© As International - Community for SurViVors

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Rwanda: Shrouded in secrecy. Illegal detention and torture by military intelligence

[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 fist, 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=>AS International]

Rwanda : Dans le plus grand secret. Détention illégale et torture aux mains du Service de renseignement militaire

By supporting Paul Kagame, some Western countries obviously support the ongoing genocide in Rwanda while they fight against it at home.

Nine months at Kami, It is shameful for a state of law.”

Civilian detained at Camp Kami without charge for nine months and alleged to have been tortured. March 2012, Kigali, Rwanda.

“[Eight] months went by without knowing if my husband existed or not.” Wife of man unlawfully detained and alleged to have been tortured by the military at Camp Kami.

March 2012, Kigali, Rwanda.

SUMMARY

Progress over the last decade by the government of Rwanda in improving conditions of detention in prisons falling under the authority of the Rwanda Correctional Service (RCS) is being undermined by the parallel detention system run by the military. Scores of people are held in detention in military camps and the safeguards which protect detainees in police stations and other official places of detention are circumvented. Hidden from view, detainees have been unlawfully detained as well as reportedly tortured and otherwise ill-treated.

This report details unlawful detention, torture and other forms of ill-treatment and enforced disappearances, mostly of civilians, at the hands of Rwanda’s military intelligence, known as J2. It is based on information gathered during more than two years of research, including seven visits to Rwanda. The report documents more than 45 cases of unlawful detention and 18 allegations of torture or other ill-treatment by Rwandan military intelligence in 2010 and 2011. Some individuals who were disappeared remain in secret detention in 2012.

Amnesty International believes that the actual number of people who were detained and who were at risk of, or subjected to, torture and other ill-treatment during this period is higher than those documented here.

Amnesty International began to receive reports of enforced disappearances, torture and other ill-treatment by Rwandan military intelligence in March 2010.

This spate of human rights violations happened as military intelligence launched investigations into threats to national security in the run-up to the August 2010 presidential elections. Grenade attacks, rare in recent years, multiplied after February 2010. Some security analysts attributed them to the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed opposition group based in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).1 Growing tensions within the Rwandan Defence Force (RDF) following the departure of the former army chief, General Kayumba Nyamwasa, in February 2010 also allegedly raised the spectre of potential security threats from within the army.

As part of the Rwandan authorities’ investigations into security matters, individuals were arrested, often arbitrarily, by the military, sometimes acting in collaboration with the police.

Those arrested were almost exclusively men aged between 20 and 45. Most of the cases documented here are of civilians, including demobilized military. Other cases include members of the Rwandan army or individuals suspected by the Rwandan authorities of belonging to the FDLR.

After their arrest, the men were detained incommunicado and interrogated by military intelligence. For their families, unable to confirm their whereabouts or if they were still alive, their loved ones had effectively disappeared. The authorities denied holding those arrested or did not respond to requests for information from family members or lawyers. During their detention by the military, often spanning several months, they were denied access to lawyers, family members and medical assistance. Some were reportedly subjected to torture or other ill-treatment.

Not knowing the whereabouts of their relatives had a tremendous psychological impact on the families of the disappeared. As those missing were almost exclusively men, and round-ups often included people from the same community, male family members were forced to live with the constant fear that they might be arrested next. Women – wives, mothers and sisters – bore the brunt of trying to locate their relatives.

At the time of writing in July 2012, Amnesty International believes that the number of new cases of unlawful detention of civilians by the military has fallen over the last year. However, the absence of investigations or prosecutions for the human rights violations documented here increases the likelihood that Rwandan military intelligence will revert to these practices each time that they perceive national security to be under threat.

Amnesty International urges the Rwandan government to immediately end the unlawful detention of civilians, disclose the fate or whereabouts of all those subjected to enforced disappearance, investigate allegations of torture and other ill-treatment, suspend those security officers alleged to be responsible for these human rights violations pending the outcome of investigations, and hold them accountable through criminal prosecutions.

METHODOLOGY

This report is based on seven research visits to Rwanda in September 2010, February, July and November 2011, and February, March and June 2012, as well as a trial observation between September 2011 and June 2012. Amnesty International also interviewed individuals previously illegally detained in Rwanda and their family members outside Rwanda at various times between 2011 and 2012. The report does not take into account developments after the end of June 2012.

Amnesty International conducted more than 70 face-to-face interviews for this report, including eight interviews with torture victims previously detained by the military. The organization also interviewed family members of individuals disappeared, unlawfully detained or tortured, as well as lawyers, members of civil society, and individuals who had observed court proceedings. Interviews were conducted in English or French or from Kinyarwanda with the assistance of interpreters.

Through these interviews, Amnesty International documented more than 45 cases of unlawful detention for periods ranging from 10 days to nine months, primarily of civilians in military camps and other secret detention locations during 2010 and 2011. Two cases of enforced disappearances of more than two years were also documented. Amnesty International was able to cross-check the identities of these former detainees through various sources, including other detainees, lawyers, court documents and news reports. Amnesty International received single source information on tens of other former detainees but because of the lack of corroboration has not included them in this report.

This report documents 18 allegations of torture or other ill-treatment by Rwandan military intelligence and other security personnel. Restrictions on prison access made it impossible to ascertain the extent of torture and other ill-treatment of individuals previously detained by the military and later transferred to civilian prisons. For these reasons, Amnesty International believes that the number of people detained by the military at risk of torture, or who may have been subjected to torture or other ill-treatment, is higher than the number of cases documented.

Amnesty International gathered documentation related to criminal cases in military and civilian courts, including statements of arrest and court decisions and orders. The report also draws on Amnesty International’s observation of the trial from September 2011 to June 2012 of those accused along with opposition leader Victoire Ingabire. They had been unlawfully detained at Camp Kami.

Amnesty International was unable to interview individuals currently detained in Rwanda. Since July 2011, Amnesty International has twice formally requested authorization to interview detainees and prisoners in private. Most recently, the organization requested permission to visit prisons in advance of arriving in the country. They requested private interviews with detainees in Kigali Central Prison, Ruhengeri Prison and Rubavu (commonly known as Gisenyi) Prison in March 2012. The organization’s representatives were informed one working day before leaving Rwanda by the Ministry of Internal Security that they had the right to request authorization. However, they were told that under Rwandan law they could only interview detainees and prisoners in the presence of a prison guard. Amnesty International subsequently received a letter from the RCS authorizing the delegates to visit prisons on 4 April 2012, six days after leaving Rwanda.

The initial impetus for the report was a number of specific requests from family members for Amnesty International’s help in finding their disappeared relatives. In researching these cases, details emerged of other men who had been subjected to enforced disappearance or who had been previously detained by the military. This report sheds light on the circumstances and conditions of their detention which remain shrouded in secrecy.

Many other individuals who had been detained by the military declined to speak to Amnesty International delegates for fear of retribution. Former detainees and their family members who shared their stories expressed fear of reprisals. To protect their identities, Amnesty International has excluded their names, other identifying details, and some interview dates and locations.

