French judge issues warrants as Rwandans protest
Thu 23 Nov 2006 12:38 PM ET
(Releads with protests, pvs PARIS)
By Arthur Asiimwe
KIGALI, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Thousands of Rwandans protested on Thursday against
a French judge's call for President Paul Kagame to face a U.N. court over a
1994 plane crash which killed the country's leader and sparked a genocide.
A day after Paris issued arrest warrants for nine Kagame associates over the
crash, up to 25,000 demonstrators, including genocide survivors, gathered in
Kigali's Amahoro stadium chanting anti-French songs and burning French flags.
Hutu President Juvenal Habyarimana's plane was hit by a missile as he flew to
the Rwandan capital Kigali after a summit in April 1994. His killing triggered
the massacre of 800,000 minority Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus in 100
days of bloodletting.
French anti-terrorism magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguiere has filed a document at
the Paris prosecutor's office, citing evidence that accuses Kagame and members
of his military staff of devising the 1994 operation to destroy Habyarimana's
plane.
Survivors accused Rwanda's former ally of complicity in the central African
country's 1994 genocide. Some protesters held placards that read: "French
government stop your petty politics and genocide ideology."
The backlash came after Bruguiere issued the international warrants for
Kagame's associates on charges of "murder" and "complicity in murder", a
judicial source in Paris said.
Under French law the warrants, to be passed on by Interpol, mean the suspects
have been placed under official investigation and now face questioning by the
French judge.
Bruguiere earlier this week called for Kagame to be brought before a U.N.
court, a move the Rwandan president has denounced as "bullying and arrogant".
Kagame has said French judges have no authority over judges in Rwanda.
Under French law, a warrant cannot be issued for Kagame, who enjoys diplomatic
immunity as a serving head of state. But a judicial source said Bruguiere had
written to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan asking for Kagame to be brought
before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
Business came to a halt in the Rwandan capital on Thursday afternoon as
government offices and banks closed their doors to take part in the protest.
"The French trained Interahamwe (Hutu militias) everywhere in the country but
it did not stop them from losing," Francois Ngarambe, president of Ibuka, an
umbrella organisation that groups together genocide survivors told
demonstrators.
Bruguiere issued warrants for James Kabarebe, military chief of staff; Charles
Kayonga, army chief of staff; Faustin Nyamwasa-Kayumba, ambassador to India;
Jackson Nkurunziza, a Ugandan working for the Rwandan presidential guard;
Samuel Kanyamera, an FPR deputy; Jacob Tumwime, an army officer; Franck Nziza,
a presidential guard officer; Eric Hakizimana, an intelligence officer; and
Rose Kabuye, nee Kanyange, director general of state protocol.
sharangabo rufagari <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Full government statement
The attention of Rwanda Government has been drawn to the fact that the
French Magistarate Jean Louis Bruguière is about to issue indictments
against senior Rwandan government military officers under the allegations
that they shot down former President Habyarimanas plane leading to the
death of 3 French citizens.
Government would like to make it categorically clear that there is no basis
whatsoever to these allegations. It appears to government that this is an
attempt to intimidate Rwanda using strong arm tactics and to use the
superpower position to hide the truth of Frances involvement in the
Genocide. It also is an unfortunate attempt to pre-empt the findings of a
Commission set up in Rwanda to investigate the role of France in the 1994
Rwanda Genocide.
This is not the first time that some in French official circles have
designed a plan to hide their known responsibility in the genocide of 1994.
Under the guise of judicial independence, Magistrate Bruguière working
together with other French organs of the state have organized genocide
denials and revisionists and have provided them a platform for their
political agenda and propaganda.
It is well known that France actively supported the Genocide and armed and
fought along side the forces that committed genocide in Rwanda. When they
faced imminent defeat she intervened through Operation Turquoise to save
them from total defeat and to preserve them so they can fight another day.
There are strong indications that some in the French official circles were
involved in the military and political reorganization of these genocidal
forces.
Rwanda is owed an explanation as to what the French citizens who perished in
Habyarimanas plane were doing in Rwanda in company of the planners and
authors of the Genocide, given the fact these were French military officers
on a mission to Rwanda during the planning and execution phase of the
Genocide.
Government believes that Frances role needs to be fully investigated and
fully exposed. This is why it set up the commission to investigate the role
of France in these events. The work of this Commission is expected to
clarify the role of individuals in the French establishment played, and
whether their activities are criminally indictable. Understandably, such a
prospect has made many in certain French circles extremely worried.
Judge Bruguières reported attempt to indict the Rwandan officials is aimed
at diverting international opinion from the emerging clarity about therole of
France. Moreover it is unprecedented in the history of judicial
proceedings for investigation, indictment and all processes to be carried
out and concluded outside of the country where the crime is alleged to have
been committed.
It is absurd that a foreign judge could issue an indictment against
officials of a sovereign state for crimes committed on the soil of that
sovereign state without going through either diplomatic channels or judicial
institutions of that sovereign state. This political game and drama in
judicial matters is a dangerous path and is inimical to international law
and order. Those involved are advised to desist from it.
Done in Kigali, Rwanda
November 21, 2006.
Posted on the web by
Sharangabo Rufagari
---------------------------------
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