[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]





A UN report released last month put into doubt the notion that Kagame alone stopped Rwanda’s Hutu-led genocide. It accuses Kagame’s forces of vengeful massacres against the Hutu population in Eastern Congo in 1996. The report documented 617 of the worst human rights violations by Rwandan and Ugandan troops against those who had fled the genocide. “Many of the attacks were directed against civilians consisting primarily of women and children”.

Rwanda’s Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo called the report “an attempt to rewrite history”, as Kigali tried to paint this as an attempt to promote the double genocide theory. The government was so desperate to get the report quashed, it even threatened to pull out Rwandan troops from delicate U.N. peacekeeping operations in Sudan. However, the report’s sheer thoroughness makes any criticism hard to sustain. More than 1,200 individual witnesses were interviewed and over 1,500 documents were collected and analysed. This report is no matter of opinion, it’s a matter of fact.

Kagame’s government has enjoyed years as the global aid community’s darling in a troubled region for good reason. Average incomes have more than doubled from $242 in 1999 to $520 in 2010. Kagame as also been a champion for gender equality in the region and Rwanda now boasts the highest share of women in government in the world. Even Transparency International, a Berlin-based anti-corruption monitor, applauds its anti-corruption efforts and rates it as the cleanest country in east Africa. The compliments, however, end here.
Killings and arrests were but a few scandals which emerged in the lead up to August’s Presidential elections. Diplomats were dismayed. Why rig an election when you’re set to win? Firstly, years of struggle in the bush as leader of the RPF means Kagame sees himself as a national hero who would find defeat at the polls too humiliating to consider. Furthermore, weak institutions mean power is concentrated in the executive so all those in positions of power stand to lose if an opponent wins office. This means not only the President but the entire state relies on a Kagame victory, so democracy is undermined by everyone from everywhere.

Defenders of the current regime would argue that his recent slide towards dictatorship is necessary pragmatism. The government faces real constant threats from Hutu extremist groups in the Congo. Grenade attacks in Kigali earlier this year were seen as a sign that rebel forces were ready to attack. The recent arrest of FDLR leader Callixte Mbarushimana by the ICC proves that the groups are facing a crackdown by The Hague so the threat has diminished.


Kagame may also fear attacks from within, as the peace he has brokered among Rwanda’s warring tribes after the tragedy of 1994 remains fragile. His strategy for reconciliation involves eliminating tribal identities and replacing them with a new national identity. The government fears Hutu political opponents, such as Victoire Ingabire, could undermine this with inflammatory comments.

Kagame’s fears are more likely to be realized if he carries on oppressing freedom of speech. Violence may return if he maintains his crackdown on the press. Rebellion is probable unless he allows the prosecution of Tutsis as well as Hutus at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The President needs to understand that however noble his aims may be, his methods are misguided.

Britain and America have the power to set things right. Kagame was trained at the US Army College at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas in 1990 and has remained loyal ever since. As Rwanda’s biggest donors, the US and UK provide around $220m of funding each year, which the government budget relies on. Rwanda has also recently joined the commonwealth and switched the country’s entire education system from French to English. Most telling is a recent decision to establish a cricket board. The past 16 years of Kagame’s rule can be seen as an appeasement of Anglo-American desires for the greater benefit of both parties. This year things must change.
Kagame is no longer respecting the ideals he set out to protect in 1994 and in so doing risks all his achievements in reconciling the nation after the genocide. Viable opponents must be found to enable a competitive election to decide Kagame’s successor. Not so many years ago, Mugabe walked down the path to disgrace. We must prevent Kagame from following in his footsteps.


© The Oxford Student

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

ICG plots the war in Rwanda and in the Congo as well as repeatedly event in our database. Looking at the rare occasions the ICG intervened to the increasing violence, we found out they have many causal antecedents : The unconditional support of the bloody dictator Paul Kagame and their support of him in serial assassinations and mass-murder. It is nothing new for FDLR who are mired by the ICG. African SurVivors International urges the world community to make clear the political and diplomatic policy towards Paul Kagame and towards Rwanda.


The primary goals of the African SurViVors International organization is to bring back peace in African Great Lakes Region and in Rwanda in particular. African SurViVors International is indebted to various some Human Rights organizations, other charity organizations and individuals around the world that have aided Rwandans to inform the world about the cruelty of the bloody dictator and leader of the Rwandan military junta.

ICG ties with Kagame's backers,  found linked to RPF criminals.

