Friday, May 29, 2009

Sudan: Unamid's New Deputy Force Commander Joins Mission

United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur
(El Fasher)
PRESS RELEASE
May 29, 2009

The new Deputy Force Commander of UNAMID, Maj. Gen. Mbutyana Duma Dumisani of South Africa, arrived today in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur and the headquarters of the Mission, to begin work with UNAMID.

This is Maj. Gen. Dumisani's third stint in the field of international peacekeeping. He served with an African Union force in Burundi (AMIB) in 2002 and then with the United Nations force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) between 2005 and 2007.

The Deputy Force Commander said he plans to focus on tackling UNAMID's enormous logistical and deployment challenges, as well as overall security issues, while serving with the Mission.

"If you want to have a Mission up and running at its full force, then you have got to resolve the problems of logistics and deployment," he said after his arrival today.

Maj. Gen. Dumisani, who succeeds Maj. Gen. Emmanuel Karenzi of Rwanda as Deputy Force Commander, will formally begin his duties on 31 May.

Related Materials:
UNAMID pays tribute to its outgoing Deputy Force Commander

General Karake leaving Darfur mission

Africa: Remembering Dr. Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem

By Global Voices Online

May 29, 2009

Africa
has lost one of its greatest sons, Dr. Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem.

Dr. Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem passed away on the eve of Africa Day. He died in a car accident in Nairobi
on his way to launch a maternal health campaign in Kigali, Rwanda.
Tajudeen was the Director of Justice Africa, General Secretary of the Pan-African Movement, Chairperson for the Pan African Development Education and Advocacy Programme (PADEAP), Chair of the International Governing Council of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) and Outreach Coordinator on the Millennium Development Goals in Africa. He also wrote weekly columns in The African (Tanzania), the Monitor (uganda
), the Weekly Herald (Zimbabwe), Weekly Trust (Nigeria), Nairobi Star (Kenya
) and Pambazuka News (Online).

In remembering Tajudeen and his work, Making Sense of Darfur blog reprints three columns he wrote on Darfur:

In tribute to the late Dr. Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem, Pan-Africanist committed to the liberation of Africa from all forms of oppression, we reprint three of his columns on Darfur.

Alex de Waal writes, “In Memoriam: Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem,”

Tajudeen was born in Funtua, Katsina State, Nigeria, in 1961. His commitment to his home town and family remained undimmed throughout his life. He was educated at Government Schools in Funtua from where he went to Bayero University, Kano, where he graduated with a first class honours degree. He was winner of the Nigerian Government’s Merit Award as the best student of Political Science between 1980-82 at Bayero University.

Alex tells an interesting story of his appearance before the selection committe for Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford:

After his National Youth Service, Tajudeen applied for a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford. He challenged the selection committee by dressing in traditional style for his interview and exam and demanding why they should want to associate someone like him with the name of the grand imperialist, Cecil Rhodes. To the credit of the Rhodes Scholarship, they selected him, and Tajudeen spent three years at St. Peter’s College, Oxford, writing his DPhil degree in politics. While there, he invigorated the Africa Society (serving as president) and injected his unique mix of humour, anecdote, sharp political analysis and enthusiastic optimism into the university’s African debates. Tajudeen was engaged in an astonishing range of African and anti-imperial activities including the Pan African Movement, the All African Anti-Imperialist Youth Front, the Movement for Awareness and Advancement, the Anti Apartheid Movement, the Save the Sharpeville Six Campaign and several magazines including the Africa Research and Information Bureau (ARIB).

And another one about his unique style of writing:

Those who knew him cannot forget his rapid one-fingered typing, bold and articulate and immediately dispatched into the public realm without a spellcheck.

Tajudeen was a wonderful person but an editor’s nightmare, says Firoze Manji, the editor for Pambazuka News:

“His respect for deadlines didn’t exist and he typed as he spoke and thought.“He simply sent us copy that was unpunctuated, no spell checks - straight off the cuff - a nightmare and yet worthwhile because what he had to say was always pertinent.”Mr Manji said it was poignant that he died in the early hours of 25 May, designated Africa Day.“He insisted it be called Africa Liberation Day, not just Africa Day, because that sounds like celebrating something in the past whereas Africa’s liberation is a struggle still to be achieved.”

He was known for his lack of good humour:

Tajudeen’s candid lack of guile and good humour enabled him to say things that for many others were unsayable, and to ask the most difficult questions without provoking defensiveness. At the time of the constitutional referendum in Zimbabwe, he demanded of the government, “what happens if you lose?” and of the opposition, “what happens if you win?”, discovering that neither had planned for this. He castigated his pan-Africanist allies in government without hesitation when they fell short. When told that Kofi Annan had won the Nobel Peace Prize he famously retorted, “for what?”

Speaking to a human rights conference in the UN conference centre in Addis Ababa in 1996 on the then-unfolding war in Zaire, the electricity suddenly went off and he declaimed, “even speaking of Mobutu makes the lights go out!” In the same hall a few years later he challenged Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, noting that European and American delegates to the conference could get an Ethiopian visa at the airport—but not Africans. “How can this happen in the capital of Africa?” he demanded. Prime Minister Meles said that no answer could match the passion of Tajudeen’s questioning. A couple of weeks later the Ethiopian government waived visa regulations for African delegates to international conferences.

“African will remain proud of your contribution,” writes Ugandan journalist Rosebell:

It’s hard to take in but Dr.Tajudeen is dead. Died in a car accident in Nairobi. Africa will remain proud of you and your contribution to the deelopment of the continent.

Tajudeen was one of the most facinating people that blogger Adewale has ever met:

Relentlessly witty, incredibly eloquent and naturally charming. Always caught between bombast and genius, he could hold court like Oscar Wilde and challenge like Marlon Brando. In fact he reminded me of Marlon Brando in his later life, a man of great awareness and wisdom resting in the presence of unachieved possibilities. Taju was my brother even though he had a suspicion of me as a consultant. He was a true African , a rarity amongst those of us who project that desire but never actualize its actions.

Negrita remembers when she met Tajudeen in Rwanda:

as we celebrate africa day, we also celebrate the life of renown pan African scholar and expert, Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem.he was a staunch activist, tirelessly promoting and advocating pan-African solutions to African problems. he tended not to dwell on what had gone wrong, but rather sought to find solutions from within.

he was, in the words of Firoze Manji we have indeed lost ‘a giant’ in the struggle.

i met him once, ten years ago, when i was doing an internship at Rwanda’s then-brand-new first English newspaper. he walked into the office, and–although i knew who he was on paper–i did not recognize him in person. he began asking me questions about what i studied, what articles i was editing, etc. we eventually got onto the topic of a pan African solution to the instability in the Great Lakes Region and i wound up quoting him to himself, from an article i had read of his in a Ugandan newspaper the day before. it was not until i met him again a day later, at my parents’ home that he laughingly told me who he was.

i met him once, ten years ago, when i was doing an internship at Rwanda’s then-brand-new first English newspaper. he walked into the office, and–although i knew who he was on paper–i did not recognize him in person. he began asking me questions about what i studied, what articles i was editing, etc. we eventually got onto the topic of a pan African solution to the instability in the Great Lakes Region and i wound up quoting him to himself, from an article i had read of his in a Ugandan newspaper the day before. it was not until i met him again a day later, at my parents’ home that he laughingly told me who he was.

Adieu Tajudeen:

From Facebook, the news began trickling in. Tajudeen , that behomoth of Pan Africanism and African thought was no more. Tragic road accident in Nairobi,Kenya is all the news we could get.

I knew about Tajudeen in 1994 as a secondary school student. He was the Secretary General of the Global Pan African Movement secretariat, then with offices in Muyenga,Kampala suburb.

The world, especially Africa, is a poorer place because of his passing. We have lost a powerful voice that feared not to say and see it the African way with inspiring optimism of the promise that is Africa despite the tragedy that falsely seems insurmountable. Adieu Tajudeen. You live on in your works and in the movement you have spawned.

May his soul rest in eternal peace:

Inna lillahi wa inna ilahi raji’un. “Verily we belong to Allah, and to Allah we return.”

Syndicated from http://globalvoicesonline.org/:
Africa: Remembering Dr. Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License

Related Materials:
In Memoriam: Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem, 1961-200925
May 2009
Memorial to Celebrate the Life and Legacy of Tajudeen
28 May 2009
If our Leaders Do not Respect Themselves, They Cannot Be Expected to Respect Us
7 May 2009

RWANDA vs FRANCE: Who is Trying Whom?
France is Seeking Absolution Through Judicial Vendetta
November 13th, 2008

Jack Nziza, the man who killed French speaking Tutsis

By Radio Katwe
"la kweli nitakwambia"
July 23, 2007, Kampala

Radio Katwe usually has Ugandan news but readers in Rwanda are asking us to publish their secrets.

