State Department War Crimes Chief Stephen Rapp’s cover-up of U.S. War Crimes in Rwanda Genocide

Daya Gamage – Foreign News Desk Asian Tribune Washington, DC. 29April

 

The April 28 report in The New York Times captioned ‘American Lawyer is Barred from Rwanda Tribunal Work’ caught the eye of this Online Daily’s Foreign News Desk which informed the readers that Peter Erlinder, a law professor in an American university, has been barred by the UN from working at the international tribunal for Rwanda based in the Tanzanian city of Arusha. He refused to travel to Arusa for fear of his life.
He said that he is a target of the Rwandan government and has even received threats while on lecture tours in the U.S.
Prof. Erlinder charges the current Paul Kahame regime of Rwanda of targeted assassinations of those who were accusing the Rwandan leader of genocide - 1990 through 1994 - in which one million people were killed. He and others who have given a long list of victims in many worldwide cities attributed those assassinations to the current Rwandan leadership of Paul Kagame.
One of the mysterious deaths known to the Asian Tribune network was a UN professional who worked to unearth the evidence of the Rwandan genocide – a Sri Lankan Shyamlal Rajapaksa who happened to be a first cousin of the present president of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa. His killing in August 2009 in the Tanzanian city of Arusha where the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was headquartered is still a mystery.
Professor Peter Erlinder has come out with an array of evidence and interpretations of the direct culpability of the current Rwandan president Paul Kagame in the Rwandan genocide, how he and his colleagues were given military training in the U.S., how Kagame as the head of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a proxy force of the Pentagon according to Erlinder, invaded Rwanda to unleash a genocide with tacit approval of the United States, and in the following years how the United States took covert and overt steps to cover up its involvement in the Rwandan mass massacre.
It is here that Ambassador-at Large Stephen Rapp’s name emerge. Mr. Rapp is currently the head of the Office of War Crimes Issues of the U.S. Department of State, and in his previous position as the chief prosecutor of the Rwandan genocide, according to Peter Elinder, and many other investigators, Mr. Rapp was one of the main who was involved in the cover up of US involvement in the Rwandan Genocide.
The Asian Tribune readers may recall that Stephen Rapp in his capacity as the State Department’s War Crimes Issues chief who prepared and released a document in October 2009 with ambiguous evidence which accused Sri Lanka of violating international humanitarian laws during the final (Jan-May 2009) stage of the battle with separatist/terrorist Tamil Tigers (LTTE).
In October 1990, the Ugandan army and the Rwandan Patriotic Front/Army (RPF) led by Major General Paul Kagame invaded Rwanda. The guerrillas who violated international laws and committed massive war crimes were backed by Britain, Belgium, the United States and Israel, according to many investigators and researchers. By July 1994, the RPF completed its coup d'etat and consolidated its power in Rwanda.
On April 6, 1994, the governments of Rwanda and Burundi were decapitated when the plane carrying the two presidents and top military staff was shot down over Kigali, Rwanda's capital. The well-planned assassinations of Juvenal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira sparked a massive escalation of warfare that is falsely portrayed as the result of meaningless tribal savagery. These assassinations were major war crimes, and the RPF and UPDF were responsible, but almost every attempt to honestly investigate the double presidential assassinations has been blocked by the U.S. and its allies.
A frequent contributor to a think tank called Global Research, Prof. Elinder outlined the United States endeavor in the cover up of its own culpability in the Rwandan genocide.
He wrote: “The July 9, 2009 New York Times reported that the Obama administration had selected Stephen Rapp to replace the Bush administration Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes, Pierre Prosper. Rapp began his international career at the UN Security Council Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 2001, while Carla Del Ponte was Chief Rwanda Prosecutor. Rapp’s nomination just a few months after Del Ponte’s of her memoir of her years as Chief UN Prosecutor, Madam Prosecutor: Confronting Humanity’s Worst Criminals and the Culture of Impunity was published in English.
“Del Ponte’s book describes in detail the systematic U.S.-initiated cover-up of crimes by the current Rwandan government, a U.S. ally, committed during the Rwanda Genocide, and how she was removed from her ICTR (International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda) position in 2003 by U.S. Ambassador Prosper, himself, when she refused to cooperate with the U.S.-initiated “cover-up.”
According to Del Ponte, her ICTR Office had the evidence to prosecute Kagame for “touching-off” the Rwanda Genocide by ordering the assassination of Rwanda’s former President Juvenal, Habyarimana, long before 2003. She also details the dozens of massacre sites, involving thousands of victims, for which the current Rwandan President, Paul Kagame and his military, should be prosecuted. The well-publicized canard, that “the identity of the assassins of Habyarimana is unknown” is a bald-faced lie, well -known by ICTR Prosecutors, according to Ms. Del Ponte, writes Prof. Elinder in Global Research.
Two years after Del Ponte was removed from office, Stephen Rapp became “Chief” of ICTR Prosecutions with access to all of the evidence known to Ms. Del Ponte, and more that has been made public in the past few years. During his four years at the ICTR, Rapp like Del Ponte, also was in a position to prosecute Kagame and members of the current government of Rwanda but, not ONE member of Kagame’s military has been prosecuted at the ICTR, to date…and the “cover-up” revealed by Del Ponte, continues today. And, unlike, Ms. Del Ponte, who was fired by the U.S., Mr. Rapp was first rewarded with an appointment as Chief Prosecutor at the U.S.-funded Sierra Leone Tribunal and now, a coveted ambassadorship by the Obama administration as the chief of the Office of War Crimes Issues at the State Department.
Mr. Rapp, for reasons known and unknown to the Asian Tribune, used ambiguous and conflicting information and data to accuse Sri Lanka of violating International Humanitarian Laws (IHL) in a report released to the US Congress in October 2009.
Former Chief ICTR Prosecutor Del Ponte Details War Crimes “Cover-up”
According to Del Ponte, in May 2003 she was called to Washington D.C. by Prosper (ironically, also a former ICTR prosecutor with knowledge of Kagame’s crimes) who informed her that the U.S. would remove her UN post, if she carried through with her publicly announced plans to indict Kagame and members of his government and military. According to Del Ponte, when she refused to knuckle-under because “she worked for the UN, - not for the U.S” Prosper told her ICTR career was over. In October Del Ponte was replaced by a US-approved ICTR prosecutor, Hassan Abubacar Jallow, who elevated Rapp to “Chief of Prosecution” two years later.
ICTR Trials: More Evidence of Rwanda Crimes Cover-Up
Del Ponte’s revelations are not the only evidence that a U.S.-initiated “war crimes cover-up” at the ICTR is creating impunity for crimes committed by the Kagame and his military. On September 10, 1994 memo in evidence in the ICTR Military-1 Trial confirms that U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher was informed that Kagame’s troops were killing “10,000 civilians a month” in military-style, according to an investigation funded by US Agency for International Development (USAID). And, as early as January 1997, a team made up of Chief ICTR Investigative Prosecutor and former Australian Crown Prosecutor Michael Hourigan; former FBI Agent James Lyons; and former UN-Chief of Military Intelligence in Rwanda, Amadou Deme; reported Louise Arbour, Ms. Del Ponte’s predecessor, that Kagame should be prosecuted for assassinating the previous president. Arbour scuttled the investigation, suppressed the report and disbanded the investigative team.
Shortly, thereafter, Arbour was elevated to Canada’s Supreme Court and has sunsequently been chosen to head the International Crisis Group.
Louise Arbour as the head of the International Crisis Group released a report in May 2010 accusing Sri Lanka of war crimes said: “Evidence gathered by the International Crisis Group suggests that these months saw tens of thousands of Tamil civilian men, women, children and the elderly killed, countless more wounded, and hundreds of thousands deprived of adequate food and medical care, resulting in more deaths. This evidence also provides reasonable grounds to believe the Sri Lankan security forces committed war crimes with top government and military leaders potentially responsible.”
Former ICTR Prosecutor Rapp Complicit in Cover-up
But, even though Arbour suppressed the “Hourigan Report,” Del Ponte, Rapp and other ICTR prosecutors certainly knew about it, because ICTR judges had ordered Del Ponte’s Office to release the “Hourigan report” to a defense team as early as the year 2000, a year before Rapp began his ICTR work, and three years before Del Ponte was fired by Prosper.
Prof. Peter Elinder says “But….to date, not one indictment has been issued against Kagame by the ICTR Prosecutor.”
Consequences of the ICTR Cover-up of Kagame’s Crimes
The tragic consequence of the failure to prosecute Kagame at the ICTR, from 1994 to date, is that Kagame has been free to invade the Congo in 1996 and 1998, and to occupy part of the eastern Congo many-times larger than Rwanda, to this day. No less than four UN Security Council-commissioned Panel of Experts Report(s) on the Illegal Exploitation of the DR Congo (2001, 2002, 2003 and December 2008) have detailed the massive rape of the Congo’s resources that has brought vast riches to Kagame and his inner circle.
While Rapp was ICTR Senior Trial Attorney in 2003, Kagame was effectively elected President-for-Life with 95% of the vote, after banning opposition parties and jailing opponents, in “a climate of intimidation” according to EU observers.
“Chief of Prosecutions” Rapp Withheld Exculpatory Evidence
In February 2009, the ICTR issued its Judgment the Military-1 case, that main case at the ICTR, in which Mr. Rapp personally appeared for the Prosecution. Although massive violence did occur in Rwanda, the court certainly recognized that blaming only one side WAS a falsehood, when it acquitted all of the “architects of the killing machine” (as Mr. Rapp called the defendants in court) of conspiracy or planning to kill civilians. The highest ranking military-officer was acquitted of all charges.
And, although it is now clear from Ms. Del Ponte’s memoirs that Mr. Rapp had the evidence to clear the ICTR defendants of the assassination charges and only the losing side has been blamed for all crimes committed in Rwanda in 1994. Simply put, Mr. Rapp and other ICTR prosecutors have withheld evidence that would be beneficial to the defense, contrary to Tribunal Rules; have prosecuted defendants for crimes they knew were committed by Kagame’s forces; and, have created a system of “judicial impunity” that has permitted Kagame to kill millions in the eastern Congo.
It is in this context that Prof. Peter Elinder writing to Global Security questioned President Obama’s wisdom in appointing Stephen Rapp as the head of the Office of War Crimes Issue at the State Department in this manner: “This “inconvenient-African-truth,” raises an uncomfortable question regarding President Obama’s nomination of Mr. Rapp, in the first place: Are Obama and his advisors ignorant of the public record regarding Rapp’s complicity in the ICTR Cover-up….or do they just not give a damn?”
The U.S. Culpability in Rwanda Genocide
Aimable Mugara in a piece to OpEdNews put it this way: “In 1990, General Kagame who was the Chief of Military Intelligence of Uganda and head of the Rwandan Patriotic Forces (RPF) led a violent invasion of Rwanda from Uganda, with the approval and support (financial, military and political) of the United States government. This violent war changed the landscape of that region forever. By landscape, I also mean the number of mass graves that dot every of inch of that region now. The two final years of President Bush the father, during which his American government supported the murderous gang of General Kagame and Yoweri Museveni resulted in the deaths of many innocent Rwandan and Ugandan civilians. During those two years, there are thousands who lost their lives at the hands of General Kagame's soldiers and Yoweri Museveni's soldiers. But this was nothing compared to the more than 6 millions of civilians that would later die under Bill Clinton's 8 year reign, with American money, American weapons and American political support.”
In a September 30, 2010 New York Times article titled ‘Dispute Over U.N. Report Evokes Rwandan Déjà Vu’, it is mentioned how in the fall of 1994, a United Nations investigation discovered that General Kagame's forces had killed tens of thousand of innocent civilians that year. That under pressure from Bill Clinton's government, the United Nations was forced not to publish that report. In that New York Times article, they talk about how the 1994 UN report describes General Kagame's soldiers "rounding up civilians and methodically killing unarmed men, women and children."
“Kagame received his military education under the Pentagon’s Joint Combined Exchange Training (JCET) at the Command and General Staff College of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, beginning in 1990,” wrote John E. Peck of the Association of African Scholars (2002). “His sidekick, Lt. Col. Frank Rusagara, got his JCET schooling at the U.S. Naval Academy in Monterey, California. Both were dispatched to Rwanda in time to oversee the RPF’s takeover in 1994. Far from being an innocent bystander, the Washington Post revealed on July 12, 1998 that the United States not only gave Kagame $75 million in military assistance, but also sent Green Berets to train Kagame’s forces (as well as their Ugandan rebel allies) in low intensity conflict (LIC) tactics. Pentagon subcontractor Ronco, masquerading as a de-mining company, also smuggled more weapons to RPF fighters in flagrant violation of UN sanctions. All of this U.S. largesse was put to lethal effect in the ethnic bloodbath that is still going on.”
In 2009 published Edward S. Herman and David Peterson's investigative/research book The Politics of Genocide said: “The United States and its allies worked hard in the early 1990s to weaken the Rwandan government, forcing the abandonment of many of the economic and social gains from the social revolution of 1959, thereby making the Habyarimana government less popular, and helping to reinforce the Tutsi minority’s economic power.9 Eventually, the RPF was able to achieve a legal military presence inside Rwanda, thanks to a series of ceasefires and other agreements. These agreements led to the Arusha Peace Accords of August 1993, pressed upon the Rwandan government by the United States and its allies, called for the “integration” of the armed forces of Rwanda and the RPF, and for a “transitional,” power-sharing government until national elections could be held in 1995.10 These Peace Accords positioned the RPF for its bloody overthrow of a relatively democratic coalition government, and the takeover of the Rwandan state by a minority dictatorship.”
The U.S. State Department’s Office of War Crimes Issues chief Stephen Rapp knew this entire Rwandan episode, the U.S. interests in Paul Kagame, the UN concealment of the 1994 report at the behest of the Clinton administration, the U.S. military assistance to Kagame’s Rwandan Patriotic Front and the entire exercise of the ‘Rwandan cover up’ to conceal the U.S. culpability in the Rwandan genocide when he focused his attention elsewhere; Sri Lanka.
- Asian Tribune -

