Posted August 31, 2010


PRESS RELEASE


Rwanda : Vague laws used to criminalise criticism of government


Rwanda’s new government must urgently review vague ‘genocide ideology’ and ‘sectarianism’ laws that are being used to suppress political dissent and stifle freedom of speech, Amnesty International said in a report released today.

Safer to Stay Silent: The Chilling Effect of Rwanda’s Laws on ‘Genocide Ideology’ and ‘Sectarianism’ details how the vague wording of these laws is misused to criminalize criticism of the government and legitimate dissent by opposition politicians, human rights activists and journalists.

“The ambiguity of the ‘genocide ideology’ and ‘sectarianism’ law means Rwandans live in fear of being punished for saying the wrong thing,” said Erwin van der Borght, Africa Program director at Amnesty International. “Most take the safe option of staying silent.”

Amnesty International found that many Rwandans, even those with specialist knowledge of Rwandan law including lawyers and human rights workers, were unable to precisely define ‘genocide ideology’. Even judges, the professionals charged with applying the law, noted that the law was broad and abstract.

In the lead-up to the August 9 presidential elections two opposition candidates were arrested and charged, among other things, with ‘genocide ideology’. A newspaper editor was also arrested on the same charge.

The BBC and VOA have both been accused of disseminating ‘genocide ideology’ by the government. These accusations led to the suspension of the BBC Kinyarwanda service for two months from April 2009.

At a local level individuals appear to use ‘genocide ideology’ accusations to settle personal disputes. These laws allow for the criminal punishment even of young children under 12, as well as parents, guardians or teachers convicted of “inoculating” a child with “genocide ideology”. Sentences for convicted adults range from 10 to 25 years imprisonment.

The ‘genocide ideology’ and ‘sectarianism’ laws were introduced to restrict speech that could promote hatred in the decade following the 1994 genocide. Up to 800,000 Rwandans were killed in the genocide, mostly ethnic Tutsi, but also Hutu who opposed the organized killing. Prohibiting hate speech is a legitimate aim, but the approach used by the Rwandan Government has violated international law.

The Rwandan government announced a review of the ‘genocide ideology’ law in April 2010. The government should also launch a review of the ‘sectarianism’ law and demonstrate a new approach to freedom of expression in order to stem the chilling effect of past legislation.

The Rwandan government must significantly amend the laws, publicly express a commitment to freedom of expression, review past convictions and train police and prosecutors on how to investigate accusations.

“We hope that the government review will result in a meaningful revision of the ‘genocide ideology’ and ‘sectarianism’ laws so that freedom of expression is protected both on paper and in practice,” said Erwin van der Borght.

Notes to Editors

• Rwanda’s ‘genocide ideology’ law was promulgated in 2008.
• Rwanda’s ‘sectarianism’ law was promulgated in 2001.
• According to government figures, there were 1034 trials related to ‘genocide ideology’ in 2007-2008. These were prosecuted under charges ranging from assassination and poisoning to threats and damage to cattle.
• According to government figures, 435 ‘genocide ideology’ cases were tried at first instance in 2009

Public Document

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

For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566 or email: press@amnesty.org

International Secretariat, Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW, UK

http://www.amnesty.org/



AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL COMMUNIQUÉ DE PRESSE
31 août 2010

Rwanda : Le gouvernement se sert de lois formulées en termes vagues pour ériger toute critique en infraction

Le nouveau gouvernement du Rwanda doit de toute urgence réviser les lois relatives à l’« idéologie du génocide » et au « sectarisme », rédigées en termes vagues, dont il se sert pour éradiquer toute dissidence politique et museler la liberté de parole, a dénoncé Amnesty International dans le rapport qu’elle publie ce mardi 31 août 2010.

Intitulé Safer to Stay Silent: The Chilling Effect of Rwanda‘s Laws on ‘Genocide Ideology’ and ‘Sectarianism’, ce document montre que ces textes de loi, formulés en termes vagues, sont détournés pour ériger en infractions les critiques visant le gouvernement et la dissidence légitime qu’exercent les politiciens de l’opposition, les défenseurs des droits humains et les journalistes.