Amnesty International does not take a position on the guilt or innocence of those arrested. Our concern is that they were subjected to a pattern of human rights violations: arrests in violation of the law, detention in secret locations, unlawful detention, often for several months, and a lack of access to lawyers, family members or doctors. This string of abuses violates the rights of the detained persons and renders them more vulnerable to torture and ill-treatment.

A letter summarizing the findings of this report was sent to the Rwandan Minister of Defence on 29 March 2012, with copies to the Director of Military Intelligence and the Minister of Justice, and a separate letter to the Minister of Justice. The letters requested an official response in order to reflect the Rwandan government’s perspective in this report, as well as a submission to the UN Committee against Torture. The organization did not receive a reply.

Amnesty International visited Rwanda in June 2012 to seek an official response to these findings. The organization met with the RDF Spokesperson, the Rwandan Minister of Justice, a team from the National Public Prosecution Authority led by the Prosecutor General, an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a team from the RCS led by the Commissioner General.

Amnesty International expresses its profound gratitude to the individuals who shared their stories, sometimes at personal risk. We also thank the lawyers who generously shared their legal expertise and their experiences of representing clients previously detained by the military.

POLITICAL AND SECURITY CONTEXT

The ruling party in Rwanda is the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), in power since 1994. The military has long played an important role in the country’s history2 and the RDF (army) currently retains an influential position within politics and society. While the army is best known for its involvement in the DRC conflicts or its contribution to peacekeeping such as in Darfur (Sudan), the RDF began to play a more visible role at home from 2010 onwards when it became more overt in detaining and arresting suspects.

Events during the lead-up to the August 2010 presidential elections also brought the fragility of Rwanda’s security to the fore. Grenade attacks, rare in recent years, multiplied. Prominent military officers, as well as soldiers, were arrested or went into exile. Killings and arrests of opposition politicians and journalists and the closure of newspapers reinforced a climate of fear.

Kigali was hit by three simultaneous grenade attacks on 19 February 2010, killing two people and wounding several.4 At first, the Rwandan government attributed this to the FDLR,5 but after General Kayumba Nyamwasa, a popular figure within the Rwandan army, fled a week later, the authorities shifted the blame to him.6 According to Rwandan government statistics, 18 grenade attacks were carried out between December 2009 and March 2011, killing 14 people and injuring 219.7 Grenade attacks continued after that sporadically.

Growing divisions emerged within the RPF party, as well as in the army. The primary catalyst for this was the departure of General Kayumba Nyamwasa on 26 February 2010. His flight prompted the army to arrest and detain officers and soldiers suspected of being loyal to him. Exiled in South Africa, Kayumba Nyamwasa survived an assassination attempt on 19 June 2010.

Tensions also grew in 2009 and 2010 between the Rwandan government and supporters of Laurent Nkunda, the former leader of the Congolese armed group, the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP). Arrested in January 2009, he officially remains under house arrest in Rwanda without charge or trial.

At the same time as security worsened, a crackdown on the political opposition and media in advance of the elections was under way. Opposition politicians and journalists were arrested, accused of threatening state security for criticizing government policies. An opposition leader was beheaded in a gruesome attack in mid-July 2010, for which no-one was brought to justice. Journalists who covered these events touching on sensitive issues of state security had their papers closed. They too fled and one of their newspaper editors was murdered.

It was against this backdrop that Rwanda’s military intelligence rounded up scores of young men accused of threatening national security. For their families, unable to confirm their whereabouts, or whether they were alive, they had simply disappeared. The torture and other ill-treatment that some of these men reportedly experienced during their unlawful detention is documented in this report.

2. APPLICABLE RWANDAN AND INTERNATIONAL LAW NATIONAL LAW

Rwanda’s new Penal Code criminalizes torture as a standalone offence for the first time under Rwandan law. It came into force after its publication in the Official Gazette on 14 June 2012. Penalties for torture which range from six months to seven years, unless the torture results in the death of the victim, are too lenient.This issue was raised by the Committee on Torture before the law was promulgated.

Before June 2012, Rwanda did not specifically criminalize torture as an autonomous offence in its national law, but it was possible to prosecute perpetrators of torture for offences such as murder or assault. Rwanda’s constitution guarantees the right to integrity and prohibits the use of torture without defining what torture is. 12 Past failure to criminalize all acts of torture as offences under national criminal law violated Article 4 of the Convention against Torture to which Rwanda is a state party.

Torture, outside the context of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, is subject to a 10 year statute of limitations under Rwanda’s code of criminal procedure.13 This may impede justice for past cases of torture and may limit the ability of victims to seek reparations. Enforced disappearance is not yet defined as a crime under national law. Confessions or evidence coerced through torture are inadmissible in court under Rwanda’s evidence law. “Confessions or evidence obtained by torture or brainwashing” are prohibited in all courts, including specialized courts, such as military courts.

Rwanda’s evidence law states that “a person cannot retract a judicial admission unless it can be proved that the admission was a result of physical torture or it was a mistake of fact.” This provision should be amended in line with international standards, including by covering mental torture and ensuring that the burden is on the State to prove beyond reasonable doubt that such statements have been given of the person’s free will.

Rwandan criminal procedure law guarantees a person who is arrested and detained several rights, some of which are not followed by the military and military intelligence during arrests and detentions. Judicial police officers have 72 hours to transfer a criminal case file to the prosecution or release the individual arrested.17 The accused should then be charged by the prosecution and brought before court to review the legality of detention within seven days or be released. Detainees should be informed of the reason for their arrest and are entitled to access a lawyer and to inform another person of their arrest.

Rules in Rwanda prohibiting detention in secret places and regulating detention of civilians in military custody are ill-defined. The Code of Criminal Procedure states that “persons on remand in custody shall not be subject to a release in a place other than the custody availed for that matter and located within the area the National Police or Military Police office is located. As for soldiers and their accomplices, that place shall be located near the office of Military Prosecution.”20 It does not define “accomplices” and so may leave civilians at risk of being detained in military facilities. Furthermore, it does not regulate the type of places where “soldiers and their accomplices” can be detained.

Rwandan counter-terrorism legislation goes beyond what is foreseen by the Rwandan Code of Criminal Procedure. Under Article 45 of the law on counter-terrorism “.

A police officer, a security agent or any other authorized person may arrest without warrant in case of clear reasons for suspecting such a person to have committed or attempts [sic] to commit acts of terrorism and shall hand him/her over to the nearest police station in a period not exceeding forty eight (48) hours. ”This facilitates the likelihood of individuals suspected of crimes under this law being placed in unofficial and/or secret detention for periods of up to 48 hours. It effectively denies them access to legal counsel in the early stages of detention when they are at the greatest risk of torture or other ill-treatment. Detention in unofficial and/or secret places violates Rwanda’s obligations under international law. As well as numerous shortcomings in Rwandan legislation, the human rights violations documented in this report also stem from a failure to respect existing laws.

INTERNATIONAL LAW

Rwanda is a party to international and regional treaties that prohibit torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and that otherwise protect the rights of individuals arrested or detained. These include the Convention against Torture, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR).The prohibitions on torture and other ill-treatment and on enforced disappearance are absolute and non-derogable; they apply in all circumstances without any exception.

