Against Genocide in the African Great Lakes

Arms dealers in African conflicts

2012-02-23T15:56:00.001-08:00

Britain was responsible, until mid-1994, for at least six deliveries of arms to the Rwandan Hutu regime, at a time when it was evident in Kigali (where Britain maintained an embassy) that tensions were building towards a genocidal civil war. The contract was worth $6m and included GPMGs, MAG 58s, grenades, rockets mortars, rifles, ammunition etc.

In the early morning of January 22, 1994, a DC-8 aircraft loaded with armaments from France, including 90 boxes of Belgian-made 60 mm mortars, was confiscated by UNAMIR at Kigali International Airport. The delivery was in violation of the cease-fire clauses of the Arusha Accords, which prohibited introduction of arms into the area during the transition period. General Dallaire put the arms under joint UNAMIR-Rwandan army guard. Formally recognizing this point, the French government argued that the delivery stemmed from an old contract and hence was technically legal. Dallaire was forced to give up control over the aircraft.

Mil-Tec Corporation Ltd (UK)
A UK company, Mil-Tec Corporation Ltd, was involved in arms supplies to the Hutu regime at least from June 1993 to mid-July 1994. Mil-Tec had been paid $4.8 million by the regime in return for invoices of $6.5 million for the arms sent. The manager of Mil-Tec, Anoop Vidyarthi, was described as a Kenyan Asian who owned a travel company in North London and was in business with Rakeesh Kumar Gupta. They both fled the UK shortly after the revelations.

6 June 1993 ($549,503 of ammunition from Middle East to Kigali);

17–18 April 1994 ($853,731 of ammunition from Middle East to Goma);

22–25 April 1994 ($681,200 of ammunition and grenades from Middle East to Goma);

29 April - 3 May 1994 ($942,680 of ammunition, grenades, mortars and rifles from Tirana to Goma);

9 May 1994 ($1,023,840 of rifles, ammunition, mortars and other items from Tirana to Goma);

18–20 May 1994 ($1,074,549 of rifles, ammunition, mortars, rocket propelled grenades and other items from Tirana to Goma);

13–18 July 1994 ($753,645 of ammunition and rockets from Tirana to Kinshasa).

Weapons were brought into the region from just about everywhere. For instance, there were 47 contracts from dozens of countries to supply arms or equipment, expertise and/or training etc either to the Burundi government or to armed Hutu rebels attached to organisations such as the CNDD, Palipehutu, Frolina or FDD.

The US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency says Companies shipped $100m worth of weapons to Angola until 1995. Portugal was responsible for a similar amount, including refurbished T-62 tanks and BMP-2s bought surplus in Eastern Europe in a deal made through Jose Antonio de Saraiva, the financial advisor to the Sultan of Brunei.

The Czechs also provided Angola with another $100m for tanks, ACVs, artillery, anti-aircraft guns and ammunition.

Historically, Russia (in the post-independence period) has always had the largest share of the Angolan arms market. While details are sparse because of tight security, the sales that are listed total only $300m. The inventory does not include 50 Russian fighters, squadrons of Mig-17s and Mig-24 helicopters, almost 250 APCs, dozens of T54/55s and many tons of ammunition, much of it brought into the country onboard the Russian cargo ship Modul.

Elsewhere, South Africa is quoted as having supplied Eland Mk7 armoured cars to Pascal Lissouba's forces before he was defeated in Congo-Brazzaville. There were also $12m worth of multiple rocket launchers and other sophisticated weapons, though a spokesman for Mandela's government claimed that there was "nothing lethal in the deal".

In the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, a $26m French arms sale (as alleged by the UN) was made in a 1996 violation of the EU arms embargo. This was denied by the Elysee Palace.

Egypt, too, was involved in the1994 Rwandan Genocide against Tutsi. Cairo supplied the Rwandan Hutu led Armed Forces with Kalashnikovs, landmines (2,000 MAT-79s), explosives, RPGs, artillery and a range of ammunition. The deal, again quoted in the New York Times article, was apparently financed by the French bank Credit Lyonnais. Egypt had a hand in trans-shipping Bulgarian arms to Rwanda.

Curiously, Spoornet, the South African state railway network was involved in shipping weapons northwards to Burundian and Rwandan Hutu rebels. This was done through rail links in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Tanzania. Human Rights Watch confirms that Spoornet officials were aware that weapons were being moved.

1994 Rwanda Genocide against Tutsi

2012-02-15T08:13:00.001-08:00

Rose Mapendo:Survivor of DRC Genocide against Tutsi

2012-02-09T03:57:00.003-08:00

Rose has a powerful story of courage, forgiveness, and peace building.

Her story can be divided into three parts:

1. Her life in Congo

2. Her life in death camp

3. Her life in the United States

Her Life in Congo Before 1998

Rose Mapendo is a Tutsi Congolese from the Tutsi Banyamulenge tribe born in a remote village of Mulenge in East Congo. She was married like the majority of girls at a very early age (16 years) in 1979. She never been to school and was raised to become a wife and a mother. In 1994 she moved from her village to a big city called Mbujimayi (the capital city of Kasai Oriental) to give her six children a chance to attend school boys and girls alike, a chance she never had. Her and her husband who was educated started a successful Butcher business. Her husband was the only son of her parents. She and her husband wanted to have as many children as they can have. In 1998 Rose’s life became a nightmare.

Rose's Life in Death Camp

After 1994 genocide in Rwanda, Rose never thought that it would happen in her country (Congo). In Aug 2, 1998 she was surprised by the government (Mayor) who sent police officer to her house looking for her husband, however she denied that her husband was home while she hidden her husband in home. Consequently, she was taken with her 10months child by police officer to their office to be questioned regarding the location where the husband is and also about where is their money. She said that her husband went to buy more cows for the business. Because their questioning about money, she asked them of how much money can she offer to protect her family and they said that they will think about it. During that period the president had already announced on TV to kill all the Tutsi and take their possessions such as their belonging and money. From that moment she decided to relocate her husband to a safe place. In her own belief, she thought that there are no reason that the government could kill children and women. So in order to protect her family, they all stop going outside during day time. Her Congolese friends and neighbors volunteer to shop for her family. Any time she needed anything she provided the money to them for any shopping needed. September 23, 1998 the government arrested her with seven children together with other 4 families belonging to Tutsi tribe (Banyamulenge). The arrest was at night time around 11:00pm when everyone in the neighborhood sleeping. There were three military trucks full of soldiers. Suddenly, she found herself in death camp with other four families. October 2, 1998 all men were killed by torturing them. They left only children and women saying that lets put them in death camp because they didn’t want to waste their bullets on Tutsi “cockroaches “ women and children. “ We will let them die them one by one by starvation, and all different kinds of abuse”. During the death camp, Rose found out that she was pregnant. There was no food, no water, nothing to sleep on or to be covered with during night time. Rose never had a chance to visit the doctor and they were guarded by four soldiers 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The death camp was located in the militia brigade’s an old classroom for military academy. There were mango trees in the surrounding. Due to starvation children and women started to eat green mango that caused them diarrhea of blood. Rose suffered and struggled with her pregnancy and her seven children. Rose cried out by questioning God why did He make her to be a Tutsi? Why is she a Congolese? Why is she a woman?, and why He lets her become pregnant while, as God, He knew that all this was going to happen? Rose was angry at God because she was arrested because of who God made her to be and it was not her choice to be who she was, a Tutsi/Banyamulenge woman. And she was telling God that if being a Tutsi is a crime that is God’s crime because He is the only one who made different tribes, genders and races.

Rose was afraid of what will happen by the time of the birth because she was sharing the same death camp room with 32 children and 4 other women after their husbands were executed. Two of these women and two of these children died in the government’s eyes with starvation and infections. In reality we did see them die because they were taken away from us in a very critical condition and never came back.

Rose was begging to God to let her die before her children and before giving birth to new born she was sure will not survived the worst hygiene and health conditions they were in. Rose did not have anything to feed children; her body was covered of lice, and the prison cell she was sharing with other 34 other detainees were full of flies that were attracted by the floor covered by children’s poop as there was no bathroom. Children were having diarrhea of blood and were suffering from malnutrition. The only medicine we were using was the crushed tomato leaves that we were sticking in wounded anal opening.

Rose was asking God to either take the pregnancy out or don't let it grow. After asking God all these questions she began to think about how the soldiers will come and take her children to be killed as it was done to many others. She began to think about suicide. But when she looked at her children, it was hard for her to kill herself and leave her children alone after her husband was murdered. She was very angry against God who created her as Tutsi and as a woman. She was sure God did not create her as a Tutsi and a woman by mistake or by accident

Rose skin was pealing off and was hardened because of sitting and laying of an unclean, cold, and unprotected cement floor. Lice and dirt caused itching and sores. She had only one cloth she wore during these 16 months she spent in death camp. No one day the captors gave them even soap or a tooth brush

After all these suffering she felt that she will not make it and she realized that she was going to die. But she wanted to die free from anger and bitterness. Rose asked God for forgiveness whatever bad thoughts she had and whatever bad words she said about God. She also decided to forgive her captors/enemies who consider her as their enemy.

After forgiveness she became free from anger against God and her enemies. She felt her joy and inner peace with herself and others. Something has changed inside her even though suffering was still the same and worsening. And it was time for her to give birth while she didn't know that she carried a pregnancy of twins because she never visited any doctor since they were put in death camp. Her joy and peace she had after forgiveness inside her helped her to stay positive.

She gave birth in a dark room without any electricity and with 29 children in the same room. She gave birth in silence because she did not want to scare children and did not want the soldiers/guards to know because everyone they took to “the hospital” never came back. For them the hospital was the place they were throwing dieing people because they were coming the next day to tell us that we need to be grateful to them because they buried the person they took.

Rose gave birth to the first baby on a concrete floor that never been cleaned for the eight months they were in. But she realized that her abdomen was still kind of big. The other woman who survived with her was standing behind her to prevent children from contemplating the scene told her that she might have another baby inside. 10 minutes later the second baby was born.

The small and weak new born babies were laying on a dirty floor. Rose and the other woman could not found any thing to cut umbilical-cords. Rose asked the other prisoner lady who was helping her to give to give her a piece of wood which she used to cut the umbilical-cord. Rose took the string from her to tie them off to stop bleeding. Miraculously, after giving birth to twins, she named them after her enemies in order to protect her children by telling them that she is not their enemy.

Rose's Life in the United States

Upon her arrival in the United States, Rose did not forget people who did not have a chance to be resettled in the United States she left behind. She started saving some money to send to the most vulnerable people: widows and orphans. She was mobilizing other refugee to contribute some money to send to the less fortunate people in refugee camps and in internally displaced groups.

Rose started Mapendo International and worked with resettlement for six years. But even though she understand and full support that people like her get resettlement to safer places, she also realized that it was a very small portion who get that chance. More than 99% of those who are victim and who are greatly suffering are in Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi. Rose decided to focus on helping in these countries. She and her brother, Dr. Kigabo joined forces and co-founded Mapendo New Horizons.

Source: Mapendo New Horizons

14th August 2004 Genocide against Congolese Tutsi

2012-02-08T12:49:00.000-08:00

In 1998, late Congolese President Désiré Kabila and his government launched a hate campaign that incited hatred and violence against Tutsi communities of DRCongo,among those who fled the first waves of genocide against Tutsi of DRCongo, they migrated to neighbouring Burundi where they lived in refugee camps.At dawn on the 14th August 2004,a group of Congolese mai mai militia,Rwandan hutu genocidaires,Burundian hutu militias crossed from DRCongo into Burundi and massacred Congolese tutsi who were at the Gatumba refugee camp, 160 tutsi were brutally burnt with the complete silence of the UN Military base which was just 20minutes away from the camp, the youngest victim was 3Months old, perpetrators of this crime have gone unchallenged and were integrated in Burundi government.

On August 13, 2004 a force of armed combatants, many of them members of the Forces for National Liberation (Forces pour la Liberation Nationale, FNL), massacred at least 152 Congolese civilians and wounded another 106 at Gatumba refugee camp, near Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi. The FNL is a predominantly Hutu rebel movement known for its hostility to Tutsi and the victims were largely Banyamulenge, a group often categorized with Tutsi.

Witnesses described finding charred and bloody bodies at the camp for the Tutsis escaping recent violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"People were sleeping when the attack happened. People were killed as they tried to escape," Eliana Nabaa of the UN mission in Congo said, quoted by the Associated Press news agency.

"The scene is absolutely horrific. There are many people burnt - families, children, women and men burnt," she said".

The attackers... moved towards the refugee camp, playing drums, ringing bells, blowing whistles, and singing religious songs in Kirundi. At least two local residents heard them sing, “God will show us how to get to you and where to find you.” One other heard shouts of “Ingabo Z’Imana,” “[We are] the army of God.” Many reported hearing attackers sing choruses of “Allelluia” and “Amen.”

Even in the midst of the noise and confusion of the attack some refugees did not immediately understand the danger. Some believed the attackers were bandits coming to steal the cows stabled nearby. Others believed those singing the religious songs had come to save them especially since some attackers were shouting “Come, come, we’re going to save you”. Anyone who stepped out the entry of a tent was immediately gunned down, as was one father who sought to save his two children by flight. The attackers, usually only two or three at a time, ripped open the tent flaps and slit the sides of the tent. Often they stayed at the entrance to the tent and either ordered people to come out or just began shooting into the tent. They then threw or shot incendiary grenades that caused the tents to catch fire.

Of the just over 800 refugees, 152 were killed, all Banyamulenge except for fourteen Bembe people. One hundred and six were wounded. Most victims were women and children. Early the next morning a Human Rights Watch researcher went to the site. She found government and international officials preoccupied with determining the cause and extent of the disaster. Ignored by all of them, a child three or four years old stood alone crying in front of a still smouldering tent.

On Friday 13th August 2004, at least 156 civilans were massacred at the Gatumba refugee camp, in Burundi. The victims were burnt, shot and hacked to death with machetes. All were of Tutsi ethnicity.

The Hutu-extremist group Palipehutu-FNL has claimed responsibility for the Gatumba massacre, one of many that they have carried out against civilians in recent years. We the undersigned urge the United Nations Security Council:

*To condemn the Gatumba massacre in the strongest terms

*To make a firm commitment to investigate the Gatumba massacre as a War Crime, and bring those responsible to justice

*To hold the leadership of Palipehutu-FNL accountable for their campaign of violence against civilians in Burundi.

Please sign the Petition calling for Justice on the following link.

Tribute to General Fred Gisa Rwigema

2012-02-05T15:58:00.000-08:00

FDLR's anti-Tutsi Genocide agenda in the African Great Lakes

2012-02-04T07:59:00.000-08:00

The gunmen who executed the Rwandan genocide and now fight in the Democratic Republic of Congo will "always" kill Tutsis because the two sides "cannot mix", according to a field commander.

By David Blair in Goma

1:57PM GMT 30 Nov 2008

At the root of Congo's turmoil is the presence of the militias who exterminated at least 800,000 people, largely the minority Tutsis, in neighbouring Rwanda 14 years ago.

Once, they called themselves the "Interahamwe", or "those who kill together". Now, they seek respectability under a new name – the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, known by their French acronym FDLR – and their fighters are deployed in Eastern Congo's lawless provinces of North and South Kivu.

They are bitter enemies of General Laurent Nkunda, the renegade Congolese Tutsi who has thrown a noose around Goma, North Kivu's capital.

While global attention has focused on Gen Nkunda, the FDLR's presence is the central cause of the bloodshed.

Major Vincent Habamungu, who commands the FDLR's "Tiger" unit, toldThe Daily Telegraph that nothing could stop their campaign. "We are fighting every day because we are Hutu and they are Tutsis. We cannot mix, we are always in conflict," he said. "We will stay enemies forever."

The FDLR's official goal is to return to Rwanda and topple President Paul Kagame. Although the movement tries to disown the genocide, many believe the FDLR also wants to complete the extirpation of the Tutsis.

Gen Nkunda portrays himself as the protector of the Tutsis, who also live in eastern Congo. Hence the FLDR's presence provides the justification for his rebellion.

Today, Congo is trapped in what one United Nations official calls a "vicious circle" of conflict. As long as the FLDR fights on, Gen Nkunda's campaign will continue. But the FDLR says it will only disarm if Gen Nkunda does the same.

Major Habamungu, who spoke from the Ishasha area of North Kivu, said the FDLR would fight all the way back to Rwanda. "We came from Rwanda and we always want to go back to our homeland. We are soldiers and we want to go back as soldiers," he said.

Major Habamungu, 38, joined the army of Rwanda's previous regime 15 years ago. He denies any part in the genocide of 1994.

"I cannot be accused because personally I did nothing in the genocide. I was only a soldier and a soldier protects people," he said.

As for the FDLR's responsibility, Major Habamungu said: "Everybody killed, Tutsis and Hutus. They accuse us of carrying out the genocide, but everybody killed."

This revisionism infuriates Rwanda's government. Mr Kagame also believes that European countries have shown inexcusable lenience towards the FDLR, despite its genocidal history.

