The dictator Kagame at UN

The dictator Kagame at UN
Dictators like Kagame who have changed their national constitutions to remain indefinitely on power should not be involved in UN high level and global activities including chairing UN meetings

Why has the UN ignored its own report about the massacres of Hutu refugees in DRC ?

The UN has ignored its own reports, NGOs and media reports about the massacres of hundreds of thousands of Hutu in DRC Congo (estimated to be more than 400,000) by Kagame when he attacked Hutu refugee camps in Eastern DRC in 1996. This barbaric killings and human rights violations were perpetrated by Kagame’s RPF with the approval of UK and USA and with sympathetic understanding and knowledge of UNHCR and international NGOs which were operating in the refugees camps. According to the UN, NGO and media reports between 1993 and 2003 women and girls were raped. Men slaughtered. Refugees killed with machetes and sticks. The attacks of refugees also prevented humanitarian organisations to help many other refugees and were forced to die from cholera and other diseases. Other refugees who tried to return to Rwanda where killed on their way by RFI and did not reach their homes. No media, no UNHCR, no NGO were there to witness these massacres. When Kagame plans to kill, he makes sure no NGO and no media are prevent. Kagame always kills at night.

6 Feb 2014

Mutabazi’s Last Stand: An Inside Look at Rwandan-Style Justice - Foreign Policy Journal | Foreign Policy Journal


Mutabazi's Last Stand: An Inside Look at Rwandan-Style Justice

by Judi Rever

February 5, 2014

President of Rwanda Paul Kagame at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town, South Africa, on June 11, 2009 (Eric Miller/World Economic Forum

President of Rwanda Paul Kagame at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town, South Africa, on June 11, 2009 (Eric Miller/World Economic Forum

Joel Mutabazi, a former presidential bodyguard facing terrorism charges in Rwanda, is a shadow of his former self.

"He's like a skeleton," said his emotionally frayed wife Gloria Kayitesi in an interview, commenting on pictures of him splashed on the Internet.

Shackled and abased, Mutabazi appeared in military court last week in full view of journalists. In photos, his complexion was sallow and the whites of his eyes were inflamed with tiny veins. Physically diminished and with little prospect for freedom, he had become a man with nothing to lose.

And yet the former child soldier and repository of secrets that worked for President Paul Kagame for two decades emerged defiant. In a statement that shocked the court, Mutabazi refused to be tried, said his life was in danger and he was not guilty of terrorism and other alleged crimes.

Mutabazi—viewed as the 'highest caliber target' among Rwandan Tutsi refugees in Uganda capable of incriminating Kagame and his senior officials—was seized three months ago in Kampala where he had been living in a UN safe house under police surveillance. In breach of international law, Rwanda engineered his forced return and accused him of forming an armed group and conspiring to kill the president.

"If anyone knows the circumstances under which I was deported from Uganda and how the law was ignored in this process, I do not believe that there are other laws in this country that will guarantee my innocence," Mutabazi said.

"I therefore do not wish to say anything throughout this trial, but I came here to tell my family that whatever happens to me in future, this is my stand on the charges: I am not guilty of all of them and I will not defend myself against them."

Mutabazi knows his rights and how they've been acutely violated. In 2010, he was suspected of having close ties with Kayumba Nyamwasa—now one of Kagame's enemies that used to Rwanda's defense chief—and subjected to electric shocks, beatings, waterboarding, and sensory deprivation at Camp Kami, a notorious detention center in Rwanda.

He narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in July 2012, after fleeing to Uganda and given refugee status, when armed gunman stormed his residence in Kampala. In August 2013, Rwandan agents and rogue Ugandan police abducted him from a UN safe house yet were quickly forced to return him when senior Ugandan police and the prime minister's office intervened. The botched operation highlighted the mercurial divisions among Ugandan government and police officials who are regularly bribed and infiltrated by Rwanda.

The latest plot point in Mutabazi's dramatic life occurred on October 25 when Joel Aguma, Uganda's deputy director of crime intelligence who'd just returned from a stint at Rwanda's National Police College, set up a police sting for the refugee that saw his brutal handover to Rwandan authorities.