« En raison de l’ambiguïté des lois sur l’" idéologie du génocide " et le " sectarisme ", les Rwandais vivent dans la peur d’être punis pour avoir dit ce qu’il ne fallait pas, a expliqué Erwin van der Borght, directeur du programme Afrique d’Amnesty International. La plupart choisissent la sécurité et préfèrent se taire. »

Amnesty International a constaté que de nombreux Rwandais, y compris des spécialistes de la législation rwandaise, notamment des avocats et des défenseurs des droits humains, se montraient incapables de définir précisément la notion d’« idéologie du génocide ». Même les juges, professionnels chargés d’appliquer la loi, ont noté le caractère vague et abstrait de ce texte.
À l’approche de l’élection présidentielle du 9 août, deux candidats de l’opposition ont été arrêtés et inculpés, entre autres chefs, d’« idéologie du génocide ». Le rédacteur en chef d’une publication a également été interpellé pour les mêmes motifs.

En outre, le gouvernement a accusé la BBC et Voice of America de diffuser l’« idéologie du génocide », ce qui a débouché sur la suspension des émissions de la BBC en langue kinyarwanda pendant deux mois à compter d’avril 2009.


Au niveau local, des personnes se seraient servies d’accusations d’« idéologie du génocide » pour régler des différends personnels. Aux termes de ces lois, il est possible de sanctionner pénalement des enfants âgés de moins de 12 ans, ainsi que leurs parents, tuteurs ou enseignants si ceux-ci sont reconnus coupables de leur avoir « inoculé » l’« idéologie du génocide ». Ces adultes encourent des peines d’emprisonnement comprises entre 10 et 25 ans.
Les lois relatives à l’« idéologie du génocide » et au « sectarisme » ont été adoptées afin de faire barrage aux discours incitant à la haine au cours de la décennie qui a suivi le génocide de 1994. Quelque 800 000 Rwandais ont péri lors du génocide, pour la plupart des Tutsis, mais aussi des Hutus opposés à ce massacre organisé. Prohiber les discours de haine est un objectif légitime, mais l’approche retenue par le gouvernement rwandais bafoue le droit international.
Il a annoncé la révision de la loi sur l’« idéologie du génocide » en avril 2010. Il lui faut entreprendre de réviser la loi relative au « sectarisme » et adopter une nouvelle politique en matière de liberté d'expression, en vue de juguler les effets dévastateurs de ces textes de loi.
Il doit remanier ces lois, s’engager publiquement en faveur de la liberté d’expression, réexaminer les condamnations prononcées par le passé et former les policiers et les procureurs s’agissant des enquêtes menées sur ces accusations.

« Nous espérons que la politique du gouvernement débouchera sur une réelle modification des lois relatives à l’" idéologie du génocide " et au " sectarisme ", afin que la liberté d’expression soit protégée, sur le papier comme dans la réalité », a conclu Erwin van der Borght.

Note aux rédacteurs

• La loi relative à l’« idéologie du génocide » a été promulguée au Rwanda en 2008.
• La loi relative au « sectarisme » a été promulguée au Rwanda en 2001.
• D’après les chiffres officiels, quelque 1 034 procès ayant trait à l’« idéologie du génocide » ont eu lieu en 2007-2008. Les chefs d’inculpation allaient de l’assassinat à l’empoissonnement, en passant par les menaces et les dégâts causés sur du bétail.
• Selon les chiffres fournis par le gouvernement, 435 affaires liées à l’« idéologie du génocide » ont été jugées en première instance en 2009.
  

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

Sur près de 600 pages, ce document, dont Le Monde a obtenu une version quasi définitive, décrit les "violations les plus graves des droits de l'homme et du droit international humanitaire commises entre mars 1993 et juin 2003 en RDC".
***

In November 1996, as a by-product of the genocidein Rwanda two years earlier, a major humanitarian crisis erupted in Central Africa on the border between Zaïre and Rwanda.Redoutée par les principaux acteurs régionaux de l'interminable drame humain dans la région des Grands Lacs, la radiographie sans précédent des crimes jalonnant dix ans de guerre en République démocratique du Congo (RDC, ex-Zaïre) que vient d'établir le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l'homme (HCDH) est accablante, principalement pour le Rwanda voisin.
Derrière l'intitulé se cache une décennie de meurtres, viols, pillages auxquels prirent part plusieurs pays de la région. Des conflits qui firent un nombre indéterminé de morts, mais qui se chiffrent au bas mot en centaines de milliers.

