Category Archives: Testimony

Exclusive: Top-secret testimonies implicate Rwanda’s president in war crimes

For years, UN investigators secretly compiled evidence that implicated Rwandan President Paul Kagame and other high-level officials in mass killings before, during and after the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

The explosive evidence came from Tutsi soldiers who broke with the regime and risked their lives to expose what they knew. Their sworn testimony to a UN court contradicted the dominant story about the country’s brutal descent into violence, which depicted Kagame and his RPF as the country’s saviours.

Despite the testimonies, a UN war crimes tribunal — on the recommendation of the United States — never prosecuted Kagame and his commanders. Now, for the first time, a significant portion of the UN evidence is revealed, in redacted form.

The redacted witness testimonies are available here.


In early July 1994, as the genocide in Rwanda was nearing its end, Christophe, whose real name and location are being withheld for safety reasons, was recruited by the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). 

Christophe, a medical student before the war, was assigned to care for wounded RPF soldiers in Masaka, a neighborhood in the southeast of Rwanda’s capital, Kigali.

The RPF was on the brink of winning the war. It was the culmination of a bloody campaign that began in 1990 when its forces invaded Rwanda from their base in Uganda, where their Tutsi families had been forced into exile for three decades.

Their struggle for political power in Rwanda took a drastic turn on 6 April 1994, when a plane carrying Rwanda’s then president Juvénal Habyarimana, a Hutu, was shot down in Kigali, killing everyone aboard, and abruptly ending a power-sharing deal that was supposed to end three-and-a-half years of violence. The plane attack set off a killing spree that left hundreds of thousands of Tutsis dead, mostly at the hands of their Hutu countrymen. By mid-July, the RPF had routed the former Hutu government, and purportedly put an end to the massacres.

Blame game: RPF soldiers investigate the site of the plane crash that killed then Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana in 1994. One theory suggests that Hutu hardliners shot down the plane, but RPF informants have told the ICTR that the RPF planned and executed the attack. (Photo: Scott Peterson/Liaison)

From his battle clinic in Masaka, though, Christophe saw that the killings were continuing. “People were disappearing,” he recently told the Mail & Guardian. Many of the new recruits Christophe treated began to share sobering details about what they were being ordered to do to Hutu civilians — men, women and children who had no apparent connection to the killing of Tutsis. These Hutus were being arrested in different areas of the capital by RPF officials, they said, and brought to a nearby orphanage called Sainte Agathe, where they were summarily executed. 

The young recruits told Christophe that they were being forced by their RPF superiors to tie up civilians and kill them with hammers and hoes, before burning the victims on site and burying their ashes. It was grisly, traumatising work conducted daily, they told him. 

Many of the soldiers asked Christophe to provide them with a sick leave note to avoid taking part in the killings. “They didn’t want to kill anybody,” he said. One of the recruits told Christophe that over a mere five days, more than 6 000 people were slaughtered at the orphanage.

In late July, the RPF sent Christophe and thousands of other recruits to Gabiro, a military training camp located in eastern Rwanda, on the edge of the vast wilderness that made up Akagera National Park. The rebel army had established a base there earlier in the war, and it was off limits to international nongovernmental organisations, United Nations personnel, and journalists.

The RPF had begun to recruit Hutu men, promising them safety if they joined the RPF cause. Many heeded the call. But at Gabiro, Christophe saw that these new Hutu recruits had been deceived. Instead of receiving training, on arrival they were screened by military intelligence agents, taken to a field and shot. 

Even Tutsi recruits from Congo, Burundi and Uganda, whom military intelligence considered disloyal or suspect, were disappearing, he said.

Even more chilling, though, were the truckloads of Hutu civilians Christophe witnessed arriving in another part of the camp, in an area he could see from a distance. Every day, for months on end, he said, RPF soldiers killed these Hutus and then burned the bodies. Backhoes — which Christophe referred to by their brand name, Caterpillar — worked day and night burying their remains. “You could see the trucks, you could see the smoke. You could smell burning flesh,” Christophe told M&G. “All those lorries were bringing people to be killed. I saw the Caterpillar and could hear it. They were doing it in a very professional way.”

As the massacres continued, Christophe became worried that as a witness he, too, could be a target. Some soldiers, traumatised by what they were forced to do, tried to escape Gabiro. But they were caught and executed, he said. To his relief, in April 1995, he was transferred out of Gabiro, and a week later, he fled Rwanda and never returned.

Several years after leaving, Christophe began speaking to investigators from the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). The tribunal, set up in the aftermath of the genocide, was tasked with prosecuting the most serious crimes committed in 1994. Publicly, the tribunal focused exclusively on prosecuting high-level Hutu figures suspected of organising and committing genocide against Tutsis. But privately, a clandestine entity within the ICTR, known as the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), gathered evidence of crimes committed by the RPF. By 2003, investigators at the SIU had recruited hundreds of sources, with dozens giving sworn statements. 

According to a summary report submitted to the ICTR’s chief prosecutor in 2003, the SIU’s investigative team had gathered explosive evidence against the RPF. Numerous witnesses corroborated Christophe’s testimony that the RPF had engaged in massacres of Hutu civilians in Gabiro and elsewhere before, during, and after the genocide. Sources testified to the SIU that the RPF  was behind the 6 April 1994 attack on Habyarimana’s plane. 

Former soldiers even told investigators that RPF commandos undertook false flag operations. Some commandos, operating in civilian clothes, had allegedly infiltrated Hutu militias, known as Interahamwe, to incite even more killings of Tutsis in a bid to further demonise the Hutu regime and bolster the RPF’s moral authority in the eyes of the international community.

In the report, UN investigators listed potential RPF targets for indictment, including President Paul Kagame himself. But when the tribunal officially wound down in 2015, the more than 60 individuals who were convicted and jailed for genocide and other war crimes were all linked to the former Hutu-led regime. Not a single indictment of the RPF was ever issued by the UN; all evidence of RPF wrongdoing was effectively buried. 

Christophe met with investigators three times, and provided a written, sworn testimony to the tribunal, but for nearly two decades, his testimony, together with that of dozens of other RPF soldiers who witnessed RPF crimes, have remained sealed in the tribunal’s archive. 

Behind bars: A crowd of prisoners stand at mealtime in the Giterama prison in Rwanda. The prison, 50km outside Kigali, was built to house 1 000 people, but in 1995 held 6 000 men and women accused by the RPF of complicity in the 1994 genocide. (Photo: Malcolm Linton/Liaison)

In this exclusive report, the Mail & Guardian is publishing 31 documents based on testimonies the witnesses provided to UN investigators. The documents were leaked to M&G by various sources with extensive experience at the tribunal. The witness statements, which contain identifying information, have been redacted by the tribunal and by the M&G to protect the informants’ privacy and safety. 

The informants who testified against the RPF to the tribunal faced serious risks, and some were kidnapped, according to the investigators. However, it is widely believed by our sources that the unredacted witness statements are already in the possession of the RPF. One statement is unredacted because the witness died in 2010.

Since 1994, many human rights researchers, journalists, academics and legal experts at the ICTR have contended that the crimes committed by the RPF were not comparable in nature, scope, or organisation to the Hutu-led atrocities against Tutsis. 

The Rwandan government has asserted that any crimes committed by members of the RPF were only acts of revenge that have already been tried by the competent Rwandan authorities. 

These testimonies, which include gruesome details about RPF massacres — often from soldiers who directly participated in the killings — challenge that understanding. Although these accounts do not in any way prove culpability, they may constitute prima facie evidence needed for indictments. 

Taken as a whole, the evidence collected by the SIU suggests that RPF killings were not a reaction to the killing of Tutsis but instead were highly organised and strategic in nature. If proven by a court, the RPF not only played a seminal role in triggering the genocide by shooting down Habyarimana’s plane; its senior members also engaged in widespread, targeted massacres of civilians before, during and after the genocide.

Many of the RPF commanders implicated in the crimes documented by the SIU have held, or continue to hold, important positions in the Rwandan government and military. Kagame, who was the leader of the RPF at the time of the 1994 genocide, has been the president of Rwanda since 2000 and remains a close ally of the United States. 

General Patrick Nyamvumba, who was head of the Gabiro training camp, served as the head of the Rwandan military from 2013 until 2019, and before that, from 2009 until 2013, as commander of Unamid, the joint UN-Africa Union peacekeeping force in Sudan. He was also minister of internal security until April 2020.

Lieutenant Colonel James Kabarebe, whom witnesses cited for his leading role in massacres in northern Rwanda and in planning the assassination of Habyarimana, was Rwanda’s minister of defence from 2010 until 2018 and remains a senior adviser to Kagame. General Kayumba Nyamwasa, who was head of the RPF’s military intelligence during the genocide, is alleged to have conceived and organised the RPF infiltration of Hutu militia and the mass killings of Hutu civilians throughout Rwanda. Nyamwasa fled the country in 2010 and is a major figure in the Rwandan opposition in exile.

Neither the RPF, the Rwandan president’s office, the Rwandan Media High Council, nor Nyamwasa responded when asked for comment on the documents. On Twitter, Yolande Makolo, an adviser to Kagame, dismissed an M&G query about the documents and called the questions “ridiculous”. 

Filip Reyntjens, a Belgian political scientist who has spent decades studying Rwanda and provided expert testimony to the ICTR, said the RPF’s legitimacy is based on saving Tutsis and stopping the genocide, and that any critical examination of its real record would undermine that official narrative. 

“The legitimacy of the RPF is in large part based on its image as representing and defending the victims of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. They are the ‘good guys.’ Any evidence that points to the RPF committing massive crimes or having a role in shooting down the presidential plane, an act that sparked the genocide, challenges that legitimacy, which is why they have to fight it tooth and nail,” Reyntjens told the M&G.

Christophe, whose statements and interviews with the M&G are corroborated by other witnesses who offered similar testimony, said he believed the killings that he witnessed at Gabiro could not have been carried out as revenge for the crimes individual Hutus committed during the genocide. 

The killings by the RPF  went on “for too long [ and] were too programmed and well organised,” to amount to retaliation, he said. 

The Gabiro massacres

Other witnesses bolstered Christopher’s account, providing testimony that the RPF began killing at Gabiro in April 1994, shortly after Habyarimana was assassinated. Speaking to investigators in French, one witness, a former soldier who joined the RPF in 1992, told investigators that displaced Hutu civilians from villages in northern Rwanda were brought to Gabiro aboard tractor-trailer trucks, and left at a residential complex called the House of Habyarimana, 3km from the military camp. 

The intelligence officer selected the intelligence staff and instructors to execute the people brought by trucks … The soldiers tied their elbows behind their backs, and one by one, made them walk to a ‘grave site’ above the House of Habyarimana, where they were shot … These summary executions were done day and night between four and five weeks that I was there … By the end of April, early May, after two weeks of summary executions, the smell of corpses reached the Gabiro camp. Two bulldozers were used to bury the bodies.

The witness said he participated in burning bodies using a mixture of oil and gasoline to turn the corpses into ash in a forest near another training camp called Gako. The soldier in question said a lieutenant called Silas Gasana who was in charge of security for a man referred to as “PC-Afandi”, oversaw the killings at Gabiro. “PC-Afandi” is a military moniker for  Kagame, according to former members of the RPF who were separately  interviewed on the topic. 

The witness told investigators that Gasana was in communication with Nyamvumba, who at the time was the operations commander and chief instructor at Gabiro.  