***
An examination of key measures of violence reveals a troublesome correlation between the number of ICG Press releases in favor of violence in Democratic Republic of The Congo and Rwanda and homicides, war crimes, mass-rape and genocide committed by Paul Kagame and his RPF army (RDF) and Kagame proxy armies in Congo. Instead of denouncing RPF crimes, instead of insistsing on the dialogue between Rwandans and restoration for democratic institutions in Rwanda, the International Crisis Group calls on violence and mass-murder of those that refuse it and wants to leave in peace in their country of origin. As aid to RPF and Kagame’s government increases in the name of eradicating AIDS, there is a corresponding increase in the number of assassinations, disappearances, mass-rape, war crimes and genocide in both Rwanda and DRC.
The correlation between ICG statements and or press releases, the fueling of wars in the region by a declaration of war by Paul Kagame using the TCG puppet or backers tell us that the world should insists on the neutrality of NGOS if they are. If necessary, the NGO’s representatives should be brought to justice for such plotting against peace and nations. Looking at the wars crimes statistics make clear that ICG plots violence and its statements cause violence and in many cases ICG’s role is to make sure that violence is not stopped.


The ICG writings, statements and propaganda in favor of Kagame’s jihad do raise a question about whether the flow of such support to the Kagame, RPF and Kagame military junta has helped fuel Kagame violence and hinders efforts to restore peace and justice in Rwanda. Recent assassinations inside Rwanda of journalists and political opponents.


Prior to the Kagame’s jihad in Congo , ICG directed nearly all propaganda to worship and praise Kagame’s action in Congo within Kimya I and II. Kagame’s terror campaign launched against Hutu women and children since 1993 up to 2003, the last date known to be the last press release of ICG during the genocide in Congo against Hutus disrupt the main Kagame backing sources.

To bring back peace in the African Great Region will require making the security Council US and EU community and NGOs players responsible for their actions to the international community, since ICG ties with the RPF criminals doesn’t help to resolve the issue of violence in that region rather to fuel the flames inside and outside Rwanda and in Democratic Rep. of Congo in particular.

Dec 1996 The Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Congo (ADFL) controlled most of eastern Congo. It is made up of four political forces with a history of opposition to Mobutu's government as well as the Banyamulenge. It was reported that the Banyamulenge were outnumbered six-to-one by other Congoan ethnic groups in the alliance. Besides being opposed by Congoan government forces, the rebel alliance is also opposed by Congoan militias, the Bangilima and Mai-Mai who have long been opposed to the presence of all Banyarwanda in Congo.


The Rwandan Patriotic Army, which took over Rwanda after the 1994 genocide, and the Ugandan army were reportedly backing the rebels. (Reuters, 12/3/96).





Accurate chronology of reminding mass-slaughters of Hutus in DRC Dec 17, 1996 Mobutu flew home to Congo after undergoing treatment for cancer in France. He appointed a new armed forces chief and reshuffled his cabinet in order to launch a counter-offensive against the rebels.
Jan 20, 1997 The government launched an offensive against Kabila's forces even as they advanced on mineral-rich Shaba region.

Mar 7, 1997 Hundreds of soldiers seized opposition strongholds in Kinshasa after dispersing opposition militias trying to gather for a march against Mobutu. The Secretary-General of UDPS, Adrien Phongo, was beaten and arrested.
Mar 15, 1997 Kisangani, Congo's third largest city, falls to rebel troops.

Mar 23, 1997 Human rights organizations report that Hutu refugees are being massacred in the East by Kabila's forces. Kabila troops are dominated by Tutsis from Rwanda and he is receiving military and other support from Angola, Rwanda, and Uganda.

Apr 2, 1997 Etienne Tshisekedi is named Prime Minister after Kengo wa Dondo is forced out of office. Tshisekedi names his own government and offers to negotiate with Kabila. The offer is refused and Mobutu sacks Tshisekedi after a week.

Apr 5, 1997 The town of Mbuji-Mayi in Kasai Province falls to rebel forces. It is the diamond mining center of Congo and home of opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, a Baluba. Laurent Kabila is also a Baluba, but from neighboring Shaba Province. Both Shaba and Kasai have been operating as de facto autonomous states in recent years.

Apr 8, 1997 Mobutu declares a state of emergency over all of Congo. Tshisekedi's supporters clashed with security forces for two days when it became apparent that he would be dropped as Prime Minister.

Apr 9, 1997 Rebels capture Lubumbashi, the capital of Shaba province. It is the second-largest city in Congo in a region rich in minerals. General Likulia Bolong is named Prime Minister replacing Etienne Tshisekedi.

Apr 14, 1997 Tshisekedi supporters in Kinshasa close down the capital for two days in protest over Tshisekedi's ouster as Prime Minister.

Apr 27, 1997 Kabila gives the United Nations 60 days to repatriate hundreds of thousands of Hutus, many of whose whereabouts are unknown having fled into the interior of Congo with the advance of Kabila's rebels. Relief agencies begin airlifting Hutu refugees back to Rwanda shortly after Kabila makes his announcement.

May 1997 Soldiers put down a peaceful demonstration in Uvira, 90 miles south of Bukavu, South Kivu's capital. Some 20 protesters were killed.



