A Candle For Remembering
May this memorial candle lights up the historical past of our beloved Country: Rwanda, We love U so much. If Tears could build a stairway. And memories were a lane. I would walk right up to heaven. To bring you home again. No farewell words were spoken. No time to say goodbye. You were gone before I knew it And. Only Paul Kagame knows why. My heart still aches with sadness. And secret tears still flow. What It meant to lose you. No one will ever know.
Why did Kagame this to me?
Can't forget. He murdered my mother. What should be my reaction? FYI: the number of orphans in Rwanda has skyrocketed since the 1990's Kagame's invasion. Much higher numbers of orphans had and have no other option but joining FDLR fighters who are identified as children that have Lost their Parents in Kagame's Wars inside and outside of Rwanda.If someone killed your child/spouse/parent(s) would you seek justice or revenge? Deep insight: What would you do to the person who snuffed the life of someone I love beyond reason? Forgiving would bring me no solace. If you take what really matters to me, I will show you what really matters. NITUTIRWANAHO TUZASHIRA. IGIHE KIRAGEZE.If democracy is to sell one's motherland(Africa), for some zionits support, then I prefer the person who is ready to give all his live for his motherland. Viva President Putin!!!
RPF committed the unspeakable
The perverted RPF committed the UNSPEAKABLE.Two orphans, both against the Nazi world. Point is the fact that their parents' murder Kagame & his RPF held no shock in the Western world. Up to now, the Rwandan Hitler Kagame and his death squads still enjoy impunity inside and outside of Rwanda. What goes through someone's mind as they know RPF murdered their parents? A delayed punishment is actually an encouragement to crime, In Praise of the ongoing Bloodshed in Rwanda. “I always think I am a pro-peace person but if someone harmed someone near and dear to me, I don't think I could be so peaceful. I would like to believe that to seek justice could save millions of people living the African Great Lakes Region - I would devote myself to bringing the 'perp' along to a non-happy ending but would that be enough? You'd have to be in the situation I suppose before you could actually know how you would feel or what you would do”. Jean-Christophe Nizeyimana, Libre Penseur
Hutu Children & their Mums
Look at them ! How they are scared to death. Many Rwandan Hutu and Tutsi, Foreign human rights advocates, jounalists and and lawyers are now on Death Row Waiting to be murdered by Kagame and his RPF death squads. Be the last to know.
Almighty God :Justice for US
Hutu children's daily bread: Intimidation, Slavery, Sex abuses led by RPF criminals and Kagame, DMI: Every single day, there are more assassinations, imprisonment, brainwashing & disappearances. Do they have any chance to end this awful life?
Killing Hutus on daily basis
RPF targeted killings, very often in public areas. Killing Hutus on daily basis by Kagame's murderers and the RPF infamous death squads known as the "UNKNOWN WRONGDOERS"
RPF Trade Mark: Akandoya
Rape, torture and assassination and unslaving of hutu women. Genderside: Rape has always been used by kagame's RPF as a Weapon of War, the killings of Hutu women with the help of Local Defense Forces, DMI and the RPF military
The Torture in Rwanda flourishes
How torture flourishes across Rwanda despite extensive global monitoring
Fighting For Our Freedom?
We need Freedom, Liberation of our fatherland, Human rights respect, Mutual respect between the Hutu majority and the Tutsi minority
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Posted on April 27 2010
[Since 1994, the world witnesses the horrifying Tutsi minority (14%) ethnic domination, the Tutsi minority ethnic rule, tyranny and corruption in Rwanda. The current government has been characterized by the total impunity of RPF criminals, the Tutsi economic monopoly, the Tutsi militaristic domination with an iron hand, and the brutal suppression of the rights of the majority of the Rwandan people (85% are Hutus), and mass-arrests and mass-murder by the RPF criminal organization.=>ASIF]
Rwanda: Opposition leader must receive fair trial
“ Amnesty International press release issued today urging the Rwandan Government to ensure that opposition leader Victoire Ingabire, receives a swift, fair trial on charges including genocide ideology and collaboration with a “terrorist” group, and is not punished for the legitimate exercise of freedom of expression”
Amnesty International urges the Rwandan Government to ensure that opposition leader Victoire Ingabire, receives a swift, fair trial on charges including genocide ideology and collaboration with a “terrorist” group, and is not punished for the legitimate exercise of freedom of expression.
Victoire Ingabire, President of the United Democratic Forces (FDU-Inkingi), who plans to stand in presidential elections in August 2010 was arrested on 21 April 2010 after being summoned to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, the previous day. This was her sixth summons by the police this year.
“We have documented a number of incidents of intimidation and harassment of opposition groups in Rwanda in recent months,” said Erwin van der Borght, Africa programme director at Amnesty International.
“Now with the arrest of a potential presidential candidate a few months ahead of the election, we call on the government to demonstrate that this is not another such case”.
Ingabire, was charged with “genocide ideology” and “minimising the genocide”, “divisionism” and “collaboration with a “terrorist” group”, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). She appeared before Gasabo Intermediary Court (TGI) on 21 April and pleaded not guilty on all counts.
On 22 April, the court ruled that Ingabire could be released on condition that she not travel outside the capital Kigali while proceedings against her continue.
The Rwandan authorities had already prevented Ingabire from travelling to Europe in March 2010 due to ongoing police investigations.
The “genocide ideology” and “divisionism” charges relate to speeches Ingabire made on her arrival back in Rwanda in January 2010 and in Europe where she spent 16 years in exile in the Netherlands and formed FDU-Inkingi.
FDU-Inkingi is still seeking registration in Rwanda.Government officials have over recent months claimed that comments made by Ingabire at the Gisozi Genocide Memorial on 16 January 2010 amount to “genocide denial” and “divisionism” or promoting ethnic division. In her speech, she called for the prosecution of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against Hutu by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), as well as commemoration of Hutu victims killed during the war.
“The onus will be on the prosecution to prove that there is credible, solid evidence to justify the charges against Ingabire, said Erwin van der Borght. “The prosecutor will have to demonstrate that what she said actually constitutes advocacy of hatred and that they are not punishing her for political dissent.”
A Rwandan law promulgated in October 2008 criminalises “genocide ideology” in vague and ambiguous terms which unduly stifle freedom of expression. The Rwandan Government appear to have recognised that aspects of the genocide ideology law may be problematic and, according to Rwanda News Agency, the Cabinet is currently reviewing this law.