Another former RPF soldier who was sent to Gabiro in mid-April 1994 told the tribunal:

Many trucks came from different regions around the camp. Recruits who went to get firewood could see these trucks pass. In two instances, while I was about a kilometre from our camp looking for wood, I personally observed these trucks. They were tractor-trailers, or semi-trailers. The vehicles had 18 or 24 wheels with no licence plates. They drove past me, very close. They were full of men, women, children and old people. They were brought to an area near the houses of the former head of state,  near the Gabiro airstrip, and massacred.

The witness said the victims were from northern areas of Rwanda and were killed so that Tutsi refugees living in Uganda could acquire their land. The testimony highlighted the RPF’s alleged practice of falsely blaming Hutus for atrocities they didn’t commit.

The main objective of these massacres … was to prepare the land and pastures for the people who had been [Tutsi] refugees in Uganda and who were repatriated. Until today, anyone [that is Hutus] who might think of living there without having returned from Uganda, would run the risk of  being accused of being an Interahamwe.

Other witnesses spoke of killings at the military camp on the edge of the park. A former intelligence officer described Gabiro as a main “killing hub”.

 The officer took part in operations in Giti, in northern Rwanda, from April 1994, in an area where no Tutsis had been killed during the genocide. Despite the commune being safe for Tutsis, RPF special forces killed up to 3 000 Hutus there, he testified.

Between two and three thousand [civilians] were executed in the commune of Giti, and were buried in mass graves and latrines. Thousands of other victims were brought to Gabiro. It was a killing hub, above all isolated and near Akagera Park … At one point, victims from areas surrounding Giti began to arrive in military trucks, on their way to Gabiro, where they were simply eliminated.

Massacres in northern Rwanda before the Genocide

Anumber of former RPF soldiers testified that Hutu civilians were attacked prior to the genocide, in particular in northern Rwanda. 

One soldier said that as soon as the RPF seized an area — which he referred to as a “liberated zone” — Hutus living there were systematically slaughtered.

The [RPF] was convinced that Hutus were uncontrollable, so it was better to get rid of them. That’s why a systematic ethnic cleansing was organised in these ‘liberated zones’. Two methods were used to achieve this goal. The RPF would organise murderous attacks, where hundreds of Hutu peasants were killed. The survivors would then flee and empty the zone. The RPF would also spread rumours about imminent attacks, a tactic that would cause peasants to flee.

A RPF soldier who served in the northwestern region near Ruhengeri testified that in 1993, the purpose of his unit was to “kill the enemy and bury or burn their corpses.” The soldier said he was part of this unit until August 1994. 

The goal of our group was to kill Hutus. That included women and children. We killed many people, maybe 100 000. Our unit killed on average between 150 and 200 people a day. People were killed with a cord [around their neck], a plastic bag [over their head], a hammer, a knife, or with traditional weapons [machete, panga]. The bodies were then put into mass graves or sometimes burned.

In their summary report, SIU investigators cited a host of methods used by the RPF to kill victims, including strangling them with cords, smothering them with bags, pouring burning plastic on their skin, and hacking Rwandans with hoes and bayonets.

The RPF infiltration of Interahamwe 

According to three testimonies, RPF soldiers wore uniforms seized from the [Hutu government] Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR) and used government-issued weapons to commit crimes in false flag operations. One former RPF soldier described the logic behind RPF attacks against civilians in a demilitarised zone before the genocide:

The most important task was to destabilise the regime by killing civilians. Once they [the RPF] withdrew, they spread the rumour that the [Habyarimana] regime was incapable of protecting civilians.

These RPF commandos, known as “technicians”, embedded within the Interahamwe, were stationed in zones controlled by the Interahamwe and participated in killing civilians at road blocks during the genocide, according to the witness. “They even killed Tutsis,” said one former RPF soldier.

Coalition: Then Rwandan president Pasteur Bizimungu and his deputy, Paul Kagame, in July 1994. Photo: Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images

Another former RPF soldier, who was based in Kigali from April to July 1994, witnessed similar events. He told investigators that RPF commandos dressed up as government soldiers or disguised themselves as members of the Interahamwe, and used machetes to kill Tutsi civilians at roadblocks. The witness claimed the RPF deployed more than two battalions of these commandos in the capital alone

They checked IDs [and] killed people by machete exactly like the Interahamwe, so no one would be suspicious.

False flag operations continued until well after the end of the genocide, according to various testimonies. 

Triggering the bloodbath

Early on in the genocide, it was widely believed that Hutu hardliners were responsible for shooting down the president’s plane in a bid to hold on to power. The belief in this hypothesis remains widespread. However, RPF informants told the tribunal that the RPF planned and executed the attack on Habyarimana’s plane. 

A number of former RPF soldiers said the RPF unearthed secret weapons caches immediately preceding the 6 April attack to prepare for battle. Sources told the SIU that Kagame and his senior commanders held three meetings to prepare the attack. In the summary report, UN investigators “confirmed” the existence of a RPF team in charge of surface-to-air missiles, which were allegedly transported to Kigali from the RPF’s military headquarters in northern Rwanda, near the Ugandan border. SIU documents named the individuals who allegedly brought the missiles into the capital, hid them and fired them on April 6, 1994, and included Kagame and Nyamwasa as potential targets for indictment.

One witness testified that before the attack on the plane, on the night of 6 April, RPF soldiers were told to get ready:

On 6 April 1994 at 19:00 hours, the order was received from Kayonga to be on ‘stand-by one’. This meant to be in full battle dress and ready for an attack. All the companies moved outside the camp into the trenches … At approximately 20:30 hours, I saw the president’s plane crash.

Another witness was later told by an intelligence agent that the RPF was indeed behind the plane attack:

He told me that it was the RPF who shot down Habyarimana’s plane. When he realised his indiscretion, he threatened me with reprisals if I didn’t keep it to myself.

The testimonies support the work of an earlier investigation undertaken in 1997 by the ICTR, by a lawyer called Michael Hourigan, who collected evidence indicating that the RPF was behind the plane attack. Louise Arbour, the UN tribunal’s chief prosecutor at the time, shut down the probe and told Hourigan that she did not have the mandate to investigate acts of terror, according to a number of interviews Hourigan gave after he quit his job in frustration with her decision. In later years, Arbour told The Globe and Mail newspaper that Kagame’s government blocked efforts to investigate RPF crimes and the tribunal did not have the resources to carry out such an inquiry safely.

In 2000, Carla Del Ponte, who took over after Arbour, made it clear she intended to indict the RPF.  “For me, a victim is a victim, a crime falling within my mandate as the [Rwanda tribunal’s] prosecutor is a crime, irrespective of the identity or ethnicity or the political ideas of the person who committed the said crimes,” she said in a speech in 2002. “If it was Kagame who had shot down the plane, then Kagame would have been the person most responsible for the genocide,” she later said at a symposium organised by the French Senate.https://www.youtube.com/embed/mzSGKIF2rYs?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1

But in 2003, the US government warned Del Ponte that if she went ahead with her plans to indict the RPF, she would be fired, according to her memoir. Within a few months of a tense meeting she had with Pierre-Richard Prosper — then US Ambassador for War Crimes Issues, who had served as a prosecutor for the ICTR from 1996 to 1998 — Del Ponte was removed from the ICTR. 

According to this leaked memo, dated 2003, Prosper struck a deal with the court to transfer jurisdiction for prosecuting RPF crimes — and evidence of RPF crimes collected by UN investigators — from the UN tribunal to the Rwandan government.

Prosper is currently a partner at Arent Fox, where he advises and represents the Rwandan government in international arbitration and litigation, according to the firm’s website . Prosper did not respond to our request for comment. 

Hassan Jallow, Del Ponte’s successor, who oversaw the court’s prosecution until it closed in 2015, was ultimately unwilling to indict the RPF. In 2005, he defended the ICTR’s decision not to prosecute the RPF, writing that Kagame’s army had “waged a war of liberation and defeated the Hutu government of the day, putting an end to genocide.”

Since 1994, several other UN agencies have investigated RPF attacks on Hutu civilians, both inside Rwanda and in neighbouring countries. These reports were also suppressed, or became the focus of vigorous denials from Kigali. Although they address other alleged crimes of the RPF, they corroborate the SIU’s general findings that the RPF committed widespread, targeted crimes against Hutus. 

Robert Gersony, a US consultant, was hired by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in the summer of 1994 to assess whether it was safe for Hutu refugees who had fled Rwanda to neighbouring countries to return home. Gersony’s 1994 report was never officially made public, but according a version that was leaked in 2010, investigators concluded that the RPF killing of Hutus during the genocide was “systematic” and resulted in the death of tens of thousands of civilians. 

Taking the capital: RPF soldiers gather on a road on 26 May 1994 to prepare to march into Kigali. Photo: Scott Peterson/Liaison

A senior official of the UN’s peacekeeping force in Rwanda said Gersony gave a verbal briefing in which he put forward evidence that the RPF had carried out a “calculated, pre-planned and systematic genocide against the Hutus.”

The UN Mapping Report, which investigated abuses committed by pro-Rwandan forces in the DRC between March 1993 and June 2003, concluded that attacks against Hutu civilians in that country, “if proven before a competent court, could be characterised as crimes of genocide.”

Despite the Mapping Report findings, the RPF has never been prosecuted for its alleged crimes in the DRC. Human rights advocates such as Denis Mukwege, a Congolese doctor who won the Nobel peace prize in 2018 for treating women who have experienced sexual violence, have repeatedly called on the international community to set up a tribunal to try all perpetrators of atrocities and end the culture of impunity in the DRC. Nevertheless, the UN High Commission for Human Rights, whose investigators authored the 550-page Mapping Report, has chosen to keep its database of suspected perpetrators confidential

Efforts by France to investigate the shooting down of Habyarimana’s plane have similarly failed to establish any accountability. In 2006, after a lengthy investigation, a French judge issued arrest warrants for several RPF officials in connection with the assassination of the Rwandan president, a move that triggered a diplomatic row between Kigali and Paris. 

Supporters of incumbent President Paul Kagame carry a large photograph of him during the campaign’s closing rally in Kigali, on August 2, 2017. (Marco Longari/AFP)

In December 2018, a court dismissed the case against the RPF, citing insufficient evidence to proceed to a trial and, on 3 July this year, an appeals court in Paris confirmed the decision and agreed not to reopen an investigation.  

Researchers have recently attempted to estimate the number of victims of violence, both Tutsi and Hutu. In January, the Journal of Genocide Research published several studies that estimated between 500 000 to 600 000 Tutsis were killed during the genocide, and between 400 000 and 550 000 Hutus lost their lives in the 1990s.

Marijke Verpoorten, an academic at the University of Antwerp, says it remains impossible to establish a reliable death toll of the killings of Hutus. Instead, she attempts to estimate how many Hutu lives were lost in the 1990s, either as a direct result of violence, or indirectly, after the rapid spread of contagious diseases in refugee camps, and the dire war conditions. She arrives at a “guesstimate” of 542 000, although admits there is a very large uncertainty interval.

Yet only one ethnic group has been internationally recognised as victims. Inside Rwanda, community-based gacaca courts tried more than 1.2-million alleged perpetrators of the Tutsi genocide. An official genocide survivor fund does not recognise Hutus who were killed, even if they lost their lives trying to protect Tutsis. Hutus are not allowed to publicly grieve their loved ones or request justice for RPF crimes in Rwanda. 

After formally closing, the ICTR became a residual tribunal — now called the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (MICT) — and continues to search for high-profile, alleged Hutu génocidaires. In May, French police arrested 87-year-old Félicien Kabuga, who had lived in hiding for 26 years. He stands accused of financing the genocide against Tutsis by funding an extremist radio station. Kabuga has denied the allegations and is currently in the Hague awaiting a trial. 

