that time a Burundian Minister. The transit store of those arms was a company called Mimosa, a travel company located behind St. Andrews College at Nyamirambo, a suburb of Kigali. Mimosa belonged to Mbarushimana Antoine, a close friend to Gatabazi. Mbarushimana was subsequently killed by RPA at Nyanza (a sub-prefecture of Butare) after the genocide, in order to silence a witness of Gatabazi's death.
In response to the killing of Gatabazi, the PSD militants of Butare prefecture, ignoring the psychological operations of the RPF, killed Bucyana Martin, President of CDR (Coalition pour la defense de la Republique) in revenge, believing that their leader was killed by CDR or Habyalimana. The Interahamwe and CDR militia in turn reacted angrily and killed many Tutsi in revenge for the killing of Bucyana. This rapid and violent sequence of events made it clear to Kagame what would happen if he attempted to kill Habyalimana.
Another corroborating example was the death in 1993 of Katumba, one of the Interahamwe leaders, who was shot dead, presumably by the RPF, because the Interahamwe and CDR had killed so many Tutsi of Kigali. This wave of killings should have served as an alarm which could not have gone unnoticed.
Still, the plan of Kagame was to take power in Rwanda regardless of the lives of Tutsi and Hutu moderate which would be lost when the anticipated genocide began. Kagame's choice in 1994 of Pasteur Bizimungu, a Hutu, to be the figurehead President behind whom Kagame could operate secretly, was beneficial to him in helping to bring his plans to fruition without causing international alarm. This process ended for Kagame when Pres. Bizimungu resigned in March 2000, tired of being a show president while the real power was with the nominal Vice-President and Defense Minister, Paul Kagame.
MILITARY PERSONNEL OF RPA WERE TRAINED TO OPERATE SURFACE-TO-AIR MISSILES TO SHOOT DOWN THE PRESIDENTIAL AIRCRAFT
Following the signing of the Arusha Accord by the Habyalimina Government and the RPF in January 1994, a battalion of the RPA was sent to the Parliament, the CND, in Kigali. At the same time, other RPA units secretly infiltrated Kigali in civilian clothes. Concurrently, Maj.-Gen. Kagame sent to Uganda four of his military personnel to be trained in the operation of the Russian-built SA-7 Strela man-portable surface-to-air missile (SAM). This type of missile was already in service with the Ugandan Army.
Given that there was no air threat to the RPA at the time ó because the RPA units were in the center of the common capital city, Kigali, and because the Rwandan Armed Forces of Habyalimana had only a few armed helicopters ó it is clear that the purpose of the training was specifically to shoot down the presidential aircraft of Pres. Habyalimana at the earliest possible opportunity. After training in Uganda, all four RPA troops were returned to Mulindi, the General Headquarters (or High Command) of the RPA in Byumba Prefecture, where they were transferred to the Missile Unity [the term "Unity" normally applies to a three-battalion formation, but not in this case], which was in reality a small missile section commanded by Lieutenant Kayumba Joseph. Kayumba was later known to be living at Kanombe Barracks, in Kigali, and was later been promoted to the rank of Captain.
I was a witness of these events, living at Mulindi, and where Kayumba Joseph and his colleagues were friends of mine.
At the end of February 1994, considering the refusal of Habyalimana to implement the Arusha peace accord, Lt.-Col. Kayonga, then commander of the RPF's Battalion based in the CND, sent a message to Lieutenant Kayumba ordering him to send the four missile-trained military troops to the CND. After receiving that message, Lieutenant Kayumba had immediately sent them to CND without informing Lt.-Col. Kabarebe James, his Commanding Officer. Lt.-Col. Kabarebe imprisoned Lt. Kayumba because of that failure to inform him of the transfer of the four troops.
In March 1994, the RPA's High Command led by Kagame called on the RPF officials based in Kigali to return to Mulindi. Most of them left Kigali for Mulindi. Two weeks before the crash of the Presidential aircraft, Maj.-Gen. Kagame sent Lt.-Col. James Kabarebe to bring the SA-7 surface-to-air missiles to the CND detachment, and to give final instructions related to the new attack against the Rwandese Army forces [FAR] and brief the four soldiers designated to shoot down the aircraft of Habyalimana. Lt.-Col. Kabarebe spent more than one week in CND before returning to Mulindi.