Ingabire is also charged with collaboration with a “terrorist” group, the FDLR.
The FDLR, an armed group operating in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is mainly composed of Rwandan Hutu.
It contains remnants of the Interahamwe and former Rwandan soldiers responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide, as well as fighters not involved in the genocide, including many too young to have participated in the genocide.Ingabire attended “Inter-Rwandan Dialogue” meetings with pro-FDLR participants while in exile in the Netherlands, but says these meetings included participants from various political and ethnic backgrounds, including representatives of the RPF, the ruling party in Rwanda.
In police interrogations over recent weeks, Ingabire has reportedly been accused of meeting with FDLR officials in DRC and intending to create her own militia group. She has consistently denied such allegations.
“The government must demonstrate that Ingabire herself committed recognizably criminal acts and that this is not a case of guilt by association” said Erwin van der Borght.
Amnesty International urges the Rwandan Government to ensure that Ingabire is tried promptly and in accordance with international fair trial standards.
Background
Amnesty International strongly condemned harassment and intimidation of opposition groups, including the Green Party and the Ideal Social Party, in February 2010.
A member of Ingabire’s party, Joseph Ntawangundi, was severely beaten in a government building on 3 February 2010, as he accompanied Ingabire to collect documents needed for the party’s registration.
Ntawangundi was arrested in February 2010 following revelations that he had been convicted of genocide in absentia by a community tribunal set-up to try cases from the 1994 genocide.
Ntawangundi initially claimed to have been outside Rwanda during the genocide working for an international trade union body, but the organisation confirmed this was untrue. Ntawangundi later confessed to participation in the genocide and in March 2010 was sentenced to 17 years in prison.
A November 2009 UN panel of experts report on DRC found that diaspora members of FDU-Inkingi had been in phone contact with FDLR military leaders, but did not specify the nature of this contact or suggest Ingabire had herself maintained such contact.
Recent months have seen a number of government measures against critics and opponents including restrictions on freedom of expression. On 23 April, Rwandan immigration rejected a work visa re-application by the Rwanda-based researcher for the international human rights group, Human Rights Watch.
On 13 April, the High Media Council (HMC) suspended two Kinyarwanda newspapers known for being critical of the government, Umuseso and Umuvugizi, until after the elections. The HMC alleged that Umuseso had insulted the President and caused trouble in the army that could lead to insubordination.
The 2003 presidential elections and the 2008 legislative elections in Rwanda were marred by intimidation and political opposition activities were severely restricted.
Public Document
****************************************
For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566 or +44 207 413 5729 email: press@amnesty.org
International Secretariat, Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW, UK
www.amnesty.org
The Truth can be buried and stomped into the ground where none can see, yet eventually it will, like a seed, break through the surface once again far more potent than ever, and Nothing can stop it. Truth can be suppressed for a "time", yet It cannot be destroyed. ==> Wolverine
Saturday, April 24, 2010
[Since 1994, the world witnesses the horrifying Tutsi minority (14%) ethnic domination, the Tutsi minority ethnic rule, tyranny and corruption in Rwanda. The current government has been characterized by the total impunity of RPF criminals, the Tutsi economic monopoly, the Tutsi militaristic domination with an iron hand, and the brutal suppression of the rights of the majority of the Rwandan people (85% are Hutus), and mass-arrests and mass-murder by the RPF criminal organization.=>ASIF]
Georgette Gagnon, Africa director.(New York) - The Rwandan government's decision to deny a work visa to Human Rights Watch's representative in Kigali demonstrates a pattern of increasing restrictions on free expression in Rwanda ahead of August's presidential elections, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch will appeal the decision and continue working on human rights issues in Rwanda.
"In the last few weeks, we've seen a real crackdown on critics," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The Rwandan government is doing everything it can to silence independent voices before the elections."
Georgette Gagnon, Africa director
Crackdown on freedom of expression
The Truth can be buried and stomped into the ground where none can see, yet eventually it will, like a seed, break through the surface once again far more potent than ever, and Nothing can stop it. Truth can be suppressed for a "time", yet It cannot be destroyed. ==> Wolverine
Georgette Gagnon, Africa director
**
On April 23, 2010, officials from the Directorate General of Immigration informed Carina Tertsakian, Human Rights Watch's senior researcher on Rwanda, that she would not be granted a work visa. They alleged anomalies in her visa application, specifically signatures and dates on the documents she had submitted.
Staff at Human Rights Watch's headquarters in New York had attested in writing to the authenticity of all the documents and signatures, but the immigration officials described their explanations as "unsatisfactory." However, the officials had not made any attempt to contact Human Rights Watch's headquarters or the individuals whose signatures they had questioned.
The immigration officials refused to put their decision in writing. They told Tertsakian that as a British national, she could not exceed her 90-day legal stay in the country, which expires on April 24.
Gagnon was in Kigali the week of April 19 to try to meet Rwandan officials about this matter. Kenneth Roth, executive director at Human Rights Watch, sent a private letter to President Paul Kagame setting out in detail concerns at the handling of Tertsakian's visa application and reiterating that all the documents submitted in the original and second application were authentic. Rwandan immigration officials did not respond to Gagnon's requests for a meeting.
Rights Watch has been working on human rights in Rwanda since before the 1994 genocide. However, in the past two years, the Rwandan government has increasingly obstructed the work of the organization. In September and December 2008, it twice blocked the entry of the late Alison Des Forges, a renowned Rwanda expert and Human Rights Watch's senior advisor on the Great Lakes region. In the last few weeks, Rwandan government rhetoric against human rights organizations has increased, with senior officials singling out Human Rights Watch for particularly fierce public criticism. There has also been an increase in articles hostile to Human Rights Watch in pro-government media.
Background
Rejection of work visa application
Carina Tertsakian, a British national, arrived in Rwanda on January 25, 2010, and was initially granted a
work visa. On March 3, immigration officials questioned her on the paperwork relating to her visa application, pointing to a mistaken date and alleging differences in her colleagues' signatures on the documents. They confiscated her passport. The following day, they summoned her again with a new set of questions again relating to dates and signatures.
work visa. On March 3, immigration officials questioned her on the paperwork relating to her visa application, pointing to a mistaken date and alleging differences in her colleagues' signatures on the documents. They confiscated her passport. The following day, they summoned her again with a new set of questions again relating to dates and signatures.