May 13, 1997 A night-time curfew was declared in Kinshasa.

May 16, 1997 After it has become apparent that he has no choice but to give up power, Mobutu left Kinshasa for his northern palace at Gbadolite after which he is expected to leave Congo. South Africa had been attempting to mediate between Kabila and Mobutu, but after several attempts, it was clear that Kabila held the upper hand and Mobutu had no leverage over the take-over of his country.

May 17, 1997 Kabila declared himself president and took office on the 29th. He also changed the name of Congo to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), also known as Congo-Kinshasa.

May 23, 1997 Kabila announced some members of his transitional government. The post of Prime Minister, which opposition leaders had hoped would go to Etienne Tshisekedi who has extensive popular support in Kinshasa and Kasai Province, was abolished. Tshisekedi was excluded from Kabila's government.

Jul 8, 1997 Reports have surfaced that in the first weeks of the rebellion begun in October 1996, more than 9000 people, mostly civilians, were killed. There were systematic killings of Hutu refugees in Mbandaka, Kisingani, Goma, and Bukavu. A Senior Tutsi official in Congo's Interior Ministry said that Rwandan and Congolese Tutsi troops were given a free hand to go after Hutu refugees so long as they also contributed to the overthrow of Mobutu. Rebel officers who opposed this policy were reportedly killed. Western diplomats said Kabila did not participate in much of the planning or execution of the rebellion.

Jul 12, 1997 A United Nations report into the massacres of Rwandan refugees in Congo during the rebellion stated they were so massive and systematic that they can be considered crimes against humanity and possibly genocide. Investigators, who have been hampered in their investigation efforts by Kabila's government, said they received reports on 134 alleged massacres committed by Kabila's ADFL and Banyamulenge militias.

Aug 1997 The Democratic Resistance Alliance was established in eastern DRC with the stated aim of "liberating" the area. The new movement is made up largely of Bembe and is led by Celestin Anzaluni Bemba, a local politician known for his anti-Tutsi sentiments. It is reportedly based in Tanzania. Non-Banyarwandan ethnic groups in eastern Congo have resented the privileged position the Congolese Tutsis played in the rebellion that ousted Mobutu and want all Banyamulenge out of the country. (U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN), 9/10/97)

Aug 10 - 20, 1997 A DRC journalist said that troops, either Tutsis from the DRC or Rwanda, raided Masisi and killed up to 200 people in retaliation for an attack on Tutsi soldiers by Mai-Mai guerrillas. Athorities in the area confirmed 48 people were killed, but other sources put the number of dead at up to 200.

Aug 13, 1997 35,000 refugees in Tanzania's Lugufu camp are divided between supporters and opponents of returning to the DRC. The Babembe are the majority in the camp which was set up in February. Most are refusing to return to their homes because they fought against Kabila's rebellion. Ethnic tensions between the Bembe and Banyamulenge continues in eastern Congo.

Aug 27, 1997 The World Food Program has given seeds to farmers in the Kivu regions stating that the food supply situation was still critical in the area. The WFP estimated the remaining Rwandan refugees in Congo at more than 20,000 and added that 190,000 Congolese were internally displaced. The United Nations continued to list 200,000 Rwandan Hutu refugees as missing in the eastern region of Congo.

Sep 5, 1997 The Association for the Defense of Human Rights in the DRC said about 2000 civilians were massacred in July when Kabila's forces and Rwandan troops avenged attacks by Mai-Mai guerrillas. The Mai-Mai had killed 162 troops in the Masisi area. The Mai-Mai are from the Hunde, Nyanga, Tembo and Kumu ethnic groups and have been fighting against the presence of Tutsis in both North and South Kivu.

Kabila's government has set up a commission of inquiry to which aims to end the political and ethnic troubles in the region. The Masisi area has long been the scene of conflict between the Banyarwanda and "autochtones" or "native" Congolese (Congolese). In 1993, approximately 14,000 Banyarwanda were killed in ethnic violence, and after the influx of Rwandan refugees into the region in mid-1994, ethnic Tutsis became the main targets of ethnic violence in Masisi and eastern Congo in general.

(U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN), 9/10/97)
Sep 7, 1997 Mobutu Sese Seko died of cancer in exile in Morocco.

Sep 18, 1997 More than 100 people were believed to have been killed in renewed violence in the Masisi area. Congolese Tutsis were the main victims. An organization called MAGRIVI, the Mutual Association of the Agriculturalists of the Virunga, was blamed for the deaths. The alliance, made up of Hutu farmers and Mai-Mai militias targeted Tutsi residents and military personnel.

The human rights organization Azadho said that since July, more than 2000 people have been killed in Kivu. Last week, 7-8000 Tutsi civilians fled Masisi saying that Hutu rebels made daily attacks against them. The Interahamwe have been based in Masisi. In South Kivu, a similar movement has formed within the Babende ethnic group.