Two RPF leaders, Colonels Kanyarengwe Alexis and Lizinde Theoneste, who had earlier served in the Habyalimana Government, gave information and instructions as to where the missiles should be placed. [Col. Lizinde Theoneste, who later defected, was subsequently assassinated in 1998 by RPF operatives in Nairobi, Kenya, in order to ensure the secrecy of the missile operation.]
The missile locations were at Masaka sector of the Kanombe commune, on the outskirts of Kigali, where aircraft make their final approach before landing.
Two weeks before the Habyalimana's aircraft crash, 12 artillery systems were brought from Uganda, and arrived at our headquaters in Mulindi. In the meantime, our High Command was busy organizing meetings and preparing for the final battle to take control of Kigali. Those who attended the meetings were: Colonels Ndungute, Sam Kaka, Kayumba Nyamwasa, Twahirwa Dodo, Gashumba, Muhire, Mugambage Frank, Ngoga, Bagire, Biseruka, Musitu, and Karemera. Among the lieutenant-colonels were James Kabarebe, Ibingira, Rwahama, Nyamurangwa, Karangwa, Kadhafi, Karera, Gahutu, and others.
THE AIRCRAFT CRASH AND THE BEGINNING OF THE GENOCIDE PREPARED IN ADVANCE BY HUTU POWER, AND HOW KAGAME'S PLANS BECAME THE CATALYST
Once the preparations to eliminate Pres. Habyalimana were completed, it was necessary to find a reason to force Pres. Habyalimana to travel by aircraft over the area where the missiles were deployed. Given that the missiles were deployed along the approach path to Kanombe Airport at Kigali, it was then only necessary to know the time of the return to Kigali by Pres. Habyalimana's aircraft.
As part of the planning, the leaders of the RPF had been lobbying in friendly countries so that these countries would convince Pres. Mwinyi of Tanzania to organize a regional summit about Burundi's problems, and about the implementation of the Arusha Peace Accords. The RPF insisted that military chiefs also be invited.
The summit was a trap for Habyalimana, giving Kagame a way to take power.
But as part of their prepared attack, Hutu extremists also took that opportunity to exterminate the Tutsi who had been listed days before. Kagame was aware that this would occur, as a response triggered by the death of Habyalimana. The RPF proposed that Rwandan and Burundian military chiefs be invited to the Arusha meeting. The aim of Kagame was that Major-General Nsabimana, the Army Chief of Staff, be killed with Habyalimana so that the leadership of FAR would be destroyed and non-existent. The FAR was already undermined by internal North-South regional dissent. Before the regional meeting was held and chaired by Tanzanian President Hassan Mwinyi, RPF president Alexis Kanyarengwe went to Tanzania and came back to Byumba. On his return, he met us at Rubaya in Byumba where we were in a meeting. He said: "Instead of continuing pushing from outside, it is better to go in and kill the enemy." That is what happened on April 6, 1994.
Before going to Dar-es-Salam Summit, Habyalimana went to see Zaïre [now Democratic Republic of Congo] President Mobutu Sese Seko to seek his participation so that he could support him against leaders of states favorable to RPF. He also asked Pres. Mobutu to provide him (Habyalimana) with intelligence support to check information on the RPF, and about the assassination attempt which the RPF was expected to commit against him. The information was provided by Ngbanda Honore, former security adviser to Pres. Mobutu. He participated to the meeting of the two heads-of-state. Ngbanda was the one who was going to help Habyalimana in analyzing and cross-checking the information related to death threats against Habyalimana. One day before the summit took place, Pres. Mobutu's advisers asked Pres. Mobutu not to go at the summit for security reasons.
RPF soldiers in the CND battalion, and those who had infiltrated in Kigali town before April 6, 1994, had finished war preparation. Other units were ready to attack. Colonel Lizinde Theoneste, RPF Member of Parliament, was an intelligence specialist. He was among RPF officials at the time staying in the CND building and collaborating in the RPF intelligence search about Habyalimana's army operations. Col. Lizinde, as noted above, is the one who recommended Masaka as the perfect site from where to shoot the presidential aircraft.