On March 8, Tertsakian was formally summoned by the police Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to appear the following day. The police told her that she was suspected of using forged documents and questioned her on the same points as those raised by the immigration officials. By then, Human Rights Watch had submitted two letters from its headquarters, confirming that all the documents were authentic. The officials did not appear to take these letters into account.
On March 10, immigration officials returned Tertsakian's passport, but cancelled her work visa. The immigration officials refused to provide a written explanation for this cancellation; they told her she could submit a second visa application.
On March 16, Tertsakian submitted a second application, with a notarized affidavit from Human Rights Watch's Legal Director attesting to the veracity and authenticity of all the documents. More than a month passed before immigration officials responded to the second application - the usual turnaround time is three days. Rwandan immigration officials communicated their visa denial to Tertsakian on April 23, the day before her legal stay in Rwanda was due to expire.
Crackdown on freedom of expressionThese developments take place against a backdrop of increasing intolerance of dissent and criticism in the run-up to presidential elections in August.
Members of opposition parties have been harassed, threatened, and intimidated. Two of the new opposition parties - the FDU-Inkingi and the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda - have been prevented from registering and have been repeatedly obstructed by the authorities. Meetings of the Democratic Green Party and the PS-Imberakuri (a third opposition party) have been disrupted several times, sometimes violently. The PS-Imberakuri eventually managed to register, but has since been hijacked by "dissident members" widely believed to have been manipulated by the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) to silence the party's president, Bernard Ntaganda. Ntaganda himself was summoned before the Senate at the end of 2009 on accusations of "genocide ideology." He has not been charged, but in April 2010, members of the Senate's political commission expressed their view that these accusations were well-founded.
Victoire Ingabire, leader of the FDU-Inkingi, has been questioned by the police on six occasions since February 2010 (she returned to Rwanda in January 2010 after many years in exile), effectively paralyzing her party's activities. In March, police stopped her at the airport and prevented her from travelling. On April 21, she was arrested and charged with "genocide ideology," "divisionism," and collaboration with terrorist groups, including the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (Forces démocratiques pour la libération du Rwanda - FDLR), an armed group active in the Democratic Republic of Congo, composed in part of individuals who took part in the 1994 genocide. Ingabire was released on bail on April 22, but is not allowed to leave the country or to go outside the capital, Kigali. There has been an unrelenting public campaign against her in the pro-government media, relating primarily to public statements in which she criticized the government and called for justice for killings of Hutu by the RPF.
Journalists have also faced numerous problems in the course of their work. The state prosecutor has sued the two independent newspapers, Umuseso and Umuvugizi for defamation, a criminal offense punishable with imprisonment. Both cases are currently at the appeal stage. On April 13, the Media High Council, a government-aligned body responsible for regulating the media, suspended the two newspapers for six months. Umuseso and Umuvugizi are among the few independent media left in Rwanda; both have published articles critical of the government.
More broadly, Human Rights Watch has found that many ordinary Rwandans are unable to express their opinions openly. Those who voice criticism of the government or its policies risk being labelled opponents, accused of being in league with opposition parties or with people who allegedly want to topple the government, or accused of "genocide ideology" - a vaguely defined criminal offense which carries penalties of 10 to 25 years' imprisonment.
After years of intimidation of civil society activists, very few independent human rights organizations are left in Rwanda. Those who are still trying to document human rights abuses are facing constant threats and obstacles. For example, in the run-up to the 2008 parliamentary elections, the League for Human Rights in the Great Lakes Region (Ligue des droits de la personne dans la région des Grands Lacs - LDGL) was prevented from deploying its full election observer mission and was attacked by the National Electoral Commission before its report came out. Members of the human rights organization LIPRODHOR have also faced serious threats over several years, causing many of their key members to leave the country for their own safety, and leaving the organization significantly weakened.
Related Material:
[Since 1994, the world witnesses the horrifying Tutsi minority (14%) ethnic domination, the Tutsi minority ethnic rule, tyranny and corruption in Rwanda. The current government has been characterized by the total impunity of RPF criminals, the Tutsi economic monopoly, the Tutsi militaristic domination with an iron hand, and the brutal suppression of the rights of the majority of the Rwandan people (85% are Hutus), and mass-arrests and mass-murder by the RPF criminal organization.=>ASIF]
As part of a continued clampdown on human rights, Rwandan immigration today rejected a work visa re-application by the Rwanda-based researcher for the international human rights group, Human Rights Watch (HRW).
Recent months have seen a number of government measures against critics and opponents of the government including restrictions on freedom of expression and association. Amnesty International urges the Rwandan Government to respect freedom of expression and association, including by allowing space for human rights work.
On 21 April, presidential aspirant, Victoire Ingabire, President of the United Democratic Forces (FDU-Inkingi), a party seeking registration in Rwanda, was arrested, charged with “genocide ideology and minimising the genocide, divisionism and collaboration with a “terrorist” group”, and released the following day while proceedings continue.
In the trial against Ingabire, the prosecution would need to prove that what Ingabire said constitutes advocacy of hatred to demonstrate that she is not being punished for political dissent. They would also need to show that Ingabire herself committed a recognisable criminal act.
Amnesty International strongly condemned harassment and intimidation of opposition groups, including the Green Party and the Ideal Social Party, in February 2010. Past Rwandan elections have been marred by intimidation and the ability of members of the political opposition to carry out their activities in accordance with their human rights has been restricted.
Background
Rwanda’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) summoned Carina Tertsakian twice in March to respond to allegations of using false documents. She submitted a second visa application on 16 March with additional letters from the Human Rights Watch headquarters notarised to certify their authenticity.
Today the Immigration Authorities informed Carina Tertsakian that they were not satisfied with the explanations Human Rights Watch had submitted. They refused to provide a response in writing and reminded Tertsakian that as a British national she has 90 days to stay in the country. The 90 day period expires tomorrow.
The latest developments coincide with the deadline for all international NGOs based in Rwanda, including Human Rights Watch, to apply for renewal of their registration certificate. The original 31 March deadline was extended to 30 April.
The Rwandan Government has a history of clamping down on human rights work in advance of elections. In September 2008, the late Alison Des Forges, Human Rights Watch’s Senior Advisor, was barred from entering Rwanda shortly before the Rwandan legislative elections. She was again refused entry in December 2008.