It is led by Charles Simba, a one-time ally of Kabila, and has been harassing and ambushing Kabila's Tutsi forces. The Council for National Resistance and Liberation accused Rwandan Tutsis of massacring over 2000 Congolese, mainly Bemba, in the region between Fizi and Kalemia in early September.

Spokesman Henri Njila also stated that many groups in the east, including Babembe, Bafulero, Wanynaga, Bahunde, Bashi and Hutu, have begun to rebel against Kabila. Both Rwandan Hutus and people from other ethnic groups suspected of being sympathetic to Hutus have been killed in massacres in the east.

Sep 22, 1997 Authorities in Kivu said it is now under control of government security forces. Press sources said about 100 Mai-Mai fighters were executed a few kilometers from Goma. Since July, there have been clashes in the area between Mai-Main militiamen and Kabila's forces. Major roads linkind Bukavu to the rest of the world have frequently been ambushed and insecurity in reigned in the area in recent months. The Mai-Mai have been waging a rebellion against what they see is foreign domination by Tutsis.

Sep 23, 1997 Ethnic rivalries flared in the east after the recall of Tutsi soldiers to Rwanda. After their departure, about 7000 ethnic Tutsis in the DRC felt they had lost their protection and fled to Goma. Three thousand fled to the Mudende refugee camp in northwestern Rwanda joining 7500 Masisi Tutsis already there. Non-Tutsi Congolese in the east are increasingly resentful of the improved status of the Tutsis. Tensions are so high in the region that there are rumors of a Rwandan invasion.

Sep 26, 1997 More than 800 former Rwandan army troops and members of the Interahamwe have surrendered to military authorities in the DRC. They had fought alongside governmental troops during the ADFL rebellion. There were no plans to repatriate them to Rwanda.

Oct 3, 1997 About 3000 Mai-Mai militiamen have surrendered to the North Kivu authorities. They will be integrated into the new national armed forces currently undergoing reconstruction. The DRC closed the frontier with Rwanda and said it was expelling all refugees. Interior Minister Mwenze Kongolo confirmed that the UNHCR would suspend its work in the east following the repatriation of all refugees.

Oct 14, 1997 Fighting continued in eastern DRC and neighboring regions of Rwanda and Burundi between Tutsis and Hutus. In the DRC, there is also fighting between Banyamulenge and Bantu groups. Since Kabila's victory, the Banyamulenge have become more and more dominant in local administrations and in the army causing resentment from other ethnic groups.
Fighting in western Rwanda, including an attack mounted against the border town of Gisenyi by 1000 rebels based in the DRC, has increased. More than 4000 people, many of them civilians, have been killed in the past five months. In the Masis area of eastern Congo, Mai-Mai militias continue to fight Kabila's Tutsi soldiers, and in the Fizi area a Babende rebel group led by Charles Simba, a one-time ally of Kabila's, continues to ambush Tutsi soldiers.
Oct 29, 1997 The United Nations team attempting to investigate the alleged massacres of Hutu refugees during the civil war and Kabila's government came to an agreement about how to proceed with the investigations. Details of the agreement included that the government will guarantee to the best of its ability the team's security; the U.N. Mission would cover all areas it deemed necessary to help it conduct its investigation; the report would be limited to "global statements of facts" related to allegations of human rights abuses; the team undertakes not to interfere in the DRC's internal affairs; and the time period of the mandate is 1 March 1993-31 December 1997. The mission is to be completed by 28 February 1997.

Oct 30, 1997 Rwandan Vice President and Defense Minister Paul Kagame has refuted allegations that the Rwandan army took part in the massacre of refugees in the DRC. He stated that all casaulties were a result of the war and not deliberate killing sprees.






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

Nederland volgt de rechtszaak tegen de Rwandese oppositieleidster Ingabire op de voet. Dat heeft minister Rosenthal van Buitenlandse Zaken geantwoord op vragen van GroenLinks.



Rosenthal is bezorgd over de toestand in Rwanda. Omdat Ingabire Rwandese is, "kan Nederland niet veel voor haar doen".  

[Haar man en drie kinderen zijn Nederlanders en blijven in Nederland.=> ASIF] 
NOS.nl


'Nederland moet wel opkomen voor Ingabire'

DEN HAAG (ANP) - Nederland moet wel degelijk Rwanda aanspreken op de arrestatie van oppositieleidster Victoire Ingabire, die zestien jaar in Nederland woonde. Dat zei haar advocaat Jan Hofdijk dinsdag.

Ingabire zit sinds 16 oktober in de cel, na een aanklacht dat zij de regering omver zou willen werpen. De Nederlandse ambassade in Rwanda kan officieel niks doen voor de gearresteerde presidentskandidate, zei ambassadeur Frans Makken maandag.

