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
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
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We MUST stand with courageous lawyers! Vigorous legal defense is NOT a crime! FREE PETER ERLINDER NOW!
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We MUST stand with courageous lawyers! Vigorous legal defense is NOT a crime! FREE PETER ERLINDER NOW!
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- Supporters of detained U.S. Attorney Peter Erlinder marched for him on Tuesday in hopes of freeing him from the Rwandan prison.
■ He’s accused of revisionism, revising history. Peter Erlinder years before found mountains of documentation at the UN about Rwanda’s history. He read them and discovered that the history of Rwanda is the history that’s told in the documents.
■ He actually found that there was a civil war going on there for 4 years preceding the last 3 months when the alleged genocide took place.
■ The civil war was the causation of the genocide. By doing this work, he encountered the wrath of the Rwandan government.
■ He was trying to help the defense of an opposition presidential candidate Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, who was arrested for “denying the genocide” and when Peter Erlinder arrived in Rwanda, he was arrested on the same charge.
■ Rwanda President Paul Kagame has discredited presidential candidate Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza.
■ We don’t know in the US, what’s really going on in Rwanda. The US is supporting Kagame’s war in the East Congo, the war is being fought over minerals and rights to minerals.
■ Those minerals are used in cell phones.
■ Help Peter Erlinder: Contact the US State Department and urge them to take an active role.
■ Rwanda President Paul Kagame put 7 people on a list of those he would like to see assassinated, Peter Erlinder was on that list.
"He mean the whole world to me because of how much he cared what happened to me because he protected my constitutional rights," said Mayard.
Appearing weak in court on Monday, a Rwandan judge denied bail for Erlinder who is charged with denying Rwanda’s 1994 genocide. Erlinder was in the country helping with the legal defense of an opposition leader, who wants to run for president.
Bruce Nestor of the National Lawyers Guild says Erlinder's prosecution threatens the ability of all attorneys to defend their clients.
"I’m afraid it looks like this is not something that's going to be over in the near term but is going to require our long term work and effort to bring peter back here to the twin cities," said Nestor.
In Minnesota, Senator Amy Klobuchar says they are working hard to bring him home.
"We have been pushing to have an expedited hearing so that he can at least be out on bail and at best be able to go home to his family. His wife and daughter and that's what we've been working on," said Klobuchar.
In the run up to the national election, the administration of Rwandan president Paul Kagame has engaged in increasing repressive tactics including shutting down independent media and jailing opposition candidates and their supporters under a vague charge of “genocide ideology”the same charge Professor Erlinder is now accused of.
The “Genocide Ideology Law” is vaguely worded, requires no link to any genocidal act, and can be used to criminalize a wide range of legitimate forms of expression. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and even the U.S. State Department have denounced it as a tool of political repression. The Kagame administration has used it widely to target political opponents.The Obama administration has done little to address Professor Erlinder’s situation. The state department and US embassy have referred to this incident as “a local matter.” This is because the US backs the Kagame regime.
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, June 8, 2010
08-06-2010[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]
As many of you know, the American lawyer, Peter Erlinder has been unjustly imprisoned in Rwanda. - "Does the American administration know how much it is ashaming itself in allowing Kagame and his team of RPF to mistreat an American citizen in this way ?
- Does the American administration realize that the money which it pays Kagame and his gang to feed on comes from the taxes paid by the ordinarily American citizens ?" AH.
- What is the difference between P. Erlinder and other Americans or Westerners hijacked in Somalia, Afganistan or Irak? => Deeper Insight!
Professor Erlinder, a faculty member at William Mitchell College of Law in the United States and president of the Association des Avocats de la Defense (ADAD), the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Defense Lawyers Association, was arrested by the government of Rwanda under the leadership of president Paul Kagame.
Erlinder has been arrested in the course of his representation of Rwanda’s opposition leader and presidential candidate Victoire Ingabire. A Rwandan court has now ruled that Peter must remain in jail without bail.
"Violations must be punished", President Obama. What's wrong with that with The current Rwandan tyrannical regime? 10,000,000 Rwandan and Congolese people mass-slaghtered by the Kagame regime
Erlinder has been arrested in the course of his representation of Rwanda’s opposition leader and presidential candidate Victoire Ingabire. A Rwandan court has now ruled that Peter must remain in jail without bail.