ENDS/
© Amnesty International
The Truth can be buried and stomped into the ground where none can see, yet eventually it will, like a seed, break through the surface once again far more potent than ever, and Nothing can stop it. Truth can be suppressed for a "time", yet It cannot be destroyed. ==> Wolverine
April 23,2010
by International Humanitarian Law Institute
[Since 1994, the world witnesses the horrifying Tutsi minority (14%) ethnic domination, the Tutsi minority ethnic rule, tyranny and corruption in Rwanda. The current government has been characterized by the total impunity of RPF criminals, the Tutsi economic monopoly, the Tutsi militaristic domination with an iron hand, and the brutal suppression of the rights of the majority of the Rwandan people (85% are Hutus), and mass-arrests and mass-murder by the RPF criminal organization.=>ASIF]
Victoire Ingabiré Umuhoza stands before the court in Kigali, Rwanda, after being arrested and charged with associating with terrorists and “genocide ideology,” a crime unique to Rwanda which includes “divisionism” and “revisionism,” i.e., attempting to revise the received history of the 1994 Rwanda Genocide.“Ingabire was arrested on trumped-up, political thought crimes, including association with a terrorist group, propagating genocide ideology, genocide denial, revisionism and divisionism, all arising from the “crime” of publicly objecting to the Kagame military dictatorship and Kagame’s version of Rwandan civil war history.”
Kagame preventing free and fair elections in Rwanda … again
According to European Union election monitors, Human Rights Watch and the British Commonwealth Human Rights Institute, opposition parties were outlawed and opposition candidates jailed or exiled in 2003.
According to Erlinder: “The arrest of Madame Ingabire in the run-up to the 2010 election is a carbon copy of Kagame’s tactics in 2003 when all serious political challengers were jailed or driven from the country, including former Kagame loyalists, like the former president and prime minister, Pasteur Bizimungu and Faustin Twagiramungu.
“In 2003 Kagame also banned all opposition parties illegally divisionist, which he has recently repeated with Rwanda’s Green Party and Madame Ingabire’s FDU. Kagame pioneered the same election tactics that Kagame’s allies, the U.S. and U.K, condemned when Mugabe used Kagame’s tactics in Zimbabwe’s elections.”
Hundreds, if not thousands, of former Kagame supporters have gone into exile in the recent past, including the former speaker of the Rwandan Parliament, the Rwandan ambassador to the Netherlands, who granted Madame Ingabire’s visa to return to Rwanda in January, numerous senior military officers and political figures, and Paul Rusesabagina, the real hero portrayed in the movie “Hotel Rwanda.”
Kagame issues death threats against foreigners too
In late February 2010 leaked notes, in the original in the Kinyarwandan language, purported to report Kagame’s meeting with Rwandan ambassadors, who had not yet gone into exile. In the meeting, Kagame allegedly targeted some seven non-Rwandan lawyers, journalists and academics for public discrediting or assassination. Kagame had Erlinder’s name on his “hit list” even before Erlinder took on Ingabire’s defense, presumably for his role in genocide-planning acquittals in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Military-1 trial.
Erlinder said: “According to U.N. Security Council-commissioned reports of 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2008, the Kagame regime is responsible for more than 6 million deaths in the Congo, hundreds of thousands in Rwanda, which is confirmed in Spanish and French indictments, issued in 2006 and 2008. (See indictments of French Judge Bruguiere, November 2006, and Spanish Judge Merelles Abreu, February 2008.)
“According to ICTR prosecutor’s files and revealed by the books of ICTR prosecutors Del Ponte and Hartmann, Kagame also touched off the Rwandan ‘genocide’ by assassinating the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi as part of a final military assault to seize power in April 1994.”
“With this history, I have to take Kagame’s threats seriously and have to insist that the Obama administration, President Dennis Byron of the U.N. Rwanda Tribunal and Kagame himself provide public safe-passage guarantees for Madame Ingabire and all defense team members while we are defending democratic principles and human rights in Rwanda.”
Kagame has also declared Rwanda experts persona non-grata when they questioned his policies. Those he has named include Dr. Allison DesForges, Professor Filip Reyntjens, former U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda Robert Flaten and Hotal Rwanda hero Paul Rusesabagina.
Evidence of Kagame/RPF crimes and cover-up
Recently, U.S. political scientists Dr. Alan Stam of the University of Michigan and Dr. Christian Davenport of Notre Dame have analyzed data from all reported crimes in Rwanda during 1994 and have concluded that more Hutu were killed or brutalized than Tutsi before and after the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) seized power in July 1994. This analysis, together with the “conspiracy and planning” acquittals of former top military officers in the ICTR Military-1 case has called the entire theory of a “planned genocide” into question.
According to Erlinder: “It is just a matter of time before the world knows what those of us working at the ICTR already know and which has recently been confirmed by the 2007-2009 memoirs of former ICTR Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte and her aide, Florence Hartmann. Del Ponte reveals that, as early as January 1997, her predecessor, Louise Arbour, had the evidence to prosecute Paul Kagame for igniting the Rwandan ‘genocide’ by assassinating the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi on April 6, 1994. Also, U.N. and U.S. government documents in the Military-1 trial evidence show the United States has engaged in a massive cover-up of Kagame’s crimes to protect its own strategic interests in Central Africa, a cover-up which is also confirmed in Del Ponte’s and Hartmann’s memoirs.”
Ingabire defense team demands safe passage
Now that their client has been temporarily released, the Ingabire defense team insists that President Gen. Kagame and Rwanda’s justice minister and chief prosecutor, as well as others associated with the Kagame regime, military and police, and their major funders in the U.S. and U.K. all demonstrate respect for democratic principles and the rule of law by
(a) the immediate return of all computers, political or personal documents and other items seized from Madame Ingabire’s home;
(b) removal of all restrictions on Madame Ingabire’s ability to campaign for the votes of the Rwandan people, including the return of her passport and elimination of police reporting requirements;
(c) full recognition of her political party, the FDU, and the Green Party and other Rwandan opposition political parties;
(d) full access to the press and the media by opposition parties and candidates and an end to intimidation tactics against opposition political activities, as well as
(e) safe passage for members of Ingabire’s defense team.
The International Humanitarian Law Institute is directed by Peter Erlinder, professor of constitutional criminal law and international humanitarian law at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minn., U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger’s Minnesota alma mater. Erlinder is also lead defense counsel in the Military-1 trial at the U.N. Tribunal for Rwanda, the case in which four former top military leaders were acquitted of conspiring or planning to commit genocide or any other crimes, and the highest ranking defendant was acquitted of all charges, in December 2008. Erlinder is also president of ICTR-ADAD (Association des Avocats de la Defense) and past-president of the National Lawyers Guild in New York City. Professor Erlinder can be reached at peter.erlinder@wmitchell.edu .