The MICT did not respond when asked for comment on prosecuting RPF officials.

Never indicted: Rwandan President Paul Kagame greets a crowd after addressing supporters at the closing rally of his presidential campaign in Kigali in August 2017. (Photo: Marco Longari/AFP)

Source: https://mg.co.za/africa/2020-11-29-exclusive-top-secret-testimonies-implicate-rwandas-president-in-war-crimes/

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Le 05 juin 1994: l’Église Catholique Rwandaise décapitée. Que s’est-il passé à Gakurazo ?

RWANDA: LA NUIT DE LONGS COUTEAUX

Gakurazo : 5 Juin 1994

De l’assassinat des évêques rwandais et d’autres ecclésiastiques à Gakurazo, le dimanche 5 juin 1994

Abbé Vénuste LINGUYENEZA
Waterloo, 2 décembre 1999

Je m’en vais raconter les événements qui ont trait à l’assassinat des évêques Vincent NSENGIYUMVA, archevêque de Kigali, Joseph RUZINDANA, évêque de Byumba et Thaddée NSENGIYUMVA, évêque de Kabgayi et président de la conférence épiscopale, avec 9 prêtres ainsi que le Supérieur Général des Frères Joséphites, Jean Baptiste NSINGA. Les prêtres assassinés sont tous du diocèse de Kabgayi sauf l’Abbé Denis MUTABAZI du diocèse de Nyundo: il avait fui Nyundo où il avait reçu une vilaine blessure d’un coup de lance dans la main (droite si je me rappelle bien) et le malheureux avait cru avoir échappé à la mort. Il s’agit de Monseigneur Jean Marie Vianney RWABILINDA, vicaire général; Monseigneur Innocent GASABWOYA, ancien vicaire général; les Abbés Emmanuel UWIMANA, recteur du petit séminaire, Sylvestre NDABERETSE, économe général, Bernard NTAMUGABUMWE, représentant préfectoral de l’enseignement catholique, François Xavier MULIGO, curé de la cathédrale, avec ses vicaires Alfred KAYIBANDA et Fidèle GAHONZIRE(ce dernier étant en même temps aumônier de l’hôpital). C’est donc pratiquement tout le staff du diocèse de Kabgayi qui a été ainsi décapité.

J’en fais le récit parce que témoin, parce que de fausses ou incomplètes relations circulent, parce qu’on ne demande pas aux témoins ce qui s’est réellement passé (même l’épiscopat rwandais, jusqu’à ce jour, ne m’en a jamais demandé le récit) et parce que, même les études les plus récentes, donnent toujours, des faits, la version du Front Patriotique Rwandais (F.P.R.). Et pourtant beaucoup de témoins sont encore en vie qui pourraient en faire chacun sa relation: le recoupement de ces différents témoignages donnerait un récit le plus complet et le plus fiable possible. On pourrait même retrouver les noms des responsables militaires du site de Kabgayi, qui sont vraisemblablement les responsables de cet assassinat prémédité, faut-il le souligner.

D’entrée de jeu, j’atteste que les évêques savaient plus ou moins ce qui les attendait, mais ils ont refusé de fuir. Ils en avaient discuté avant avec tous les prêtres responsables des communautés de Kabgayi.

Le F.P.R. arrive le jeudi 2 juin 1994. Tout le site de Kabgayi tombe en leurs mains avec la fin de la matinée. Tout Kabgayi, c’est-à-dire jusqu’au garage du diocèse: toutes les propriétés du diocèse avec l’hôpital, les écoles, les ateliers, le grand séminaire de philosophie et les résidences du personnel.

Comme toujours le F.P.R. arrive un peu avant les heures du repas. C’est ainsi qu’ils sont arrivés à l’évêché entre 11h et midi; l’infiltration datait déjà de plusieurs jours, si ce n’est de plusieurs semaines. Ils ont cherché les évêques et spécialement l’archevêque de Kigali; celui-ci fêtait précisément l’anniversaire d’ordination épiscopale, puisqu’il a été ordonné le 2 juin 1974; on avait donc préparé un bon repas de circonstance, mais ceux qui s’en sont régalés n’étaient pas invités!

Les soldats du F.P.R. ont regroupé, devant la cathédrale, les trois évêques avec Mgr Gasabwoya, Mgr Rwabilinda, l’Abbé Muligo, le Frère Nsinga et plus tard l’Abbé Uwimana. On va garder tout le groupe là sous le soleil jusque vers 15h quand on les descend sur la route devant l’école des infirmières. Aux alentours de 19h, les militaires les remontent à l’évêché pour qu’ils prennent quelques effets personnels. Les soldats en profitent pour ramasser tous les prêtres qui se trouvaient à Kabgayi (à l’exception de ceux qui se trouvaient encore au Philosophicum). Trois jeunes filles tiennent à accompagner et à rester avec le groupe, bien que les soldats feront tout pour les éloigner. Ils leur proposaient par exemple, d’aller se mettre à l’abri, mais elles refusaient. Vers 3 h du matin du vendredi, on conduisit tout le groupe en voiture à Ruhango à une quinzaine de kilomètres; on les garda chez un particulier près de la maison communale. Dans la pièce d’à coté, d’autres prisonniers étaient ligotés à la manière F.P.R. qui va les passer par les armes tôt dans la matinée. Les évêques vont rester là avec les prêtres jusqu’au matin du dimanche 5 juin.

Le dimanche 5 juin dans la matinée, on conduit tout le groupe au noviciat des Frères Joséphites. Le curé de Byimana a la surprise de les voir là quand il va célébrer la messe dominicale pour les frères, les religieuses et les fidèles réfugiés là-bas: le Frère Vivens était venu lui demander de faire la messe parce qu’il n’y avait pas de prêtre et il concélébrera avec le groupe qui venait de Ruhango. Ce sera leur dernière messe puisqu’ils seront assassinés dans la soirée du même jour vers 19h. Est-ce une coïncidence que c’était la Fête-Dieu, appelée aussi Fête du Précieux Sang?

Il faut dire qu’entre-temps les militaires devaient attendre des ordres d’en-haut. Tout comme ils avaient voulu rassembler en un même lieu tous les responsables des communautés de Kabgayi. C’est ainsi que là où j’étais à Byimana, avec quatre autres confrères (le préfet des études de philosophât et les prêtres de la paroisse de Byimana), et avec la secrétaire de l’évêché, on est venu vendredi 3 juin au matin, nous dire que bientôt un véhicule viendrait nous emmener rejoindre les autres “banyakiliziya” (néologisme arrivé au Rwanda avec le F.P.R. pour dire “les gens de l’Eglise”). Celui qui nous a ordonné de nous préparer à partir, convoyait une camionnette qui emmenait les Sœurs Benebikira de Byimana ; pour des raisons que j’ignore on n’est pas venu nous embarquer. Y aurait-il eu divergences au sein du F.P.R., car même si le sort des évêques était déjà scellé, il n’en était pas de même pour tous les prêtres qui étaient avec eux et dont certains étaient tutsi. Finalement, les militaires tireront sur le groupe sans distinction.

J’étais donc à Byimana paroisse. En effectuant un flash-back, je me suis rendu compte que la tension était montée chez le militaires ce dimanche-là. Nous subissions une perquisition presque toutes les heures, et chaque fois la hargne était plus visible. Spécialement dans l’après-midi de ce dimanche, deux militaires ont failli même nous tuer; ils ont prétendu que ce qui les retenait, c’est que leur armé ne tue pas les prêtres, ce que nous avons cru à l’instant, sans savoir ce qui se tramait, et sans savoir à ce moment-là, que tous prêtres du diocèse de Byumba qui étaient sur place en avril 1994, avaient été exterminés sans en laisser échapper un seul. Les militaires qui nous ont malmenés cet après-midi, cherchaient à justifier leur colère par les accusations devenues habituelles selon lesquelles l’Eglise n’a pas protégé les Tutsi (et pourtant à Kabgayi, le personnel et les infrastructures du diocèse ont pu sauver plus ou moins 30.000 personnes) ; ils ont même accusé l’évêque de Kabgayi (qu’ils confondaient tout le temps avec l’archevêque de Kigali et le traitaient de “cya gikaridinali”, c’est-à-dire le gros cardinal) d’avoir chez lui un immense dépôt d’armes. Visiblement ils cherchaient à forger une culpabilité qui justifierait le massacre qui se préparait.

L’assassinat s’est fait comme partout ailleurs où le F.P.R. a tiré sur les gens: on réunit tout le monde soi-disant pour parler sécurité, puis brusquement on ouvre le feu. C’est ce qui s’est passé avec les évêques et le groupe qui était avec eux. Vers 19h, on les a réunis au réfectoire des Frères Joséphites pour parler de leur séjour et de leur sécurité, leur a-t-on dit. Les militaires se sont énervés quand ils ne voyaient pas arriver l’archevêque (qui était à la chapelle) : on est allé le quérir illico presto. Entre-temps, le chef de poste s’est éclipsé avec ses subordonnées qui jusque-là étaient restés assis à l’écart. Puis des militaires enragés ont fait irruption dans la salle en demandant ce que les “femmes” faisaient là: il s’agit des trois demoiselles qui avaient accompagné les ecclésiastiques depuis Kabgayi et qui s’était obstinées à entrer et à rester avec les religieux au réfectoire alors que les militaires avaient voulu les éloigner en leur disant que la réunion ne les concernait pas ; elles ont été séparées du groupe et jetées dans un coin avec violence ; deux sont restées sur place, littéralement pétrifiées et elles ont assisté à toute la scène quand on a tiré sur tout le monde. La troisième fille s’est échappée avec le seul prêtre rescapé du massacre : ils ont réussi à s’échapper par la porte du fond du réfectoire, une autre que celle par laquelle étaient entrés les militaires. Ils ont couru vers la ferme des frères; ils se sont cachés quelques minutes, puis quand on les a retrouvés, on ne leur a rien fait: l’orage était passé.

On a donc tiré sur les évêques et leur groupe vers 19h-20h. Vers minuit, les militaires rassemblèrent les religieux, les religieuses et tous ceux qui étaient chez les frères Joséphites. De force, tout le monde devait aller regarder les corps des victimes. Ceux qui étaient près de la porte comme Sylvestre NDABERETSE, étaient réduits à de véritables passoires. Toutes les victimes étaient allongées et avaient reçu le coup de grâce, une balle dans la tête: RWABILINDA et GAHONZIRE avaient même les yeux crevés. Un seul était resté assis dans son fauteuil et n’avait pas reçu le coup de grâce: l’évêque de Kabgayi avec sa carrure large, a reçu peut-être toute la première rafale et a dû mourir sur le coup.

Avec les ecclésiastiques, sont morts deux jeunes gens qui étaient restés sans rien savoir du danger qui les guettait. Et l’on s’étonne de la présence du Supérieur Général des Frères Joséphites parmi les victimes. Car les frères avaient su ce qui se tramait et lui-même devait le savoir, mais il est resté volontairement, peut-être parce qu’il pensait qu’on allait tuer l’un ou l’autre, et pas tout le monde. Le Frère Balthazar, maître des novices (hutu, burundais par surcroît) avait essayé de sauver quelques prêtres; il avait inventé un stratagème pour les avertir de l’imminence de l’assassinat: il les faisait sortir un à un soi-disant pour leur montrer leurs chambres; mais quand il a vu que celui qu’il venait d’avertir retournait obstinément dans le groupe, il y a renoncé. On l’a lui-même assassiné quelques semaines après à Kinazi, tout comme le Frère Vivens, neveu de Monseigneur KALIBUSHI. La plupart des autres frères Joséphites présents à Gakurazo en cette nuit du massacre, ont, comme par hasard, rejoint l’armée du F.P.R. la semaine qui a suivi.