Brigadier General Jack Nziza ( alias Jackson Nkurunziza) is the director or boss of Rwanda's Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI). Like many of the top Rwanda officials he has deep Ugandan roots and he is a cousin to Uganda's Inspector General of Police Major General Kale Kayihura. He is also a cousin to Amos Nzeyi the owner of Hot Loaf in Kampala, Uganda.

At one time Nziza was at Kigezi high school in Kabale, where he was involved in many strikes by the students over petty issues. But Jack Nziza was not just a wild student. He has grown up to be a real terror. He has killed, abused citizen's human rights , and looted people's property.

During the liberation war in Rwanda which started in 1990 Nziza killed many RPA fighters who tried to desert the RPF/RPA. Rwandese refugees came from Burundi and Congo (Zaire) to join the RPA. They spoke French because of their origin and they were shocked that they were being treated so harshly by their English speaking brothers from Uganda.

You know when the RPF first invaded Rwanda, many French speaking Tutsi did not welcome the RPF. They were suspicious of these "Baganda" from Uganda. But little by little they started joining the rebel RPA ranks. But when the young Tutsi boys from Congo and Burundi who spoke French saw how they were being marginalized, they started to desert the RPA.

That is when Jack Nziza started to kill these boys with "Kafuni" (a small, old hoe). The skulls of these Tutsi who spoke French from Zaire and Burundi are among the ones which are shown to the world claiming that they were Tutsi killed by Habyarimana's interahamwe. The fact is that Interahamwe were also no joke, they killed many people. But some of their accusers who are now in power also shed much innocent blood.

Nziza is a right hand man to Rwanda president Kagame. Before they invaded Rwanda in 1990, he worked under Kagame as an intelligence officer during the time Kagame was senior officer in Military Intelligence in the NRA in Basiima House in Kampala.

After they captured power, when Kagame wanted to kill prominent Rwandans like Seth Sedashonga he got his cousin Jackson Rwahama to command the operation. And it was Nziza who drove Rwandan embassy cars in Nairobi and he hunted down Lizinda and Sedashonga and others. That is why many Franco phone Tutsi hate Kagame even more than Habyarimana.

Related Materials:
The Rwandan Genocide: The Bodies That Were Floating In The Kagera River Were Victims Of The RPA

Uganda to rebury Rwanda genocide victims

Massacres at the Kagera River in 1994 Rwanda genocide

Rwanda: Is Paul Kagame the New Hitler?

Paul Kagame, the Mastermind of the Genocide of Interior Tutsis

During the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Kagame massacred both Hutu and Tutsi

The US Sponsored "Rwanda Genocide" and its Aftermath: Psychological Warfare, Embedded Reporters and the Hunting of Refugees

Goma/Bukavu: Testimony of a direct eye witness, January 1997

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Rwanda: Now That the Swedish Judiciary Has Done Its Job

By Editorial
The New Times-Kigali
May 27, 2009

Kigali — The Swedish judiciary yesterday made a landmark ruling giving a green light for the extradition to Rwanda of Sylvere Ahorugeze, one of the scores of the 1994 Genocide masterminds to stand trial in Rwanda.

The ruling contradicts another one delivered by neighbouring Denmark on the same fugitive, which had, instead of extraditing or at least letting him stand trial, released him, going further to award damages.

Despite the fact that it is yet a done deal, owing to the fact that Rwanda does not have an extradition treaty, Ahorugeze's extradition would require a political blessing.

However, this is commendable so far because, it is progressive and a far cry to what has been observed in other European judiciaries, which opted to rule based on decisions rendered by other countries.

Several judicial systems, especially European ones have previously refused to extradite fugitives to Rwanda for trial on basis of a ruling by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, (ICTR), which for reasons that can only be explained by the judges of this court, ruled that the Rwandan judicial system was not 'good' enough to try the suspects.

The Swedish Bench, regardless of the past verdicts in similar circumstances, ruled that the there were no legal obstacles to bar the extradition process of Ahurugeze so that he faces justice where the Genocide was committed.

It is now up to the politicians to make yet another independent decision, of course based on facts on the ground, since the Rwandan government has always readily provided what has been required of them to facilitate the extradition of these fugitives.

Other European countries that for unknown reasons, decided to remain hiding dens for the rest of the wanted fugitives should take heed from Sweden and put an end to this enigma that that has haunted Rwandans for the last 15 years.

The government of Rwanda has done all it takes, including a soon-to-be promulgated special legislation under which the extradited genocide fugitives will be tried.

Related Matrials:
Swedish government to decide on extradition of Rwandan war criminal

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Another Gift for Kagame

Rwandan Government Protests UK’s Refusal to Extradite Genocide Suspects

Rwandan Government sets up networks to scout dissenting voices and silence them

Rwanda: TIG Works Estimated At Over Rwf 18 Billion

By Charles Kwizera

The New Times-Kigali
May 24, 2009


Gasabo — Activities carried out by Works of General Interest (TIG) since its inception in 2005 have so far been estimated at Rwf 18,732,762,947.

This was revealed Friday by the Executive Secretary of TIG, Evariste Bizimana while briefing the press in Gasabo District.


TIG is a government agency that oversees community service of those who confessed their role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

According to Bizimana, TIG activities have proved to be efficient, especially where the convicts are used effectively as stated by the presidential decree number 10/01 of 07, March 2005.

Activities mainly carried out by the convicts include infrastructure development.

According to the TIG communications officer, Damascene Ngayaberura, that the most productive year was 2008 as it yielded over Rwf 12 billion.

The works that TIG has managed to do since 2005 include building houses for the needy, digging terraces, paving roads, planting coffee trees among other things.

Ngayaberura however told this paper that TIG has been facing some problems of late among them having low turn up numbers of those convicted by the Gacaca courts.

"Gacaca courts, give us the numbers of convicts who are supposed to serve their term in TIG, but some of them don't turn up hence making our work difficult," he said.

Ngayaberura cited grassroot leaders as the cause of the problem as they retain the convicts and use them in works which are not of general interest.

According to Ngayaberura, the way forward for the TIG secretariat is to make the convicts more productive and for them to start producing their own food so they don't become a burden to the government.

Related Materials:
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Rwanda's Gacaca Courts PRI's The World

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Rwanda --Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper Annual Progress Report--

Monitoring and Research Report on the Gacaca: Community Service (TIG) Areas of reflection

Hutu rebels defy military offensive in DR Congo: UN report

By AFP

May 24, 2009

Photo:
A Rwandan Hutu rebel of the FDLR (Democratic Force for the Liberation of Rwanda) checks a path in a dense forest in February 2009 outside Pinga, 150kms north west of Goma. Hutu rebels have defied a recent joint military operation between arch-rivals Rwanda and DR Congo, carrying out new attacks since the offensive ended, a UN report obtained by AFP said Sunday.(AFP/File/Lionel Healing).

KINSHASA (AFP) – Hutu rebels have defied a recent joint military operation between arch-rivals Rwanda and DR Congo, carrying out new attacks since the offensive ended, a UN report obtained by AFP said Sunday.

The draft report by five United Nations experts also criticised the unprecedented joint military operation in January and February that targeted Rwandan Hutu rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Some members of the rebel group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), participated in that country's 1994 genocide.
"The military operation suffered from a short time-span, logistical bottlenecks and the reported embezzlement of operational funds, and failed to break the FDLR command and control apparatus, which remains intact," the UN report says.
As a result, the already violence-scarred provinces of Nord-Kivu and Sud-Kivu in eastern DR Congo have seen further unrest, according to the experts, whose report has been sent to the UN Security Council.

"Since the (Rwandan military's) withdrawal, the FDLR has counter-attacked in various locations across North and South Kivu, resulting in increased civilian casualties," said the experts, who spent five weeks in eastern DR Congo.

According to the report, the FDLR has financed itself through illegal mining in the mineral-rich country and by controlling charcoal production in Congo's Virunga National Park.

FDLR is one of a myriad of armed groups operating in DR Congo's east that have caused widespread displacements and carried out human rights violations, experts say.

The report also addresses the Congolese government's difficulties in dealing with a Tutsi rebel group, the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), whose leader Laurent Nkunda was captured in Rwanda.