"Violations must be punished", President Obama. What's wrong with that with The current Rwandan tyrannical regime? 10,000,000 Rwandan and Congolese people mass-slaghtered by the Kagame regime
We are gathering for an impromptu rally today, Tuesday June 8 and also an advocacy meeting on Wednesday June 9 to raise further alarm about Erlinder's unjust detension and heighten demands for his immediate release.
Please join us IMPROMPTU RALLY: 5-6:30pm Tuesday, June 8, Embassy of Rwanda, 1714 New Hampshire Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. Please bring signs and placards.
ADVOCACY/OUTREACH Strategy MEETING: 3:30pm Wednesday June 9. In Person: Institute for Policy Studies 1112 16th St., NW Washington, DC 20036; Suite 600 Nearest Metro: Farragut North.
Rwanda (Kigali) - OSAC monitors and reports on regional security for American businesses operating overseas. Below is the most recent content and daily news for Rwanda.
The power of horror in Rwanda - Kagame's rehabilitation: Punishment
The american people should Not be surprised to have such an humiliating Kagame's attitude and arrogance. Check it out here below:
Reason : the dictator Paul Kagame has Clinton and Blair as advisors.Nowonder why they only work with African dictors like Paul Kagame the president of Rwanda who now by UN and Human rights Organization, killed millions of hutu, tutsi and more than 6 million Congolese.
What do they care about BLACK people?? How could dare Bill Clinton invite the mass-killer and grant him award? Let's be back to the main reaon of Kagame's hatred, arrogance, etc.: Are we still talking about the "Civilized world"? Are we still convinced we belong to "Free World"? If so, why Rwandan RPF criminals are not brought to the bar of Justice?
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. G.W.Bush'S RACIST DEMAGOGUERY : "KAGAME IS A MAN OF ACTION. HE GETS THINGS DONE. RESULT: 9,5 MILLION MASS-MURDERED RWANDAN AND CONGOLESE PEOPLE
Free Peter Erlinder Paul Kagame from DRCongo.tv on Vimeo.
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.)
Evidence of Kagame/RPF crimes and cover-up
Join protest to free Peter Erlinder: June 8, 2010, 5:00 p.m.
The National Lawyers Guild has planned a protest to free attorney Peter Erlinder: Tuesday, June 8, 5-6:30pm. In front of the Embassy of Rwanda,1714 New Hampshire Ave., NW, Washington, D.C.
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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.
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.
KIGALI (Reuters) – Three Rwandan opposition parties have asked the United States to use its influence to help resolve social and political tension in the country before the presidential election in August.
The Truth can be buried and stomped into the ground where none can see, yet eventually it will, like a seed, break through 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
Does he ignore that Paul Kagame is believed to be the Rwandan mass-killer? Think about IT. 11 Awards-winning mass-murderer granted by different US Academic Institutions!
Monday, June 7, 2010
Posted by News on Jun 6th, 2010 and filed under POLITICS, WORLD.
[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.=>ASIF]
KIGALI (Reuters) – Three Rwandan opposition parties have asked the United States to use its influence to help resolve social and political tension in the country before the presidential election in August. Rights groups say the government and the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) have become increasingly intolerant of dissent and criticism in the run-up to the vote, which President Paul Kagame is widely expected to win.
In an open letter last week to the U.S. ambassador in Kigali, Stuart Symington, and seen by Reuters on Sunday, the three-party coalition said: “We strongly believe that your leverage as the ambassador of the United States of America in Rwanda can help diffuse tensions as the presidential elections loom and… (the) military crisis deepens.”
Regional analysts say the flight of a former army chief, the arrest of two senior officers and a military reshuffle since the beginning of the year are signs of a growing rift between Kagame and top aides in the RPF and the army.
The parties in the coalition, the Permanent Consultative Council of Opposition Parties in Rwanda, are PS Imberakuri, the Democratic Green Party and the United Democratic Forces. PS Imberakuri is the only registered party in the group.
The coalition asked for U.S. assistance in opening up politics, changing anti-genocide legislation and guaranteeing the security forces remained outside politics, and sought a postponement of the ballot, due take place on August 9, to allow more time to ensure it is transparent and free.
“Unless (development) efforts are underpinned by democracy, freedom and the rule of law, the achievements in that area will not be sustainable,” the parties said.
In recent months, a series of unexplained grenade attacks in the capital have killed several people and injured dozens.