The movement's overall leader, Ignace Murwanashyaka, has found refuge in Germany, where he lives in Mannheim. Also living in Germany is the FDLR's secretary-general, Callixte Mbarashimana.

The German authorities have arrested both men from time to time – but they have always been released.

America has criticised Germany's attitude, expressing "disappointment" that both men are "able to operate with impunity although they continue to support FDLR efforts to evade justice, propagate violence, abuse civilians, and illegally exploit Congo's mineral wealth".

Under UN Resolution 1804, President Joseph Kabila of Congo is obliged to disarm and repatriate the FDLR. Instead, he views them as tacit allies against Gen Nkunda's forces.

Meanwhile, the UN is making its own efforts to encourage FDLR fighters to surrender, but these move at a snail's pace.

For his part, Major Habamungu candidly summarised his movement's ideology. "We will never live in peace with them [Tutsis]. We have to fight them all the time," he said.

Source: The telegraph

H.E Kagame attends inauguration of new AU HQs

2012-01-29T05:35:00.000-08:00

President Paul Kagame yesterday took part in a ceremony to inaugurate the newly built African Union Conference Centre (AUCC).

The new 113 meter-high block will be the venue for the African Union Heads of State and Government Summit that kicks off Sunday.

The ceremony was also attended by Ethiopian Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, President of Equatorial Guinea and current Chairperson of the African Union, Jean Ping, Chairperson of the African Union Commission and Mr. Jia Qinglin, Chairman of the National Committee of the People’s Political Consultative Conference of China, as well as representatives of the international community.

The ceremony was marked by the unveiling of the Kwame Nkrumah monument, the laying of the first stone of the AU memorial for Human Rights, and the handing over of the keys of the New conference Center by the Chinese authorities to the Chairperson of the AU.The Conference Center was a donation from China.

The AU memorial for Human Rights that reads in part; “For all the victims of human rights abuses in Africa, including those of the slave trade and colonialism and particularly the Genocide in Rwanda, (1994)”, was unveiled by Presidents Kagame, Yayi Boni of Benin and Jacob
Zuma of South Africa.

President Kagame also attended the 26th meeting of NEPAD’s Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee (HSGOC) chaired by Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister and current Chairman of the HSGOC.

The meeting ended with the committee adopting the NEPAD report of activities and participants exchanged views on ways to increase productivity in the areas of agriculture to make the continent food secure.

The NEPAD meeting also discussed how to address issues of climate change; improve national resource management, strengthen regional integration and building infrastructure and human skills development.

HSGOC is comprised of Heads of State and Government from 22 African countries from the five regions of Africa.

Source: New Times

2012 Holocaust Remembrance Day Message

2012-01-27T10:12:00.000-08:00

Source: United Nations

Canada deports Rwandan accused in genocide

2012-01-24T01:05:00.000-08:00

Un procès saisissant, celui de Léon Mugesera (1) by LiliTheKing

MONTREAL — Canada deported Leon Mugesera, accused of helping to incite the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, ending his 15-year legal battle to avoid returning to his homeland.

"Leon Mugesera is now airbound for Kigali! Thank ordinary ppl in Canada who saw thru confusion in int'l legal labyrinth and said 'he must go,'" Rwanda's Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said in a message on Twitter.

Canada would not confirm his departure, said Public Safety Minister Vic Toews' spokesman Mike Patton, "for reasons of operational security."

But he added, "Canada has been resolute in its determination to see Leon Mugesera face justice in connection with allegations of promoting the genocide of hundreds of thousands of innocent people in Rwanda in the early 1990s."

Mugesera, now 59, made an infamous speech in 1992 that allegedly played a major role in sparking the 1994 genocide, in which radical ethnic Hutus killed as many as 800,000 Tutsis.

Two Canadian courts earlier Monday rejected last-ditch appeals to delay his deportation for six months so the United Nations Committee Against Torture could probe a claim that he faces political persecution in Rwanda.

Authorities immediately drove Mugesera to the Pierre-Elliott Trudeau airport, where his family sought to see him off, according to an AFP journalist at the scene.
The family, which can stay in Canada, declined comment.

Mugesera was to have been deported two weeks ago, but his appeals to the two courts and the UN had earned him a reprieve, until now.

In the 1992 speech, Mugesera allegedly called Tutsis "cockroaches" and "scum," and encouraged his fellow Hutus to kill them.

Mugesera fled to Canada the following year to avoid prosecution, then waged a 15-year legal battle to avoid being sent back.

Source: AFP

Consequences of Racism in Rwanda: We Need To Get Out of Apathy

2012-01-22T09:35:00.001-08:00

By Tom Ndahiro

One of the many foreign journalists who were in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide concluded that there were no more devils in hell because they were all in Rwanda.

Thousands of years ago, in Mesopotamia, the evils of life were attributed to the evil influence of the demons. Their number was almost without limit. To counteract their malice effectively, the sorcerer had to first identify/know the name of the demon. Similarly, the orgy of murder and bloodletting in Rwanda remains inexplicable to many. Yet, the causes are not difficult to identify. These are none other than the country’s post independence rule, with its foreign support and colonial heritage.

But, where were the Angels? Who had invited the devils in Rwanda and locked-up the Angels in heaven? What about the world, which ignored the cries and lives of more than a million people who had been victims of racist policies for over 35 years, that culminated into a genocide?

Millennia of human group migrations, which brought mixings of people, settlements, and cultural interactions, had made Rwanda a nation, hundreds of years before the advent of colonialism. Like in many if not all societies, there were divides. The difference amongst Rwandan inhabitants was based on modes of existence, which were on constant flow, but not on any notion of inferiority or superiority of any of the groups.

Role of Colonialism

After the Berlin Conference, in 1884, colonialists occupied Rwanda just as they did in many other parts of Africa. Unlike those other parts of Africa however, the country’s society had a unique composition, with a lot in common. Rwandans shared a national language, lived in the same villages, intermarried, and believed in the same “Imana y’I Rwanda”, the national God.

Missionaries and explorers, who were scholars of the mid-19th century racist theories that justified slavery and Christian evangelization, did not spare Rwanda. They developed myths that altered the national identity. Tutsis, whose occupation was said to have been cattle keeping, were labeled descendants of the Aryan or Caucasoid race; and Hutus as cultivators were designated Negroid or Bantu race. The former was a foreigner from somewhere in the north of Africa and the latter, the original inhabitant of the area.

Initially, emphasis was on group differences based on physical appearance, accompanied with notions of superiority and inferiority. According to their “establishment”, hereditary biology determined the two predominant Rwandan groups. It was alleged that behaviour, habits, attitudes and beliefs are determined before one is born. In colonial schools and administrative systems Hutus were excluded in favour of a few Tutsis. These discriminatory policies were nurtured to suit the colonialists’ exploitative interests to the detriment of the future Rwanda.

Racism in Rwanda by the colonialists was not just a Hutu/Tutsi affair. Islamic faith was kept under containment and remained as such. This Islamophobic attitude is made vivid in the letter Bishop Joseph Hirth wrote to the Superior General of the Congregation of White Fathers, on January 25, 1910 justifying the planning and establishment of a missionary post in the would be capital of Rwanda, Kigali. He stated clearly that he did not want there some people he considered to be the “worst elements”. According to his successor, Bishop Leon Classe, the “worst elements” were none other than Moslems. In his letter to the Superior General of the Congregation of White Fathers, April 28, 1911 he described Moslems as “immoral, and source of misery and instability to inhabitants of commercial and administrative centers.”[1]

In the early 1930, depending on the number of cows one had, new “ethnic” groups were introduced. If one had less than ten cows on the census day he became ‘Hutu’, and if he had more, he automatically was taken as a ‘Tutsi’. This was the first invitation of the devils from hell.

In 1959 a new definition of Rwandans emerged. In his pastoral letter, allegedly “in the name of love”, Catholic Bishop André Perraudin, manipulated, and grouped Rwandans into “races”, with all what the term race implies. Tropical Nazism had come. It was politically maintained, officially implemented in identity cards, glorified in schools and offices through quotas, and later justified as a symbol of democracy. Rwanda’s identity was thus transmuted, and the results are obvious. The country was divided, ruined and destroyed.

The Catholic Centre at Kabgayi, the residence of Bishop Perraudin, was used to spread Hutu propaganda.[2] The report of the International Commission of inquiry on the unrest in Rwanda of November 1959, dated 26/2/1960 also clearly noted: “The Belgian authorities exercised a decisive impact on the evolution of unrest … in certain chiefdoms, in the north of Rwanda, practically no Tutsi household was saved. The resistance organized by the Tutsi leadership was quickly suppressed by military action undertaken by the Belgian government”. The revolutionaries’ slogan at that time was ‘long live Belgium’, and as of 1960 they wished 25 years more under colonial rule!

The racist mayhem in the so-called Hutu revolution, but assisted by missionaries and the Belgian administrators and the army, turned the events to the worst, and saw the first wave of African refugees in their thousands streaming from Rwanda to neighbouring countries which were all still under colonial administrations. What followed in the early 1960′s is a long, and agonizing history of the victims, and uncalled-for silence on the side of the International Community, despite its physical presence in Rwanda in form of the United Nations’ observers.

Rwandan Authorities and Intellectuals

Since then, and after flag independence, Rwandans were trained and forced to be submissive. They went along with the colonial definition of who they should be, how they should behave and what they should think of themselves. Through schools, institutes of higher learning, Churches and the media, ‘intellectual’ ideologues (including priests) developed and multiplied all sorts of derisions and stereotypes inherited from colonialists to describe the Hutu and Tutsi.

A Hutu was tagged: Bantu, good Christian, pro-white, aborigine, authentic Negro, docile works, simplistic small-Negro, oppressed, slave, vulgar/lowly, indigenous, serf, cultivator, peasant and beast of burden… On the other hand, Tutsi was branded: Hamite, Communist, anti-white men, white-man’s rival, white-man’s cousin, lazy, cockroach, intelligent/cunning, giant, oppressor lord, noble, invader, feudal, cattle-keeper, aristocrat and born to rule…

And, this is why post-independence governments come second in rank as being crucially responsible for racism and division in Rwanda. Their first priority was the consolidation of hate and methods of eliminating their perceived enemies. The erroneous theory promulgated by the missionaries and colonial administration that the Tutsi had grossly exploited the Hutu for centuries continued to mould Hutu comprehension of Rwandan history and eventually became the primary ideological justification for genocide.

In agreement with this observation, the former president of Rwanda, Mr.Pasteur Bizimungu, says: “Quite interestingly, since 1959, when the cover-up strategy relegated the Tutsis to underclass status, some Hutus have developed an aristocratic mentality. It is in this connection that some leaders, today, consider co-operation with Tutsis a form of abasement since the Tutsis are perceived as the underdogs. Since 1959, the theory developed is that the Hutus are born to rule. All these stereotypes, which are still being repeated and which have had an unprecedented impact on the people of Rwanda, are rubbish…” [3]Certainly, like any racist theory, stereotypes are calculated to exploit and perpetuate dominance of one group over the other.

Indeed, the hate-schemes had become regular and systemic. It had become a virtue to make them public, as evidenced for example, in the “10 Hutu commandments”, published in Kangura magazine N°6 of 10 December 1990: One, Every Muhutu should know that a Mututsi woman, wherever she is, works for the interest of the Tutsi ethnic group. As a result, shall consider a traitor any Muhutu who: ‘Marries a Tutsi woman; befriends a Tutsi woman; employs a Tutsi woman as a secretary or a concubine’. Two, every Muhutu should know that our Hutu daughters are more suitable and conscientious in their role as woman, wife and mother of the family. Are they not beautiful, good secretaries and more honest?

The third commandment exhorted the Bahutu women, to be vigilant and try to bring their husbands, brothers and sons back to reason; and the fourth reminded every Muhutu “to know that every Mututsi is dishonest in business…his only aim is the supremacy of his ethnic group. As a result, any Muhutu who does the following is a traitor: makes a partnership with Batutsi in business; invests his money or the government’s money in a Tutsi enterprise; lends or borrows money from a Mututsi; and, gives favours to Batutsi in business (obtaining import licenses, bank loans, construction sites, public markets, etc.)

The fifth, sixth and seventhcommandments respectively advocated that: All strategic positions, political, administrative, economic, military and security should be entrusted to Bahutu; that the education sector (school pupils, students, teachers) must be majority Hutu; and the Rwandans Armed Forces should be exclusively Hutu. The eighth eluded that, the experience of the October 1990 war had taught them a lesson. And therefore, no member of the military shall marry a Tutsi; and, the Bahutu should stop having mercy on the Batutsi.

The ninth commandment compelled the Bahutu, wherever they were, as a must, to have unity and solidarity and be concerned with the fate of their Hutu brothers. And for that matter, ‘the Bahutu inside and outside Rwanda must constantly look for friends and allies for the Hutu cause, starting with their Bantu brothers; must constantly counteract the Tutsi propaganda; and, must be firm and vigilant against their common Tutsi enemy.’

The tenth decree, affirmed that: the “social revolution of 1959, the Referendum of 1961, and the Hutu Ideology, must be taught to every Muhutu at every level. Every Hutu must spread this ideology widely. Any Muhutu who persecutes his brother Muhutu for having read, spread and taught this ideology is a traitor.” This commandment was the inspiration in Bikindi Simon’s abhorrent song, “…nanga abahutu batibuka” (I hate Hutu who do not remember). A song that dominated the airwaves of Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), which was very instrumental, in inciting hatred before and during the genocide. The composer was recently indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

The language used was intended to prepare for genocide in a predominantly “Christian” country. Such articles of faith-cum-instructions reflected an ethnocentric theory made public. Many were official policies for decades. From then, various state sponsored news media overtly called for the killing of Tutsi. There are many areas in Rwanda today, where you get very few or no survivors, because individuals killed their husbands/wives and children for lack of “required purity”. Others were involved, or conspired in the killing of their parents, brothers, sisters and other close relatives thought to have betrayed some of the “Hutu Commandments.”

In his letter dated 21 September 1992, the Army Commander, Colonel Deogratias Nsabimana, was forwarding a document prepared and signed by a committee of ten officers giving a “contemporary” definition of the term enemy. According to this document that was intended for the widest possible dissemination, the enemy fell into two categories, namely, “the primary enemy” and the “enemy supporter”. The primary enemy was defined as “the extremist Tutsi within the country or abroad who are nostalgic for power and who have never acknowledged and still do not acknowledge the realities of the Social Revolution of 1959, and who wish to regain power in RWANDA by all possible means, including the use of weapons”.

On the other hand, the document clarified that the primary enemy supporter was “anyone who lent support in whatever form to the primary enemy”. It also stated that the primary enemy and their supporters came mostly from social groups comprising, in particular, “Tutsi refugees”, “Tutsi within the country”, “Hutus dissatisfied with the current regime”, “Foreigners married to Tutsi women” and the “Nilotic-hamitic” tribes in the region”.

This identification of “primary enemy” and “enemy supporter”, led to yet another way of categorizing an individual as a Tutsi. This time the Interahamwe militia, were to decide. As Prof. William Schabas says, without a shadow of doubt, “In Rwanda, the Belgian colonizers had defined ethnic Tutsis as those possessing a certain number of cattle. The determinations were made sixty or seventy years ago, then inscribed on identity cards, and passed from parents to children according to customary rules. In 1994, individuals were Tutsis if the interahamwe militia said they were.”[4]

Ordinary persons accepted the army’s definition of the enemy. A prosecution witness, who has confessed his participation in the genocide, recently told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) that they killed Tutsis because it was ‘a period of war’. And, that, they were fighting against the Tutsi who were their ‘enemies.’ “We were fighting the Tutsi and also their accomplices. Civilians were the ones targeted but even Tutsi soldiers were killed,” he said.[5]

On the 22^nd November 1992, Dr. Mugesera Leon, now a fugitive from justice, in Canada, made a speech in which he was equally less ambiguous on the targeted group, in the 1994 genocide. He publicly urged the Hutu to destroy the Tutsi and return them to their mythical ancestral home “via the short cut of the Nyabarongo River”, which feeds into the rivers of the Nile watershed. Not only did he agree with the army headquarters’ definition of “the enemies”, but also agreed with the colonial racial theory. Killing “the people in question and dumping the bodies in the river was a usual practice in past massacres of Tutsi.”[6]

In that speech, Mugesera, a PhD graduate from Canada, who worked with the ruling party MRND and the Ministry for the Family and Promotion of Women, mobilized the business community “to finance operations aiming to eliminate the (Tutsi) people. And, he remarked, “…the fatal error of 1959…was in letting them get away.” He sounded like the Nazi Marshal von Rundstedt who regretted that, one of the “great mistakes of 1918, was to spare the civil life of the enemy countries.” The aim of this annihilator was “to always keep the number of Germans, at least double the numbers of the peoples of the contiguous countries!”

International Community’s Betrayal and the spread of racist ideology

Dissemination of vitriolic propaganda against Tutsis and the so-called “Hamitics in the region” had started long before the genocide of 1994. After the break out of the Rwanda civil war in October 1990, the planners and perpetrators of genocide embarked on and intensified moves to consolidate regional alliances. The manipulated cliché of Hutu/Bantu was used in government propaganda.

