The African Great Lakes
Movement for Human Rights (AGLMHR)
Letter to the United
Nations Human Rights Commission
Re: Investigation into
the
shooting of the President Habyarimana’s official Jet
Your Excellency,
The Great Lakes Human Rights Link remains
deeply concerned by the recent BBC TWO Documentary in which the current Rwandan
leader is not only implicated in the shooting of the presidential jet of the
former Rwandan president including his Burundian counterpart but also the
killings that followed after.
Besides, the Rwandan President has continued serious human rights violations in Rwanda and in the neighboring Congo. Indeed, the Rwandan Head of State has carried out politically motivated killings both in Rwanda and outside Rwanda. Imprisonment of high-profile opposition politicians, activists and human rights defenders after grossly unfair trials, continued reports of torture, excessive use of force, regular denial of freedom of association and assembly, and a persistent failure to hold government actors to account for rights violations.
For the First time in the political and legal
history a foreign court found President Kagame of violating international law
when he attacked Rwandan dissents in South Africa. In the attempted
assassination case of Gen. Nyamwasa, the judge said it was clear the four other
accused had met on a number of occasions to discuss plans to kill Gen Nyamwasa
and that they were paid in cash by Rwandan officials.
Magistrate Mkhari said the plot was
politically motivated and emanated "from a certain group of people from
Rwanda". Indeed, no one would have politically motivated interest in Gen.
Nyamwasa other than President Kagame.
President Kagame has been described as a
serial killer by some international human rights law experts and Psychology
because no sooner had the ink of attempting to kill Gen. Nyamwasa dried than he
strangled Col Karegeya in a hotel room in Johannesburg in January this year and
no-one has yet been charged with his murder, although president Kagame confessed
that no one will ever betray his cause and does not get consequences.
"Anyone who betrays our cause or wishes our people ill will fall victim.
What remains to be seen is how you fall victim," Mr Kagame said.
Several other Kagame opponents were killed in
1998, including the former Interior Minister Seth Sendashonga, who was gunned
down in Nairobi, Kenya, and Col. Theoneste Lizinde who many believe was
instrumental in providing useful information in shooting the President
Habyarimana’s official jet because of his previous skills in the Rwandan
intelligence.
The UN Mapping report exposed the grave
crimes committed by the Rwandan troops and their Congolese allies. These
massive crimes include war crimes and crimes against humanity in which large
numbers of civilians were killed with total impunity. The UN Mapping report
suggests that closer to 5 million people both Rwandan refugees and Congolese
people were killed by Kagame’s troops. That is what we must remember, and that
is what demands concerted action for justice.
The above mapping exercise has its origins in
the UN's earlier investigations into crimes committed in Congo from 1993 to
1997. In September 2005, the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo, MONUC,
discovered three mass graves in Rutshuru, in North Kivu province of eastern
Congo, relating to crimes committed in 1996 and 1997 when Rwanda invaded the
former Zaire and destroyed Rwandan refugee camps in the Eastern DRC.
The international community should therefore be encouraged by the recent BBC Documentary entitled “Rwanda’s Untold Story” that details crimes committed in Rwanda during RPF military campaign and during the Rwandan genocide. It is a trigger to re-open independent investigations to establish who was behind the shooting of the Presidential Jet of the former Rwandan President that was carrying both the late Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi from peace negotiation in Arusha, Tanzania. This act of terrorism is believed by many to have been the trigger to the Rwandan genocide that killed millions of Rwandans both Tutsis and Hutus.
The time has come to identify and prosecute
the people responsible for carrying out and ordering the shooting of the
Rwandan former President and massive atrocities committed during genocide and
after, going right up the chain of command.
The International community and many foreign Governments around the world who are committed to human rights and security of all the people remained silent during genocide and are still doing so now when hundreds of thousands of unarmed civilians were and are being slaughtered in Rwanda and Congo. The international community has responsibility now to ensure that justice is served to all victims.
The International community and many foreign Governments around the world who are committed to human rights and security of all the people remained silent during genocide and are still doing so now when hundreds of thousands of unarmed civilians were and are being slaughtered in Rwanda and Congo. The international community has responsibility now to ensure that justice is served to all victims.
Yours Sincerely,
The African Great Lakes Movement for Human Rights (AGLMHR)
Canada, Qbc
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