Dear
Ms. Carla Del Ponte,
First and foremost, we welcome the recent arrests of Mr. Augustin Bizimungu, Mr. Jean Baptist Gatete, and Mr. Tharcise Renzaho, as a positive sign in bringing to justice those responsible for the genocide of Tutsis and massacres of Hutus in 1994. We also welcome the surge in the international interest in the African Great Lakes region, as demonstrated by the reward system put in place by the USA, and the increased pressure on both President Kabila and President Kagame to resolve the conflict in the DRC. We hope this will further enable the ICTR to carry out its mandate.
Ms.
the Prosecutor, AMAHORO People's Congress is deeply concerned by the impunity
enjoyed by individuals accused of taking part in the genocide and massacres of
1994 in Rwanda. It is apparent that the ICTR has been pursuing presumed genocide
perpetrators everywhere but in Rwanda, perhaps with the assumption that the
Rwandan government would ensure that are apprehended.
Unfortunately this is not the case!
We call your attention to the cases of:
1. Mr. Laurent Munyakazi,
currently Colonel in the Rwandan Army. Colonel Munyakazi, then head of the
brigade of Muhima, is cited in the African Rights report on Father Wenceslas
Munyeshyaka to have had a hand in the killings of Tutsis in the Ste Famille
compound. Like Colonel Tharcise
Renzaho, then governor of Kigali and currently in custody in Arusha, Colonel
Munyakazi frequently visited the Ste Famille compound. He is said to have met
with Father Munyeshyaka shortly before the killings that took place on June 13th
1994, at the compound. He is also said to have taken 17 boys to an unknown
location in his van, on June 19th, 1994. These boys were never seen again. We
have learned that charges had been prepared for Colonel Munyakazi while he was a
judge in the RPA military court in Kigali.
The file has mysteriously disappeared!
2. Mr. Elyse Bisengimana, currently governor of the Cyangugu prefecture. The
RPF drew a storm of criticism when it appointed Mr. Bisengimana as one of its
representatives in the Rwandan parliament, while he was being accused to had
taken part in the genocide. The RPF initiated a campaign of intimidation to
silence those who accused him. Some of them were jailed, and IBUKA was given a
stern warning from the Secretary General of the RPF, Mr. Charles Murigande who
labeled it « an extremist organization ». Mr. Murigande's remarks were
criticized by human rights organizations as being threatening, and preventing
witnesses from coming forth. As stated above, Mr. Bisengimana is now the
governor of the region where he was accused to have participated in the
genocide.
3. Mr. Boniface Rucagu, currently governor of Ruhengeri prefecture. Mr.
Rucagu was initially listed on the government's own list of architects of the
genocide in 1994. He was said to have been a member of the death squad (reseau
zero) that was responsible for the massacres of Bagogwe in 1992 and very active
in the genocide of Tutsis and massacres of Hutus in 1994. Despite numerous
accusations, Mr. Rucagu was appointed governor of Ruhengeri over the objections
of the Rwandan Parliament. The Kagame government has removed Mr. Rucagu from the
list of genocide architects, in its second revision released in 2001.
As demonstrated by the above cases, which unfortunately are not the only
ones, the Kagame government has not fulfilled its national and international
obligations to apprehend and trial those persons responsible for planning and
executing the genocide of Tutsis and
massacres of Hutus in 1994. This is why we feel compelled to call upon your
office to investigate these cases, and to extend its operation to include the
territory of Rwanda. It is crucial that this be done, since without justice,
there can be no healing for our country, and no reconciliation for the people.
Furthermore, we fear that the longer it takes to investigate these cases,
the more it endangers the lives of the witnesses.
Ms the prosecutor, the intent of this letter is to draw your attention to
the fact that the Rwandan government is harboring and even protecting presumed
architects and major players of the apocalyptic events of 1994, and to call upon
the ICTR to fulfill its mandate as stipulated in the UN Security Council
resolution 955 of august 1994, by pursuing these individuals in Rwanda. We hope
that your office will initiate investigations in the matter, as soon as
possible.
AMAHORO People's Congress strongly believes that justice is the only key to
the healing of our nation, the reconciliation of our people, and to the lasting
peace our country and region desperately need.
Sincerely,
Vice
President
AMAHORO People's Congress
H.E. Mr. Kofi Annan
Secretary General of the United Nations
Representative
of China to the United Nations
H.E. Mr.
Jean-David Levitte
Representative
of France to the United Nations
H.E. Mr.
Sergey Lavrov
Russian
Representative to the United Nations
H.E. Sir
Jeremy Quentin Greenstock. KCMG
U.K.
Representative to the United Nations
H.E. Mr.
John D. Negroponte
U.S.
Representative to the United Nations
H.E. Mr.
Anastase Gasana
Rwandan Representative to the United Nations