Tanzania’s reaction to this call was evidence that the genocidaires’ propaganda got a prompt reception. The first Issue-March 1991 of a Tanzanian Newspaper, The Family Mirror published “A sponsored feature” by the Rwandan Government Embassy in Dar-es-Salaam. Its title was “The whole Truth on the October 1990 War”. On the word of the backers, it was in response to “requests to have more information on the war imposed upon Rwanda by aggressors from Uganda Armed Forces.” Unfortunately, gullible editors became agents of hate speech fed to innocent readers. The “sponsored feature” was a reproduction of a pamphlet of March 1991, authored by Leon Mugesera in collaboration with an organization, whose coined abbreviation in French was “AFAPADEM”.

The article was full of accusations in a mirror. Mugesera, the ideologue, referred to the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) as aggressors who fear neither God nor man, butchers of civilians, people who take drugs and destroy environment. The true motives of the aggressors the spiteful article alleged, was to “restore the dictatorship of the extremists of the Tutsi minority which would subsequently pave the way to a genocide and the extermination of the Hutu majority, (…) and set up an extended Hima-Tutsi kingdom in the Great Lakes Region (…)” It should be recalled that in identification with the Aryan race …use the swastika of Hitler as their symbol,” he asserted.

Later, Burundi and the region of Kivu in former Zaire were the simple targets. No wonder some of them participated in the 1994 genocide. Testimony to that is the following notice at the border crossing from the Southwestern town of Cyangugu to Bukavu. A form of “accusations in the mirror” propaganda that was used came to the attention of a British journalist. “Attention Zaireans and Bantu people! The Tutsi assassins are out to exterminate us. For centuries the ungrateful and unmerciful Tutsi have used their powers, daughters and corruption to subject the Bantu. But we know the Tutsi, that race of vipers, drinkers of untrue blood. We will never allow them to fulfill their dreams in Kivuland.” [7]

This was another early warning on what would happen in Zaire, now Democratic Republic of Congo.(DRC) The French government’s “Operation Turquoise” with a mandate from the United Nations, must have anticipated the outcome! The government of France of course was not neutral, even before the Operation Turquoise. It is said that they supported the regime that committed genocide to protect French language in a friendly Francophone country. Sylvie Brunel told the 18^th Franco-African meeting, held in Biarritz, France that the country “…continued to support and to arm President Habyarimana in Rwanda’ up until the current explosion (the genocide)… at developing stages, and this is why we say that France is guilty of genocide and of complicity in genocide.” [8]

France’s protection and support to the perpetrators of genocide, allowed them to make it a crime without borders in the Great lakes Region. There followed a forceful and pre-meditated killing and expulsion of perceived Tutsi Zaire citizens from their homes and the killers from Rwanda looted their property. All this was done before the eyes of government officials and the army, which should have protected the victims. Bigotry was embraced and enthused into actions.

As early as 1995, genocidal propaganda was live in Eastern Zaire. An article entitled “Zaire Threatened by Territorial Break-up: The creation of a Tutsi-Hima Empire Looking Ever More Likely”; was published in the Forum des As, N° 511, September 1995. Another publication, Tufikiri, of 2 October 1996, had in a way doctored speech from Kangura‘s “ten commandments”. For those who nevertheless remain skeptical, the paper said, “the posters on ethnic hatred against the Tutsi by other tribes…during demonstration marches organized recently in Southern Kivu provide additional convincing evidence. Posters carrying slogans such as ‘The difference between a dog and a Tutsi? None!’ ‘All Tutsi must go home’, ‘Don’t marry a Tutsi’, ‘Married to a Tutsi? Get divorce!’ ‘Unite to fight the Enemy!’” In the two years, thousands of perpetrators of genocide in Rwanda, who were fugitives from justice, in Zaire, had killed thousands of the country’s citizens falling in the enemy category, as per former army’s definition. Likewise, from their Zairean bases they killed hundreds of 1994 survivors of genocide inside the country.

The Tutsi-Hima Empire, though a fetish, turned into a political capital in the Great-Lakes Region. By means of such a “dangerous digression” the late president of DRC, Laurent Kabila, used the obsession to marshal more support amongst neighbours and allies including the “hutu”, in what Collette Braeckman called “anti-Tutsi diatribe”.[9] But Kabila was not the only one wholly absorbed in this.

In 1996, one aid worker from Oxfam-UK then in Zaire wrote to me asking: “Is it that the International community has become accustomed to the ethnic cleansing? Is the suffering it causes no longer criminal? If not, why is it condoned in Eastern Zaire? Are all these events allowed because the world wants the Great Lakes Region to blow so that it can show the capacity of its humanitarian charity? Has the world accepted the anomaly that lives are only savable after the crisis as in Rwanda in 1994, and not before?” More appalling than these complex questions, was the fact that the killers were being fed and supplied by the very international community supposed to give a riposte.

His preoccupations were indeed pertinent, but the way out was a bridge too far. At one time former UN-Secretary General Boutros Ghali found himself asking what he should do to give answers. In his article, Genocide: When Will We Ever Learn? He admitted, “the way had not yet been found to deal with the evil perpetrated in Rwanda.”[10]

Ghali further said: “Not long ago the world thought it could recognize and stop genocide if it happened.”Never again” was the watchword. But words were not enough. Genocide has come again…the standard excuse for failing to act against genocide is, “We did not know.” Genocide does not happen spontaneously, it is planned…and in most cases there are abundant danger signs long before the killing begins.”

He noted, this crime was “a test before us”. And, that phrases like “world order,” “international cooperation,” and “global community” can have no meaning until we meet the test. “How can genocide be stopped at an early point?” He asked, and then added, “we cannot be content to see international intervention only when the worst is over. What will happen after the intervention?”

From a perceptual perspective, Raphael Lemkin, the first person to coin the word genocide put the world on alert. “The practices of genocide anywhere affect the initial interests of all civilized people. Its consequences can neither be isolated nor localized. Tolerating genocide is an admission of the principle that one national group has the right to attack another because of its supposed social superiority.”

But this has been the problem of the international community undergoing an unprecedented moral crisis. Referring to the genocide in Rwanda Mr.Kofi Annan articulates: “Nobody should feel he has a clear conscience in this business. If the pictures of tens of thousands of human bodies rotting and gnawed on by the dogs do not wake us up out of apathy, I don’t know what will.”[11] The UN-Secretary General also admits that “the fundamental failure in Rwanda was not the lack of information but the lack of political will.”[12]

According to Susan Rice, the United States’ former assistant secretary of state for African Affairs; there was such a huge disconnect between the logic of each of the decisions they took along the way during the genocide and the moral consequences of the decisions taken collectively. Expressing contrition Ms. Rice says: “I swore to myself that if I ever faced such a crisis again, I would come down on the side of dramatic action, going down in flames if that was required.”[13]

In 1997, those who were responsible for the genocide in Rwanda were once again on air. Michael Griffin saw the shadow of Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), the station that played a crucial role in inciting the Tutsi genocide “refuse to go away.” He says that, “the latest in the line of Great Lakes hate media is Radio Voix du Patriote(once known as Radio Kahuzi Biega), which has been operating intermittently in the Bukavu region of South Kivu. The radio is said to have the backing of ex-Forces Armées Rwandaises (FAR), ex- Forces Armées Zairoises (FAZ) and the Hutu Interahamwe militia in the 1994 killings. …It tells the Bantu brothers (…) to ‘rise as one to combat the Tutsi described as ‘Ethiopians and Egyptians’ who do not belong in the region.”[14]

A British journalist took note of the hate message at the border between Cyangugu and Bukavu. The international community did not care about the upshots of such kind of communication. The message was bought and later owned by some people in the DRC who again used it continuously. In August 1998 for example, a broadcast on Radio Bunia, in Eastern DRC, became a command post of another genocide. It urged the people to “jump on the people with long noses, who are tall and slim” who allegedly want “to dominate” them. On what the “people” should do, the broadcast said: “People must bring a machete, a spear, an arrow, a hoe, spades, rakes, nails, truncheons, electric irons, barbed wire, stones, and the like, in order, to kill the Rwandan Tutsis”.

The then Foreign Minister in the DRC, Yerodia Ndombasi, drummed up the Congolese over the National Radio to commit yet another genocide: “Smash the vermin, the scraps, the microbes that have to be eradicated with method, with resolution… The Tutsi are under risk of living the same sad experience as the Jews did. They are perfidious, rancorous and bloodthirsty. Vermin, yes I call them vermin… who spoil and poison the body of our nation, which we must eradicate”. The message was clear, it meant to muster his compatriots, but alas, it fell on deaf ears of the indifferent international community.

The Zimbabwe state-owned print media played the same obnoxious tune. African Rights, in their new book The Cycle of Conflict: Which Way out in the Kivus? considers some Zimbabwean newspaper articles as “reminiscent to Kangura, which advocated and encouraged the 1994 genocide, …urging Bantu people to stand together and counter a Hamitic conspiracy to force them into subservience.” The human Rights organization further quotes The Herald, December 13, 1998 as saying: “Tutsi imperialist tendencies were well-documented…”[15] But, which documentation does the author refer to? If it is Kangura or similar media and literature by racist ideologues, the answer is yes! But then, though objectivity is not easy to enforce, are such sources objective and thus reliable?

Like a contagious disease, racism seems to have made its way even into the body of Tanzania, a country believed to have fought and defeated racial prejudices. Mr. John Chirigati, the country’s Deputy Minister for Home Affairs, told the parliament that it was advisable to avoid getting married to Hutu and Tutsi women because ‘there are still many Tanzanians who are beautiful.’ He said this was ‘important in maintaining peace and national tranquillity for many years to come’ because marrying the two “tribes” could introduce hatred elements ‘inherited from their grandparents and lack of proper upbringing’.[16] The Tanzanian Minister, consciously or unconsciously turned out to be another disciple of the pseudo-religion of racism.

Mr. Chirigati’s speech has a lot of similarities with Kangura’s first, and second “Hutu Commandments”, and also with Adolf Hitler‘s viewpoint. In his infamous book the Mein Kempf, Hitler said that in order to maintain Aryan racial purity and superiority, it was important to avoid becoming a victim to “defilement of the blood.” The racial (read Jewish) crossing, according to him, would lead to the “lowering of the level of the higher race; physical and intellectual regression and hence the beginning of a slowly but surely progressing sickness, …a sin against the will of the eternal creator.”[17]

Denial and Revisionism

In his book ‘We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families’, Phillip Gourevitch quotes a wacky American military intelligence officer he met in the Rwandan Capital Kigali, who equates genocide to “a cheese sandwich” and the Genocide Convention to something, which “makes a nice wrapping for a cheese sandwich.”[18]

The military officer is a non-Rwandan denier, who does not admit there was any crime against humanity committed in Rwanda. Sadly, there are many more, including Rwandans.

The hate dogma which was spread by the post-independence governments and intellectuals through the media, ‘definitions of the enemy’ and inciting speeches not only claimed more than a million human lives but also changed the national identity. According to a London based organization, African Rights, which has done a tremendous work on Rwanda, the aim of the Hutu extremists went beyond the physical extermination of every Rwandan Tutsi. “The aim was to transform the collective identity of the Hutu, by eradicating the moderate Hutu leaders, and all Hutus who tried to protect their Tutsi friends, neighbours and family members… more radical was the creation of a nation of people complicit in the genocidal killing; and wanted everyone to be tainted with the blood of those who died.’[19]The tenth ‘Hutu commandment’ was very much observed.

Major Pierre Habimana alias Colonel Bemera, is one of the recently captured senior commanders of the Armée de Liberation du Rwanda /Liberation Army of Rwanda (ALIR), an offshoot of the ex-FAR and the interahamwe militia, currently based in the DRC. ALIR enjoys full support of the government as one of the allies. Habimana claims their mission is to bring Hutus back to power, and believes God is on their side (sic!). But, he categorically denies there was genocide in 1994. To him, it was just massacres. ‘Tutsis were killed because of their possessions and because they were at war with the government’; and he argues that his role at the time was that of ‘a technician defending the government of the day’.[20]

Diverse theories and even confusions exist today, to explain and validate the Rwanda tragedy. The plane clash that killed President Habyarimana and the hypothesis of power struggle as the root cause of the cataclysm are two examples of such theories. Major Habimana represents disciples of Father Wolfgang Schonecke and his likes, as far as power struggle premise is concerned. To Schonecke, at the heart of Rwanda’s tragedy is “a relentless struggle to maintain or regain power, (…) so absolute as to justify any evil.” He says, “military successes of the RPF left the ruling party (MRND) with two options: a political solution of power-sharing, or an all-out war against the Tutsi including those within the country considered to indiscriminately as ‘fifth column’ of the RPF”.

Fr. Schonecke actually makes a clean breast: “from the beginning the Catholic Church had ‘cozy relations’ with both the colonial administration and the royal house. … The hierarchy of the Church remained too closely linked with the ruling regime to be a credible voice of protest. Their main declarations during the genocide were insignificant and inadequate. Church reaction was too late and too little.”[21] Fr. Schonecke did not care to explain why the first option of power sharing was rejected by the MRND. For him, the genocide is just ‘all-out war’.

War is a necessary evil, but something so formal that nobody can rule out its periodical outburst. The world has International Laws to govern armed conflicts, but it also has International Conventions on the Prevention and Punishment of the crime of Genocide. After all, as Victor Condé says, “war can exist without any violent hostilities taking place. War is a legal status, not the fact of armed violence.”[22] The RPF defeated the genocidaire after declaring a legitimate war against them.

Father Yves Congar, in The Catholic Church and the Race Question, quotes Pope Pius XI saying that, “by transposing the great premises of Christianity into terms of race, racism was profoundly perverting them and becoming itself a pseudo-religion.” Racism, to Fr. Congar, is “incompatible with the tenets of the Christian faith as regards the unity and the dignity of human nature, and also with Christian spirituality…it has disastrous results which attack Christianity at its roots.”[23]

Fr. Congar’s quote of the Pope, and his own point of view reflect the true nature of Christianity and the designated role of the Church. On the contrary, Fr. Schonecke, his followers, and millions of statistic Christians advocate racism and even fascism. It looks as if in Rwanda, many believers have never taken note of this. And today, not only do they keep on suffering the consequences but also denial of that reality persists.

Major Bernard Ntuyahaga, of the ex-FAR, is currently detained in Tanzania. He is accused of killing Rwanda’s Prime Minister, Agatha Uwilingiyimana together with her husband and some ten Belgian soldiers during the genocide. In his case, he is bitterly against extradition to Rwanda where he allegedly committed the crimes. Ntuyahaga’s defence witness, Father Juvenal Bamboneyeho, a Burundian Catholic priest, told a Resident court in Dar-es-Salaam, that if the suspect wants ‘to commit suicide’, he’d better do it in the country of detention, rather than be sent back to Rwanda where he will be “killed and cut into pieces.” Another defence witness Mr.Christian de Beule, a Belgian, said there was no guarantee that the suspect would be defended, and affirmed that there is “a Rwandan network of people forced to give false testimony.”[24]

The allegations of both witnesses in Ntuyahaga’s case are not only typical “accusations in a mirror” they are also hate speech and a reflection of revisionism. In April 1994, the ten Belgian peacekeepers were literally ‘killed and cut into pieces’ by some individuals close to Ntuyahaga. Seven years later the witness ‘chief priest’ insinuates that such horrendous crimes are attributable to the current government in Kigali. What an offensive communion!

By asserting that there is in Rwanda a network of people forced to give false testimony, Mr. De Beule negates the existence of survivors of genocide and its bona fide witnesses. For someone who has attended court sessions in the ICTR, in Arusha, the idea of a set-up of fallacious witnesses is no-news. It is a very common usage in the language used by people accused of genocide, their defence counsels and witnesses.

As Dr. Israel Charny of the Webster University’s Centre for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights says: “Denials of genocide make no sense unless one sees in them renewed opportunities for the same passion, meanings, and pleasures that were at work in the genocide itself, now revived in symbolic processes of murdering the dignity of the survivors, rationality, truth, and even history itself.“

Historic Pointers

After the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, on September 11, 2001, the British Prime Minister Tony Blair declared that terrorism was the enemy of the entire civilized world. He should have added that racism and racial discrimination were the enemies of the entire world. Both are the only cause of the crime of genocide.

In 1948 the ‘civilized world’ signed the International Declaration of Human Rights, and the Genocide Convention. Paradoxically, the same year saw the apartheid regime installed in South Africa. This malevolent system, which oppressed and killed many, could not have survived for forty-six years if there was an International coalition to fight it to preserve the spirit and aims of the UN. To the contrary, successive apartheid regimes were supported by the very ‘civilized world’.

The preamble of the Genocide Convention considers the crime to be ‘contrary to the spirit and aims of the United Nations and condemned by the civilized world,’ because, at ‘all periods of history, genocide has inflicted great losses on humanity.’ If genocide had been declared enemy of the world fifty-five years ago, and not just condemned by the ‘civilized world’- whatever the term ‘civilized world’ means- millions of human lives and dignity would have been saved and respected.