DR Congo has been attempting to integrate the CNDP into its regular armed forces.
The experts say they have "evidence that a number of former CNDP military officers who are now in the (regular army) are operating parallel command structures."

The rebels' ex-military chief of staff, Bosco Ntaganda, "is acting as de facto FARDC deputy commander for military operations in the Kivus," the report says, using the abbreviation for the Congolese army.

Ntaganda is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes.

Delayed salary payments have also led to indiscipline in the integrated army units, "resulting in ongoing human rights violations" by troops.

The violations include "looting and attacks on the civilian population," it said.

More generally addressing violence against civilians, the report spread the blame widely.

"These violations consisted of arbitrary executions, reprisal killings, abductions and willful destruction of property, perpetrated mainly by the LRA and the FDLR, and sexual violence, forced labour, looting and ill-treatment of civilans perpetrated by FARDC soldiers," it said.

The LRA is the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army rebel group, which has also operated in the area.

Related Materials:
UN: The Joint Military Operation Against The FDLR Has Failed

Rwanda, Congo Military Assault Fails to Break Rebels, UN Says

Rwanda: Warning against the preparation for massacres within Rwanda

New Report to Detail Failed Military Operation Against Hutu Rebels

DRC-Rwanda: More than 8000 FDLR rebels have surrendered

Growing Atrocities Reported Against Civilians in Eastern DRC

DRC: Wanted warlord helping UN’s DR Congo operations

Oxfam criticises UN for joining Congo war

DR Congo: Hold Army to Account for War Crimes

DRC-UN commanders: Ex-rebels integrated into Congo army responsible for rapes, killings

DRC: Comprehensive strategies critical for Kivu peace, ICG says

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Swedish government to decide on extradition of Rwandan war criminal

By DPA
Earth Times
May 26, 2009

Stockholm - Sweden's Supreme Court
ruled Tuesday that the government would have the final say on the possible extradition of an alleged Rwandan war criminal. The Supreme Court said that although there were shortcomings in Rwanda's legal system, there were no legal obstacles preventing the return of Sylvere Ahorugeze to the East African country.

Rwanda called for Ahorugeze's extradition following his arrest in Sweden in July 2008. He is suspected of crimes against humanity during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and of involvement in the murder of around 25 people.

The 53-year-old has said witness statements were part of a plot against him and that he would not be granted a fair trial in Rwanda. He has also cited ill-health.

The Supreme Court
said Rwanda had made strides to improve its justice system, but noted that Finland and the High Court in London recently said they would not extradite other alleged Rwandan war criminals.

Earlier, the Swedish Prosecution Authority said there was reason to believe the allegations made against Ahorugeze.

Ahorugeze had been living in Denmark for several years when he accompanied his wife to the Rwandan embassy in neighbouring Sweden where she tried to renew her passport. Embassy staff alerted Swedish police and Ahorugeze was arrested.

Danish authorities held him on suspicion of war crimes, but he was subsequently released and awarded damages when a special prosecutor dropped the case.

An estimated 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred by Hutu militia and civilians in the Rwandan genocide that began in early April 1994 and lasted approximately 100 days.

Rwanda signs $24 million grant for broadband connectivity

By Afro1 News
Staff writer
May 19, 2009

afrol News, 19 May - The Rwandan government has received a $24 million grant from the World Bank to establish network that will provide broadband connectivity and access to low-cost international connectivity.

The project, Regional Communication Infrastructure Programme - Rwanda (RCIPRWA), which seeks to facilitate the country's connection to global networks through the undersea fiber optic cables, will be implemented and managed by the Rwanda Development Board in Charge of ICT (RBD-IT).

The Minister in the president's office in charge Science, Technology, Scientific Research and ICT, Professor Romain Murenzi said the funding will complement the government’s initiative to install a National Backbone fiber optic network. “This support will boost our ambitions to become a regional ICT hub," he said.

He said the project will bring high speed global connectivity to Rwanda, supporting the growth of business around ICT and more improved services to the people of Rwanda.

The RDB-IT Deputy CEO, Nkubito Bakuramutsa, said the establishment of the sound network will be the catalyst empowering the government's vision for Rwanda, which seeks to transform itself from an agriculture based economy to knowledge and information based economy.

He also said the connectivity will enhance cross-border communication traffic flows and will provide access to onward international connectivity through the submarine cable infrastructure under development along the Eastern Coastline," he told the media.

The project is also expected to enhance regional integration and harmonisation of sector regulation across the countries in the east Africa. It will also support both the public and private sectors by improving the telephony and digital traffic infrastructure.

Rwanda targets 25,000 housing units per year

BY EDDIE MUKAAYA
The New Times-Kigali
May 26, 2009

Statistics indicate that a single house costs about Rwf20 million. This means that total housing demand would require a financing package of up to Rwf500 billion per year.

Rwanda needs about 25,000 housing units per year, a basic right for her citizens, quoted in the Istanbul Declaration, according to statistics from the Ministry of Infrastructure.

Linda Bihire, the Minister of Infrastructure, said that the estimated demand is for housing in the urban centers of the country only.

In a breakdown, Kigali city alone demands about 10,000 housing units per annum. The combined demand for housing in the rest of the country’s urban centers is estimated at 15,000 units per annum.

A presentation on Rwanda’s construction sector during the Construction/Real Estate Investment Roundtable that ended yesterday also indicated that, “The demand for construction of residential housing is increasing at a rapid rate with the urban population of 1.9 million growing at 4 percent per year.”

“Although the demand for housing has grown, involvement of the public and private sector has not improved much from the 10 percent that was registered in 2003,” Bihire said.

Last year alone, the construction growth rate was estimated at 16 percent. Information presented at the Serena Hotel also indicate that planned settlements are the preferred and accepted form of housing development in urban areas, which require massive investments.

The National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) statistics indicate that a single house costs about Rwf20 million as of last year. This means that total housing demand would require a financing package of up to Rwf500 billion per year.

Kigali city, according to the ‘City Master Plan’ has construction projects worth $600 million.
Currently, Rwanda’s construction sector is largely financed by mortgages. However, the Central Bank Governor, François Kanimba, said that though the current demand for mortgage finance is much higher, its total supply remains far below the demand.

“This is because the banks’ capacity to sustain the past growth in real estate loans is constrained by the duration mismatch,” he said.

There are currently three housing specialised banks such as Housing Bank of Rwanda (BHR) and eight commercial banks in Rwanda. Only four of these embrace mortgage financing.

Unfortunately, an official who spoke on conditions of anonymity revealed that Rwanda Commercial Bank (BCR), one of the mortgage financer, has suspended the programme owing to the global credit crunch.

There are also a great number of estates which were developed by institutions such as the Social Security Fund of Rwanda (SSFR) and privately owned property developers like Tri-Star Investment.

SSFR has about eight ongoing real estate projects. In order to finance in a sustainable manner, real estate sector, Kanimba explained that, “Rwanda needs to mobilise long term domestic savings.”

The pension reforms to regulate and supervise social security activities in Rwanda are expected to stimulate long term domestic saving.

The construction sector is also one of the key sectors of the economy in Rwanda. Rwanda Development Board (RDB) statistics show that investments in the sector have grown from $100 million to $351 million over the last five years, representing a 28 percent increase.

Related Materials:
Rwanda: Multi million construction projects unveiled in Rwanda

Rwanda: Multi million construction projects unveiled in Rwanda

By Afro1 News
Staff writer
May 20, 2009

afrol News, 20 May - Rwanda has unveiled $600 million real estate projects to attract potential investors in the country’s vibrant construction industry, the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) has said in a statement.

RDB said that potential areas within the sector have been identified and are ready for development.

Prime Minister Bernard Makuza addressing a roundtable meeting held for constructors and real estate agents confirmed that Rwanda has a high demand for investment in the construction sector despite the country facing shortages of construction materials.

“The decision to have this roundtable is very strategic indeed because Rwanda has the most vibrant construction sector at the moment, whose dynamism needs the support of investors,” Mr Makuza told local reporters.

According to RDB, the proposed projects ready for investors are 20 luxurious Ambassadorial Villas worth above $14 million, each expected to cost between $600,000 and $800,000 in prime locations like Kacyiru, Gacuriro and Gisozi and 50 spacious up scale residentials in Gaculiro worth over $12 million.

The board also presented to the meeting, the middle income community apartments in Kagarama (Kicukiro) worth over $30 million and middle income flats in Muhima to cost over $14 million and a magnificent 10-storey office tower in Nyarugenge Central Business District expected cost over $16 million.