The UN Security Council, General Assembly, and Human Rights Council have all repeatedly affirmed that all measures taken to counter terrorism must comply fully with states’ obligations under international law, including particularly international human rights law, international refugee law, and where applicable, Rwanda is yet to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment. In response to its Universal Periodic Review before the Human Rights Council in January 2011, Rwanda stated that it was in the process of ratifying both conventions.

Following Rwanda’s initial review by the Committee against Torture, Rwanda’s cabinet approved ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture on 13 June 2012.27 At the time of writing, no progress had been made towards ratification of the Convention on Enforced Disappearances.

Once Rwanda has ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, it will have an obligation to establish a National Prevention Mechanism, an independent national body to conduct regular visits to places of detention. They may also receive occasional visits from the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment, who can provide concrete recommendations on how to prevent torture and ill-treatment.

WHAT WOULD RWANDA’S OBLIGATIONS BE UNDER THE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF ALL PERSONS FROM ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE?

Enforced disappearance is defined in Article 2 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance which the UN General Assembly adopted in December 2006, as:

“the arrest, detention, abduction, or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the state or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of the state, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law.”

The Convention came into force on 23 December 2010 after it was ratified by 20 countries. States that ratify the Convention commit themselves to conduct investigations to locate the disappeared person, to prosecute those responsible and to ensure reparations for survivors and their families. Under Article 17, which includes the prohibition of secret detention, they must implement numerous safeguards to prevent enforced disappearance, including through keeping detailed records of persons deprived of liberty. Any judicial or other competent authority or institution authorized for that purpose by the law of the state party concerned or any relevant international legal instrument to which the state concerned is a party should be able to consult these records.

The records should note:

(a ) The identity of the person deprived of liberty;

The unspeakable RPF weapon for TORTURE In Rwandan prisons

( b ) The date, time and place where the person was deprived of liberty and the identity of the authority that deprived the person of liberty;

( c ) The authority that ordered the deprivation of liberty and the grounds for the deprivation of liberty;

( d ) The authority responsible for supervising the deprivation of liberty;

( e ) The place of deprivation of liberty, the date and time of admission to the place of deprivation of liberty and the authority responsible for the place of deprivation of

( f ) Elements relating to the state of health of the person deprived of liberty;

( g ) In the event of death during the deprivation of liberty, the circumstances and cause of death and the destination of the remains;

( h ) The date and time of release or transfer to another place of detention, the destination and the authority responsible for the transfer.

In addition, according to Article 18 of the Convention, and subject to the requirements mentioned in Article 19 and 20 of the Convention, relatives of the person deprived of liberty and their legal counsel should have access to at least information on:

The authority that ordered the deprivation of liberty;

b) The date, time and place where the person was deprived of liberty and admitted to the place of deprivation of liberty;

(d) The whereabouts of the person deprived of liberty, including, in the event of a transfer to another place of deprivation of liberty, the destination and the authority responsible for the transfer;

(e) The date, time and place of release;

(f) Elements relating to the state of health of the person deprived of liberty;

(g) the event of death during the deprivation of liberty, the circumstances and cause of death and the destination of the remains.State parties also have a responsibility to submit to the Committee on Enforced Disappearances a report on the measures taken to give effect to its obligations under the Convention. The Committee can also receive and investigate individual complaints, and may conduct a visit to the country when it receives reliable information indicating that a state party is seriously violating the provisions of the Convention.

Rwanda is still bound by the prohibition of enforced disappearances, as a rule of customary international law, and since any act of enforced disappearance inherently involves violations of a range of obligations under the ICCPR and the ACHPR.28 Rwanda should adhere to the standards set out in the 1992 UN General Assembly's Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances, which reflects the consensus of the international community against this human rights violation.

3. MANDATE AND LEGAL POWERS OF ARREST AND DETENTION BY THE MILITARY

Rwanda has several bodies responsible for ensuring national security. The RDF under the Ministry of Defence ensures external security. It is headed directly by President Kagame, who is Commander-in-Chief of the Army, seconded by the Chief-of-Defence Staff. The Rwanda National Police (RNP), led by an Inspector General of Police, maintains internal security.

Both the police and the RDF have their own intelligence branches, as does the President’s Office. Within the army, this is the Department of Military Intelligence (DMI), known more commonly in Rwanda as J2.

Since early 2010, the role of the military and the police in arresting individuals suspected of threatening national security became increasingly blurred. In February 2010, Rwandan authorities created a Joint Operational Centre to facilitate information sharing between the RDF, RNP, National Intelligence and Security Service and the RCS.29 The following month, March 2010, Amnesty International began to receive reports of enforced disappearances, torture and other forms of ill-treatment in military detention facilities. These joint operations may reduce oversight and confuse reporting lines, rendering accountability for abuses less likely.

4. SECRET AND INCOMMUNICADO DETENTION

DETENTION JOURNEYS TRAVERSING J2’S PARALLEL SYSTEM OF DETENTION

The Department of Military Intelligence (DMI), J2, operates a parallel system of arrest and detention. This system within a system is largely reserved for individuals suspected of threatening national security.

Detainees’ detention journeys typically involved them being held in multiple locations. This made it harder to trace their whereabouts and rendered them more vulnerable to torture and other ill-treatment. Former detainees reported that they were blindfolded when transported from one location to another, and such transfers largely took place at night.

One man described his transfer from the Ministry of Defence to an unknown location, which he later found out was Camp Kami: “They put me in a vehicle. After about an hour, they stopped the vehicle, and they took off the fabric from my eyes. They took off all my clothes and gave me a military uniform. I was handcuffed and put in a house.”32 Usually suspects were shunted between different locations at the start and end of their military detention, but held for a prolonged period in one place in the middle.

DMI agents tried to conceal the location of some detention centres to detainees. A number of detainees developed relationships with their captors, eliciting information from them about where they were detained.

MINADEF

The Ministry of Defence (MINADEF) is a modern multi-story building in Kimihurura surrounded by swathes of neatly manicured gardens. Some of the men who were unlawfully detained passed through MINADEF for interrogations before being transferred to Camp Kami.

CAMP KAMI

Camp Kami is a newly renovated military camp situated in Kinyinya Sector on the outskirts of Kigali. The surrounding area is predominantly residential and overlooks the new housing developments of Nyarutarama. The area is known for the tall radio antennae of Deutsche Welle which dominate the local landscape.

Camp Kami had a notorious reputation for the torture and ill-treatment of detainees in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s.33 Its name continues to instil fear among Rwandans. Officially, the camp now serves as an army barracks and a detention centre for Rwandan soldiers subject to disciplinary action, but Amnesty International has also documented several cases of civilians unlawfully detained there. The facility is used by the DMI for questioning individuals accused of threatening state security.

The part of Camp Kami where detainees are held is just a small section of the larger military barracks. It is comprised of different “houses” which former detainees called different “prisons” within Kami. Some detainees were kept in isolation for several days, but the vast majority were detained with a few others in small rooms. Former detainees reported to Amnesty International that approximately 60 detainees were held at Camp Kami in late 2010 and 2011. They based their estimates on conversations with their guards, as well as detainees who were responsible for preparing food for other prisoners; a task they said was reserved for RDF deserters.