Col. Lizinde had a public notoriety, was very well known in many ways,and was a friend of mine. After the genocide, he told me many times that he was afraid to be killed one day because of the information he had about the aircraft crash. He told me that if he was killed it would be because of the secret he had about Habyalimana's assassination by Paul Kagame. Lizinde was also a private adviser of Kagame. I knew well about their friendship. Kagame promoted him to the rank of colonel and nominated him as an RPF member of Parliament.
In the end, Lizinde went into exile. Those who followed up his departure in exile, know that two officers have been asked to give explanations. These officers are Lt.-Col. Rwahama of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), who had instruction to watch Lizinde and prevent his escape. The other officer is Lt.-Col. James Kabarebe, a Republican Guard commander. The two have been sanctioned for their lack of vigilance, which helped Lizinde to escape. That is one of the reasons Rwahama has been put aside.
After the departure of Lizinde, the intelligence service sent to me intelligence officers who were, in fact, friends of mine, to check if I knew his escape plan. It is Lizinde who told me that the four soldiers involved in the missiles had left Mulindi for Kigali (CND: Parliament House) in the perspective of presidential aircraft attempt. The four soldiers had been received in CND by Major Rose Kabuye who was in charge of that. Lizinde told me that it was Col. Kabarebe who gave the latest instuctions to shoot Habyalimana's Falcon executive aircraft.
Before April 6, 1994, some RPF high-ranking officers withdrew their families from Kigali. Two weeks before that date, the Colonel James Kabarebe was the one who has been designated by Paul Kagame to convoy the missiles; James Kabarebe was also charged to communicate to those in CND the last instructions in regard to the war. He spent almost one week in CND before he came back to Mulindi.
Because Lizinde was aware of the plot to shoot down the presidential Falcon, on the morning of April 6, 1994, he asked some of his friends to leave Kigali before that night. He told them that it was not for the purpose of peace that James Kabarebe came to Kigali in CND. Colonel Lizinde personally went to bring his own family from Kigali but he did not find them and came immediately back to Mulindi.
The shooting down of the aircraft took place around 20.25 hrs local time. In the aircraft, were President Habyalimana, President Ntaryamira of Burundi, Major-General
Nsabimana, Chief of Rwandan Armed Forces [FAR], Ambassador Renzaho (a senior advisor to Habyalimina), Doctor Akingeneye (the president's personal doctor), and others. At the time of the shooting, I was watching the World Cup football with some of the RPF high-ranking officers, including Major-General Paul Kagame, Colonels Ndugute, Biseruka, and Twahirwa. Immediately after the aircraft crash, Colonel James Kabarebe came into the room where we were watching the football, and took Paul Kagame outside to discuss the matter in private. Soon after, Colonel James Kabarebe called upon Colonel Ndugute and other high-ranking officers for a meeting outside.
The High Command Unit immediately took the decision to attack Kigali that night. This Unit operated under the direct command of Paul Kagame and James Kabarebe. All other RPF Units prepared themselves and launched their attack.
CONCLUSION
The decision of Paul Kagame to shoot Pres. Habyalimana's aircraft was the catalyst of an unprecedent drama in the Rwandan history, and Major-General Paul Kagame took that decision with all awareness.
Kagame's ambition caused the extermination of all of our families: Tutsis, Hutus and Twas. We all lost. Kagame's take-over took away the lives of a large number of Tutsis and caused the unnecessary exodus of millions of Hutus, many of whom were innocent under the hands of the genocide ringleaders.
Some naïve Rwandans proclaimed Kagame as their savior, but time has demonstrated that it was he who caused our suffering and misfortunes. He has already put under protection some families who had given large amount of money in terms of war contribution, while our ordinary families were left to assaillants of the Interahamwe.