RDB said is has realised the need to increase the supply of construction materials to meet the ever increasing demand, also saying a cement manufacturing plant worth $150 million to be set up in the Western Province and a brick manufacturing project worth $15 million were among the many projects available for investment.

The Infrastructure Minister Linda Bihire has also showed that the demand for construction of residential housing is increasing at a rapid rate, with a demand estimated between 8,500 to 10,000 units per annum.

The ministry further said the combined demand for housing in the rest of the urban centres of Rwanda is estimated at about 15,000 units per annum.

Rwanda now has a population of 10.4 million growing at 2.8 percent annually with urban population taking up 1.9 million and growing at 4 percent per year.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Rwanda: Economic Growth Sustained Through Free Labor

By Truthseeker

© SurViVorsNetworks.org
May 24, 2004

To My Fellow Truth Seekers:

I actually won't talk about RPF mega atrocities, RPF mega massacres and assassinations, disappearances and arbitrary executions, arbitrary arrests, and so on...

However, let me tell you some straight from the hip facts about the gap between common perceptions and the RPF government reporting about GNP/GDP, RPF government statistical data from national census adding to the RPF manipulation and fabrications about the Rwandan Genocide.

The most popularly followed inflation-adjusted economic statistic is the GDP, which reflects the growth in euro/dollar economic activity minus the growth in inflation. If inflation in Rwanda is understated, which it is, then the resulting real GDP will certainly be overstated. You've seen and noted that the common sense tells us that more meaningful trends in a country like Rwanda usually are seen in year-to-year change, if nothing is there, overstated and learnedly manipulated to meet the World Bank requirements, victims will certainly be and always be the Rwandan population. I will fully be discussing this issue next time.

By the way, here is a powerful revelation on the RPF manipulation that will give you the big picture you need to make your own conclusion about the RPF tyrannical regime. You may also come to understand why the world, the European Union, with RPF complicity and manipulation of economic data allows the RPF regime to get favors from the Breton Woods institutions: the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

A very simple pattern of some of RPF manipulation techniques until previously had not given you ideas about current sufferings of the Rwandan people led by the RPF autocratic regime.

How many people in this world have walked away with RPF deceit and manipulation?
The answer: millions! These include many European Union, US and British citizens.

No sentence to mean what it sounds. Many of you still allow Paul Kagame and his pros to manipulate you. So, the darkest secret of General Paul Kagame was manipulating and still manipulates you.

We have lost many years owing to Kagame’s manipulation and fluttery. Because of the apparent success of such manipulations and lies, he still wins all those battles! But what I know is that “No cause is a lost cause, until there is a fool left to fight for it”.

Thanks
TS
******************
Overview on Rwandan economy
According to Business Environment Snapshots, Rwanda has made improvements in time for imports and exports as well as cost of exports, jumping up 12 places. However, despite these improvements, Rwanda still ranks worse than the regional and income group averages for all indicators, except for Control of Corruption indicator.

Reports from the Enterprise Surveys, attest that electricity, tax rates, and access to/cost of financing rank as the most significant constraints to firm investment. Rwanda is no longer the worst-ranked country globally in the Trading Across Borders category. They also conclude that despite these improvements, Rwanda still ranks relatively worse than its regional and income group averages.

Rwanda’s main sources of income
Since 1994, the main sources of income in Rwanda include: foreign aid for development, corruption and illicit payments by Rwandans and foreign companies operating in Rwanda to the RPF party, which in turn pays huge amounts of money to the RPF leadership and senior APR / RDF officers, the looting of mineral and agricultural resources of the Democratic Republic of Congo, forced labor from Hutu prisoners, and most importantly, the now-in-vogue commercialization of the Rwandan genocide.

A careful analysis of data from Doing Business and Enterprise Surveys on Rwanda’s macroeconomic indicators revealed that all of these data failed to clearly indicate what are specific imports and exports that tipped Rwanda up to 12th rank according to the World Bank.

Indeed, if the reported macroeconomic indicators ought to be true they should lead the Rwandan economy to new opportunities and the country would not have to continue to rely on worldwide commercialization of the Rwandan genocide and forced labor from Hutu prisoners as its main source of income.

Despite manipulation of Rwanda’s macroeconomic indicators by the RPF regime, it is important to acknowledge the shocking reality on the ground: increase in the percentage of malnourished adults and children in Rwanda’s rural areas and widespread poverty in the countryside while the RPF regime desperately runs away from its responsibility and puts the blame on current economic recession in highly industrialized countries.

Forced labor institutionalization in Rwanda
Besides other important sources of income mentioned above, I would like to focus my analysis on Rwanda’s forced labor official known as TIG works (a French acronym for Travaux d’Intérêts Généraux or Works for General Interests in English), which began in 2005 along with the Gacaca courts system.

This forced labor is of course linked to other sources of income mentioned above and was developed by Anglo-Saxon ideologues within secret research institutes that are actively involved in worldewide commercialization of the Rwandan genocide.

Rwanda's forced labor is fuelled by sporadic bloodsheds within Rwanda, wars in the DRC , and regular retaliatory massacres of innocent civilians following alleged assassinations of Tutsis survivors of the Rwandan genocide. Usually, these assassinations of Tutsis survivors of the Rwandan genocide are usually instigated or committed by the RPF and/or its Local Defense militia and are always followed by massive arrests within the Hutu population in surround ereas.

As a consequence, prisons in the area where these massacres occurred become overcrowded. This tactic is part of a long plan that scrupulously follows Kagame’s sinister plans aimed at slowly but surely exterminating the Hutu population, a plan known as "Tea Spoon Strategy" (from the infamous Kagame’s hate speech on April 7th, 2007, in Murambi, Rwanda).

Many Rwandans have come to realize that such a sinister plan constitutes a learnedly sophisticated genocide against the Hutu populations. This holocaust began with Rwanda’s invasion by the RPF in October 1990 and has been going on ever since.

That is how a repressive system in Rwanda has become a reliable source of income due to the exploitative nature of TIG works from Hutu prisoners with a continuous supply chain represented by the Gacaca courts system.

The mastermind of such a repressive system is Paul Kagame, the current RPF leader and Rwandan President. Kagame is not only believed to be the real mastermind behind the Rwandan genocide of 1994, but also to be the worse living war criminal since Hitler. Currently, Kagame is wanted by the French and Spanish justice systems for war crimes and crimes of genocide committed in Rwanda and in DRC.

Kagame and his RPF regime came up with a TIG works and the Gacaca courts system with an implicit mandate to continuously terrorize hundreds of thousands of Hutu prisoners across the country.

To divert the international public opinion about this insidious repressive nature of TIG works, a Hutu by the name of Evariste Bizimana from Jenda Sector and Nkuli Commune, in former Ruhengeri Prefecture (now part of the Northern Province) has been appointed as Executive Secretary of TIG National Committee.

In contrast to RPF claims to its international partners, TIG is a shameful institution aimed at targeting Hutus for slavery with the ultimate goal of implementing the apartheid like system which is obvious in Rwandan cities especially in Kigali-City where Tutsis are preferentially granted easy access to different services.

The complicity of the international community in current sufferings of the Rwandan people is overwhelming. This complicity is mostly reflected in the composition of Kagame’s Presidential Advisory Council (PAC), which is co-chaired by President Kagame and Joe Ritchie, founder of Fox River Financial Resources Inc. (USA) and CEO of Rwanda Development Board (RDB).

PAC was officially launched on September 26, 2007, by President Paul Kagame. It comprises a special team of Rwandans and foreingers whose mission is to advise the President on Rwanda’s strategic development choices and initiatives, using their considerable combined and wide-ranging knowledge, experience and contacts. More details about Kagame's PAC can be found here.

