UN Report to be soon Released: Long Overdue Corroboration of the Horrific Plight of Rwandan Refugees in DRC and Congolese People

Press Release PP No. 01/Sep/10

UN Report to be soon Released: Long Overdue Corroboration of the Horrific Plight of Rwandan Refugees in DRC and Congolese People.

Our coalition (RUD/RPR) has just learned that an UN report is to be soon made public. Once the Kigali government got wind of the content, it has been widely reported in newspapers that Paul Kagame and his cronies have strongly requested that the forementioned report be kept under wrap while seeking to water down any reference to war crimes, crimes against humanity as well as acts of genocide implicating the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) and its allies. In addition, it is reported that Rwandan officials have threatened to pull out the Rwandan contingent from Darfur and/or any other UN missions if the language used in the report were not changed.

 
Our coalition would like to denounce and condemn in strongest terms possible such maneuvers, political interference, and tactics of the government of Kigali that is trying once again to blackmail individuals and/or institutions when the results of a long and painstaking investigation point to horrendous crimes committed against Rwandan refugees and Congolese population by RPF/RPA and its allies.

Although, the Kigali regime was trying to deny any implication of its army in massacres of Rwandan refugees and innocent Congolese citizens in DRC for more than a decade, one may remind the Rwandan people and the International Community that Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, has admitted explicitly and/or implicitly at several occasions to have ordered the killings of fleeing refugees. Hence, on April 7, 2007 in Murambi, Southern Province (ex-Gikongoro Prefecture), Paul Kagame indicated that he regrets that he did not teach a lesson to all those who were fleeing the country in 1994. More recently in a speech delivered on April 13, 2010 before the Rwandan National Assembly, Paul Kagame, referring to people who flee his regime, stated the following:

«Those fleeing are like [the waste] being excreted. It means the country has sieved”. (...) But for the waste, the country throws them out”. (Rwanda News Agency, April 13, 2010). On April 18, 2010 during the swearing-in ceremony of four generals, Paul Kagame stated clearly that he ordered the forced repatriation of Rwandan refugees by his army and those who refused were shot at (executed).

Despite overwhelming evidence and eyewitness accounts that several independent sources have documented over the years and finally have been corroborated in the draft of the latest UN report, it is shocking and appalling to learn that the Rwandan government is threatening the UN when Paul Kagame has personally admitted to hunting down Rwandan refugees in DRC in 1996 and in subsequent military campaigns. Comparing Rwandan refugees to human waste, one may conclude that they deserve to be eliminated: that what his army and its allies have been doing all along.

The findings of the latest UN investigation state that the crimes that were perpetrated in DRC against refugees and Congolese people by the RPA and its allies may be qualified as acts of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Therefore, our organization urges the UN to not water down the language of the final document since the fight against impunity shall be essential and paramount for any emergence of a free and fair society both in Rwanda and the region. Therefore, we strongly ask all the stakeholders including the UN, the African Union, and the International Community that the perpetrators of such despicable crimes be brought before independent and equitable judiciary to respond of their individual deeds.

After all these years of unparalleled tragedy and bad governance, the Rwandan people deserve better. In a country where lawful dissent is criminalized, prohibited, and/or repressed forcefully, there is no place to democratic debate. This has been one of the significant traits of the Kagame’s regime since its inception. The continuous flow of refugees including former RPF officials who have been flocking in neighboring countries is a blatant evidence of such brutality.

The RUD/RPR coalition is of the opinion that it is time to find lasting solutions to the overall problem of the Rwandan refugees in the region.

Therefore, it is important that the root causes of the political instability be genuinely addressed. As we have always pointed out, the Rwandan problem is political in nature and requires political solutions.

It is our firm conviction that as long as the underlying causes of the Rwandan political problems would not genuinely be addressed, the populations of the region will neither enjoy lasting peace nor sustainable development and prosperity.

In order to foster a reconciliatory Justice system, the only foundation of genuine Reconciliation, the coalition RUD-Urunana and RPR will continue to call for the organization, under the auspices of the International Community, of an Inter-Rwandan Dialogue. In addition, such process would set up a "Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation" Commission that would help heal a traumatized society.

We remain convinced that only this Dialogue would lead to lasting peace, stability, and the establishment of new political, judiciary, and security institutions that would meet the legitimate aspirations of all the constitutive groups of the Rwandan society.

September 1, 2010

By Dr. Augustin Dukuze
Spokesperson
RUD-Urunana
Rally for Unity and Democracy

National Democratic Congress (NDC) - Congrès National pour la Démocratie (CND)