Can Kagame explain to Rwandan people why he sent Claude Dusaidi and Charles Muligande to New York and Washington to stop the UN military intervention which was supposed to be sent and protect the Rwandan people from the genocide? The reason behind avoiding that military intervention was to allow the RPF leadership the takeover of the Kigali Government and to show the world that they ó the RPF ó were the ones who stopped the genocide. We will all remember that the genocide occurred during three months, even though Kagame has said that he was capable of stopping it the first week after the aircraft crash.
Can Major-General Paul Kagame explain why he asked to MINUAR to leave Rwandan soil within hours while the UN was examining the possibility of increasing its troops in Rwanda in order to stop the genocide?
I decided to reveal the truth and only the all truth so that everyone knows what happened. These were the hidden truths and that is why Kagame sent assassins with diplomatic passports to the United States of America to look for me, because he knows that I know who did what.
You may see that some people I mentioned are no longer alive because they were killed by the Kagame's death squads. Now, the world should start to ask questions, how and why such and such person was eliminated outside and inside Rwanda in suspicious way. I ask the International Tribunal to prosecute Major-General Kagame and his clique. As a witness who saw and heard what I have written now, I am ready to prove that Major-General Paul Kagame is guilty of the aircraft crash crime. I will give other proof which I hold later, in order to not undermine the inquiry.
AN IMPORTANT NOTE
The genocidal Hutus who killed defenseless Tutsis and other revisionists and extremist groups should not use this testimony to deny the existence of the genocide against the Tutsis and think that Kagame's crime against the President Habyalimana entitled them to kill Tutsis. Those responsible for the genocide of 1994 must be prosecuted according to international and national law.
I ask all Rwandans to isolate Paul Kagame. I ask the International Justice community to accomplish its responsibility in that matter. Furthermore, Kagame must be prosecuted for the assassination of Kabera Assiel, the former presidential advisor; Seth Sendashonga, the former Interior minister; Theoneste Lizinde, a former high-ranking official; Felicien Gatabazi, a former political leader; other former high-profile figures in the leadership of the RPF, and others.
The International Community did not know that Kagame does not have the capability to unite the Rwandan people. The world community welcomed him and gave him support. It must know now, once and for all, that such a criminal, whoever is, will never be able to unite the Rwandan people.
Jean-Pierre Mugabe (signed)
Given by my hand, in Washington DC, this 21st Day of April, 2000
Related Materials:
Rwanda: Declaration on the shooting down of Habyarimana's aircraft on April 6, 1994 By Jean-Pierre Mugabe
Rwanda: The truth according to Congresswoman Cynthia Mc Kinney
By Cynthia Mc Kinney
The Following is an exclusive interview with former Congresswoman Cynthia Mc Kinney on October 4, 2007 with regard to the untold truth about the ongoing crisis in the Great Lakes Region of Africa.
Congresswoman Cynthia Mc Kinney revealed the most hidden, lies and conspiracy behind the Rwandan tragedy of 1994.
Please take 9 minutes and 45 seconds to listen to this important interview and watch the images of this video.
It is anticipated that this video will make you understand the true colors of President Kagame.
Here is the link:
Rwanda. The truth according to Congresswoman Cynthia Mc Kinney
About Ms Cynthia A. McKinney:
Cynthia Ann McKinney was born in Atlanta, Georgia on March 17, 1955. She went to the University of Southern California, where she earned a B.A. in International Relations, and then got her Masters in Law from the Fletcher School of Law.
She worked as an educator until running for the Georgia State Assembly in 1988. She ran for Congress in 1992 and won.
During her first five terms in Congress, she served on the Armed Services and International Relations committees.
She became well known in the progressive political community as a champion for topics that received little mainstream media attention, from the selling of depleted uranium to what she saw as the threat that electronic voting machines from Diebold posed to American democracy.
She is divorced and currently lives in Lithonia, Georgia.
On August 20, 2002, McKinney lost the Georgia Democratic Primary to Denise Majette. She had been the subject of considerable controversy in the previous months especially for her work in organizing an inquiry into the events of 11 September (particularly what the American Government knew before the attacks) and her Pro-Palestinian views.