The British House of Commons Presses Rwanda

The British House of Commons Presses Rwanda National Electoral Commission to Comply With International Norms.

National Election Commission (Rwanda)

5. Ann McKechin (Glasgow North) (Lab): What recent discussions he has had with the Rwandan National Election Commission on the forthcoming presidential elections in that country. [5779]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr Henry Bellingham): We are working with the National Election Commission, encouraging it to implement recommendations of previous EU election observer missions. The recent electoral code addresses most recommendations, but it is important that the presidential elections in August comply with international norms.

Ann McKechin: I am sure that the Minister will share my concerns about the increasing reports of incidents of harassment and intimidation of opposition leaders, including the arrest of one of the leaders of the opposition party just less than two weeks ago. Will he impress it on the National Election Commission and the Rwandan Government that such continued reports will stain Rwandan's reputation, which has made much progress in the past decade, and that it is vital that they show real signs of ensuring that democracy is fully protected?

Mr Bellingham: I am grateful to the hon. Lady for that constructive question. I share her concern about the arrest of Victoire Ingabire, who is a prominent opposition leader, and about the fact that her American lawyer, Professor Erlinder, was also arrested on what were basically trumped-up charges. We are also concerned that so far just one party outside the ruling coalition has been registered, and we are applying as much pressure as we can.

Stuart Andrew (Pudsey) (Con) rose-

Mr Speaker: I call Andrew Stephenson- [Interruption.] He is not Andrew Stephenson, but he is very welcome. Let us hear from him.
Stuart Andrew: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Given that top military officials have also been arrested, does my hon. Friend the Minister see any danger of interference in the elections by the Rwandan army?
Mr Bellingham: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that question. To say that Rwanda has come back from the abyss would be an understatement. We should pay tribute to the extraordinary progress that Rwanda has made. What we want to do the day after the election is call the new President of Rwanda, congratulate him on his election and say that he has enhanced credibility and trust with the world community by winning a completely free and fair election against proper opposition.

Mr Speaker: My apologies to Stuart Andrew.

Mary Creagh (Wakefield) (Lab): Does the Minister share my concern about the murder of Jean-Léonard Rugambage, a journalist on the Umuvugizi newspaper-I will pass that name up to Hansard afterwards-who was shot on Friday 25 June? Does he agree that having free, fair and open newspapers is an essential part of ensuring a civil space where democracy can work, and will he do everything he can to press the Rwandan Government to bring that man's murderers to justice?

6 July 2010 : Column 159

Mr Bellingham: We have already made our views clear to the Rwandan Government, and we will continue with that dialogue, putting pressure on them. As I said a moment ago, it is essential that there should be not only a free election, but one with proper opposition and open and transparent media reporting it

Re-writing the History of the Rwandan Genocide

Re-writing the History of the Rwandan Genocide
That Halo Over Romeo Dalliare's Head Has More Than One Hole in It!

By ROBIN PHILPOT

When International Criminal Tribunal prosecutor Carla Del Ponte learned from a Canadian newspaper in 2000 that the Rwandan Patriotic Front and its leader Paul Kagame were prime suspects in the April 6, 1994, assassination of the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi, she reportedly said: "If it is the RPF that shot down the plane, the history of genocide must be rewritten".

Hopefully others will be as candid as Ms Del Ponte as more and more information surfaces on events in Rwanda in the early 90s. First on that list should be retired Canadian general and former UN peacekeeper in Rwanda Romeo Dallaire. However, Dallaire may find it hard to swallow his pride after enjoying such a massive PR campaign organized for him ever since his 600-page book appeared in October 2003 (Shake Hands with the Devil, The failure of Humanity in Rwanda, Random House Canada).

Dallaire toured Canada, parts of the US, Belgium, France, Tanzania, where he witnessed for the prosecution at the ICTR, and Rwanda, where he joined Paul Kagame for commemorations in Kigali. He appeared on all the right programs, with the right people, and his verge-of-tears attitude protected him from the tough questions that reporters should have been asking him. One of his Canadian government handlers justified the enormous security for Dallaire in Tanzania by describing him as Canada's "national treasure". He is now being touted as the future Governor General of Canada.

The saintly halo carefully placed over his head has also prompted Michael Ignatieff to invite him to be a fellow of Harvard's Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, where paradoxically he will specialize in "conflict resolution". Ignatieff probably sees the appointment as a way to cover his own conflict-inflicting support of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Romeo Dallaire supposedly told all in his book. However, since so many people in influential positions have been bluntly contradicting Dallaire, it's time he and his ghostwriters sat down and rewrote the book. These include former the Chief of the 1994 United Nations Mission in Rwanda the Cameroonian diplomat Jacques-Roger Booh-Booh--Dallaire was only in charge of the military component ­, UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the French anti-terrorist judge Jean-Louis Bruguière, Colonel Luc Marchal, the Belgian commander of UN troops in Kigali who worked under Dallaire and many more. If we accept as true half what these people have said, either most of the information in Dallaire's book can no longer be taken seriously or the book as whole should be rejected as base propaganda.
Jacques-Roger Booh-Booh was the UN Secretary General's Special Representative in Rwanda, and therefore in charge of the mission in Rwanda.

An experienced diplomat having served as Cameroon's Ambassador to France and to the former USSR, Booh-Booh was also very familiar with African politics, unlike Dallaire who admits not knowing that Rwanda was in Africa when he was appointed in 1993. Since the Rwandan tragedy, Booh-Booh has remained silent and respected the neutrality that comes with his position. (Dallaire of course never respected the obligation of neutrality). Booh-Booh broke that silence in April in an interview with the French-language monthly Africa International.

When asked to react to criticisms leveled by Dallaire, Booh-Booh replied that General Dallaire never accepted the fact that he was only a military officer reporting to the civilian authority appointed by the UN Secretary General, and that he has been inconsolable ever since because he never obtained Booh-Booh's job though he tried very hard. In the field, according to Booh-Booh, Dallaire abandoned his military responsibilities to do politics, though that was not his job, and he violated the principle of neutrality by becoming the objective ally of the RPF. Moreover, Dallaire's "duplicity" was widely known in UN mission circles. Booh-Booh adds that "from a strictly military standpoint, UNAMIR controlled absolutely nothing under Dallaire's command", citing as an example his total failure to rid Kigali of arms and militias.

Booh-Booh's comments about Dallaire's political involvement in Rwanda raise important questions, especially in light of Boutros-Ghali's statements during the 10th anniversary commemorations.

Boutros-Ghali, who told me in a 2002 interview that the Rwandan genocide was 100 percent American responsibility, also told the French daily Libération that one of the UN's problems in Rwanda was that "the Department of Peacekeeping Operations [headed by Kofi Annan at the time] was very much infiltrated by the American authorities. Since the we [the UN] lacked money, we recruited officers who were on their own government's payroll."

This statement should be considered together with Dallaire's candid boasts in his book that he violated fundamental rules of a peacekeeping mission by going over the head of the mission chief, Booh-Booh, and communicating directly to the DPKO leaders Kofi Annan and Maurice Baril at UN headquarters.

Can Dallaire's intense--and unsuccessful--involvement in Rwandan politics and his pro-RPF stance be explained by the fact that he was receiving instructions directly from US or pro-US people in the UN's peacekeeping operations department? This is very plausible since we know that from the early 1990s the United States, along with Great Britain, was openly challenging France in French-speaking Africa, and particularly in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). The English-speaking Rwandan Patriotic Front, based as it was in Uganda, was perceived as a means to accomplish that end.

On the other hand, Boutros-Ghali, whom Madeleine Albright nicknamed "Frenchie", was perceived as an obstacle, as undoubtedly was the head of the UN mission in Rwanda, Jacques-Roger Booh-Booh. Soon after the Rwandan tragedy, the US unceremoniously dumped Boutros-Ghali--Albright vetoed renewal of his mandate--and installed Kofi Annan, thereby further advancing their strategy in French-speaking Africa.

Add to this the fact that Dallaire was chosen for the position in 1993 mainly because the United States demanded a French-speaking military commander, and ideally anti-French. Obviously that excluded a French national. Anybody who follows Canadian politics knows that that type of military person can be found in Ottawa, where distrust and dislike of France are at the heart of all foreign policy.

These links help explain both Kofi Annan's and Romeo Dallaire's silence regarding the shooting down of the plane carrying the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi--both have persisted in calling that SAM missile attack an "accident" or a "crash", and Kofi Annan's reaction regarding the plane's Black Box following the Bruguière revelations was frankly insulting. All information, all research and all investigations, and especially Judge Bruguière's, now point to Paul Kagame and the Rwandan Patriotic Front. If and when France issues international arrest warrants for the perpetrators of that crime, Kofi Annan and Romeo Dallaire will have a lot of questions to answer.