Schabas observes that, although the Genocide Convention was the first modern human rights treaty, some must have believed in 1948, that the unthinkable crime of genocide would never occur. “Perhaps the gaps in the convention are the oversights of optimistic negotiators, mistaken in the belief that they were erecting a monument to the past rather than a weapon to police the future. Their naiveté may be forgiven. A failure to learn the lesson of the fifty years since its adoption cannot.”[25]

There is a structural problem in international mechanisms, and even perceptions. “By and large the UN and most countries had built up over the years a perception that everything happening was merely evidence of on going and at times messy civil war. More insidious and undeniably racist was the perception that such human rights violations were certainly horrendous but acceptable in the African context.”[26]

In the Draft Declaration and the Draft Programme of Action of the just-ended Third World Conference Against Racism-Durban-South Africa, 31 August-7 September, 2001, not the slightest reference was made to the crime of genocide in Rwanda. In contrast, similar but non-African and long dated cases were cited. Yet, logic would have it that, adding the most recent case to the old ones could have helped better the human memory. Was the omission accidental? The reader may draw a conclusion!

The former president of South Africa, Mr. Nelson Mandela, reminded the participants at the said Conference that racism kills more than any contagion, and that it dehumanizes anyone it touches. He also said in his video recorded speech that the tragedy is that the cure is within our reach, yet we have not seized it. And, to conquer racism, “we must administer a treatment that is comprehensive and holistic.” Certainly, Rwandans especially the survivors of genocide understood and do agree with the statesman; perpetrators and deniers of genocide naturally do not.

Article 20(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that, ‘any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence must be prohibited by law.’ But even today, the “International media” finds amusement in promoting the stereotypes that fuelled genocide in Rwanda. Without considering what the outcome will be, there is no reason whatsoever to continually refer to “Tutsi-led” or “Tutsi dominated” government.

Besides the fact that it is wrong, it is also a racist approach, and indeed a preparation for future genocide. This trend should be reversed to help Rwandans and the region, which surely is catching fire. Do we ever hear about white dominated United States’ government or blonde-hair led Germany or Protestant dominated Australia or Egyptian Muslim dominated government? Do we ever refer to Christian dominated United Kingdom? Ikaweba Bunting observes that, while we hear reports commence with “the extremist Hutu militia…” rightly asks: Why don’t we hear instead each report repeatedly begin with the lead-in ‘the French trained militia who carried out acts of genocide…’? [27]

In Rwanda a kind of in-depth “genetic or arithmetic democracy” has outgrown the virus of ethno-centrism. Some Rwandan people with the support of racists in the “International Community,” have swallowed the unspoken, and so-called “democratic rule” that identifies the political deliberation and participation with blind opposition and discrimination between ethnic groups.

Such “genetic-arithmetic-democracy” is as deadly as any fatal epidemic or pandemic. The “majority” groups, because of the Nazi theories will hold the “minority” groups into absolute subjugation that could lead the very groups to total war, if the status quo happens to be challenged. Unfortunately the very ideology is spreading in the region unconstrained.

What happened in Rwanda and later in Zaire should not be allowed to happen elsewhere. “The world’s nations must not say that the challenge is too remote, or too dangerous, or that it fails to meet the criteria for action. It may seem better not to know. It may seem safer not to act. It may seem easier to look away. But these are the acts of complicity. Common humanity places a duty upon us all, a duty we must fulfill.”[28]

Conclusion

The summing of preferences, regardless of the moral quality of those predilections, is not a necessary or sufficient justification for the use of force. Moreover, when some reasons and acts have culminated into a genocide, they automatically “cease” being moral or enjoying any moral or political support. The best we can do to nurse Rwanda back to health and resuscitate the region is to come out of apathy and tell the truth, expose the evildoers and hold them accountable. Is it not a shameful betrayal for a democratic and civilized country like Canada in the 21^stcentury, to provide a hibernating den for genocide ideologues of the Mugesera type? There is no other way to healing and reconciliation but to face the bitter truth, to condemn unambiguously genocide denial, to punish exemplarily the criminals and their allies and to establish a worthy political culture.

[1] P. Rutayisire, La Christianisation du Rwanda (1900-1945). Edition Universitaires Fribourg, 1987 p. 24

[2] African Newsletter – The Research Centre on Socio-Political Information in Brussels (CRISP) February 5, 1960.

[3] Opening Speech at a Seminar of Joint Evaluation of Emergency Assistance to Rwanda, September 10, 1996

[4] W. Schabas, The Genocide Convention at Fifty (Special Lecture, International Institute of Human Rights-Strasbourg, July 9, 1999)

[5] Internews, Cyangugu Trial, September 17, 2001

[6] Propaganda and Practice: Human Rights Watch Report-1999

[7] Leslie Crawford, “Hutus see France as their savior”- Financial Times, 27 June 1994)

[8] Howard W. French: Tense Times for France-Africa Tie (New York Times, November 9, 1994)

[9] Le Soir -November 17, 1998.

[10] International Herald Tribune-6^th April 1995

[11] Gérard Prunier, Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide (London, 1995), p.267

[12] Ann M. Simmons, U.N. Secretary General Defends Decisions On Rwanda, (Washington Times- May 5, 1998)

[13] Samantha Power, Bystanders to Genocide: The Atlantic Monthly, September 2001

[14] M. Griffin, Rwanda: Familiar Drums, (Index on Censorship 3, 1998)

[15] The Cycle of Conflict: Which Way out in the Kivus? African Rights, December 2000, p. 97.

[16] State owned DAILY NEWS, July 25, 2001

[17] Chapter XI of Mein Kampf, Vol.1, 1925

[18] Phillip Gourevitch, Picador 1999 p.170-1

[19] African Rights, Death Despair and Defiance, August 1995, p. 993

[20] Alex Duval Smith, Rwanda Warns Of Hutus Preparing Second Genocide: The Independent-UK, August 4, 2001

[21] W. Schonecke, What does the Rwanda Tragedy Say to AMECEA Churches (ADS 17/1994 N° 424, September 15, 1994)

[22] H.V. Conde, A Handbook of International Human Rights Terminology, University of Nebraska-1999

[23] UNESCO, Paris, 1953

[24] Internews, September 21, 2001

[25] op.cit;

[26] A report prepared for the Canadian government on The Rwanda Crisis of April 1994: The Lessons to be Learned

[27] The Mass Media in Rwanda: Stereotypes Revisited, Comhlámh-Conference Paper, February 16, 1996

[28] B. Ghali, op.cit;

* (1^st published January 2002)

Also on: http://friendsofevil.wordpress.com/2010/10/24/consequences-of-racism-in-rwanda-we-need-to-get-out-of-apathy/

GREAT LAKES: IRIN REPORT ON THE INFLUENCE OF HATE MEDIA 26 February 1998

2012-01-22T09:33:00.001-08:00

Source:Irin News

With reports of a rapidly deteriorating security situation in eastern DRC, another "hate radio" operating in the Great Lakes region has come to light, evoking memories of the Rwanda genocide and reopening the debate on the influence of the air waves in fomenting civil unrest. Despite its disbanding after the 1994 genocide, the legacy of Radio Television Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), which played a major role in the massacres, refuses to go away.

"Voix du Patriote"

RTLM has spawned two similar stations in a region where FM radio and cheap mobile transmitters are an effective means of targeting many people in a relatively small area. The latest in the line of Great Lakes inflammatory media is known as "Voix du Patriote" and has been operating intermittently in the Bukavu region of South Kivu where the local authorities hold it responsible for inciting attacks on the town last December. Reportedly operated by elements supportive of Mayi-Mayi rebels, the radio is said to have the backing of ex-Forces Armees Rwandaises (FAR), ex-Forces Armees Zairoises (FAZ) and Interahamwe militia. News reports confirm Mayi-Mayi fighters attacked Bukavu in the early hours of 11 December 1997, with intense street battles continuing into the morning. There are continuing reports of tension between Banyamulenge and non-Banyamulenge members of the armed forces in South Kivu amid a "congolisation" of the army.

The vice-governor of South Kivu Benjamin Serukiza explains the radio was first heard last November coming in the wake of leaflets distributed throughout Bukavu urging the "visitors (Tutsis) to go home". He says the leaflets were distributed by a clandestine anti-Tutsi group, Front de liberation contre l'occupation tutsie (FLOT), created in October. FLOT's political wing, Union des forces vives pour la liberation et la democratie en RDC-Zaire (UFLD), is said to be responsible for the broadcasts of Voix du Patriote. FLOT and UFLD in the South Kivu region, Serukiza adds, comprise disparate ethnic groups opposed to the Banyamulenge, brought together under the umbrella of the Interahamwe. It is for this reason Voix du Patriote is strongly believed to have links with the defunct RTLM. At some point during its broadcasts, it actually refers to itself as RTLM, reports say. Three Rwandan Interahamwe officers are being held in Bukavu's jail in connection with the broadcasts.

Voix du Patriote started life as Radio Kahuzi Biega, named after the nearby national park from where it was believed to be broadcasting using a small mobile transmitter. For a while this made life difficult for a religious and humanitarian radio station, Bukavu Extension Service - Technical Radio (BEST), locally known as Radio Kahuzi, whose operators stress there is no connection whatsoever. It would appear Voix du Patriote was deliberately trying to cause confusion, also using religious songs and programmes to attract its listeners, and broadcasting in a variety of languages, including Kiswahili, Kinyarwanda, French and local vernaculars. Local observers believe there is a link with a former acting DRC army chief and a former close ally of President Laurent-Desire Kabila in the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (ADFL), who they say was under pressure from the Bashi people (the dominant ethnic group in South Kivu) to behave "patriotically". The officer was arrested last November, accused by the government of "military indiscipline" and of "creating a tribal militia".

Typical broadcasts call on the local population to "ensure" the "visitors return to their home". "The country has been sold to the Tutsis," it says. It tells the "Bantus" to "rise as one to combat the Tutsis" and describes the Tutsis as "Ethiopians and Egyptians" who do not belong in the region. The Bantus should also "help their Bahutu brothers to reconquer Burundi and Rwanda," another broadcast says. "It is ridiculous that for us, for a country like Zaire, that foreigners come to lead us...We chose arms because the enemy chose them. We shall make them leave with arms. The occupation government should go."

Serukiza says the radio also alleges the launch of an operation by Rwandan Defence Minister and Vice-President Paul Kagame against the "Rats du Kivu", claiming thousands of Rwandan soldiers are being sent to South Kivu. Although the radio was last heard in Bukavu towards the end of last year, Serukiza does not believe it has been silenced. Other local sources say that after the Bukavu authorities closed in on some of those believed to be behind the broadcasts, the radio was heard briefly in the Goma and Uvira areas. According to some reports, the equipment has been taken to Tanzania where the rebels are "waiting for the right time" to restart the broadcasts.

Radio Television Libre des Mille Collines

Throughout the world, radio is the most effective way of spreading ideas and information, for good or for evil. The most notorious hate radio in the Great Lakes region was Radio Television Libre des Mille Collines. Established in mid-1993, it attracted many listeners because it played good music and was "chatty and lively" compared to the rather staid state-owned Radio Rwanda. Privately-owned, with some of the major shareholders belonging to ex-president Juvenal Habyarimana's family, it was set up to broadcast propaganda against the Arusha peace accords which hardline Hutus - mostly from Habyarimana's northwestern 'Akazu' inner circle - perceived as a threat to their power base. After Habyarimana was killed when his plane was shot down on 6 April 1994, RTLM became a vehicle for inciting the slaughter that followed, calling for a "final war" and for "exterminating the inyenzi (cockroaches)". But even before the death of Habyarimana and the ensuing massacres, the radio on 3 April broadcast the chilling warning: "On the 3rd, the 4th and the 5th [April] there will be a little something here in Kigali city. And also on the 7th and the 8th - you will hear the sound of bullets or grenades explode." Once the killing began, the radio played a role in organising the militias and broadcast lists of people to be exterminated.

Consequently, some of the biggest names associated with the radio are on trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania. It has been a struggle to get them to Arusha. Many of them fled Rwanda after the genocide to seek sanctuary in a third country. Some of these countries acknowledged that those responsible for using the media to incite killings must be extradited to face trial, but many more extremist journalists are still at large. One man on trial in Arusha stands out, accused of using Belgian peacekeepers to incite hatred against the Tutsis and Hutu opponents. Italian-born Georges Ruggiu, who took Belgian nationality over 20 years ago, was closely involved with hardline Hutus and was responsible for French-language broadcasts on RTLM. He claims RTLM "did not incite racial hatred". "We did incite people to be critical about the Rwandan Patriotic Front and some interpreted that as a call to kill Tutsis," he is quoted as saying. "It was a station where people dared to say what they thought. But I defy anyone to find a tape of me saying 'You must kill'".

"Radio Democracy" - Burundi

Meanwhile, in neighbouring Burundi, RTLM found a soulmate in mid-1994 when the mainly Hutu population in the hills around Bujumbura suddenly began hearing anti-Tutsi, divisionist broadcasts. Using the same formula as RTLM, Radio Rutomorangingo (The Radio that tells the truth) played catchy music interspersed with messages to rise up against the Tutsi population. Musicians in Burundi complained about the use of their songs to attract listeners. Early broadcasts were reportedly crude in style. They called on Hutus to "finish once and for all the Tutsi oppressor". Later recordings show the radio, which changed its name to Radio Democracy, to be more sophisticated, especially its French-language transmissions, and targeting the Tutsi-dominated army. "All Burundians, make bows and poisoned arrows, remain alert and fight the Bikomagu [former chief of staff] soldiers ... we shall lead you into victory in the fighting," the radio said in a broadcast in late 1995. The mouthpiece of the hardline Hutu rebel group Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD), Radio Democracy with its mobile transmitter was initially based in the forests of southwest Rwanda and northwest Burundi, before finding fairly stable ground in eastern Zaire. There it continued broadcasting until CNDD's armed wing, the Forces pour la defense de la democratie (FDD), lost its rear bases with the advance of Kabila's Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (ADFL) in 1996.

In July 1994, Burundi radio reported that opposition parties had called on the authorities and the international community to dismantle the radio "which seems to want to start a war in our country " and bring its founders to justice. "Just like RTLM, the radio causes friction among citizens and calls on Hutus to kill Tutsis and Hutus from opposition parties," opposition groups claimed in a statement. Sylvestre Ntibantunganya, who was president at the time, also strongly denounced the radio for "inciting hatred". In fact the radio was also hostile towards Ntibantunganya and his Hutu-dominated ruling FRODEBU party, opposing his attempts to gradually assimilate Hutus into the existing army. "Ntibantunganya and [Jean] Minani [FRODEBU leader] think that by misleading people, especially by telling Hutus to join the Bikomagu army, they will have deprived CNDD of its pretext...as long as the government continues to state it will not enter into dialogue with its political opponents, we shall continue to fight," it said. In addition the radio attempted to divide Tutsis between the "bloodthirsty Bahima" from Bururi in the south where many army leaders originate from, and those from other regions, by detailing alleged atrocities committed by Tutsis towards other Tutsis. Often CNDD leader Leonard Nyangoma would go on the air himself.

"Written hate"

Disseminating hate is not confined to the radio, although as already pointed out this medium has the most impact. "Written hate" as opposed to "broadcast hate" leaves a more indelible impression as the words can be read over and over again and absorbed. Currently in northwestern Rwanda "hate leaflets" by extremist Hutus have begun appearing calling for a renewed war against the Tutsis. Similar tracts appeared in Bukavu as already mentioned. Hassan Ngeze, editor of the extremist Rwandan Hutu publication 'Kangura', is on trial in Arusha.

Freedom of expression debate

Such moves have come under criticism in some quarters for "stifling" free opinion. Article 19, the London-based International Centre Against Censorship which lobbies for freedom of expression, believes hate radio is one of the "outgrowths" of relaxing radio controls in Africa where private stations are constantly springing up. It acknowledges that hate radio can cross the line between freedom of expression and incitement. In its publication 'Broadcasting Genocide', Article 19 argues that the genocide in Rwanda would have gone ahead with or without RTLM which, it says, served to propagate a carefully laid-out plan by the government and its militias to exterminate Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Whatever the arguments, RTLM's cardinal role in the massacres and in promoting hatred to its ultimate, ghastly conclusion is undeniable. It is widely asserted that between 500,000 and a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred directly or indirectly as a result of its broadcasts. Article 19 agrees broadcasting lists of people to be tracked down and killed is unacceptable. "International law clearly permits external intervention to jam the broadcasts at this stage, and it should have been undertaken by the international community," it says.

