|
A senior aide to Rwanda's President Paul Kagame has been arrested in Germany on an outstanding 2006 warrant issued by a French court on charges that she was involved in the Rwanda genocide--the French court found that Kagame, leader of the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF), in 1994, ordered the shooting down by missile of the plane carrying Rwanda's then president Juvenal Habyarimana.
Genocide erupted for nearly 100 days, claiming the lives of an estimated anywhere from 800,000 to 1 million. Kagame was backed by Uganda's president Yoweri K. Museveni. His RPF was armed, manned, and trained by Uganda; Kagame himself was sent to train in the USA on Uganda passport at Leavenworth, Kansas. He had been chief of Uganda's military intelligence. Uganda and the United States also bear responsibility and liability for the Rwanda invasion from Uganda in 1990 and the attendant genocide in 1994.
Arrested Friday was Rose Kabuye, director general of state protocol in Rwanda--she was in Germany preparing for a visit there by Kagame.
The warrant was issued by a French judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere; outstanding warrants stand for additional Rwanda officials, including James Kabarebe, the head of the military, Charles Kayonga, army chief of staff; Faustin Jyamwasa-Kayumba, ambassador to India; Jackson Nkurunziza, of presidential guard; Samuel Kanjyamera, an RPF parliamentary deputy; Jacob Tumwime, an army officer; Franck Nziza, a Presidential Guard officer and Eric Hakizimana, an intelligence officer.
The judge wants the suspects to stand trial at the United Nations' International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), in Arusha, Tanzania.
The French intervened because three crew members of Habyarimana's plane were French nationals. Also killed was Burundi president, Cyprien Ntaryamire, who was aboard. A Court was set up at Arusha to try the agents and perpetrators of the Rwanda genocide. Many suspects have been captured, tried and convictions secured.
Those so far prosecuted have been agents from the Habyarimana regime. That's why it was refreshing when in 2006 the French court, after reviewing the evidence, returned an indictment of several Rwanda officials from the current RPF government which seized power in 1994. The Kagame regime has been credited with ending the Rwanda genocide; that's like thanking an arsonist for putting out a fire that he or she helped start. All sides should be brought to book; there are no statutes of limitation on murder and mass murders.
Kagame himself was not indicted by the French court because he is a sitting president.
That's why the International community needs to find a way to expand the brief of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague to cover crimes dating back to the 1990s when Central Africa was tossed into a series of genocidal conflicts. The epicenter has been Uganda; there is not a genocidal conflict in Central Africa whose origin has not been traced to Uganda's militarist president Yoweri Museveni. Within Uganda, genocide has been directed against the Acholi people for more than 20 years; civilians are victims of Uganda's marauding army and the vicious Lord's Resistance Army.
In Congo another Kagame and Museveni acolyte, Laurent Nkunda, has launched new conflict. The world is watching carefully and there are reports that the ICC will eventually indict Nkunda.
Word is that strong signal from the incoming Barack Obama government to Kigali is what caused Nkunda to halt his march on Goma. The UN has been authorized to engage Nkunda's terrorist army. After taking office, the Obama government must also investigate the role the U.S. played in the Rwanda genocide.
All the participants and agents of the Rwanda genocide must be prosecuted. It's the least the world can do for the victims of the 1994 blight on humanity.
Comments:
Nov 2008
1.
A stunning display of slanted journalism
This article is an absolutely incredible case study on how to present an biased argument based on logical fallacies and selective reporting of the facts. First, the implied assertion that Kagame started the genocide (that's like thanking an arsonist for putting out a fire that he or she helped start) is at odds with the facts that have been established by nearly all credible observers. The bulk of the tragic killing was performed by the Hutu-led military and Interahamwe militias, NOT the RPF
2.
Try to defend the indefensible--but culprits must pay for their adventures
We read with utter dismay how those who supported or might have been involved in one way or another try, even upto this momment to defend the undefensible!!. It now common knowledge that the Genocide that happened in Rwanda started from Uganda. This is both current knowledge and historical plot. The blind and unrepentant need to read the book: The path of Genocide--from Uganda to Rwanda to DRC. For those who think that they are above the world, think twice ...