Related articles:
Kigali, Rwanda, and St. Paul, USA – Rwandan opposition presidential candidate Madame Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, Rwanda’s first female presidential candidate, was released on bail one day after being jailed by the Kagame government of Rwanda. According to one of Ingabire’s U.S. lawyers, law professor Peter Erlinder:
Gen. Paul Kagame, her would-be opponent, is engineering a re-run of the 2003 sham “elections” that brought Kagame to power with 95 percent of the vote.
Kagame preventing free and fair elections in Rwanda … again
According to European Union election monitors, Human Rights Watch and the British Commonwealth Human Rights Institute, opposition parties were outlawed and opposition candidates jailed or exiled in 2003.
According to Erlinder: “The arrest of Madame Ingabire in the run-up to the 2010 election is a carbon copy of Kagame’s tactics in 2003 when all serious political challengers were jailed or driven from the country, including former Kagame loyalists, like the former president and prime minister, Pasteur Bizimungu and Faustin Twagiramungu.
“In 2003 Kagame also banned all opposition parties illegally divisionist, which he has recently repeated with Rwanda’s Green Party and Madame Ingabire’s FDU. Kagame pioneered the same election tactics that Kagame’s allies, the U.S. and U.K, condemned when Mugabe used Kagame’s tactics in Zimbabwe’s elections.”
Hundreds, if not thousands, of former Kagame supporters have gone into exile in the recent past, including the former speaker of the Rwandan Parliament, the Rwandan ambassador to the Netherlands, who granted Madame Ingabire’s visa to return to Rwanda in January, numerous senior military officers and political figures, and Paul Rusesabagina, the real hero portrayed in the movie “Hotel Rwanda.”
Kagame issues death threats against foreigners too
In late February 2010 leaked notes, in the original in the Kinyarwandan language, purported to report Kagame’s meeting with Rwandan ambassadors, who had not yet gone into exile. In the meeting, Kagame allegedly targeted some seven non-Rwandan lawyers, journalists and academics for public discrediting or assassination. Kagame had Erlinder’s name on his “hit list” even before Erlinder took on Ingabire’s defense, presumably for his role in genocide-planning acquittals in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Military-1 trial.
Erlinder said: “According to U.N. Security Council-commissioned reports of 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2008, the Kagame regime is responsible for more than 6 million deaths in the Congo, hundreds of thousands in Rwanda, which is confirmed in Spanish and French indictments, issued in 2006 and 2008. (See indictments of French Judge Bruguiere, November 2006, and Spanish Judge Merelles Abreu, February 2008.)
“According to ICTR prosecutor’s files and revealed by the books of ICTR prosecutors Del Ponte and Hartmann, Kagame also touched off the Rwandan ‘genocide’ by assassinating the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi as part of a final military assault to seize power in April 1994.”
“With this history, I have to take Kagame’s threats seriously and have to insist that the Obama administration, President Dennis Byron of the U.N. Rwanda Tribunal and Kagame himself provide public safe-passage guarantees for Madame Ingabire and all defense team members while we are defending democratic principles and human rights in Rwanda.”
Kagame has also declared Rwanda experts persona non-grata when they questioned his policies. Those he has named include Dr. Allison DesForges, Professor Filip Reyntjens, former U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda Robert Flaten and Hotal Rwanda hero Paul Rusesabagina.
Evidence of Kagame/RPF crimes and cover-up
Recently, U.S. political scientists Dr. Alan Stam of the University of Michigan and Dr. Christian Davenport of Notre Dame have analyzed data from all reported crimes in Rwanda during 1994 and have concluded that more Hutu were killed or brutalized than Tutsi before and after the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) seized power in July 1994. This analysis, together with the “conspiracy and planning” acquittals of former top military officers in the ICTR Military-1 case has called the entire theory of a “planned genocide” into question.
According to Erlinder: “It is just a matter of time before the world knows what those of us working at the ICTR already know and which has recently been confirmed by the 2007-2009 memoirs of former ICTR Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte and her aide, Florence Hartmann. Del Ponte reveals that, as early as January 1997, her predecessor, Louise Arbour, had the evidence to prosecute Paul Kagame for igniting the Rwandan ‘genocide’ by assassinating the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi on April 6, 1994. Also, U.N. and U.S. government documents in the Military-1 trial evidence show the United States has engaged in a massive cover-up of Kagame’s crimes to protect its own strategic interests in Central Africa, a cover-up which is also confirmed in Del Ponte’s and Hartmann’s memoirs.”
Ingabire defense team demands safe passage
Now that their client has been temporarily released, the Ingabire defense team insists that President Gen. Kagame and Rwanda’s justice minister and chief prosecutor, as well as others associated with the Kagame regime, military and police, and their major funders in the U.S. and U.K. all demonstrate respect for democratic principles and the rule of law by
(a) the immediate return of all computers, political or personal documents and other items seized from Madame Ingabire’s home;
(b) removal of all restrictions on Madame Ingabire’s ability to campaign for the votes of the Rwandan people, including the return of her passport and elimination of police reporting requirements;
(c) full recognition of her political party, the FDU, and the Green Party and other Rwandan opposition political parties;
(d) full access to the press and the media by opposition parties and candidates and an end to intimidation tactics against opposition political activities, as well as
(e) safe passage for members of Ingabire’s defense team.
The International Humanitarian Law Institute is directed by Peter Erlinder, professor of constitutional criminal law and international humanitarian law at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minn., U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger’s Minnesota alma mater. Erlinder is also lead defense counsel in the Military-1 trial at the U.N. Tribunal for Rwanda, the case in which four former top military leaders were acquitted of conspiring or planning to commit genocide or any other crimes, and the highest ranking defendant was acquitted of all charges, in December 2008. Erlinder is also president of ICTR-ADAD (Association des Avocats de la Defense) and past-president of the National Lawyers Guild in New York City. Professor Erlinder can be reached at peter.erlinder@wmitchell.edu .