Monitoring and information intervention

Jamie Metzl, a former UN human rights officer, writing in 'Foreign Affairs', has commented that the international community must search for ways of addressing human rights abuses that accomplish more than "symbolic and generally impotent condemnations" from global bodies. One such measure, he says, would be to monitor, counter and block radio and television broadcasts that incite widespread violence in crisis zones around the world. "Mass media reach not only people's homes but also their minds, shaping their thoughts and sometimes their behaviour". Based on the data available by monitoring and recording, human rights officials point out information intervention is possible and necessary to stop whipping up the air waves. Metzl says limited radio and television jamming in defence of human rights is a potentially effective and low-risk tool for countering dangerous messages inciting people to violence. The head of the beleaguered UN Assistance Mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR), General Romeo Dallaire, asserted that "simply jamming Hutu broadcasts and replacing them with messages of peace and reconciliation would have had a significant impact on the course of events". A recent Belgian parliamentary enquiry into the Rwandan genocide found that RTLM posed a severe threat to ethnic harmony before the genocide and asked the question why the station was not silenced or jammed before it could do real harm.

As the genocide unfolded in Rwanda, the BBC's Monitoring Service and its US government partner the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) began locating frequencies and monitoring the then-rebel RPF Radio Muhabura, Radio Rwanda and RTLM as it slowly transformed itself into a clandestine radio. Monitoring is able to establish the trends and provide information for international decision-makers to act upon. It was the BBC that announced the sudden disappearance of Radio Muhabura in July 1994 and later, the revamped pro-RPF Radio Rwanda, the flight of RTLM's broadcasters first to Butare, then to Gisenyi, and finally - as the RPF consolidated its victory - RTLM's move to Zaire as a pirate radio. Human rights abuses were being incited by a radio whose broadcasts were well documented but little effort was made to silence it. In former Yugoslavia, action against an inflammatory radio was immediate. When Pale radio, supportive of Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, refused to heed international calls to cease anti-NATO and anti-Moslem broadcasts, NATO troops seized several of its main broadcast towers, effectively silencing it.

"Peace radios"

Other measures include "peace radios" broadcasting impartial information to counter the hate. In the Great Lakes region, there have been a number of initiatives in this regard, the most prominent probably being Radio Agatashya. Established in August 1994 by the Swiss charity Fondation Hirondelle, it broadcast regional news primarily to hundreds of thousands of Rwandan refugees in their own language in Zairean camps. Describing itself as an "independent humanitarian radio", Agatashya is keen to stress its neutrality. It expanded its operations to cover Burundi, in conjunction with an NGO Search for Common Ground which manages independent radio Studio Ijambo in Bujumbura, and it is also covering ICTR proceedings in Arusha. Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, the UN Secretary-General's former representative in Burundi, has described Agatashya as a "success", saying it "contributed to easing the hatred between different ethnic groups following the 1994 genocide in Rwanda".

In Burundi, Radio Umwizero (Hope) is the brainchild of European commissioner Bernard Kouchner and tries to span the ethnic divide by targeting young people. And when the BBC launched a 15 minutes Kirundi/Kinyarwanda service in the aftermath of the genocide, to try and reunite divided families, it proved so popular the programmes were extended to include commentaries and interviews of interest to the region. Writing in 'Focus on Africa' magazine shortly after the service was launched, Neville Harms the former head of the BBC's Swahili service, said the programmes would provide "reliable, factual news, untainted by a point of view or hidden agenda". It is now one of the most popular radio stations for Kirundi/Kinyarwanda speakers. A similar service to reunite families is also provided by Voice of America radio. But even peace radios are not immune from hate. Long-time expatriates in Bukavu say that when Agatashya was broadcasting to refugees in the area, some of its translators, reportedly Interahamwe refugees, were "twisting the words", and actually inciting hatred again.

Interpretation of hate

"Hate radio" is a difficult term to qualify. Article 19 argues that in the case of Radio Democracy for example there was no incitement to kill. But the main targets of hate radio in the Great Lakes region, notably the Tutsi population, say the messages do not have to be explicit exhortations to kill to convey hatred. One Munyamulenge in Bukavu said the message of Voix du Patriote was clear. Telling the "visitors" or "foreigners" to leave is a euphemism for an uprising against them with all the consequences this entails. Tutsis in Burundi agree. While it is difficult to find blatant calls to kill on Radio Democracy, urging the use of "bows and poisoned arrows" against the Tutsi-dominated army, by extension, applies to Tutsi civilians, they say.

The growth of hate media in the Great Lakes region is a worrying trend. Analysts say RTLM has shown it should not be ignored, rather it should be taken as an early warning. Article 19 is wary about simply banning inflammatory radios, saying the the emphasis on the media tends to distract attention from the root of the problem - political and military structures which plan and carry out human rights abuses. "Inflammatory media coverage is essentially a symptom of a process resulting from other causes," it says. It calls for promoting a plurality of views through the media in an attempt to marginalise extremist propaganda and develop a middle ground. Human rights activists point out that political and military extremism should be diluted as much as possible, including identifying and preventing tools which can be used to violate basic rights, such as the media. Radio especially is a very powerful weapon and, if misused, one of the most destructive.

Nairobi, 26 February 1998

1994 Rwanda Tutsi Genocide criminal to be deported from Canada

2012-01-08T01:21:00.000-08:00

Léon Mugesera au banc des accusés (31-10-1994) by LiliTheKing

TORONTO - Members of Toronto’s Rwandan community are applauding the deportation of Leon Mugesera - dubbed the ‘architect of the genocide’ - to stand trial for inciting violence and crimes against humanity.

Mugesera has fought tooth and nail to stay in Canada since 1996 when an Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) decided that a speech he gave was an incitement to violence and ethnic hatred by Hutus towards the minority Tutsis in Rwanda.

Rwanda urges Canada to deport genocide suspect

2012-01-07T12:12:00.001-08:00

KIGALI — Rwanda urged Canada Saturday to ensure the deportation of a Rwandan refugee accused of inciting genocide, and ignore his lawyer's attempt to continue a 17-year legal battle to quash his expulsion.

Leon Mugesera, now in his late 50s, is infamous for a speech he gave in Rwanda in 1992 seen as a defining moment in the buildup to the 1994 genocide that saw as many as 800,000 members of the Tutsi minority slaughtered.

In the speech, Mugesera allegedly called Tutsis "cockroaches" and "scum," encouraging his fellow Hutus to kill them, and to send them "home to Ethiopia" by river -- the same river many were later thrown into, dead or alive.

"It is time to put this matter to another step," said Martin Ngoga, Rwanda's attorney general, noting Mugesera's efforts at a media campaign and a drumming up of political support to "yet again escape deportation."

"This matter has been on our tables for too long for everyone -- including Canadians -- to know that these are manipulations meant to defeat the ends of justice," he added.

Mugesera was told last month by Canadian authorities that he must leave the country by January 12.

He has lived with his family in Canada's Quebec province since 1992, when he fled his homeland in turmoil and a warrant for his arrest.

Deportation proceedings against him began in 1995. A decade later, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision to deny him asylum.

But he remained in legal limbo as Ottawa sought assurances that he would not be harmed if he were sent back to Rwanda.

In its decision to kick him out now, the Canadian government reportedly noted that Rwanda abolished the death penalty in 2007.

"We have convinced the international community that we can and have been conducting fair trials," Ngoga added.

"National courts in Canada are not expected to take a view different from this."

Source: AFP

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Mugesera's speech in 1992, in Kinyarwanda (the National language of Rwanda):

Ijambo rya Léon Mugesera muri mitingi ya MRND kuwa 22 Ugushyingo 1992
Yanditswe kuya 12-01-2012 - Saa 10:00' na IGIHE.com

Kuwa 22 Ugushyingo 1992 ahitwa ku Kabaya, Léon Mugesera yavuze ijambo muri mitingi y’ishyaka MRND ryari ku butegetsi mu Rwanda muri icyo gihe. Iryo jambo IGIHE.com igiye kuribagezaho uko ryakabaye, ariko ikigamijwe si ukumushyigikira, kubabaza bamwe cyangwa kubakomeretsa ku mutima, ahubwo ni ukugirango abasomyi ba IGIHE.com bamenye by’ukuri ibitekerezo bya Léon Mugesera wafatiwe icyemezo cyo koherezwa mu Rwanda n’Urukiko Rukuru rwa Canada.

N’ubwo Mugesera atari ahari mu gihe Abatutsi bakorerwaga Jenoside mu 1994, akurikiranweho ibyaha byo kwigisha urwango no gushishikariza abantu gukorera Jenoside Abatutsi haherewe ahanini ku ijambo rikurikira :

Muvoma yacu, ramba...

Perezida Habyarimana, narambe...

Abarwanashyaka ba Muvoma tuli hano twese, turambe...

Abarwanashyaka ba Muvoma yacu, twese uko duteraniye hano, ngirango ijambo ndi buvuge muranyunva, ndababwira ibintu bine gusa : mu minsi ishize nababwiye ko twanze agasuzuguro, n’ubu turacyakanga ! Ibyo ntabwo mbigarukaho !

Uko nitegereje imbaga nyamwinshi twese duteraniye hano, biragaragara ko icya mbere nari kuvuga nari nkwiye kukireka : kuko nari ngiye kubabwira ngo mwirinde umugeli wa MDR ilimo gusamba ! Icyo ni icya mbere.

Icya kabili ngirango tujyeho inama : twivogerwa ! Haba hano tuli, haba no mu gihugu ; icyo ni icya kabili.

Icya gatatu ngira ngo mbabwire, nacyo ni ikintu gikomeye, ni ukuntu tugomba kwifata kugira ngo twirinde abagambanyi n’abashaka kutumerera nabi. Hanyuma rero icyo ndi busozerezeho nyine, ni uburyo tugomba kwifata.

Icya mbere rero ngira ngo mbagezeho, icyo kintu gikomeye ndagira ngo mukimenye... Kuko imigeri MDR na PL, na FPR, hamwe na rya shyaka ryitwa PSD na PDC ndetse, bitera muri iki gihe, mumenye impamvu ritera imigeri. Rikayitera rero rishaka ko urwara rwagera kuri perezida wa repubulika bikanga, ari we perezida wa Muvoma yacu. Rikayitera ku barwanashyaka bacu... Mumenye impamvu iyo migeri irimo guterwa : Burya ujya gupfa aba afite indwara !!!

Igisambo Twagiramungu yagiye kuri Radiyo kuko ari perezida w’ishyaka, ariwe wayihamagariye ngo agiye kuhicira CDR, irahamutsinda ! Imaze kuhamutsinda, mu matagisi hose i Kigali, abarwanashyaka ba MDR, PSD n’ibyo byitso by’inyenzi, barakonje pe ! benda guhwera na we ubwe ararigita, ntiyasubira no mu biro yakoreragamo, ndababwira ko uwo muntu, ishyaka rye ryataye isaro, bose bagira ubwoba bahita bapfa !

Kubera rero ko iryo shyaka hamwe n’andi bafatanyije kuko ari ibyitso by’inyenzi, umugabo uririmo witwa Murego ageze i Kibungo afata ijambo aravuga ati : "Twe dukomoka ku Bahutu kandi turi Abahutu." Bati : "Urakavuna umuheto ! Shahu ibyo by’Abahutu urabivuga ubibwiwe na nde ? ". Bararakara ubwo barahwera !

Noneho minisiteri w’intebe witwa ngo niba ari Nsegashitani cyangwa iyaremye simbizi, afata inzira n’i Cyangugu ngo agiye kubuza Abahutu kwirwanaho, Abatutsi babatega za mines, mwabyumvise kuli radiyo, maze bamuha urw’amenyo, namwe mwarabyiyumviye ata umutwe, n’abarwanashyaka be bose n’amashyaka bafatanyije.

Ubwo rero murumva abo bantu bimaze kugenda gutyo...Mwiyumviye perezida w’ishyaka ryacu, nyakubahwa Jenerali-Majoro Habyalimana Juvénal, ageze mu Ruhengeri, avuze, Ikinani kiragaragara, ba bandi bahita bajya mu mva, murumva rero umugeri w’abo bantu, ko bahwereye, bateye umugeri bumvise u Rwanda rwose n’abo mu yandi mashyaka barimo kuyavamo bagaruka mu ishyaka ryacu, kubera ijambo ry’umukuru wacu.

Umugeri wabo rero urindwa umubi, icyakora uko tungana dutya ndabona turi benshi, nta n’aho bawunyuza barata igihe.

Ibyo rero ni icya mbere, MDR n’amashyaka bifatanyije bilimo gusamba, umugeri wabyo, muwirinde, aliko uko nabibonye n’urwara ntiruzabageraho !

Icya kabiri nagennye kubabwira : ni ukutavogerwa. Muve aha rwose mujyanye iryo jambo rivuga KUTAVOGERWA.

Mbe wa mugabo we, nawe wa mubyeyi we muri hano, harya umuntu azaza yicare mu rugo rwawe, ahannye, wongere wemere ko ahagaruka koko ?!? Uwo ni umuziro rwose !

Mumenye ko ikintu gikomeye cya mbere,... hano mwabonye abavandimwe bacu b’i Gitarama ; amabendera ni jye wayatanze nkora mu biro by’ishyaka ryacu, yose i Gitarama barayashinga ; ariko iyo uturutse i Kigali ukaza ugatambuka, ukinjira muli Kibilira nta bendera rya MRND rikihatamba barayamanuye !

Ibyo aribyo byose namwe murabyumva, abapadiri batwigishije byiza na Muvoma yacu ni muvoma y’amahoro, ariko bamenye ko natwe amahoro yacu nta kuntu umuntu ashobora kuyagira nawe atirwanyeho.

Hari abaciye umugani ngo : "Ushaka amahoro ahora yiteguye intambara". Maze rero, muri perefigurata yose yacu ya Gisenyi, ni ubwa kane cyangwa ubwa gatanu mbivuga, ni bo babanje. Mu Ivanjili biranditse ngo : "Nibagukubita urushyi ku itama rimwe uzatege irindi bakubiteho". Njye mbabwiye ko iyo Vanjili yahindutse muri Muvoma yacu : nibagukubita urushyi ku itama rimwe, uzabatere ebyiri ku rindi hanyuma biture hasi ubutazazanzamuka !

Aha rero, nta kantu kitwa ibendera ryabo, nta cyitwa ingofero yabo, nta cyitwa n’umurwanashyaka wabo ugomba kongera kuza ku butaka bwacu kuhavugira : ndavuga Gisenyi yose uko yakabaye !

Ngo : "Kirya abandi bajya kukirya kikishaririza" ! Bamenye ko umugabo ari nk’undi, natwe urugo rwacu ntiruvogerwa. Kuvogerwa rero mumenye ko ari umuziro !

Ikindi kintu ngira ngo mbabwire ku byerekeranye no kuvogerwa, mugomba kwanga, ni ibintu biteye ubwoba ; mukuru wacu, Munyandamutsa, amaze kubabwira uko byifashe. Ati : "Ba ensipegiteri bacu, ubu mu gihugu hose ni 59 birukanye". Muri prefegitura yacu ya Gisenyi ni 8 !

Maze se mwa babyeyi mwe muteraniye hano, mwari mwabona niba akiri umutegarugoli simbizi ariko mwari mwabona uwo mugore uyobora Minisiteri y’uburezi ari we uza kumenya ko abana banyu bavuye mu ngo, bakajya kwiga cyangwa bagasubira mu ishuri ?!? Ntimwumvise ko yavuze ndetse ngo ntihakagire uwongera no kwiga ? None rero yahutse no mu barezi ! Ndagira ngo mbamenyeshe ko yabahamagaye i Kigali, akababwira ngo : "Ntihakagire umuntu n’umwe yumva ko ngo ensipegiteri, umurezi, wagiye mu ishyaka" !

Baramushubije bati : "Banza urivemo nawe kuko uri minisitri kandi uri mu ishyaka, natwe tuzagukurikira" ! Aracyaririmo, kandi mwumvise no kuli radiyo ukuntu asigaye atuka na perezida wacu. Hari umubyeyi wagiye gukoronga ku gasozi ?!? Maze rero icyo ngira ngo mbabwireho, ni amanyakuri ntabwo ari ugukeka ngo byaba ari ibi, ngo hari ababa barakubaganye muri bo. Icyo bazira ni uko bari muli MRND ! None bazaza kutuvogera ... muri MRND, badukuremo abantu twemere ?

Mbasabye ibikorwa bibiri bikomeye cyane : icya mbere ni uko mwakwandikira uwo mushizi w’isoni utukana riva no kuli radiyo yacu twese y’Abanyarwanda, mwamwandikira mukamumenyesha ko abo barezi bacu ari indakemwa mu mico no mu myifatire kandi badufatiye abana neza, ko abo barezi bakomeza kurera bana, ko yisubiraho. Icyo ni icya mbere mbasabye.

Maze mwese mugasinya pe ! Impapuro ntabwo zizabura rwose ! Maze rero nimumara iminsi mikeya adashubije, nk’irindwi gusa, kuko ibaruwa muzayohereza ijyane umuntu ayigezeyo, abimenye ko yayibonye, maze nihashira iminsi irindwi adashubije... MAZE RERO NIHASHIRA IMINSI IRINDWI ADASHUBIJE... Kandi akiha kugira ngo hagire undi muntu uza gusimbura ba ensipegiteri bari mu myanya, icyo mugifate, akibwira ko hali uza kumusimbura, uwonguwo uzaza rero aho minisitri akomoka ni ahantu bita i Nyaruhengeri ku nkengero z’u Burundi i Butare muzabwire uwo muntu afate inzira yikorere impamba ye ajye kuba ensipegiteri i Nyaruhengeri !