Another example of Romeo Dallaire naysayers is Colonel Luc Marchal who led the UN troops in Kigali. Unlike Dallaire who tours the world to defend Paul Kagame and the RPF, Marchal is very critical of both. "I am personally very convinced in the RPF's implication in the Rwandan tragedy", writes Marchal in a 1998 letter, "because I too had been fooled by their smart propaganda during the Arusha negotiations [in 1993]. Once I was in Kigali, the gulf that separated what was said and what was really happening became obvious. In fact the RPF movement is totalitarian and it crushes absolutely everything in its way." He also pointed out in a 2003 interview that the shooting down of President Habyarimana's plane would have required months to plan and carry out, and that the rapid deployment of RPF troops in Kigali and in the North on April 7, 1994 would also have required months to prepare. Marchal leaves no doubt that he suspects the RPF of committing that crime and considers it to be crucial to understanding what happened after.

In a much more honest book about the Rwandan events published in 2001, Marchal also clearly implicates the United States in the 10-year cover-up of the April 6, 1994, terrorist attack that triggered the terrible massacres. "Who is powerful enough to have prevented a real international inquiry from casting light upon the events that occurred when President Habyarimana was flying home from a regional summit in Dar Es-Salaam?"

Robin Philpot is a Montreal writer. His book Ça ne s'est pas passé comme ça à Kigali (That's not what happened in Rwanda) will soon appear in English. Robin Philpot can be reached at rphilpot@sympatico.ca

Re-writing the History of the Rwandan Genocide

Re-writing the History of the Rwandan Genocide
That Halo Over Romeo Dalliare's Head Has More Than One Hole in It!

By ROBIN PHILPOT

When International Criminal Tribunal prosecutor Carla Del Ponte learned from a Canadian newspaper in 2000 that the Rwandan Patriotic Front and its leader Paul Kagame were prime suspects in the April 6, 1994, assassination of the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi, she reportedly said: "If it is the RPF that shot down the plane, the history of genocide must be rewritten".

Hopefully others will be as candid as Ms Del Ponte as more and more information surfaces on events in Rwanda in the early 90s. First on that list should be retired Canadian general and former UN peacekeeper in Rwanda Romeo Dallaire. However, Dallaire may find it hard to swallow his pride after enjoying such a massive PR campaign organized for him ever since his 600-page book appeared in October 2003 (Shake Hands with the Devil, The failure of Humanity in Rwanda, Random House Canada).

Dallaire toured Canada, parts of the US, Belgium, France, Tanzania, where he witnessed for the prosecution at the ICTR, and Rwanda, where he joined Paul Kagame for commemorations in Kigali. He appeared on all the right programs, with the right people, and his verge-of-tears attitude protected him from the tough questions that reporters should have been asking him. One of his Canadian government handlers justified the enormous security for Dallaire in Tanzania by describing him as Canada's "national treasure". He is now being touted as the future Governor General of Canada.

The saintly halo carefully placed over his head has also prompted Michael Ignatieff to invite him to be a fellow of Harvard's Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, where paradoxically he will specialize in "conflict resolution". Ignatieff probably sees the appointment as a way to cover his own conflict-inflicting support of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Romeo Dallaire supposedly told all in his book. However, since so many people in influential positions have been bluntly contradicting Dallaire, it's time he and his ghostwriters sat down and rewrote the book. These include former the Chief of the 1994 United Nations Mission in Rwanda the Cameroonian diplomat Jacques-Roger Booh-Booh--Dallaire was only in charge of the military component ­, UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the French anti-terrorist judge Jean-Louis Bruguière, Colonel Luc Marchal, the Belgian commander of UN troops in Kigali who worked under Dallaire and many more. If we accept as true half what these people have said, either most of the information in Dallaire's book can no longer be taken seriously or the book as whole should be rejected as base propaganda.
Jacques-Roger Booh-Booh was the UN Secretary General's Special Representative in Rwanda, and therefore in charge of the mission in Rwanda.

An experienced diplomat having served as Cameroon's Ambassador to France and to the former USSR, Booh-Booh was also very familiar with African politics, unlike Dallaire who admits not knowing that Rwanda was in Africa when he was appointed in 1993. Since the Rwandan tragedy, Booh-Booh has remained silent and respected the neutrality that comes with his position. (Dallaire of course never respected the obligation of neutrality). Booh-Booh broke that silence in April in an interview with the French-language monthly Africa International.

When asked to react to criticisms leveled by Dallaire, Booh-Booh replied that General Dallaire never accepted the fact that he was only a military officer reporting to the civilian authority appointed by the UN Secretary General, and that he has been inconsolable ever since because he never obtained Booh-Booh's job though he tried very hard. In the field, according to Booh-Booh, Dallaire abandoned his military responsibilities to do politics, though that was not his job, and he violated the principle of neutrality by becoming the objective ally of the RPF. Moreover, Dallaire's "duplicity" was widely known in UN mission circles. Booh-Booh adds that "from a strictly military standpoint, UNAMIR controlled absolutely nothing under Dallaire's command", citing as an example his total failure to rid Kigali of arms and militias.

Booh-Booh's comments about Dallaire's political involvement in Rwanda raise important questions, especially in light of Boutros-Ghali's statements during the 10th anniversary commemorations.

Boutros-Ghali, who told me in a 2002 interview that the Rwandan genocide was 100 percent American responsibility, also told the French daily Libération that one of the UN's problems in Rwanda was that "the Department of Peacekeeping Operations [headed by Kofi Annan at the time] was very much infiltrated by the American authorities. Since the we [the UN] lacked money, we recruited officers who were on their own government's payroll."

This statement should be considered together with Dallaire's candid boasts in his book that he violated fundamental rules of a peacekeeping mission by going over the head of the mission chief, Booh-Booh, and communicating directly to the DPKO leaders Kofi Annan and Maurice Baril at UN headquarters.

Can Dallaire's intense--and unsuccessful--involvement in Rwandan politics and his pro-RPF stance be explained by the fact that he was receiving instructions directly from US or pro-US people in the UN's peacekeeping operations department? This is very plausible since we know that from the early 1990s the United States, along with Great Britain, was openly challenging France in French-speaking Africa, and particularly in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). The English-speaking Rwandan Patriotic Front, based as it was in Uganda, was perceived as a means to accomplish that end.

On the other hand, Boutros-Ghali, whom Madeleine Albright nicknamed "Frenchie", was perceived as an obstacle, as undoubtedly was the head of the UN mission in Rwanda, Jacques-Roger Booh-Booh. Soon after the Rwandan tragedy, the US unceremoniously dumped Boutros-Ghali--Albright vetoed renewal of his mandate--and installed Kofi Annan, thereby further advancing their strategy in French-speaking Africa.

Add to this the fact that Dallaire was chosen for the position in 1993 mainly because the United States demanded a French-speaking military commander, and ideally anti-French. Obviously that excluded a French national. Anybody who follows Canadian politics knows that that type of military person can be found in Ottawa, where distrust and dislike of France are at the heart of all foreign policy.

These links help explain both Kofi Annan's and Romeo Dallaire's silence regarding the shooting down of the plane carrying the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi--both have persisted in calling that SAM missile attack an "accident" or a "crash", and Kofi Annan's reaction regarding the plane's Black Box following the Bruguière revelations was frankly insulting. All information, all research and all investigations, and especially Judge Bruguière's, now point to Paul Kagame and the Rwandan Patriotic Front. If and when France issues international arrest warrants for the perpetrators of that crime, Kofi Annan and Romeo Dallaire will have a lot of questions to answer.

Another example of Romeo Dallaire naysayers is Colonel Luc Marchal who led the UN troops in Kigali. Unlike Dallaire who tours the world to defend Paul Kagame and the RPF, Marchal is very critical of both. "I am personally very convinced in the RPF's implication in the Rwandan tragedy", writes Marchal in a 1998 letter, "because I too had been fooled by their smart propaganda during the Arusha negotiations [in 1993]. Once I was in Kigali, the gulf that separated what was said and what was really happening became obvious. In fact the RPF movement is totalitarian and it crushes absolutely everything in its way." He also pointed out in a 2003 interview that the shooting down of President Habyarimana's plane would have required months to plan and carry out, and that the rapid deployment of RPF troops in Kigali and in the North on April 7, 1994 would also have required months to prepare. Marchal leaves no doubt that he suspects the RPF of committing that crime and considers it to be crucial to understanding what happened after.

In a much more honest book about the Rwandan events published in 2001, Marchal also clearly implicates the United States in the 10-year cover-up of the April 6, 1994, terrorist attack that triggered the terrible massacres. "Who is powerful enough to have prevented a real international inquiry from casting light upon the events that occurred when President Habyarimana was flying home from a regional summit in Dar Es-Salaam?"

Robin Philpot is a Montreal writer. His book Ça ne s'est pas passé comme ça à Kigali (That's not what happened in Rwanda) will soon appear in English. Robin Philpot can be reached at rphilpot@sympatico.ca


Weekend Edition Features for May 8 / 9, 2004

Robin Philpot: Ça ne s’est pas passé comme ça à Kigali (That's Not Waht Happened In Rwanda)

Robin Philpot: Ça ne s’est pas passé comme ça à Kigali

Richard Gervais
22-03-2004
phipotkigaliRobin Philpot
Ça ne s’est pas passé comme ça à Kigali

Montréal, Les Intouchables, 2003, 223 pages

Le titre de cette enquête de Robin Philpot fait écho à celui du roman de Gil Courtemanche, Un dimanche à la piscine à Kigali (Boréal, 2000) : même thème, même rime, même métrique (alexandrins ternaires). Curieuse ressemblance qui… s’arrête là.

Philpot soutient en effet que la tragédie rwandaise des années 1990 ne correspond pas au récit « officiel » qu’avalise Courtemanche. Ça ne s’est pas passé comme ça à Kigali comporte même un chapitre (« Le fond de la piscine — Gil Courtemanche », p. 125-133) qui taxe le romancier québécois de colonialisme et le compare à Rudyard Kipling sous le rapport de la « suffisance » et de la « bonne conscience » colonisatrices (p. 127). Pour Philpot, Un dimanche à la piscine à Kigali est un surgeon de la littérature populaire qui avait cours en Europe au plus fort du colonialisme et dont Le livre de la jungle peut représenter l’archétype (R. Kipling, The Jungle Book, 1894). Cette littérature justifiait les visées métropolitaines sur les « colonies » par la supériorité inhérente de l’homme blanc et sa prétendue mission civilisatrice (son « fardeau », pour parler comme Kipling dans un poème de 1899, The White Man’s Burden, où la domination de l’homme blanc sur les peuples non-blancs est sublimée en responsabilité paternelle de veiller à leurs affaires).

