PRESS RELEASE NO. 4/2001

NO ARMS NOR IMPUNITY FOR SUSPECTED RWANDAN WAR CRIMINALS ON POWER

Since 29 January 2001, the Rwandan tyrant, General Paul Kagame is on a ten-day tour in the United States of America. While there is a growing conscience in the international community for the prosecution of blood-tainted tyrants who lost power, like the Chilean Gen. Augusto Pinochet, the Ethiopian Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam, the Chadian Hissein Habre, the Serbian Slobodan Milosevic, etc., those who are on power still enjoy complete impunity and all privileges attached to their status of Heads of State or Government. General Paul Kagame is responsible of numerous and still unpunished crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed and still being committed by his army, the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA), in Rwanda since 1 October 1990 and in Congo since August 1996. The impunity of these crimes has given to the current Rwandan rulers a licence to kill civilians and to invade neighbouring countries at will without fear of prosecution. Since 1 October 1990, more than 2, 000, 000 civilian Rwandans had been systematically massacred by the RPA in Rwanda and Eastern Congo. On behalf of the oppressed people of Rwanda struggling for democracy, liberty and justice, the Rally for the Return of Refugees and Democracy in Rwanda (RDR) asks the U.S. government and the United Nations to impose an arms embargo on Rwanda and to extend the time mandate of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in order to cover all unpunished crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed and still being committed in the African Great Lakes region since the invasion of Rwanda by the RPA on 1 October 1990.

Foreign invasion disguised as an internal rebellion has been the most favoured tactic used by governments in the African Great Lakes region for the installation of friendly governments in neighbouring countries. On 1 October 1990, the Ugandan army invaded Rwanda under the disguise of an internal rebellion by the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) led by the Rwandan-born Ugandan General Fred Rwigema. At that time, General Paul Kagame was pursuing military studies in USA as an Ugandan military officer; in fact, he was the Deputy Chief of Military Intelligence in the Ugandan government's army. That invasion had not been condemned by the international community. When Gen. Fred Rwigema died in the end of October 1990, Major Paul Kagame returned to Uganda and took charge of the RPA. The massacres of many dozens thousands Rwandan civilians by the RPA in Northern Rwanda triggered tensions which developed into widespread massacres in the 1994's Rwandan genocide in which 500,000 civilian Tutsis were killed in government-controlled areas and hundreds thousands of civilian Hutus were killed in areas controlled by the two belligerents. The Ugandan-backed RPF finally took control of Rwanda in July 1994 after committing numerous crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity which are still unpunished. The international community acquiesced to the fait accompli and accepted the RPF-led dictatorial regime as the least of two evils. However, the RPA's massacres of civilians didn't stop, they continued and are still continuing in Rwanda and Congo.

Since July 1994, the RPF-led dictatorial regime has banned the activities of other political parties and established a police state. Incapable to win the hearts and minds of the Rwandan people, Gen. Kagame always resorts to naked force and violence to crush the aspirations of the Rwandan people to liberty and justice. He rules Rwanda by the thunder of the guns and the rattles of the jail keys. As some members in the international community feel some guilt for having failed to prevent and stop the 1994's Rwandan genocide; the RPF's autocrats always use this failure in order to have free hands to eliminate all political opposition to their dictatorship inside Rwanda and realize their expansionist military invasions in Congo without fear of condemnation and prosecution. In August 1996, the Rwandan and Ugandan armies invaded Congo under the disguise of an internal rebellion by the «Alliance des Forces Démocratiques de Libération (AFDL)» led by Laurent Desire Kabila. The RPA destroyed Rwandan refugees' camps in Eastern Congo and systematically massacred 400,000 Rwandan refugees. On 13 July 1998, the United Nations and the U.N. Security Council condemned these crimes and urged the governments of Rwanda and Congo to prosecute their perpetrators but they did nothing and the United Nations have done nothing.

The RDC cannot reach long-lasting peace when the dictatorial regimes in Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi continue to be at war against their peoples and to flood neighbouring countries with refugees. The war in Congo has roots in its Eastern neighbours and its solution needs a regional approach. A durable solution lies in good governance underpinned by democracy, genuine reconciliation, rule of law, end of impunity and economic development in each country of the region. To find durable solutions to political problems and wars plaguing the region, the RDR asks the U.S. administration and the United Nations to arrange and convene an international conference on durable peace and security in the African Great Lakes region to which genuine representatives of all important stakeholders would be invited.

Done in Montreal on 2 February 2001

For the RDR

Emmanuel Nyemera, Ph.D.

Vice-President