La compilation des rapports existants et la collecte de nouveaux témoignages menée par le HCDH fournissent une base pour des poursuites judiciaires à venir contre les auteurs de ce que le HCDH qualifie de "crimes contre l'humanité, crimes de guerre, voire de génocide" après des années d'impunité.
Tony Blair, Kagame's first counselor

"CRIMES DE GÉNOCIDE"

Depuis des semaines, le Rwanda déploie ses réseaux et son énergie pour tenter d'étouffer ce rapport qui risque d'atteindre le cœur du régime du président Paul Kagamé, l'homme fort du Rwanda depuis 1994.

Le document estime en effet que "les attaques systématiques et généralisées [contre des Hutu réfugiés en RDC] révèlent plusieurs éléments accablants qui, s'ils sont prouvés devant un tribunal compétent, pourraient être qualifiés de crimes de génocide".
Il reste à savoir quel tribunal se chargera de cette œuvre de justice alors que la plupart des crimes sortent du champ de compétence de la Cour pénale internationale.


Face aux insuffisances de la justice congolaise, le HCDH insiste sur la nécessité d'imaginer de nouveaux mécanismes judiciaires pour mettre fin au cycle de l'impunité dans la région.

© Christophe Châtelot




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

Répression permanente, Crimes de guerre et Implication des Etats-Unis

Traduction du Texte de Keith Harmon Snow, journaliste américain "Apocalypse in Central Africa"
*
"Nous sommes très heureux de travailler avec les forces de défense rwandaises comme partenaire clé alors qu'elles cherchent à améliorer leur capacité à effectuer diverses missions de maintien de la paix et à contribuer par d'autres moyens à apporter la paix dans cette région. Et dans le cadre de cette visite, nous démontrons à nos amis rwandais que nous sommes un partenaire déterminé.. et qu'ainsi, la stabilité se fait sentir dans le monde entier...."

Général William E. Ward, ( commandement américain pour l'Afrique) (AFRICOM)

Conférence de presse, Kigali, Rwanda, 22 avril 2010
La "guerre contre le terrorisme" menée par les États-Unis déstabilise les gouvernement populaires, les communautés et les sociétés indigènes à travers le monde . Cela est vrai plus qu'ailleurs dans la région des Grands Lacs africains où les populations font face à un terrorisme absolu et à des atrocités inouïes ainsi qu'à la destruction complète de tout ce qu'ils connaissent, ce que l'on appelle un génocide.

Mais le génocide au Congo n'est pas à l'ordre du jour, conformément aux prérogatives des intérêts privés, des grosses entreprises occidentales, de la suprématie blanche et des politique génocidaires.[0]

Les Etats-Unis sont intervenus pendant des années dans la région - la multinationale américaine Union Carbide par exemple contrôlait les mines SOMIKIVU dans la province du Kivu au Congo au début des années soixante, mais par le biais d'un partenariat militaire croissant avec les agents clés en Afrique centrale depuis 1980, les interventions américaines ont provoqué des pertes humaines sans précédent, favorisées par les politiques gouvernementales directes des Etats-Unis, les opérations clandestines militaires et de guérilla menées sous couvert de "maintien de la paix", de politique "humanitaire" et de "développement".

First let us recall the definition of genocide. The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 9, 1948. The Convention entered into force on January 12, 1951.

Article II of the Convention states “In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;


(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;


(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group


(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group (Human Rights Volume I (Second Part) Universal Instruments United Nations 2002).