Le matin du lundi 6 juin, les militaires du FPR accompagnent le seul prêtre rescapé pour nous annoncer la terrible nouvelle, dans la version qui sera désormais officielle: des jeunes écervelés ont commis la bavure, parce qu’ils auraient trouvé leur famille décimée alors que l’Eglise n’a rien fait pour empêcher les tueries.

Nous sommes atterrés et nous pensons que notre tour viendra bientôt. En début d’après-midi, nous prenons notre courage à deux mains pour aller voir les corps des victimes: ils ont été déplacés dans une autre salle et le réfectoire a été lavé; il n’y a plus de traces, sauf l’odeur forte et caractéristique du sang, ainsi que les impacts des balles, des nombreuses balles, dans les murs. Ce sont les Sœurs de Sainte Marthe (de Kabgayi) et celles du Foyer de Charité (Remera-Ruhondo) qui ont lavé les corps et les ont placés côte à côte sur des nattes et des tapis. Tous les visages ont été couverts.

Quand nous demandons à ensevelir les corps, l’on nous dit que justement des officiers voulaient arranger cela avec nous. On m’a dit plus tard qu’il y avait trois colonels dans le groupe. Nous faisons une réunion avec eux. Nous leur faisons trois propositions qu’ils rejettent l’une après l’autre. Heureusement d’ailleurs. La première était que chaque évêque devait être enseveli dans sa cathédrale, que ce serait possible certainement pour ceux de Byumba et Kabgayi puisque c’était en zone F.P.R., tandis que l’archevêque de Kigali pouvait être confié à la MINUAR ou à la Croix-Rouge pour être enterré à Kigali. Niet. Heureusement, car on ne sait jamais ce que seraient devenus les corps, tandis que maintenant c’est sûr qu’ils ont été enterrés, ce sont eux qui gisent dans la cathédrale de Kabgayi et ils ont eu une belle messe concélébrée (des photos ont été prises). La deuxième proposition était que ce n’est pas n’importe qui, qui enterre un évêque, que donc l’autorité du F.P.R. pouvait aller chercher l’évêque de Kibungo (zone F.P.R. également) pour venir enterrer ses confrères. Deuxième niet: les “civilians” ne circulaient pas. C’était notre troisième proposition qui allait rencontrer leur agrément: enterrer les évêques dans la cathédrale à Kabgayi, et le reste dans une fosse commune à Gakurazo.

On me donna tout de suite dans la même après-midi, une camionnette (avec un mineur d’âge comme chauffeur) pour aller chercher au ‘Philosophicum’, le matériel pour creuser les tombes et la fosse commune. J’en profitai pour me rendre compte des dégâts faits à mon établissement et pour prendre au passage ma soutane. Le lendemain très tôt, on creusa les tombes. A la cathédrale, une tombe fut creusée profondément pour l’évêque du lieu; les deux autres arrivèrent à 1 m puisqu’on pensait que pour les deux autres évêques, la sépulture était provisoire, qu’on les transférerait dans leurs cathédrales respectives le plus tôt possible. A Gakurazo, on creuse une longue fosse commune. A Kabgayi comme à Gakurazo, les militaires furent alignés pour aider à creuser.

Les funérailles étaient prévues pour 14h le mardi 7 juin. Nous commencerons la messe avec un retard. Elle est chantée; je la préside: Seuls les cercueils sont sortis de la salle et rangés près de l’autel de fortune sur la ‘barza’ devant la salle où les autres corps restent allongés. Je fais un sermon qui a failli me coûter cher: il semble qu’on n’a pas attendu la fin de la messe pour tirer quelques personnes à l’écart et leur demander si je ne suis pas interahamwe, car je prenais la défense des évêques assassinés, de l’Eglise calomniée, et je m’en prenais à toute violence. Après la communion, le F.P.R. demande à parler: l’officier qui prend la parole affirme qu’ils sont tous navrés de cet assassinat, mais qu’on cherche avec acharnement les auteurs qui ne sont personne d’autres que de jeunes gens qui ont trouvé leurs familles décimées, et qui ont pensé que les évêques auraient dû empêcher ce malheur; il ajoute qu’un des coupables s’est tiré une balle parce qu’il savait qu’il serait sérieusement puni (sur le lieu-même, personne n’avait entendu aucun coup de fusil depuis la nuit horrible où furent assassinés nos confrères).

Après la messe, l’abbé Jean NSENGIYUMVA s’occupe de l’enterrement à Gakurazo; on lui demande de prendre la précaution de noter dans quel ordre les corps sont rangés, pour pouvoir les reconnaître à l’avenir. Moi je vais à la cathédrale avec d’autres personnes pour enterrer les évêques. Il fait déjà nuit et on termine l’enterrement à la bougie, avec, à l’extérieur de la cathédrale, on concert de rugissement de mitraillettes. Des journalistes anglophones passeront mais feront semblant de n’avoir rien remarqué, sauf un qui posera deux ou trois questions à la dérobée. Encore une fois, à Kabgayi comme à Gakurazo, les militaires aident à combler les fosses.

Quand nous rentrons à Byimana, quelle ne fut pas notre surprise de remarquer qu’on a démoli toutes les portes de la paroisse, que nos affaires ont été volées, et que le reste est dispersé par terre. Pourtant des militaires avaient reçu l’ordre de garder la paroisse. Mais cela n’est rien.

Vers 2h du matin (c’est l’heure des exécutions chez le F.P.R.), un groupe de militaires nous terrorise. Il a pour chef KAMARAMAZA (nom de guerre comme il est de coutume chez le F.P.R.). Deux prêtres les accompagnent (Alexandre NGEZE qui est décédé au Bugesera début juillet, et un deuxième dont je dirai le nom en cas de besoin); visiblement, ces deux-là ne se doutent pas qu’une exécution est dans l’air. On me demande de suivre la troupe. Je passe ma soutane par dessus le pyjama et on me fait une place dans la cabine de la camionnette. On file sur Gakurazo. Le chef “afandi” va en conciliabule à l’intérieur avec ses homologues ou ses supérieurs encore sur les lieux. Quand il revient, il me dit qu’il me ramène à la paroisse. C’est par après que j’ai su avec certitude le danger que j’avais pressenti, que j’ai couru cette nuit-là, et même tout le temps que je suis resté au Rwanda: comment se fait-il que je sois encore en vie, alors que tous les chefs de communautés de Kabgayi ont été tués avec les trois évêques, sauf moi? Comment rester en vie encore après ce que j’ai dit à la messe des funérailles?

C’est le lendemain qu’un journaliste de Radio-Muhabura (du F.P.R.) est venu prendre des notes. On lui a donné tous les noms des victimes, mais il s’obstinait à demander pourquoi on ne dirait pas que le Frère NSINGA est dixième prêtre assassiné! Il semble que les membres du F.P.R. de parenté proche avec NSINGA (ceux de la famille GASABWOYA d’ailleurs aussi) avaient protesté contre son assassinat. On connaît la version qui a été lue à Radio-Muhabura. Ils ont faussé les dates en disant que l’assassinat avait eu lieu “hier”, c’est-à-dire le mardi 7 juin; on n’a jamais donné le nom du Frère NSINGA, mais on a donné plutôt…le mien!

Abbé Vénuste LINGUYENEZA
(Sé)

Ese Padiri Pierre ntiyaba umwe mu bari bagize “éléments avancés” za FPR ?

UBUHAMYA BWA PADIRI Pierre HABARUREMA IGICE CYA 4 :

Guhungira muri Eveché ya CYANGUGU ntibyabujije Padiri  Pierre Habarurema gukomeza kujya kubonana n’abicanyi kabuhariwe buri gitondo, saa kumi n’ebyiri n’igice !

Padiri Pierre Habarurema yavuye ku Muyange taliki ya 12/4/1994.  Kwica Abatutsi muri Paruwasi ya Muyange byasaga n’ibirangiye kuko bishwe kuva taliki ya 9 kugera ku ya 11/4/1994. N’ubwo yavuye ku Muyange taliki ya 12, abari muri Evéché bemeza ko yahageze taliki ya 15/4/1994 !

Dore uko Padiri Pierre Habarurema ubwe yivugira ibyo yakoze mu gihe yari amaze kugera mu nzu y’Umwepiskopi(Eveché) ya Cyangugu :

« Rutanga yari yarishe, yarakoze ibyo ashaka byose…uwo muntu  niwe nakoreshaga…nahuraga nawe buri munsi, buri gitondo saakumi n’ebyiri n’igice…  ndakomeza nkorana na we…»

Uwo mwicanyi RUTANGA, ngo yibwiriye Padiri Pierre Habarurema ko yaryaga imitima y’abatutsi ngo ikamuryohera. Nyamara Padiri Pierre Habarurema araduhishurira ko ari we ubwe « wakoreshaga » uwo mwicanyi , ko ndetse babonanaga buri gitondo, saa kumi n’ebyiri n’igice. Nta bwoba Padiri Pierre Habarurema yigeze aterwa n’uwo mwicanyi ngo waryaga imitima y’abandi batutsi ikamuryohera !

Aha rero niho hateye benshi kwibaza ngo Padiri Pierre Habarurema, umututsi utaratinyaga gukorana /gukoresha abicanyi barimburaga abandi batutsi, yari muntu ki ?

Twibukiranye 

  1. Ubwo Paruwasi ya Muyange yaterwaga taliki ya 9 /4/1994 hishwe abatusi benshi. Abashoboye kurokoka ni abo Padiri Pierre Habarurema ubwe yatoranyije, yumvikana n’Umwicanyi witwa PIMA wari uyoboye igitero, ko atagomba gukora ku ncuti ze. Padiri Pierre Habarurema afatanyije n’umwicanyi PIMA, batoranya incuti za Padiri Pierre bazishyira mu nzu y’abapadiri (Presbytere) yo ku Muyange, kandi koko nta wabariye n’urwara ! Muri bo hari Hyacinthe MUKARUSAGARA, abavandimwe be, umugabo we n’abana be ;  Mzehe Gaetan ZIMURINDA n’umuryango we ;  Celestin MUSABYIMANA, n’abandi.
  2. Taliki ya 13/4/1994 Padiri Pierre Habarurema yagaragaye kuri Bariyeri y’i SHANGI, aha amategeko abari bayiriho kandi bakamwumvira, taliki ya 14/4/1994 Paruwasi ya SHANGI iraterwa, abatutsi baratikizwa karahava.
  3. Bariyeri kabuhariwe yo ku CYAPA i Kamembe, yari iyobowe na Mubyara wa Pierre Habarurema witwa Habimana Vedaste, ubu ni Umuheshawinkiko i Kigali, wawundi mwabonye ateza cyamunara imitungo ya Assinapol Rwigara n’iya Tribert RUJUGIRO…. Iyi Barrière yo ku CYAPA yaguyeho Abatutsi batagira ingabo barimo Padiri Joseph Boneza na Padiri Alphonse Mbuguje.
  4. Padiri Pierre Habarurema ageze muri Evéché yahengeraga Musenyeri n’abandi bapadiri baryasinziriye, akanyarukira kuri barriere yo mu GATANDARA « gukoresha » ba bicanyi yemezako baryaga imitima y’abatutsi!

