Daily Archives: October 15, 2014

Paul Kagame– wants only the victor’s side of the story to be heard

[Commentary: Open Letter to the BBC]

The letter objecting to the BBC documentary “Rwanda’s Untold Story” signed by a list of formerly credible academics and public figures reveals their inability to accept the fact that, after any major conflict the “victor’s tale” is not completely accurate, and that is particularly the case for the four-year war for power in Rwanda the last 100 days of which is called “the Rwanda genocide.”

This is a lesson taught to those of us in the U.S. who remember Vietnam by Robert S. McNamara in another documentary “The Fog of War” about another war built on half-truths.

He also noted that, had the Japanese won WWII, he and others who planned the gasoline bombing of Tokyo would be the war criminals. It is quite amazing that “the myths of the victors” continue to be so easy to swallow — initially. It is as if the signers of the letter seeking to suppress journalism have suspended disbelief despite what even the British must remember about the Weapons of Mass Destruction.

But, the signatories are sticking to the Kagame/RPF victors’ saga long after the lack of evidence to support the “myth” has been exposed and contemporaneous data reported by third parties present in Rwanda has begun to create a new narrative. The notables signing the letter have to ignore written judgments entered by the UN Tribunal for Rwanda, after Trial Chambers heard the best evidence the Rwandan government could muster for more than a decade, on exactly the same three issues raised in the letter, the UN Tribunal rejected all three.

Here are the facts:

First, IF there was any evidence to support the assertion that “30,000 interahamwe were trained as killers,” it was not introduced by the Prosecution as evidence in the trials of the government or military leaders of the Habyarimana government. The proponents of the letter cite no source. In fact, the leaders of the government and military were acquitted of planning, conspiring, training, organizing, preparing, or any other sort of “planification” of any criminal acts against Tutsi civilians at all, prior to the assassination of President Habyarimana in the April 6, 1994 shootdown of the President’s plane.

This means that there was no evidence of planning to shoot down the President’s plane by his own forces, either. This is what Trial Chamber-found in the Bagosora Trial, Military-1:

When viewed against the backdrop of targeted killings and massive slaughter perpetrated by civilian and assailants between April and July 1994 as well as earlier cycles of violence, it is understandable why for many this evidence…shows a prior conspiracy to commit genocide….However, they are also consistent with preparations for a political or military power struggle…when confronted with circumstantial evidence [the Chamber] can only convict where it is the only reasonable inference…the Prosecution has not shown that the only reasonable inference based on credible evidence…was that [genocidal] intention was shared by the Accused.

…the Chamber is not satisfied that the Prosecution has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the four Accused conspired among themselves, or with others to commit genocide before it unfolded on 7 April 1994. (emphasis added)

Second, according to the letter’s signatory Gen. Dallaire, in his own Sept 1993 Reconnaissance Report to the Security Council, the RPF reported the total number of Tutsi in Rwanda was about 667,000, a number which the RPF did not consider an undercount in a UN estimate pre-Genocide. (see p. 30).

After July 1994, IBUKA, the RPF survivors organization estimated 300,000 Tutsi survived in Rwanda. This means that according to contemporaneous numbers from the RPF via Gen. Dallaire, total Tutsi deaths must have been a blood-chilling 337,000 and even less than Davenport and Stam estimate and means even more Hutu deaths would be required to reach 800,000 to 1,000,000 total or some 460,000 to 660,000 Hutus. Please take note: these numbers come from General Dallaire and the RPF. (Moreover, Gen. Dallaire has been a Kagame admirer for a long time, as far back as 1994 telling The New York Times, “He is absolutely brilliant,” and “He has an exceptionally disciplined mind.”)

Third, the shooting down of the plane was the conclusion reached in 1997 the elite International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Prosecutor’s Investigative Team by: Michael Hourigan, Australian Queen’s Prosecutor; frmr. FBI Special Agent, James Lyons; Gen. Dallaires Chief Mil. Int. Ofcr. Col. Amadou Deme; Chief ICTR Prosecutor Carla del Ponte; French Investigating Judge Bruggiere; Spanish Investigating Judge Merelles; the subject of confessions by frmr Kagame Chiefs of Staff Theogene Rudesingwa, M.D.; Gen. Rudesingwa; Lt. Joshua Abdul Rusebiza(ICTR testimony); Lt. Ruyenzi; and supported by ICTR testimony from eyewitnesses including Fr. Col. DeSanQuentin in Kanombe Base and first at the crash site with Maj. Ntabakuze on April 6, 1004.All of the above is documented in the film, in documents cited in my book “The Accidental Genocide,” or in the evidence and transcripts at the ICTR.