'Nederland helpt Rwanda met het opbouwen van een rechtssysteem en gevangenissen. Dan moeten wij toch zeker Rwanda kunnen aanspreken over deze politieke gevangene', zegt Hofdijk. Volgens hem is de aanklacht compleet verzonnen.
Nederland is de grootste buitenlandse investeerder in Rwanda. Bedrijven als Heineken, Draka en Rabobank zijn er actief. Luchtvaartmaatschappij KLM vliegt sinds zondag vijf keer in de week naar Rwanda.
Voorbeeldfunctie


Advocaat Hofdijk meent dat Nederland daarom een voorbeeldfunctie heeft in Rwanda. 'Veel andere diplomaten kijken er naar de opstelling van Nederland. Maar Nederland speelt er een perfide rol. Het zegt zelfs dat het land veilig genoeg is om mensen naar terug te sturen, wat veel andere regeringen in Europa ontkennen.'

Oppositie
 De etnische Hutu Ingabire (43) was in januari teruggekeerd naar Rwanda om mee te doen aan de presidentsverkiezingen van augustus. Daar kreeg ze echter geen toestemming voor. De zittende Tutsi-president Paul Kagame won zonder noemenswaardige oppositie met 93 procent van de stemmen.
© rnw.nl
Related articleVolgens Hofdijk vreest Victoire Ingabire dat ze vergiftigd wordt in de gevangenis, wat in Rwanda vrij gebruikelijk zou zijn. Hofdijk is vooral uit op een eerlijke rechtsgang. Het gaat hem niet zozeer om terugkeer van Victoire Ingabire naar haar gezin in Zevenhuizen. Zijzelf wil vooral actief blijven in Rwanda.
Genocynisme



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]








Rwanda's High Court in Kigali denied opposition leader Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza's bail appeal hearing and sent her back to solitary confinement in Kigali's infamous 1930 prison, where another opposition leader Bernard Ntaganda also remains incarcerated. Ingabire and Ntaganda both attempted to contest this year's presidential election against Rwandan President Paul Kagame, as did Democratic Green Party of Rwanda President Frank Habineza. Ingabire and Ntaganda both landed in prison instead, charged with terrorism and genocide related crimes. Habineza has been in Sweden with his family, since his party's vice president was found beheaded, his body dumped in the wetlands of a river in Southern Rwanda, though he still intends to return to Rwanda. KPFA's Ann Garrison has the story.



KPFA/Ann Garrison:
Rwandan and Congolese scholars and activists say that the Kagame regime imprisoned Ingabire to distract the international community from the UN Report released on October 1st, that documents the Rwandan army's war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocidal massacres of Hutu civilians in Rwanda's neighbor, the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Didas Gasana, Editor of the Newsline East Africa, speaking to KPFA from Kampala, Uganda, said that Kagame's repression and exclusion of the majority of the Rwandan population is turning the tiny African nation into a smoldering volcano that could erupt at any time. Charles Kambanda, a Rwandan American legal scholar, former member of Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front, and Gasana's former professor at Makerera University in Kampala, agrees. He spoke to KPFA from New York City:


Charles Kambanda:


Yes, indeed, what's happening in Rwanda under Kagame is a smoldering volcano that might erupt any time. He has pushed people too far against the wall, and the only possible action that people are likely to take is to fight back. What we have now in Rwanda, under Kagame, is that he is actually exterminating the people within and he's not stopping there. He's going for voices from outside Rwanda, to assassinate them. This is going too far, and eventually we are going to see people coming together and saying no, enough is enough, we have to fight back, because they have no other alternative but fight back. And my fear is that we risk having the worst situation, worse than what we saw in 1994, because, on the one hand, Kagame has armed his people; he has so many young men who are now armed. They are more or less like the former interahamwe. And these people who are excluded will also arm their youth, and we are going to have people killing others in millions, if we are not careful. A kind of history repeating itself.

KPFA/Ann Garrison:


Kambanda also says that Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza cannot possibly get a fair trial in Rwanda, no matter how skillful her lawyers are.

For Pacifica, KPFA Radio, I'm Ann Garrison.

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

 ““A long-standing code of silence inside the U.N. is coming to an end regarding what is probably the largest genocide ever since the U.N. founding: the genocide committed by the Rwandan Patriotic Front since 1990””


by Juan Carrero





What is this report about?

The UN mapping report has been prepared by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and describes the most serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between March 1993 and June 2003. It is a solid, detailed document, based on extensive and credible research by a team of about 20 international and Congolese human rights professionals over the course of 12 months. The report focuses on 617 of the most serious incidents across Congo during the 10-year period and provides details of grave cases of mass killings, sexual violence, attacks on children, and other abuses by a range of armed actors, including foreign armies, rebel groups, and Congolese government forces. 