She gained attention regarding the later after a letter she wrote to a Jordanian prince was leaked, which said she agreed that American foreign policy caused 11 September, and then asked him for a campaign contribution. Pro-Israeli government lobbies heavily supported Majette.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported after the election that thousands of Republicans voted in the Democratic primary to oust her, leading to an increase of nearly 22% in the amount of ballots cast.
McKinney returned to Congress in 2004 after Majette decided to run for Senate, replacing outgoing Senator Zell Miller's seat.
One of her first acts in the House was to vote against the allotment of Ohio's electoral votes in the November 2004 U.S. Presidential Election.
She was similarly very active after Hurricane Katrina in voicing opposition to the Bush Administrations' handling of the disaster.
Her most infamous moment in Congress, and one which arguably led to her November 2006 defeat, was an altercation with a Capital Hill security guard on 29 March 2006.
While members of Congress are usually permitted to bypass metal detectors, McKinney was not wearing the lapel pin signifying she had such a privilege.
A security guard ran after her, demanding that she return to the security queue, but McKinney refused and responded to the guard by punching him in the chest with a closed fist.
This incident garnered quite a bit of commentary from media pundits and those within Congress, with accusations of racism towards McKinney and overly-aggressive behaviour towards the guard being made.
Several representatitves, including Chuck Schumer, Senator from New York, came forward to say that they rarely wore the lapel pin, as the guards usually recognised him, leading some to suspect that McKinney's case was one of mistaken identity due to a recent change in hairstyle from her famous braided hair.
In October 2007, McKinney officially filed papers with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to form an exploratory committee to run for President as a candidate of the Green Party.
This move came after widespread speculation of her political future, especially after her 2006 Congressional defeat.
Finland not to extradite genocide suspect to Rwanda
By DPA
Fri, 20 Feb 2009
Helsinki - Finland said Friday it would not extradite a Rwandan man to the Central African nation where he is suspected of genocide among other crimes. Rwanda applied for the extradition in April 2008, a year after the man was remanded in custody in Finland on suspicion of crimes against humanity during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
The Finnish Justice Ministry said its decision was based on decisions last year by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda not to refer three pending cases to Rwandan courts, citing that the Tanzania-based tribunal "was not satisfied that the defendants would receive a fair trial in Rwanda."
The ministry statement said Germany and France have also turned down extradition requests on similar grounds.
The man, who was not identified by the ministry, may still face legal proceedings in Finland.
Finnish media identified him as Francois Bazaramba, and said he was a pastor in the Rwandan Baptist Church who allegedly had incited attacks on Tutsis in Nyakizu, southern Rwanda.
The 1994 Rwanda genocide is estimated to have claimed the lives of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
Source:
The Earth Times
Viewpoint: Goucher unfair to accused professor
By Alexander E. Hooke
February 17, 2009
"You preachers of equality: Your most secret ambitions to be tyrants thus shroud themselves in words of virtue."- Nietzsche.
Are violations of rights relevant only in distant lands? Does the conviction that everyone is equal before the law become a fiction when possible injustice occurs in our own backyard?
This seems to be the case in light of a recent announcement that Goucher College removed a professor from his teaching duties. Leopold Munyakazi, a French teacher, has been accused of participating in genocide in his native Rwanda in 1994. While his claims of innocence are predictable, the assertions and responses surrounding his removal are remarkably surprising.
Goucher President Sanford Ungar publicly acknowledged that he lacked any evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt anything that "would either convict or exonerate Dr. Munyakazi." So far, there are only rumors floating on the Internet and indictments threatened by the corrupt Rwandan government. Both of these sources are notoriously unreliable for establishing any coherent legal charges, especially over something as horrible as genocide.
Unabashed by the fact that lawyers, judges and juries - not college presidents - determine guilt or innocence before the law, Mr. Ungar defended his actions with the current "words of virtue." Paramount was not justice before the law but the "best interests" of the Goucher community.
This action is not without precedent, of course. To take a much more dramatic example: Under the Bush administration, hundreds of men were held in Guantanamo Bay prison as suspected terrorists. It is now common knowledge that they were denied the basic rights every American would expect. Supposedly liberal academicians across the country's college campuses pilloried the Bush administration as an international embarrassment for punishing these suspects without any trial. Yet, when one of their colleagues is suspended without any concrete evidence, the public hears a veritable conspiracy of silence.