It includes the following distinguished personalities:
1-Scott Ford – President and CEO of Alltel
2-Sir Tom Hunter – Scottish entrepreneur, philanthropist, co-founder Clinton-Hunter Development Initiative
3-Dr. Donald Kaberuka – President of the African Development Bank Group, former Minister of Finance
4-Dr. Clet Niyikiza – GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Vice President of Worldwide Research & Development
5-Kaia Miller - founder of Aslan Global, Inc.
6-Joe Ritchie - Rwanda’s Honorary Consul in Chicago, founder Fox River Financial Resources, Inc. and now CEO of Rwanda Development Board (RDB)
7-Micheal Roux - Rwanda’s Honorary Consul General in Australia, Chairman, Asian Markets, KPMG; Roux International Pty Ltd; RI Group;
8-Bishop John Rucyahana – Bishop of Shyira Diocese of Rwanda
9-Tribert Rujugiro – Rwandan Entrepreneur Board, President of Rwanda Investment and Export Promotion Agency
10-Dr. Eliane Ubalijoro – Assistant Professor at McGill University
11-Pastor Rick Warren - Religious leader, founder Saddleback Church
12-Prof. Michael Porter-Monitor Group cofounder
13-Tony Blair-Former British Prime Minister
14- Dale Dawson- Arkansas investment banker
15-James Musoni-Rwanda’s minister of Finance
16-Rosemary Museminari-Rwanda’s Foreign Affairs minister
17-Gatare Francis-New Personal Representative of President Kagame to the NEPAD Steering Committee
18-Himbara David-Private Secretary to President Kagame
19-Kanimba François-Governor, Rwanda National Bank
20-Michael Fairbank-Chairman Emeritus and founder of The OTF Group

Repressive laws continuously fuel massive arrests
In Rwanda, many Hutus are constantly accused of having committed genocide or simply of conveying the genocide ideology. Actually, no Hutu is exempt from such accusations mostly owing to several repressive legislations that have been implemented the Rwandan Parliament to the great delight of Kagame and his RPF regime.

Prompted by continuous rising numbers of prisoners, the idea of using these prisoners as a productive free workforce began with the creation of the Gacaca courts in 2005. In the same year, forced labor was also institutionalized with the creation of the Department of State, Work for General Interests (TIG). The Gacaca courts and TIG works are inter-dependent: the Gacaca courts constitute an important supply chain to TIG works.

Under current RPF regime, forced labor has become very common. It is well understood that Hutu prisoners (men, women, and children) provide much higher productivity when used as "tigistes" than when used in farms for cash crops such as tea and coffee plantations.

Hutu prisoners are usually used in many channels of communication, such as roads construction (as seen before in China), in building constructions at Nyarutarama subdivision (viewed as Rwanda’s Pretoria) and in construction of villas for RPF members under the umbrella of "home for needy people".

Some of European NGOs also contribute to this exploitive machinery by diverting European taxpayers' money into their own pockets. Some of these Hutu prisoners are also found among many residential homes of RPF members where they work for free at home in their farms, etc. There is no doubt that Rwandan Hutus are increasingly becoming the private property of the Rwandan Nazi repressive system. Paul Kagame and the RPF regime are poised to transform Rwanda into a massive system of terror.

Rehabilitation camps (Ingando) such as the one in Mutobo, are increasingly taking forms of Nazi’s concentration camps. An apartheid-like system is also slowly taking place in Rwanda. Impoverished Hutus usually walk barefoot. When they have to go to town, they are forced to rent a pair of sandals (because they cannot afford to buy one) at the entrance to the cities. The same is also true prior entering any municipal buildings.

Prisoners are paid for their forced labor journey with a minimum meal, just enough to keep them alive. These per diem food rations can be adjusted upwards or downwards depending on the attitude of the prisoner.

Food rations are determined according to the amount of work provided within the established standards. Hunger has become not only a powerful tool to destroy Hutu prisoners who refuse to wear the genocide uniform, but also a powerful tool of manipulation.

Due to untenable conditions within Rwandan prisons, it is not surprising to see daily eruption of violence following multiple accusations among prisoners, accusations that are mostly instigated by prison guards, police officers or spying agents.

Continuous violence within Rwandan prisons is meant to break the already fragile harmony between some prisoners who do not want to die from hunger and those who strongly believe in the presumption of innocence until proven otherwise.

With a recent drastic measure aimed at preventing families of prisoners from sending food to their relatives in prisons, the RPF regime has found another way to fully exploit Hutu prisoners: their daily meal depends on what they can offer in term of daily labor.

Daily meal is reduced for the prisoners who do not meet the established standards for forced labor. Occasionally, crooks may extort some food from their fellow inmates, a situation that usually increases tensions already exacerbated by the untenable conditions in these prisons.

No wonder that prisoners from Lilima Detention Center are increasingly confessing to have taken part in genocide. Indeed, many prisoners prefer to confess for crimes they never committed so that they can be freed from prisons and finish their sentence on forced labor as “tigistes”.

No wonder that hundreds of thousands of Hutus are being constantly recycled in these prisons, with continuous in and out, depending on the request of Gacaca courts which constitute the supply chain for Rwanda’s forced labor market.

Prison guards are vested with full authoritative power over the use of force and over food distribution within Rwandan prisons. Any revolts or any claims are repressed by blood shed, which simply means that any claim for any rights is de facto doomed to total failure. Some prisoners happen to be arbitrarily freed then killed shortly after their release from prison. Many other prisoners are regularly killed in prisons by police officers and prison guards using Kalachnikov.

Although all of the above information is available to the public, the passivity of the international community is shocking. Rwandan Hutus from all over the world must stand up and break this wall of silence. It is imperative that the world knows what a Hutu life is like in Rwanda. The Hutu life has no meaning. Rwandan Hutus struggle along on a daily basis while the RPF regime continues to claim that all Rwandans are equal and that there is no Hutus nor Tutsis in Rwanda.

If these RPF claims were true why then now the Rwandan constitution has been amended so that it can refer to the Rwandan genocide of 1994 as a "genocide committed on Tutsis" instead of a genocide against Tutsis and moderate Hutus as it is indeed universally accepted?

In their marketing agenda of the Rwandan genocide, the RPF regime and its western allies continue to spread lie propagandas aimed at demonizing Hutus as genocidaires and that Hutu children convey genocide ideology. These false accusations are meant to continuously provide the RPF regime with free workforce from Hutus.

Even Hutu survivors of numerous RPF atrocities in Rwanda and DRC are not safe in their exile. They remain susceptible to RPF false accusations of involvement in Rwandan genocide of 1994. In western countries, these false accusations are often used by RPF sympathizers to reboot Hutu refugee applications for asylum.

Paul Kagame and his RPF regime continue to commercialize the Rwandan genocide and to excel in media distortion and manipulation in order to divert the public opinion on their own responsibilities in the Rwandan genocide.

One may also wonder what would then be the legacy of displaying Rwandan skulls in numerous genocide memorials scattered throughout Rwanda. It is important to recall that these are skulls that have been chopped off from their bodies by RPF soldiers. Some of them have been gathered from different Rwandan localities and transported to different genocide memorial sites.

Most of these skulls these skulls are from our parents, children, brothers and sisters and our fellow Hutus victims of the RPF in Rwanda between 1990 and 2000. Indeed, theses throughout the country, most of the Tutsis victims of the Interahamwe militia during the Rwandan genocide of 1994 have been buried with dignity these past 15 years.

In some occasions, bodies have been exhumed and officially reburied as Tutsis when in reality they were Hutus massacred by RPF in different localities of Kigali-City such as in Gisozi. In coming weeks, similar scenarios will soon take place in Uganda.

Is it possible that one day brave men and women from all over the world will get together to prove the veracity of the above information using DNA technology? This is the only way that might surely help Rwandans (Hutus and Tutsis without any exceptions) to identify their loved ones who perished in Rwanda since 1990.

Such a tremendous work is realistic, feasible and reliable. It has been done in Bosnia and can be done in Rwanda if we fight for it. Unfortunately, for some unspecified reasons, there is still little, if any, political willingness to do so from many western powers. The fight is therefore fare from over but it ought to be won. We shall never give up.

Related Materials:
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Rural poverty is dramatically increasing in Rwanda, Belgian researcher An Ansoms reveals

Rwandan peasants on the brink of extinction

Striving for growth, bypassing the poor?A critical review of Rwanda’s rural sector policies

The Two Faces of Rwanda

Rwanda: Driven by Poverty Mothers Throw Away Their Infants

Rwanda Today: When Foreign Aid Hurts More Than It Helps

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The genocide in Rwanda: The difficulty of trying to stop it happening ever again

The Power of Horror in Rwanda

Yesterday a victim, today an oppressor: how aid funds war in Congo

COMBAT MEDIC: An Australian’s eyewitness account of the Kibeho Massacre

Rwanda: The truth according to Congresswoman Cynthia Mc Kinney

UN: The Joint Military Operation Against The FDLR Has Failed

By RFI News
May 23, 2005

Rape, looting, recruitment of child soldiers, the report of UN experts on the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is overwhelming. This group of UN experts established by the UN in 2003, spent several weeks in the North and South Kivu. Its report has been forwarded to the Security Council of the United Nations. RFI has obtained a copy. The first thing that appears in this report is that the joint military operation of the Armed Forces of DRC and Rwanda against the FDLR has been a failure.