MUKAMIRA MILITARY CAMP

Mukamira military camp lies between Gisenyi and Ruhengeri.35 Some suspects detained at Mukamira camp were brought over from the DRC, while others appear to have been arrested near Gisenyi. It houses a mix of civilians, demobilized FDLR fighters and FDLR apprehended in the DRC.

Amnesty International has reviewed judicial files of some former detainees of Mukamira military camp and interviewed their lawyers. The organization was obstructed in gathering detailed information on the camp though restrictions on visiting individuals formerly detained there and subsequently transferred to Gisenyi prison.

SAFE HOUSES

Amnesty International also received reports of a network of safe houses used to detain suspects in Kigali. Safe houses are not permitted under Rwanda’s code of criminal procedure.36 They appear to be used to detain and interrogate higher profile personalities, including Rwandans with links to the DRC or dual Rwandan-Congolese nationals. Suspects were kept in secret detention in private houses, sometimes in bathrooms and handcuffed for extended periods of time. Two detainees reported to Amnesty International or their families that they had been interrogated by high-ranking officials from the DMI in safe houses. Specific conditions were more difficult to verify than in military camps because detainees were isolated and typically did not have contact with co-detainees.

INCOMMUNICADO DETENTION

All former detainees told Amnesty International that they were held incommunicado in military custody for long periods of time – in many cases for more than two months and, in some cases, up to eight or nine months – before being presented to a prosecutor or court or being transferred to a civilian prison. During military custody, they were unable to contact a lawyer or relatives and their cases were not subject to judicial review. Such incommunicado detention, which includes no access to lawyers, doctors, and relatives and no judicial review of the lawfulness of detention, violates Rwanda’s obligations under international law, including guarantees against arbitrary detention and torture.

TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT

For most detainees, interrogations by military intelligence officers focused on knowledge of threats to national security. Many were questioned about the 2010 and 2011 grenade attacks and funding of the FDLR. Others were asked questions about their personal, social and family relationships, including their relationships with other detainees.

SERIOUS BEATINGS DURING INTERROGATIONS

All individuals formerly detained in military facilities and their family members interviewed by Amnesty ernational reported that they were severely beaten by military officers during interrogations. One former detainee of Camp Kami said, “The interrogation, it is beating” and described his time at Camp Kami as a “living death”.

Some family members and lawyers reported seeing marks from beatings on their relatives or clients. One family member described the first time they saw their relative after a month’s unlawful detention at Camp Kami, “His face, hands and legs were all swollen. We couldn’t easily recognize him”. 40 The individual concerned had not been charged by the prosecution or brought before a court during his time at Camp Kami.41 The vast majority, however, said that no visible signs were left due to the months that had elapsed since the beatings took place, shortly after their arrest and in the immediate months that followed.

ELECTRIC SHOCKS

Three former detainees from Camp Kami recounted to Amnesty International that they were subjected to electric shocks during interrogations. Two of these detainees described that this happened to them on one occasion each. Both of them reported that military intelligence had used these devices during interrogations at MINADEF shortly after their arrest and prior to their transfer to Camp Kami. Both interrogations took place at night. The other man had been electrocuted after his transfer to Camp Kami.

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

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Le Rwanda plus fort que jamais en RD Congo malgré la déroute du M23 (?)

[Since 1994, the world witnesses the horrifying Tutsi minority (14%) ethnic domination, the Tutsi minority ethnic rule with an iron hand, 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, and the brutal suppression of the rights of the majority of the Rwandan people (85% are Hutus)and mass arrests of Hutus by the RPF criminal organization =>AS International]

Par Jean-Jacques Wondo

Il y a quelques semaines, dans un titre qui semble décrire assez bien la situation régionale, « Le Rwanda plus fort que jamais en RD Congo malgré la déroute du M23 », le frère Wondo insistait sur quelques points importants dont : (1) la mainmise du Rwanda sur le Congo malgré la déroute militaire du M23, une pure création rwandaise ; (2) depuis vingt ans, la « question rwandaise » reste au cœur de l’instabilité en RDC ; (3) etc. ... Un autre frère venait de "démontrer" que cela risque de prendre trop longtemps pour sortir des griffes du Rwanda quand on considère le pouvoir que détient ARuberwa, le chef récemment nommé de la Pnc, on parle également d'un certain contrôle de l'agence des renseignements par Karahamuheto en plus d'autres structures et, au sommet, la mainmise de Kigali sur la Présidence congolaise...

Il y a plus! Bien que le réchauffement extraordinaire entre le Rwanda et la République du Congo voisin ait inquiété des Hutu qui ont élu domicile dans ce pays depuis l'aventure Afdliène (octobre 1996 à mai 1997), il est logique de considérer que l'activité diplomatique si intense du Rwanda vise à créer et à entretenir un pole de contrôle et/de soutien ou encore de pression sur Kinshasa.

Bien que tous les faits présentés si haut soient presque objectivement vérifiables, la suite de mon raisonnement se formule en une question qui m’est venue à l’esprit, en prenant en considération tout l’environnement où ces évènements prennent place.

D’où la question : Le Rwanda, plus fort?

Tentative de réponse : Oui et Non...

Oui, le Rwanda est plus fort quand on considère le niveau dont il a infiltré, comme le démontre l’auteur, les services de sécurité congolais. À l’extérieur de la RDCongo, le Rwanda s’est montré, depuis l’arrivée du FPR/Inkotanyi au pouvoir, capable d’atteindre ses « cibles » (comprenez « victimes » tel est le mot utilisé par PKagame quand il a parlé de la « trahison de PKaregeya ») partout sur son territoire, dans les pays limitrophes et dans beaucoup d’autres pays lointains.

En RDCongo, le Rwanda ne limite pas son infiltration aux seuls services de sécuritté. Il y a aussi toute la vie civile que les "rwandalisants" veulent contrôler en RDCongo : la haute « administration » publique, des postes ministériels ou quasi-ministériels... Sur ce, vous pouvez prendre en considération le fait que les deux anciens gouverneurs du Sud et du Nord-Kivu sous le RCD, respectivement Katintima et Serufuli, gravitent autour de la présidence. Sans prétendre être exhaustif, citons également LMende, KKMulumba, MNyarugabo, AMRuberwa, EIlunga et tant d’autres plénipotentiaires au pays et à travers le monde. Ceci, malgré que malgré le vote décisif au
Kivu en 2006, lequel avait émasculé le RCD-Rwanda, ait prouvé à la RDCongo et au monde entier que ce mouvement n'avait de base qu’au-delà le lac Kivu. Au Kivu, ces gens sont, politiquement, des étrangers ou des traîtres patentés qui ne peuvent rien attendre de sa population s'elle avait un mot à dire... Quant au « grand jeu » électoral joué par le Cndp (au sein de la « Majorité présidentielle »), la situation spécifique (nomination de sept députés, dont six rwandais) de Masisi l’illustre bien. Jusque là, on aurait pu fermer l’oeil, peut-être! Mais quand la même MP punit par l'emprisonnement un élu du Nord-Kivu qui n'a fait que parler au nom de ses électeurs, on se demande dans quel pays on vit !