Kagame has rejected the allegations of discord with his generals and has said the officers who had been exiled and arrested were guilty of corruption.
“There should be accountability at every level. It doesn’t matter whether you are a general, a president, an ordinary citizen, an MP or a minister, there should be a sense of accountability,” he told a Ugandan newspaper last month.
In Washington, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson told Congress last month Rwanda had suspended two independent newspapers, arrested a high-profile opposition figure, expelled a human rights researcher and prevented two opposition parties from registering.
Rwanda rejects accusations of clamping down on opponents and says the government has pursued dialogue and accepted opposing views since the 1994 genocide.
(Editing by Andrew Dobbie)
© News Blog
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, June 5, 2010
Bruxelles, le 4 juin 2010
Plusieurs membres d’EurAc ont collaboré durant de nombreuses années avec Chebeya et/ ou les associations qu’il animait (la Voix des Sans Voix - VSV et le Réseau national des ONG de la défense des droits de l’Homme - Renadhoc) : tous ont été impressionnés par l’engagement, l’intégrité et la gentillesse de Floribert. Ce dernier, conscient des risques qu’il courait, n’a pour autant jamais cessé d’interpeller les régimes successifs du Zaïre et de la RDC sur le respect des droits de l’Homme. Nous craignons qu’il n’en ait payé le prix ultime. Les ONG européennes travaillant en Afrique Centrale, réunies à Bruxelles les 3 et 4 juin dans le cadre de l’Assemblée générale d’EurAc, tiennent à exprimer leur immense tristesse et indignation à l’annonce de la mort violente de leur partenaire, collègue et ami.
Nous présentons nos condoléances profondes et notre solidarité à la famille Chebeya, à la VSV et au Renadhoc. Nous exprimons notre inquiétude face à l’augmentation, depuis le début de l’année 2009, du nombre de meurtres, d’intimidations, d’arrestations arbitraires et d’autres violations des droits de l’Homme commises à l’encontre de journalistes, d’animateurs de la société civile et d’acteurs de la vie politique.
Nous demandons à l’Union Européenne et à ses Etats-membres de :
- demander aux autorités congolaises de rendre, après qu’ait été pratiquée une autopsie par un médecin légiste indépendant, la dépouille de Floribert Chebeya à sa famille ;
- demander aux autorités congolaises que la clarté soit faite immédiatement sur le sort de Fidèle Bazana Edadi ;
- exiger une enquête internationale indépendante sur les conditions de la mort violente de Floribert Chebeya afin que les auteurs de ce crime puissent être identifiés, traduits en justice et condamnés ;
- contribuer de façon proactive à la protection de l’espace dans lequel la société civile et la presse pourront jouer leur rôle démocratique ainsi qu’à l’élaboration d’un plan conjoint des différents acteurs de la communauté internationale pour la mise en œuvre des Lignes Directrices pour la protection des militants de droits de l’Homme et des journalistes en RDC, comme adoptées par le Conseil de l’Europe en juin 2004.
Kris Berwouts
Directeur EurAc
Rue des tanneurs 165
1000 Bruxelles
Kris.berwouts@eurac-network.org
Tel mobile: +32 485 070 852
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
05-06-2010
Filed under: Africa, Human Rights/Free Speech
On Friday, American lawyer and law professor Peter Erlinder was arrested in Rwanda. His alleged crime is “genocide denial”, one of a set of offenses prosecutable in Rwanda under the 2008 “Law Relating to the Punishment of the Crime of Genocide Ideology”. That law has been used to subject Erlinder’s client, opposition presidential candidate Victoire Ingabire, to house arrest since shortly after her return to Rwanda from the Netherlands. Erlinder knew that he was risking arrest in coming to Rwanda – he has been a fierce critic of President Kagame’s administration, is representing accused genocidaire Major Aloys Ntabakuze at the international tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania, and warned the US State Department and the Minnesota congressional delegation before making the trip. Rwanda is a fascinating and divisive place for people concerned with the future of Africa. For some, the country is a model of stability, economic growth and the empowerment of women. Michael Fairbanks, economic advisor to the Kagame government and influential management consultant, offers a passionate defense for the direction of the country in a recent column… so passionate that it appears to accuse of racism anyone who disagrees with his interpretation.