Philpot reproche en outre à Courtemanche de se servir du genre romanesque comme d’une échappatoire. Rappelons que l’auteur d’Un dimanche à la piscine à Kigali, également journaliste de métier, avertit en préambule que son roman « est aussi une chronique et un reportage ». Cette garantie de véracité n’impressionne pas Philpot, qui y voit plutôt une « astuce » permettant à Courtemanche « de lancer des accusations d’une gravité inouïe contre des personnes vivant tantôt en prison à Arusha [siège tanzanien du Tribunal pénal international sur le Rwanda], tantôt en exil en Afrique, en Europe, en Amérique, pour ensuite se cacher derrière le titre de romancier dès qu’on lui oppose un fait contredisant ses allégations » (p. 125). Ça lui permet aussi de « donner libre cours à son imagination et à ses fantasmes […] sur l’Afrique et les Africains qu’il prétend connaître » (idem).

Mais l’essentiel du livre de Philpot est loin de consister dans la critique du best-seller de Courtemanche. Ça ne s’est pas passé comme ça à Kigali conteste le discours « aimable et convenable » qu’il sied de tenir « dans les salons d’Europe et d’Amérique » sur la tragédie rwandaise (p. 12). L’ouvrage de Courtemanche n’est qu’une expression parmi d’autres de ce discours omniprésent.

Ontarien d’origine, Philpot est établi au Québec depuis trente ans. Il a séjourné trois ans en Afrique francophone, dont deux à Koudougou au Burkina Faso comme professeur d’anglais et d’histoire. C’est d’ailleurs en provenance de cette ville burkinabé qu’il arrive au Québec en 1974. Il est aussi l’auteur d’un essai qui a eu son retentissement à l’époque : Oka : dernier alibi du Canada anglais (Montréal, VLB, 1991, réédité en 2000). Il y dénonçait l’utilisation canadienne de la crise d’Oka à des fins anti-québécoises. Son essai sur la crise rwandaise poursuit aujourd’hui un but similaire, bien qu’il n’a évidemment pas le même objet : « combattre des idées reçues insidieuses fondées sur des préjugés et des stratégies politiques cachées » (p. 19).

Quelles sont ces idées ? Il s’agit du discours « officiel » sur la crise rwandaise qui prétend entre autres que « le Rwanda est un beau petit pays au cœur des ténèbres africaines où d’horribles génocidaires Hutus ont tué un million de Tutsis sans défense après l’écrasement de l’avion d’un dictateur le 6 avril 1994 » ; que « l’ONU et la communauté internationale ont tristement échoué en refusant de donner suite à l’alarme donnée dès le 11 janvier 1994 par le vaillant général canadien Roméo Dallaire et aux nombreux avertissements d’intrépides organisations non gouvernementales » ; que « la France, inique et complice, ancienne puissance colonisatrice toujours prête à protéger des dictateurs, a volé au secours des génocidaires avec son opération Turquoise » ; que « le FPR [Front patriotique rwandais], sous l’habile direction militaire et politique de l’actuel président [du Rwanda] Paul Kagame, a mis fin au génocide en prenant Kigali le 4 juillet 1994 et en accédant au pouvoir le 19 juillet » ; que « suite aux pressions d’ONG impartiales […] la communauté internationale s’est ressaisie en créant un Tribunal pénal international pour le Rwanda, en inculpant les génocidaires sanguinaires et en amenant les "gros poissons" devant la justice à Arusha, grâce notamment à la procureure canadienne Louise Arbour, devenue [depuis] juge à la Cour suprême du Canada » ; etc. (p. 12-13).

Ce que les faiseurs d’opinion publique ont appelé les « ténèbres africaines », l’arrière-fond incompréhensible, obscur, instinctuel, démentiel, pour tout dire « noir » de la crise rwandaise, sont en réalité les tenants et aboutissants d’une situation politique (sociale, économique, institutionnelle) non moins explicable que d’autres crises. L’invocation de l’Afrique ténébreuse n’est qu’une résurgence du préjugé colon (l’adjectif est de moi, que le préjugé mérite bien). L’enquête de Philpot montre comment, dans le cas du Rwanda et de l’Afrique centrale, les États-Unis et leurs alliés invoquent les ténèbres comme d’autres brouillent l’eau, pour mieux y pêcher.

Le rôle des acteurs canadiens y perd de son lustre. Pour faire ce travail international, il fallait de préférence des candidats qui, outre l’anglais, parlent le français tout en étant méfiants à l’égard de la France et acquis à la géopolitique « nord-américaine ». Or, écrit Philpot : « on trouve ce genre de francophones à Ottawa » (p. 164). C’est à propos de Louise Arbour, nommée procureure générale du TPIR, que Philpot dit cela, mais la formule peut s’appliquer à tous les Canadiens qui sont intervenus à haut niveau dans cette région, tels le général Roméo Dallaire ou l’envoyé onusien Raymond Chrétien.

Dallaire a fait le jeu de l’impérialisme américain dans la région. Les États-Unis ne voulaient pas voir la France s’y engager militairement et manœuvraient pour empêcher la communauté internationale d’intervenir. George Moore, sous-secrétaire d’État, déclare en 1993 devant le sénat américain : « Nous devons assurer notre accès aux immenses ressources naturelles de l’Afrique, un continent qui renferme 78 % des réserves mondiales de chrome, 89 % de platine et 59 % de cobalt » (p. 196). Puis Ron Brown, secrétaire américain au commerce, à Dakar en 1995 : « Les Américains vont tenir la dragée haute aux partenaires traditionnels de l’Afrique, à commencer par la France. Nous ne laisserons plus l’Afrique aux Européens » (idem). Ces visées stratégiques américaines sont un facteur majeur à considérer dans la tragédie rwandaise par delà les images d’horreur que la télévision nous en a transmises.

La première partie du livre, la plus importante en dimension (p. 25-113), traite des « événements qui ont amené le Rwanda au bord de la catastrophe » (p. 20). En 1959, révolte sociale de la majorité hutue contre l’aristocratie tutsie et fuite de nombreux Tutsis vers les pays voisins, dont l’Ouganda. En 1962, indépendance du Rwanda, suivie de la redistribution des terres aux paysans hutus et de l’instauration d’un régime républicain. En 1990, invasion du Rwanda par une partie de l’armée ougandaise, incorporant de nombreux exilés tutsis, sous le silence complice des diplomaties occidentales. « Le gouvernement du Rwanda ainsi qu’une vaste majorité de la population ont perçu cette invasion comme une contre-révolution visant à remettre au pouvoir l’aristocratie tutsie », précisera Philpot (p. 17). C’est là un autre facteur majeur à considérer. L’enquête de Philpot porte surtout sur les événements concomitants ou postérieurs à cette invasion de 1990, événements que le « récit aimable et convenable » néglige : « une guerre meurtrière de trois ans et demi [consécutive à l’invasion ougandaise] ; l’imposition, en pleine guerre, du multipartisme qui viendra miner la capacité du gouvernement rwandais et de son armée à combattre l’envahisseur ; l’imposition par la communauté internationale, les États-Unis en tête, d’un soi-disant processus de paix qui donnera effectivement le pouvoir à l’envahisseur ; les interventions d’organisations dites non gouvernementales qui calomnieront le Rwanda et toute son histoire moderne et qui serviront de paravent pour l’armée d’invasion et surtout pour les intérêts américains et britanniques en Afrique » (p. 20). Ajoutons à cette liste l’attentat de 1994 contre les hutus Juvénal Habyarimana et Cyprien Ntaryamira, présidents respectifs du Rwanda et du Burundi, attentat scandaleusement banalisé, selon Philpot, en simple « écrasement d’avion » et qui déclencha pourtant les tueries d’avril à juillet 1994.

L’histoire contemporaine a enregistré ces tueries comme « génocide ». Cette thèse d’un génocide planifié des Tutsis par les Hutus est contestée par Philpot. Il ne nie pas les massacres : « on a vu les images, les machettes, les corps, les squelettes. Personne ne peut prétendre que cela n’a pas eu lieu » (p. 21). Mais génocide n’est pas synonyme de tuerie tout court ; génocide, c’est tuerie d’un seul bord, c’est, en droit international, l’extermination systématique de populations entières appartenant à un groupe ethnique, racial, religieux. Si j’essaie de résumer l’idée de Philpot, les tueries rwandaises n’ont pas été d’un seul bord et elles s’inscrivaient dans une guerre qui avait pour finalité le contrôle politique du pays, non quelque extermination génocidaire. Aussi, Philpot peut-il écrire que « les tentatives de ramener cette tragédie à une histoire d’horribles génocidaires hutus qui ont tué tous les Tutsis innocents aidés par une France colonialiste ne font qu’occulter les causes du drame et protéger les vrais criminels » (p. 21). S’il a raison, la suspicion est de mise quant au valeureux TPIR pourchassant les génocidaires hutus !

Les fabricateurs de ce récit manichéen, Philpot les nomme. Figurent dans sa liste Gil Courtemanche pour le Québec, Carole Off pour le Canada, Philip Gourevitch pour les États-Unis et Colette Braeckman pour la Belgique. La deuxième partie leur est consacrée (p. 115-156), qui explique « une des façons dont ce récit s’est imposé : par les livres et les autres publications » (p. 21-22).

La troisième et dernière partie (p. 157-200) traite de « certaines suites de la tragédie rwandaise » (p. 22), dont le TPIR et la crise des réfugiés. Dans le premier cas, Philpot met en doute l’impartialité de ce tribunal et dénonce son utilisation politique ; dans le second, il montre que le FPR de Kagame au pouvoir à Kigali a utilisé la crise des réfugiés de 1996 dans l’Est du Zaïre pour envahir ce pays à l’instigation des États-Unis qui voulaient là aussi déloger la France.

Conclusion générale : « le monde entier doit revoir la crise rwandaise » (p. 201). Pour empêcher bien sûr la répétition d’une telle horreur dans d’autres pays. Mais pour savoir aussi qu’un nouvel impérialisme se lève sur l’Afrique, avec cette fois les États-Unis en tête. Réédition de l’odyssée civilisatrice de « la race anglo-américaine » sur laquelle, comme on le sait depuis l’explorateur britannique Livingstone, « repose l’espoir de la liberté et du progrès du monde » ! Plus près de nous, à propos de la seconde invasion américaine en Irak, des commentateurs n’ont-ils pas parlé de l’« anglosphère » en marche ?…

A note to Paul Kagame from 1930 Prison

A note to Paul Kagame from 1930 Prison

Originally published by Ambrose Nzeyimana:http://therisingcontinent.wordpress.com

In the Rwandan prison infrastructure, ‘1930 Prison’ is noticeably one of many places for depriving freedom to supposedly convicted criminals. One of its recent residents was the US lawyer Pr. Peter Carl Erlinder. The prison takes its name from the year it was built. I suppose Paul Kagame knows well about it. What I am not sure is if he personally chooses where to imprison those he finds most worthless or useless of all in order to punish them exemplary. For example I would’ve liked to know if I am detained in this horrendous location because of his grace. At least I would feel I have some importance in his eyes. Hopefully through this note he can recall if he weather sent me here or not.

I am a seventy year old woman and single mother. Before being thrown in here, I had in my care an elder sibling and five orphans of the Rwandan wars since 1990. My health is not stable because I regularly suffer from high blood pressure. For that reason I was meant to be taking medication periodically when I could afford it. I was arrested and imprisoned after I was sent a ‘Gacaca’ court order calling me to attend a trial. A speedy ‘Gacaca’ court hearing was held within three weeks of receiving the court order. I wasn’t represented by any lawyer. It was decided to get me imprisoned immediately. The sentence is for 30 years of imprisonment. The same number of years you spent in exile. What an irony this can be!