Bazakoranireyo bose abo azashyiraho bose bajye i Nyaruhengeri kurera abana be, naho abacu bazakomera barerwe n’abacu. Icyo ni ikintu na none gikomeye tugomba gufatira ibyemezo : ni ukutavogerwa pe ! Ni umuziro !

Ikindi cyitwa kutavogerwa mu gihugu murabizi : abantu bitwa inyenzi ntimukongere kuvuga Inkotanyi : ni inyenzi pe ! Abantu bitwa inyenzi bafashe inzira baradutera.

Jenerali-Majoro Habyarimana Yuvenali afatanyije dore Serubuga, mwamubonye Koloneli ali hano yali umwungiliza we mu ngabo icyo gihe duterwa barahaguruka barahagarara, inyenzi bazijugunya hanze y’umupaka zisubira iyo zaturutse ; maze rero reka mbasetse : reka hazaze babandi bifuje ubutegetsi, nibamara kubushyikira, bafate inzira bajye i Buruseli. Bamaze kugera i Buruseli, icyo ni ikiri MDR, PL na PSD, barazerana ngo mpaka batanze perefegitura ya Byumba ! Icyo ni icya mbere. Barasezerana mpaka ngo abasirikare bacu bagomba kubaca intege !

Mwumvise ibyo minisitri w’intebe yivugiye ngo : "Bagiye gushoka ibishanga" kandi urugamba rushyushye ! Icyo gihe abari bafite umutima woroshye muri bo bavuye mu birindiro inyenzi zirinjira mu by’ukuri zijya hariya i Byumba nabo bajya gusahura amaduka, bacuza abacuruzi bacu b’i Byumba, Ruhengeri na Gisenyi, ubungubu ni na leta igomba kwishyura ibyo bintu kuko niyo yateye ibyo. Ntabwo ari umucuruzi wacu, nta n’umwenda askaka : umwenda w’iki se ? Maze rero abo bantu batuma tuvogerwa. Igihanishwa abo bantu nta kindi rero : "Azahanishwa urupfu umuntu wese uzaca intege ingabo z’igihugu ku rugamba" biranditse mu mategeko. Kuki uwo batamwica ?

Nsengiyaremye agomba gushyikirizwa ubucamanza agacirwa urubanza, amategeko arahari aranditse. Bakamucira urubanza rwo gupfa nk’uko byanditse. Ibyo ntibibakange ngo ni uko ari minisitri w’intebe, mumaze iminsi mwumva ku maradiyo ko n’abaminisitri b’u Bufaransa basigaye bahamagarwa mu bucamanza ! "Azahanishwa urupfu mu gihe cy’intambara, umuntu uzatanga ubutaka bw’igihugu, n’agatanyu". Twagiramungu yabivugiye kuli radiyo, na CDR imutsinda kuri Radiyo. Abarwanashyaka be bata umutwe, namwe mwiyumvire rero. Ndagira ngo mbamenyeshe ko uwo muntu watanze Byumba kuri radiyo twese twumva, n’Abanyarwanda n’amahanga bumva, yacirwa urubanza ; azahanishwa urupfu biranditse mubaze abacamanza babereke aho biri ntabwo mbabeshya, azahanishwa urupfu umuntu uzatanga n’agatanyu k’u Rwanda. None uwo muntu aracyakora iki ?

Kutavogerwa rero murabizi mwa babyeyi mwe, murabizi, muzi y’uko hari inyenzi ziri mu gihugu, zafashe abana bazo zibohereza ku rugamba kujya gufatanya n’inkotanyi. Ibyo ni ibintu mwiyumvira, muzi. Ejo navuye muri Nshili ku Gikongoro ku mupaka w’u Burundi, nyura n’i Butare hose bagiye bambwira umubare w’abana bagiye, bakambwira bati : "Banyura, n’ubajyana kuki badafatwa, n’iyo miryango" ? None rero mbabwire : biranditse mu mategeko ngo mu gitabo cy’amategeko ahana ngo : "Azahanishwa urupfu umuntu wese uzafata abasirikare ashatse mu giturage hose ashaka abana abaha ingabo z’amahanga zitera Repubulika". Biranditse. Kuki abo babyeyi bohereje abana batabafata ngo babatsembe ? Kuki badafata abo babajyana nabo bose ngo babatsembe ? Ubu mutegereje ko bazaza kudutsemba koko ?!?

Maze rero ndagira ngo mbabwire iki : ni uko ubu dusabye ko abo bantu bose babashyira kuri lisiti bakabashyira imbere y’ubucamanza, bakabacira urubanza tukabumva ; nibaramuka biyangiye rero mu itegeko-nshinga biranditsemo ngo "ubutabera bubera abaturage" Mu gifaransa biravuga ngo : "La justice est rendue au nom du peuple". Igihe rero ubucamanza butagikorera rubanda nk’uko byanditse mu itegeko-nshinga ryacu twishyiriyeho, icyo gihe ni ukuvuga ko twebwe abaturage bwagombye gukorera tugomba kwikorera, izo ngegera tukazitsemba.

Ibi mbibabwiye mu manyakuri nk’uko byanditse mu ivanjili : igihe muzemera ko inzoka iza kubarya mukayireka ikabagumamo, ni mwebwe muzashira.

Ndabamenyesha ko ashize umunsi umwe n’ijoro rimwe, sinzi ko rigezeho, i Kigali, agatsiko k’abantu bafite imbunda bagiye mu kabari, baravuga ngo : "amakarita muyerekane". Aba MDR babashyira hariya. Aba PL murabizi, babashyira hariya. N’aba PDC, ba bandi biyise abakristu, bajya hariya. Uwa MRND agaragaje ikarita bahita bamurasa urufaya, simbabeshya bazabibabwire no kuri radiyo, barashe uwo muntu barigitira mu bishanga by’i Kigali baratoroka, bamaze kuvuga ngo ni Inkotanyi. None mumbwire rero abo bana baragenda bafite ikarita y’indangamuntu yacu, bakagaruka bafite imbunda ari inyenzi n’ibyitso byazo, bakaza kuturasa.

Ntabwo rero nemera ko tuzemera kuraswa. Umuntu uhagarariye MDR hano uhavugira ntakongere kuba muri iyi komini no muri iyi perefegitura... kuko ni icyitso. Abahagarariye ariya mashyaka afatanya n’inyenzi, abahagarariye... ndabibabwiye simbabeshya, ni ukugirango... bashaka kudutsemba ! BASHAKA KUDUTSEMBA ! Nta kindi bagamije kandi tugomba kubabwiza ukuri ; ntabwo njye mbahisha rwose ! Icyo bagamije ni icyo.

Ndagira ngo mbabwire rero ko abahagarariye ya mashyaka afatanya n’inyenzi ari iyo MDR, ari iyo PSD, ari iyo PL, ari iyo PDC n’utundi tw’intarutsi tugenda tuyegera, ayo mashyaka n’abayahagarariye bagomba kujya gutura i Kayenzi kwa Nsengiyaremye tukamenya abo turasana aho bari !

Bavandimwe, barwanashyaka ba Muvoma yacu, ibi mbabwira ntabwo ali ibikino, ni ukubabwiza ukuli kugira ngo hatazagira uwumva bamurashe mukazatubwira ngo twe duhagarariye ishyaka ngo ntitwababwiye. Ubwo rero ndababwiye mubimenye, n’ufite umwana yohereje mu nyenzi azisange n’umuryango we n’umugore we hakiri kare, kuko igihe kirageze ko natwe twirwanaho, kugirango... Ntabwo tuzemera gupfa amategeko yanze gukora !

Ndabamenyesha ko umunsi bakoze imyigaragambyo, kuwa kane, bakubise abantu bacu, bagahungira no mu kiliziya ii munsi ya Rond Point, abo bantu ngo bitwa abakristu ba PDC nabo bakabirukaho bakajya kubakubitira mu kiliziya. Abandi bahungiye musi Centre culturel y’Abafaransa rwose !

None ndagira ngo mbabwire ko batangiye kwica, nta kindi ni uko bimeze, batera mu ngo bakica ubu uwumviswe ko ari MRND bakica, bagakubita, ni uko bimeze. None rero ni uko, abo bahagarariye amashyaka muri prefegitura yacu nibafate inzira bajye gutura hamwe n’inyenzi ! Ntabwo dushaka abantu batubamo ngo bazaturase baturi impande.

Ikindi kintu gikomeye nagira ngo mbabwire kugira ngo tudakomeza kuvogerwa : mwumva bavuga ngo imishyikirano ya Arusha ! Simbivugaho kuko... umwanya munini kuko ngira ngo uhagarariye umunyamabanga mukuru wa Muvoma araza kubivuga ku buryo burambuye. Ariko icyo nababwira ni uko intumva mwumva ngo ziri Arusha, ntabwo zihagarariye u Rwanda... Ibyo bajya kuvuga Arusha mbabwije amanyakuri ! Intumva z’u Rwanda zitwa iz’u Rwanda ziyobowe n’inyenzi ! Ikagenda ikajya kuvugana n’inyenzi ! Nk’uko babivuga mu ndirimbo mujya mwumva ngo "Ni Imana yavuye ku Mana", nabo ni inyenzi yavuye ku nyenzi ivugira inyenzi !

Ibyo bajya kuvuga Arusha ni ibyo ibyo byitso by’inyenzi bili ino byagiye i Buruseli, bajya gukorera Arusha ngo byitilirwe uRwanda, nta na kimwe kitari icy’i Buruseli gikorerwa aho ; n’ikivuye mu Rwanda, ntabwo ali ikiba kivuye muli guverinoma yacu : ni icy’i Buruseli bagenda bikoreye bakajyana Arusha ! Ni inyenzi rero ivugana n’indi, ibyo bita imishyikirano ntitwanga gushyikirana ndagira ngo mbabwire ko atari iy’u Rwanda : ni inyenzi zivugana n’inyenzi ! Mubimenye rwose ! Kandi ntabwo tuzemera ibyo bintu bizava ahongaho.

Ikindi nababwiye rero ni uko tugomba kwirwanaho. Bimwe nabinyuzemo, aliko ndababwiye ngo : duhaguruke ! Banyongoreye mu kanya ngo ni ababyeyi bagomba guhaguruka hamwe n’abalimu kuri cya kibazo cy’aba ensipegiteri bacu. Ariko n’udafite umwana mu ishuli, nawe yabashyigikira, kuko nawe ejo azamugira, cyangwa ejo bundi yaramwigeze. Maze twese duhagurukire icyarimwe dusinye pe !

Icya kabiri nababwira ni ikingiki : ni uko dufite abaministri 9 muri iyi guverinoma. Uko bahagurutse ngo birukane aba ensipegiteri bacu bagendeye kuri ministeri yabo, bagahaguruka ngo birukane abalimu bigisha mu mashuri yisumbuye mumaze iminsi mwumva wa mugore azungumuka mu mashuri, nta kiba kimujyanye ni ukwirukana ba diregiteri n’abalimu bayarimo batari mu ishyaka rye. Mwumvise ibikorwa muli MINITRAPE : si ubujura gusa, n’abakozi bacu barabahagurukiye. Mwumvise ibikorerwa kuri radiyo, n’ikiganiro banyonze cy’i Byumba ; mwumvise uko byifashe.

Ndagira ngo mbabwire rero dusabe abaminisitri bacu nabo, hari abakora mu mashyaka yabo bari muli ministeri zacu. Mwumvise nk’umurwanashyaka minisitri Ngirabatware utari hano kubera ko igihugu cyamutumye ahakomeye. Minisiteri ye rero nayigezemo kuwa kane harimo utuntu duke si uko nisuzugura ngo ndi muri MRND twa MRND, abarimo ni inyenzi nsa, bari muli PL na MDR ni bo bari muri minisiteri rwose y’imigambi ya Leta ! Murumva uwo muminisitiri avuze ati : "Nimukora ku ba ensipegiteri bacu namwe abanyu ndabakunkumura" byagenda gute ? Abaminisitri bacu nabo nibakunkumure isaho ingegera ziri iwabo zigende zijye muri minisiteri za bene wabo !

Ikintu mbasabye gikomeye na none abantu bali ku mirimo bose bari muri MRND : ni ubufatanye. Uri ku kigega cy’amafaranga, nk’uko bayakoresha nawe nayazane tuyakoreshe. Uyafite ku giti cye ni uko MRND yayamuhaye imufasha imushyigikira, nawe akirwanaho kuko ari umugabo ; kuko na we bateze kumukata ijosi, nayazane tubakate amajosi.

Mwibuke Muvoma yacu ko ishingiye muri selire, Muvoma yacu igashingira muri segiteri no muri komine. Perezida yababwiye ko igiti gifite amashami kikagira amababi ntikigire imizi, gipfa ! Imizi yacu ni aho ishingiye. Nimusubire hamwe n’ubwo nta mafaranga bakibahemba abaselire bacu nimujye hamwe : uwinjiye muri selire mumubone, mumukande, niba ari icyitso, ye kuyisohokamo. Ye kuyisohokamo !!!

Mperutse kubwira umuntu wari unyiraseho ngo ni za PL. Ndamubwira nti : "ikosa twakoze muri 59 n’ubwo nari umwana ni uko twabaretse mugasohoka". Mubaza niba atarumvishe inkuru y’aba Falasha, basubiye iwabo muri Isiraheli bavuye muri Ethiopia ambwira ko atayizi, nti : "Ntabwo uzi kumva no gusoma ? Jye ndakumenyesha ko iwanyu ari muri Ethiopia, ko tuzabanyuza muri Nyabarongo mukagerayo bwangu" !

Maze rero icyo mbabwiye cyo kugira ngo duhaguruke, tugomba guhaguruka koko. Icyo ngiye gusozerezaho rero... Icyo ngiye gusozerezaho ni ikintu gikomeye : ejo nari muli Nshili. Mwumvise ko Abarundi batubeshyeye, nari nagiye kureba uko kuri. Mu kujyayo abantu barankanga ngo simvayo, ngo ndapfirayo. Ndavuga nti : "Nimpfa sinzaba mbaye igitambo cya mbere".

Maze rero muri Nshili bavanyeho burugumestiri wahozeho, ngo kuko ngo ashaje da ! Ngo yatangiye muri za 60, n’ejo naramubonye aracyari umusore ! Ngo kuko ari MRND, avaho ! Bajya gushyiraho igisambo, nabyo biranga ! Hagiyeho umunyamurava, baramwanga ! Ubu iyo komini yitwa Nshili iyoborwa n’umukonseye nawe byayobeye uko abigenza. Aho hantu rero muri Nshili dufiteyo ingabo z’igihugu zirinda umupaka. Hari abantu bitwa aba JDR... Kubera ko ingabo zacu zitonda zitarasana -cyane cyane ntizarasa Umunyarwanda kereka ari inyenzi, abasirikare ntibakamenye ko n’abantu bo muri MDR bose babaye inyenzi, ntibabimenye, barabagota badufatira abajandarume ku buryo umuturage utari no mu ishyaka ryacu yanyibwiliye ati : "Icyo twifuza, uwazana amatora, tugatora burgumestiri ; biti ihi se, igihe ataraza, bakaba bashubijeho uwahozeho, kuko aho ibintu bigeze, n’uzaza ntazashobora kugarura abaturage mu nzira".

Maze rero babyeyi, bavandimwe, nagira ngo mbabwire ikintu gikomeye : amatora agomba kuza tugomba gutora pe ! Ubu uko duteraniye aha mbese, hari uwariye undi urwara ra ? Ngo umutekano !... Ngo ntitwatora !...Ntimujya mu misa ku cyumweru ra ? Ntimwaje hano muri mitingi ra ? Muri MRND ntimwatoye abayobozi b’inzego zose ra ? Abo babivuga se bo si ko babigenza ntibatoye ? Icyo kintu bitwaza barabeshya nta mpamvu yatuma tudatora ngo kubera umutekano, kuko na bo ubwabo bagenda mu gihugu, n’imvururu ziriho ni bo bazikurura ; icyo ni icya mbere nagira ngo mbabwire : baratubeshya : twese nk’aha turi dushobora no gutora.

Icya kabiri : bitwaza abavanywe mu byabo n’iyi ntambara bari i Byumba. Ndagira ngo mbamenyeshe ko nta wagiye kubaza abo bantu ko badashaka gutora, njye banyibwiliye ko bahoranye abakonseye bamwe baba abanebwe, ndetse ngo bamwe mu ba burgumesitiri babo babaye abanebwe. Kubera ko ya minisiteri ibajyanira ibiryo icungwa n’Inkotanyi... nako inyenzi, Lando yafashe abantu bitwa inyenzi n’ibyitso ziri mu gihugu aba ari bo aha kujyanira ibiryo abo bantu ; aho kubijyanayo rero bakabicuruza bikajya kugura amasasu bashyira za nyenzi ziturasa ! Ndagira ngo mbabwire rero y’uko baravuze bati :"Namwe muratwo... turaraswa inyuma, mukaturasa n’imbere mutwoherereza izo ngegera kutuzanira ibiryo" ?

