Africa Great Lakes Democracy Watch



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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


Sunday, October 2, 2011

Paul Kagame Killed former Rwandan President Habyarimana – a confession



Paul Kagame  Killed  President Juvenal Habyarimana, President  Cyprien  Ntaryamira Of Burundi,  Deogratias Nsabimana, Elie Sagatwa, Thaddee Bagaragaza, Juvenal Renzaho, Emmanuel  Akingeneye, Bernard Ciza, Cyriaque Simbizi, Jacky Heraud, Jean  Pierre Minaberry and Jean-Michel Perrine*.
On August 4, 1993, in Arusha, Tanzania, the Government of Rwanda and the Rwandese Patriotic  Front signed the Arusha Peace Agreement. The provisions of the agreement included a  commitment to principles of the rule of law, democracy, national unity, pluralism, the respect of  fundamental freedoms and the rights of the individual.  The agreement further had provisions on  power-sharing, formation of one and single National Army and a new National Gendarmerie  from forces of the two warring parties; and a definitive solution to the problem of Rwandan  refugees.
On April 6, 1994,  at 8:25 p.m., the Falcon 50 jet of the President of the Republic of Rwanda,  registration number “9XR-NN”, on its return from a  summit meeting in DAR-ESSALAAM,Tanzania, as it was on approach to Kanombe International Airport in KIGALI,  Rwanda, was shot down. All on board, including President Juvenal Habyarimana , President  Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi, their entire entourage and flight crew died.
The death of President Juvenal Habyarimana triggered the start of genocide that targeted Tutsi  and Hutu moderates, and the resumption of civil war between RPF and the Government of  Rwanda. The RPF’s sad and false narrative from that time on has been that Hutu extremists within President Habyarimana’s camp shot down the plane to derail the implementation of  the  Arusha Peace Agreement, and to find a pretext to start the genocide in which over 800,000   Rwandans died in just 100 days. This narrative has  become a predominant one in some  international circles,  among scholars, and in some human rights organizations.

The truth must now be told.  Paul Kagame, then overall commander  of the Rwandese Patriotic  Army, the armed wing of the Rwandese Patriotic Front, was personally responsible for the  shooting down of the plane.  In July, 1994, Paul Kagame himself, with characteristic callousness  and much glee, told me that he was responsible for  shooting down the plane. Despite public  denials, the fact of Kagame’s culpability in this crime is also a public “secret” within RPF and  RDF circles. Like many others in the RPF leadership, I enthusiastically sold this deceptive story  line, especially to foreigners who by and large came to believe it, even when I knew that Kagame  was the culprit in this crime.
The political and social atmosphere during the period from the signing of the Arusha Accords in August 1993 was highly explosive, and the nation was on edge. By killing President Habyarimana, Paul Kagame introduced a wild card in an already fragile ceasefire and dangerous  situation. This  created a powerful trigger, escalating to a tipping point towards resumption of the  civil war, genocide, and the region-wide destabilization that has devastated the Great Lakes  region since then.
Paul Kagame has to be immediately brought to account for this crime and its consequences.  First, there is absolutely nothing honorable or heroic in reaching an agreement for peace with a  partner, and then stabbing him in the back. Kagame  and Habyarimana did not meet on the  battlefield on April 6, 1994. If they had, and one of them or both had died, it would have been  tragic, but understandable, as a product of the logic of war. President Habyarimana was returning  from a peace summit, and by killing him, Kagame demonstrated the highest form of treachery.   Second, Kagame, a Tutsi himself, callously gambled  away the lives of innocent Tutsi and  moderate Hutu who perished in the genocide. While the killing of President Habyarimana, a  Hutu, was not a direct cause of the genocide, it provided a powerful motivation and trigger to  those who organized, mobilized and executed the genocide against Tutsi and Hutu moderates.  Third, by killing President Habyarimana, Kagame permanently derailed the already fragile  Arusha peace process in a dangerous pursuit of absolute power in Rwanda. Kagame  feared the  letter and spirit of the Arusha Peace Agreement. As the subsequent turn of events has now  shown, Kagame does not believe in the unity of Rwandans, democracy, respect of human rights  and other fundamental freedoms, the rule of law, power sharing, integrated and accountable  security institutions with a national character, and resolving the problem of refugees once and for  all. This is what the Arusha Peace Agreement was all about. That is what is lacking in Rwanda  today. Last, but not least, Kagame’s and RPF’s false narrative, denials, and deceptions have led  to partial justice in Rwanda and at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, thereby  undermining prospects for justice for all Rwandan people, reconciliation and healing. The  international community has, knowingly or unknowingly, become an accomplice in Kagame’s  systematic and shameful game of deception.