The report says that women and children were the main victims of much of the violence the team documented. To "appropriately reflect the scale of the violence practised by all armed groups" against the most vulnerable, the report devotes specific chapters to crimes of sexual violence against women and girls and violence against children. It also devotes a chapter to the role played by natural resource exploitation in relation to the crimes committed in Congo.

Is there any difference between the version that was leaked to the press in August and the official version published by the UN on October 1?There is no substantive difference.
 
The report has not been significantly altered. The official version published on October 1 includes additional clarification on the legal definition of the crime of genocide and arguments for and against qualifying some of the events of 1996 and 1997 as crimes of genocide. It sets out some of the factors that could lead a court to characterize some of these crimes as crimes of genocide, as well as countervailing factors that could lead a court to find that the requisite intent to commit genocide was lacking and that the crime of genocide may not have been committed. It concludes that "a full judicial investigation into the events that occurred in Zaire in 1996 to 1997 will be necessary, in order to permit a competent court to decide on the matter." 
The official version incorporates comments from the Congolese government. Other governments have been given an opportunity to publish their responses on the website of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.



More to read on Why is this report significant?

Related materials
DR Congo: UN Report Exposes Grave Crimes




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

“The leaked U.N. report cannot be put back in the bottle. Kagame, who labels all critics ‘genocidaires’ or apologists for genocide, is exposed as ‘the greatest mass killer on the face of the earth, today,’ as described by Edward S. Herman, co-author of ‘The Politics of Genocide.’ Kagame’s mentors and funders in the U.S. government, who aided and abetted his genocide in Congo, must be held equally accountable – if not more so, since United States corporations derive the greatest benefit from Congo’s blood minerals, and the U.S. military gains the most advantage from Rwandan and Ugandan services as mercenaries at America’s beck and call in Africa.”

 ►Secret killing grounds in Nyungwe and Kami

►How RPA senior officers Col. Augustine Kiiza and Major Alex Ruzindana were assassinated

►How Kagame ordered Hutu mass murder and blamed the insurgents

►How Spanish religious leaders were killed

More Scary Revelations on Paul Kagame's cruelty

"President Paul Kagame made international headlines as a mass murderer after the UN report accused his forces of Hutu mass massacres in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
And some of his former officers including Col. Patrick Karegeya and Major Alphonse Furuma have recently accused him of mass killings during the 1990-94 war, and for assassinating opposition politicians abroad. But the world has more to learn. Now, in an exclusive interview with The Newsline’s Charles Kabonero and Didas Gasana, Lt. Aloys Ruyenzi, a former RPA officer and close bodyguard of Kagame reveals the untold and horrendous story of Kagame’s secret killing grounds, torture chambers, and the systematic killings of critics". By newsline Team

 "The killing fields were established immediately after the RPA took power in Rwanda. It is run by the dreaded Directorate of Military Intelligence," the soft spoken officer calmly explains. "Victims are both soldiers and civilians whose death warrants have been signed by President Kagame. The victims are killed using bayonets, fire (burning them alive) and shooting for those trying to resist or escape," he adds.

 "The killing field is ever busy, receiving its victims from all over Rwanda, and elsewhere," Lt Ruyenzi, who says he was privy to operations of the RPA, says and adds: "The killing fields are tightly guarded by about a platoon of DMI commandos and Kagame’s Republican Guard commandos. The ordinary soldiers (men) are burnt with their uniforms on and the officers are burnt with their pips on. The victims arrive at the place with their hands in cuffs and their feet shackled, he says and claims that Kagame practically supervises activities at the murder spots.
 "Kagame regularly visits these killing fields to inspect their efficiency," he claims and adds that for instance, that in 1998, escorted by Jack Nziza (then Director of the DMI), Kagame visited Nyungwe killing spot, then under command of a one ‘Captain Fred’. 
 
Location
According to Ruyenzi, Nyungwe killing field is between Gikongoro- Cyangugu towns, on a hill located about three kilometers inside the forest.

He says that there are three categories of victims killed at the spot, among them, members of the former army (Ex-FAR) like Col. Augustin Kiiza, the Interahamwe and former refugees from DRC and critics of Kagame’s regime like former RPA officer Major Alex Ruzindana.

Ruyenzi says those who direct the killings include Brig. Gen. Jack Nziza, Col. Ephraim Rurangwa, Capt. Francis Mutiganda, Capt. Joseph Nzitatira, Capt. Batamuriza, 2Lt. Gilbert, W01 Abbas, (who was later killed) and Lt. Julien Rwangarambe. 

Killings supervisors

Signals used to announce victims

Vehicles carrying category A (Ex FAR, Interahamwe and former refugees from DRC put on right hand indicators, as they approach roadblocks (three of them) to the killing field.