Davenport, Stam and Reyntjens were all Prosecution witnesses, not defense witnesses, who stopped being called by the Prosecution as their conclusions began to contradict the RPF myths. Interahamwe leaders…witnesses A and BY in the Military-1 Trial both testified as Prosecution witnesses after guilty pleas in Belgium and both claimed to be trained ONLY as self-defense forces. This evidence is IN the ICTR record. Please confirm the assertion.

Please read the Trevidic Report, it does not say what is alleged by the letter. It’s conclusions are far more ambiguous than the letter suggests and are based on an analysis of re-produced sound recordings, not on the testimonies of any individuals involved in the shootdown team, itself. Without studying and understanding:

the four-year war that began as an invasion from Uganda in October 1990;

that resumed with a full assault in Feb. 1993 that displaced nearly 1.5 million Rwandans from the Byumba breadbasket that nearly took power;

the Burundi genocide that drove 300,000 refugees into Rwanda; and the U.S. ambassador telling Kagame in Nov. 1993 that if he resumed the war, he would be responsible for a second Burundi genocide in Rwanda (ICTR Testimony of Amb. Robert Flaten, July 2005):

As Dr. Stam stated, discussing the 100 days of the “Rwanda genocide” without discussing the 4-year war following the RPF invasion is like discussing the Holocaust without discussing WW-II.

Please note, none of the allegations in the letter signed by so many cite to any hard evidence in support. At the ICTR, this same lack of support required the Trial and Appeal Chambers to reject the allegations of the ICTR Prosecutor, the Rwandan Government, and the several Prosecutors on loan from the U.S. Dept of Justice which pursued the issue for more than a decade without success.

The letter fails to note the incontrovertible evidence of RPF crimes in Congo from 1993-2003 documented in the October 2010 UNHCR “Mapping Report;” the UNS/C Expert Reports on Illegal Resource Extraction from Congo, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008, 20012; Rwandan support for M23 and other occupying groups illegally extracting resources from Congo; the excess deaths in Congo and Central Africa between 5 and 10 million deaths attributed to invasions of 1996, 1998 and continual warfare over two decades.

In 2010, the Obama administration declared the Kagame election unfree and unfair, while Victoire Ingabire and other potential candidates were imprisoned and prevented from meaningful campaigning. In March 2014, HRW Reported the history of assassination of political opponents of Kagame dating back to 1993, and attempts on current opponents in exile.

In 2012, the U.S. War Crimes Ambassador, Stephen Rapp THREATENED with prosecution ala Charles Taylor for his support of M23 crimes in Congo. All of the foregoing are in the public record.

The existence of this massive bloodshed, and its authorship in Kigali with assistance from Kampala cannot be denied by any honest signatories of the letter submitted to BBC.

The BBC documentary is true to the documentary record, and to the investigations and judgments of the United Nations ICTR despite the impunity enjoyed by Kagame and the RPF for crimes committed during the Rwanda genocide, described by former Chief ICTR Prosecutor Carla del Ponte.

The BBC is to be congratulated for following the story where the evidence leads.

Sincerely,

Prof. Peter Erlinder

Director, Int. Humanitarian Law Institute

Former Lead Counsel, Military-1, Ntabakuze Defense

Past-pres. ICTR-ADAD, Association des Avocat de la Defense

Source: http://www.blackstarnews.com/global-politics/africa/the-bbc-must-be-congratulated-for-launching-scrutiny-with-rwandas-untold

UK: MPs vote to recognise Palestinian state, adding to pressure on Israel

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Palestine debate — *Young Jewish men argue with pro-Palestinian supporters in Parliament Square as MPs debate the recognition of Palestine. Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images*

MPs including the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, have voted to recognise Palestine as a state in a symbolic move that will unnerve Israel by suggesting that it is losing a wider battle for public opinion in Britain.

The vote of 274 to 12, a majority of 262, on a backbench motion has no practical impact on British government policy and ministers were instructed not to vote. Labour decided to impose a one-line whip, and the Liberal Democrats, like the Conservatives, gave their backbenchers a free vote.

In possibly the single most important contribution in an emotional debate, Richard Ottaway, the Conservative chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, said the recent annexation of West Bank land by the Israeli government had angered him like nothing else in politics.