3.
Saying that the bulk of the genocide victims were killed by Hutu extremists is an admission that Kagame and the RPF killed too.
It should be acknowledged that the cause of genocide was the war launched by RPF and the cold blood murder of the the two presidents of Rwanda and Burundi by RPF. So while the bulk of Hutu extremists have been arresred, it is fair that those responsible for triggering off the war and genocide and killing of Hutu civilinans in RPF held territories during the war are arrested and tried. Justice is not one sided. The Arusha court has no credibility if it fails to try RPF people who carried out mass killing of Hutu civilians.
People in Uganda speak of thousands of bodies floating on water into Uganda from RPF held territoies during the war. The world should also know that the RPF carried out genocide in areas like Ruhengeri during the insurgency there. They mowed down entire villages occupied by Hutu civilians. The RPF and Kagame have too much Hutu blood on their hands.
They are now killing moderate Tutsi who oppose their dictatorship in Rwanda.
4.
Dear RK,
I dont know what is this Black Star news source that you seem to be copying and pasting without analysis at all. am writing with particular concern about the amount of trust i was beginning to put into RK but atleast 2 articles from this source which have have been paraded without question has forced me to react.
I hate it as a journalist, to see someone failing to spell out someone's name and you know how that might even change the meaning. Half the names of the indictees were spelt wrong by an author that is supposed to be knowledgeable. Names like Kanyemera, Kayumba-nyamwasa were all spelt wrongly.
secondly, and just to be clear am no apologist for the rwandan govt for it has its fair share of problems, but the article seems to assert the french judge's assumptions that the RPF shot down habyarimana's plane which triggered the 1994 genocide. you may wish to know that up to now, who shot the plane has never been known despite 4 big invetsigations inclding by the UN. It has continued to be suspicious why the belgian/french quickly picked up the black box aftre the plane was shot for laboratory purposes and it has never been seen since.
War crimes, yes, but shooting down habrayimana's plane? as much as they would have wished it, there are strong indications someone else other than the RPF did! unless proven otherwise and i have personally chased several leads and i can assure your readers that the direction i was led to is different.
Thank you.
Kassim Kayira
5.
On Rwanda Genocide
I can feel the pain that the Kigali government feels about the arrest of their official. If indeed France thinks there is a case that the ICC should look into, I think the Kigali government should co-operate with France and demand that the envoy be produced in courts of law, and since Rwanda is sure of their innocence as far as the case is concerned,there should be no cause for alarm, Ms Kabuye will be set free. I do not see anything wrong with the arrest, the most important thing is to let her face the ICC judges and good enough,Kabuye is willing.
Then the issue of issuing warrants of arrest for the 23 or so French citizens suspected of involvement in the genocide. I do not know why the Kigali regime kept silent with the matter, we are talking about 800,000 Rwandese killed in a matter of 100 days and we keep silent about the perpetrators of the crime, I do not understand what kind of diplomacy this is. Kigali should sue the culprits and let us not talk about sovereignty, people died.
6.
Dear RK,
Finally real justice is coming as those who perpetuated the genocide in Rwanda are fished out, there was no way genocide could have occured if Uganda did not allow RPF to march to Kigali and if if if the innocent blood of two heads of state was not poured down. That blood and many others still cry out for true justiceand will haunt those who planned and ploted that evil event to bring down that plane. God is looking out so beware. Arrests are not only for the poor, defenceless and voice less but can also reach and touch the powerful.
Every boss has another boss.
7.
RK Editors and Readers,
The first respondent to the Black Star News, "Rwanda Genocide: Long Arms of Law" (11th Nov 2008), must be either a puppet, an accomplice into the Rwanda Genocide or guilty of the same. He or she tries to use logic to defeat the Black Star News, but his argument is even more fallacious. Ok, if Kagame did not start the Genocide in Rwanda who started the war or invaded Rwanda, at a time when there was active mediation and negotiation in progress for their return? And how did they stop the genocide, by shooing off the Interhamwes like birds into DRC?