 

Padiri Pierre Habarurema n’incuti ye

 

Twibaze kandi twisubize

 

  1. Muri Diyosezi ya Cyangugu hari abapadiri bari bafite amakuru y’uko Padiri Pierre Habarurema yajyaga ata Paruwasi yari ashinzwe akajya gukurikira amahugurwa y’Inkotanyi i KINIHIRA. Ibi yabikoze mu myaka ya 1992 /1993.
  2. Nyuma y’uko FPR ifashe ubutegetsi mu 1994, Padiri Pierre Habarurema ntiyongeye gukora muri Diyosezi ya Cyangugu, yewe nta n’indi Diyosezi y’u Rwanda yigeze ashaka gukoramo ubutumwa bwa gisaserdoti. Yikoreraga ibyo yishakiye(Vagus). Yirirwaga agenda n’abasilikari ba FPR ndetse hari n’abamuvugiragaho ko yigize ku ngufu « Aumonier » w’abasilikari ba FPR. Yagendanaga imbunda ebyiri za Revolver mu modoka. Abamuzi ibyo yakoraga muri Kigali bazatange ubuhamya.

 

Kubera izo mpamvu zose dore ibibazo twibaza :

 

  1. Aho Padiri Pierre Habarurema ntiyaba ari muri ba ba « Commandos » FPR yagiye yohereza kuri za Barrières ngo bashyushye imitwe abicanyi maze bashishikarire kwica abatutsi kurushaho ?
  2. Ibyo kuvuga ko abahutu bo mu Rwanda no mu burundi bafite umuco wo kurya imitima y’Abatutsi kugira ngo bagire ububasha bwabo bigamije iki ? Ese ubwo bubasha budasanzwe bw’abatutsi Padiri Pièrre ashaka kuvuga bubaho koko ? Ni ubuhe ?
  3. Aho ibyo Padiri Pierre Habarurema yita UBUHAMYA si umuyoboro wo gukwirakwiza ya INGENGABITEKEREZO y’ibimanuka yemeza ko mu Rwanda hari ubwoko busumba ubundi abatutsi bakaba aribo bantu, naho abahutu bakaba abantu-nyamaswa(sous-hommes) ?
  4. Ese aho ntihaba hari n’abandi bapadiri cyangwa Abasenyeri bitwaye cyangwa bitwara nka Padiri Pierre Habarurema muri Kiliziya y’u Rwanda ?

Murakoze.

Joachim Kabera,

Ubwanditsi bw’urubuga Umuhanuzi.

 

Iyumvire UBUHAMYA budasanzwe bwa Padiri Pierre HABARUREMA :

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Padiri Pierre HABARUREMA, umututsi wahigwaga, ngo yatangaga amabwiriza kuri barrière yicirwagaho abatutsi !

PADIRI PIERRE HABARUREMA

UBUHAMYA BWA PADIRI Pierre HABARUREMA : IGICE CYA 3

Padiri Pierre HABARUREMA, nk’umututsi wahigwaga, yakoraga iki kuri « Barrière » yiciweho Abatutsi, taliki ya 13/4/1994 ?

Muri iki cyumweru numvise ubuhamya budasanzwe bwa Padiri Pierre Habarurema, buntera kwibaza byinshi. Nasomye inkuru ebyiri zasohotse ku rubuga www.leprophete.fr zigaruka kuri ubwo buhamya ndetse zigakomeza kwibaza ngo Padiri Pierre Habarurema ni muntu ki ? Ese yitwaye ate muri biriya bihe bikomeye by’intambara , Jenoside ndetse na nyuma yaho ? Izi nkuru nasomye zarantinyuye numva nanjye natanga ubuhamya bw’ahantu nasanze Padiri Pierre Habarurema, ngataha nibaza icyo yahakoraga !

Italiki ndayibuka neza, hari le 13/4/1994.  Ibintu byari bimeze nabi cyane muri Komini ya Gafunzo yose. Twibuke ko igitero kiyobowe n’umwicanyi kabuhariwe witwa PIMA cyari cyagabwe taliki ya 9/4/1994  kuri Paruwasi ya MUYANGE Padiri Pierre Habarurema yakoragamo ubutumwa, hakicwa Abatutsi barenga 100. Hari n’abandi Batutsi batari bake biciwe mu ngo zabo muri ako Karere.

Kuri iyo taliki rero ya 13/4/1994 natakambiye incuti yanjye, S/Lieutenant Gendarme Augustin NDAMUZEYE, wari Komanda (Commandant) wa Kompanyi yacu  musaba ko yampa uruhushya rwo kujya gutabara famille yo kwa Databukwe yari yugarijwe n’igitero cy’abicanyi aho bari batuye i MUKOMA. S/Lieutenant NDAMUZEYE ntabwo yampaye uruhushya gusa rwo gutabara ahubwo yafashe n’icyemezo cyo kumperekeza. Twageze i Mukoma  ahagana saa yine za mu gitondo, dusanga abo twari dutabaye bose baraye bishwe. Twararize turihanagura, dufata inzira turataha.

Dutaha,twongeye kunyura kuri Barrière yari munsi ya Paruwasi SHANGI ahagana saa saba z’amanywa(13h). Twari mu modoka Toyota-Stout, twari kumwe n’aba Basilikari bakurikira : S/Lieutenant Augustin NDAMUZEYE, Kaporali Nsabimana, Kapolari Bugingo na Kaporali Habakurama.

Tugeze kuri iyo Bariyeri twasanze ibintu byahindutse, haje abandi bantu bafite ubukana budasanzwe, tutari twahabonye mu ma saa tatu n’igice. Baraduhagaritse, batumerera nabi cyane, batubaza impamvu ngo twataye urugamba tukaba turi kuzerera mu giturage. S/Lieutenant Ndamuzeye yagerageje gusobanura ko twari muri Patrouille ariko biba iby’ubusa. Twari tuhaguye ni impamo y’Imana ! Twakijijwe n’uko Padiri Pierre Habarurema yabwiye izo Nterahamwe bari kumwe ngo nibagenzure ibyangombwa byacu nibasanga tutari abo muri ako karere batwice, ariko nibasanga ariho dukomoka cyangwa dukora  batureke twigendere !

Twavuye aho twerekeza ku Bitaro bya Bushenge gusura abasilikari babiri ba Kompanyi yacu bari baharwariye . Ibitaro bya BUSHENGE nibyo abasilikari bivurizagamo. Diregiteri w’ibitaro yaboneyeho adusaba serivise yo kumujyanira abakozi batatu b’ibitaro b’abatutsi (abadamu 2 n’umugabo 1) bagombaga guhungishwa bakajyanwa kuri Stade Kamarampaka. Twarabatwaye kandi twabagejeje kuri Stade.

ICYO TWAKOMEJE KWIBAZA

Padiri Pierre HABARUREMA  ni umututsi wagombye kuba yarahigwaga. Nyamara aho kuri Bariyeri twamusanze yari kumwe n’Interahamwe zariye karungu, ukabona nta kibazo abifitemo, bisa n’aho bumvikana, ndetse twabonye ko yari abafiteho ijambo kuko yababujije kutugirira nabi, kandi bakamwumvira. Mu bari kumwe na we ndibuka umugabo wahoze akora ku makamyoneti y’umucuruzi witwa RURANGWA, uwo mugabo nahoraga mubonana  n’Umushoferi wa Rurangwa witwa Martin.

Sinasoza ntavuze ko ku munsi ukurikira kubona Pierre kuri iyo Barrière, ni ukuvuga taliki ya 14/4/1994, aribwo izo Nterahamwe zagabye igitero kuri Paruwasi ya SHANGI, zirimbura Abatutsi batabarika. Aho Padiri Pierre Habarurema ntiyaba afite amakuru arambuye kuri icyo gitero, abagiteguye, n’abakigabye ?  Turasaba ikinyamakuru UMUHANUZI ko cyazamuha ijambo akatubwira icyo yakoranaga n’Interahamwe kuri bariyeri yicirwagaho Abatutsi  munsi ya Paruwasi ya SHANGI yari iraye iri buterwe. Murakoze.

Gashabizi Jonathan

 

BIRACYAZA…..

Iyumvire ubuhamya budasanzwe bwa Padiri Pierre HABARUREMA:

Mu kubeshya ko Padiri MBUGUJE yiciwe mu Gatandara Padiri Pierre arahishira nde ?

KUKI PADIRI PIERRE ABESHYA KO PADIRI  ALPHONSE MBUGUJE YICIWE MU GATANDARA ? AGAMIJE GUKINGIRA NDE IKIBABA ?

KUKI PADIRI PIERRE ABESHYA KO PADIRI  ALPHONSE MBUGUJE YICIWE MU GATANDARA ? AGAMIJE GUKINGIRA NDE IKIBABA ?

UBUHAMYA BWA PADIRI Pierre HABARUREMA :  IGICE CYA 2

 

Kuki Padiri Pierre abeshya ko Padiri  Alphonse MBUGUJE yiciwe mu Gatandara ? Agamije gukingira nde ikibaba ?

 


Turi mu yihe si: Abicanyi kabombo nka Vedaste Habimana nibo koko Abanyarwanda bategerejeho ubutabera ?

Nzinduwe no kunganira inkuru Padiri Thomas Nahimana aherutse gutangaza ku rubuga www.leprophete.fr yerekanye ko mu buhamya bwa Padiri Pierre Habarurema harimo byinshi bidahuye n’ukuri. Twibajije niba Padiri Pierre Habarurema yarabeshye nkana cyangwa se niba afite inyungu ashaka kurengera . Twahisemo natwe gutanga ubuhamya tuzi neza bwerekana ko hirya y’ibyo Padiri Pierre Habarurema yatangaje hari ishyamba dukwiye kujagajaga tukamenya ibyaryo ! Uyu munsi turabaganiriza ku byerekeye urupfu rwa Padiri Alphonse MBUGUJE.

Mu buhamya bwe Padiri Pierre Habarurema abeshya ko Padiri Alphonse Mbuguje yiciwe kuri Barrière yo mu Gatandara, imbere y’urugo rwa Faustin, umutima we n’umubiri we bikaba byarariwe, ibisigazwa bigatabwa muri « fosse commune » y’ahongaho.

Mu nkuru iheruka byagaragaye ko ibyo Padiri Pierre HABARUREMA avuga atari ukuri.

Mu by’ukuri, taliki ya 6/4/1994, Padiri Alphonse Mbuguje w’Umunyagitarama yari muri Cyangugu yaraje gusura incuti ze.  Ubwicanyi butangiye yihishe mu nzu yo kwa Musenyeri wa Cyangugu (Evêché)  kugeza ku munsi Padiri witwa Innocent GASHUGI alias RUMANYURA yapfuyeho azize kubura imiti ya Diyabete. Mu gihe cyo ku mushyingura, Padiri Alphonse Mbuguje yasabwe kudasohoka akaguma mu bwihisho muri Evéché i Cyangugu. Yanze kumvira, arasohoka ajyana n’abandi bapadiri gushyingura. Aho niho Maneko zamuboneye. Bwagiye gucya gendarmerie izana Mandat d’arrêt officieliturutse i Gitarama, ngo uwo mupadiri yarashakishwaga ashinjwa gukorera FPR-INKOTANYI . Ubwo rero bahise bamujyana kuri Gendarmerie ya Cyangugu ngo agiye kubazwa, basezeranya Musenyeri Thadeyo ko bamumugarurira amaze kubazwa. Musenyeri Tadeyo yakomeje gukurikirana iby’uwo mupadiri. Yagiye kumusura kabiri kose, bakamumuha bakavugana. Agiyeyo ubwagatatu aramubura.