The reason I am writing this note is to let you know that you have done everything possible, humiliating me, dispossessing me, and dehumanizing me, to destroy my soul, but you haven’t finished me yet. If you had I won’t be writing you. I would say I have been lucky but not unfortunately for long. I am getting weaker every day. I don’t know if you are aware of the thousands of Rwandans who regularly disappear in your prisons. I feel you have put us in slow motion crematoriums that are speedier or slower in taking our lives depending on personal circumstances of each inmate.

This is selfishly about me, though I imagine there may be thousands of inmates who would also like to tell you something. They have their own selfish reasons for not doing so. As selfish as you too must be when you decide that people like us must be incarcerated for whatever reason. I don’t think you even consider us as humans when you order to get rid off us. Though I presume you go along that line because like anybody else you must be a selfish human.

I cannot get out of this prison like Pr. Peter Carl Erlinder who was incarcerated here a few weeks ago. As he said he is a white American and a lawyer. He managed to get out as soon as possible because he couldn’t bear the conditions we persistently experience day and night year after year when we manage to survive. Luckily he counted on the fraternity of lawyers around the world and an international movement of supporters to advocate for his innocence and release. I don’t have that. This is the case for thousands of inmates who have been in here for years or others you round up everyday.

Despite my innocence for alleged crimes of genocide you want me to die here for your own satisfaction. While I was still relatively free, I remember you telling Stephen Sakhur from BBC Hard Talk that you had some right to kill Juvenal Habyarimana, your predecessor. You said, ‘I wasn’t responsible for his security. And he wouldn’t have cared if I had died. I don’t care that it happened to him. I was fighting that government, the government that made me a refugee for those years, for which I had a right to fight about, and the Judge (Jean-Louis Bruguiere) wants to ask me why?’ Frankly I don’t buy into that right to kill. Imagine if all refugees had such right and the means to exercise it. I would fear for you first. I sense that you find pleasure in other people misery, particularly when your hand is involved.

As Election Day on August 9th nears, I am sure you will claim as in 2003 that, “others are advocating genocide. But you need not be afraid when you elect me on Monday. I will protect you.” Maybe you don’t realize that your protection is killing us, unless our death doesn’t matter as long as you are elected. I feel frankly sorry for my compatriots that you will force to vote you as president unwillingly. As in 2003 for the presidential or 2008 parliamentary elections, like in a comedy show which is repeated several times, there won’t be significant changes in the script. These are detailed acts of the show as prepared for the presentation on Monday 9th August 2010 that I can predict.

1. On Sunday 8th August, or even before that, in some Rwandan local authorities at their lower levels, electoral staff with government officers will sign electoral cards for citizens under their jurisdiction, to prove they have voted even before election day
2. In the early hours of Monday 9th the same signatories of election cards will present them to registered citizens for fingerprinting; as one would expect, all the cards will be RPF ones
3. In other places, they will get citizens to wake up as early as 4.00 am so they can force them to vote RPF before any international monitor comes to observe the process
4. By 7.00 am voting will have finished in some places; when it should officially start at that time
5. In other rural areas, loud speakers will be used from 3.00 am calling people to get out and go to vote RPF
6. This campaign will go on until the previous day of the poll, though legally campaigning will have officially stopped days before
7. The National Electoral Commission will work hand in hand with RPF as the former is serving RPF political policies
8. International observers if any will not get permission to monitor the voting
9. Generally these international observers will be ignorant of the working patterns of RPF; they will feel proud to be neutral advocates of a non-existent opposition, while represented parties are all an RPF coalition and supportive of your re-election for their selfish interests
10. In some places, members of the coalition other than RPF may complain to their leaders about irregularities, but they will be explained that this was earlier agreed between members of the RPF coalition.

I would like to know how you will feel when the National Electoral Commission will announce that you won by more than 85% as 99.9% would be unthinkable as if there wasn’t any opposition. Professor Karangwa, the chief executive of the commission, is clever enough to make the results look much plausible despite the scale of fraud and rigging of votes which is being meticulously prepared.

Few months ago I was told that you claimed that no one could do a military coup against you. I hope you don’t think I am planning one and come after me. I pray strongly that no foolish individual attempts on your life. Otherwise they won’t be different from you. On the other hand, I remember as if it was yesterday what it was like after April 6th, 1994. Despite the inhuman life I have come to be customized to in your prison, I wouldn’t want to see my compatriots experience similar circumstances as when Juvenal Habyarimana was killed. His killer got what he wanted, but at what a human cost.

Though I am in 1930 Prison, I can still write you this note. You tried to restrict my thinking, but unfortunately I cannot help it. That’s what I am left with to exercise some free will. If the fool I mentioned killed you accidentally, I may also die prematurely, and we would miss this opportunity, which in a sense makes me feel better despite everything else. Hopefully, I will still be around, the day you may become my neighbor inmate, before me being allowed to get out.

MRND OFFICIALS HAD NO PLAN TO STAGE COUP D'ETAT

28.06.10 - ICTR/KAREMERA - MRND OFFICIALS HAD NO PLAN TO STAGE COUP D'ETAT, CLAIMS BAGOSORA - Arusha, June 28, 2010 (FH) - Genocide-convict Theoneste Bagsora, Monday refuted prosecution claims that top leaders of then Rwandan ruling party, MRND, refused to nominate a successor of President Juvenal Habyarimana because they had a plan of staging a coup d'Etat to take over power.
"There is a paradox here. Those required to take power after death of president on April 6, 1994 refused to accept the offer given to them by the international community. This means, the theory of launching a coup d'Etat is not true," he told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
Bagosora, who has been jailed for life for masterminding the 1994 genocide, was referring to MRND President Mathieu Ngirumpatse, Vice-President Edouard Karemera and Secretary General Joseph Nzirorera, when defending the latter.
The prosecution claims in the indictment that the trio staged a conspiracy of forming interim government to implement genocide policy by meeting with Bagosora on April 7, 1994 in the Ministry of Defence office, where he served as Director of Cabinet.
Examined by Nzirorera's co-counsel Patrick Mayidika, the witness testified, however, that he had met with MRND officials to convey a message from the UN Secretary General Representative for them to replace the deceased president.
"Paradoxically, they did not obey that message. They said they were not in a position to nominate the successor according to their party's constitution, which required calling for a congress. By that time it was not possible to convene a congress meeting," he testified.
Bagosora, now waiting for the hearing of his appeal case, continues with his testimony on Tuesday. Nzirorera and his colleagues are charged with crimes allegedly committed by members of their party. The prosecution has indicted them for their superior responsibility as top officials of the party then in power in 1994.
© Hirondelle News Agency

Detained victims of the last police crackdown on opposition still in agony.

Press Release : Detained victims of the last police crackdown on opposition still in agony.

The Permanent Consultative Council of Opposition Parties in Rwanda (PCC) C/O. B.P. 6334 Kigali , Rwanda , Tel : +250 788563039,+250 728636000, +250 788307145

Press Release : Detained victims of the last police crackdown on opposition still in agony.

The National Electoral Commission (NEC) is wrapping up nominations for Presidential Candidates today, as opposition politicians arrested last week when it started receiving nominations are still imprisoned, under torture and suffering inhumane torments in police cells. The victims are in agony and have been denied medical care.

The Permanent Consultative Council of Opposition Parties in Rwanda (PCC) is deeply concerned with this inhumane treatment from state organs. There are persecuted because they are opposed to the ruling party and were demonstrating for their civil and constitutional rights, since the National Electoral Commission in complicity with other Government institutions have blocked the genuine opposition from participating in the upcoming August presidential elections.

The planned demonstration on 24th June 2010 was sabotaged by the Government when Maitre NTAGANDA Bernard, founding president of PS Imberakuri was violently grabbed from his home by agents of the National Police. Since then he has been day and night in handcuffs in different police cells. The Party Secretary General, Theobald MUTARAMBIRWA and several Imberakuri members are still held up.

The same day several members of FDU Inkingi were arrested. Though some have been released others are submitted to severe tortures and denied medical attention. Ms. Alice MUHIRWA, the party treasurer, is still bleeding due to boots kicks into her stomach. Mr. Sylvain SIBOMANA, the party secretary general, needs an urgent x-ray as he was hardly beaten several times while his legs and arms were tied behind his back. Mr. Theoneste SIBOMANA (party leader in Kigali) needs a concussion evaluation after head injury which was bunged on wall many times during torture. The medical condition of the following prisoners is not known : the party lawyer Maitre Theogene MUHAYEYEZU, and the party member Martin NTAVUKA. They all have symptoms of torture and degrading treatments.

How can the incumbent President Paul KAGAME, his regime and police explain the arbitrary arrests, torture, inhuman and cruel treatment of the opposition leaders ?

We call upon the Rwandan Government to immediately release these political prisoners without any further delay and investigate the reported cases of torture and barbaric martyrdom.

Issued at Kigali, 2nd July 2010

Mrs. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza

Chairperson, United Democratic Forces

Mr. Frank Habineza

Chairman, Democratic Green Party of Rwanda

Prof.Peter Erlinder said: Arrest in Kigali “a nightmare”

Peter Erlinder, lead defense counsel for top genocide suspects at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), was released from a Rwandan prison on June 18th. The law professor was charged with genocide denial after questioning the official Rwandan version of the 1994 genocide. Click here to listen to the Radio Interview that Prof.Erlinder held with Chad Hartman

Erlinder was detained on May 28th while in Kigali to defend opposition presidential candidate Victoire Ingabire.

He spoke to IJT’s Hermione Gee about his detention.

The arrest was a nightmare. I was having my breakfast coffee and finishing my croissant at the pool of my hotel when six young men surrounded me and very politely said come with us. They took me to a police facility, where I was held for about three hours or so. I was not questioned very much. Then we drove back to the hotel. They had a search warrant to search my room, but I had no idea what they were looking for. Everything I could ever be accused of saying is published on the web, so I was not sure what they expected to find in my room.

Did they tell you what you were charged with?
I am being investigated for speech and thought crimes, not because of anything in the material world. Rwanda has passed so-called call genocide denial laws or genocide ideology laws and they claim there is something similar to Holocaust denial laws in Europe. I guess there are some similarities but because the way they define genocide is so broad that anyone who questions the government’s version of events during the civil war that led to them taking power is accused of either being a genocide denier or having genocide ideology and the sole accusation is enough.

What did they ask you during the interrogations?
They would take out an article that I had written - which is available on the web - read excerpts to me and ask what I meant by that, inquiring about what my positions were. Basically it was based on my public writing.

Then they started to ask questions about what had had been filed in court. For example, there’s a pending lawsuit against Kagame in Oklahoma city for the assassination of [former Rwandan President] Juvenal Habyarimana and Burundian President Ntaryamina. They quoted sections from that pleading as my crime.

And then I also quoted the indictments issued by the French judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere - who also laid the responsibility over Habyarimana’s murder at Kagame’s doorstep - and Spanish judge Morales - who had identified 350,000 Hutu victims of [Kagame’s] RPF soldiers.
The fact that I cited the indictments they issued was used as a basis to charge me with a crime. As well as my arguments at the ICTR.

Have the charges against you been dropped?
I don’t think so. In the Rwandan system these investigations can go on indefinitely. Now, the investigation can proceed. If they decide to charge me we’ll deal with it at that time. Or, if during the investigation, I am called back to provide more evidence I will keep my pledge to return.