I was never party to the conspiracy to commit this heinous crime. In fact, I first heard about it on BBC around 1:00 am on April 7, 1994, while I was in Kampala where I had been attending the  Pan African Movement conference. I believe the majority of members of RPF and RPA civilians and combatants, like me, were not  party to this murderous conspiracy that was hatched and organized by Paul Kagame and  executed on his orders. Nevertheless, I was a Secretary General of the RPF, and a Major in the  rebel army, RPA. It is in this regard, within the context of collective responsibility, and a spirit of  truth-telling in search of forgiveness and healing, that I would like to say I am deeply sorry about  this loss of life, and to ask for forgiveness from the families of Juvenal Habyarimana, Cyprien  Ntaryamira, Deogratias Nsabimana, Elie Sagatwa, Thaddee Bagaragaza, Emmanuel Akingeneye,  Bernard Ciza, Cyriaque Simbizi, Jacky Heraud, Jean-Pierre Minaberry, and Jean-Michel Perrine.  I also ask for forgiveness from all  Rwandan people, in the hope that  we must unanimously and  categorically reject murder, treachery, lies and conspiracy as political weapons, eradicate  impunity once and for all, and work together to build a culture of truth-telling, forgiveness,  healing, and the rule of law.  I ask for forgiveness from the people of Burundi and France whose  leaders and citizens were killed in this crime. Above all, I ask for forgiveness from God for  having lied and concealed evil for too long.
In freely telling the truth before God and the Rwandan people, I fully understand the risk I have  undertaken, given Paul Kagame’s legendary vindictiveness and unquenchable thirst for spilling  the blood of Rwandans. It is a shared risk that Rwandans bear daily in their quest for freedom  and justice for all.  Neither power and fame, nor gold and silver, are the motivation for me in  these matters of death that have defined our nation for too long. Truth cannot wait for tomorrow,  because the Rwandan nation is very sick and divided, and cannot rebuild and heal on lies.  All  Rwandans urgently need truth today.  Our individual and collective search for truth will set us   ree.  When we are free, we can freely forgive each other and begin to live fully and heal at last.
Dr. Theogene Rudasingwa
Former: RPF Secretary General, Ambassador of Rwanda to the United States, and Chief of Staff  for President Paul Kagame.
E-mail: ngombwa@gmail.com;     Washington, DC. October 1, 2011
*Juvénal HABYARIMANA,  Head of State of Rwanda;  Cyprien NTARYAMIRA, Head of State of  Burundi;  Déogratias NSABIMANA, Chief of Staff of Rwandan Armed Forces (R.A.F.); Elie SAGATWA,  Colonel and Chief of the Military Cabinet of the Rwandan president; Thaddée BAGARAGAZA, Major  and executive officer in the ‘maison militaire’ of the Rwandan president; Juvénal RENZAHO, foreign  affairs adviser to the Rwandan president;  Emmanuel AKINGENEYE, personal physician to the Rwandan president; Bernard CIZA, Minister of Planning in the government of Burundi; Cyriaque  SIMBIZI, Communications Minister of Burundi; and members of the French flight crew, Jacky  HERAUD, pilot;. Jean-Pierre MINABERRY, co-pilot; and , Jean-Michel PERRINE, flight engineer.