Amakuru dufite ni uko Padiri Alphonse Mbuguje yiciwe kuri « Barrière » kabuhariwe yari i Kamembe ahitwa ku CYAPA. Uko yavuye kuri Gendarmerie akagezwa ku CYAPA byasobanurwa n’uwari umuyobozi w’iyo barriere kuko azwi neza. Umurambo we watabitswe hafi aho. Kuko yakomokaga muri Diyosezi ya Kabgayi yaje gutabururwa, ajya gushyingurwa mu cyubahiro iwabo.

Ninde watanga amakuru y’impamo y’Urupfu rwa Padiri Alphonse MBUGUJE ?

Umwicanyi wiyitaga TURUNE, yarafashwe arafungwa. Yemeye icyaha atanga n’amakuru yose yerekeye urwo rupfu rwa Padiri Alphonse MBUGUJE.  Reka twibutse ko iyo barrière yo ku CYAPA ari nayo yiciweho n’undi mupadiri wakundwaga cyane muri Cyangugu yose witwaga Joseph BONEZA, abitwa MUSAMBI, Albert, MAFUTA…n’abandi Batutsi batagira ingano. TURUNE rero yavuze amataliki, yerekana uko byakozwe ndetse anarondora amazina y’ ababigizemo uruhare.

Barrière yo ku CYAPA yari ifite UMUYOBOZI wayo kabuhariwe  watangaga amategeko kandi agakurikizwa. Izina rye ni HABIMANA Vedastemwene Mategeko. Yafatanyaga bya hafi n’abandi bicanyi nka we bakurikira : BAVUGAMENSHI Manase mwene Rukubanya ; HABANAKWABO David alias Vicky mwene Nsekambabaye ; HABIRORA Nehemiya mwene Bitwayiki ;  NSENGIYUMVA Patrick mwene Mudeyi, HAVUGIMANA Alphonse mwene Alimas ; KAYUMBA Jean Berchmans mwene KAYUMBA, NDORIMANA Martin mwene HABIYAMBERE na   TURUNE amazina ye y’ukuri akaba ari Vincent MVUYEKURE mwene KABAYA Philipe.

Vedaste HABIMANA uyu yahoze ari Umushinjacyaha (Subtitut du Procuraire)  mu 1994, nyuma aza guhabwa kuba umucamanza i GITARAMA. Urukiko GAGAGA rwaramufashe ruramufunga mu gihe yakoraga akazi k’ Umucamanza . Amaze kubona ko TURUNE atangiye kumushinja no gushyira ahagaragara amabanga y’amabi bakoze yose, yaramugambaniye bamwicira muri Gereza kimwe n’abandi bose bamushinjaga ! Amakuru azwi ni uko yatanze ruswa abacamanza bagenzi be b’i Kigali bakamugira umwere !

Igihe cyo guharanira ko ukuri gutsinsura ikinyoma, ngiki cyageze ! Ntabwo tuzakomeza guceceka, ngo twemere ko ikinyoma n’akarengane bikomeza guhabwa intebe mu Rwanda.

 

Uyu Vedaste HABIMANA ubu akora iki ?

Ubu yibereye i Kigali, adamaraye mu munyenga wo kuba UMUHESHA w ‘INKIKO….niwe muSTAR tujya tubona agurisha imitungo y’abandi « nta sentiments », nk’iyo kwa RWIGARA ASINAPOL, Tribert Rujugiro …..

Uyu Vedaste HABIMANA apfana iki na Padiri Pierre HABARUREMA ?

 

Igitangaza kiragwira !  Nimwipfuke mu maso mudatungurwa : Padiri Pierre Habarurema na Vedaste HABIMANA ni ABABYARA…..ngaho nimusubire i Cyangugu, iyo bakomoka, mubaze neza icyo bapfana…. !

Uwashaka kumva neza icyo Padiri Pierre Habarurema ashya  yarura,  yahera n’aho…

Ahisemo kwambika ibara Abanyacyangugu bose abita « Abaryi b’imitima y’Abatutsi »…agamije gusa kurengera mubyara we ngo ahanagurweho urupfu rwa Padiri Alphonse Mbuguje… !

 

UMWANZURO

Umunyarwanda yarivugiye ngo : « Biza tubireba tugaceceka, byamara kuba urukonda tukabogoza » !

Imyaka 25 irashize Abanyarwanda bagerageza guhangana n’ibibazo uruhuri byaturutse ku Itsembabwoko ryaherekeje intambara yatangiye taliki ya 1/10/1990.

Muri iyi myaka 25 ishije byagaragaye cyane ko kwimika IKINYOMA, byahaye rugari AKARENGANE kakururiye ishyano abenegihugu batagira ingano.

Ndahamagarira abanyarwanda kubura umutwe maze imyaka 25 itaha tukazayimara turwanya twivuye inyuma ikinyoma n’akarengane, duharanira kwimika UKURI n’Ubutabera.

 

Kalisa Martin,

Umukunzi w’Ikinyamakuru UMUHANUZI .

 

BIRACYAZA…

 

Ngaho iyumvire nawe ubuhamya budasanzwe bwa Padiri Pierre Habarurema:

 

 

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Padiri PETERO HABARUREMA ngo yakoranaga n’interahamwe zaryaga imitima y’abatutsi !

Muri iki gihe cyo kwibuka abana b’u Rwanda batagira ingano bishwe bazira akamama, birakwiye rwose ko abatanga ubuhamya bakwitondera imvugo bakoresha zisesereza cyangwa zuzuye ikinyoma zitabura gukomeretsa imitima no gutoneka inkovu z’abarokotse. Ubuhamya nk’ubwa Padiri Pierre Habarurema ntibwubaka , burasenya.

I. UBUHAMYA bwa Padiri Pierre HABARUREMA

Padiri Pierre HABARUREMA ni No 473 ku rutonde rw’abasaseridoti b’Abanyarwanda. Yavukiye i Nyamasheke, akora ubutumwa nk’umupadiri wa Diyosezi ya CYANGUGU. Ubu yasuhukiye (cyangwa yahungiye !)  muri LUXEMBOURG.

Benshi batangajwe n’ubuhamya Padiri Pierre HABARUREMA  aherutse gutambutsa mu bitangazamakuru byo muri uku kwezi kwa Mata(4) 2019, aho yemeza ahagaze ku maguru yombi ko mu gihe cya Jenoside yo mu 1994, muri CYANGUGU,  hari  abantu (Abahutu !) bashinze IZIKO maze si ukotsa no kurya imitima n’amaroti y’imibiri y’Abatutsi, biva inyuma !

By’umwihariko , Padiri Pierre HABARUREMA yiyemerera ko :

  • Yakoranaga bya hafi n’Interahamwe yitwa RUTANGA ngo yamwibwiriye ko yariye imitima y’Abatutsi Gapfumu, Trojan na Padiri Alphonse MUBUGUJE.
  • Ngo abo bose biciwe kuri Bariyeri yo mu Gatandara, imbere y’urugo rwa Faustin, imibiri yabo itabwa mu gisimu rusange (fosse commune) cy’aho nyine.
  • We ubwe yafatanyije bya hafi n’iyo nterahamwe yitwa RUTANGA, ngo babonanaga buri gitondo saa kumi n’ebyiri,  muri gahunda yo kwambutsa Abatutsi !
  • Iyo nterahamwe y’incuti ye ngo yaje kugirana amakimbirane n’abandi bicanyi bituma ihunga u Rwanda ngo iticwa.

II. Hirya y’amagambo adasanzwe ya Padiri Pierre HABARUREMA, twibukiranye, twibaze kandi twisubize :

 

  • Taliki ya 6/4/1994, Pierre HABARUREMA yari Padiri wungirije (Vicaire) muri Paruwasi ya Muyange (Nyamirundi), Diyosezi ya Cyangugu. Yabanaga na Padiri Fabien KABANDA wari Padiri mukuru. Abo bapadiri bombi bari bazwi nk’abakomoka mu bwoko bw’Abatutsi.
  • Paruwasi ya MUYANGE yagabweho igitero taliki ya 9/4/1994 ku manywa y’ihangu, hicwa Abatutsi barenga 100. Padiri Fabien KABANDA na Padiri Pierre HABARUREMA nta wabariye n’urwara. Ahubwo Padiri Pierre Habarurema yafataga amafoto y’ubwo bwicanyi ndetse ntawe uyobewe ko yari afitanye ubucuti bwihariye n’Intarahamwe kabuhariwe yitwa PIMA, yayoboye igitero cyarimbuye imbaga aho ku Muyange ndetse n’ibindi bitero byinshi binyuranye byatikije benshi.
  • Bizwi kandi ko Padiri Pierre HABARUREMA yavuye ku Muyange taliki ya 11/4 /1994, ajya kuba kwa Musenyeri i Cyangugu aho yahisemo kujya ajya kureba undi mwicanyi kabuhariwe yita RUTANGA , ngo babonanaga «  buri gitondo, saa kumi n’ebyiri » !
  • Icyakora ba Nyakwigendera GAPFUMU na BENOIT Padiri Pierre HABARUREMA avuga ko biciwe mu Gatandara bakajugunywa mu gisimu cyaho, siko byagenze. Bizwi neza ko biciwe ku Rusizi, hirya gato ya Home Saint Francois, ahitwa mu IBANGA, imibiri yabo irapakirwa ijya kujugunywa i Mururu,  mu musarani wo kwa Gapfumu, mu rugo. Iyo mibiri yaje gutabururwa ishyingurwa mu cyubahiro kandi ntabwo yashyinguwe kuri Stade i Cyangugu. Ahubwo yashyinguwe mu CYIMBOGO, ahahoze ibiro bya Komini. Imiryango yabo yahamya ko batariwe imitima nk’uko Padiri Pierre HABARUREMA ashaka kubyemeza isi yose !
  • Nanone kandi bizwi neza ko Padiri Alphonse  MBUGUJE aticiwe  mu Gatandara ngo aribwe umutima n’amaroti, hanyuma atabwe mu gisimu cyaho. Ahubwo yiciwe i Kamembe ahitwa ku CYAPA, ajugunywa mu gisimu hafi aho. Abaje gutwara umurambo we ngo ushyingurwe mu cyubahiro i Kabgayi, bashobora guhamya ko batamusanze mu gisimu cyo mu Gatandara. Umwicanyi wari uzwi ku izina rya TURUNE, wamaze imyaka itari mike afungiwe muri Gereza ya Rusizi, yiyemereye iby’urwo rupfu, aruvuga rwose uko rwagenze, kandi nta wari warigeze avuga ko Padiri Alphonse Mbuguje yaba yarariwe umutima cyangwa ngo akebwemo amaroti !

UMWANZURO : Padiri Pierre HABARUREMA afite nyungu ki mu gutanga ubuhamya bw’impuha zikabije nk’izi?

1) Ubwicanyi bwakorewe inzirakarengane mu Rwanda burakabije, kubukabiriza ntibikenewe, yewe nta n’icyo bimariye ababurokotse n’abanyarwanda muri rusange.

2) Niba koko Padiri Pierre HABARUREMA yari afite amakuru adasanzwe nk’aya , we ubwe yahagazeho, kuki yayahishe imyaka isaga 25, ntayatange muri Gacaca, ngo amurikire ubutabera ?  Icyo si icyaha gihanwa n’amategeko ?