Nabuze icyo mbabwira. Baravuga rero bati : "Icyo twifuza ni uko muri twe twakwitoreramo abayobozi, abakonseye, abaselire, burugumestiri, tukamenya ko turi hamwe hano muri camp, akaturwanaho, akadushakira ibiryo". Murumva ko icyo abo bagabo bambwiye n’abo bagore bahungiye mu bintu hirya iriya ibyo mujya mwumva, barifuza nabo amatora ; igihugu cyose kirifuza amatora, kugira ngo kiyoborwe n’intwali nk’uko gisanzwe kiri. Umva rero natwe twese icyo twakora ni icyo : ni ugusaba ayo matora.

Maze rero kugira ngo nsoze, ndagira ngo mbibutse ibintu maze kubabwira bikomeye : icy’imena, ni ukutavogerwa, kugira ngo n’abasamba batagira uwo bahitana muri mwe. Ntimugatinye : mumenye ko uwo mutazakata ijosi ari we uzaribakata ! Nkababwira rero ko abo batangira kugenda hakiri kare, bakajya gutura muri bene wabo, bakajya no mu nyenzi, aho kuduturamo ngo babike imbunda, nidusinzira baturase ! Maze rero mubahambirize, bafate inzira bagende, ntihakagire n’ugaruka kuvugira aha, uzana n’ibyahi ngo ni amabendera !

Ikindi gikomeye ni uko tugomba guhaguruka, tugahaguruka icyarimwe, ukoze ku wacu tukaba umwe, akabura aho anyura ! Ba ensipegiteri bacu ntaho bazajya, abo bazashyiraho bazafata inzira bajye i Nyaruhengeri, iwabo wa minisitiri Agatha kurera abana be ! Icyo mugifate !

Icyo nshojerejeho ni ikintu gikomeye : ni amatora. Maze ndabashimira kuba munteze amatwi, kandi nkaba mbashimiye ubutwali mufite mu maboko yanyu no mu mutima wanyu, nzi ko muri abagabo, mukaba n’inkumi n’ababyeyi batavogerwa, banga agasuzuguro. Murakaramba !

Perezida Habyarimana, ramba !

MURAKARAMA !

Consequences of Racism in Rwanda: We Need To Get Out of Apathy

2012-01-07T10:43:00.000-08:00

By Tom Ndahiro

One of the many foreign journalists who were in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide concluded that there were no more devils in hell because they were all in Rwanda.

Role of Colonialism

Rwandan Authorities and Intellectuals

International Community’s Betrayal and the spread of racist ideology

Denial and Revisionism

The military officer is a non-Rwandan denier, who does not admit there was any crime against humanity committed in Rwanda. Sadly, there are many more, including Rwandans.

Historic Pointers

Conclusion

[1] P. Rutayisire, La Christianisation du Rwanda (1900-1945). Edition Universitaires Fribourg, 1987 p. 24

[2] African Newsletter – The Research Centre on Socio-Political Information in Brussels (CRISP) February 5, 1960.

[3] Opening Speech at a Seminar of Joint Evaluation of Emergency Assistance to Rwanda, September 10, 1996

[4] W. Schabas, The Genocide Convention at Fifty (Special Lecture, International Institute of Human Rights-Strasbourg, July 9, 1999)

[5] Internews, Cyangugu Trial, September 17, 2001

[6] Propaganda and Practice: Human Rights Watch Report-1999

[7] Leslie Crawford, “Hutus see France as their savior”- Financial Times, 27 June 1994)

[8] Howard W. French: Tense Times for France-Africa Tie (New York Times, November 9, 1994)

[9] Le Soir -November 17, 1998.

[10] International Herald Tribune-6^th April 1995

[11] Gérard Prunier, Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide (London, 1995), p.267

[12] Ann M. Simmons, U.N. Secretary General Defends Decisions On Rwanda, (Washington Times- May 5, 1998)

[13] Samantha Power, Bystanders to Genocide: The Atlantic Monthly, September 2001

[14] M. Griffin, Rwanda: Familiar Drums, (Index on Censorship 3, 1998)

[15] The Cycle of Conflict: Which Way out in the Kivus? African Rights, December 2000, p. 97.

[16] State owned DAILY NEWS, July 25, 2001

[17] Chapter XI of Mein Kampf, Vol.1, 1925

[18] Phillip Gourevitch, Picador 1999 p.170-1

[19] African Rights, Death Despair and Defiance, August 1995, p. 993

[20] Alex Duval Smith, Rwanda Warns Of Hutus Preparing Second Genocide: The Independent-UK, August 4, 2001

[21] W. Schonecke, What does the Rwanda Tragedy Say to AMECEA Churches (ADS 17/1994 N° 424, September 15, 1994)

[22] H.V. Conde, A Handbook of International Human Rights Terminology, University of Nebraska-1999

[23] UNESCO, Paris, 1953

[24] Internews, September 21, 2001

[25] op.cit;

[26] A report prepared for the Canadian government on The Rwanda Crisis of April 1994: The Lessons to be Learned

[27] The Mass Media in Rwanda: Stereotypes Revisited, Comhlámh-Conference Paper, February 16, 1996

[28] B. Ghali, op.cit;

* (1^st published January 2002)

Also on: http://friendsofevil.wordpress.com/2010/10/24/consequences-of-racism-in-rwanda-we-need-to-get-out-of-apathy/

14th August 2004 Genocide against Congolese Tutsi

2012-01-06T01:34:00.000-08:00

On August 13, 2004, a refugee camp in Gatumba was the scene of one of the largest civilian massacres carried out in Burundi in recent years.

A force of armed combatants, many of them members of the Forces for National Liberation (FNL), massacred at least 152 Congolese civilians and wounded another 106. The FNL is a predominantly Hutu rebel movement known for its hostility to Tutsi and the victims were largely Banyamulenge, a group often categorized with Tutsi. The FNL is believed to have been behind a series of other attacks, including the December 28, 2000 Titanic Express massacre.

Burundian army accused Congolese troops of complicity in the killings.

Following the FNL's admission of responsibility for the Gatumba massacre, the Burundian government issued arrest warrants for the group's leader, Agathon Rwasa, and declared its intention to refer the matter to the International Criminal Court. The United Nations issued a resolution condemning the attack, and the African Union declared the FNL a terrorist organisation. No arrests have yet been made.

Visit Gatumba Refugees Genocide Survivors Foundation here.

On August 13, 2004 a force of armed combatants, many of them members of the Forces for National Liberation (Forces pour la Liberation Nationale, FNL), massacred at least 152 Congolese civilians and wounded another 106 at Gatumba refugee camp, near Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi. The FNL is a predominantly Hutu rebel movement known for its hostility to Tutsi and the victims were largely Banyamulenge, a group often categorized with Tutsi.

Witnesses described finding charred and bloody bodies at the camp for the Tutsis escaping recent violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"People were sleeping when the attack happened. People were killed as they tried to escape," Eliana Nabaa of the UN mission in Congo said, quoted by the Associated Press news agency.

"The scene is absolutely horrific. There are many people burnt - families, children, women and men burnt," she said".

The attackers... moved towards the refugee camp, playing drums, ringing bells, blowing whistles, and singing religious songs in Kirundi. At least two local residents heard them sing, “God will show us how to get to you and where to find you.” One other heard shouts of “Ingabo Z’Imana,” “[We are] the army of God.” Many reported hearing attackers sing choruses of “Allelluia” and “Amen.”

Even in the midst of the noise and confusion of the attack some refugees did not immediately understand the danger. Some believed the attackers were bandits coming to steal the cows stabled nearby. Others believed those singing the religious songs had come to save them especially since some attackers were shouting “Come, come, we’re going to save you”. Anyone who stopped out the entry of a tent was immediately gunned down, as was one father who sought to save his two children by flight. The attackers, usually only two or three at a time, ripped open the tent flaps and slit the sides of the tent. Often they stayed at the entrance to the tent and either ordered people to come out or just began shooting into the tent. They then threw or shot incendiary grenades that caused the tents to catch fire.

Of the just over 800 refugees, 152 were killed, all Banyamulenge except for fourteen Bembe people. One hundred and six were wounded. Most victims were women and children. Early the next morning a Human Rights Watch researcher went to the site. She found government and international officials preoccupied with determining the cause and extent of the disaster. Ignored by all of them, a child three or four years old stood alone crying in front of a still smouldering tent.

International involvement in 1994 Rwanda Genocide against Tutsi

2012-01-05T12:13:00.001-08:00

Lisa Levy of EUJS Testifies at UN on Durban II Conference

2012-01-01T09:00:00.000-08:00

Source:UN Watch

Read more on antisemitism reports from around the Globe on this link.

Justice for victims of 21st October 1993 Kibimba School Tutsi Genocide

2011-12-31T13:28:00.000-08:00

It was summer 1993, Willy was getting ready to leave Bujumbura for his boarding school, at Kibimba School. Willy was a Teenager who made everyone laugh, his sense of humour could gather all our neighbours. Willy enjoyed sport, he enjoyed music and socialising. Willy was a Burundian Tutsi, his Father was an Army high ranking officer. I remember well his last words:”Come on, I will be back soon, I will save up my pocket money so that when I am back to Bujumbura, we can all have fun, I am not going there forever.” We nicknamed Willy “le gros”, French word for “the Huge Guy”.

20-21st October 1993, a military coup took the life of the First democratically elected President of Burundi, H.E Melchior Ndadaye, a Hutu, half of his cabinet were assassinated, President of Parliament was assassinated, Vice-President of Parliament was assassinated (a Tutsi).In villages of Burundi, Hutu locals saw this as a Tutsi plot to refuse Hutu from leading Burundi. Hutu civilians killed Tutsi all over the Country; among the victims was Willy at his school Kibimba.

At the same school, my Dad’s Sister survived lying under bodies of other Pupils butchered, I asked her about our Neighbour and Friend Willy, she said that he was the first to be collected by the Headmaster of the school and Hutu locals, Willy was reduced in pieces by machetes attacks, his sin was that his Father was a Tutsi Military officer. I heard that there was vengeance for Tutsi killed in villages. For decades, Burundi was engulfed in ethnic killings, opposing the two main tribes: Hutu and Tutsi.

The assassination of a Hutu President of Burundi cost a lot of lives among Tutsi, each side (Hutu,Tutsi) were quickly radicalised, both tribes did not trust each other, up to the time when I left Burundi to exile, there was deep ethnic division. Those who incited hatred, violence and often acts of genocide, have since been imposed as Leaders of Burundi, each side (Hutu,Tutsi) still refuse to pay tribute together as Burundians, each side wants to commemorate on ethnic lines, Hutu on one side, Tutsi on the other side.

From 1965, Burundians have experienced violence that most People would find it hard to cope with, the Nation still has not recovered due to the culture of impunity, a wrong approach in the peace process which suggested that individuals responsible for serious crimes be included in the power sharing agreement (between Hutu and Tutsi).

Because of these circumstances, a number of Burundians decided to stay abroad, they are particularly concerned about the culture of impunity which orphaned many on both sides (Hutu,Tutsi). Burundi will be free from hate and division when all of these facts are acknowledged, and most importantly that the rule of Law is respected, taught at all levels of society, that reconciliation is not imposed but rather a path taken by Burundians themselves, lessons should be taught to a Younger generation that they learn from past history mistakes, it should be taught that no one was justified to take someone's life, ushering in a new generation whose goal will be to rebuild Burundi together.

יוסף
Editor
Against Genocide in the African Great Lakes

Ambassador Susan Rice on 1994 Rwanda Genocide against Tutsi

2011-12-30T11:24:00.003-08:00

Remembering 14th August 2004 Genocide against Congolese Tutsi

2011-12-30T09:48:00.000-08:00

On Friday 13th August 2004, at least 156 civilans were massacred at the Gatumba refugee camp, in Burundi. The victims were burnt, shot and hacked to death with machetes. All were of Tutsi ethnicity.

*To condemn the Gatumba massacre in the strongest terms

*To make a firm commitment to investigate the Gatumba massacre as a War Crime, and bring those responsible to justice

*To hold the leadership of Palipehutu-FNL accountable for their campaign of violence against civilians in Burundi.

Please sign the Petition calling for Justice on the following link.

Raphael Doridant : Le rôle de la France dans le génocide des Tutsi

2011-12-29T19:39:00.000-08:00

Raphael Doridant : Le rôle de la France dans le... by Tele-liberte

La commission Afrique du Nouveau parti anticapitaliste (NPA) a voulu faire le point le 4 juin 2011 sur l’implication de la France dans le génocide des Tutsi en invitant Raphaël Doridant de l’association Survie, coauteur de « La complicité de la France dans le génocide des Tutsi au Rwanda. 15 ans après, 15 questions pour comprendre » et Jacques Morel, auteur de « La France au coeur du génocide des Tutsi », qui a présenté son analyse du rôle de la France par la commission Mucyo en juillet 2007 à Kigali.

Les deux orateurs avaient convenu de débattre sur la nature de l’implication de la France.

Est-elle complice des auteurs du génocide comme le répète l’association Survie depuis fin 1994, ou, plus grave, est-elle un des commanditaires du crime ?

L’opposition entre les deux thèses ne se révèle pas très grande mais surtout dépendante des documents pris en considération, notamment les archives provenant d’un fonds Mitterrand. Les deux exposés sont plus complémentaires que contradictoires.

Doridant, en un exposé très clair et synthétique, décrit tous les aspects de cette complicité, militaires, politiques et diplomatiques. Allant plus avant, il cite certains documents de l’Elysée, notamment cette lettre du président intérimaire rwandais Sindikubwabo du 22 mai 1994, où celui-ci remercie Mitterrand de son aide « jusqu’à ce jour » et l’appelle à nouveau au secours. Doridant souligne que c’est ce Sindikubwabo qui a déclenché les massacres les plus atroces, ceux de la région de Butare. La réponse de Mitterrand sera l’opération Turquoise sous couvert de l’ONU.

Source: Tele-liberte

Le rôle de la France dans le génocide des Tutsi

2011-12-29T19:33:00.000-08:00

Jacques Morel, Le rôle de la France dans le... by Tele-liberte

La commission Afrique du Nouveau parti anticapitaliste (NPA) a voulu faire le point le 4 juin 2010 sur l’implication de la France dans le génocide des Tutsi en invitant Raphaël Doridant de l’association Survie, coauteur de « La complicité de la France dans le génocide des Tutsi au Rwanda. 15 ans après, 15 questions pour comprendre » et Jacques Morel, auteur de « La France au coeur du génocide des Tutsi », qui a présenté son analyse du rôle de la France par la commission Mucyo en juillet 2007 à Kigali.

Les deux orateurs avaient convenu de débattre sur la nature de l’implication de la France.

Est-elle complice des auteurs du génocide comme le répète l’association Survie depuis fin 1994, ou, plus grave, est-elle un des commanditaires du crime ?

L’opposition entre les deux thèses ne se révèle pas très grande mais surtout dépendante des documents pris en considération, notamment les archives provenant d’un fonds Mitterrand. Les deux exposés sont plus complémentaires que contradictoires.

Source: Tele-liberte

Burundi Genocide at Buta School:30th April 1997

2011-12-29T04:07:00.000-08:00

Frères à la vie, à la mort by peace4all

On April 30th 1997 Buta massacre, CNDD-FDD Burundi Hutu Militia attacked a Catholic seminary in Buta, Bururi province, Burundi. According to survivors, the attackers attempted to separate Hutu students from their Tutsi classmates. When the students refused to be divided along ethnic lines, the killers massacred them all. No-one has yet been brought to justice for the massacre. Under the terms of a 2003 deal between CNDD-FDD Hutu militia and the then government (supported by the United Nations), all former CNDD-FDD Burundi Hutu militia currently enjoy immunity from prosecution.

At dawn on 30 April 1997, large numbers of rebels reportedly attacked the small seminary at Buta, breaking into the pupils' dormitories. Some 40 of them are said to have been massacred, while 26 others were wounded. One soldier and a night watchman were also allegedly killed during the incident. According to information which reached the Special Rapporteur, the attackers were armed with knives, machetes, clubs, rifles, machine-guns, mortars and grenades. Several groups of assailants reportedly killed the pupils who refused to divide into ethnic groups. They also allegedly looted the dormitories, stripped the bodies and set fire to the building. The priests who were on the scene are said to have been saved thanks to the intervention of soldiers stationed inside the seminary.

Canada based AC Genocide statement on Titanic express bus Genocide

2011-12-29T01:14:00.000-08:00

11 YEARS AFTER THE TITANIC MASSACRE, INVESTIGATION IS STILL PENDING

Eleven years ago, PALIPEHUTU-FNL attacked the Titanic Express bus and
selectively killed all Tutsi and a number of other passengers. A total of
21 innocent people from 5 nationalities were slain on that Thursday 28th
December 2000 at Mageyo, Burundi.