Officials tasked with protecting refugees called the transfer "an act of criminality" for two reasons: no Interpol arrest warrant had been approved for Mutabazi and his return was in blatant violation of the Refugee Convention, which stipulates that no refugee should be returned a country where he is likely to face persecution or torture.

Last week, after Mutabazi appeared in a Kigali courtroom, a US State Department official offered this statement:

"The United States and other concerned countries are working together to maintain a regular presence at the trial."

"We have expressed to the Ugandan government our concern that Mutabazi was handed over to Rwandan law enforcement, despite his refugee status, and reiterated our expectation that Uganda will adhere to its obligations to protect refugees on its territory in the future."

In December, the United States called on Rwanda to ensure that Mutabazi gets a fair trial—and is protected and monitored in detention.

"The United States has urged the government of Rwanda to ensure that Mr. Joel Mutabazi's rights are protected while he is in detention, and that he be provided due process, other fair trial protections, and continued access to adequate legal counsel," said Charles Hawley, public affairs officer for the US embassy in Kigali.

"We have also urged the Rwandan government to continue to grant independent monitoring organizations access to Mr. Mutabazi during his detention," Hawley added.

Despite attempts by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Committee of the Red Cross to get access to Mutabazi in detention, he remains off limits—another breach of humanitarian norms. His lawyer in pretrial proceedings, Antoinette Mukamusoni, meanwhile announced she would no longer represent him and has refused all comment.

His lawyer's frustrations stem in part from the fact that Mutabazi changed his plea in December, admitting under apparent duress he was guilty of fomenting a rebellion. At the time, Mutabazi is alleged to have said he had contacts with the FDLR, a Hutu rebel group in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo formed from the remnants of militants accused of carrying out genocide against Rwandan Tutsis in 1994.  He also reportedly confessed that he had ties to the Rwandan National Congress (RNC), an opposition group that includes General Nyamwasa.

Yet his wife and supporters contend that Mutabazi has been beaten and kept in inhumane conditions, spending 24 hours a day in a dark cell, his hands and feet bound, sleeping on the cement and suffering from blood in his urine after being subjected to genitalia torture.

A rights activist interviewed by this journalist said Mutabazi had been "beaten so bad that he sent a message to his family through an intermediary that he might not even recover from his injuries. During those beatings, he was told to plead guilty."

And so it was a surprise to many observers last week when Mutabazi denied all charges against him, openly defying the Rwandan government and setting himself up for more torture and possible death.


About the Author

Judi Rever

Judi Rever is a Montreal-based freelance journalist, formerly with Agence France-Presse and Radio France Internationale. She has reported from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and the Middle East. She specializes in human rights issues, and is currently doing research for a book that would explore war crimes committed by the Rwandan Patriotic Front and its army. 

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-“The enemies of Freedom do not argue ; they shout and they shoot.”

The principal key root causes that lead to the Rwandan genocide of 1994 that affected all Rwandan ethnic groups were:

1)The majority Hutu community’s fear of the return of the discriminatory monarchy system that was practiced by the minority Tutsi community against the enslaved majority Hutu community for about 500 years

2)The Hutu community’s fear of Kagame’s guerrilla that committed massacres in the North of the country and other parts of the countries including assassinations of Rwandan politicians.

3) The Rwandan people felt abandoned by the international community ( who was believed to support Kagame’s guerrilla) and then decided to defend themselves with whatever means they had against the advance of Kagame’ guerrilla supported by Ugandan, Tanzanian and Ethiopian armies and other Western powers.

-“The enemies of Freedom do not argue ; they shout and they shoot.”

-“The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.”

-“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”

-“I have loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore I die in exile.”

The Rwanda war of 1990-1994 had multiple dimensions.

The Rwanda war of 1990-1994 had multiple dimensions. Among Kagame’s rebels who were fighting against the Rwandan government, there were foreigners, mainly Ugandan fighters who were hired to kill and rape innocent Rwandan people in Rwanda and refugees in DRC.