3) Niba Padiri Pierre HABARUREMA yiyemerera ko yakoranye bya hafi n’Interahamwe zaryaga imitima y’Abatutsi, ariko akaba atavuga mu by’ukuri amazina nyayo y’abariwe iyo mitima, ahubwo agatangaza amazina y’abataragize icyo kibazo , aho ntacyo ashaka guhishira ? Aho nta banga afitanye n’izo nterahamwe, ahubwo muri abo batutsi avuga « bambukijwe » hakaba hari abariwe koko imitima ariko Padiri Pierre HABARUREMA atashatse gutangaza, mu rwego rwo guhisha ukuri ? Ese ubundi yaba atandukiriye, uwakwibaza icyo ubwo bucuti yari afitanye n’abo bicanyi kabuhariwe, PIMA, RUTANGA…. bicaga abandi Batutsi « bakabarya imitima » ariko we ntibamukoreho  ahubwo bakaza kubimuganiriza ndetse ntibimubuze gukomeza gukorana nabo ? Hakenewe Anketi yimbitse y’inzego z’ubutabera kuri iki kibazo.

4) Nta we utabona ko  iki cyiswe « ubuhamya bwa Padiri Pierre HABARUREMA » cyagombye gutegereza imyaka isaga 25 kugira ngo gitangazwe, kigamije intego nyinshi zirimo izi eshatu zikurikira:

  • Gukomeretsa imitima, gushinyagura no gukina ku mubyimba abo mu miryango ya GAPFUMU (Jean Marie Vianney HABIMANA), TROJAN (wari umucuruzi i Kamembe)  na Padiri Alphonse MBUGUJE, bazi neza ko abantu babo batariwe imitima n’amaroti, maze iyi nkuru ikaba ije ibituraho isa n’igamije gukinisha no guharabika ba nyakwigendera hagamijwe inyungu zidasobanutse .
  • Guteza urwikekwe no kwenyegeza amacakubiri hagati y’Abahutu n’Abatutsi badafite uruhare na ruto mu byabaye kuva 1990 kugeza 1994.
  • Gusebya no kwambika isura ruvumwa CYANGUGU yose n’abayikomokamo twese tugiye kujya twitwa « Abaryi b’imitima n’imibiri y’Abatutsi » !

Muri make iby’uyu mupadiri si ibyo gukinishwa. Bikwiye kwitabwaho n’inzego zose, ariko cyane cyane abashinzwe itangazamakuru kimwe n’abo mu nzego z’ubutabera bakwiye kumukoraho anketi, bakazatangariza rubanda ukuri ku « nkuru yo kurya imitima y’Abatutsi » yadukanywe na Padiri Pierre HABARUREMA.

Kubera izo mpamvu zose, abakeneye amakuru arambuye ku buzima n’imibereho bya Padiri Pierre HABARUREMA, tuzayabagezaho mu nkuru yacu itaha.

Ngaho nawe iyumvire ubwo buhamya budasanzwe :

 

 

BIRACYAZA….

Padiri Thomas Nahimana.

 

Tariki ya 15 kugeza 25 Mata 1994

Ubwo Duherukana nababwiye uko tariki ya 14 Mata 1994 byiriwe byifashe aho mvuka. Nanabasezeranyije kuzakomeza ubuhamya bwanjye ku byo nzi, nabonye cyangwa byavugwaga muri icyo gihe. Abenshi babizi ntibashobora kubivuga abandi ntibakiriho. Reka dukomeze rero.

Hagati ya 14 na 25 Mata 1994 i Mushubati hazwi ubwicanyi bwakorewe umuryango wa Bizimungu warariraga amashuri ya Mushubati. Umugore we n’abana bari bahishwe na Rugerinyange. Abicanyi baje kubavumbura barabica. Hazwi kandi ibitero byagabwe kwa Muhindi nababwiye mu nkuru zibanza. Muhindi yari umu juge mu rukiko rwa Kanto ya Rubengera akaba na muramu wa papa (Yari yararongoye Masenge witwaga Tereza babyarana abana batatu, abahungu babiri n’umukobwa umwe).

Indege ya Habyarimana imaze guhanurwa, Muhindi yashatse abasore b’abahutu ngo bamurinde abasezeranya ko umutekano nugaruka azabagenera ibihembo. Abo basore bari bayobowe n’uwitwa Rwanyindo. Abandi batutsi bamaze kuva i Mushubati, hashize igihe gitoya (icyumweru ) ibitero byerekeza kwa Muhindi. Twamenye ko igitero cya mbere cyagiye cyashaka kwinjira mu rugo kigakubitwa inshuro. Abakigize basubiye inyuma baza kugaruka bafite imbunda na grenades, bararasa abari barinze urugo baratatana. Barafashwe barakubitwa cyane bazira ko ngo babangamiye umutekano w’igihugu.
Abana ba Muhindi batanu barishwe Muhindi n’umugore we barabashorera babicira mu rutoki rwo kwa Sedesiya hafi yo kwa Baranywa.

Muri icyo gihe no mu minsi yakurikiyeho hagaragaye imodoka zanyuraga i Mushubati zihamagarira abantu kujya “gutabara “igihugu zigatwara abantu ku Kibuye cyangwa mu Bisesero ahavugwaga Inkotanyi zivanze n’abatutsi bari bahunze baturutse impande zose.
Havuzwe kandi igitero cyagabwe i Nyamagumba. Nk’uko nabyanditse ubushize, Nyamagumba ya Mabanza, ni agasozi gaherereye ahahoze hitwa Kibingo hakurya y’amashuri ya Bumba.

Abazi iby’intambara ya FPR INKOTANYI ubwo zagabaga igitero mu Ruhengeri zigafungura imfungwa za politiki harimo Lizinde, Biseruka, Muvunanyambo, n’abandi. Bazi kandi igihe Inkotanyi zasakiranye n’Inzirabwoba bakarwanira bikomeye ku musozi wa Nyamagumba.
Agasozi ko muri Mabanza kitiriwe Nyamagumba, bishushanya intambara hagati y’Inzirabwoba n’Inkotanyi.
Ubutaha tuzarebera hamwe uko byagenze i Nyamagumba.
Biracyaza…

14 Mata 1994.

Nari naraye ntasinziriye neza. Naraye nsimbagurika buri kanya,nkarota nsimbuka umukingo muremure ngashidukira hejuru ntaragera mu kabande!
Ariko nari naraye nsezeranyije Freddy na Petero ko nzajya kubareba ngo menye ko bageze mu rugo amahoro. Nahagurutse iwacu nka saa tatu za mu gitondo njya i Rushikiri. Ngezeyo naganiriye na Muhindi na Doroteya baranshimira bambwira ko abahungu bahageze amahoro. Cyakora bampishuriye ko bagenda batakaza icyizere. Ni muri uro rwego bari bahishe Petero na Freddy kwa Mariya, mushiki wa Petero wari yarashatse umugabo w’umuhutu. Uyu Mugabo yakoze uko ashoboye arinda umugore we, Imana ibimufashamo ararokoka. Narahavuye nyura kwa Mariya ndamusuhuza dusangira ibya saa sita ndakomeza ndataha. Nihutiye kugera mu rugo. 

Guhera uwo munsi twakomeje kugira ubwoba bwinshi mu rugo kubera impamvu ebyiri.
Byakomezaga kugaruka mu magambo y’abantu ko abatutsi b’abagabo bagomba gupfa, hagakurikiraho abatutsikazi barongowe n’abahutu ariko hamwe na hamwe hari abataratinyaga kuvuga ko hazasoza abashambo kuko nabo ari abatutsi. Kuri ibi hakiyongeraho ikimasa umututsi witwa Bwanakweri ari yari yarohereje iwacu giherekeje inka yaduhaye mbere gatoya y’uko indege ihanurwa.
Nta mututsi wari ukigaragara. Ubusanzwe Mushubati yari ituwe n’abatutsi benshi rwose ariko byageze kuri iyi tariki baragiye , harishwe abo kwa Murari, kwa Sakindi, Andereya, Nzogera na Musesarugamba bene Rutanga.
Umuryango wa Muhindi wari ukirinzwe n’abasore b’abahutu bari bayobowe na Rwanyindo.

Iminsi yakurikiyeho sinigeze mva mu rugo uretse nko kujyana n’umukozi gukura ibijumba cyangwa kuvoma.
Uretse Freddy na Petero nta wundi muntu wigeze aza kwihisha iwacu. N’ubwo twari dufite ubwoba ariko twakoze uko dushoboye ngo tubarinde risques. Twahoraga dutegereje ko abana Papa na Mama bari barabyaye muri batisimu b’abatutsi cyangwa ababyeyi babo baza kwihisha iwacu cyakora nta waje. Hari icyizere ko kujya ku Kibuye byari gutanga amahirwe yo kurokoka ku batutsi. Imindi yakurikiyeho hagiye haba ibikorwa by’ubwicanyi n’ubusahuzi hirya no hino ariko ibizwi cyane akaba ari igitero cyagabwe kwa Muhindi kikabanza kunanirwa ariko nyuma kikaza gutsemba umuryango wose. Tuzabiharira umwanya wabyo.

Uvuye i Mushubati werekeza iya Rutsiro , hakurya ya Bumba hari agasozi kari kihindiyeho abatutsi mu rwego rwo kwegerana. Mu minsi yakurikiyeho baje kugabwaho igitero bicwamo benshi cyane. Ako gasozi kitiriwe Nyamagumba biturutse ku ntambara yahabereye.
Biracyaza.

13 Mata 1994 (ibikurikira)

Natangiye mbabwira ko tariki 13Mata 1994 awabaye umunsi mubi mu mateka ya Mushubati. Nababwiye kandi ko aribwo umuryango wa Sakindi wishwe wose hagasigara umugore we w’umuhutukazi. Kwa Muhindi, twapanze gahunda yo kuza gukura Freddy na Petero iwacu tukabazana iwabo muri iryo joro. Dore uko umugambi wari uteye.

Jye nari gutegereza ko buhumana maze ngaherekeza abo basore nkabageza ku ivomero ryo mu Kunini. Iri vomero twitaga Kano (bituruka kuri canaux ) ryari riherereye hepfo yo kwa Pascal Gapyisi unyuze iruhande rwa kawa y’ishuri rya primaire rya Mushubati. Aha niho nari guhurira na Rwanyindo akabaherekeza akabageza mu rugo i Rushikiri. Isaha twahanye iya saa moya z’umugoroba. Nta téléphones zabagaho ngo duhamagarane tubwirane aho tugeze. Umugambi tumaze kuwunoza ndasezera ndataha.

Nigiriye inama yo kudaca inzira nanyuze nza mu rwego rwo kwirinda ko hari uwambaza byinshi. Nabanje ariko gusuhuza Mubyara wanjye (mushiki wa Petero ) wari yarashatse hafi aho ku mugabo w’umuhutu.
Ndangije manuka ku Gitega nsha mu ma kawa mpinguka mu muhanda wa Leta nywuvamo nerekeza kuri ya kano twagombaga guhuriraho nzamuka kwa Gapyisi Pascal mpinguka ku nzu mberabyombi ya Paroisse yitwaga “Mubyiruke”. Nta muntu twahuriye muri iyo nzira yose.

Ngeze kuri Paroisse nashatse kujya gusuhuza Umudiyakoni wahabaga mpageze Sergent gendarme ambwira ko Diyakoni adahari ko yerekeje ku ivuriro. Yari yajyanye n’aba gendarmes babiri aho hasigaye babiri.
Nagumye kwa Padiri ntegereje Diyakoni nk’amasaha 2 ari nako nganira na Sergent.