The Conservative MP said he had been a supporter of the state of Israel before he became a Tory and had close family connections with the generation that formed the Israeli state. He explained: “The Holocaust had a deep impact on me growing up in the wake of the second world war,” adding that he had been a strong supporter of Israel in the six day war and subsequent conflicts.

He told MPs: “Looking back over the past 20 years, I realise now Israel has slowly been drifting away from world public opinion. The annexation of the 950 acres of the West Bank just a few months ago has outraged me more than anything else in my political life. It has made me look a fool and that is something I deeply resent.”

He said he was not yet convinced that Palestine was fit to be a state due to its refusal to recognise Israel, adding that “in normal circumstances” he would have opposed the motion. But, he said, “such is my anger with the behaviour of Israel in recent months that I will not be opposing this motion. I have to say to the government of Israel: if it is losing people like me, it is going to be losing a lot of people.”

The former foreign secretary, Jack Straw, said the vote was not simply a gesture, because if it were, the Israeli government would not be as worried by the vote.

The Israeli government, he said, wants the recognition of the Palestinian state only at the successful conclusion of any negotiations. But Straw said “such an approach would give the Israelis a veto over whether a Palestinian state should exist”. A vote for recognition would add to the pressure on the Israeli government, he said. “The only thing that the Israeli government, in my view, in its present demeanour under Bibi Netanyahu understands is pressure.”

Straw moved an amendment to the motion setting out that the UK government should recognise Palestine “as a contribution to securing a negotiated two-state solution”.

Sir Malcolm Rifkind, a former Conservative foreign secretary, said it had been British policy for generations that a state is recognised when the territory in question has a government, an army and a military capability.

Conservative James Clappison spoke out against the motion, arguing it would do more harm than good. He said: “I believe that international recognition of a Palestinian state in the terms of the motion would make a two-state solution less likely rather than more likely.

“I don’t see Israel, having faced the challenges it has over the years, caving in to this backbench motion. It might be a gesture on behalf of this house, but it would take the process no further.”

He said Hamas had “set its face against any peace deal with Israel” and undertaken a “campaign of terror”.

The motion had been tabled by Labour’s Grahame Morris, who said it was right to take the “small but symbolically important” step of recognising the Palestinian right to statehood.

Tobias Ellwood, the Middle East minister, said the UK government was a “staunch supporter” of Israel’s right to defend itself, but settlement-building made “it hard for Israel’s friends to make the case that Israel is committed to peace”.

Ellwood said Palestinian statehood could only become a reality when occupation ends

and stressed that the UK believes “this will only come through negotiations”. He added: “The UK will bilaterally recognise a Palestinian state when we judge that it can best help bring about peace.”

SOURCE: The Guardian

Ihene izabyara isekurume ndwi zose zange konka: ikimenyetso cy’irangira ry’ubutegetsi bwa Rwabujindiri …

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Ihene izabyara isekurume ndwi zose zange konka!

Ubu twandika Bernard Makuza amaze kurahirira kuyobora Sena y’U Rwanda. Akaba aje asimbura mugenzi we
Jean Damascène Ntawukuriryayo uherutse gutegekwa kwegura kuri uyu mwanya. N’ubwo rero Ntawukuriryayo yaregwaga uruhurirane rw’ibyaha bihimbano birimo :

Kwigwiza ho imitungo yifashishije umwanya we, nk’aho yakiriye abashyitsi batarenze batatu agatanga fagitire ya miliyoni ebyiri z’amafaranga y’u Rwanda,

Gushyira mu nzu ye ibikoresho bifite agaciro gahambaye kandi byose bikishyurwa na leta,

Gukorera mu bwiru imwe mu mirimo ashinzwe kandi ntatange na raporo z’amanama amwe n’amwe ajyamo rwihishwa…

ibi byose byavuzwe sibyo Ntawukuriryayo yazize. Azize icyaha kitavuzwe.

Ntawukuriryayo yazize ko yari yaramaze gutangariza zimwe mu nshuti ze ko adashyigikiye gahunda y’umwami wa Repubulika Paul Kagame yo guhindura itegekonshinga. Ibyo nyamara bikaba byari ikibazo gikomeye kuri Kagame kuko yari kuzahura n’ingorane mu guhindura itegekonshinga kandi Sena ni yo ifite izo nshingano nk’uko biteganwa n’ingingo ya 88 y’Itegekonshinga. Iyo ngingo itegenya ko Sena ifite ububasha bwo « gutora amategeko yerekeye ivugururwa ry’Itegekonshinga ». Ibyo kandi byongera gushimangirwa by’umwihariko n’ingingo ya 193. Iki rero cyabaye ikibazo gikomeye kuri Kagame ugeze mu mayira abiri maze ahitamo kumukura mu nzira inzira zikigendwa.