In any event, the punishment of Dr. Munyakazi has another precedent. It appears whenever people become angry or frustrated with conventional law enforcement. This is found in vigilantism and lynching. Vigilantes are impatient. They sense that someone is getting away with a crime and that only they can apprehend or punish the miscreant.
There is a chance that Mr. Munyakazi did commit a horrible deed. Maybe a prisoner in Guantanamo Bay participated in an act of terrorism. But these possibilities are to be determined after the facts are provided, not before. Hence, our legal presumption of innocent until proven guilty.
To circumvent the conventions of modern law, too many preachers of equality are not really worried about justice. Whether they are lackeys of the Bush administration or professional academics, they yearn for the power of a tyrant, shrouded with the words of virtue.
Note:
Alexander E. Hooke is a professor of philosophy at Stevenson University, Maryland. His e-mail is ahooke@stevenson.edu.
Source:
Baltimoresun.com
Related materials:
Open letter to Sanford J. "Sandy" Ungar, President of Goucher College with regard to Dr Leopold Munyakazi's case
On Trail of War Criminals, NBC News Is Criticized
To Catch a War Criminal? Why is NBC being so cagey about its new series?
Dr. Leopold Munyakazi's arrest a disgrace
USA: A Rwandan Professor Removed From Teaching
DRC:The Alleged FDLR Abuses Are False, MONUC Has Been Challenged to Provide Evidence
By Callixte Mbarushimana
February 20, 2009
Paris
(Press release)
The information spread by agents of Kigali who have infiltrated the UN on the alleged FDLR abuses in DRC is false.
The Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR) inform the public, the media and the International Community that the information published by the UN Mission in DRC (MONUC) and relayed by Ms. Michèle Montas, the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General in her briefing of February 18, 2009 and by some news agencies that the combatants Abacunguzi were surrounded by the coalition of the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) and the Armed Forces of DRC (FARDC) is totally false.
The FDLR invite all those who want to know the truth about the balance of this war to check in hospitals of Goma and Gisenyi the number of military injuries and deaths in the morgues. Then they will understand whom of the FDLR or the armed coalition RPA /FARDC is encountering insurmountable difficulties in this unnecessary, senseless and unjust war.
The FDLR encourage the RPA/FARD coalition and MONUC to stop publishing lies in the media about the so-called members of the FDLR killed in this war or voluntarily repatriated to Rwanda. The truth will soon or later burst into the open.
The FDLR are convinced that any loss of lives in this war is unnecessary and should be avoided at all costs and call upon members of the FARDC and the RPA to refuse to go to die in a useless, unjust and senseless war, without issue and whose interests go far beyond their understanding.
The information from MONUC that the brave fighters Abacunguzi have engaged in looting, abductions, rape and murder are completely false and unfounded, and are only intended to tarnish the image of the FDLR and their leadership.
Rather, it is the military coalition formed by the RPA and the FARDC supported by elements of MONUC who are committing war crimes and crimes against humanity including robbery, rape, destruction of property, forced displacements of civilians, the use of people as human shields, harassment of people, and trampling on the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law against both the Rwandan Hutu refugees in DRC and the indigenous Congolese people accused of sympathizing with the FDLR.
Is the hunt down of Rwandan Hutu refugees in DRC, their deportation in Rwanda in a nazi style not a crime against humanity? Is the current use of prisoners of war in the campaigns against the FDLR on the airwaves of Radio Rwanda, different Congolese radios, and even on Radio Okapi not a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law?
It is surprising to note that when charges increase to stigmatize the failure of MONUC to protect civilians of the DRC from armed attacks by the promoters of the Rwandan and Congolese genocide i.e. the RPA, officials of MONUC fire from everywhere. The charges coincide with the denunciations by Rwandan refugees, the Congolese people of all provinces and a majority of Congolese members of parliament, of the suspicious and lethal role consisting of using UN forces in the DRC as backup forces to the armed coalition by some officials of MONUC.