Mbonye atinze kandi ndambiwe kuguma aho ndasezera ndazamuka nerekeza muri Jebeka (GBK).
Mpageze nagiye muri Boutique ya Datawacu Benoît Bayahore ndahaguma. Icyo nari ngamije kwari ukwanga kujya mu rugo ngo hatagira ushaka kwinjira mu cyumba cyanjye kuko ari cyo cyarimo Petero na Freddy. Nifuzaga kuza kugera mu rugo bitinze rwose.
Twicaye aho turaganira hahoraga abantu benshi buri gihe. Ndibuka ko twaganiriye ku byerekeranye n’igisirikari tujya impaka bamwe bavuga ko FPR igeze i Gitarama abandi bahakana.

Hashize umwanya hafi y’isaha n’isaha n’igice, havuze amasasu ku muhanda ujya ku Mashuri ya primaire ahari ishusho rya Bikira Mariya. Kubera ko twarimo tuvuga ibya gisirikare, twagize ubwoba ariko abari aho twese turasohoka ngo turebe. Twabonye imodoka ya Daihatsu y’ubururu yari imaze kuhanyura ivuye ku ivuriro. Ngereranyije bari nka 20. Twamanutse ngo turebe ikibaye tuhageze dusanga aba gendarmes babiri tubona abantu benshi bakurura imirambo bayita mu byobo byari aho. Negereye Diyakoni ngo mubwire ko nari nagiye kumusuhuza nkamubura. Ibintu ntibyari byoroshye. No mu kubyandika si icyoroshye kuko umutima uratera birenze .

Mu modoka imbere harimo Véronique Mukankwiro nababwiye mu bice byashize. Yari afite umwana we muto ku bibero. Yari yicaye hagati ya Diyakoni n’umushoferi. Hanze hari umugabo ufite inkota abwira Diyakoni ngo nabahe iyo nyenzi. Diyakoni yanga gusohoka. Ku ruhande haje abantu benshi mu bo twari tuzanye binginga abari bateze iyo modoka ngo bayireke ikomeze. Wa mugabo wari ufite inkota twaje kumenya ko yaturukaga i Rarankuba ngo akaba yari yarirukanywe mu gisirikare.

Kugira ngo bareke imodoka igende, umwe mu bo twari tuzanye yatanze mafaranga 5000 maze Véronique ahava ntacyo abaye n’uruhinja yari ateruye. Aba gendarmes bari babanje kurasa masasu ariko abicanyi babarusha ubwinshi barabagota mu gihe abandi bicaga. Nyuma twaje kumenya ko mu bahaguye harimo abana ba Véronique, muramukazi we n’abana be. Harimo kandi umusore witwaga Yozefu wari u neveu wa Padiri Clément Kanyabusozo. Mu bari batawe mu byobo harimo umugore witwa Agata wo kwa Munyansanga. We yaje kuvamo ndetse aza kurokoka, Imana ishimwe.
Abapfuye bose Imana ibahe iruhuko ridashira.

Muri abo bahaguye nta n’umwe wari utuye i Mushubati, bose bakomokaga za Buhinga, secteur twari duturanye mu majyaruguru yacu. Abaturage benshi bari baje kureba ibibaye ni nabo batakambye ngo Véronique aticwa. Ni we wari ukiriho. Sinshidikanya ko iyo tuza kuhagera mbere wenda nta wari kwicwa.

Twavuye aho dusubira haruguru muri Jebeka ariko sinahatinda mpita ntaha, ubwoba bwanyishe.
Nambutse Nyakiriba ngera iwacu. Nabwiye ababyeyi amagenzi yanjye na gahunda twafashe yo guherekeza Freddy na Petero. Aba basore nabo nababwiye iby’iyicwa ry’aba bantu.
Isaha yo kubaherekeza iregereza ariko mbona hakibona. Nibwo twiyemeza kuryama gatoya. Nakangutse haciye akanya ndababyutsa ngo tugende. Twarabyutse turambara tugeze hanze ubwoba buramfata. Natekereza ibyari byabaye ku manywa nkumva birandangiranye. Nigiriye inama yo kubyutsa umukozi wacu w’umusore ngo aduherekeze. Ntiyari azi ko Freddy na Petero bahari. Ariko yemeye ko tujyana.
Tugenda tugwa mu migende ya Nyakiriba twomoka ku kibuga cy’amashuri i Mushubati haruguru yo kwa Ngarukiye. Freddy na Petero dusezeranaho, mbizeza ko nzaza kubasura.
Tariki ya 13 Mata 1994 wari umunsi mubi cyane.

13 Mata 1994

Uyu munsi wabaye mubi cyane mu mateka ya Mushubati.
Nababwiye ko ku mugoroba wa tariki 12 mperekeje umusore w’umuturanyi hagati ya saa moya n’igice na saa mbiri z’ijoro, twabonye umuntu wububa ashaka kwinjira mu rugo iwacu. Twamubajije uwo ari we ? Agira ubwoba ntiyavuga ahubwo atangira gusunika urugi rwo ku irembo ngo yinjire. Twamubwiye ko nativuga tuvuza induru, aratubwira ati muhumure ni jyewe . Wowe nde ? Petero. Petero wuhe? Mubyara wawe.

Ubushize nababwiye ko Masenge witwaga Tereza yari yarashakanye n’umugabo w’umututsi, Muhindi Visenti bakabyarana abana batatu harimo abahungu n’umukobwa umwe. Petero Mutuyeyezu ni umwe muri abo bahungu. Twaramwegereye atubwira ko atari wenyine ahubwo ko azanye na Freddy Mutanguha, murumuna we (yari yarazanywe na nyina Doroteya aje gushakana na Muhindi nyuma y’urupfu rwa Masenge Tereza). Freddy abenshi bitaga Ferdinand yari yasigaye mu nsi y’urugo nawe tujya kumuzana tumwinjiza mu rugo. Nahise mbinjiza mu cyumba cyanjye muri annexe. Nangaga ko hari ubabona. Twari dufite abakozi bo mu rugo babiri, umusore n’umukobwa. Naribwiye nti bamenye ko aba bantu bari hano, bashobora kwibeshya bakagira uwo babibwira bikaba byaba nabi.

Bamaze kwinjira mu nzu nakubiseho urugi ninjira mu nzu nini kubibwira ababyeyi. Nabanje kubibwira Mama nawe ati ngwino tujya muri chambre kubwira Papa. Papa yaranyihanangirije ngo ntihagire n’umwe umenya ko bahari. Yahise ahamagara barumuna banjye babiri nabo bararaga muri annexe abaha itegeko ko batangira kurara mu nzu nini kugeza igihe azababwirira. Nta mwana ujya impaka na se, bahise bemera nta kuzuyaza bajya mu cyumba cy’abashyitsi.
Najyanye na Mama tuganira na Freddy na Petero. Batubwiye ko Muhindi afite abasore yemereye kuzahemba intambara irangiye bakaba aribo bamurinze n’umuryango we. Gusa ngo mu rwego rwo kwiteganyiriza, yari yohereje abahungu ngo baze babe bari iwacu, ntawamenya!

Mu gihe Muhindi yatekerezaga ko iwacu hari umutekano si ko byari bimeze. Mbere gato y’ihanurwa ry ‘indege umututsi w’inshuti ya Papa witwaga Bwanakweri akaba na secrétaire wa paroisse Mushubati yari yaduhaye inka iza iherekejwe n’ikimasa. Ngo wari umuco. Ariko ngo icyo kimasa cyagombaga gusubirayo inka imaze kumenyera.
Icyo kimasa rero cyaduteje umutekano mukeya. Insoresore zinyuzaga hafi aho binavugwa ko tugomba kugitanga bakakirya kuko ari icy’abatutsi. Twari twiteze ko isaha iyo ariyo yose baza bakagitwara. Hahise hazamo ko ikimasa bazaza kugitwara bagasanga si ikimasa gusa ahubwo hari n’abantu!
Byihuse hari hakwiye kuvugana na Muhindi tukamubwira uko ikibazo giteye ndetse tukareba icyakorwa. Ubwo nahawe ubutumwa bwo kujya i Rushikiri kwa Muhindi kugira ngo ntange ubwo butumwa. Nari umwana ku buryo byari binyoroheye kuvuga ko bantumye. Bwari ubutumwa bw’ibanga nakwita “top secret”.

Nararanye na Freddy na Petero ku gitanda kimwe. Bukeye nafashe inzira ngo ngende ariko ngira igitekerezo cyo kuvugana na Masenge Agnès mu rusisiro rwa Gafumba. Naragiye ngezeyo nibuka ko Papa yambujije kugira uwo mbibwira, umutima urandya,…mbwira Agnès ko nari nje kumusuhuza. Nahageze ambwira ko hari igitero cyaje mu gitondo gusaka kwa Kayibanda abatutsi bari bahihishe bagasimbuka urugo.
Umwe muri bo yari azwi ku izina rya Nzogera rimwe na rimwe akiyita caporal. Yaje kwicwa n’abari baturutse mu rutoki agana ku Kinombe.
Nahise numva ko ibintu bitoroshye noneho. Nazamutse nyura mu Kagari ahari aga centre gatoya kagizwe n’utubari. Nta muntu wari uhari.
Nakomeje hirya ku muyoboro w’amazi ngeze kwa Sakindi nsanga umugore yicaye ku irembo.
Sakindi ni umututsi wavaga inda imwe na Murari wishwe rugikubita. Sakindi yari afite umugore w’umuhutukazi twakekaga ko wenda ntacyo abicanyi bazamutwara. Mu gihe namusuhuzaga, yaranyihoreye ngira ngo ntiyumvise ndongera ahita akubita amarira. Arandeba mbura icyo mvuga nkomeza urugendo. Nyuma twaje kumenya ko igitero cyari cyahagabwe mu rukerera kikamwicira umugabo n’abana bose. Wari umuryango mugari nkeka barageraga mu icumi (10) bose hamwe.

Narakomeje nyura ku kagezi kitwa Kazibaziba ngeze ku mugabo bitaga Baranywa hafi yo kwa Murengerantwari Alexis mpasanga abantu benshi bafite intwaro gakondo zitandukanye. Bambajije aho ngiye mbabeshya ko Papa antumye kwa Deo. Uyu Deo Hakizimana yari secrétaire wa Commune Mabanza akaba yari atuye imbere y’ibiro bya secteur Mushubati ahitwaga kuri Foyer. Abo bantu twageranye kuri Foyer mpita nzamuka njya kwa Deo ngo ndeke bagende. Kwa Deo mpageze nabwo byambereye ihurizo rikomeye. Bambajije aho njya mu gihe bitari byiza kugendagenda, mbura icyo mvuga, sinzi ibyo nabeshyabeshye mbona ntibambajije byinshi. Deo arambwira ngo arandega kuri Papa. Hashize akanya mbonye ba bantu bagiye mfata inzira nerekeza kwa Muhindi.

Ngezeyo umwe mu basore bari baharinze afora umuheto agiye kundasa ndatabaza. Yitwa Nzabonimpa yari yarigeze kuba umushumba w’inka iwacu. Yambajije ikingenza mubwira ko Mama antumye kuri Doroteya ,ajya kubaza aragaruka arandeka ninjira mu rugo. Bari bafite ubwoba bwinshi, batonora ibishyimbo byo guteka, anyinjiza mu cyumba ahamagara Muhindi mbagezaho ubutumwa.
Muhindi yafashe icyemezo ko Freddy na Petero bava iwacu bakagaruka iwabo. Dukora na gahunda yo kubagarura mu ijoro. Byabaye ngombwa kwinjiza mu mugambi uwitwa Rwanyindo wari uyoboye abarindaga kwa Muhindi.
Biracyaza…