The targeted killing or genocide of moderate Hutu and Tutsi that took place in Rwanda in 1994 shocked the world. There is ‘guilt of omission’ to act. The international community did nothing to prevent the genocide when sufficient advance warning had been made available (Mary Robinson A Voice for Human Rights 2006: 222).
Understandably – and without pausing to reflect on the extenuating historical circumstances, the immediate trigger or the real genocidaires and who abetted them – the entire international community descended on Hutu people (whether they participated directly or indirectly, opposed or even protected the targeted groups), dubbed them barbaric, bad people or dangerous wild beasts that should be hunted down and killed. Hutus were massacred inside Rwanda and with satellite surveillance were chased in the DRC forest, murdered and buried in mass graves (Debra Liang-Fenton 2004: 41 & Robert B. Edgerton 2002:229).
The RPF government took full advantage of this sense of guilt, forced apologies and pushed the international community to remove arms embargo, pass generous resolutions, admit Rwanda into the Commonwealth club without meeting the requirements according to experts report, obtain sophisticated military training, equipment, advisers and defenders, remove moderate officials from government, strengthen the hand of hardliners, assassinate dissenters and jail others, prevent people from mentioning their ethnic identity, ban strong opposition parties, force Hutu into subsistence economy and birth control practices (as reported by Hutu) in order to keep them down permanently and pave the way for genocide of Hutu hence the term of ‘double genocide’.

In order to pin down Hutu permanently, the government has even decided that only Tutsi were targeted for genocide and not Hutu moderates. In an interview with New York Times reporter Josh Kron, published on April 28, 2010 the Foreign Minister and Government Spokesperson for Rwanda, Louise Mushikiwabo stated “… the reality is that the genocide was committed by the Hutu against the Tutsi, and the reality is also true that some Hutu were victims of the genocide, not because they were targeted, but because they did not want to go along with the plan [of genocide]”. The government also uses as appropriate the term genocide to all Hutu whether or not they participated in the genocide or were even born after 1994, implying that Hutu have no rights in Rwanda!

To repeat, Rwanda government has so far benefited from the “genocide guilt credit” to commit atrocities with impunity. At the UN in New York the Security Council and General Assembly members are constrained to criticize Rwanda because of a feeling of guilt. And the Rwanda government knows it and is perhaps encouraged to take advantage of it and settle scores while it lasts. The UN Secretary-General once expressed fear that Tutsi invasion of eastern DRC was aimed at revenge (Gerard Prunier Africa’s World War 2009: 57, 117, 293 & Stephen Kinser A Thousand Hills 2008:335).

The International Forum for Truth and Justice in the Great Lakes Region, among other organizations, is involved in a lawsuit charging massive crimes against humanity and acts of genocide committed by the RPF government of Rwanda (Peter Phillips Censored 2007, 2006:54).
For illustrative purposes, here are a few cases and sources for further reading as and when necessary.


1.In early September 1994 Robert Gersony prepared and delivered a comprehensive report of RPA (Rwanda Patriotic Army) massacres (of Hutu) to the RPF government of Rwanda and United Nations representatives in Kigali. Afraid of the impact of revelations in the report, it was suppressed by the UN Secretary General (Debra Liang-Fenton Implementing U.S. Human Rights Policy 2004: 39-40).

2.In April 1995 internally displaced persons (IDP) camp at Kibeho that accommodated about 150,000 Hutu was attacked by RPA and massacred them (Gerard Prunier. Africa’s World War 2009:40). There were too many foreign witnesses for RPF government to deny the genocide (Debra Liang-Fenton 2004:40). In its manifesto the Resistance Forces for Democracy (RDF) claimed that Paul Kagame, the leader of RPA and other Tutsi ministers had planned the massacre at Kibeho (IDP) in April 1995 and recommended that those involved should be brought before an international criminal court (NewAfrican May 1996:17).

3.The attacks on Rwanda in 1995 and 1996 by former FAR (former Rwanda army) caused disproportionate violent bouts of Rwanda army (RPA) repression targeting Hutu peasants (Current History Africa May 1997: 196).


4.On April 22, 2010 Lusoke Willy sent a detailed message to Ugandans-at-Heart in which he disclosed the locations of Hutu mass graves in Rwanda (Ugandans-at-heart@googlegroups.com).


5.Professors Allan Stam and Christian Davenport of University of Michigan and University of Notre Dame respectively reported that “the vast majority of people who died in the 1994 Rwanda Genocide were Hutus. Prof. Stam presented his findings at the University of Michigan in 2009 in a speech titled “Coming to a New Understanding of the 1994 Rwanda Genocide” (Ann Garrison. Rwanda Genocide: Some Inconvenient Truths. Blackstarnews.com April 11, 2010).