Related articles:
- Rwanda’s packed prisons and genocide ideology law
- Rwandan opposition parties condemn grenade attacks in Kigali
- Rwanda arrests presidential candidate Victoire Ingabiré Umuhoza; Rwandans call on the international community to speak out
- Congolese women offer prescriptions for ending sexual violence in Congo
The Truth can be buried and stomped into the ground where none can see, yet eventually it will, like a seed, break through the surface once again far more potent than ever, and Nothing can stop it. Truth can be suppressed for a "time", yet It cannot be destroyed. ==> Wolverine
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
[Since 1994, the world witnesses the horrifying Tutsi minority (14%) ethnic domination, the Tutsi minority ethnic rule, tyranny and corruption in Rwanda. The current government has been characterized by the total impunity of RPF criminals, the Tutsi economic monopoly, the Tutsi militaristic domination with an iron hand, and the brutal suppression of the rights of the majority of the Rwandan people (85% are Hutus), and mass-arrests and mass-murder by the RPF criminal organization.=>ASIF]
To all of those who are glorifying General Kagame, you should chek out these photo of the Kibeho genocide before you argue in favour of the bloody friendly dictator. Thats happened in 1995 when he was the one controling the country.
100 mille réfugiés dont le nombre de morts minimisés à 8 mille morts ! Une autre excuse-mensonge: Des pietinements! Voilà le mot trouvé pour minimiser le grand massacre programmé, organisé et exécuté par le Général Paul Kagame avec son envoyé spécial Jacques Bihozagara et Ibingira, chefs des opérations militaires.
Les Massacres de Kibeho 2
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by Paul Jordan
In April 1995 members of the Australian Defence Force Medical Support Force, a component of the Australian Contingent of the United Nations Assistance Mission For Rwanda (UNAMIR) were deployed to the Kibeho displaced persons’ camp. The camp had been surrounded by two battalions of Tutsi troops from the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA), which regarded it as a sanctuary for Hutu perpetrators of the 1994 genocide. In the ethnic slaughter that followed, the RPA killed some 4000 of the camp’s inhabitants. The following article is an edited version of an eyewitness account of the massacre at Kibeho.
It was 5.00 p.m. on Tuesday, 18 April 1995, when 32 members of the Australian Medical Force (AMF) serving in Rwanda received orders to mount a mercy mission. Their task was to provide medical assistance to people who were being forced to leave what was then the largest displaced persons’ camp in Rwanda. This camp was situated some five hours west of the capital city of Kigali, close to the town of Kibeho, and was estimated to hold up to 100,000 displaced persons.
Map depicting events
1. Woman surrendered then executed in cold blood
2. Ambulance closely grazed by two bullets shot at lone displaced person
3. ZAMBATT (Zambian Battalion) latrines -- displaced persons found hiding inside
4. Triage area -- machete victims -- Saturday am 22.4.95
5. Highest ground in immediate area
6. RPA screening and processing -- displaced persons’ exit point for general evacuation
7. Beginning RPA accommodation
8. Our entry point each day and RPA roadblock
9. Recoilless rifle set up am 24·4·95
General information
• Map drawn 1500 hrs 28·4·95 Tpr JGS Church
• Distance from church eastern side to RAP far western side = 1000m
• Distance as seen extreme north to south 600m
• Whole area dotted with lean-tos and grass bivouacs
• All buildings and roads are on high ground
• The valleys either side are quite deep—up to 80 m at 45° angle
As we moved through the camp, we saw evidence that it had been cleared very quickly. The place was littered with the displaced persons’ belongings, left behind in the sudden panic of movement. It wasn’t until we moved deep into the camp that we found them, thousands of frightened people who had been herded closely together like sheep, huddled along a ridgeline that ran through the camp. The RPA had used gunfire to gather and drive these people into a close concentration. In the frenzy of sudden crowd movement, ten children had been trampled to death. As we drove closer, the huge crowd parted before us and people began to clap and cheer: they obviously expected a great deal more from us than we could offer.
We set about the task of establishing a casualty clearing post and, after being moved on twice by RPA soldiers exercising their arbitrary authority, eventually negotiated a position just beyond the documentation area. We spent the day there and saw only one casualty, a UN soldier. We left the camp that day dogged by the frustrating sense of not being needed.
The next day, Thursday 19 April, we arrived at the camp at 8.30a.m. and moved through to what was designated the ‘Charlie Company’ compound, situated in the middle of the camp. Zambian troops on duty in the compound requested medical treatment for a woman who had given birth the previous night, as they thought that she ‘still had another baby inside her’. We arranged for the woman to be medically evacuated by air to Kigali, where it was discovered that she was suffering from a swollen bladder. We set up the casualty clearing post once again at the documentation point and, this time, went out to search for casualties.
RPA troops would frequently resort to firing their weapons into the air in an effort to control the crowd. At around 1.00 p.m., we heard sporadic fire, but could find no casualties. As the day wore on, tension mounted between the displaced persons and the RPA troops. We left the camp that evening amid the echoes of bursts of automatic fire. Leaving the camp was no easy feat because of the RPA roadblocks. We decided to follow a convoy carrying displaced persons out of the camp, but were held up when one of the convoy’s trucks became stuck in thick mud, blocking the exit road. Eventually we extricated ourselves and found a safe route out. Half an hour or so into our journey, we encountered a UNICEF official who informed us that he had received a radio message reporting that ten people had been shot dead in the camp. Because AMF personnel were not permitted to stay in the camp after dark, there was nothing we could do. We had no choice but to continue on to our base at Zambian headquarters.
Les Massacres de KIBEHO
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On Friday, 20 April, we arrived in Kibeho at around 8.30 a.m. to find that thirty people had died during the night. Although the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital was busy treating casualties, we were told our assistance was not required at this stage. We set up the casualty clearing post at the documentation area (for what was to be the last time) and initially treated a few patients who were suffering from colds and various infections. Most of these were given antibiotics and sent on their way. A number of ragged young children appeared and, out of sight of the RPA soldiers, we gave the children new, dry clothes, for which they were most grateful. We also found a man whose femur was broken and decided to remove him from the camp in the back of our ambulance when we finally left for the night.
We returned to the Charlie Company compound where we found a man with a gunshot wound to the lung -- a sucking chest wound. He was in a serious condition. Because night was falling, we decided to evacuate him by road to the hospital in Butare along with the man with the broken femur. This meant negotiating the RPA checkpoints as we left the camp. As we persuaded our way through these checkpoints, Captain Carol Vaughan-Evans and Trooper Jon Church crouched in the rear of the ambulance, giving emergency treatment to the two patients.
We continued our journey accompanied by two military observers from Uruguay who were guiding us.