C'est ici qu'une intervention des lecteurs de Wondo devient très intéressante. Elle fait poser la question de savoir si le Rwanda, dans « sa force plus que jamais présente en RDCongo malgré la déroute du M23 » ne constitue pas un piège aux stratèges de Kigali qui ne voient pas plus loin que leur nez.

Un évènement récent qui a eu lieu loin de l'Afrique des grands lacs marque ce point de vue: la mort, par assassinat, de l'autre terroriste rwandais, PKaregeya, en Afrique du Sud. Comme moi, le lecteur a appris que l'Ouganda où cet homme est né s'est opposé au rapatriement de son corps quand bien même sa famille restreinte demeure encore dans ce pays... Les uns et les autres ont cherché à expliquer ce refus, la plupart imaginant non sans raison que l’amitié entre Kaguta-Kagame en serait la cause. Mais, nous parlons d'un mort qui ne pouvait plus faire peur à personne (on se serait attendu que, mort ou vivant, son droit de naître « Tutsi ougandais » prime aux égos de nos deux pyromanes)!
Certaines personnes au courant de la situation interne de l’Ouganda disent qu’il y a une cause plus profonde : beaucoup sont ceux, dans ce pays, qui ne veulent plus voir un afflux massif des Tutsi fuyant le Rwanda pour une autre fois.

Quoi ? Fuir le Rwanda, eux qui seraient si forts ?

Rien ne présage un sort, regrettable et de toutes les façons non souhaitable, de cette nature à ces frères et sœurs. D’ailleurs, tout démontre de leur « force de caractère » teintée par la manipulation du haut sommet (voir Kagame’s Historic Speech in Parliament du 4 octobre 2012 ; http://www.newsofrwanda.com/abanyapolitiki/14227/rwanda-exclusive-kagames-historic-speech-parliament/) à la base (penser à la démonstration récente de la dénommée Daphroza Gauthier sur TV24). Pas d’homme ni femme ; rien de ce que les Swahili appellent « Aibu ni nusu ya utu » (un peu de réserve est synonyme d’humanité, de « bantuité ») !

La question se pose cependant : les frères et sœurs Tutsi pourraient-ils quitter forcément le Rwanda à nouveau ? Les chrétiens disent que seul Dieu connaît le futur. Tout le reste n'est que prémonition. Toutefois, il y a quelques faits qui poussent le regard d’un observateur dans ce sens. Nous venions de voir que malgré le retour dans l’Eldorado rwandais, ce pays où coulerait à flot le lait et le miel (igihugu c’ubuki n’amata !) selon un mythe, il est curieux que beaucoup de ces Afande "Tutsi ougandais" continuent, dans leur majorité, à garder leur famille proche en Ouganda où ils ont également tendance à investir (penser aux villas de BNtaganda juste de l’autre côté de la frontière congolaise, proche du Rwanda, mais bien visiblement en Ouganda).

L’autre situation illustratrice se situe à Bukavu en 2004. Des puissants « Tutsi congolais » avaient élu domicile à Nguba, un quartier très proche du Rwanda dès la guerre de l’Afdl en 1996. Mais dès la marche victorieuse du général Mbuza sur les hommes de JMutebusi et LNkundamihigo qui occupaient la ville, on n’a plus vu un seul Tutsi, « congolais » eut-il été dans toute la ville de Bukavu. Plus récemment, quelques centaines de familles Tutsi s’étaient emparées de la zone occupée par le M23. Il a même été rapporté qu’il y avait beaucoup de soldats déguisés en civils parmi eux et, en général, le groupe avait été initié au maniement d’armes. Mais dès que les hommes de Mamadou ont commencé leur marche victorieuse sur le M23, on n’a même plus parlé de ces civils. Ils auraient déguerpis durant le processus. Pour dire que le martyr que les troupes rwandaises et alliées font subir à la population est connu et crée, chez ces « Hommes forts » une certaine panique qui les rend, définitivement, faibles. Et le temps travaille contre la force brute qui est la leur.

Il y a un temps, Museveni rêvait de devenir le premier de ces "citoyens à la nationalité sans frontière" à présider la "République Swahili qui irait de l'Atlantique à l'Indien en incluant entre autre les Congos, le Gabon, l'Angola jusqu'à l'Érithrée et la Tanzanie. Hier et, encore aujourd'hui, leur rêve se limite au contrôle de quelques villages dans les Kivu. Mais, là encore, le rêve est lointain!

Quant à la proximité tactique du Rwanda en face de Kinshasa, elle ne peut rien face à un peuple déchaîné. Les centrafricains qui n'ont pas la réputation d'être des grands révolutionnaires ont démontré à la Seleka que, même gagner une guerre contre une armée n'est pas synonyme de gagner la loyauté des citoyens maltraités! Là pourtant, nous avons une lutte interne; nous ne parlons pas d'occupation étrangère. Peu importe la désorganisation temporaire des congolais, rien ne devrait tromper les nigauds quant à notre capacité de nous défendre. La terre de nos ancêtres constituent la première défense sûre.

Enfin, plutôt que de vivre dans ce climat de peur, une RDCongo bien gouverné devrait proclamer une politique de "Regime Change" (changement de régime) face aux deux voisins les plus agressifs. Plutôt que la "Distraction nationale" (comprenez concertations nationales), ceci donnerait de la force combative aux congolais et la détermination pour le succès. Une grande motivation serait au rendez-vous et la RDCongo confronterait ainsi, tête haute, les souteneurs des sous-traitants de notre malheur. Le chantage autour de "génocide rwandais" ne prendrait pas la vedette de l'info régionale à la place de la colère congolaise. Les Fardc ne seraient pas envoyés, avec leur nouvelle capacité, assistée, de frappe contre nos propres jeunes, ceux-là même qui les aidaient alors qu'elles étaient mal prises (ou qu'elles n'existaient pas). On irait même pas contre des "alliés potentiels" comme les Fdlr pour qu'on force le dialogue au pouvoir rwandais extrémiste et sanguinaire. Existe-t-il des Fdlr fautifs, c'est au Rwanda de les juger; il faut qu'ils aillent d'abord au Rwanda.

Merci pour votre temps et votre participation! Un merci particulier au frère qui a initié le partage.

Mastaki Bayange 19 févr. 2014

On Friday, February 7, 2014 6:44:33 AM, Paly wondo <wondo_paly@yahoo.fr> wrote:

Le Rwanda plus fort que jamais en RD Congo malgré la déroute du M23

Par Jean-Jacques Wondo

Défilé triomphal du M23 au stade de Goma, Nov 2012.

La déroute du M23 n’a pas anéanti la mainmise du Rwanda sur le Congo. Le Rwanda demeure toujours plus fort au cœur dispositif sécuritaire congolais malgré la déroute militaire du M23. Depuis la débâcle du M23, une pure création rwandaise, l’on croyait que l’influence rwandaise en RDC allait s’affaiblir, que nenni. Par ses différentes prises de position de ces derniers temps, la dernière en date concerne la nomination du général Tutsi Charles Bisengimana à la tête de la Police nationale congolaise (PNC), le président Kabila renforce l’influence rwandaise au Congo. Il s’agit d’un jeu subtil qui consiste à offrir au Rwanda, via le maillage du dispositif sécuritaire congolais par des agents pro-rwandais, des compensations de l’espace militaire perdu à l’est après la débandade du M23; cela en prévision d’un retour en force du Rwanda par la suite.