6.Several countries have adopted laws allowing judges to investigate human rights abuses anywhere in the world. In 2008, a judge in Spain issued a stunning indictment of 40 Rwandan officials, including the military chief of staff, General James Kabarebe, for atrocities they allegedly committed after the RPF seized power in 1994. Although President Kagame is immune from prosecution because he is a sitting head of state, the judge ruled there was damning evidence against him (Stephen Kinser 2008: 334).


7.In 1996, with Western support, the Rwandan army crossed the border into eastern DRC and forced hundreds of thousands of Hutu refugees back into Rwanda. Those who refused to return were dubbed genocidaires that qualified to be hunted down and killed. Despite protests from the UNHCR and numerous NGOs, the Rwandan army with some Western backing massacred whole groups of unarmed Hutus (Richard Dowden Africa 2009:249-50).


8.Oxfam, a British NGO claimed that up to 1,000,000 (Hutu) people in eastern DRC were dying from starvation and disease. The press added its voice by calling the situation “Catastrophe! Disaster! Apocalypse!” The UN Secretary-General also described the situation as “genocide by starvation” (Martin Meredith. The Fate of Africa 2005:533-4).


9.In 1998 a UN Commission visited DRC to investigate reports of mass graves of thousands of Hutu that had been massacred by Kabila Tutsi-led rebel army (Robert B. Edgerton 2002:229).


10.During hearings of AU mission to DRC in January/February 2010 reports of intentional massacre of Hutu from Rwanda and DRC were reported as Rwanda army chased Hutu rebels indistinguishable from civilians.

1. The idea behind these examples is to give the public information about Hutu genocide committed in Rwanda and DRC by Tutsi, information that was not available before or was suppressed. For the sake of justice the law should apply to all perpetrators of this double genocide.
2. Those suspected of genocide against Tutsi and Hutu must be tried in an international criminal court. The time for guilt by omission is over. Western governments that cherish strict observance of human rights and justice for all must act now to save their credibility. There is sufficient evidence to take on genocide committed by Tutsi against Hutu in Rwanda and DRC.

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

[Since 1994, the world witnesses the horrifying reality: the 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), mass-arrests and mass-murder by the RPF criminal organization.
So long as justice and accountability for RPF past and current crimes are ignored and delayed, Peace and Stability will remain illusive and impossible in Rwanda=>ASIF]



Black Agenda Report

August 11, 2010
Posted by Glenn Ford


“Paul Kagame and Woseri Museveni are the two main architects of the genocide in the eastern Congo.”

One of the United States’ main allies in Black Africa recently declared himself the winner of a farcical presidential election with 93 percent of the vote. But there will be no outcry from Hillary Clinton’s State Department or Barack Obama’s White House, or even much of a fuss from the New York Times, because President Paul Kagame, of Rwanda , serves U.S. interests. You will never hear western governments and media call Kagame by his true name: a dictator and warlord from the minority Tutsi tribe that holds sway over the majority Hutu population through a reign of terror. Instead, western capitalists shower his regime with money and high praise as an example of how Africa should be governed.

Paul Kagame and his mentor and fellow warlord in neighboring Uganda, President Woseri Museveni, were given the green light by the West to kill and steal at will in Central Africa.
They are the two main architects of the genocide in the eastern Congo, where some estimate six million people have died since Rwanda and Uganda invaded the region, in the mid-Nineties.

The soldiers of these two U.S. henchmen are still there, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, looting precious minerals for sale to multinational corporations under cover of tribal warfare – wars created and nurtured by Kagame and Museveni, themselves, for the sake of power and profit and the favor of the United States and Europe. Kagame and Museveni have more blood on their hands than any combination of men in Africa – which makes them heroes to the West.

 “Kagame and Museveni have more blood on their hands than any combination of men in Africa.”

Compared to the Congolese genocide, stealing an election in Rwanda is child’s play. The majority of the Hutu population lives in terror of the Tutsi-dominated regime, which is rooted in the guerilla army that invaded Rwanda from its bases in Uganda and set off the genocidal tribal violence that killed hundreds of thousands of Tutsi and Hutus – although the Hutu victims of Paul Kagame’s army must be mourned in silence.

