Monday 27 November 2006

The French Are OUT!!!

[JK: I am rather certain that the French would have quite a different perspective on this story]

"Business in Kigali city paralysed on Wednesday (22 November 2006) when thousands of infuriated Rwandans singing anti-France slogans and praising President Paul Kagame, staged a peaceful demonstration.

The impromptu demo was a public reaction to Monday’s call by a French magistrate, Jean Louis Bruguierre, for the arrest and trial of Kagame and nine Rwandan top military officers, accusing them of downing the plane that was carrying former Rwandan president, Juvenal Habyarimana.

An estimated 15,000 demonstrators from all corners of the city took to the streets, many carrying placards and banners that described Kagame as a hero, and others condemning the French government over its alleged role in the 1994 Rwanda Genocide. Some of the placards read: “France = Arrogance, ‘Stop France and its politicians from our Lovely Country;’ France, Let us mind our business and not you; Les Francais = Interahamwe (French is equivalent to Interahamwe).”

Genocide witnesses at the stadium said the French trained and worked with Interahamwe to plan and execute the killings, which claimed at least one million ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutu.“In 1992, French troops pitched camp near our home in Shyorongi (on the outskirts of Kigali) and they always mocked Tutsis until April 1994 when they worked with Interahamwe to kill them (Tutsis). I saw it myself,” Epiphany Mukasekuru, who nearly broke down, said in a brief testimony.

The president of Ibuka, an umbrella organisation of Genocide survivors, Francois Xavier Ngarambe, described Bruguierre’s allegations as scandalous and said that Paris should instead try itself together with the ringleaders of the Genocide who stay in France. “Have you ever heard of a serial killer calling for the prosecution of a policeman? They should first try Agathe Kanziga (Habyarimana’s wife), who chaired many meetings that planned the Genocide; Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, who raped women and owned a gun while he was a priest here,” said a furious Ngarambe. Kanziga and Munyeshyaka, who a week ago was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Military Tribunal over Genocide crimes, live in France.

In particular, Ngarambe blamed French troops for the butcher of hundreds of thousands of Tutsis in the areas that fell within a French-manned buffer zone called Zone Turquoise at the height of the Genocide. The zone, which stretched from Cyangugu in the Southwest to Gisenyi in the northwest of the country, is said to have provided safe passage to Genocidal forces which fled to the DR Congo as they lost power to then RPA forces. Kigali City Mayor, Dr.Aisa Kirabo Kacyira, accused the French of attempting to shift the guilt of their involvement in the 100-day slaughter to Rwandan heroes that stopped the French ‘barbaric actions.’ “We are here to remember barbaric actions of the French. Their hands are stained with the blood of innocent Rwandans and continue to be arrogant. However they will not accomplish their ill-intentions,” said the mayor.

The protesters sang patriotic songs with words that affirm their dedication to unity of Rwandans. “They should leave our defendant alone. Paul Kagame restored humanity, he is our all-time hero,” another witness, one Mukamusana, said. She accused the French military of killing Tutsi families in the former Ruhengeri province, now in the Northern Province. Bruguierre has already issued warrants for the arrest of Chief of General Staff (CGS), General James Kabarebe, Chief of Staff (Land Forces), Lieutenant General Charles Kayonga and Rwanda’s Ambassador to India, Lieutenant General Kayumba Nyamwasa. Others indicted include Joint Five (J5) head, Brigadier General Jack Nziza, Chief of State Protocol, Lieutenant Colonel (rtd) Rose Kabuye, MP Colonel (retired) Sam Kanyemera alias Kaka and Major Jacob Tumwine. President Kagame on Wednesday lambasted the French government and Bruguierre, calling the accusations rubbish."

Article courtesy of The NewTimes (Rwanda's Leading Newspaper).

2 comments:

  1. "I am rather certain that the French would have quite a different perspective on this story"...
    well, you're wrong ! I'm french and I'm ashamed of what my country did in Rwanda in 1994. I hope one day a french politician will be brave enough to tell the truth and ask for pardon.

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  2. Wenceslas Munyeshyaka : A strange priest...

    http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xshxs_rwanda-munyeshyaka-un-curieux-homme

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