We made steady progress for the next two hours until our front and rear vehicles became bogged. As efforts continued to recover the vehicles, Lieutenant Tilbrook decided to send the ambulance to the hospital as the patient with the chest wound was deteriorating. The two military observers were to accompany the ambulance. After a further hour and a half on the road, and with additional help from Care Australia, the patient was eventually handed over to the MSF hospital in Butare.
On Saturday, 22 April, we arrived at the camp to be told that the hospital was teeming with injured patients, but the MSF workers were nowhere to be found. We went to the hospital where the situation was absolutely chaotic. We saw about 100 people who had either been shot or macheted, or both. Their wounds were horrific and there was blood everywhere. One woman had been cleaved with a machete right through her nose down to her upper jaw. She sat silently and simply stared at us. There were numerous other people suffering from massive cuts to their heads, arms and all over their bodies. We immediately started to triage as many patients as possible, but just as we would begin to treat one patient, another would appear before us with far more serious injuries.
As we worked, we were often called upon to make snap decisions and to ‘play God’ by deciding which patients’ lives to save. We were forced to move many seriously injured victims to one side because we thought they would not live or because they would simply take too long to save. Instead, we concentrated on trying to save the lives of those people who, in our assessment, had a chance of survival.
At one point, an NGO worker took me outside the hospital to point out more casualties. There I discovered about thirty bodies, and was approached by a large number of displaced persons with fresh injuries. Jon Church and I were deeply concerned and returned to the hospital to triage patients. In amongst triaging priority one patients, Jon drew my attention to the patient he was treating. This man had a very deep machete wound through the eye and across the face. I saw Jon completely cover the wounded man’s face with a bandage.
There was no danger that the patient would suffocate since he was breathing through a second wound in his throat. The wounded man was, however, very restless and difficult to control, and eventually we were forced to leave him, despite our belief that he would almost certainly die. Later that day he was brought to us again, his face still completely covered in a bandage. Whether the man finally survived his ordeal, only God knows.
As Jon and I worked with Lieutenant Rob Lucas (a nursing officer) to prioritise patients, members of the Australian infantry section stretchered them to the casualty clearing post. These soldiers worked tirelessly to move patients by stretcher from the hospital to the Zambian compound, which had become a casualty department. Meanwhile, the situation at the hospital was becoming increasingly dangerous, and we were ordered back to the compound. Some of the MSF workers had arrived by now and were trapped in the hospital. Our infantrymen went to retrieve them and bring them back to the safety of the compound. As our soldiers moved towards the hospital, they came under fire from a sniper within the crowd of displaced persons. The infantry section commander, Corporal Buskell, took aim at the sniper, and the latter, on seeing the rifle, disappeared into the crowd.
Our medical work continued unabated in the Zambian compound as the casualties flowed relentlessly. At about 10.00 a.m., some of the displaced persons attempted to break out and we saw them running through the re-entrants. We watched (and could do little more) as these people were hunted down and shot. The RPA soldiers were no marksmen: at times they were within ten metres of their quarry and still missed them. If they managed to wound some hapless escapee, they would save their valuable bullets, instead bayoneting their victim to death. This went on for two hours until all the displaced persons who had run were dead or dying.
The desperate work continued in the compound as we separated the treated patients, placing the more serious cases in the ambulance and the remainder in a Unimog truck. The firing intensified and the weather broke as it began to rain. We worked under the close security of our infantry as automatic fire peppered the area around us. We continued to treat the wounded, crouching behind the flimsy cover presented by the truck and sandbag wall. At one point, a young boy suddenly ran into the compound and fell to the ground. We later discovered that he had a piece of shrapnel in his lung. We managed to evacuate this boy by helicopter to the care of the Australian nurses in the intensive care unit at Kigali hospital. Every time a white person walks into his hospital room, he opens his arms to be hugged.
The automatic fire from the RPA troops continued; people were being shot all over the camp. When we had gathered about twenty-five casualties, we arranged to have them aeromedically evacuated to a hospital in Butare. While the ambulance was parked at the landing zone, a lone displaced person ran towards us with an RPA soldier chasing him. The soldier maintained a stream of fire at his fleeing victim, and rounds landed all around the ambulance. Jon and I ducked for cover behind its meagre protection. When the RPA soldier realised that some of his own officers were in his line of fire, he checked himself. The displaced person fell helplessly to the ground at the feet of the RPA officers. He was summarily marched away to meet an obvious fate.
It was about 4.00 p.m. by the time we started to load the patients onto helicopters, and, by 5.00 p.m., the job was complete. People began to run through the wire into the compound, and the Australian infantry found themselves alongside the Zambian soldiers pushing the desperate intruders back over the wire. This was a particularly delicate task, as some of the displaced persons were carrying grenades. As the last helicopter took off, about 2000 people stampeded down the spur away from the camp, making a frantic dash for safety. RPA soldiers took up positions on each spur, firing into the stampede with automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and a 50-calibre machine-gun. A large number of people fell under the hail of firepower. Fortunately, at this stage, it began to rain heavily, covering the escape of many of those fleeing. Bullets flew all around, and we made a very hasty trip back to the Zambian compound with the rear of the ambulance full of infantry.
Once back in the compound, we watched the carnage from behind sandbagged walls. Rocket-propelled grenades landed among the stampeding crowd, and ten people fell. One woman, about fifty metres from where we crouched, suddenly stood up, with her hands in the air. An RPA soldier walked down to her and marched her up the hill with his arm on her shoulder. He then turned and looked at us, pushed the woman to the ground and shot her.
As the rain eased, so did the firing. I was standing in the lee of the Zambian building when a young boy wearing blood-soaked clothing jumped the wire and walked towards me. I put my gloves on and the boy shook my hand and pointed to where a bullet had entered his nose, indicating to me that the bullet was still caught in his jaw. We took the boy with us and, given that the firing had died down and darkness had fallen, we put him into the ambulance next to a man with an open abdominal wound, and prepared them for the long journey to hospital by road.
As we left the camp, Jon and another medic saw a small child wandering alone. They made an instant decision to save the child, putting her in the ambulance as well. We then faced the unwanted distraction of a screaming three-year-old girl while we were frantically working on two seriously wounded patients. We knew also that the RPA would search the vehicle and any displaced persons without injuries would be taken back to the camp. I decided to bandage the girls’s left arm in order to fake a wound. The first time we were searched, the girl waved and spoke to the RPA soldiers. So we moved her up onto the blanket rack in the ambulance, strapped her in, and gave her a biscuit. The next time we were searched, the girl just sat and ate her biscuit, saying nothing. The RPA soldiers never knew she was there. After being held up at a roadblock for an hour, the convoy, which included all the NGO workers, made its way out of the camp. All the patients were taken to Butare Hospital, while the little girl was taken to an orphanage where we knew an attempt would be made to reunite her with her mother, in the unlikely event that she was still alive.