Kagame yarebye mu muryango we maze abona urangwa n’ibirura, ni ko kwigira inama yo kwigondera na ko kwitabaza mubyara we Bernard Makuza muri iri hurizo rikomeye agezemo ryo kuvuguruza itegekonshinga n’abanyarwanda twese.

Biragoye cyane ku buryo inzira Umwami azitabaza zose zidashobora kumuhira. Dore iyo ingingo Kagame ubwe yiyandikishirije mu itegekonshinga uko ivuga:

« Perezida wa Repubulika atorerwa manda y’imyaka irindwi. Ashobora kongera gutorwa inshuro imwe. Nta na rimwe umuntu yemererwa gutorerwa manda zirenze ebyiri ku mwanya wa Perezida wa Repubulika » (Ingingo ya 101).

Ariko se Kagame n’iyo yavuguruza iyi ngingo byamuhira akongera koko kuyobora Repubulika y’u Rwanda ?

Nguwo umugabo Bernard Makuza wiyemeje kubimufashamo

IHENE IZABYARA ISEKURUME NDWI (7) ZOSE ZANGE KONGA

Umuhanuzi Magayane ni we wavuze ko : « Ihene izabyara isekurume ndwi zose zange konka ». Ngicyo ikimenyetso kibanziriza icya nyuma mbere y’ihirima ry’ubutegetsi bwa Rwabujindiri rurya ntiruhage. Nibyo koko burya ngo ntakiba Imana itabicishije mu bahanuzi bayo. Ibyo Magayane yavuze byose kugeza ubu byarabaye tukaba dutegereje ivuka ry’izo sekurume ndwi mu minsi ya vuba, maze « Isake igahita ibika ikigera ku mutambiko w’urusenge » ari cyo kimenyetso cya nyuma.

Ihene rero magayane yavugaga biragaragara ko ntayindi atari buriya butegetsi bwiyicaje ku ntebe nk’uko tubizi twese. Naho kubyara isekurume ndwi byo ni uguhindura itegekonshinga maze Kagame akiyongeza indi manda y’imyaka irindwi (7) ari yo isobanura isekurume ndwi. Nyamara ariko izo sekurume zose mu buhanuzi twibuke ko zanze konka ! Ibi rero ni ho bihurira n’ibyo Kagame agiye kwigora akora. Agiye guhindura itegeko nshinga, bizakorwa ariko ntakizavamo. Aziyongeza manda y’imyaka 7 ariko nta mwaka n’umwe azayitegekaho. Kwanga konka bigereranywa no kwanga kwima. Birababaje. Ihene izabyara isekurume ndwi ariko zose zange konka.

Uretse n’ubuhanuzi ariko Kagame na FPR ayoboye bafite urundi rukuta bazahura narwo

Nk’uko byatangajwe n’Abataripfana bo mu Ishyaka Ishema muri kongere yabo yateraniye i Paris guhera tariki ya 07/02 kugeza ku ya 09/02/2014, Abataripfana aho bari hose biyemeje kwitabira amatora y’umukuru w’igihugu kandi bagatangamo n’umukandida ari we Padiri Thomas Nahimana. Ibi rero nabyo ni indi nzitizi ikomereye Kagame na FPR ayoboye guhindura itegekonshinga ntibihagije ahubwo agomba no kwitegura guhangana n’abasore n’inkumi b’abanyarwanda bahagurukiye kandi bashishikajwe no guhindura ibintu mu kuri no mumutuzo.

Nkuko rero bigaragara mu Rwanda rw’uyumunsi, Kagame ari gukora ubusa kuko abanyarwanda barambiwe ingoma mpotozi. Abanyarwanda barambiwe igitugu n’iterabwoba rikabije. By’umwihariko ntibakwihanganira ubwicanyi FPR yazanye guhera tariki ya 01/10/1990 kandi ikaba idashaka kubureka. Kagame nahame yumve urwishigishiye ararusoma, nawe narusome ruramukwiye.

by VENANT MAGAZINE VM