The FDLR challenge MONUC and other organizations that question the conduct of the FDLR to provide evidence to support their allegations.
Specifically, the FDLR declare that the so-called massacre of 100 people in Pinga allegedly committed by the FDLR as MONUC said never happened. Similarly, the famous alleged massacres of Kashebere and Remeka or in South Kivu which were echoed by several media never took place.
The FDLR inform the public and the media that the Rwandan Patriotic Army, in collaboration with the elements of PARECO, has committed massacres in Katoyi, Masisi territory, in January 2009, and that massacre should not be falsely attributed to the FDLR. The FDLR invite once again the UN Security Council to establish immediately an independent international commission of inquiry in charge of shedding light on the serious violations of human rights taking place in the Kivu, to identify their perpetrators and bring them to book.
The FDLR remain convinced that MONUC should move away from the cynical pre-emptive war undertaken by the Congolese authorities allied to those of Rwanda and stop all attacks while trying to attract the support of international opinion by a series of lies.
The Kigali officials and their sponsors infiltrated in MONUC currently resorting to disinformation and deceit forgetting that facts are stubborn and that the adventure undertaken by the gravediggers of the people of the Great Lakes Region of Africa cannot defeat peoples led by the spirit of justice and self-determination to regain their rights, must understand that the truth will always prevail over falsehood and good over evil, and that if they do not want to respond one day of their crimes before justice, they would do better to engage fully, faithfully and impartially in their mission.
The FDLR urge their brave freedom fighters "Abacunguzi" to remain united and determined to ensure the protection of civilian populations and continue to demonstrate their discipline in order to face the challenges imposed by the enemy.
The FDLR remain convinced that the war imposed by the regimes in Kigali and Kinshasa does not solve the political problem of Rwanda and call again upon any peace-loving people to support an inter-Rwandan dialogue for the final resolution of this political problem.
The FDLR remain committed to peace and remind Rwanda and the DRC that it is not yet late to stop the dirty ongoing war in the eastern DRC.
Note: Callixte Mbarushimana is Executive Secretary of the FDLR
DRC: Failure or Victory, the FDLR rebels keep disappearing in the wild
By Joachim Diana Gikupa
Also available in French:
To date, what was the FDLR territory is occupied by the Congolese army (FARDC). This is the case of localities of Katoyi, Ruzugu, Kibua in south of Masisi territory. The FDLR run away and disappear in the wild. In some places, they give up arms, ammunition and other military equipments. When we see the FDLR dissolving in the wild, we ask ourselves many questions. It seems like we were fighting against a shadow. The importance of FDLR seems to have been exaggerated. It's time to recognize that the FDLR have bitten hard and that their forces have drastically reduced. It was surprising that in the past after the FDLR dispersal in the wild and after the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of these strenuous combatants throughout the whole time that the Rwandan soldiers had occupied the eastern DRC, the FDLR resistance has remained intact.
The joint military operation for the disarmament of the FDLR continues. Against all odds, the fighting that we all expected did not occur. The firepower of the FDLR resembles to a real scarecrow. Up to date, what was the FDLR territory is occupied by the FARDC. This is the case for the localities of Katoyi, Kibua, Ruzugu in south of the Masisi territory. The FDLR rebels run away and disappear in the wild.
In some places, they give up arms, ammunition and other military equipemnts. Since last Wednesday, these villages once considered as important fiefs of Rwandan Hutu rebels are under control of the FARDC. In total, according to reports from FADRC, since the beginning of the operations, about ten villages went from the yoke of the FDLR to the control of the Congolese national army.