We re-entered the camp at 6.30 a.m. on Sunday, 23 April. While our mission was to count the number of dead bodies, Warrant Officer Scott and I went first to look around the hospital. Inside there were about fifteen dead. We entered one room and a small boy smiled then grinned at us. Scotty and I decided we would come back and retrieve this boy. I took half the infantry section and Scotty took the other half, and we walked each side of the road that divided the camp.
On one side of the road, my half-section covered the hospital that contained fifteen corpses. In the hospital courtyard we found another hundred or so dead people. A large number of these were mothers who had been killed with their babies still strapped to their backs. We freed all the babies we could see. We saw dozens of children just sitting amidst piles of rubbish, some crouched next to dead bodies. The courtyard was littered with debris and, as I waded through the rubbish, it would move to expose a baby who had been crushed to death. I counted twenty crushed babies, but I could not turn over every piece of rubbish.
The Zambians were collecting the lost children and placing them together for the agencies to collect. Along the stretch of road near the documentation point, there were another 200 bodies lined up for burial. The other counting party had seen many more dead than we had. There were survivors too. On his return to camp, Jon saw a baby who was only a few days old lying in a puddle of mud. He was still alive. Jon picked the baby up and gave him to the Zambians. At the end of our grisly count, the total number recorded by the two half-sections was approximately 4000 dead and 650 wounded.
We returned to the Zambian compound and began to treat the wounded. By now we had been reinforced with medics and another doctor. With the gunfire diminished, we were able to establish the casualty clearing post outside the Zambian compound and, with extra manpower and trucks to transport patients, we managed to clear about eighty-five casualties. A Ghanaian Army major approached Scotty and I to collect two displaced persons who had broken femurs from another area nearby. We lifted the two injured men into the back of the major’s car. It was then that we noticed all the dead being buried by the RPA in what I believe was an attempt to reduce the body count. The Zambians also buried the dead, but only those who lay near their compound.
We had been offered a helicopter for an aeromedical evacuation. We readied our four worst casualties, placing them on the landing zone for evacuation. The RPA troops came, as they always did, to inspect those being evacuated. At the same time, a Zambian soldier brought us a small boy who had been shot in the backside. The RPA told us that we could only take three of the casualties, as the fourth was a suspect. I argued and argued with an RPA major, but met with unbending refusal. He did tell us, however, that we could take the small boy who we hadn’t even asked to take, so we quickly put the boy into the waiting helicopter. The RPA officer then demanded that one of his men, who had been shot, be evacuated in the helicopter. I tried to bargain with the RPA major. In return for taking his soldier to hospital, I asked that we be allowed to evacuate the fourth casualty. His reply was final: ‘Either my man goes or no-one goes’. It was time to stop arguing.
The majority of patients we evacuated that day were transported on the back of a truck. The pain caused by the jolting of the truck would have been immense, but even this amount of pain was better than death. Jon and I took another load of patients to the landing zone, as they were to go on the same helicopter as the CO and the RSM. To our amazement, we were recalled and watched in frustration as the helicopter was filled with journalists. That day, all our patients left unaccompanied.
Just before our departure that evening, Jon and I were called to look at a man who had somehow fallen into the pit latrine, which was about 12 feet deep. I suppose he thought this to be the safest place. We left the camp at about 5.00 p.m. and spent the night at the Bravo Company position which was only half an hour away.
On Monday, 24 April, we returned to the camp which, at this stage, held only about 400 people. The RPA had set up a recoilless rifle, which pointed at one of the buildings they claimed housed Hutu criminals who had taken part in the 1994 genocide. Throughout the morning we saw displaced persons jumping off the roof of the building and, on two occasions, we saw AK 47 assault rifles being carried. The RPA gave us until midday to clear the camp, at which time they stated that they would fire the weapon into the building. We knew this would kill or injure the vast majority of those left in the camp.
Meanwhile the Zambians were busy digging two men out of the pit latrines. They were quite a sight when they were pulled out. The Zambian major planned to sweep through the building and push people out, and wanted us to bolster his ranks. Obtaining permission from headquarters to help the Zambians proved something of an ordeal, to my mind, the result of a surfeit of chiefs. Consequently, we were a crucial ten minutes late helping them.
Meanwhile the Zambians were busy digging two men out of the pit latrines. They were quite a sight when they were pulled out. The Zambian major planned to sweep through the building and push people out, and wanted us to bolster his ranks. Obtaining permission from headquarters to help the Zambians proved something of an ordeal, to my mind, the result of a surfeit of chiefs. Consequently, we were a crucial ten minutes late helping them.
We discovered a number of injured people huddled in a room directly adjacent to the building containing the Hutus. As we moved in to retrieve the casualties, a Hutu pointed his weapon at us, but rapidly changed his mind when ten Australian rifles were pointed straight back at him. We used this building as a starting point, evacuating all those in the room in Red Cross trucks. It was at this point that we struck a major obstacle. The criminal element within the camp had spread the word that those who accompanied the white people from the camp would be macheted to death on reaching their destination. This was widely believed and, as a result, only a few people could be persuaded to leave the camp that morning. On several occasions, women handed over their children to us, believing that ‘the white people will not kill children’.
The Australians found the attitude of these people incredibly frustrating. We could find no way to convince the majority of the displaced persons to leave Kibeho for the safety that we could provide. Many said that it was better to die where they were than to die in another camp. Even when we did succeed in persuading some to leave, a Hutu would often appear and warn those people that they would be macheted if they left with the Australians. This was a warning that never went unheeded.
At 2.00 p.m. that day, we were rotated out of the camp. We felt sick with resentment at leaving the job incomplete, but there was very little that we could have done for those people. We estimated that at least 4000 people had been killed over that weekend. While there was little that we could have done to stop the killings, I believe that, if Australians had not been there as witnesses to the massacre, the RPA would have killed every single person in the camp.
Permission to reprint this story as published in the Australian Army Journal is gratefully acknowledged.
The Truth can be buried and stomped into the ground where none can see, yet eventually it will, like a seed, break through the surface once again far more potent than ever, and Nothing can stop it. Truth can be suppressed for a "time", yet It cannot be destroyed. ==> Wolverine
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