READ MORE RECENT NEWS AND OPINIONS

SUMMARY : THE TRAGIC CONSEQUENCES OF THE BRITISH BUDGET SUPPORT AND GEO-STRATEGIC AMBITIONS

United Kingdom's Proxy Wars in Africa: The Case of Rwanda and DR Congo:

The Rwandan genocide and 6,000,000 Congolese and Hutu refugees killed are the culminating point of a long UK’s battle to expand their influence to the African Great Lakes Region. UK supported Kagame’s guerrilla war by providing military support and money. The UK refused to intervene in Rwanda during the genocide to allow Kagame to take power by military means that triggered the genocide. Kagame’s fighters and their families were on the Ugandan payroll paid by UK budget support.


· 4 Heads of State assassinated in the francophone African Great Lakes Region.
· 2,000,000 people died in Hutu and Tutsi genocides in Rwanda, Burundi and RD.Congo.
· 600,000 Hutu refugees killed in R.D.Congo, Uganda, Central African Republic and Rep of Congo.
· 6,000,000 Congolese dead.
· 8,000,000 internal displaced people in Rwanda, Burundi and DR. Congo.
· 500,000 permanent Rwandan and Burundian Hutu refugees, and Congolese refugees around the world.
· English language expansion to Rwanda to replace the French language.
· 20,000 Kagame’s fighters paid salaries from the British Budget Support from 1986 to present.
· £500,000 of British taxpayer’s money paid, so far, to Kagame and his cronies through the budget support, SWAPs, Tutsi-dominated parliament, consultancy, British and Tutsi-owned NGOs.
· Kagame has paid back the British aid received to invade Rwanda and to strengthen his political power by joining the East African Community together with Burundi, joining the Commonwealth, imposing the English Language to Rwandans to replace the French language; helping the British to establish businesses and to access to jobs in Rwanda, and to exploit minerals in D.R.Congo.



Thousands of Hutu murdered by Kagame inside Rwanda, e.g. Kibeho massacres

Thousands of Hutu murdered by Kagame inside Rwanda, e.g. Kibeho massacres
Kagame killed 200,000 Hutus from all regions of the country, the elderly and children who were left by their relatives, the disabled were burned alive. Other thousands of people were killed in several camps of displaced persons including Kibeho camp. All these war crimes remain unpunished.The British news reporters were accompanying Kagame’s fighters on day-by-day basis and witnessed these massacres, but they never reported on this.

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25,000 Hutu bodies floated down River Akagera into Lake Victoria in Uganda.

25,000  Hutu bodies  floated down River Akagera into Lake Victoria in Uganda.
The British irrational, extremist, partisan,biased, one-sided media and politicians have disregarded Kagame war crimes e.g. the Kibeho camp massacres, massacres of innocents Hutu refugees in DR. Congo. The British media have been supporting Kagame since he invaded Rwanda by organising the propaganda against the French over the Rwandan genocide, suppressing the truth about the genocide and promoting the impunity of Kagame and his cronies in the African Great Lakes Region. For the British, Rwanda does not need democracy, Rwanda is the African Israel; and Kagame and his guerilla fighters are heroes.The extremist British news reporters including Fergal Keane, Chris Simpson, Chris McGreal, Mark Doyle, etc. continue to hate the Hutus communities and to polarise the Rwandan society.

Kagame political ambitions triggered the genocide.

Kagame  political  ambitions triggered the genocide.
Kagame’s guerrilla war was aimed at accessing to power at any cost. He rejected all attempts and advice that could stop his military adventures including the cease-fire, political negotiations and cohabitation, and UN peacekeeping interventions. He ignored all warnings that could have helped him to manage the war without tragic consequences. Either you supported Kagame’ s wars and you are now his friend, or you were against his wars and you are his enemy. Therefore, Kagame as the Rwandan strong man now, you have to apologise to him for having been against his war and condemned his war crimes, or accept to be labelled as having been involved in the genocide. All key Kagame’s fighters who committed war crimes and crimes against humanity are the ones who hold key positions in Rwandan army and government for the last 15 years. They continue to be supported and advised by the British including Tony Blair, Andrew Mitchell MP, and the British army senior officials.