It is a crime in Rwanda to even raise the question of mass killings of Hutus during the violence of 1994, as Kagame fought his way to power. Indeed, any criticism of Kagame’s regime is guaranteed to get one branded as a genocidaire – an advocate of genocide – or a proponent of “divisionism,” which means saying anything that might tend to undermine the people’s obedience to Paul Kagame. You might just turn up dead, as did several of the regime’s opponents in the run-up to the sham election. No serious opposition was allowed to compete. The Kagame police state has ways to ensure that almost everyone votes for The Leader. Voters mark their ballots with their fingerprints next to the chosen candidate, so no one’s vote is a secret.

The two African heads of state most despised by the United States, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, have held elections that were far more fair and credible than Rwanda's Paul Kagame.

Presidents Mugabe and Bashir would never arrange for themselves to get 93 percent of the vote, because they would be denounced as vote thieves by the West. But the genocidal dictator and Paul Kagame flaunts his disregard for the democratic processes, and the West loves him for it. He is doing the U.S. and Europe's killing for them, and they are pleased.


============ ========= ======


© Stop NATO

 Related Articles

• Please give Kagame a break, Rwanda is no 'normal'country. 
• The election results are decided months in advance of the polling

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

[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), mass-arrests and mass-murder by the RPF criminal organization.
So long as justice and accountability for RPF past and current crimes are ignored and delayed, Peace and Stability will remain illusive and impossible in Rwanda=>ASIF]



Dear Editors:

I have blind copied this email to many people who are familiar with events in Central Africa and the US relations to these..

Your recent story by Lynne Touhy about Rwandan refugee Beatrice Munyenyezi is a complete smear job. I previously sent you information that needs to be included in any honest reportage on this story, but you chose to ignore it.
 
The recent story is racist, as was the first one, compounding the injustice against this woman by producing a one-sided smear -- as if her bankruptcy is exceptional or meant to take advantage of the system -- trying to whip up American hatred against black people, more specifically against Africans, and against refugees.

You know perfectly well that there is a huge ongoing discourse about genocide in Rwanda, and yet you support the lies, and pretend that you don't see. This is everything that is wrong with the United States, and you are part of it.

[Kagame and his RPF crimes, a horryfying reality that goes on unoticed. ASIF apologize for any inadvertent concern this may have caused. We have no other choice but to show the picture. The main Reason of it: We have a duty to bring It out in the public eye. The US and Great Britain administrations fail to bring Paul Kagame before the bar of Justice.

ASIF is an umbrella organization, an anti-genocide coalition of millions of survivors from mainly Rwanda and Democratic Republic of the Congo].
Paul Kagame and controversial awards



See instead, with update for 12 August 2010, which addresses the racism of the recent Lynne Tuohy and Union Leader see:


http://www.consciousbeingalliance.com/2010/08/us-citizen-falsely-accused-of-rwanda-genocide-rape-crimes/

 
©onsciousbeingalliance
keith harmon snow

Related articleKagame warns media, exiled officials like human waste.

by Ann Garisson
[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), mass-arrests and mass-murder by the RPF criminal organization.

So long as justice and accountability for past crimes are ignored and delayed, peace and stability will remain illusive and impossible in Rwanda=>ASIF]






Faustin Twagiramungu, former Rwandan prime-minister (1995), accuses Paul Kagame of the assassination of Rugambage and asks all Rwandans to boycot the august "elections":
"Paul Kagame's claims at a press briefing 28 juin 2010 "that an orderly investigation would shed light on the assasination of Journalist Rugambagee" are merely an effort to confuse the international community. Far from being moved by compassion for the victim and his family, General Kagame's crocodile tears are aiming to impress his friends and financial backers in the west during this election campaign season"

Faustin Twagiramungu, reminds us that Paul Kagame has a history of assassinating journalists:
"Edouard Mutsinzi, was killed and left dead in Nyamirambo in 1995 by death squads of the RPF. Former director of the journal Le Messager-Intumwa, mister Edouard Mutsinzi was turned into a mental patient and physically handicapped due to torture inflicted on him by Paul Kagame's death sqauds. Why has Paul Kagame to this day kept silent on the assassination of all these other journalists that were savagelly murdered, among them Appolo Hakizimana in 1997, Emmanuel Munyemanzi in 1998 and Jean-Marie-Vianney Hategekimana in 2002, to name just these? why does General Kagame care nothing about scores of journalists that were forced into exile and that continue to flee the intolerance of his regime? "

