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rampage in rwanda
by Preston Peet (ptpeet@cs.com) - October 18, 2000

The image that keeps coming to mind is the one of machetes, chopping at arms trying to cover faces and bodies, trying to ward of the blows of these bloody slashing blades. Up to one million Tutsi died in just one hundred days in Rwanda, murdered by Hutus in a real genocide that shocked the world. What should shock even more is that the killings could have been stopped, or at least slowed, yet virtually nothing was done to help.

On April 14th, 2000, the United Nations (UN) Security Council issued a statement expressing shame on itself for not having done more to help prevent the slaughter of Tutsi Rwandans by Hutu Rwandans in the genocide that occurred there beginning April 6th, 1994, within hours of the deadly plane crash of Rwandan then-President Juvenal Habyarimana. This is interesting since the UN tried to get itself declared immune, in January 2000, from prosecution over a lawsuit filed by two attorneys based in Atlanta, Georgia on behalf of two Rwandan women whose families were murdered by Hutu extremists. One attorney, Michael Hourigan, was a former investigator with the UN's 'International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda'. During his investigations, Hourigan uncovered cables from the UN commander in Rwanda that warned of the "impending genocide," months in advance, according to a 'Sydney Morning Herald' newspaper report (January 12th, 2000).

The Canadian Lieutenant General Romeo Dallaire was in charge of the UN peacekeeping force, consisting of 2548 soldiers, ostensibly in Rwanda since fall of 1993 to help with the implementation of a new government coalition between rebels and government groups. Dallaire immediately began receiving intelligence reports that "extremist Hutus, bent on retaining power, were stashing arms in preparation for a slaughter of Tutsi," the 'National Post' reported (April 13th, 2000). Despite sending numerous warnings to UN headquarters, Dallaire could not get more assistance.

"I had troops on the ground . . .and we had this ability stop at least some of the killing," Dallaire told the 'National Post'. "Rwanda was not on anybody's map, and some countries were burned out on peacekeeping missions," Dallaire noted, alluding to the US having had eighteen Rangers killed in Somalia in late 1993. The Security Council even met during the genocide and voted to reduce the number of UN troops, rather than send reinforcements to their aid.

Anonciata Kavaruganda, wife of Joseph Kavaruganda, a Hutu Rwandan Supreme Court judge, killed because he sympathized with the Tutsis, says that Ghanaian UN troops, supposedly protecting her family, were "drinking and socializing with the Hutus while she and her children were being tortured," reported the 'British Broadcasting Corporation' (January 10th, 2000).

The other woman in the suit is Louise Mushikiwabo, whose brother, Lando Ndaswinga, the only Tutsi cabinet minister in the Hutu-dominated Rwandan Government at that time, was shot, as was their mother. Ms. Mushikiwabo says that the UN troops "ran away" when the Hutu came for her and her family.

The UN Secretary General himself, Kofi Annan, commissioned an 'independent' report that when finally publicly released in December 1999, cited the UN for a whole list of failings in its Rwandan misadventure. Some reports go so far as to accuse modern-version colonial powers of fomenting the Rwandancivil war, the death of the President that triggered the rampage, and even of setting Hutu and Tutsi against one another way back to the Seventeenth Century, that it is not a tribal rivalry, but more a 'Counter-Intelligence Program' (COINTELPRO) type operation from the beginning.

Western powers used a fake 'genocide' as their excuse to bomb Yugoslavia back to the stone age, but in Rwanda, where real genocide took place before the world's eyes, nothing was done to help.

UN To Seek Immunity On Rwanda
This 'Sydney Morning Herald' newspaper article (January 12th, 2000) details the UN's attempt in January 2000, to grant itself immunity from prosecution, specifically because two Australian lawyers are assisting two Rwandan women to sue the UN for its part in the killings. Will the UN prevent genocidal slaughter the next time it occurs?

Suppressed Report Raises Question Of US Role In Rwandan Civil War
This 'World Socialist Web Site'article (March 23rd, 2000) by Linda Slattery explores the possible role of the US in fomenting civil war and strife in Rwanda. It turns out that many Western countries had reports years prior to the genocidal outburst in 1994 that Tutsi extremesits were stashing weapons and gearing for slaughter, yet did nothing, except possibly helping supply the missiles that brought down the Rwandan presidential plane, setting off the rampage.

Rwanda Embassy
Why not plan a holiday trip to sunny, warm Rwanda?

Man Who Survived Rwanda's Genocide Facing Deportation
This 'Kansas City Star' newspaper article (April 21st, 2000) describes the story of Felicien Cyubahario, who survived the horror of 1994 Rwanda, though his wife and children did not, and finally made it to the US. Now he is facing deportation from the US stemming from a drink-driving charge.

Slaughter Of The Innocents
This 'Village Voice' article (April 19th-25th, 2000) by Nat Hentoff has nothing at all to do with the 1994 Rwandan genocide, other than for the fact that, as in Rwanda, the US and other nations are doing next to nothing to stop the horror continuing there, while slaughter of innocents continues unabated. "The human rights situation in Sudan is not marketable to the American people," US Secretary of State Madeline Albright is quoted in this piece as having told Charles Jacob, head of the American Anti-slavery Group, on September 15th, 1999. Gee, just like Rwanda in 1994, but not like Kosovo in 1999! Hmmm . . .