On the other hand, human rights and press freedom organizations have expressed concerns for years that Rwanda has been functioning as a one party state, putting insurmountable obstacles in the path of opposition parties and silencing independent media. This pressure appears to be increasing in the lead up to August presidential elections – in recent months, Rwanda has suspended two independent newspapers, forced a Human Rights Watch researcher out of the country, arrested an opposition leader and prevented two opposition parties from registering from participating in the election. These recent actions led US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson to comment earlier this week on the “worrying actions” taken by the Rwandan government.
I was last in Rwanda in 2002, helping Geekcorps set up a program to provide assistance to a Kigali-based technology firm which had been contracted to build a database to schedule and manage the Gacaca court system. What I remember most from visit was the way in which the genocide would creep into conversations at unexpected intervals. Coming into Kigali from Butare, my driver stopped at a shop on the outskirts of town, went inside and quickly returned with a frilly pink girl’s dress. I asked him how many children he had, and his response – “six – two of my own, and four of my brother’s who escaped the genocide” – quickly turned into a harrowing tale of searching for his nieces and nephews as they hid in the jungle. The genocide is still recent, raw history for everyone in the country, and it’s possible to understand why – given the role of the media in instigating violence – the Kagame government would seek to keep ethnic divisions out of media and politics.
There’s a fine line between preventing incitement to violence and silencing legitimate speech… and it’s not clear to me that the Kagame government has been on the right side of that line. In 2007, Michael Kavanagh reported for On The Media about a Rwandan radio soap opera – Musekeweya – which talks about the tensions between two villages, which are perpetually on the verge of mass violence. The parallels to Hutu/Tutsi conflict are apparent to everyone listening to the show (as much as 80% of the country), but the show stays out of trouble with the authorities by never explicitly mentioning Hutus or Tutsis.
More explicit dialog about what happened between Hutus and Tutsis in 1994 is now complicated by the 2008 Genocide Ideology Law, which is broad, vague and terrifies human rights and freedom of expression organizations. Article XIX released a detailed comment on the new law which reads, in part:
the definition of “genocide ideology” violates international law on genocide and “hate speech” in multiple ways. Furthermore, the system of penalties also breaches international human rights law, particularly with respect to children. We contend that the law is so contrary to international human rights law and humanitarian values that it is fundamentally flawed.
And this law now appears to be a useful tool for challenging political participation. When Victoire Ingabire returned to Rwanda, she visited the genocide memorial museum in Kigali and questioned why it didn’t commemorate any of the Hutus who died in the violence. This question led Kagame’s foreign minister Louise Mushikiwabo to characterize Ingabire’s actions as “very deliberate, controversial ethnic politics, this woman really has a genocidal ideology”.
In interviews with US and UK media, Ingabire seems pretty far from expressing support for genocide – her issue appears to be the governments’ unwillingness to address violence against Hutu by Kagame’s conquering RFP army. In an interview today with the New York Times about the arrest of her lawyer, she said, “There was a genocide against the Tutsi, but there were also crimes against humanity, and Kagame doesn’t like to talk about that.”
I’ve been looking for information online today about Peter Erlinder, to get a sense for why the Rwandan government would risk a diplomatic conflict with the US over his arrest. In the process, I’ve been thinking a lot about a conversation I had yesterday with Jay Rosen about the role of explanatory journalism. Jay points out that, in a hyperlinked age, we can do ever so much better than providing a “nut graph”, a single paragraph designed to put a complex breaking story into context. Instead, we can link to careful, thoughtful background material designed to give deep explanation a story and create an appetite for more breaking news on said story. (Jay’s post on the idea of the National Explainer is very much worth reading.)
To understand Erlinder and his arrest, one needs deep explainers on the Rwandan genocide, the prosecution of instigators, the role of the UK, US and France and on alternative narratives for what happened in 1994 and immediately before and after. I’m not able to offer those deep explanations, but I’ll point to what I’ve found.
The William Mitchell College of Law offers strong support for their arrested faculty member and points out that, “Prof. Erlinder exemplifies the great tradition of lawyers who take on the representation of unpopular clients and causes.” The president of the National Lawyers Guild – which Erlinder presided over from 1993-97 – uses similar language to defend Erlinder as “a vigorous advocate in his representation of [Victoire Ingabire].”