Depuis vingt ans, la « question rwandaise » reste au cœur de l’instabilité en RDC. La raison avancée par Kigali pour justifier le déploiement de ses troupes au Congo, de 1996 à 2013, est le risque d’un nouveau génocide que ferait courir au Rwanda la présence au Congo, de FDLR[1].

Pour lire la suite, ouvrir le lien suivant : http://desc-wondo.org/strategie-le-rwanda-plus-fort-que-jamais-en-rdc-malgre-la-deroute-du-m23-jj-wondo/

Jean-Jacques Wondo
+32 495 922259

Saturday, February 15, 2014

All we want is for the truth to finally come out ! (Part IV) - Mme Louise Uwacu donne quelques conseils à Kagame

[Since 1994, the world witnesses the horrifying Tutsi minority (14%) ethnic domination, the Tutsi minority ethnic rule with an iron hand, 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, and the brutal suppression of the rights of the majority of the Rwandan people (85% are Hutus)and mass arrests of Hutus by the RPF criminal organization =>AS International]

Mme Louise Uwacu donne quelques conseils à Kagame avant que les pays puissants ne se débarrassent de lui.
THEY'VE BEEN TRYING TO HIDE THE TRUTH FROM THE CIVILIZED WORLD

In "They Think we are stupid !"

But wouldn’t it be terrible if they were mistaken?

Watch out for this Video (All we want is for the truth to finally come out!)

To repeat Kagame's lie and its scenario

about the Rwandan Genocide

is to codify it.

To disparage Rwandans who do question,

is to be complicit in Treason.

Kagame and his protectors spend each year billions of dollars telling the world rubbish and lying about the Rwandan genocide. They want the majority of Rwandans to lose their hope for FREEDOM.

FEAR and TERROR ARE THE TOOLS FOR THE RWANDAN TYRANT.

Friday, February 14, 2014

All we want is for the truth to finally come out ! (Part III)

[Since 1994, the world witnesses the horrifying Tutsi minority (14%) ethnic domination, the Tutsi minority ethnic rule with an iron hand, 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, and the brutal suppression of the rights of the majority of the Rwandan people (85% are Hutus)and mass arrests of Hutus by the RPF criminal organization =>AS International]

THEY'VE BEEN TRYING TO HIDE THE TRUTH FROM THE CIVILIZED WORLD

In "They Think we are stupid !"

But wouldn’t it be terrible if they were mistaken?

Watch out for this Video (All we want is for the truth to finally come out!)

To repeat Kagame's lie and its scenario

about the Rwandan Genocide

is to codify it.

To disparage Rwandans who do question,

is to be complicit in Treason.

Kagame and his protectors spend each year billions of dollars telling the world rubbish and lying about the Rwandan genocide. They want the majority of Rwandans to lose their hope for FREEDOM.

FEAR and TERROR ARE THE TOOLS FOR THE RWANDAN TYRANT.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Because Holland has invested millions of dollars in the Rwandese judicial system

Citizen confidence in the judicial system requires that judges, lawyers, court clerks, and others associated with the judiciary maintain the highest ethical standards.

Corruption is the abuse of power by a public official for private gain or any organized, interdependent system in which part of the system is either not performing duties it was originally intended to, or performing them in an improper way, to the detriment of the system's original purpose. The abuse of public offices for private gain is paradigmatic of corruption.

A common belief is that corruption is a judge taking bribes. The definition exceeds this theory. Corruption describes any organized, interdependent system in which part of the system is either not performing duties it was originally intended to, or performing them in an improper way, to the detriment of the system's original purpose.

Corrupt judicial systems not only violate the basic right to equality before the law but deny procedural rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution.

While corruption may facilitate criminal enterprise such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and mail fraud.; it is not restricted to these activities. In this country, corruption is so common that it is expected when ordinary businesses or citizens interact with government officials. The end-point of political corruption is a kleptocracy, literally "rule by thieves".

N.B.: the As Press has not made changes in the article.

On December 20th Jean Claude I. knows if he can beextradited to Rwanda. He’s accused of being a leader of an armed militia during the genocide (1994) in Rwanda. He would have hunted down Tutsi’s and he’s supposed to have committed mass murders in Nyanza and Kigali. Jean Claude was 18 years in 1994.

Jean Claude lost his residence permit two years ago. In March this year his appeal was judged unfounded. He was arrested in July; Rwanda asked for his extradition because they see him as an important genocidair. Jean Claude is in provisional detention. If the judge says he can go to Rwanda because he can expect a fair trial, he will appeal.

After the world has found out that
Rakia Omaar was the RPF tool
To prejuduce Hutus
she disappeared. Actually she works for
The Somaliland Times !

This trial is important. About 20 other Rwandese are accused of being "genocidairs". If Jean Claude can be extradited, they can expect the same fate even though the Netherlands has no extradition treaty with Rwanda.

Prosecution and defence were very outspoken in court. Prosecution said Jean Claude was a liar and critized the arguments of the defence: old news from specialists who were not really specialists. The lawyer of Jean Claude, Michiel Pestman, told prosecution they were biased and having an agenda of their own. Because Holland has invested millions in the Rwandese judicial system, they could not admit the system was not correct. Also, having a lot of similar cases of genocide, which are difficult to prove in court, prosecution is trying to get rid of them through extradition.

Prosecution reacted in a tired way on arguments that should prove a fair trial in Rwanda is not possible. Manipulation of witnesses, false evidence, politicisation of trials? It’s known, checked and proven untrue in lots of court cases, according to prosecution.

They had a difficult moment when defence came with the lying witness in Canada, July 2013. A Canadian judge discovered discrepancies in his testimony. He admitted in having lied. He also admitted having lied in a Dutch court.

Specialist Filip Reyntjens is not a real specialist. He’s biased and not taken very seriously, according to prosecution. His statements as a witness at the Rwanda tribunal in Arusha (ICTR) were ignored or hidden in a footnote. But defence said it was Reyntjens himself who stopped cooperating with the ICTR. Their mandate was not strong enough: only Hutu’s could be prosecuted, no members of the army of president Kagame. Pestman told prosecution they were committing character murder of a scientist.

Prosecution used the trial of opposition leader Victoire Ingabire to show politics doesn’t meddle with trials. There can be held fair trials in Rwanda. Ingabire was found not guilty on the heaviest charges. And the judge even said Ingabire could play a positive role in Rwanda after her imprisonment. Off course not everything is perfect in Rwanda, but there is no such thing as a perfect country.

Defence talked about the hard conclusion of Amnesty International: the trial of Ingabire was not fair. According to postman, Ingabire’s trial was a comedy, which could never be staged in Europe. So why use lower standards for a trial in Rwanda? Pestman also referred to a letter of Iain Edwards, the English lawyer of Ingabire. He said her lawyers were harassed, intimidated and were not always able to hold a cross-examination. Rwanda had given to times over a guarantee Ingabire’s trial would be fair. Obviously Rwanda had not kept her promise.

