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~,t: ~ :55 958, Statementby Omar SERUSHAGO In 1990,I wasa currencydealer, in bothlocal and foreign currencies. My father was a conseillerdesecteur and a bigtrader in Gisenyi town. He was a nativeof thesame area as thePresident (Giciye commune) and that explains why he wasa veryinfluential man. 2. Dudng the Octoberl990war, the leadersof the MRND, namelyCol. RWENDEYE, MAGERA(the President’sbrother-in-law) and Col. InnocentNZABANITA alias "Dictionnaire",contacted my fatherand suggested to himthat I shouldbecome a member of theMRND/Interahamwe (theInterahamwe already existed by 1990,but it wasa secret)» My fatherand I discussedthe advantages of beinga memberof theMRND, after which I decidedto jointhe movement. However, the nature of my jobdid not allow me to attend meetings,as I wasoften away from Gisenyi. (N.B: the three people mentioned above are dead). 3. I madeseveral business trips between Kigali and Gisenyi between 1990 and 1992. While in Kigali,I would not stay in a hotel.I wouldstay at theresidence of CIaverMVUYEKURE, the Director of the Banque Commercialedu Rwanda (BCR) or at Felicien NSENGIMANA’s( who is currentlyin Gabon).We alwaystalked about the Tutsis in our conversationwith these people. They kept saying: "They are our enemies and we shallkill them one day". Very often Col. BUREGEYA(Commander of the Ecole Supérieur Militaire)and Col. NGAYINTERANYA(Commander of the Gendarmeriein Rwanda) visitedus and theywould ask me to workwith the Interahamwe, so as to assistthe Presidentfight against and eliminate the Tutsis and moderate Hutus. 4. In July1993, Jean Marc MPOZEMBIZI(Bourgmestre of Rubavu),Fazili HAKIZIMANA (conseillerde secteur for Gisenyi) and SIBOMANA alias "Sheikh" (conseiller de secteur forGisenyi), started recruiting young people and giving them military training in the Bigogwecamp. I wasnet involved in theseactivities at the time, because of my business. The trainingwas conductedby Major FrançoisXavier UWIMANA and the camp commanderwas MajorJuvenal BAHUFITE. The followingare someof the Interahamwe fromGisenyi who underwent militait trainîng: Bernard MUNYAGISHARI HASSANalias "Gitoki" (eut thumb) Thomas MUGIRANEZA ZainaboFAZILI (Bernard MUNYAGISHARI’s wife, new in Gisenyi prison) DJUMAPILI NYARIBOGI Zari KANYARUHENGERI SifaMUREKATETE (017’s sister-in-law, whodied in TingiTingi) 5. Whenthe Interahamwecompleted their training, Bourgmestre MPOZEMBIZI (now in Gisenyiprison) and ConseillersHAKIZIMANA (in Gisenyiprison) and SIBOMANAWent to militarycamps and obtainedweapons which they handed over to thelnterahamwe. I rememberthe womenreceiving AK 47’s. K005-2406- K005-2413 Translat¢dfrom the French 1 .1¢/ °aD ~ C~.~$9S9 6. In July/August1993, the GisenyiInterahamwe received a delegationof somethirty lnterahamwemilitiamen from Kigali. I laidthese people in theMRND hall in Gisenyiand duringthe night, Major Juvenal BAHUFITE, who was then G2 in themilitary intelligence, tookthem to the Bigogwecommando trairàng centre. In Bigogwe,the delegationwas reeeivedby MajorFrançois Xavier UWIMANA, who was in chargeof theirtraining. Tl~y weregiven military la’aining toenable them kill the Tutsis and moderate Hutus. 70 DuringJuly, August and September 1993, I tookpart in demonstrationsagainst other politiealparties. The demonstrations were organised by theMRND chairman and vice- chairmanfor Gisenyi,Whellas BANZI and MathieuNYAGASAZA respectively, and a CDR memberealled Barnabé SAMVURA. I neverattended the meetings,but I reeeived instructionsfrom HASSANand BernardMUNYAGISHARI. They told me that I was "strictand reliable" and would instruct me togo withlnterahamwe youths to getpick-up trucksfrom traders for use in colleeting stones which were used for bloeking roads and the airportin a bidto prevent the Tutsis from escaping. I took part in three demonstrations and my rolewas always the same (trucks and stones). During one demonstration in (October 1993?),Bernard MUNYAGISHARI and Bamabé SAMVURAinstructed me to go and fetcha Tutsiwoman named Patricia UZABUMWANA, who was marriedto a Belgianwho ownedEdelweiss hotel, and takeher to the GisenyiMRND office. Michel (of CDR), KIGURU-MUBARAKA,our driverLionceau MUVUNYI and I, wentto EldeweissHotel. I askedthe woman to followus tothe MRND office, so thatshe takes back a fziGs~ageto theTutsis that we knew what they were doing and that we wereready [sic]."V#~,,,~lad gone forher because she used to letthe Tutsis and moderate Hutus meet in oneof the rooms in thehotel. The woman feared for her lire offered me moneywhich I refusedto take.We forcedber to theMRND office. When we gotto theoffice, Benard and Bamabé told those prescrit:"This is theTutsi woman who offers the Tutsis a ropm~in’whichthey hold their meetings.She said she was a Tutsi,but of Belgian