Please, we are not children; while it is undeniable some Hutu extremist committed genocide because they were pushed against the wall as a result of the invasion, there was also reverse genocide in DRC, which Kagame cannot run away from.
I also want to ask my friend, whether the RPF used brooms to invade Rwanda, therefore didn't kill anybody. The side that kills the most is the one that wins the battle or war for that matter. The law of cause and effect dictates that you cannot separate the effect from the cause. Therefore, since Kagame and the RPF started the war by invading Rwanda with the material and "immoral assistance" of the Ugandan government, all of them must own it and live with the consequences. No amount of public relation will save them from the guilt. If they think the world does not know, at least they themselves know. That is where guilt comes from not mere denial.
The RPF is cut from the same cloth; i.e. the NRM cloth. What happened in Rwanda in 1994 is what happened in Luwero between 1981 and 186. These people are so diabolic; they massacred innocent people and blamed it on their adversaries. Africans are not in the habit to display dead bodies and skeleton for all to see; but the NRA and RPF perfected the art of displaying their victims' remains with glee, and blamed it on those they are fighting to win public and international sympathy. Already mention was made that the floating corps on River Kagera and Lake Victoria were coming from the rear (territories overrun by the RPF).
Having spent decades in exile and refugee camps, some of the RPF were just bitter and homeless people who went back to Rwanda with vengeance. They were not only bitter about the Habyarimanna, Hutu regime; they were also bitter about those Tutsi who remained behind in Rwanda and enjoyed normal life. But the worse part of these people is that they are unrepentant. They never look inward; it was their arrogance and imperialism towards the majority Hutu that sealed their fate in 1959.
Just like their counterpart; the NRA/NRM in Uganda, the RPF leadership uses reverse psychology (manipulation), to play holier than holy. To understand these people; whenever they say one thing, one should always look in the opposite direction for the objective truth. For example how can the RPF blame France for the Genocide when they are the ones who triggered it? It is because the eyewitness is dead and the French were the only eye witnesses that should be demonized before they act.
Revolted
8.
DEAR RK,
I wish to bring to the attention of these guys of postings no's 6&7 who wrote on the 11th. of Novemeber that they are not supposed to confuse the public which is interested in reading RK by their misinformation. Either they are puppets of that infamous "BLACK STAR NEWS", AND FOR THAT MATTER, of the Interahamwe and all genocide-minded people like Murwanashyaka Ignatius. It is common knowledge that genocide in Rwanda was long prepared by the Habyariman's regime and their French counterparts (not all French though). The blood of the Rwandese shed in 1959 was no less valuable to that of the two presidents who died in the plane crush. The Bigogwe massacres was much before the 1994 genocide to mention but two examples though the list is long.
No 6, in trying to personalise God forgets that God is God and all His creation is valuable, the Tutsi's inclusive. Rwanda is for all the three classes of people: the Twa, the Hutu and the Tusti. None has a monopoly! Any peace loving person would ask why all this took place and work out or propose what would prevent the same sad happening in the future.
The Murwanashyaka's in Germany and all Interahamwes should seek for repentance since the now Govt. in Kigali welcomes all to meet justice and to settle well in their country. The Bazungu's will always look for your weaknesses to weaken you the more. This is the time for Africans to come up and seek for a true African Spirit of unity then we can move a head. The billions spent in Congo by International Comunity on MONUC would be used for infrastructure like railway transport and reinforse other services like Health and Education. Our divisions will surely reinforce exploiters.
By the way that plane would not have crashed if there had been peace. Dear Black Star News editors, and Interahamwes, please think peace talk peace, then become white stars.
I will pray for your conversion ceaselessly
NDEMBO YA BISO
14 Nov 2008
9.
The Ghosts of the Tutsi, Ryigyemas, Acholis and Langi now caught up with them.
As the saying goes, if you kill by sword you shall die by the sword.
Now the blood of those who they have killed has started arousing themselves in the grave, to catch them in Germany.