Pestman asked for a postponement of the provisional detention. With an electronic transmitter around his ankle there should be no risk of an escape. The judge thought otherwise. She was afraid of an escape and found the accusations too heavy for a postponement.

Outside court

Behind the battle of lawyers lies a world of misery. Jean Claude’s wife (J.) lost everything; husband, income, but most of all: safety. ‘They came to our house very early in the morning to arrest my husband and to search the house. They made a lot of noise. They scared the hell out of my children. They were afraid to go back home afterwards and we stayed for three weeks with my sister. My children are changed. They are withdrawn and silent and are not doing well at school. That worries me a lot.’

J. speaks Dutch very well. She has an internship; she wants to become a nurse. With Jean Claude in prison she to get by with the money she gets for her study, impossible with two children and a baby to be born in February. She’s in dire straits because she also got a claim from the tax service: because her husband is illegal, she has to pay back around 11.000 euro.

The couple met in Kinshasa. Jean Claude was a representative of the Rwandan community and was often at the refugee office. They got married in Kinshasa. J. and her sister moved to Norway in 2002, she was pregnant of her first child. Jean Claude went on invitation to The Netherlands in 2003. J: ‘We went to different countries because that was better considering our different procedures. When my daughter became one year old, I went to Holland as well.’

Jean Claude became a plumber, but could no longer do his work because of a bad back. He wanted to become a security officer, got a certificate, but was never employed. J: ‘I don’t know why. There were some problems, but they never told us which problems.’

In 2012 Jean Claude starts working as a cab driver. J: ‘He needed an affidavit of good conduct and got one. Very strange considering the situation he was in.’

J. doesn’t know what she’ll do when her husband has to go back to Rwanda. ‘He taught me to laugh, to live. When I met him I had no real wish to live. I had seen so much. I became an orphan when I was four. My sisters and I had to go to an orphanage. We were there when the bombs started falling. We had to flee for the soldiers of the RPF. We saw a lot of dead people. A lot of blood. We started with 800 children, in the end we were with 200. I took care of a four-year-old girl. I carried her on my back, but one day she died. I was very sorry because I was used to her and she had such a beautiful smile. But I couldn’t help her. I was so tired.’

J. compares herself with a caged animal. ‘We have no money; I cannot work, because I have to be home for my children. In February I’ll have a new baby. We cannot go to Rwanda. I’ll die there.’

Monday, February 10, 2014

Stephen Rapp: Whitewashed Rwandan Genocide to absolve US culpability

By Daya Gamage - Asian Tribune News Analysis

Washington, D.C. 12 January (Asiantribune.com):

The United States' Global war crimes investigator Ambassador Stephen Rapp, head of the State Department's Office of Global Criminal Justice, was in Sri Lanka last week on a fact finding mission in preparation of the UN Human Rights Commission session this March which will scrutinize Sri Lanka's military engagement during the final months of its battle with separatist Tamil Tigers.

Ambassador Stephen Rapp

Mr. Rapp released a bombshell using Colombo's American Embassy Twitter Account to post in its web portal identifying an area as the location that Sri Lanka military used it firepower to kill thousands of Tamil civilians during those final battle with the LTTE.

This statement in the official American Embassy web portal was in fact a declaration that Sri Lanka committed war crimes and genocide.

Ambassador Rapp's visit comes ahead of the UN Human Rights Council Session due in early March in which the United States is expected to move a resolution on Sri Lanka possibly asking for an international probe.

Mr. Rapp used ambiguous and conflicting information and data to accuse Sri Lanka of violating International Humanitarian Laws (IHL) in a report released to the US Congress in October 2009 about the military battle between the government forces and the Tamil Tiger fighting cadre during final - January to May 2009 - stages of the Eelam War 4.

Ambassador Stephen Rapp undertook his official tour in Sri Lanka in search of answers to what happened during those five months and the government's accountability and reconciliation process with a very heavy baggage;his own culpability of covering-up Rwanda's 1994 genocide as an attempt to white-wash the United States involvement in that episode as the Chief Prosecutor of the United Nations-appointed International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda (ICTR).

In October 1990, the Ugandan army and the Rwandan Patriotic Front/Army (RPF) led by Major General Paul Kagame (who is now the president of Rwanda) invaded Rwanda from Uganda. The guerrillas who violated international laws and committed massive war crimes were backed by Britain, Belgium, the United States and Israel, according to many investigators and researchers. By July 1994, the RPF completed its coup d'etat and consolidated its power in Rwanda.

On April 6, 1994, the governments of Rwanda and Burundi were decapitated when the plane carrying the two presidents and top military staff was shot down over Kigali, Rwanda's capital.

The well-planned assassinations of Juvenal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira sparked a massive escalation of warfare that is falsely portrayed as the result of meaningless tribal savagery. These assassinations were major war crimes, and the RPF was largely responsible, but almost every attempt to honestly investigate the double presidential assassinations has been blocked by the U.S. and its allies.

Professor Peter Erlinder, of the William Mitchell College of Law in Pennsylvania (USA) who was very much involved in defending some at the ICTR which was functioning in Arusha in Tanzania has come out with an array of evidence and interpretations of the direct culpability of the current Rwandan president Paul Kagame in the Rwandan genocide, how he and his colleagues were given military training in the U.S., how Kagame as the head of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a proxy force of the Pentagon according to Erlinder, invaded Rwanda to unleash a genocide with tacit approval of the United States, and in the following years how the United States took covert and overt steps to cover up its involvement in the Rwandan mass massacre.

It is here that Ambassador-at Large Stephen Rapp's name emerge. Mr. Rapp who was in Sri Lanka last week and also in 2012 as the head of the State Department's Office of Global Criminal Justice, in his previous position as the chief prosecutor of the Rwandan genocide, according to Peter Elinder, and many other investigators, was one of the main person who was involved in the cover up of US involvement in the Rwandan Genocide.

Prof. Elinder outlined the United States endeavor in the cover up of its own culpability in the Rwandan genocide, and the role played by Stephen Rapp as the Chief Rwanda Prosecutor of the United Nations.

He said: "The July 9, 2009 New York Times reported that the Obama administration had selected Stephen Rapp to replace the Bush administration Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes, Pierre Prosper. Rapp began his international career at the UN Security Council Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 2001, while Carla Del Ponte was Chief Rwanda Prosecutor. Rapp's nomination just a few months after Del Ponte's of her memoir of her years as Chief UN Prosecutor, Madam Prosecutor: Confronting Humanity's Worst Criminals and the Culture of Impunity was published in English.

"Del Ponte's book describes in detail the systematic U.S.-initiated cover-up of crimes by the current Rwandan government, a U.S. ally, committed during the Rwanda Genocide, and how she was removed from her ICTR (International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda) position in 2003 by U.S. Ambassador Prosper, himself, when she refused to cooperate with the U.S.-initiated "cover-up."

According to Del Ponte, her ICTR Office had the evidence to prosecute Kagame for "touching-off" the Rwanda Genocide by ordering the assassination of Rwanda's former President Juvenal Habyarimana, long before 2003.

She also details the dozens of massacre sites, involving thousands of victims, for which the current Rwandan President, Paul Kagame and his military, should be prosecuted. The well-publicized canard, that "the identity of the assassins of Habyarimana is unknown" is a bald-faced lie, well -known by ICTR Prosecutors, according to Ms. Del Ponte, writes Prof. Elinder in a popular/well read web site Global Research.

