Africa Great Lakes Democracy Watch



Welcome to
Africa Great Lakes Democracy Watch Blog. Our objective is to promote the institutions of democracy,social justice,Human Rights,Peace, Freedom of Expression, and Respect to humanity in Rwanda,Uganda,DR Congo, Burundi,Sudan, Tanzania, Kenya,Ethiopia, and Somalia. We strongly believe that Africa will develop if only our presidents stop being rulers of men and become leaders of citizens. We support Breaking the Silence Campaign for DR Congo since we believe the democracy in Rwanda means peace in DRC. Follow this link to learn more about the origin of the war in both Rwanda and DR Congo:http://www.rwandadocumentsproject.net/gsdl/cgi-bin/library


Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Kagame and the Onslaughter of the Hutu Refugees in DR Congo in 1997

SOME LIGHT ON RWANDA HUTU REFUGEES MASSACRE IN DRC

When the war started in DRC on 1 October 1996, the world knew about what was going to happen.However due to the mighty of USA and UK the main Kagame's dictoatorship sponsors, the world decided to watch again the Rwandans blood being shed again as if they were not satisfied and ashamed of what happened since 1990-1994. Kagame sent his troops to DRC in support of Mr. Laurent Desire Kabila with only threefolded mission:

1)
To revenge on the hutus and the so-called interahamwe who fled to DRC in 1994 after the downing of Habyalimana's plane which killed two Hutu presidents Mr.Habyalimana Juvenal of Rwanda and his counterpart Mr.Ntaryamira Cyprien of Burundi together with the entire entourage.
2)To make sure they kill all young promising Hutus so that there is assurance of ruling for some years without any internal and external threat, and to also accomplish the Rose Kabuye's long time dream of making the Hutu majority the minority and to make the Tutsi minority the majority population in Rwanda.
 3)It was to establish and expand their long time desire of having a BAHIMA EMPIRE or establishing their Tutsiland kingdom. This empire is supposed to extend from Ethiopia, Uganda, Eastern Tanzania, Rwanda, DRC, Burundi,and Angola. The main supporter and beneficiaries are United States and the United Kingdom because of their evil desires of expanding their neo-imperialism and trade by illegally exploiting free minerals that this region is so rich of.

The only challenge to the Kagame's dream was Hutus who were still at large in DRC. It was a good opportunity for Kagame's administration to move into DRC. For the USA it was a good opportunity to have a manpower to help them get hold of Congolese minerals. Many American and UK's business companies financed RPF soldiers in order to go to Zaire on the pretext of removing the Dictoator Mobutu Sseseko Kuku Wendo Wa Zabanga. It wa also a good opportunity for the Tripatite governments of Rwanda under Kagame,Burundi under Buyoya, and Uganda under Museveni to go and exploit Congo under the disguise of hunting the Hutu genocidaires.

USA and UK put all the needed logistic resources and sent these Tutsi troops to Zaire. The puppet leader was Mr.Laurent Desire Kabira who had promised to allocate the part of Eastern Congo to his armee's spokesman Mr. Bizimana Karahamuheto who is a tutis of Banyamurenge. The tutsi troops attacked DRC from the south killing the Hutu refugees who were in Nyangezi refugee camps. They continued to Bukabu through the following refugee caps of Hongo,NRA,Nyamirango, Panzi, and other camps in the South Kivu. The other joint troops of Uganda and RPF passed through the Eastern DRC attacking the Hutu refugee camps of Kibumba which was hosting around 2M refugees, Kayindo and Gtare hosting around 500,000 refugees and Mugunda and lac Vert which were hositing around 300,000 hutu refugees.

As a young man of 14 years old I saw it with my own eye as I was living in Kibumba refugee camps across Rwanda boarder. The RPF invaded the Kibumba camp early in the morining at around 3am. They came killing and it is where my relatives lost their lives. What amazes me it is that until today there is no any so called Human Rights has ever come up and ask who killed these innocent civilians. None has ever asked Kagame and Kabila why these were killed. The UN was watching again people dying as it had helped in preparing for this invasion. The UNHCR, RED CROSS and other humanitarian organizations had increased their supplies in the recent days before the RPF invasion so that when RPF attacks the refugee camps they could get easy food supply and medical supply that were stored in the UNHCR stocks. But uptodate there is no body who has stood up and ask the UNHCR why it increased the Humanitarian aid in the month of Ocyober 1996 while they knew very well that fighting was going on to destroy the refugee camp[s in South Kivu. No body has ever questioned why the UNHCR had stopped giving food to hutu refugees in Goma camps and resumed when it heard that RPF had attacked refugee camps in Nyangezi Bukavu.