nationality, ThePréfet, who was in his office,telephoned Kigali and was ordered to releasethe woman on groundsof her Belgian nationality.Préfet Joseph HABIYAMBERE drove ber home. 8, In’~’ December1993, Joseph NZIRORERA and JuvenalUWlLINGIMANA held a meeting at theMéridien Hotel in Gisenyi.The following ten leaders of the lnterahamwe militiamen in Gisenyiattended the meeting: f~ - BernardMUNYAGISHARI, overaU chairman of the lnterahamwefor Gisenyi préfecture(said to be in Masisi) - HASSANalias Gitoki (eut thumb), ehairman of the lnterahamwefor Gisenyi town (saidto be in Bukavuor Goma) - ThomasMUGIRANEZA, vice-ehairman of the lnterahamwefor Gisenyitown (said tobe in Masisi) - MabuyeTWAGIRAYEZU, CDR chairmanfor Gisenyi - OmarSERUSHAGO, who heldno officialtitle among the Gisenyi Interahamwe, but in reality,being a nativeof the samevillage as PresidentHABYARIMANA gav~him considerablepowers. He wasthe de factochairman of thelnterahamwe in Gisenyi aP town. - ZainaboFAZILI, the lnterahamweseeretary for Gisenyiand MUNYAGISHARI’s wife.(She is in prison in Gisenyi) K005-2406- K005-2413 Translatedfrom the Frcnch 2 - RashidGAHUTU, publicity secretary for the Interaharrrwe in Gisenyi (deceased) - DJUMAPILI-NYARIBOGI,treasurer for the GisenyiInterahamwe - ~ ZariKANYARUHENGERI, treasurer. The meetinghad beenconvened to announceto us thatwe werelucky to havea new commandantde placein Gisenyi,Col. AnatoleNSENGIYUMVA, who was a hativeof Gisenyiand a trueInterahamwe andthat Iris presence should hOt pose any problem to us,for he belongedto ourpolkical party and was an Interahamwe.(The Colonel had arrived that veryday). NZIRORERA told us thathe wouldtalk to the Colonel to get us amas.He saidthat the weaponswere hOt toysto play withand addedthat Bernard MUNYAGISHARI was goingto briefus on whatto do withthem. NZIRORERA offered 20,000 Rwandan francs to eachof theten Interaharrrwe present. I came to leamlater that NZIRORERA told Bernard thatthe weapons were to beused to eliminatethe Tutsis when things exploded in Gisenyi. 9. In January,February and March 1994, I cominuedwith my usualmoney-changing business. Severalmeetings were held but I did notattend them. HASSAN kept me informedof the outcome.Before April 1994, Bamabé SAMVURA of CDR circulateda documentin which he warnedail the Hutus to be alert,as the Tutsis were due to fight them. He furthersaid: "Youthe young Hutus, be reassured that you will be supplied with guns to fightthe Tutsis. Do notfear to goto thechurches if that is wherethe Tutsis are hiding. Go andfight them there".The documentwas signedby JeanBosco BARAYAGWIZA (now underarrest in Arusha) 10.On 7 April1994??, I was livingin one of Col.Bonaventure BUREGEYA’s houses. Thomas MUGIRANEZAand one soldiercame and toldme to watchthe houseof my neighbour, MUSONERA,who was a Tutsiand whosefamily members they were going to kill.I said thatI wouldkill them. (The MUSONERAs were my friends).When MUGIRANEZA and the soldierleft, I broughtthe MUSONERAsto my house,got my gun (an R4) and droveth~ familyL to thepriests for protection (the priests’ house was ne~ mine).MUSONERA had~$P UZIgun in hishouse which I tookwith me to my house. 11.On6 April1994, I leftthe Méridien hotel at about 9.30 p.m. after taking some beer. At about 7.30a.m. the next moming, about ten lnterahamwefrom Kanama and Byahi, arrived at my house,armed with maehetes and said they wanted to killmy wife(a Tutsi)and the members of the MUSONERAfamily. I pickedup my R4 gun and gavethe UZI gun to a youngman whoused to live with me andtold him to shoot if theInterahamwe tried to forcetheir way inside.The Interahamwe then went away. At about8.30 a.m., four of thelnterahamwe returned to my houseand asked where the MUSONERAswere. I toldthem that I hadbeen to theirhouse but round no onether~l$ffhe~-." Interahamweleft. At thisvery moment, Col. Bonaventure BUREGEYA came and toldme thatthe lnterahamwe had killed lais younger brother’s daughter. The Colonel asked me to accompanyhim to look for the body and bury it. When we arrived at thebouse, the girl was indeeddead and the mother and three boys were hiding in theceiling. We drovethem to thecolonel’s house and before I left,the colonel told me "My brother, do notspill blood. ThePresident isdead and the little one (the girl) is dead. Do not spill blood". K005-2406- K005-2413 Translatedfrom the French 3 I leftthe Colonel and return¢d to my bouse(ai about 10.00 a.m.). In front of myhouse, met LieutenantBIZUMUREMYI who intimidatedme by asking:"Why are you ,not involvedin thcoperation like the other Interahamwe?". I told him that I wouldbc joining theopcmtion in oneor twohours’ rime. Before leaving, he requcstedme fo lookfor the Interahamwein our neighbourhood so that he couldissue them with grenades and ~bullets. I stayedat home and at about 2.00 p.m., Col. ,tmatole came with