First finding by the UN experts

Recent joint military operations between the Congolese and Rwandan armies failed to break the command structure of the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) Rwandan Hutu rebels. "The operation, they wrote, suffered from its brevity, logistical problems and fraudulent diversion of operational funds."

The FDLR regained control of many of their positions, including mining areas they previously controlled. Many traders, according to the report, continue to buy cassiterite and gold in areas controlled by the FDLR.

Civilian populations frightened

With regard to the integration of armed groups into the Congolese forces, the UN experts recognize that it was poorly planned and carried out too quickly. They attest for instance that many weapons were not rendered by the former rebels of the CNDP (Congrès national pour la défense du peuple) or by the various Mayi-Mayi militias. In addition, there may be even many caches that include stocks of heavy weapons, some of which are still under the control of former officers of CNDP.

In terms of violations of human rights, the UN experts do not spare anyone. Congolese soldiers, former rebels integrated into the Command of the FARDC (Armed Forces of the DRC) have committed war crimes. Rapes of women and recruitment of child soldiers have not ceased in the North and South Kivu. Extortion, looting, burning houses have left the population destitute and terrified. Congolese civilians are suffering from vengeance of the FDLR chased away without any protection from their own armed forces which also are responsible for widespread and vicious abuses against its own people that amount to war crimes.

Related Materials:
Rwanda, Congo Military Assault Fails to Break Rebels, UN Says

Rwanda: Warning against the preparation for massacres within Rwanda

New Report to Detail Failed Military Operation Against Hutu Rebels

DRC-Rwanda: More than 8000 FDLR rebels have surrendered

Growing Atrocities Reported Against Civilians in Eastern DRC

DRC: Wanted warlord helping UN’s DR Congo operations

Oxfam criticises UN for joining Congo war

DR Congo: Hold Army to Account for War Crimes

DRC-UN commanders: Ex-rebels integrated into Congo army responsible for rapes, killings

DRC: Comprehensive strategies critical for Kivu peace, ICG says

Rwanda: Media Distortion And Strangulation Of The Right To Freedom Of Expression

By TUBEHO TWESE, ASBL
Association for Rwandan Hutus and Tutsis Victims of Genocide
Brussels, Belgium
May 20, 2009

The BBC’s local-language radio service in Kigali has been suspended because of the statement made by Boniface Rutayisire that the bodies of Rwandans found floating in the waters of Lake Victoria, in Uganda, were those of Hutus killed by the RPF in 1994. It was not because of the “divisive and disparaging nature” of the BBC program that aired on April 25, 2009 as the Rwandan Information Minister, Louise Mushikiwabo, would like the World to believe.

On Saturday April 25, 2009 the Rwandan government suspended the British Broadcasting Corporation’s local-language radio service in the country saying it threatened the country’s national reconciliation.

With regard to this suspension of the BBC service in Kigali, the organization TUBEHO TWESE, ASBL, decided to explain to the public how the information about this issue has been distorted by the RPF regime in Kigali in order to put forward its malicious agenda.

We carefully examined the circumstances surrounding the suspension of the BBC’s local-language radio service (BBC-Gahuzamiryango) in Kigali, and noticed that the BBC programs might have been closed probably due to the statement that “the bodies of Rwandans found floating in the waters of Lake Victoria Lake Victoria in Uganda were those of Hutus killed by the RPF in 1994”. This statement was made by Boniface Rutayisire (Belgium), one of three guest speakers of the BBC program “IMVO N’IMVANO” that aired on April 25, 2009. The other two guest speakers were Faustin Twagiramungu (Belgium) and Dr Augustin Dukuze (Canada).

This reason is clearly expressed in the initial reactions of the Rwandan Minister of information , Louise Mushikiwabo, reported by the pro-government newspaper, The New Times of Kigali, just a few hours after the BBC programs went off the airwaves.

As the time went on, Rwandan officials downplayed talking about RPF crimes against Hutus during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Instead, they switched from Boniface Rutayisire to former Prime Minister, Faustin Twagiramungu, in a passage that has absolutely nothing to do with RPF crimes against Hutus.

Urgent need for more clarifications

The news reports about the suspension of the BBC programs in Kigali began in The New Times of Kigali on April 26, 2009 by stating that the BBC has been closed because of “outrageous” statements made by one of the three guest speakers of the BBC’s local-language service on April 25, 2009. Indeed, Boniface Rutaysire said over the airwaves of the BBC that the bodies of Rwandans found floating in Lake Victoria in 1994 were the bodies of Hutus killed by the RPF.

In a few hours that followed this initial report from The New Times of Kigali, Radio Rwanda added statements from Faustin Twagiramungu without mentioning Rutaysire’s name apparently in order to not overwhelm the public opinion.

On Radio Rwanda, Boniface Rutayisire was referred to as "another speaker". Here is how a journalist on Radio Rwanda put it: "Another speaker, (whose name for some reasons was kept secret), reportedly said that during the genocide the bodies of Rwandans that got stranded on the shores of Lake Victoria were those of Hutus killed by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), now in power".

This situation has raised several questions: did the journalists of Radio Rwanda not know that it was Boniface Rutayisire’s statement? I do not think so. According to The New Times of Kigali and the Rwandan News Agency they had already previewed that particular BBC program the night before. Therefore, the omission of Rutayisire’s name was intentional. The people who did it desperately expected to stifle RPF crimes against Hutus by manipulating the information that was available to them. Are the journalists of Radio Rwanda and the press in Kigali now able to shade some lights on this issue in order to help us understand better? Any input will be greatly appreciated

From April 25, 2009 the news reports about the BBC suspension in Kigali have been circulated around the world but only in the directions set forth by the masters in media manipulation.

Many foreign journalists that are sympathetic to the current RPF regime in Kigali are very uncomfortable talking about this issue. For how long will the three BBC’s guest speakers involved in this issue remain silent when we all know that their views have been unfairly attacked by the Rwandan government?

Fortunately, the British Government, in the voice of its Ambassador in Kigali, Mr Nicholas Cannon, acknowledged that there has been neither hatred nor genocide denial in any views expressed by the three guests speakers of the BBC Gahuzamiryango in its program "Imvo n'imvano" that aired on Saturday April 25, 2009.

“From the [Rwandan Government] translated transcripts of the particular program which was to be broadcast on April 25, 2009 there is completely no sign that it was fomenting hate or denying the genocide", said Mr Nicholas Cannon, Ambassador of the UK in Kigali.

With such statements from the UK Ambassador, the political marketing of the Rwandan genocide by the Kigali regime to the expenses of the Rwandan people may soon come to a glorious end. It clearly is becoming obsolete because the world has discovered that the RPF government uses such tactics to continuously oppress and silence many Rwandans. Indeed, such tactics consist in portraying political opponents as genocide ideologues, revisionists, or negationists. A genocide ideology that is punishable by sentences of 10 to 25 years in prison.

Obviously, as many people have discovered, the BBC suspension issue has proved very detrimental to the RPF regime in Kigali but very beneficial to people like Boniface Rutayisire and his companions whose views have unfairly been attacked by the Rwandan government.

TUBEHO TWESE, ASBL has transcribed the text of the BBC program “IMVO N’IMVANO” that aired on April 25, 2009. This text was sold in multiple copies like any other newspaper in Kigali City. It was amazing to see how delighted people jostled to buy copies from people who had already printed the text.

In our upcoming publications, we will explain how media manipulation is vibrant within Rwandan internet forums through disguised Internet users. We also will discuss in depth the impact of these media distortions at the international level.

It is our duty to inform the public about the Rwandan tragedy. The world needs to know the whole truth about such manipulations that are made by the RPF and its allies abroad.

© 2009 Copyrights TUBEHO TWESE, ASBL

Note:

Mr. Boniface Rutayisire is President of Association for Rwandan Hutus and Tutsis Victims of Genocide (TUBEHO TWESE ASBL) and President of International Committee for Victims of Rwandan Genocide (CIVHEMG) based in Belgium

Related Materials:
The Rwandan Genocide: The Bodies That Were Floating In The Kagera River Were Victims Of The RPA

During the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Kagame massacred both Hutu and Tutsi

Rwanda: Is Paul Kagame the New Hitler?