Aid that kills: The British Budget Support financed Museveni and Kagame’s wars in Rwanda and DRC.

Aid that kills: The British Budget Support  financed Museveni and Kagame’s wars in Rwanda and DRC.
Genocide propaganda and fabrications are used by the so-called British scholars, news reporters and investigative journalists to promote their CVs and to get income out of the genocide through the selling of their books, providing testimonies against the French, access to consultancy contracts from the UN and Kagame, and participation in conferences and lectures in Rwanda, UK and internationally about genocide. Genocide propaganda has become a lucrative business for Kagame and the British. Anyone who condemned or did not support Kagame’s war is now in jail in Rwanda under the gacaca courts system suuported by British tax payer's money, or his/she is on arrest warrant if he/she managed to flee the Kagame’s regime. Others have fled the country and are still fleeing now. Many others Rwandans are being persecuted in their own country. Kagame is waiting indefinitely for the apologies from other players who warn him or who wanted to help to ensure that political negotiations take place between Kagame and the former government he was fighting against. Britain continues to supply foreign aid to Kagame and his cronies with media reports highlighting economic successes of Rwanda. Such reports are flawed and are aimed at misleading the British public to justify the use of British taxpayers’ money. Kagame and his cronies continue to milk British taxpayers’ money under the British budget support. This started from 1986 through the British budget support to Uganda until now.

Dictator Kagame: No remorse for his unwise actions and ambitions that led to the Rwandan genocide.

Dictator Kagame: No remorse for his unwise actions and ambitions that led to the  Rwandan genocide.
No apologies yet to the Rwandan people. The assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana by Kagame was the only gateway for Kagame to access power in Rwanda. The British media, politicians, and the so-called British scholars took the role of obstructing the search for the truth and justice; and of denying this assassination on behalf of General Kagame. General Paul Kagame has been obliging the whole world to apologise for his mistakes and war crimes. The UK’s way to apologise has been pumping massive aid into Rwanda's crony government and parliement; and supporting Kagame though media campaigns.

Fanatical, partisan, suspicious, childish and fawning relations between UK and Kagame

Fanatical, partisan, suspicious, childish and fawning relations between UK and Kagame
Kagame receives the British massive aid through the budget support, British excessive consultancy, sector wide programmes, the Tutsi-dominated parliament, British and Tutsi-owned NGOs; for political, economic and English language expansion to Rwanda. The British aid to Rwanda is not for all Rwandans. It is for Kagame himself and his Tutsi cronies.

Paul Kagame' actvities as former rebel

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UN News Centre - Africa

The Africa Report - Latest

IRIN - Great Lakes

This blog reports the crimes that remain unpunished and the impunity that has generated a continuous cycle of massacres in many parts of Africa. In many cases, the perpetrators of the crimes seem to have acted in the knowledge that they would not be held to account for their actions.

The need to fight this impunity has become even clearer with the massacres and genocide in many parts of Africa and beyond.

The blog also addresses issues such as Rwanda War Crimes, Rwandan Refugee massacres in Dr Congo, genocide, African leaders’ war crimes and crimes against humanity, Africa war criminals, Africa crimes against humanity, Africa Justice.

-The British relentless and long running battle to become the sole player and gain new grounds of influence in the francophone African Great Lakes Region has led to the expulsion of other traditional players from the region, or strained diplomatic relations between the countries of the region and their traditional friends. These new tensions are even encouraged by the British using a variety of political and economic manoeuvres.

-General Kagame has been echoing the British advice that Rwanda does not need any loan or aid from Rwandan traditional development partners, meaning that British aid is enough to solve all Rwandan problems.

-The British obsession for the English Language expansion has become a tyranny that has led to genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, dictatorial regimes, human rights violations, mass killings, destruction of families, communities and cultures, permanent refugees and displaced persons in the African Great Lakes region.


- Rwanda, a country that is run by a corrupt clique of minority-tutsi is governed with institutional discrmination, human rights violations, dictatorship, authoritarianism and autocracy, as everybody would expect.