His Excellency Ban Ki-Moon September 2, 2010
UN Secretary-General Nº 29/J/PK/910
760 United Nations Plaza,
Manhattan, NY 10017
New York, NY 10017
Re: OPJDR expects the UNHCHR report on Human Rights abuses in DRC between
March 1993 and June 2003 to be officially released as it was drafted without any
distortion on the content and that a genuine action be taken thereafter.
Excellency,
The Organization for Peace , Justice and Development in Rwanda (OPJDR), Inc; a
human rights organization based in US with area of interest being the Great Lakes region
of Africa, has just read the draft of the report from United Nations High Commission for
Human Rights (UNHCHR) detailing serious violations of human rights and international
humanitarian law, including crimes of genocide perpetrated by the current army of
Rwanda, Rwanda Patriotic Army, against Hutu refugees in DRC between 1996 and 1998.
OPJDR welcomes this report but was disturbed by the information that the Government
of Rwanda has for months being busy pressuring you personally and the whole UN
system to dismiss the entire report or at least to water it down by removing the term
"genocide". This information has been confirmed by the French daily newspaper Le
Monde in its edition dated August 26, 2010, an official letter sent to you on August 3,
2010 by Mrs. Louise Mushikiwabo, Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs and finally by
statement of the government of Rwanda dated August 27, 2010 where it threatens to
withdraw its forces from African Union- United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) if
its demands were not met.
Reports and testimonies about the atrocities that have been committed by the RPA are not
new in the UN offices but unfortunately, all of them have been dismissed under the
pressure of Kigali and its lobbies. OPJDR recalls a few of them.
1. On April 6, 1994, the presidential aircraft carrying the then Presidents Juvenal
Habyarimana of Rwanda and Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi, has been shoot
down when preparing to land at the Kigali International Airport. All 13 persons
on board perished. Despite the fact that the airport was under the control of the
United Nations Mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR), UN did not dare to conduct any
genuine investigation and the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
(ICTR), refuses to look at the issue even though it states that this terrorist act
sparked the Rwanda genocide. French and Spanish judges, who investigated the
incident, concluded that the RPF/RPA was responsible of the aircraft shooting.
2. In April 1994, when it was clear that the genocide was underway, the UN
preferred to walk away by pulling most of its peacekeeping force of UNAMIR.
People of Rwanda and friends of Rwanda will never forget that moment.
3. In October 1994, Mr. Robert Gersony, consultant to the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), after a four week long investigation
inside Rwanda and Tanzania, concluded that the RPF regime has murdered at
least 30,000 Hutus since July 1994. Kigali regime threatened to terminate the
operations of the UNAMIR, if the report was validated. The UN, represented in
Rwanda by Shaharyar Khan, succumbed to the pressure and sealed the report.
4. On April 22, 1995, the Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA) massacred internally
displaced people (IDP) in Kibeho, South West of Rwanda in the presence of
Australian and Zambian UN peacekeepers from UNAMIR. More than 8000
refugees Hutu perished that day and UN kept silent as of today.
5. In 1997, the Special Reporter of the UN commission in charge of human rights in
DRC, the Chilean Roberto Garreton, released a report on crimes committed by the
RPA against the Hutu refugees in DRC. The Rwanda government put an intensive
pressure to suppress the report and managed to block a UN mission that was set to
confirm the results of the Garreton's mission. The public did not hear about this
mission since then.
6. The selectively ethnic killings started in February 1991 in the Byumba and
Ruhengeri prefectures when RPF staged a major attack in several communes of
the Provinces of Ruhengeri and Byumba, selectively killing as many Hutus as
42,200 Hutu populations
7. UN HCR team report of September 12, 1994 "New Human Rights Abuse in
Rwanda" led by George E. Moose concluded that RPF and Tutsi civilians killed at
least 10,000 Hutu civilians per month with a purpose of ethnic cleansing intended
to clear certain areas in the south of Rwanda for Tutsi returnees' habitation. The
killings also served to reduce the population of Hutu males and discouraged
refugees from returning to claim their lands".