Two years after Del Ponte was removed from office, Stephen Rapp became "Chief" of ICTR Prosecutions with access to all of the evidence known to Ms. Del Ponte, and more that has been made public in the past few years. During his four years at the ICTR, Ambassador Rapp like Del Ponte, also was in a position to prosecute Kagame and members of the current government of Rwanda but, not one member of Kagame's military has been prosecuted at the ICTR, to date...and the "cover-up" revealed by Del Ponte, continues today. And, unlike, Ms. Del Ponte, who was fired by the U.S., Mr. Rapp was first rewarded with an appointment as Chief Prosecutor at the U.S.-funded Sierra Leone Tribunal and now, a coveted ambassadorship by the Obama administration as the chief of the Office of Global Criminal Justice at the United States Department of State.

In February 2009, the ICTR issued its Judgment the Military-1 case, that main case at the ICTR, in which Mr. Rapp personally appeared for the Prosecution. Although massive violence did occur in Rwanda, the court certainly recognized that blaming only one side WAS a falsehood, when it acquitted all of the "architects of the killing machine" (as Mr. Rapp called the defendants in court) of conspiracy or planning to kill civilians. The highest ranking military-officer was acquitted of all charges.

And, although it is now clear from Ms. Del Ponte's memoirs that Mr. Rapp had the evidence to clear the ICTR defendants of the assassination charges and only the losing side has been blamed for all crimes committed in Rwanda in 1994. Simply put, Mr. Rapp and other ICTR prosecutors have withheld evidence that would be beneficial to the defense, contrary to Tribunal Rules; have prosecuted defendants for crimes they knew were committed by Kagame's forces; and, have created a system of "judicial impunity" that has permitted Kagame to kill millions in the eastern Congo.

It is in this context that Prof. Peter Elinder writing to Global Security questioned President Obama's wisdom in appointing Stephen Rapp as the head of the Office of War Crimes Issue (as was known before) at the State Department in this manner: "This 'inconvenient-African-truth,' raises an uncomfortable question regarding President Obama's nomination of Mr. Rapp, in the first place: Are Obama and his advisors ignorant of the public record regarding Rapp's complicity in the ICTR Cover-up....or do they just not give a damn?"
Ambassador Stephen Rapp was also privy to the following information when he was the Chief Prosecutor of the ICTR:

The US Ambassador to Rwanda, and declassified US documents from 1994, establish that:

(a) the assassination of the President of Burundi in October 1993 triggered a "genocide of 150,000 Burundian Hutus;"

(b) hundreds of thousands of Burundian Hutu refugees then poured into Rwanda;

(d) the Rwandan Patriotic Front assassinated the Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi in April 1994.

And, that these were the actual causes of the Rwanda Genocide.

The U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda personally warned Kagame in November 1993 that, if he resumed the war, he would be responsible for mass violence in Rwanda in 1994, like that in Burundi in 1993. This was confirmed by cables from the State Dept on April 7, 1994;

UN documents show that the RPF was militarily dominant as of February 1993 and, according to UN Gen. Dallaire's cables to the UN in April-June 1994, Kagame refused to stop the violence because he was winning;

Former ICTR Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte's 2009 memoirs document then–Gen. Kagame's culpability for the assassination of the Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi of April 6, 1994 that began the Rwandan Genocide, as does the 2008 indictment issued by Spanish Judge Fernando Abreu Merelles and the 2006 indictment of French Judge Jean-Louis Bruguière;

The Spanish indictment also describes, prefecture-by-prefecture, 325,000 murders of Hutus and Tutsis for which Kagame and the RPF are responsible, not including the massive killing after 1994, in both Rwanda and neighboring Congo;

In 2009 published Edward S. Herman and David Peterson's investigative/research book The Politics of Genocide said: "The United States and its allies worked hard in the early 1990s to weaken the Rwandan government, forcing the abandonment of many of the economic and social gains from the social revolution of 1959, thereby making the Habyarimana government less popular, and helping to reinforce the Tutsi minority's economic power. Eventually, the RPF was able to achieve a legal military presence inside Rwanda, thanks to a series of ceasefires and other agreements. These agreements led to the Arusha Peace Accords of August 1993, pressed upon the Rwandan government by the United States and its allies, called for the "integration" of the armed forces of Rwanda and (Kagame's) RPF, and for a "transitional," power-sharing government until national elections could be held in 1995. These Peace Accords positioned the RPF for its bloody overthrow of a relatively democratic coalition government, and the takeover of the Rwandan state by a minority dictatorship."

The chief of the U.S. State Department's Office of Global Criminal Justice Stephen Rapp knew this entire Rwandan episode, the U.S. interests in Paul Kagame, the UN concealment of the 1994 report at the behest of the Clinton administration, the U.S. military assistance to Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front and the entire exercise of the 'Rwandan cover up' to conceal the U.S. culpability in the Rwandan genocide when he focused his attention elsewhere; Sri Lanka.

A Candle For Remembering

Rwanda: Cartographie des crimes

Let us remember Our People

You can't stop thinking

Welcome to Home Truths

Everybody Hurts

KAGAME - GENOCIDAIRE

Paul Kagame admits ordering...

Why did Kagame this to me?

RPF committed the unspeakable

Inzira ndende

Search

Hutu Children & their Mums

Rwanda-rebranding

Ways To Get Rid of Kagame

Almighty God :Justice for US

Killing Hutus on daily basis

RPF Trade Mark: Akandoya

The Torture in Rwanda flourishes

Fighting For Our Freedom?

KAGAME VS JUSTICE

Rwanda: Shrouded in secrecy. Illegal detention and torture by military intelligence

Rwanda : Dans le plus grand secret. Détention illégale et torture aux mains du Service de renseignement militaire

By supporting Paul Kagame, some Western countries obviously support the ongoing genocide in Rwanda while they fight against it at home.

Le Rwanda plus fort que jamais en RD Congo malgré la déroute du M23 (?)

All we want is for the truth to finally come out ! (Part IV) - Mme Louise Uwacu donne quelques conseils à Kagame

All we want is for the truth to finally come out ! (Part III)

Because Holland has invested millions of dollars in the Rwandese judicial system

Stephen Rapp: Whitewashed Rwandan Genocide to absolve US culpability

AS International

Profile

Genocide masterminded by RPF

Human and Civil Rights

Rwanda: A mapping of crimes

KIBEHO: Rwandan Auschwitz

Mass murderers C. Sankara

Stephen Sackur’s Hard Talk.

Prof. Allan C. Stam

Prof. Christian Davenport

The killing Fields - Part 1

The killing Fields - Part II

Daily bread for Rwandans

The killing Fields - Part III

Time has come: Regime change

Drame rwandais- justice impartiale

Sheltering 2,5 million refugees

Latest videos

Rwanda's Untold Story

Rwanda, un génocide en questions

Nombre de Visiteurs

Pages

Popular Posts - Last 7 days

Archives

Everything happens for a reason

Hutus didn't plan Tutsi Genocide

Your comment if you LIKE IT. All for Human rights