Those transporting category B victims (dissidents) put on left-hand indicators, as they approach roadblocks to the killing field whereas vehicles carrying category C Victims (the high level personnel) put on no indicators as they arrive .
The roadblocks "There are three road blocks," the former officer explains. The first one has 12 soldiers comprising staff from the Directorate of Military Intelligence and the Republican Guards. On receiving vehicles bringing in victims, he says, the soldiers communicate to their colleagues at the road blocks ahead, giving details about the category of victim coming in.

The second has 12 soldiers, in two lines. Line one with 5 soldiers and line two, five meters behind the first one, has seven soldiers.

"Each soldier has a bayonet and two pistols to kill the victims. Line two is supposed to reinforce line one in case of any resistance and the pistols are used to reinforce the bayonets in case of any problem," Ruyenzi claims.
The third roadblock, he says, is the ‘burning site’ where dead bodies are destroyed by fire, using petrol.

 "After the bodies are burnt, the ash is left to cool and is carried in gunny bags, loaded into a container on a lorry- a blue Mercedes Benz 1924, whose plate numbers are occasionally changed from GR and IT (and vice versa)," Lt. Ruyenzi says.

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There are more killings in the Rwandan secret prisons than we know.


And terrible indeed is the IMPUNITY of Paul Kagame and his RPF

The GR…and IT… number plates belong officially to government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), respectively.

After that, Lt. Ruyenzi says the lorry transports ash from the ‘cremated’ bodies to the heavily-guarded (by DMI operatives) Ruriba brick factory in Kigali city, where the ashes are emptied into the river Nyabarongo and the empty bags are kept to perform the next task.

The exiled officer says those doing the killing, collection and disposal of the ashes, are exclusively Tutsi, and are from Congo or Burundi. They are highly vetted.

 In 1998, during the ‘war against insurgency’ in the DRCongo, many people from all over Rwanda were brought to the Nyungwe killing field in 30 minibuses and 10 pick-ups which had been ordered and bought for the express purpose of transporting RPA’s victims both in Rwanda and elsewhere, to their death at Nyungwe killing field, Lt. Ruyenzi alleges.



"They were ‘collected’ and ‘sorted’ according to the crime and category at Kami prison torture chambers, and later shackled and loaded onto minibuses, and escorted by pick-ups to Nyungwe killing field, where they were burnt alive to death using petrol," the former officer said.

Ruyenzi says when 7th battalion was deployed in areas of Rushashi, Tare, Mbogo and Rurindo in 1998, the Director of Schools at Rwankuba, the Bourgmestre and the Agriculture Officer of Commune Rushashi were murdered on the same night at Nyungwe killing ground by government operatives.

Ruyenzi, who said he didn’t recall the names of the deceased, further claimed that the RPF/A hurriedly blamed their death on Interahamwe insurgents.

"Accusing the insurgents for death of people was Kagame’s trademark, and a strong public relations point. In the same year (1998), Kagame’s operatives killed civilians who were watching the World Cup tournament in the hotel called Pensz-Y, and again blamed their death on insurgency," Ruyenzi claims.

Killing of religious leaders

Hutus, critics and Interahamwe were not the only victims of Kagame’s killer squad, according to the former officer. Religious leaders were also targeted.

He says prominent killings of religious leaders were carried out at Rwesero Seminary claiming the lives of seven Catholic priests who had taken refugee there.

"Kagame personally oversaw the execution of their killings," Ruyenzi claims, before adding that on June 5, 1994 Kagame ordered the killing of three Catholic Bishops and other religious leaders at Kabgayi.

Ruyenzi says the157th Battalion then under the command of Fred Ibingira (now a Major General) was responsible for their death.

"The Battalion’s Intelligence Officer Wilson Gumisiriza (now a Brigadier) gave orders to then Sergeant Kwitegetse alias Burakari to command a section of soldiers which killed them," he says.

He further asserts: "The Spanish Fr. Vallmajo was also killed in Byumba with other three Rwandan priests in April 1994 by DMI under the supervision of by then Lt. Col Jackson Rwahama, while Fr. Claude Simard from Canada was killed on October 17, 1994 by the RPA under Kagame’s orders."

He adds: "Three Spanish employees of MEDICOS del MUNDO were also killed on January 18, 1997 in Ruhengeri by officers of the DMI namely: 2Lt. Evarist Karenzi, an intelligence officer of Gendarmerie in Ruhengeri and Capt. Majyambere Matayo, an Intelligence Officer of 408 Brigade in Ruhengeri."

 On 2nd February 1997, Fr. Guy Pinard from Canada and Fr. Curick Vjechoslav of Croatia were also killed, while Fr. Deschamp from Canada was killed in Kigali in1998, Lt Ruyenzi claims. RDF spokesman, Lt. Col Jill Rutaremara would not pick our repeated phone calls to react to this damning story. 
Who is Lt. Ruyenzi?