The Rwanda Series: Chronicle Of A Genocide Foretold
You can order the riveting documentary 'Chronicle of a Genocide Foretold', which explores the reasons for the killings, and the current situation in Rwanda, from this Web site.

We're Sorry, Say Rwanda Genocide Leaders
This 'Daily Mail & Guardian' article (April 15th, 1999) by South African correspondent Jean Baptiste Kayigamba discusses the leaders of the Hutu political party, the 'Mouvement Democratique Republicain' (MDP), who released a public statement saying that they were "sorry for some of their former leaders' actions in fomenting the murderous rampage in 1994." They also stressed that because they are so sorry, and because they have changed the colors of their flag, they must really mean it, so nobody should hold them accountable for some of their former leaders' very contagious insanity. Hmmm . . .

After The Genocide: Rebuilding The Deaf Community
The mores articles I see and read about Tutsi travesty and horror, the numbers of dead Tutsi, and Tutsi-friendly Hutu go up, with this one (November, 1998) from Deaf World Web saying that "more than a million" Rwandans wound up massacred in 1994, with the population of Rwandan deaf people being severely depleted.

Rwanda Charges Female Journalist With Lead Role In Genocide
This 'Reuters' news service article (June 21st, 1999) by South African correspondent Jean Baptiste Kayigamba is about Rwandan jouralist Valerie Bemeriki, who urged listeners to her radiobroadcasts repeatedly to "not kill these 'inyenzi' [cockroaches] with a bullet, cut them to pieces with a machete." Doesn't sound like a nice lady. She was arrested and charged with "genocide, and crimes against humanity," stemming from her leading role in exhorting her fellow Hutu to go insane and kill Tutsis with abandon.

Rwanda Kills Genocide Convicts
This 'Seattle Times' newspaper article (April 24th, 1998)filed by 'Reuters' news agency chronicles the first twenty-two convicted participants in the killings and murders during the 1994 genocide were executed in Rwanda four years after the event. Up to 130 000 more Rwandans were still awaiting trial for their roles in the slaughter.

France Sold Arms To Rwanda Despite Ban Over Genocide
This 'Seattle Times' article (January 12th, 1998) filed by 'Reuters' news agency reveals that France was arming the Hutu-dominated army of Rwanda up to a months after the commencement of atrocities in 1994. The French newspaper 'Le Figaro' first reported the allegations that French arms merchants who cannot ship without express government permission, were flying arms to the Hutu-dominated Rwandan Army, even after French troops had arrived to try and halt the killings under a very late UN mandate.

Background Notes On Rwanda
This is a very short look at some of what was going on in Rwanda at the time of the 1994 genocide.

Rwandans Wonder Whether Genocide Tribunal Will Bring Justice
This 'Associated Press' article (September 25th, 1996) by Chris Tomlinson, a journalist in Rwanda, chronicles how Rwandans wondered if the Rwanda Genocide Tribunal would really be capable of bringing about any sort of justice to the ravaged nation.

US Complicity By Silence: Genocide In Rwanda
This 'Covert Action Quarterly' article (Spring, 1995) is good background reading on how Rwandan society degenerated into genocidal conflict.

Amnesty International USA Rwanda Video
Here you can order the video and accompanying 100 page resource book, or view excerpted stills and sample text. This Web site features very disturbing visuals of stacks and stacks of dead bodies and whimpering, unhappy children with amputated limbs. Of course, these photos didn't move the US to bomb anyone in Rwanda, or even to do much of anything at all, like the photos of all those white Albanian Kosovars in Nike shoes and North Face jackets living in tents in the rain and mud. Rwanda was real, brutally planned and systematic genocide, as Amnesty International points out vividly here.

Brueggemann's Rwanda Analysis Page
Welcome to hell on Earth, Rudy says here in this harrowing look at the killing, the despair, and the aftermath of the 800 000 murders in Rwanda. There are a lot of links here so take your time, look around, and bring a vomit bag!

Contemporary Conflicts: Rwanda
Here you can find a whole slew of maps, articles, and papers on Rwanda, and the 1994 slaughter.

Report Of The Independent Inquiry Into The Action Of The UN During The 1994 Genocide
Read the report commissioned by Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General, as well as up to the minute articles from press around the world on the continuing consequences of the 1994 genocide.

Verdicts On The Crime Of Genocide By The International Criminal Tribunal Of Rwanda
This Tribunal was put together by the UN, which did nothing for the Rwandans when they were in the process of being wiped out, but is here, through Secretary General Kofi Annan, saying that "the success of this court in prosecuting genocide in a historic milestone, and a defining example of the United Nations to create institutions which fulfill the highest aspirations of mankind." This seems like way too little, way too late.

UN Report On Congo Probe Into Deaths Uses Term 'Genocide'
Due to the introduction at this Web site above the article, I grant the webmaster there a top rating for astutely asking the same burning questions I do: "Where was the UN in Rwanda when the killings began? How could the US and NATO justify launching an attack on Yugoslavia and not on Rwanda?" From my own perspective, the events were skewed, and suggest that the US considers some people expendable.

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