Paul Kagame killed President Juvenal Habyarimana
- Detalles
- Categoría: Actualidad en inglés
- Publicado el Martes, 04 Octubre 2011 14:56
Front signed the Arusha Peace Agreement. The provisions of the agreement included a
commitment to principles of the rule of law, democracy, national unity, pluralism, the respect of
fundamental freedoms and the rights of the individual. The agreement further had provisions on
power-sharing, formation of one and single National Army and a new National Gendarmerie
from forces of the two warring parties; and a definitive solution to the problem of Rwandan
refugees.
On April 6, 1994, at 8:25 p.m., the Falcon 50 jet of the President of the Republic of Rwanda,
registration number \u201c9XR-NN\u201d, on its return from a summit meeting in DAR-ES-
SALAAM,Tanzania, as it was on approach to Kanombe International Airport in KIGALI,
Rwanda, was shot down. All on board, including President Juvenal Habyarimana , President
Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi, their entire entourage and flight crew died.
The death of President Juvenal Habyarimana triggered the start of genocide that targeted Tutsi
and Hutu moderates, and the resumption of civil war between RPF and the Government of
Rwanda. The RPF\u2019s sad and false narrative from that time on has been that Hutu extremists
within President Habyarimana\u2019s camp shot down the plane to derail the implementation of the
Arusha Peace Agreement, and to find a pretext to start the genocide in which over 800,000
Rwandans died in just 100 days. This narrative has become a predominant one in some
international circles, among scholars, and in some human rights organizations.
The truth must now be told. Paul Kagame, then overall commander of the Rwandese Patriotic
Army, the armed wing of the Rwandese Patriotic Front, was personally responsible for the
shooting down of the plane. In July, 1994, Paul Kagame himself, with characteristic callousness
and much glee, told me that he was responsible for shooting down the plane. Despite public
denials, the fact of Kagame\u2019s culpability in this crime is also a public \u201csecret\u201d within RPF and
RDF circles. Like many others in the RPF leadership, I enthusiastically sold this deceptive story
line, especially to foreigners who by and large came to believe it, even when I knew that Kagame
was the culprit in this crime.
The political and social atmosphere during the period from the signing of the Arusha Accords in
August 1993 was highly explosive, and the nation was on edge. By killing President
Habyarimana, Paul Kagame introduced a wild card in an already fragile ceasefire and dangerous
situation. This created a powerful trigger, escalating to a tipping point towards resumption of the
civil war, genocide, and the region-wide destabilization that has devastated the Great Lakes
region since then
Paul Kagame has to be immediately brought to account for this crime and its consequences.
First, there is absolutely nothing honorable or heroic in reaching an agreement for peace with a
partner, and then stabbing him in the back. Kagame and Habyarimana did not meet on the
battlefield on April 6, 1994. If they had, and one of them or both had died, it would have been
tragic, but understandable, as a product of the logic of war. President Habyarimana was returning
from a peace summit, and by killing him, Kagame demonstrated the highest form of treachery.
Second, Kagame, a Tutsi himself, callously gambled away the lives of innocent Tutsi and
moderate Hutu who perished in the genocide. While the killing of President Habyarimana, a
Hutu, was not a direct cause of the genocide, it provided a powerful motivation and trigger to
those who organized, mobilized and executed the genocide against Tutsi and Hutu moderates.
Third, by killing President Habyarimana, Kagame permanently derailed the already fragile
Arusha peace process in a dangerous pursuit of absolute power in Rwanda. Kagame feared the
letter and spirit of the Arusha Peace Agreement. As the subsequent turn of events has now
shown, Kagame does not believe in the unity of Rwandans, democracy, respect of human rights
and other fundamental freedoms, the rule of law, power sharing, integrated and accountable
security institutions with a national character, and resolving the problem of refugees once and for
all. This is what the Arusha Peace Agreement was all about. That is what is lacking in Rwanda
today. Last, but not least, Kagame\u2019s and RPF\u2019s false narrative, denials, and deceptions have led
to partial justice in Rwanda and at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, thereby
undermining prospects for justice for all Rwandan people, reconciliation and healing. The
international community has, knowingly or unknowingly, become an accomplice in Kagame\u2019s
systematic and shameful game of deception.
I was never party to the conspiracy to commit this heinous crime. In fact, I first heard about it on
BBC around 1:00 am on April 7, 1994, while I was in Kampala where I had been attending the
Pan African Movement conference.
I believe the majority of members of RPF and RPA civilians and combatants, like, me were not
party to this murderous conspiracy that was hatched and organized by Paul Kagame and
executed on his orders. Nevertheless, I was a Secretary General of the RPF, and a Major in the
rebel army, RPA. It is in this regard, within the context of collective responsibility, and a spirit of
truth-telling in search of forgiveness and healing, that I would like to say I am deeply sorry about
this loss of life, and to ask for forgiveness from the families of Juvenal Habyarimana, Cyprien
Ntaryamira, Deogratias Nsabimana, Elie Sagatwa, Thaddee Bagaragaza, Emmanuel Akingeneye,
Bernard Ciza, Cyriaque Simbizi, Jacky Heraud, Jean-Pierre Minaberry, and Jean-Michel Perrine.
I also ask for forgiveness from all Rwandan people, in the hope that we must unanimously and
categorically reject murder, treachery, lies and conspiracy as political weapons, eradicate
impunity once and for all, and work together to build a culture of truth-telling, forgiveness,
healing, and the rule of law. I ask for forgiveness from the people of Burundi and France whose
leaders and citizens were killed in this crime. Above all, I ask for forgiveness from God for
having lied and concealed evil for too long.
In freely telling the truth before God and the Rwandan people, I fully understand the risk I have
undertaken, given Paul Kagame\u2019s legendary vindictiveness and unquenchable thirst for spilling
the blood of Rwandans. It is a shared risk that Rwandans bear daily in their quest for freedom
and justice for all. Neither power and fame, nor gold and silver, are the motivation for me in
these matters of death that have defined our nation for too long. Truth cannot wait for tomorrow,
because the Rwandan nation is very sick and divided, and cannot rebuild and heal on lies. All
Rwandans urgently need truth today. Our individual and collective search for truth will set us
free. When we are free, we can freely forgive each other and begin to live fully and heal at last.
Dr. Theogene Rudasingwa
Former: RPF Secretary General, Ambassador of Rwanda to the United States, and Chief of Staff
for President Paul Kagame.
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Washington, DC. October 1, 2011
1
Juv\u00e9nal HABYARIMANA, Head of State of Rwanda; Cyprien NTARYAMIRA, Head of State of
Burundi; D\u00e9ogratias NSABIMANA, Chief of Staff of Rwandan Armed Forces (R.A.F.); Elie SAGATWA,
Colonel and Chief of the Military Cabinet of the Rwandan president; Thadd\u00e9e BAGARAGAZA, Major
and executive officer in the \u2018maison militaire\u2019 of the Rwandan president; Juv\u00e9nal RENZAHO, foreign
affairs adviser to the Rwandan president; Emmanuel AKINGENEYE, personal physician to the
Rwandan president; Bernard CIZA, Minister of Planning in the government of Burundi; Cyriaque
SIMBIZI, Communications Minister of Burundi; and members of the French flight crew, Jacky
HERAUD, pilot;. Jean-Pierre MINABERRY, co-pilot; and , Jean-Michel PERRINE, flight engineer.