I am a legal academic, a lawyer and not a scofflaw. I have no hesitancy defending myself on the merits in court. I would love to do that. In fact, if I had the opportunity to do that I could then introduce into the Rwandan courts all of the documents that I have already accumulated. That will mean the people of Rwanda for the first time in history will be able to see what their real history is. I am not sure if the Rwandan government is going to want that to occur. click here to read the Rwanda Document Project of Prof.Peter Erlinder which details the new revelation of how Rwanda genocide happened and the international involvement.


If it turns out that the legitimacy of the government is based on a story that is factually untrue, and if having the trial requires me to prove that its factually untrue - which I am prepared to do - it might seem to me that logic would prevail. But logic doesn’t necessarily drive these decisions.


However, it is also true that in the interim the UN and the ICTR have both concluded that everything that I am charged with is covered by the immunity that I have because of my work at the ICTR. It all derives from that. So then the effect of that immunity has to be addressed some time in the future if I am called back

Political repression in Rwanda in lead up to poll

Insecurity and political repression are increasing in advance of Rwanda's August 2010 presidential elections, Human Rights Watch warned Monday.

In the last two days, an independent journalist has been killed, the leader of an opposition party has been detained by the police, and other opposition party members have been arrested.

"The security situation is rapidly deteriorating," said Rona Peligal, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "With only 45 days left before the election, the government is lashing out to silence its opponents and critics."

The Rwandan government should investigate all incidents of violence and ensure that opposition activists and journalists are able to carry out their legitimate activities in safety, Human Rights Watch said.

Jean-Leonard Rugambage, a journalist for the newspaper Umuvugizi, was shot dead shortly after 10pm on June 24 outside his home in Nyamirambo, in the capital, Kigali. His colleagues and other sources in Rwanda told Human Rights Watch that the assailant appeared to be waiting for the journalist as he returned home.

As Rugambage drove up to his gate, a man approached his car and fired several shots at close range, hitting him in the head and chest. Rugambage died on the spot. The assailant then drove off. Police arrived on the scene and took Rugambage's body to the police hospital in Kacyiru for autopsy. The police stated on June 25 that they were investigating his death.

Umuvugizi, an independent newspaper that has often been critical of the government, had published an article online on the morning Rugambage was killed, alleging that the Rwandan government was behind the attempted murder of a former Rwandan general, Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, in South Africa on June 19, and implicating senior officials. General Kayumba, once a close ally of President Paul Kagame and a former chief-of-staff of the Rwandan army, has become an increasingly outspoken critic of the government since fleeing to South Africa in February 2010. Umuvugizi's editor said that Rugambage had been investigating the murder attempt on Kayumba and had reported being under increased surveillance in the days leading up to his death.

"We are shocked and saddened by the death of this courageous journalist," Peligal said. "Freedom of expression is already severely restricted in Rwanda, but the death of Rugambage is a further chilling blow to investigative journalism and, more broadly, to freedom of expression in the country."

Human Rights Watch called on the Rwandan authorities to ensure that those responsible for Rugambage's murder are brought to justice without delay, and to ensure the security and protection of other journalists.

In the early hours of June 24, police entered the house of Bernard Ntaganda, leader of the opposition party PS-Imberakuri, and took him away for questioning. He has spent two days in police custody and is believed to be detained at Kicukiro police station. The exact accusations against him are not confirmed, but it is thought that the police have questioned him, among other things, about his alleged involvement in an attempted arson attack on the house of former party vice-president, Christine Mukabunani, and inciting ethnic divisions.

Members of the PS-Imberakuri reported that the police raided Ntaganda's house and the party's office and took away documents and other belongings. By June 25, the party's flag and sign had been taken down from their office.

Later on the morning of June 24, several members of PS-Imberakuri were rounded up by the police and taken into custody after they gathered outside the US embassy; they had gone there to ask for help following Ntaganda's arrest. Some were released, but several, including the party's secretary-general, Théobald Mutarambirwa, remained in detention in various locations in Kigali on June 25.

Also on the morning of June 24, police arrested several members of the FDU-Inkingi opposition party, who had gathered outside the Justice Ministry to protest a court case against their party president, Victoire Ingabire. Most were released on June 25, but the party's secretary-general, Sylvain Sibomana, treasurer, Alice Muhirwa, and Kigali representative, Theoneste Sibomana, were still in detention at the police station in Kicukiro on June 26. Some FDU-Inkingi members reported that when the police broke up their gathering, the police told them that they should stop being members of the party. Police also surrounded Ingabire's house at about 6am on June 24, and stayed there for most of the day.

Members of both parties reported being beaten by the police.

On June 25, the Commissioner General of Police issued a statement saying that about 40 individuals had attempted to hold a demonstration without a permit, that 22 people had been arrested and questioned, 14 had been released and eight were being held for further questioning.

"These incidents are occurring at the very moment that parties are putting forward candidates for the presidential elections," Peligal said. "The government is ensuring that opposition parties are unable to function and are excluded from the political process."

The killing of Rugambage was not the first incident of violence against journalists. In February 2007, a group of assailants attacked Umuvugizi's editor, Jean-Bosco Gasasira, in a near fatal incident outside his house, after he spoke out at a presidential news conference about the harassment of journalists. No one has been brought to justice for the attack.

In July 2009, the information minister publicly declared that "the days of the destructive press are numbered," referring to Umuvugizi and a second independent newspaper, Umuseso. Within 24 hours, the national prosecutor's office had summoned Gasasira to answer allegations of defamation, a criminal offense punishable with imprisonment. Gasasira was convicted and sentenced to pay a large fine. Umuseso faced similar defamation charges for exposing scandals involving public figures. In February, a court sentenced its former editor, Charles Kabonero, to a year in prison and the current editor, Didas Gasana, and a reporter, Richard Kayigamba, to six months each. The editors of both newspapers have fled the country after receiving repeated threats.

On April 13, the Media High Council, a government-aligned body in charge of regulating the media, suspended Umuseso and Umuvuzigi for six months, and then called for their definitive closure. It alleged, among other things, that some of their articles constituted a threat to national security. The newspapers' appeal against the suspension is still pending. The suspension has effectively shut down most independent reporting in advance of the elections, since Umuseso and Umuvugizi were among the very few active independent newspapers left in Rwanda. Umuvugizi has since posted an electronic version of its newspaper, but access to its website has been blocked inside Rwanda.

Incidents of harassment and intimidation of members of opposition parties have steadily increased in the months leading up to the August elections. Ntaganda and Ingabire, as well as their party members, have been especially targeted. Unless the situation changes in the very near future, none of the three main opposition parties (PS-Imberakuri, FDU-Inkingi, and the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda) will be able to take part in the elections. Parties and independent candidates must submit their candidacies to the National Electoral Commission by July 2.

FDU - Rwanda: Presidential campaign takes off with red marks:La campagne électorale démarre sur la ligne rouge

FDU - Rwanda: Presidential campaign takes off with red marks.
Share
Today at 8:38am
Press release

Kigali, 28th June 2010

Rwanda: Presidential campaign takes off with red marks.

The first day of the official registration of presidential candidates (24th of June 2010) was marred with mass arrests of opposition leaders and a brutal repression of peaceful demonstrators calling for the opening of the political space. The clampdown on the opposition members was marked by torture, arbitrary arrests, disappearances and ethnic demonisation. The assassination, the same day, of Jean-Léonard Rugambage journalist of the newspaper umuvugizi, critical of the government was a death blow to any independent newspaper critical of the regime and the incumbent. The landmarks of the red line of the no-go zone beyond which the opposition and the media are not allowed to cross are clear. The silence of bilateral partners of the regime over such a situation is tantamount to complicity in the repression.

The United Democratic Forces FDU-Inkingi condemns in the strongest terms possible arbitrary arrests of two members of the Executive Committee, Mr. Sylvain Sibomana, Secretary General and of Ms. Alice Muhirwa, Treasurer as well a the party official in Kigali city, M. Théoneste Sibomana. Other FDU members including Martin Ntavuka are still missing since the arrest. M. Osée Michel Nshimiyimana was admitted to a private clinic in Gikondo and is receiving treatment as a result of torture by the Security forces. Many members of our party arraigned by the police have reported cases of torture, inhuman and degrading treatments. The torturers were bragging to extirpate “genocide remnants” from the society. The ill treatments and other physical assaults took place in Police stations, in the Directorate of Military intelligence and in private residences. We would like to recall that the Founder Chairman of PS Imberakuri, Bernard Ntaganda, and the Secretary General, M. Théobald Mutarambirwa, are still in detention.

The repression against peaceful demonstrators comes in the wake of a media lynching campaign which has been scandalously sectarian. In fact the governmental mouthpiece Imvahonshya commenting on the decision taken by opposition leaders Mr. Bernard Ntaganda (parti social Imberakuli) and Ms. Victoire Ingabire (FDU- Inkingi) to stand for presidential elections, in its issue nr. 1980 (8-11April 2010, p.7), wrote that” descendants of Nazis are banned from standing for election in Europe whereas in Rwanda, they want to do so”. The Media High Council and the government never denounced that statement, meaning that they condone it.

The comparison made between opposition presidential candidates and Nazis by a governmental owned newspaper in order to belittle their rights and block them from the electoral exercise is racist and reflects an underlying collective criminalization of a section of the population, leave alone the incalculable consequences to our society. Those who are spreading the ideology that someone can be a genocidaire by birth, from generation to generation perpetuates the evil that led to genocide.
We consider that the criminalization of a whole section of the population for crimes committed by extremists and hardliners is also a crime. Condoning and espousing such a divisive ideology by members of the regime of President Kagame is an irrefutable proof that the policy of national reconciliation has failed.

My political ambition has always been to present and defend a national political programme that transcends ethnic affiliation and brings people together around a common political platform and not ethnic identity. Branding people as « candidates for hutus » is an insult and is at the same time an attempt by the detractors to conserve dirty ethnicity inside rwandan politics. One way to pre-empt politics based on ethnicity is to open the political space and to allow the population to go beyond and freely make choices based on political vision and programmes. The FPR regime has failed to do that.

We are calling on the Government to release immediately all our members and other political prisoners and to bring to justice people responsible for tortures and inhuman and degrading treatments

Our country is on the brink of chaos. The rising tension, nervousness, repression and the shrinking of the political space call for the postponement of the presidential elections. Otherwise the elections masquerade parading only the ruling party and its allied groups while excluding the opposition leaders and their political parties open questions to the legitimacy of the poll results.


Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza
FDU INKINGI
Chair.

RWANDA: La campagne électorale démarre sur la ligne rouge.
Share
Today at 8:10am

Rwanda : La campagne électorale démarre sur la ligne rouge.
Communiqué de presse. 26 juin 2010

Le ton de la campagne présidentielle est marqué ce jeudi 24 juin 2010 par des rafles de leaders de l’opposition, la répression cruelle des manifestations pacifiques, les tortures, les détentions arbitraires, les disparitions et la diabolisation ethnique. L’exécution sommaire, le même jour, du journaliste Jean-Léonard Rugambage porte le coup de grâce adressée à la presse indépendante. La marge d’expression de l’opposition est ainsi marquée par cette ligne rouge. Le mutisme persistant des partenaires bilatéraux du régime est un silence complice.