Lt. Aloys Ruyenzi was born in March 1, 1971 in Mbarara- Uganda, after his parents fled the persecution of Tutsi in Rwanda. In 1987, he joined the National Resistance Army one year after it captured state power in Uganda.

He told The Newsline that after military training and a six month intelligence course, he was posted to the 23rd battalion then based in northern Uganda.

"In 1989, I was called back at the Directorate of Military Intelligence headquarters to undertake another intelligence course called ‘intelligence and self defense’," Ruyenzi says.

Ruyenzi says he was among the first batch of RPA fighters that invaded Rwanda in October 1990. "I was in 4th battalion commanded by Captain (RIP) Bitamazire," He says and adds that in 1992 he was deployed to the High Command’s Missile Unit and later deployed under President Kagame’s close bodyguards as an Intelligence Officer.

After RPA took over in 1994, he says he was sent to Uganda for another six months course called ‘Intelligence and VIP Protection’.

In 1995 after the course, he resumed duty as an Intelligence Officer and close bodyguard to President Paul Kagame.

"In 1996, I was sent to DRC (Congo) on a special assignment," he says, but would not divulge the details.

He says he was later posted to Ruhengeri and Gisenyi "to follow and give detailed account of all military operations taking place then", against insurgents.

In June 1998, he claims he was accused of releasing Interahamwe militia in Nkamira, Gisenyi, leading to his woes with the Kigali government and subsequent arrest and detention in Kibungo Military Prison on June 8, 1999. He, however, brushes off the charges with bursting vitality, saying they are mere fabrications.

"In December 1999, I was released without charges and allowed to resume my duties as an escort/bodyguard to Paul Kagame," Ruyenzi says and adds that in 2004 he fled the country and has since obtained asylum in Norway. He was not comfortable discussing the reasons why he had to flee.

 Editor’s note: In our next edition The Newsline will publish the officer’s narratives regarding a number of RPA officers assassinated on orders of President Kagame, including Members of the High Command Muvunanyambo and Col. Charles Ngoga, and dissident politicians - deaths that still remain a mystery in Rwanda
Lt. Aloys Ruyenzi is a former Rwanda Defence Forces officer who claims he was among the first batch of RPA soldiers who attacked Rwanda in 1990.

And to Ruyenzi, news of the recently released UN report implicating the Rwandan soldiers in probable acts of genocide and mass murder in DRC make no news. He says the crimes in the report have been exposed time and again by different researchers but hastens to add that what most people don’t know is that President Kagame operates horrendous killing fields in Nyungwe Natural Forest and Kami, a secret military detention facility.


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

“I can’t support the things that are happening in Rwanda right now. We support the development of a professional justice system in Rwanda, but at the same time opposition leader Victoire Ingabire is locked up!” Dhr Klaas Dijkhoff, MP for VVD and spokesperson



 A growing majority of Dutch political parties is calling upon the Netherlands to cut its aid to Rwanda, several MP’s have confirmed to Radio Netherlands. VVD, the biggest party in the Dutch lower House and a member of the ruling coalition, wants cut back on the amount of money that flows directly into the Rwandan national budget. Other parties want to continue the freeze on this direct budget support that has been in place since 2008.


By Sophie van Leeuwen and Ruben Koops

The damning UN report on Rwandan activity in east Congo and the arrest of Victoire Ingabire are examples of how Rwanda is suffering from a bad news cycle with no end in sight. Meanwhile the Dutch parliament is preparing for a final round of budget talks and representatives are doing the math. A political majority appears to be in favour of cutting back on Rwandan development aid and giving president Kagame’s government a strong warning at the same time.

Klaas Dijkhoff, MP for VVD and spokesperson on development aid for his party, considers the current political situation in Rwanda as worrisome. “I can’t support the things that are happening in Rwanda right now. We support the development of a professional justice system in Rwanda, but at the same time opposition leader Victoire Ingabire is locked up!”



Unfair
According to Dijkhoff, Ingabire is not receiving a fair trial in Rwanda. “They put her in jail, placed her under house arrest, released her and then locked her up again without any substantial evidence! When you ask me, it looks like a political trial.”

Joël Voordewind, who is an MP for the Christian Union uses even stronger language. “Right now, we support the construction of jails by directly funding the Rwandan justice department.” Voordewind says: “As we speak those jails are being used to lock up political prisoners, and I don’t want us to be responsible for these policies.” Voordewind calls upon the minister of foreign affairs to end the direct government support the Netherlands is giving to Rwanda, a proposition that is likely to gain broad support during the foreign ministry budget negotiations.

Freeze

There has been more criticism regarding the Dutch aid to Rwanda. The Netherlands is an important donor country to Rwanda with a proposed aid budget of 44 million euros for 2011. The part that flows directly to the Rwandan government has been frozen since 2008, because of the alleged Rwandan involvement in violence in east 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