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16 Responses to Paul Kagame Killed former Rwandan President Habyarimana – a confession

  1. @Shema, well put brother. Kagame is cooked. Suicide appears to be the only option. Short of that, it is the Hague, mob lynching, or 1930 where he has sent innocent people to perish!
  2. Well well well…. done MAJOR doctor rudasingwa!!! truth has to be told indeed if the true healing and reconciliation of rwandan peoples is to take a deep rooted hold…i for one has been wondering why you guys and the likes of ur fellow Rwanda briefing authors have not taken a bold move such as this one all along and expose the already naked emporor of rwanda because as you rightly said this has been an open secret in RPF and RDF circles and i very much know that you guys hold the key to his demise…….iyo mumwamagana kera kose ubu urwanda ntiruba rugeze hano but anyway better late than never!!!!…i really admire you and your fellow compantriot’s methodical, systematic and calculated approach to solving rwandas problems.this really shows that education and knowledge plus wisdom are key in everything.trust me not even a political wizard or great rescuer can pull paul kagame out of this downward spiral to hell….hahahaha….
    keep it up commrades…..alluta continua!!!!!
    may God protect you.
  3. @Makalo, food for thought. The Rwandan, Ethiopean, Eritrean and Ugandan dictators were supposed to be a “new breed” of African leaders, made prominent by USA President Clinton and British PM Blair. From within Africa, these new types were seen as “second generation” leaders and supposedly better than post-independence failed types. Lo and behold. The new crop is “more sophisticated” at tyranny, thuggery, thieving and brutality. The West is part of the African problem. It is hard to understand why anyone would support someone like Kagame with the misery this man has caused not only in Rwanda but in the entire region – as far as South Africa where he sent assassins to kill his opponents.
  4. Why do Western liberal governments overlook human right abuses despite the towering amount of evidence that human right violations are occurring for the sake of their own interests? An article in The Economist – The compass fails – September 17th 2011 investigates this. Reports of human right breaches come, for example, from Ethiopia and Rwanda where opposition politicians are being arrested for treason or have died mysterious deaths, and citizens are being harassed and denied Internet access. The leaders of these regions – Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame – are simply defiant when challenged about these breaches. Meanwhile the African Union leader Teodoro Obiang and President of Equatorial Guinea is selfishly denying his people the profits of oil and playing host to neighbouring dictators such as Eritrea’s President Isaias Afwerki. Afwerki is currently in New York to oppose the sanctions on him and his government handed down by the United Nations Security Council for an alleged violation of an arms embargo. He is also known for his inhumane treatment of political prisoners.
    So why have Western liberal democratic governments turned a blind eye to countries inflicting violence on their citizens? And why aren’t Western liberal democratic governments promoting human rights, which are enshrined in the UN and are supposed to be universal? Well actually for a number of reasons – which aren’t incredibly altruistic by the way. One being the most obvious reason – trade, for example, with China – and assistance in Afghanistan. Not to mention the West’s ties with corrupt autocracies in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, which certainly did not gain them much respect when it came to preaching the gospel of human rights to other countries.
    So while the West is selective when standing up for human rights it seems that the organizers of New York Fashion Week – IMG and Mercedes Benz – are not afraid to boycott countries violating human rights…
    New York Fashion Week cancelled a presentation of haute couture designed by Gulnara Karimova, after NGOs alerted the organizers of the connection between her and her father’s – Islam Karimov – tyrannical government.
    This sends a very strong message to those governments and yet companies that continue to sell dictators sports cars and other luxury items haven’t seen fit to make similar sacrifices.
  5. @Elisabeth, we must chipping away at Kagame fake image bit by bit. Even the Western world is slowly recognizing the real Kagame. Bit by bit. Don’t give up making a contribution in that regard. Keep it up sister Elisabeth.
  6. Kagame admitted as much in his BBC HardTalk interview. When he was asked if he had shot down the Habyarimana plane, Kagame uttered his famous “I DO NOT CARE. Kagame said he had been a made a refugee for 30 years and had to fight Habyarimana. But as Dr Rudasingwa now writes, how do you kill someone you just signed a peace-deal with, and place a million lives at risk – Tutsi and moderate Hutu?