The Power of Horror in Rwanda

Rwanda: No agreement on BBC return

Rwanda: British Envoy defends BBC programming

Rwanda: Restore BBC to the Air

Regional group says libel should be decriminalized

Eastern Africa Editors slam Kigali's move against BBC

Debate on BBC suspension rages on, govt stays firm

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allAfrica.com: Rwanda: Government Suspends BBC Programmes

allAfrica.com: Rwanda: Mushikiwabo Warns Media on Genocide Reporting

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BBC program suspiciously goes off-air (news analysis)

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Saturday, May 23, 2009

Rwanda: Conspiracy to Commit Genocide, Important Missing Puzzle Piece

By Khante
May 23, 2009

The crime of "genocide" is defined in Articles II and III of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide , which was adopted by “Resolution 260 (III) A” of the United Nations General Assembly on December 9th, 1948.

Article II describes two elements of the crime of genocide:

1) the mental element, meaning the "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such",

and

2) the physical element which includes five acts described as follow:

(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Article III describes five punishable forms of the crime of genocide:

(a) Genocide;
(b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;
(c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;
(d) Attempt to commit genocide;
(e) Complicity in genocide.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has a mandate to prosecute serious crimes committed in Rwanda from January 1st, 1994 to December 31st, 1994, including crimes of genocide, but also crimes of conspiracy to commit genocide.

However, up to date, the collection of evidence to establish the later crime remains unsolved puzzle for the Prosecutor of the ICTR as shown by judgments in the Military-I trial on December 18, 2008: The Prosecutor versus Theoneste Bagosora et al., Case No. ICTR-98-41-T.

With regard to the elements underpinning the allegation of planning and conspiracy, the ICTR concluded that “Accordingly, the Chamber is not satisfied that the Prosecution has proven beyond reasonable doubt that the four Accused conspired amongst themselves, or with others to commit genocide before it unfolded on 7 April 1994”. (Case No. ICTR-98-41-T, Para. 2114).

Indeed, all four defendants (Col. Theoneste Bagsosora, Gen. Gratien Kabiligi, Col. Anatole Nsengiumva and Major Aloys Ntabakuze) were found “not guilty” of all counts charging conspiracy to commit genocide, based on the Chambers ruling that their actions prior to April 6, 1994 were based on war-time conditions, not planning to kill civilians or to carry out a genocide against Tutsi Rwandans.

Please find here additional valuable documentations with regard to this topic.

More details on how the ICTR reached this important conclusion can also be found in the following excerpts of Case No. ICTR-98-41-T, from p.504 to p.508.

"2098. Turning now to the elements underpinning the allegation of planning and conspiracy, the Prosecution acknowledges that its case is principally circumstantial. 2321 There are only a few alleged meetings which could be characterised as planning genocide. The allegations instead refer, among other things, to statements made by the Accused, their affiliation with certain clandestine organisations, general warnings, of which some were circulated publicly, that the Interahamwe or groups with the military were plotting assassinations and mass killings, and their role in the preparation of lists as well as the arming and training of civilians. Most of the components of the planning have been extensively considered in other parts of the judgment (III.2). However, the Chamber finds it useful to briefly recapitulate the
findings on the events, which the Prosecution has highlighted in its Closing Brief and oral submissions, and view them together in the legal context of an allegedconspiracy. 2322 The Chamber has nonetheless also taken into account the evidencerelated to the other events not specifically referred to by the Prosecution.

(i) The Enemy Commission
2099. The Prosecution submits that the ENI document, which defined the enemy in ethnic terms, was “a step towards a criminal conspiracy”. 2323 The Chamber has found that, from December 1991, Bagosora, Nsengiyumva, Ntabakuze and other high-ranking officers participated in a commission which produced the Definition of the Enemy document (III.2.2). The document was then circulated within the army in September 1992 and used by Ntabakuze during meetings with members of the Para Commando Battalion (III.2.4.1). The Chamber agrees that the over-emphasis on the Tutsi ethnicity in the document is troubling, but cannot conclude that the document or its circulation to soldiers in the Rwandan army in themselves evidenced a conspiracy to commit genocide. It can be viewed, however, as background to give context to the subsequent actions of Bagosora, Nsengiyumva and Ntabakuze.

(ii) The “Apocalypse”
2100. The Prosecution submits that Bagosora was intent by the end of 1992 on preparing the “apocalypse” based on an alleged statement to a member of the RPF delegation during a session of the Arusha Accords in 1992. 2324 The Chamber, however, did not find the evidence supporting this allegation credible (III.2.3), and it therefore has no probative value in establishing Bagosora’s role in a conspiracy.

(iii) Meetings Before 6 April 1994
2101. The Prosecution submits that Kabiligi participated in a meeting in February 1994 in Ruhengeri with local military commanders to inform them of a plan to commit genocide (III.2.4.4). 2325 Furthermore, it also points to evidence around the same time that Nsengiyumva and Bagosora met in Butare prefecture with other officials to draw up lists of Tutsis to kill (III.2.4.6) and also participated in a rally in Gisenyi prefecture, where they described the enemy as Tutsis (III.2.4.2). The Chamber however did not find the uncorroborated evidence supporting these allegations credible. Similarly, the Chamber was not convinced that Bagosora referred to the eliminaton of the Tutsis at the Senegalese dinner held on 4 April (III.2.4.5).

(iv) The Preparation and Use of Lists 2102. The Prosecution argues that the involvement of the Accused in the preparation of lists which were subsequently used during the killings evidences prior planning (III.2.5). 2326 The Chamber found that Nsengiyumva given his role as head of the military intelligence bureau (G-2) on the army staff would have been involved in the preparation of lists and that Bagosora in light of his position was likely aware of them. It also concluded that Ntabakuze made use of lists to arrest people in October 1990. It was not proven that Kabiligi was involved in this effort. The Chamber was not satisfied, however, that these lists were prepared or maintained with the intent to kill Tutsi civilians.

(v) The Creation, Arming and Training of Civilian Militias
2103. The Prosecution also contends that the Accused role in arming and training civilians, who later participated in the killings, and in particular the notes contained in Bagosora’s agenda related to these efforts, shows planning (III.2.6). 2327 The Chamber has found that Bagosora, Nsengiyumva and Kabiligi participated in varying degrees in the arming and training of civilians. It was not proven that Ntabakuze was involved in this effort. The entries in Bagosora’s agenda, as well as his explanations for them, demonstrate that he was actively involved in the military’s development and implementation of a civil defence system. Nsengiyumva and Kabiligi would have played a role as operational commanders in sectors were training was ongoing. However, when viewed in the context of the immediate aftermath of the RPF’s violation of the cease fire agreement, it does not necessarily show an intention to use the forces to commit genocide.

(vi) Jean-Pierre and the “Machiavellian Plan”
2104. The Prosecution contends that the information provided to UNAMIR by its informant Jean-Pierre concerning the activities of the Interahamwe as well as the anonymous letter detailing a “Machiavellian Plan” by certain members of the army to engage in mass killings further illustrates the existence of a conspiracy to commit genocide. 2328 As discussed in section III.2.6.3, the Prosecution’s reliance on this evidence is problematic since there are lingering questions concerning the reliability of this evidence and because it does not directly implicate the Accused. This evidence therefore has limited probative value in establishing the Accused’s role in a conspiracy.

(vii) Clandestine Organisations (Zero Network, AMASASU and Death Squads) and RTLM
2105. The Prosecution argues that the Accused’s participation in clandestine organisations, such as the Zero Network (III.2.7), AMASASU (III.2.8) and death squads (III.2.9), reflects their concerted action in furtherance of a plan to commit genocide as well as the existence of a group of some officers operating outside of normal chains of command to commit illegal acts. 2329 In particular, it points to the AMASASU letters which threaten targeted assassinations and mass killings. In its
Closing Brief, the Prosecution points to parallels in these letters and other writings of Bagosora and Nsengiyumva, in particular Nsengiyumva’s letter of 27 July 1992 to President Habyarimana, who was then also army chief of staff. 2330
2106. With respect to the parallels between Bagosora and Nsengiyumva’s writings and the sentiments expressed in the AMASASU letters, the Chamber concluded that this evidence created an inference that Bagosora and Nsengiyumva were behind the AMASASU documents and possibly part of a group of Rwandan army officers who shared these views. 2331 However, the available information concerning the existence of Zero Network and the AMASASU as well as the Accused’s participation in them was limited and to a large extent second-hand. The Chamber was therefore unable to conclude beyond reasonable doubt that the Accused were members of them.