Faustin Twagiramungu also states in the same piece:

April 27th Eugene Rwamucyo interviewed Faustin Twagiramungu (Rwandan Prime-minister in 1995, run for President in 2003 and is now member of Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza's UDF-Ingkingi party) concernirng Agathe Habyarimana's case:
 

"Contrary to Kigali's affirmations, Jean Léonard Rugambage has never been condemend of participation in genocide"
Apparently the Rwandan regime of Paul Kagame has a hard time resisting the temptation of using the genocide as a weapon to fight it's ennemies. Timing of these accusations seems to be linked to the upcoming elections. I am sofar not convinced at all European and American governments are keeping enough distance from the regime in Kigali to ensure free, fair and swift procedings that limit the dammage these accusations undoubtedly will inflict on the lives of these people.

As Sharon Schmickle wrote, a fierce fight over the record of the Rwandan genocide is still ongoing and these Rwandan immigrants are caught up in the eye of this storm. To get an idea of what this fight is about read "Genocide Denial and Genocide Facilitation: Gerald Caplan and The Politics of Genocide" by Edward S. Herman and David Peterson.


Karen Langley wrote yesterday the article "genocide claims doubted" which discusses this subject in relation to Beatrice Munyenyezi, a Rwandan immigrant living in Manchester who is being accused of having participated in the rwandan genocide:

"Members of central New Hampshire's small Rwandan community have watched the case, and for some it has reinforced their suspicion of the government that has led Rwanda since the genocide. Acquaintances of Munyenyezi, like Gakwaya and his father, who was a government minister in Rwanda, are quick to say that anyone who committed a crime should be punished.

But they believe the charges against Munyenyezi were more likely motivated by her opposition to the Rwandan government, as seen at protests in Boston and Washington, D.C., as well as the fact of her Hutu ethnicity. They claim the government of Rwanda steered the investigation of the American agent so that he unknowingly interviewed people bribed to frame Munyenyezi"


A Rwandan immigrant living and working in Europe is caught up in this complex debate as well. This is Eugène Rwamucyo, who has started a website to give his side of the story. Eugène Rwamucyo was arrested as a "genocide suspect" in France may 26th:

"His arrest came nearly three months after police detained Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of Rwanda's assassinated ex-president, and one of the alleged masterminds of the genocide of Tutsis and moderate Hutus. It also follows President Nicolas Sarkozy's landmark trip to Kigali in March during which he said France would do everything possible to ensure that "all those responsible for the genocide are found and are punished."

"Eugene Rwamucyo, who in april was dismissed from his hospital post in northern France, is wanted by Kigali for allegedly planning and carrying out atrocities in the Butare region of southern Rwanda. " 

© olored Opinions
*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

By Karen Langley / Monitor staff
July 4, 2010


When Blaise Gakwaya learned a fellow Rwandan in Manchester had been accused of participating in the country's 1994 genocide, he saw in the charges evidence of the long reach of a government he distrusts.

"You're going to tell me someone's been here for 10 years, then tell me she did something?" Gakwaya said. "Maybe tomorrow they will accuse me, too."
Beatrice Munyenyezi, a U.S. citizen who came to the country as a refugee in 1998, was arrested June 24 on charges she had lied on her immigration papers. In an affidavit, a special agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Munyenyezi had denied crimes she had committed during the Rwandan genocide of spring and summer 1994.

The agent reported that in Rwanda he had found witnesses who saw Munyenyezi direct the murder and rape of numerous people, mostly members of the minority Tutsi ethnicity, in front of a hotel where she was living. One witness said Munyenyezi had ordered the witness gang-raped while Munyenyezi and her husband watched. Another described watching Munyenyezi kill a boy by hitting him in the head with a wooden club. She would have been 24 at the time.