THE DAY RPF ATTACKED HUTU REFUGEE CAMPS IN GOMA (click to watch a video)It was on 23 October 1996 when all the refugge camps of Goma were attacked by RPF. Many people lost their lives as the RPF was fighting to take the whole community back to Rwanda. The RPF blocked the road from Goma town to Kiwanja where the refugee camps of Kahindo and Gatare were. It was blocked at the place called Gicanga. Thousands of people died in these attacks as the world was watching. Those who call themselves human rights organizations did not say any thing or even condemn what was taking place. As described in the Book called FORCED MIGRATION & MORTALITY (2001) by Holly E. Reed and Charles B. Keely, Editors, National Research Council
In an attempt to evacuate the camps and force the refugees back to Rwanda, AFDL and its allies attacked the camps of Kivu between October and November 1996. As a result, around 900,000 refugees went back to their country of origin, while the remaining (including the ex-FAR) refugees fled into Zaire in an attempt to escape the AFDL forces which were heading towards Kinshasa. For some of them, this second forced migration in their country of asylum would last until May 1997 and bring them into Congo-Brazzaville after a trip of 1,500 kilometers. During their trip, these refugees faced extremely harsh conditions of living and were continuously pursued and attacked by the AFDL forces. In a few places, like in Tingi Tingi camp or along the Ubundu-Kisangani axis, they were able to settle down for some weeks, and external aid was provided until the camps were attacked. But most of the time, the access to this population was almost non-existent and very little information on their situation was available.

These refugees were raped,killed, and mitulated without any help as it is seen on this photo. We left the camp of Kibumba and took the path leading to the active volcano of Nyiragongo. Many peopel died from the dehydration, hunger, and exhaustion. After a week wandering in the forest of Nyiaragongo we arrived at Lac Vert near sack where other refugees who were from Goam whad been gathered. We remained there until a belgian soldier of the grade of major came calling people to go back to Rwanda. RPF soldiers had already taken up the Masis and Sake hills. they were
shelling at us.
many people died from the RPF bullets. "         
Not a single body has been unearthed by United Nations investigators, whose work resumed this week after months of being stymied by Mr. Kabila's government. But these investigators, human rights groups and journalists have been able to gather chilling accounts of mass killings that leave little doubt that Mr. Kabila's forces committed atrocities as they marched across Congo, then called Zaire. What remains unknown is the full scale of the massacres and exactly who ordered the killings -- in particular, whether they reflected a deliberate policy of extermination or were the acts of rogue commanders.In the morining of 27 October 1996, refugees mixed with Congolese soldiers and some former EX-FAR military decided to open up a corridor for the people to cross over to Masisi. When people managed to cross over Massi, some decided to continue others decided to remain in the Masisi forest. Those who continued they "Chemin de Croix" Inzira y'Umusalaba or in English The path of the Cross reffering to the sorrow of Jesus Christ on the eve of His death.

Then these hutu refugees continued running from Masisi-Banyanga, Shabunda,Walikale, Igo, Amisi, then Tingi Tingi then they I arrived in Tingi Tingi two days before Christmas of 1996.Thousands of refugees had been killed by RPF which was ambushing them in that dense forest of Ituli. The refugees stayed in Tingi Tingi for two months. They were faced with a humanitarian crisis because they didnt have any assistance at all and the diseases of all types attacked them. Some researchers like
Dominique Legros, Christophe Paquet, et al in Forced Migration and Mortality http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10086&page=52 describes it around 80 people used to die every day. No any local or international organization condemened Kagame and his troops. They just sat and leaned back in their sitting rooms and never heard that waning cry of suckling baby, especially Miss Sdakko Ogata, the former UNHCR boss who visited Tingi-Tingi, just simply because that cry was coming from a Hutu baby. In February, the RPF attacked Tingi-Tingi using all sorts of weaponery Machinegun, morters, riflles and they killed hungreds of people and forced hundred of thousands to divert and took the road of 2000Km from Tingi-Tingi to Goma. No body ever spoke about it, just simply because those who were dying were hutus. These refugees fled from Tingi-Tingi to Lubutu,Kisangani- Ubundu-Opala-Ikela-Bokungu-Boende-Mbandaka. By the time they arrived in Mbandaka, at least half of 350,000 refugees who left Tingi-Tingi had been either thrown into rivers, killed by gun,or eaten by animals. One of the clear examples is the 20,000 people forced to jump into Lubutu river and filled the water until the people who were behind used their bodies as a bridge. The survivors crossed over into Congo Brazzaville at a place called Bilolo. Then they were taken to Brazzaville into a small refugee camp which is at 25Km from the capital Brazzaville.
 
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