People who have been part and parcel of the Rwanda genocide must now be handed them over of the demons. They started with the northerners in Uganda. That was carried out and the world super power gave them support. They then moved to Rwanda, while in Uganda they caged over 2000 northerner in several cells, including maximum prison Luzira. Some did not come out for more than one year and survived.
Some people were hired to carry out the purchase of the missiles from some ranches known for making good bird like catapult in one stone - two bird deal done and thereby cause the loss of million of poor people in Rwanda.
"God must be Crazy" I love this movie.
I hope the vincents will be alive and some day be got in holes like Saddam for the roles they have played in the Rwandan history. Even, if not here on earth, but some day somewhere.
Kagame and some of his colleagues now as generals will be stripped of the epaulets and they give their sincere accounts.
Some people must not leave the presidential Chairs, alive in power and as soon as the chair moves away, they Shall face France Courts anywhere in Europe
God is must be Crazy, people are not since and still he keeps them on.
14 Nov 2008
10.
11.
KAGAME WILL FINALLY EXPEL HIMSELF FROM RWANDAThe Hunter is being hunted now ...
Please readers, is it possible that almost everybody is wrong and Kagame is the only right person? First he expelled elite provocal Hutu, accusing them of genocide. Then he embarked on the Tutsi who dared question his style of running the State. He had almost dealt away with vocal journalists. On the International scene, Kagame with his fellow suspected war criminal Bush, expelled the then ICTR prosecutor who had almost completed investigating crimes committed by RPF including genocide. As if it were not enough, he expelled the French and their 'language' becuse they indicted some of his fellow criminals. Now it is Germany!
Let us come down to earth. Why doesn't he wait and see the evidence the French will present in Rose Kabuye's case? By the way, Rose Kabuye's choice to be taken to France to stand trial is a calculted move by Rose Kabuye to expose her boss who tourtured her and her family for sometime. Wait and see facts as they come our way.
The world saw thousands of Rwandans 'demostrating' in Kigali. They wanted Rose Kabuye set free. This reminds us the politics of manipulation that Kagame has depended upon ever since. It also reminds us that Rwandan politics does not change. Do you remember when the then Habyarimana fighters were being defeated by RPF and they drove the masses with them to Congo? If Kagame were to be defeated today, such people would certainly go with them - following blindly.
May I let you know readers, I am reliably informed that all army commanders around Kigali ordered every soldier under their control to go 'to the street'. The police did the same. Look at the pictures of the demostration, you might get this point clear.
Some writer on this forum wrote was is positive is that Kagame is still young ... we might be lucky to see him in some court standing trials. I am afraid, Museveni may survive this owing to age and general health conditions.
17 Nov 2008
12.
RK and Readers,
By shooting down Habyarimanna's plane, Museveni and Kagame wanted to kill two birds with one stone, which they suceeded. But their other aim was also to trigger a war between Rwanda and Burundi and also trigger a genocide in Burundi; which never took place. Thank God the Burundians restrained themselves.
Had the Burundian avenged their dead president, Cyprian Naryamire, who was assasinated together with Habyarimanna; hell would have broken loose in these tiny republics. The ethnic cleansing would have been horrendous; even the the RPF would have been swallowed whole in it. Otherwise, of the 800,000 to 1 million victims of 1994 Rwanda Genocide, how many were killed by the RPF? Since they were the victor of 1990-94 war, the RPF leadership neither declared how many of their so call "enemy forces" were put out of action, nor declared their caualties.
It is revolting because these RPF are in the habit of blaming their victims. They prefered to add up all the war victims from both sides and blame the killings only on the Hutu extremist. How dishonest can one become? You invade a country and you don't expect them to fight back? Did they expect a red carpet welcome? I am no Hutu extremist sympathizer, but if you provoke someone whom you have abused, degraded and spat in the mouth; and he expects you are coming back to continue from where you left, what do expect? Fury of course.
The French should not relent to these cold blooded killers. No amount of protests should lead them into releasing Ms. Kabuye. They instead should tighten the grip!
|