2107. Turning to the death squads, the Chamber noted the considerable evidence pointing to their existence and role in killings before April 1994. Several sources also indicated to varying degrees that Bagosora, Nsengiyumva and Ntabakuze were members. However, this information was all second-hand and its description of the Accused’s activities was limited.

Therefore, the Chamber could not find beyond reasonable doubt that they were members of death squads. In addition, the mere fact that such groups existed and were engaged in criminal acts does not mean that it was preparing a genocide. The Prosecution has not clearly identified their membership or shown a proven connection between their activities and the Accused. Similarly, the Chamber was not satisfied that the Accused played a significant role in the creation or control of RTLM. Consequently, these elements carry limited weight in relation to the conspiracy.

(viii) Concluding Observations
2108. Having considered the elements mentioned by the Prosecution, discussed above, and elsewhere in the judgement, the Chamber cannot exclude that there were in fact plans prior to 6 April to commit genocide in Rwanda. As the Prosecution argues, there are certain indications in the evidence of a prior plan or conspiracy to perpetrate genocide as well as other politically motivated killings in Rwanda, which could have been triggered upon the resumption of hostilities between the government and the RPF or following some other significant event.

2109. For example, a cycle of ethnic violence against Tutsi civilians has often followed attacks by the RPF or earlier groups associated with Tutsis, such as Union Nationale Rwandaise party. After an attack by Tutsi combatants in December 1963, there were reprisal killings. Following the October 1990 RPF invasion, there were mass arrests as well as localised killings at the time and in subsequent years in several northern communes and the Bugesera region. Allegations were made that elements of the government and security forces failed to timely intervene or participated in these events.2332

2110. At the same time, there was also a campaign to secretly arm and train civilian militiamen and efforts to put in place a “civil defence” system made up of “resistance” groups (III.2.6.2). The Chamber found that Bagosora, Nsengiyumva and Kabiligi were involved in some of these efforts in varying degrees. In particular, the outlines of the core of the proposed civil defence system were recorded as notes in Bagosora’s agenda, during meetings at the Ministry of Defence in early 1993, after the RPF resumed hostilities and advanced towards Kigali.

Furthermore, lists primarily aimed at identifying suspected accomplices of the RPF and opponents of the Habyarimana regime or MRND party were prepared and maintained by the army (III.2.5). However, in the context of the ongoing war with the RPF, this evidence does not invariably show that the purpose of arming and training these civilians or the preparation of lists was to kill Tutsi civilians.

2111. After the death of President Habyarimana, these tools were clearly put to use to facilitate killings. When viewed against the backdrop of the targeted killings and massive slaughter perpetrated by civilian and military assailants between April and July 1994 as well as earlier cycles of violence, it is understandable why for many this evidence takes on new meaning and shows a prior conspiracy to commit genocide. Indeed, these preparations are completely consistent with a plan to commit genocide. However, they are also consistent with preparations for a political or military power struggle. The Chamber recalls that, when confronted with circumstantial evidence, it may only convict where it is the only reasonable inference. It cannot be excluded that the extended campaign of violence directed against Tutsis, as such, became an added or an altered component of these preparations. 2333

2112. Furthermore, the Chamber observes that the evidence in this case only implicates the Accused in varying degrees in these efforts. It is possible that some military or civilian authorities did intend these preparations as part of a plan to commit genocide. However, the Prosecution has not shown that the only reasonable inference based on the credible evidence in this trial was that this intention was shared by the Accused.

2113. Other or newly discovered information, subsequent trials or history may demonstrate a conspiracy involving the Accused prior to 6 April to commit genocide. This Chamber’s task, however, is narrowed by exacting standards of proof and procedure, the specific evidence on the record before it and its primary focus on the actions of the four Accused in this trial. In reaching its finding on conspiracy, the Chamber has considered the totality of the evidence, but a firm foundation cannot be constructed from fractured bricks.

2114. Accordingly, the Chamber is not satisfied that the Prosecution has proven beyond reasonable doubt that the four Accused conspired amongst themselves, or with others to commit genocide before it unfolded on 7 April 1994.".

Notes:
2321 Prosecution Closing Brief, para. 35 (“The inference to be drawn from the evidence is not that each of the accused sat in the same room at the same time and agreed to a plan, nor that such a plan consisted of a single course of equally-divided or unified conduct”).

2322 The Prosecution refers to alleged meetings held in Butotori. See Prosecution Closing Brief, para. 42. The Chamber admitted allegations about meetings there against Bagosora and Ntabakuze, but excluded these allegations with respect to Nsengiyumva based on lack of notice. See Decision on Bagosora Motion for the Exclusion of Evidence Outside the Scope of the Indictment (TC), 11 May 2007, paras. 70-72; Decision on Ntabakuze Motion for Exclusion of Evidence (TC), 29 June 2006, paras. 57-59; Decision on Nsengiyumva Motion For the Exclusion of Evidence Outside the Scope of the Indictment (TC), 15 September 2006, paras. 43-45. As the Indictment’s are similarly worded, fairness requires that these allegations be excluded as to all Accused. In any event, the Chamber has raised concerns with the credibility of the underlying evidence in other parts of the judgement, and it would not have altered the conclusion on the conspiracy charge.

2323 Prosecution Closing Brief, paras. 35-36, 39; T. 1 June 2007 p. 38.

2324 Prosecution Closing Brief, para. 38.

2325 Prosecution Closing Brief, paras. 40-41. The Prosecution does not refer to the February 1994 Butare meeting in its final submissions on conspiracy.

2326 Prosecution Closing Brief, paras. 46-49.

2327 Prosecution Closing Brief, paras. 44-45, 54.

2328 Prosecution Closing Brief, paras. 52-53.

2329 Prosecution Closing Brief, paras. 37, 50-51; T. 1 June 2007 pp. 38-39. The Prosecution does not refer to death squads in its final submissions on conspiracy.

2330 Prosecution Exhibit 21 (Letter of 27 July 1992 from Nsengiyumva to the Rwandan Army Chief of Staff entitled “Mood of the Military and Civilians”). TheProsecution also referred to other letters written by Nsengiyumva which make reference to Ntabakuze, Kabiligi and Ferdinand Nahimana. See Prosecution Exhibit 18 (Letter of 15 December 1990); Prosecution Exhibit 25 (Letter of 24 February 1993).

2331 The Prosecution noted that it could not directly attribute the document to any of the Accused, but it nonetheless showed that elements of the Rwandan army were
involved in planning. See T. 1 June 2008 p. 39 (“Now, all of those elements, even though we don’t know the identity of the author, taken at face value, it indicates that within the Rwandan armed forces there’s a subset of individuals who have, for the -- an unlawful purpose, organised or planned and intend to render their own form of justice by acting with the speed of lightning. The document itself can’t be directly attributed to the four Accused; they didn’t sign it, as far as we know. But it is a link in the chain of conspiracy that somebody is out there planning, somebody is moving in this direction. So, all that’s necessary later on is to create a link between that conspiracy and the contribution of the four Accused.”).

2332 For example, Alison Des Forges and Filip Reyntjens point to incidents such as the mass arrests in October 1990, the 1992 Bugesera massacre, the killing of Bigogwe Tutsis as well as other attacks. See Prosecution Exhibit 2A (Expert Report of Alison Des Forges), pp. 15-16, 24-25; Prosecution Exhibit 302 (Expert Report of Filip
Reyntjens).

2333 See Nahimana et al. Appeal Judgement, paras. 906, 910 (“The Appeals Chamber finds that, even if this evidence is capable of demonstrating the existence of a conspiracy to commit genocide among the Appellants, on its own it is not sufficient to establish the existence of such a conspiracy beyond reasonable doubt. It would also have been reasonable to find, on the basis of this evidence, that the Appellants had collaborated and entered into an agreement with a view to promoting the ideology of “Hutu power” in the context of the political struggle between Hutu and Tutsi, or even to disseminate ethnic hatred against the Tutsi, without, however, going as far as their destruction in whole or in part. Consequently, a reasonable trier of facts could not conclude that the only reasonable inference was that the Appellants had conspired together to commit genocide … There is no doubt, in the Appeals Chamber’s view, that the aforementioned factual findings are compatible with the existence of “a joint agenda” aiming at committing genocide.

However, it is not the only reasonable inference. A reasonable trier of fact could also find that these institutions had interacted to promote the ideology of “Hutu power” in the context of a political struggle between Hutu and Tutsi, or to disseminate ethnic hatred against the Tutsi without going as far as the destruction, in whole or in part, of that group.”).


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