Eleven years after the crime, despite Honorable Yvon Godin call in
February 2001, despite AC GENOCIDE Canada’s relentless campaign for
justice in this crime, despite the promise of a full investigation by the
Government of Burundi, no charge has been laid been laid in this genocidal
attack whose perpetrators are not only known but also have confessed to
their deeds in their December 2000 monthly report.

Correspondence from Canada’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs suggests that
there has been no follow-up. On the contrary, together with Great Britain,
another democracy that her own citizens at the hands of the PALIPEHUTU-FNL
terrorist organization, Canada is backing a mock justice system in
Burundi, the so-called Truth and Reconciliation Commission which is
chaired by the very unpunished killers of a Canadian citizen and a subject
of Her Majesty The Queen. Yet, the CNDD-FDD, was found by a United Nations
Inquiry Commission to have signed a convention with with PALIPEHUTU-FNL
terrorist organization, with a view to exterminate the Tutsi . It is very
likely therefore that the regime will amnesty PALIPEHUTU-FNL.

AC GENOCIDE CANADA, noting that the PALIPEHUT-FNL terrorists have been
branded political prisoners and offered positions in the country’s
institutions:

- sympathizes with the families and friends of the victims of this
unpunished international crime, and reaffirms its support in the campaign
for justice
- reminds the governments of Burundi, Canada, Great Britain, Democratic
Republic of Congo, and Rwanda of their obligation to do justice to all of
their nationals, regardless of their backgrounds;
- finds it illusory to expect that any reliable investigation of the
Titanic Express massacre can be conducted in Burundi whereby the ruling
party the CNDD-FDD, is in a criminal partnership with PALIPEHUTU-FNL
terrorist organization.
- urges Canada, Great Britain, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and
Rwanda to launch an international investigation of the Titanic Express
massacre
- requests its call for the punishment of the perpetrators of the Titanic
Express massacre and of the other acts of genocide, crimes against
humanity and war crimes that remain unpunished in Burundi.

Toronto, December 28th, 2011
For AC Génocide CANADA,
Emmanuel Nkurunziza

________________________________________________________________________

11 ANS APRES LE MASSACRE DU TITANIC EXPRESS, TOUJOURS PAS D’ENQUETE

Il ya onze ans, le PALIPEHUTU-FNL attaquait le bus Titanic Express, tuant
sélectivement tous les Tutsis et quelques autres passagers. Au total, 21
personnes innocentes de 5 nationalités différentes furent tuées le jeudi
28 décembre 2000 à Mageyo au Burundi.

Onze ans après ce crime, malgré l’appel de l’Honorable Yvon Godin en
Février 2001, malgré la campagne ininterrompue menée par AC Génocide
Canada pour que justice soit faite,
malgré la promesse du gouvernement du Burundi de mener une enquête
complète, personne n'a jamais été inculpée pour cette attaque génocidaire
dont les auteurs sont non seulement connus mais aussi ont avoué leurs
actes dans leur rapport mensuel de décembre 2000.

Les correspondances émanant du Ministère canadien des Affaires Étrangères
suggèrent qu'il n'y a pas eu de suivi. Au contraire, avec la
Grande-Bretagne, une autre démocratie qui a perdu son ressortissant aux
mains de l'organisation terroriste PALIPEHUTU-FNL, le Canada soutient au
Burundi une justice qui n’en est pas une à savoir, la soi-disante
Commission Vérité et Réconciliation est pilotée par les meurtriers impunis
d’un citoyen canadien et d’un sujet de Sa Majesté. En effet, une
Commission d’Enquête des Nations Unies a établi que le parti CNDD-FDD au
pouvoir au Burundi a signé avec l’organisation terroriste PALIPEHUTU-FNL
un accord de coopération dans l’extermination des Tutsi. Il y a donc
risque que le pouvoir octroie une amnistie au PALIPEHUTU-FNL.

AC Génocide CANADA, constatant que les terroristes du PALIPEHUT-FNL ont
été baptisés prisonniers politiques et ainsi, se sont vus offerts des
postes de responsabilité dans les institutions du pays,

-    compatit encore et toujours avec les familles et les amis des victimes
de ce crime de droit international qui reste impuni, et leur réaffirme son
soutien indéfectible dans la campagne pour la justice
-    rappelle aux gouvernements du Burundi, du Canada, de la Grande-Bretagne,
de la République Démocratique du Congo et du Rwanda de leurs obligations
de rendre justice à tous leurs ressortissants, indépendamment de leurs
origines,
-    considère qu'il est illusoire de s'attendre à une enquête fiable du
massacre du Titanic Express dans un Burundi où le parti au pouvoir, le
CNDD-FDD, a éte identifié par une Commission d’Enquete des Nations
Uniesest un partenaire dans le crime avec de l’auteur, à savoir,
l’organisation terroriste PALIPEHUTU,
-    recommande au Canada, à la Grande-Bretagne, à la République Démocratique
du Congo, et au Rwanda de lancer une enquête internationale sur le
massacre du Titanic Express
-    exige qu’en plus du massacre du Titanic Express, la compétence
internationale s’applique aussi pour les autres actes de génocide, crimes
contre l'humanité et crimes de guerre qui restent impunis au Burundi.

Fait à Toronto, le 28 décembre, 2011
Pour AC Génocide CANADA
Emmanuel Nkurunziza

Arthur Kabunda, Burundian-Canadian citizen murdered on 28th December 2000 Titanic Express Genocide attack

2011-12-27T07:02:00.001-08:00

Remembering 28th December 2000 Genocide victims of FNL PALIPEHUTU, among those victims, I knew Arthur Kabunda.My Father was due to take the same bus from Kigali, but was called at University for a lecture! Arthur himself had travelled with his Sister from Canada, but the flights from Kigali to Bujumbura were fully booked, so, Arthur decided to book himself on titanic express bus, Arthur was the same age as me, he had been warned not to take the bus by his Family, in his last minutes of life, he begged Hutu rebels to take his money, but was met with brutal butchering, someone who went to see him at the morgue was advised not to see the body.

A number of Young People I grew up with lost their lives in the waves of genocide against tutsi attacks sweeping the Nation of Burundi, this is why I do a repetition in my campaigns, and I am always met with the complete indifference from some who view genocide against Tutsi as justifiable!

Many are grieved as the same genocide criminals have since become arrogant and terrorising against survivors or Families of those who lost their loved ones in these bus genocide attacks, the same groups that committed Genocide have since benefited amnesty from powerful Regional Governments and the African Union, the same international community had pressured previous regimes to open doors to democracy, regional governments had gone further in imposing sanctions on Burundi for this goal to be achieved, but yet, no one has condemned crimes of genocide committed by both the ruling Party CNDD-FDD and FNL PALIPEHUTU.

The logic of justice in Burundi is that Genocide criminals were granted amnesty, while victims are now led by the same genocide criminals, and are told that genocide criminals will be the ones chairing justice and truth and reconciliation commission, that is something that was advocated for by the international community, by Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton as chairs peace talks initiatives, how ironic that they advocated for justice for some,and peace and reconciliation for others?

Never again! Yes to Reconciliation, but minimum justice first for all our Families just as there is justice for Rwanda, DRC, Sudan, Ivory Coast and many other conflicts, we, Burundians, are human beings who are equally entitled to Justice!

Call to prevent extremination of Tutsi communities in the African Great Lakes

2011-12-27T03:10:00.000-08:00

A plan of genocide (extermination) laid out in catholic universities of Belgium, intended to educate Hutu extremists on the goal of exterminating Tutsi communities found in the African Great Lakes, starting in Rwanda (1959) carrying on the plan in Burundi, and the Congo. As of today, Hate speech against Tutsi echoed in some circles of Politicians and Nations, can sound like antisemitism attacks against the State of Israel. Some of the promoters of anti Tutsi violence and discrimination often used the excuse of saying "those Tutsi people came from Ethiopia" as if being Ethiopian is a crime, or as if People did not move from one place to another in history, take the example of Europeans who moved to Southern Africa, or European who moved to Americas, or Arabs who invaded Africa from the 1st Century.

The Tutsi pastoralists' traditions were being demonised by the Catholic Jesuit groups (known in the region as White Fathers), the Belgian Army used its resources to achieve the first aims of dislocating Tutsi communities of Rwanda (1959), this campaign has since gained some international support, this support includes political, media, military support. Indeed, Tutsi survivors of Genocide in exile are regularly demonised, harrassed, and at times, deported on the manipulation of those who seek their extermination. Justification for Genocide against Tutsi has become the norm in some circles, such as the former UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali who uses the common excuse of saying "You know, they killed Tutsi people because....".

While Tutsi survivors or Tutsi are harrassed in exile or in the African Great Lakes, those who continue to organise to proceed with their Genocide plan against Tutsi, the network benefit from local political groups and human rights organisations, their goal of exterminating Tutsi has been legitimised, this is almost like saying that Iran's call to wipe out Israel is justified, or that Adolph Hitler's holocaust against the Jewish People was justified, the anti tutsi hate has gained support which makes most Tutsi survivors tremble and wonder what has the international community become of.

It is facts that some still support or desire seeing Tutsi exterminated, those promoting such an agenda are unapologetic about it, they encourage and host anti tutsi hostile groups without any consideration of how Tutsi might feel with this move. There was never any apology from the Catholic Church that initiated the slaughter of Tutsi people for more than 40years in the African Great Lakes, those manipulating human rights organisations or the United Nations Human rights Council/Security Council in favor of justifying discrimination and violence against Tutsi, is a reminder that the evil of fascism and genocide is still very much alive.

We call on our Friends to do whatever that is within their power to prevent Genocide against Tutsi, to condemn in the strongest terms Politicians, Media, Academics and international organisations who use their platform to channel hate speech against Tutsi, we call on our Friends to stop the armed groups operating in the African Great Lakes who seek to exterminate Tutsi communities, the threat is real, Tutsi communities are being threatened on a regular basis in Europe,North America and Canada, armed groups are supported with the goal of attacking Rwanda which they view to be a Tutsi Leadership. The World said "Never again" but failed to protect Tutsi communities from Genocide, it is not too late to rescue and protect those who survived.

יוסף
Editor
Against Genocide in the African Great Lakes

Former FDLR Leader worked for the UN

2011-12-26T09:08:00.000-08:00

By RFI
A former Hutu militia leader employed by the United Nations is facing fresh allegations over his role in the 1994 genocide after the International Criminal Court in The Hague released him on December 23 saying there was insufficient evidence to convict him.

Callixte Mbarushimana is alleged to have directed and participated in the murder 32 people including U.N. employees he was hired to protect.

Straight after his release from a call in the suburbs of The Hague, Mbarushimana took a plane to Paris, where he previously lived as a political refugee.

On his arrival, police arrested him and took him to a magistrate who reminded the Rwandan that he is also under investigation in a separate, French legal inquiry.

And, in a new twist to the Mbarushimana case, a former member of the United Nations’ humanitarian mission to Rwanda has said he is ready to testify in court against him.

Gregory Alex took over as head of a UN emergency aid unit in the Rwandan capital Kigali in January 1994.

At the start of the massacres, he was evacuated for ten days before returning to head his small team of aid workers.

Alex told RFI that he met Callixte Mbarushimana in Kigali in April of that year.

He said that Mbarushimana, then Executive Secretary of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), approached him in the United Nations gardens and said « we will eliminate them all ».

Despite numerous complaints, Mbarushimana continued to work for the United Nations. After Rwanda he was given posts in Kenya, Angola and Kosovo.

He was dismissed from the U.N. in 2001 but in 2004 he won a lawsuit seeking compensation for his dismissal.

Gregory Alex says he is prepared to testify against Mbarushimana if French police ask him to do so.

Source: RFI

The Vatican condemns Abuja blast,but fails to apologise to Tutsi Survivors

2011-12-25T15:05:00.000-08:00

Events and media coverage of the 10th anniversary of the Hutu massacres of 800,000 Tutsis in the spring of 1994 have strangely omitted the role of the institution largely responsible for the genocide – the Roman Catholic Church. Its role may be compared to its role in supporting the Nazis in the 1930s.

When German colonialists arrived in numbers in Rwanda-Burundi in the 1870s, they found, for Africa, a remarkably well-ordered society. The Tutsis, not an ethnic group as such but based on the Nyiginya tribe, were dominant. They were mostly cattle owners, holding power in the all important ‘central court’ and its satellite institutions, while the Hutu were mostly peasant farmers. But Hutu farmers could move into the Tutsi elite on merit, with Hutu chiefs playing a significant role in society.

From the 1880s onwards, Belgian Roman Catholic missionaries from the Vatican’s ‘White Fathers Order’ increased their influence in the area, and in the 1919 Versailles settlement after World War I, Rwanda became a League of Nations ‘Trust Territory’ under Belgian control.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Explosions tore through the St. Theresa church near Nigeria's capital Abuja on Christmas morning, killing at least 27 people, with other blasts reported at churches in Jos and Gadaka. Boko Haram Islamists have claimed responsibility for the bombings.
By News Wires (text)

REUTERS - Islamist militant group Boko Haram said it planted bombs that exploded on Christmas Day at churches in Nigeria, one of which killed at least 27 people on the outskirts of the capital.

Boko Haram, which wants to impose Islamic sharia law across the country split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims, has escalated its tactics this year and increased the sophistication of the explosives it uses.

St Theresa's Catholic Church in Madala, an Abuja satellite town about 40 km from the centre of the capital, was packed out when the powerful bomb exploded during a Christmas service.

"We were in the church with my family when we heard the explosion. I just ran out," Timothy Onyekwere told Reuters. "Now I don't even know where my children or my wife are. I don't know how many were killed but there were many dead."

Boko Haram -- which in the Hausa language spoken in northern Nigeria means "Western education is sinful" -- is loosely modelled on the Taliban movement in Afghanistan.

The sect was blamed for dozens of bombings and shootings in the north, and has claimed responsibility for two bombings in Abuja this year, including Nigeria's first suicide bombing on the U.N. headquarters in August that killed at least 23 people.

Rights groups say more than 250 people have been killed by Boko Haram since July 2010.

Hours after the first bomb, blasts were reported at the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church in the central, ethnically and religiously mixed town of Jos, and at a church in northern Yobe state at the town of Gadaka. Residents said many were wounded in Gadaka.

Police found two other explosive devices in Jos, which they deactivated and arrested one man.

Residents of the northeastern city of Damaturu also reported two blasts but there were no details immediately available.

Chaos and carnage

A Reuters reporter on the scene of the explosion close to Abuja saw the large church's front roof had been destroyed in the blast, as had several houses near it. Five burnt out cars were still smouldering.

"The officials who counted told me they have picked 27 bodies so far," Father Christopher Barde, Assistant Catholic Priest of the church, said.

There were scenes of chaos after the incident.

"We are presently there, evacuating the dead and the injured, but unfortunately we don't have enough ambulances," National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) spokesman Yushau Shuaib said initially by telephone. More ambulances came later.

"Mass just ended and people were rushing out of the church and suddenly I heard a loud sound 'gbam'. Cars were in flames and bodies littered everywhere," Nnana Nwachukwu told Reuters.

"The blast occurred on the road by the church and not inside the church. I happen to also live close by the church. Help was very slow in coming to the injured."

President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the south who is struggling to contain the threat of Islamist militancy, called the incident "unfortunate" but said Boko Haram would "not be (around) for ever. It will end one day."

Anger unleashed

The whole area around the church was cordoned off by police. Thousands of furious youths set up burning road blocks on the highway from Abuja leading to Nigeria's largely Muslim north.

Police and the military tried to disperse them by firing live rounds into the air with tear gas.

The Vatican condemned the first blast. Its spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, said the Vatican hoped "this senseless violence does not weaken the will of the Nigerian people to live peacefully and promote dialogue in their country".

A witness at Jos saw one lightly wounded policeman from that explosion, but there were no reports of other casualties.

Last Christmas Eve, a series of bomb blasts around Jos killed 32 people, and others people died in attacks on two churches in the northeast of Africa's most populous nation.

Gun battles between the security forces and Boko Haram killed at least 68 people in two days of fighting in northern Nigeria, authorities and hospital sources said on Saturday.

Boko Haram has been blamed for scores of shootings and bombings in Nigeria's remote, semi-arid northeast, including a spate of attacks in the past few weeks.

On Aug. 26, a suicide bomber struck the U.N. building in Abuja. At least 23 people were killed and 76 wounded by the bombing which gutted the ground floor and smashed almost all the windows. Boko Haram claimed responsibility on Aug. 29, demanding the release of prisoners and an end to a security crackdown aimed at preventing more bombings.

The blast was the first known suicide bombing in Nigeria.

Boko Haram became active in about 2003 and is concentrated mainly in the northern Nigerian states of Yobe, Kano, Bauchi, Borno and Kaduna.

The group considers all who do not follow its strict ideology as infidels, whether they are Christian or Muslim. It demands the adoption of sharia, Islamic law, in all of Nigeria.

Boko Haram followers have prayed in separate mosques in cities including Maiduguri, Kano and Sokoto, and wear long beards and red or black headscarves.

Source: France 24