  7. Checkmate – game over Kagame.
  8. Kagame faces a very gloomy choice: 1) hang on to power and worsen his criminal standing; 2) resign and be tried for his crimes; 3) commit suicide. The man is caught between a rock and a hard place. But don’t expect many Rwandans to shade tears for this man.
  9. @All, I too I am most thankful for Dr Rudasingwa for publicly stating what he knows and for asking for forgivess from Rwandans. Even if such actions may not necessarily quicken the departure of the Rwandan butcher, these actions unite Rwandans. Rwandans see that our problem is not Hutu-Tutsi but a criminal ruler who happen to be Tutsi. Rudasingwa, we congratulate you for your brave action.
  10. @Kagame, if you have anything thinking person by your side (not prostitutes and drugists like Ines Mpambara, semi-literate like your Kanjogera and Jack Nziza), this is the time to see with them and figure out/think about your exit strategy Nduggu. Start bargaining with whomever you must. Your position is increasingly unattainable . When Kayumba spills the beans, you are a dead man! No wonder you want him killed at any cost. May the good lord be with dear brother Paul Kagame.
  11. Thanks so much Dr. Rudasingwa. I really like the way you and your compatriots are driving things, step by step but correctly. I have already forgiven you. You are really showing that you are educated. Being a real Leader is accepting responsabilities. I really trust your confession and if our readers were like you, our beloved Rwanda could be a paradize like it was before the invasion by devils. I beleave that General Kayumba and Patrick Karegeya will soon confess openely because i think they hold a live story. Dr. Rudasingwa, you are more than a man. I want to tell you that in Lybia, the head of the NTC was the Justice Minister of Gadaffi and when uprise started, he was the first one to defect joining the people of Lybia in chasing away Dictator Gadaffi.
    May God protect you!!!
  12. @All, Kagame’s lies are unravelling! Everyday. The question remains: who will pick up the pieces? Otherwise humpty dumpty regime is in pieces. Not even a magician can put it back together.
  13. Well done Mr Rudasingwa. You are a humble and brave man. You are intelligent and honest. I see in you a patriotic and responsible leader. You have told your side of the story. I will lead the crowd to forgive you, but I need to hear from General Nywamsa. What does he know? At least you,by making this public statement, you are safe. Nyamwasa could save his life by exposing the killer, before it is too late.
  14. @Elisabeth, thanks for your thoughts on this. Kagame it is true has successfully branded himself as epitome of development. Nonetheless, the more the truth picture of Kagame is painted by those who know him, the more all thinking people will take a second look. Kagame’s machine is no longer coping with sustaining his fake image as Mr African leader.
  15. @Uh and all, I hope that General Kayumba Nyamwasa, now a partner with Rudasingwa in Rwandan National Congress, can tell the world his side of the story. He was among the military leadership, and surely must know who Butcher Kagame sent to Kigali to shoot down the doomed aircraft.
    Be that as it may, Mr “I DO NOT CARE” is slowly getting fingered as a mass killer and thief.
  16. Interesting… but does it really change anything? The western world will never hold Kagame accountable for anything (see how he still has not been charged with any human rights violations or war crimes for his treatment of Hutu civilian refugees during the “liquidation” of the refugee camps back in ’96). Kagame is held up in the western world as a “great African leader” who runs his country firmly, but has brought “amazing progress and advancement” to Rwanda. While I appreciate your confession, I am afraid that to the ICC and the UN and the rest of the international community, Kagame is an “African success” story, and he will unfortunately always be held on a pedestal of greatness. I know that whenever I bring up the crimes that I consider Kagame to have committed, from his time in the RPA to his rampage across Zaire, most people turn a deaf ear, and say “He was doing what had to be done!” It is a sad state of affairs all the way around, with Kagame coming out looking like a savior, even though he is more the devil in disguise.