8. These are few UN official reports but numerous eyewitnesses, most of them
survivors of these pogroms are available around the world and would be more
than happy to testify.
OPJDR urges the UN not to fail once again the people of Rwanda by dismissing or
altering this genuine report. People of Rwanda has suffered so much in the hand of war
mongers and other criminals that it needs now to know exactly what happened and who
did what, so it can start the long process of healing and reconciliation based on a solid
foundation of truth and justice.
The fact that the Kigali regime threatens to withdraw its troops does not hold at all. First,
that mission in Darfour is not founded by Rwandan taxpayers, so other countries will be
ready to provide necessary troops. Second, UN is setting a very bad example by
employing troops from Rwanda suspected to have committed genocide in peacekeeping
missions as in Darfour where the International Criminal Court (ICC) has concluded that
crimes of genocide took place.
OPJDR believes that justice will prevail and that this report will be officially launched
and that genuine actions will be taken thereafter such as the creation of a special tribunal
for Congo or by the amending the status of the ICTR or ICC to prosecute those who will
be found responsible of those crimes. It is only that way that the impunity will be
eradicated in the Great Lakes region of Africa.
Due to this report, once again OPJDR asks to the UN Security council and the President
of the ICTR to stop sending cases of detainees in Arusha to Rwanda to be prosecuted by
their war opponents. OPJDR reminds you that, in the resolution 955 creating the ICTR,
the UN Security Council concluded that both parties to the conflict, namely RPF and the
government forces, have been involved in genocide and other crimes against humanity
and should respond before the created tribunal. Therefore, the current government in
place in Rwanda led by RPF doesn't have the moral authority to prosecute anybody else
for the crime they are themselves accused for.
In conclusion we would like to recall this quote from Albert Einstein work "The world
will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but those who look and refuse to act."
Sincerely;
Pascal Kalinganire
Coordinator General
Copies:
Honorable U.S. Senator John Kerry
Chair of Foreign Relations Committee
218 Russell Bldg/ Second Floor
Washington D.C. 0510
Honorable U.S. Senator Russ Feingold
US Senate Subcommittee on African Affairs
506 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-4904
Honorable Ms. Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
Honorable Mrs. Susan Rice
Permanent Representative and Ambassador of
the United States to the United Nations
140 East 45th Street
New York, N.Y. 10017
Tel: 212-415-4062; Fax: 212-415-4053
Honorable Mark Lyall Grant
Permanent Representative and Ambassador of
the United Kingdom to the United Nations
One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
885 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Tel: 212 745 9200; Fax: 212 745 9316
Honorable LI Baodong, PR
Permanent Representative and Ambassador of
the People's Republic of China to the United Nations
350 East 35th Street,
New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-655-6100/Fax: 212-634-7626
E-mail: ChinaMissionUN@Gmail.com
Honorable Gérard ARAUD
Permanent Representative and Ambassador of France to the United Nations
245 East, 47th Street - 44th floor
New York, NY, 10017
Tel.: 212.702.4900
E-mail: france@franceonu.org
Honorable VITALY CHURKIN
Permanent Representative and Ambassador of Russia Federation to the United Nations
136 East 67 Street
New York, N.Y. 10065
Tel.: (212)861-4901, (212)861-4900; FAX: (212)628-0252
E-mail: rusun@un.int
Organization For Peace Justice and
Development in Rwanda,
(OPJDR) Inc.
Organisation Pour la Paix, la Justice et le
Développement au Rwanda,
(OPJDR) Inc
OPJDR • BP 3026 • Manchester, NH • 03105 / PHONE: (603) 361-6473 www.opjdr.org. OPJDR is non-profit and apolitical. Its mission is to promote the respect of
human rights and Cultural, educational, and economic development in the Great Lakes Region of Africa.
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