Members of central New Hampshire's small Rwandan community have watched the case, and for some it has reinforced their suspicion of the government that has led Rwanda since the genocide. Acquaintances of Munyenyezi, like Gakwaya and his father, who was a government minister in Rwanda, are quick to say that anyone who committed a crime should be punished.

But they believe the charges against Munyenyezi were more likely motivated by her opposition to the Rwandan government, as seen at protests in Boston and Washington, D.C., as well as the fact of her Hutu ethnicity. They claim the government of Rwanda steered the investigation of the American agent so that he unknowingly interviewed people bribed to frame Munyenyezi.

"From the moment you land in Rwanda, there are so many people who look like they don't know you but who follow you every hour," said Theobald Gakwaya, a former Minister of Internal Affairs. "When you went there, your investigation is flawed and oriented for the issue the government wants."

Gakwaya, a Hutu, said he was hunted during the genocide because he opposed the Hutu Power call to kill Tutsis and was later imprisoned for criticizing the government.

Sixteen years after the genocide, the events and their aftermath remain a difficult topic for Rwandans, even in New Hampshire. When the 100 or so Rwandan people living in the Concord and Manchester area get together, both Hutus and Tutsis attend, said Augustin Ntabaganyimana, a Rwandan of both Hutu and Tutsi heritage who works with refugees at a social services agency in Concord. But people avoid speaking about the genocide, he said, because they have different views of what happened and why.

People who are Hutu sometimes say the government disregards killings of their own people before and after the genocide, while people who are Tutsi sometimes feel the prosecution for genocide lags.

"It doesn't really matter whether you are in Rwanda or abroad, you are connected to the events of 1994," Ntabaganyimana said. "People in the community still live that, because we are connected to people who have died in the genocide or the deaths that happened in the refugee camps in Congo, in Tanzania."

After losing nearly all her family to the genocide, Chantal Kayitesi moved to New Hampshire in 1999. Kayitesi, who now lives in Massachusetts, does not know Munyenyezi personally, and she said she does not know whether the accusations against the Manchester woman are true. But for Kayitesi, who lost her husband, a teacher named Joseph, when their son was only a few months old, along with her parents and two siblings, the prosecution of genocide is essential.

"By bringing people to justice, you tell a survivor, 'We are not ignoring your suffering,' " Kayitesi said. "And you are telling the world, you are telling Rwanda, that you can't just kill your neighbor. It's not acceptable to kill people in Rwanda or anywhere in the world, and we care."
Investigations by the United States are all the more important because political distance gives the results credibility, she said.


Kayitesi, the Gakwayas and others said the ethnic conflict between Tutsis and Hutus has been spurred by governments seeking to maintain their own power.

"It wasn't Hutu and Tutsi killing each other," Kayitesi said. "It was a government-sponsored genocide, when regular peasants who used to be our neighbors and our friends, our teammates and our colleagues, were manipulated by the government."

Jean-Marie Vianney Higiro, a brother of Munyenyezi, said today's Rwandan government continues to exploit that division. Like other Hutu residents interviewed, Higiro, a professor at Western New England College in Massachusetts, said the government ignores historic killings of Hutus and labels its opponents as deniers of genocide to stifle dissent. Human Rights Watch said a week ago that political repression was increasing in Rwanda in advance of the country's August presidential elections.

"When the Rwandan government wants to go after a person, they use the word genocide because it has resonance in Western cultures because of the Jewish Holocaust," Higiro said.
Higiro said his sister has been accused because of her family ties. He is the chairman of an opposition party based abroad, and he said the government of Rwanda has asked the United States to extradite him. Munyenyezi's husband and mother-in-law are imprisoned in Tanzania, where they are defendants at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

Higiro said he is sure the accusations against his sister were fabricated, and he dismissed the immigration agent's conclusion, in the affidavit, that Hutu extremists have spread throughout the world with the intention of returning home to kill every remaining Tutsi.

"That's exactly the propaganda of the Rwandan regime," Higiro said. "Once you criticize the current regime, once you say, 'Look, the way you tell the story of the genocide in Rwanda is distorted,' you are labeled a Hutu extremist who would like to go back and finish the genocide."

Higiro said that his political party is allied with a Tutsi party that also opposes the government, and he said both are fighting for an open political space.

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