One can say that after the dismantling of the CNDP of Nkunda, the Rutshuru territory is now totally under the control of the legitimate authorities of the DRC. The same is true of the Masisi territory. Obviously, the joint military operation to disarm the FDLR is bearing some fruits if we just consider that the initial goal was to put an end to insecurity in eastern Congo. But will there be any security as long as we do not know what happened to FDLR combatants that are fading in the wild? For the Congolese people, it is understandable that they too prefer to leave their villages. Simply because they fear that upon the FARDC departure, the FDLR may show up from their hideouts to take revenge on the peaceful population. This is why the end of the operation will not mean the withdrawal of the troops. But will we be able to deploy troops that are well equipped enough to deal with the FDLR in the case they come back to prey on Congolese people? In my opinion, the success of this joint military operation will depend on the ability of the troops to stop the FDLR combatants from relocating and prospering. This implies that provisions must be taken so that the Masisi and Rutshuru territories become unbearable for the FDLR rebels. It is anticipated that in the forest, if any possibility of exploitation of minerals in order to acquire the means to continue the resistance is prohibited to the FDLR, these combatants who are taking refuge in the jungle may voluntarily decide to leave their hideouts and submit themselves to disarmament and repatriation.
A real scarecrow
When we assist to the FDLR dissolving in the wild we ask ourselves many questions. It seems like having to fight against a shadow. The importance of the FDLR in the region seems to have been exaggerated. Who might have done so and why? Unfortunately, everyone is to blame, starting with the international community. We all tirelessly talked about these "genocidaires" and alleged that by simply thinking about them the Kigali regime is forbidden a sleep. In attempt to get rid of them, the Kigali regime came up and implemented sinister plans that have been detrimental to the Congolese people. The Kigali regime invaded Congo twice and deployed troops in what is today considered as stronghold of the FDLR. However, it is important to mention that the Rwandan army has overwhelmingly failed to neutralize the FDLR rebels. It has been now a month that the Rwandan troops have returned in DRC this time in accord with the Kinshasa regime. It is strongly believed that the same causes of the past may produce the same effects. Simply put it this way: there is a concern that the harvest may not be plentiful. The importance of the FDLR has also been exaggerated by some politicians, mainly those whose origin is in Kivu provinces. On of the many intriguing questions is that most people do not understand how the FDLR combatants lived in Congolese villages, cohabiting with the Congolese people without any complaint to the Congolese authorities. It is from this observation that some political actors, including some officials in Kigali conceived the theory of collaboration between the FDLR and the Congolese officials. Even though the FDLR rebels live among the Congolese population, we are obliged to dislodge them by all the means in our possession.
In Congo, there also is a large Tutsi community which strongly insisted on the destructive capacity of the FDLR, another way designed to somehow pressure the Kigali regime to focus on their struggle which later translated into a legitimate quest aimed at protecting Rwanda from the FDLR imminent attacks. It is now clear why the Congolese rebels have always backed the Rwandan government agenda. This was indeed the case for the RCD-Goma and the CNDP. Without the FDLR presence in DRC, the Kigali regime would become less interested in eastern Congo and would not stir up criticisms from the international community. It is important to mention that in order to further their political agenda the FDLR leaders have also exaggerated the importance of the FDLR military wing in their rhetoric. Using modern technology of communication, these leaders gave the FDLR a military dimension they indeed do not have in reality. The FDLR leaders convinced some of their western sponsors that with the FDLR military wing they could bring about substantial political changes in the Great Lakes Region of Africa. This firepower would therefore make the FDLR leaders strong partners during an inter-Rwandan dialogue with the Kigali regime. Today it is clear that the FDLR military wing is not what we thought they were. It is important to recall that for several years, this movement has not been able to pose any concrete security threat to the current regime in Kigali. Can you believe it? Up to date, the FDLR have not fired any single bullet in Rwanda! We now all understand that the FDLR military wing is nothing else than a symbolic dissuasive force aimed at bringing the Kigali regime to the negotiation table.
Getting rid of the boogeyman
That does not mean that the ongoing joint military operation against the FDLR rebels would not have any impact in the region. Far from that, it was necessary that this operation be conducted to ensure that both countries, Rwanda and DRC, get rid of that boogey. It's time to recognize that the FDLR rebels have been hit hard and that they have been drastically reduced. However, it is surprising that after their dispersal in the wild and after the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of these combatants killed during the two Rwanda’s invasions of the eastern DRC that the FDLR capacity to harm has remained intact. We must all take action. It is therefore premature to celebrate such an apparent victory over the FDLR rebels even though it is quite clear that the FDLR military wing is in no way comparable to the LRA movement in Uganda.
Source:
Kongo Times
By Le Parmares