Les Forces démocratiques unifiées - FDU Inkingi s’insurgent contre la détention arbitraire de deux membres de leur comité exécutif, M. Sylvain Sibomana, secrétaire général, et Madame Alice Muhirwa, trésorière ainsi que du représentant de Kigali Ville, M. Théoneste Sibomana. D’autres membres, dont M. Martin Ntavuka sont portés disparus. M. Osée Michel Nshimiyimana a été hospitalisé dans une clinique privée à Gikondo, suite à des tortures. Parmi des centaines de nos membres raflés par la police, des cas de tortures, de traitements inhumains et dégradants ont été rapportés. Les tortionnaires, en infligeant les sévices, prétendaient extirper les relents génocidaires. Ces faits se sont déroulés dans les locaux de la police, des services de renseignements militaires ainsi que dans des résidences privées. Rappelons que le président fondateur du PS Imberakuri, Me Bernard Ntaganda, et son secrétaire général, M. Théobald Mutarambirwa, sont toujours en détention.

La répression de cette manifestation pacifique fait suite à une campagne médiatique haineuse. En effet, dans son numéro 1980 du 8 au 11 avril 2010, page 7, le journal gouvernemental Imvahonshya, a qualifié de « descendants de nazi » Mme Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza du parti FDU Inkingi et Maître NTAGANDA du parti PS Imberakuli. Ni le Haut-Conseil des médias, ni le gouvernement, n'ont dénoncé ces propos diffusés par un média de l’Etat, ce qui signifie qu'ils les cautionnent.



Ce parallélisme émanant du journal gouvernemental, comparant des candidats aux élections présidentiels à des nazis pour justifier notre exclusion du processus électoral est raciste et révélatrice d'une idéologie aux conséquences incalculables pour notre pays, à savoir une criminalisation collective. Les tenants de cette thèse de péché originel génocidaire qui se transmettrait de génération en génération perpétuent sciemment l’idéologie qui a facilité l’exécution du génocide.

La globalisation de la responsabilité des crimes commis par des extrémistes à tout un groupe ethnique est aussi un crime. Nous dénonçons vigoureusement toute politique qui couvrirait de telles dérives. Qu’un tel discours divisionniste soit accepté par le gouvernement de Paul Kagame est une preuve irréfutable de l’échec de sa politique de réconciliation nationale.

J'ai l'ambition de dépolariser la façon de faire la politique au Rwanda et de défendre mon projet politique, plutôt que mes origines ethniques. Nous coller l’étiquette de « candidats des Hutus » est une insulte et en même temps une tentative d’ethnisation et de cristallisation de la vie politique. L’un des moyens de prévenir le vote ethnique est d'ouvrir l'espace politique afin de permettre aux citoyens de se revendiquer d'une autre appartenance, c'est-à-dire d’un projet de société, d’une vision politique.

Nous appelons à la libération immédiate de tous nos membres ainsi que d’autres prisonniers politiques et à la traduction en justice des auteurs de tortures et traitements dégradants infligés à nos membres.

Tout ce climat de nervosité, de tensions, de répressions et de verrouillage total de l’espace politique plaide pour un report de l’élection présidentielle. Il n’y aura pas de légitimité réelle aussi longtemps que le gouvernement refuse l’enregistrement des partis d’opposition et n’aligne que des candidats de son obédience.



Madame Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza
FDU INKINGI
Présidente


Tel : (+250) 078583600 Fdu.inkingi.rwa@gmail.com
http://www.fdu-rwanda.org/ – http://www.victoire2010.com/ Join us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Victoire-Ingabire-Umuhoza-for-President/109504816547- Watch us on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/FDUInkingi123 - Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/VictoireUmuhoza

Rwandan Opposition Leaders and members have been assaulted, arrested and hundreds are still missing.

PCC : For Immediate Release :

Rwandan Opposition Leaders and members have been assaulted, arrested and hundreds are still missing.

The Permanent Consultative Council of Opposition Parties in Rwanda (PCC) C/O. B.P. 6334 Kigali , Rwanda , Tel : +250 788563039,+250 728636000, +250 788307145

For Immediate Release : Rwandan Opposition Leaders and members have been assaulted, arrested and hundreds are still missing.

A planned demonstration against the National Electoral Commission (NEC) has been blocked today, while they are receiving nominations for the Presidential Elections. The genuine opposition has been denied a chance to participate in these presidential elections. The planned demonstration was blocked this morning when Maitre NTAGANDA Bernard, founding president of PS Imberakuri was violently grabbed from his home by unidentified armed plain clothed officers. Sources suggest that he is held incommunicado in a police cell. On the same occasion Ms. Victoire INGABIRE of FDU Inkingi woke up to find that her house had been surrounded by armed policemen and was prevented to get out of the residence. The Democratic Green Party Leader, Mr. Frank HABINEZA, and his Vice President, Andre Kagwa RWISEREKA were held up by police, their National Identity cards and phones were taken for almost one hour at US Embassy in Kigali. Two Executive Members of FDU INKINGI, the Secretary General Sylvain Sibomana and the Treasurer Alice Muhirwa are missing. The Secretary General of PS Imberakuri, MUTARAMBIRWA Theobald is believed to be in police custody.

The ‘Parti Social Imberakuri-PS Imberakuri, had written to the Mayor of GASABO district on 17th June 2010, requesting for permission to demonstrate on 24th June 2010. The Letter specified that the demonstrations were to start from the Prime Minister’s Office in Kimiruhura, continue to the Parliament and then end at the Ministry of Local Government in Kacyiru, where a public message was to be read.

The District never responded by Wednesday, 23rd June and Maitre NTAGANDA a senior Lawyer and advocate, confirmed to other opposition Leaders that legally in this case silence is not NO, and the program remained as planned.

To our surprise early this morning, the Democratic Green Party Leader, Frank HABINEZA, received a phone call from PS Imbearakuri Secretary General, informing that the party Leader had gone missing and they have changed plans and instead of the planned demonstrations they will go to the American Embassy in Kacyiru and ask US Embassy officials to intervene in this serious situation. They also asked the Green Party Leader to help them out so that Maitre NTAGANDA could be released.

To our surprise upon arrival at the US Embassy visitors parking at around 09:00 local time, when we called the PS Imberakuri Secretary General, instead of getting his response we heard a lot of commotions on his phone and by the time we reached outside the US Embassy buildings, we saw police chasing PS Imberakuri members and also saw others being arrested and being put on Police Vans. The Secretary General is believed to be in police custody with hundreds of other Imberakuri members.

We proceeded and talked to US Embassy officials and after a while as we were leaving the US Embassy grounds, police stopped us and took away our National Identity Cards and Phones for about an hour. Both the President and Vice President of the Green Party were released, thereafter but without any harm.

Meanwhile, hundreds of members of FDU Inkingi were arraigned and beaten by policemen at Gishushu (Remera) and in front of the Ministry of Justice in Kimihurura. They were heading to a peaceful demonstration in front of the Ministry of Justice to request the government to lift restrictive measures and false charges against their leader Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza who remains since April 22nd 2010 bailed under house surveillance deprived of her political rights. Demonstrators spontaneously reacted to the statement by the General Prosecutor that the government does not have enough evidence to prosecute and challenge the case in a court of law.

The Permanent Consultative Council of Opposition Parties in Rwanda is deeply concerned with the deteriorating political harassment and denial of political space in Rwanda ahead of the August 9th Presidential elections.

The Government of Rwanda has continuously done all political manoeuvres to deny the genuine political opposition a chance to exist and be able to participate in the upcoming Presidential elections.

The Ruling Party-RPF has indeed shown to the Rwandan people and the International community that it is too scared to compete with the real opposition and has rather resorted to getting stooge candidates to compete with.

That is the real picture of President Kagame’s RPF competing with stooge candidates of PSD, PL and other satellite partners, who have been comfortably enjoying ministerial and parliamentary positions along the RPF state party for the last 16 years.

The opposition in Rwanda has been subjected to verbal, physical intimidation and abuse. The legal framework has also been used to stop the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda and United Democratic Forces (FDU–Inkingi) from registering their political parties and exercising their political rights. The Democratic Green Party of Rwanda’s founding convention on 30th October 2009 was sabotaged violently, by people suspected to be connected to security organs and others to be working for the Government. The Green Party Leader, Mr.Frank HABINEZA has also received several death threats, the latest one indicating that he is supposed to be killed before the August 2010 Presidential Elections. Despite the fact that he reported this matter to the police and wrote to the Minister of Internal Security, he never received any response.

The FDU Inkingi Leader, Ms.Victoire INGABIRE was physically assaulted early this year in a Government office at Kinyinya-Kigali. She has also faced serious allegations and has been charged for working with a terrorist organisation and as well for having a genocide ideology. Her Party has also been refused chance to register on pretext that its leader has criminal charges, which must be cleared first. The problem though is that even though she was charged in court, she has never been given chance to defend herself. Instead her lawyer, Peter Erlinder, was arrested as well.

All these actions are done by the Government to demonise these politicians and make them hated by the population.

PS Imbearkuri is the only opposition party that had managed to get registered last year, but its leader Maitre Bernard NTAGANDA, has faced a lot of challenges and was summoned by the Rwandan Senate on charges of having the genocide ideology. The party has now been divided into several factions, one illegal faction was recently recognised by the Government after its head was appointed Vice President of the pro-Government’ Political Parties Forum, though they very well know that this Lady has never been gazetted or approved by the cabinet according to the Rwandan Law.

The legally recognised Leader, Maitre NTAGANDA is now unable to present his credentials for official nomination as a Presidential Candidate by the Electoral Commission. This division is believed to be done by the Ruling Party-RPF in order to weaken the real opposition and deny it a chance to participate in the upcoming August 2010 presidential elections.

Neither Ms.Victoire INGABIRE, FDU-Inkingi’s Presidential candidate, nor, Mr. Frank HABINEZA, Democratic Green Party of Rwanda’s Presidential candidate will be able to present their credentials for approval by the Electoral Commission, since both of their parties have been denied a chance to register in time and they are not criminals.

We call upon the Rwandan Government to postpone these elections until the political field is levelled enough to allow a peaceful competition for political power in Rwanda.

We request the President of Rwanda to use his powers as vested to him by the Constitution to impress upon the Rwandan Government officials to allow political parties that are critical of the ruling party-RPF, (the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda and FDU-Inkingi) to get registered and exercise their full political rights and as well let the legally recognised leader of PS Imberakuri, Maitre Bernard NTAGANDA, manage his party without any outside interference.

We would like to remind H.E. Paul KAGAME that he under took an oath seven years ago, to protect the Rwandan Constitution. He is the custodian of the Law. The Constitution guarantees multi-party politics and democracy in Rwanda. We call upon His Excellency, the President of the Republic to respect his pledge.

Done at Kigali, 24th June 2010.

Mrs. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza

Chairperson, United Democratic Forces

Mr. Frank Habineza

Chairman, Democratic Green Party of Rwanda

L'HISTOIRE DU GENERAL EMMANUEL HABYARIMANA (MUKARU)

L'HISTOIRE DE NOTRE AMI LE GENERAL EMMANUEL HABYARIMANA

Kigali gronde Berne pour des fadaises


Pour le Rwanda, il est inadmissible que la Suisse ait délivré des visas à des officiers «félons».

