Rwanda: Explaining Article 5 of FDU-Inkingi’s Constitutive Charter

Article 5 of FDU-Inkingi’s Constitutive Charter stipulates that: «Adherence to FDU-Inkingi is subject to prior acceptance of the following principles: Acceptance of the use of all legal means to fight against the military dictatorship in our country; Recognition and unequivocal condemnation of the Rwandan genocide committed by the two warring sides since 1990, Rejection of ethnicity, regionalism, tribalism and other forms of bigotry and rejection of impunity».

By invoking article 5 of FDU-Inkingi Constitutive Charter as one of the irrefutable evidences that FDU-Inkingi  promotes the double genocide theory, the Rwandan prosecution charged Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, FDU-Inkingi’s Chair who is in Kigali maximum security prison since October 2010, with THE CRIME OF MINIMIZING THE GENOCIDE COMMITTED AGAINST THE TUTSIS IN RWANDA IN 1994.

Below, please find some excerpts of THE PROSECUTOR’S CONCLUSIONS IN RESPONSE TO THE APPEAL OF THE DEFENDANTS during THE TRIAL OF VICTOIRE INGABIRE UMUHOZA et al. IN SUPREME COURT.

Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza claims that the FDU-Inkingi Constitutive Charter does not specify that there have been two genocides in Rwanda. The judge’s interpretation to this document is their own and has no link to what we believe within FDU-Inkingi.

Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza said that the judges failed to acknowledge that the charter is a document written with no details.

Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza claims that what is written in that charter is a summary and anyone who wants more information about the Charter should request that information or listen to FDU-Inkingi leaders during their town hall meetings.

Ms.Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza said that she can confirm that there was genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda and genocide against the Hutus in RDC/Congo committed by AFDL and Rwandan army starting in 1996.

Ms.Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza provided the court with two reports from United Nations about the killings of Hutus refugees. These two reports which are available in sections 398 and 399 in the court files show that there are evidences supporting the fact that there were killings of Hutus refugees in DRC committed by AFDL with the support of Rwandan army, the killings that can qualify as genocide. The UN reporters have specifically requested the creation of an ad hoc tribunal to prosecute all of the culprits.

In conclusion, Ms.Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza said that the use of the words Rwandan genocide in FDU-Inkingi Constitutive Charter was due to the language used in the Rwandan Constitution until 2008.

Hereafter, please find how the High Court of Kigali explained the Article 5 of FDU-Inkingi’s Constitutive Charter:

With regard to what is stressed in Article 5 in the document entitled “Constitutitive Charter of FDU-Inkingi”, where it shows the requirements for anybody to register as an FDU-Inkingi member, that he/she must adhere and express disapproval of the genocide against the people of Rwanda committed by the two belligerents since 1990, the court finds out that such a language states that there were two genocides in Rwanda because it mentions genocides committed by both sides in conflict since 1990, meaning the government and the RPF sides. It is clear that the two belligerents could not agree to commit one single genocide, therefore there were two genocides.

The court finds out that the language stating that the genocide against the Hutus in RDC/Congo does not appear anywhere in this article 5 of the Constitutional Charter of FDU-INKINGI. Instead, the Charter mentions two genocides as stated above without detailing when they started and where they occurred as Ms Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza tried to separate the two during the trial. In the court’s assessment, it appears that the people who adopted the Charter were talking about two genocides, one against the Tutsis, and the other one against the Hutus starting in 1990.

HE WHO HAS EARS OUGHT TO LISTEN!