It’s not quite that simple. Erlinder isn’t just defending an opposition politician – he’s been a critic of the history of the 1994 conflict and an advocate for an explanation of the Rwandan genocide that puts a great deal of the blame on the shoulders of Paul Kagame. In a commentary in Jurist, a website from University of Pittsburgh’s School of Law, Erlinder argues that Kagame was responsible for triggering the genocide by arranging the assassination of Rwanda’s president Juvénal Habyarimana and that Kagame’s troops killed tens of thousands of Hutu civilians in eastern Rwanda as they entered the country. He further asserts that a US/UK coverup has surpressed evidence about Kagame’s role in Habyarimana’s death, in part because the US wanted Kagame to take over the country and supported his rise to power. Some of what Erlinder asserts is consonant with an emerging understanding of what occurred in 1994 – human rights activist Alison Des Forges, who wrote what is considered the definitive account of the Rwandan genocide before her untimely death, had also criticized Kagame’s RPF for massacres of civilians in 1994 and for subsequent attacks on civilians and refugees in DRCongo… she had been banned from entering the country by the Kagame government. Other of Erlinder’s assertions – the US/UK coverup, notably – are strongly disputed. Erlinder attributes some of what he asserts about the coverup to Clinton administration official J. Brian Atwood, who strongly disputes Erlinder’s account of events.
Erlinder’s case relies on documents he had access to as a defense attorney at the international tribunal, on the unpublished Gersony Report, which (allegedly – the report has never been released and the author refuses to discuss the contents) reported attacks by Kagame’s RPF on civilians, and on statements from Carla Del Ponte, the outspoken ICTR prosecutor who raised questions about Kagame’s role in the 1994 genocide before complaints from the Kagame government led to her replacement. (The Rwandan government complained that prosecution of perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide was too important to be a part time job for a European prosecutor also tasked with prosecuting Yugoslav war criminals. Del Ponte believed that she was removed from the post when she announced her intention to prosecute Kagame.) The Rwanda Documents Project, an online archive of legal documents and opinion pieces from Professor Erlinder, offers an introduction to Erlinder’s arguments and supporting documents.
When I refer to Erlinder’s “case”, I mean that literally. Erlinder and other lawyers attempted to serve President Kagame with a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of the widows of former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira when Kagame gave the commencement address at Oklahoma Christian University.
In other words, Erlinder had to know he’d be arrested when he came to Rwanda. The open question was whether his arrest would a) cause a diplomatic rift between the US and Rwanda, b) draw attention to Rwanda’s repressive speech and political environment and c) open discussion about the “received history” of the Rwanda genocide. So far, only b) seems to be coming into play. The Wall Street Journal wrote a helpful, if dismissive, editorial about Erlinder’s arrest, which advocates for his release while noting that: “Mr. Erlinder’s views seem foolish, offensive, and ultimately unhelpful to the cause of liberty he claims to champion. But therein lies the test of the free society: Tolerance of the foolish, the offensive, and even the unhelpful.” In other words, they’re putting Erlinder in the same bin as John Yettaw. (As of today, the US State Department has stated that they’re aware of Erlinder’s arrest, but said nothing beyond that statement.)
An “explainer” that puts Erlinder’s actions and motivations in context is no easy thing to provide. It needs to address the current elections, Rwanda’s political and speech environment, the conduct of the RPF in taking over the country in 1994, and, ultimately, the controversy over Habyarimana’s assassination. For a sense for just how fraught that last topic is, it’s instructive to look at this section on Wikipedia – it offers links to the three major theories offered for the assassination, which blame Hutu extremists, Kagame and the RPF and the French government. Each theory has its supporters, and the RPF/Kagame theory that Erlinder supports has the backing of French anti-terrorist magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguière, who has issued arrest warrants for senior Kagame officials so they can be questioned about he case. (Needless to say, the Rwandan government and others cite reports that contradict Bruguière’s findings.)
Is Erlinder an unhelpful fool, as the WSJ asserts? A conspiracy theorist, as the Rwandan government alleges? A brave activist committed to uncovering the truth and righting an important historical wrong? Perhaps this is where we have to accept the limits of journalism and wait for the verdict of historians. BBC journalist Marc Doyle suggests that determining who assassinated Habyarimana could be “one of the great mysteries of the late 20th Century.” But if we’re going to understand Erlinder’s arrest, we need someone to explain, at minimum, the controversy and what Rwanda’s – and eventually, the US’s – reaction means.
© Source
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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