Emmanuel Habyarimana est aujourd'hui réfugié en Suisse. Il est l'ancien ministre de la Défense de Paul Kagame (à gauche). Ce dernier, président du Rwanda, cherche aujourd'hui à faire passer l'ancien militaire pour un félon aux yeux de Berne.

Les autorités rwandaises sont fâchées contre la Suisse. Elles l'ont fait savoir à la délégation helvétique menée par l'ambassadeur Walter Fust, directeur de l'Aide suisse au développement (DDC), qui a visité ce pays en janvier dernier. Une étrange histoire provoque l'ire de Kigali: il y a deux ans, la Suisse aurait généreusement distribué une vingtaine de visas à des opposants au régime de Paul Kagame, président du Rwanda.


Berne aurait notamment permis la fuite de plusieurs militaires de haut rang, dont le général Emmanuel Habyarimana, ancien ministre de la Défense de Paul Kagame. Ce général de brigade porte le même nom que l'ancien chef d'Etat Juvénal Habyarimana, tué lors du crash de l'avion présidentiel en avril 1994, juste avant le génocide hutu contre les Tutsi. L'ex-ministre est accusé de «divisionnisme», c'est-à-dire d'attiser la haine entre Hutu et Tutsi, les deux ethnies du pays. Selon un rapport du Parlement rwandais, cet «extrémiste hutu» aurait dû rendre des comptes et témoigner de ses actions passées.

Roger de Diesbach

******************************************

Un certain affolement

A la fin mars 2003, toujours selon les autorités de Kigali, le général Habyarimana a pris la fuite pour l'Ouganda avec sa maîtresse et deux officiers, le colonel Ndengeyinka, député à l'Assemblée nationale, et le lieutenant Alphonse Ndayambaje. Alors que Berne passe à Kigali pour avare en matière de visas distribués, les fugitifs ont obtenu rapidement quatre visas pour la Suisse. Plus tard, la représentante de la Suisse au Rwanda a reçu l'ordre de délivrer treize visas à différents membres des familles et autres proches des militaires.


Dernièrement enfin, avec les Etats-Unis et d'autres pays européens, la Suisse a accueilli des militants de la Ligue rwandaise pour la promotion et la défense des droits de l'homme (LIPRODHOR), traqués par le régime de Kigali. Le rôle courageux de Pierre Combernous, ambassadeur de Suisse au Kenya, en charge du Rwanda, aurait permis d'ouvrir la porte de l'asile à ces militants en fuite. C'est pour cette raison, murmure-t-on, que l'ambassadeur Combernous aurait été prié de ne pas accompagner Walter Fust lors de son périple rwandais, ce qui est peu usuel. A écouter les silences gênés de Berne, on se demande si le conflit du Rwanda ne déchire pas aussi le Département fédéral des affaires étrangères.

Les autorités rwandaises, de leur côté, ont fait savoir à la délégation suisse qu'elles jugeaient inadmissible que Berne ait donné aussi rapidement des visas aux officiers félons. Elles ont ajouté qu'Habyarimana en aurait profité pour rejoindre au Congo l'armée des ennemis du pays. Un certain affolement a soufflé sur la délégation suisse qui a promis de se renseigner, ce qui fut fait sans tarder. Elle s'est dit que l'ordre de distribuer ces visas ne pouvait venir que de très haut, et de lorgner vers les services de renseignements helvétiques...


Autre son de cloche

****************************************************

Enquête faite, la réalité est toute différente et c'est l'ancien Office fédéral des réfugiés qui a décidé de délivrer ces visas. Avec raison. Si le président Paul Kagame voulait «écarter» son ministre de la Défense, ce n'est pas parce que ce dernier était rattrapé par son passé «monstrueux». Au contraire, le général devenait de plus en plus populaire dans l'armée et l'opinion publique en majorité hutu. C'est donc bien le rival, et non pas le félon, qu'il fallait écarter avant les élections rwandaises d'août 2003.


Selon la journaliste belge Colette Braeckman, l'une des meilleures observatrices de la scène rwandaise, «le général Habyarimana fut longtemps considéré comme un exemple au Rwanda, tout comme le colonel Ndengeyinka, député à l'Assemblée nationale. Ces deux officiers supérieurs hutu, anciens membres des Forces armées rwandaises (FAR) du régime Habyarimana, étaient parfaitement réintégrés dans la nouvelle armée nationale de Kigali».


la vengeance du régime

Les deux hommes ont tout quitté en quelques heures, craignant d'être arrêtés ou liquidés. Ils ont raconté le 13 juin 2003 leur désappointement au journal «Le Soir». Après s'être engagés dans la réconciliation nationale, ils disent avoir ouvert les yeux face aux coups portés contre de nombreux Hutu modérés qui avaient opté pour le nouveau régime de Paul Kagame. Le premier ministre Twagiramungu a été écarté. Puis il y a eu l'assassinat à Nairobi de Seth Sendashonga, un Hutu également, l'un des fondateurs du FPR (l'organisation militaire de Kagame).


Depuis, le général Habyarimana est réfugié en Suisse (lire ci-dessous) et, au Rwanda, la vengeance du régime est retombée sur ses proches. Le 1er avril 2003, un de ses amis, le général Augustin Ngirabatware, avait été arrêté et mis au secret. Damien Musayidizi, son secrétaire lorsqu'il était ministre de la Défense, a «disparu» le 3 avril. Augustin Cyiza, conseiller d'Habyarimana lorsqu'il était ministre de la Défense, militant des droits de l'homme reconnu au niveau international et vice-président de la Cour suprême, a été enlevé à Kigali le 23 avril 2003 et vraisemblablement assassiné. RdD

RdD/DR

*/*******************************************************

«Kagame doit répondre de ses crimes»


Le général Emmanuel Habyarimana ne se bat pas contre les troupes de son propre pays au Congo. Il est réfugié avec sa famille en Valais, à Sion, et prend des cours à l'Institut européen de l'Université de Genève.

«La Liberté»: Selon le gouvernement Kagame, vous seriez un extrémiste hutu, dangereux pour l'unité nationale?

Emmanuel Habyarimana:


- Lorsque j'étais réfugié à Kampala, ils m'ont même traité de génocidaire. Durant l'ancien régime du président Juvénal Habyarimana, avec lequel je n'ai aucun lien de parenté, j'ai été jeté en prison, le 27 octobre 1990. J'y suis resté une année pour intelligence avec l'ennemi, c'est-à-dire avec le FPR de Paul Kagame, actuel président du Rwanda, avant de passer devant un conseil de guerre qui m'a blanchi. Bien que je sois diplômé de l'Ecole royale militaire de Belgique, ils n'ont pas voulu me réintégrer dans l'armée. De fin 1991 à 1994, j'ai été directeur des sports.

Et pendant le génocide?

- Quand la guerre génocidaire a éclaté en 94, j'étais au nord-est du Rwanda, à Nyagatare, où plus de 20 000 fugitifs tutsi étaient regroupés. J'ai été réintégré dans l'armée alors même que Kigali envoyait des autobus de militants chargés de massacrer ces Tutsi. J'ai refoulé les tueurs et sauvé ces réfugiés, leur permettant de s'enfuir vers l'Ouganda voisin. Après diverses mésaventures, je me suis retrouvé à Kigeme où les massacres avaient déjà commencé. On a arrêté les tueries et protégé les fugitifs. Avec d'autres officiers, nous avons publié la Déclaration de Kigeme contre le génocide, mais aussi contre les massacres du FPR qui tuait depuis 1990 chaque fois qu'il passait quelque part. En juillet 94, le gouvernement hutu a levé contre nous une expédition punitive. Nous avons été attaqués par la garde présidentielle et sauvés de justesse par les Français de l'opération «Turquoise».

Vous auriez pu demander l'asile en Europe?

- Oui. Mais je suis rentré à Kigali le 29 juillet 94. Après trois mois de camp de réadaptation, j'ai été réintégré dans les rangs de l'Armée patriotique rwandaise, la branche armée du FPR. J'ai représenté l'armée à l'Assemblée nationale et réorganisé la justice et l'administration militaire. J'ai travaillé directement avec Kagame. Il m'exploitait mais je n'en souffrais pas car j'avais l'impression de participer à la stabilisation du pays. Secrétaire général, puis secrétaire d'Etat, je suis devenu ministre de la Défense lorsque Kagame a quitté ce poste pour devenir président.

Et les problèmes ont commencé?

- J'ai réorganisé le statut des militaires et me suis opposé à l'avancement que Kagame voulait donner à des Tutsi ougandais, des officiers de sa famille ou des proches qui avaient du sang sur les mains, comme Fred Fbingira nommé général de la Division Kiga-Kitarama alors qu'il a été condamné pour les massacres de Kibeho. C'est aujourd'hui le bras droit du président. Je me suis aussi opposé à la poursuite des tueries au Congo et me suis battu pour le respect des droits de l'homme, de l'Etat de droit et de la justice. Une loi qui introduisait le Forum des partis stipulait qu'un parti politique ne pouvait se réunir que sous les auspices du FPR. J'ai dit ouvertement que c'était le début du totalitarisme. Je me suis aussi opposé à la privatisation et à la vente à des proches de Kagame de plantations de thé. Créées il y a trente ans, elles appartenaient à la population.

Vous deveniez pour Kagame un rival dangereux?

- Kagame a eu peur que je pose ma candidature aux élections d'août 2003, alors qu'il savait que je n'étais d'aucun parti politique. Soldat d'abord, je n'avais d'ailleurs pas le droit d'adhérer à un parti. Au Rwanda, les Hutu sont bien plus nombreux que les Tutsi. Ma candidature et ma respectabilité pouvaient donc représenter un risque pour le président tutsi. Ils m'ont accusé de «divisionnisme», moi qui lutte depuis toujours pour la réconciliation. Sous Habyarimana, j'ai obtenu que des Tutsi soient réintégrés dans l'armée. J'ai fait de même pour des militaires hutu sous Kagame.


Propos recueillis par RdD

*****************************************************

«La Suisse doit s'investir pour la paix»

Dans la nuit du 1er avril 2003, averti de sa proche arrestation par une dame tutsi, Emmanuel Habyarimana prend la fuite à pied pour l'Ouganda avec deux officiers. La dame a fait de même deux semaines après, déguisée en bonne soeur. «Mais à Kampala, on a refusé de nous garder en Ouganda», explique-t-il. «Nous avons demandé des visas à plusieurs pays. Comme la Suisse a réagi la première, nous avons pris l'avion pour Genève d'où l'on nous a conduits au Centre de Vallorbe, puis en Valais. Nous avons depuis lors reçu l'asile politique et obtenu 13 visas au nom du regroupement familial.» Aujourd'hui, l'ex-ministre se dit heureux de l'accueil que la Suisse lui a réservé. «Mais je pense que votre pays devrait s'investir pour le rétablissement de la paix dans la région des Grands Lacs.»


Amer, découragé, il ne l'est pas. «Je suis convaincu que la justice finira par triompher. Paul Kagame est un criminel qui devra répondre un jour de ses crimes, tout comme les génocidaires. Il ne pourra pas y avoir de réconciliation au Rwanda tant que l'impunité régnera.» RdD
Document source:
laliberte.ch Author:la liberte.ch
Our URL:http://www.barundi.org