RWANDA: FDU-INKINGI and RNC still believe that the responsibility of President Paul Kagame in the downing of his predecessor's plane is real.

By Theogene Rudasingwa of RNC

PRESS RELEASE

FDU-INKINGI and RNC still believe that the responsibility of President Paul Kagame in the downing of his predecessor's plane is real.

Today, French judges, Marc Trevedic and Natalie Poux, disclosed a first technical Report by ballistic experts to the parties in the probe related to the downing of the April1994 presidential plane that killed President Juvenal Habyarimana of Rwanda and President Cyrpien Ntaryamira of Burundi, members of their delegations and the French crew. The same time, the government of Rwanda removed the embargo on its ready-made press release celebrating “victory”. The same evening some medias echoed the version of Lawyer Bernard Maingain, who represents President Paul Kagame's entourage who were under investigation, saying that the findings "put an end to more than 16 years of manipulation and lies." This is a well prepared media campaign aiming to fool national and international opinion in order to polish the dictator's version.

The technical report by ballistic experts has investigated 6 possible launching sites according to the information surveyed in Kigali during their investigations. The question of where the ground-to-air missile was fired is a key to establishing the credibility of different accounts of the terrorist attack. Curiously, the Rwandan government has just picked up one possible launching spot as the one and only one to be considered. This is what the regime is selling to international media in order to avoid other aspects pointing at the real masterminder of the attack.

Considering the level of infiltrations and deployments of operatives in Kigali city and its surroundings by the then rebellion, we have no single doubts that RPF was in a position to mount such an operation in most of the six suspected firing spots.

This first technical report does not change anything from the truth. Our respective organisations are committed to identify very credible witnesses ready to provide details and facts of the operation and the operatives under orders of the then rebel military overall commander.

In the past, there have been several rival accounts of this terrorist attack and only an international inquiry composed by experts from different countries will pave the way to justice denied.

This white-washing media campaign launched by Kigali regime pointing the finger at its eternal enemies, Hutu extremists, is trying to distract the international community from the real problems of the country on the brink. The current leadership has been accused by the United Nations report of the Mapping Exercise documenting the most serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed within the territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between March 1993 and June 2003. There is no political space in Rwanda and freedoms are massively violated. Most partners of Rwanda have voiced out their concerns over continuous violations of human rights, the plight of political prisoners, assassinations of opposition leaders and journalists inside and outside the country, life attempts against exiled opposition leaders.

We encourage the French justice to continue its investigations and call for an international inquiry in this terrorist attack.

Lausanne, Switzerland

Dr. Nkiko Nsengimana
Co-ordinator,
FDU-Inkingi Co-ordination Committee
Contact: nkiko.nsengimana@bluewin.ch or sixchris@netti.fi

Washington D.C., USA

Dr. Theogene Rudasingwa
Co-ordinator
RNC Interim Committee
Contact: ngombwa@gmail.com