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Between 10Ctober 1990 and July 1994. It Does Not Deal Specifically with Aspects of the Warfare Between the Two Belligerents Duri between10ctober 1990 and July 1994. It doesnot dealspecifically with aspects of the warfare betweenthe twobelligerents during the periodfrom the transferofthe Interim Government from Kigalito Gitaramaon 11-12April 1994 up to theRPF victoryin July1994. }i ) The mainissue is to knowwhether the accused persons tan be heldguilty of planningthe genocideagainst the Tutsi~ whichoccurred between April 1994 and mid-July 1994. It is up to ICTRto determineif the Accusedhave failed to fulfiltheir historical obligationsfollowing the RPF attack against the President’s plane on 6 April1994. By usingthe termgenoeide, the authoris referringto reasonand not to the legal def’mition.Similarly, by speakingabout widespread killîngs of Hum in thearea controlled by RPF,the authoruses the termmassacre to avoida controversialdiscussion on theirbeing labelledgenocide 2 or not. Theauthor also insists on the fact that the use of theterms "Hutu" and "Tutsi" does not at aildenote a racistmentality, as Professor Jean Pierre Chrétien is wontto say.He alsorefutes any racistapproach through a simplereferenee ruade to the term"lnyenzi ’’3,the veryfirst organizationof UNARparty royalist militants, who wantedto regainpower by forcein the 1960s. O Theauthor always uses the terres "Hum" and "Tutsi" ina non-refleetiveform. z On 15 July1995, the German jou~nalist G~nter Krabbe ruade estimation in thedaily, FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINEZEITUNG, whieh leads to the conclusion fiant between 2.5 and 3.5 million people (including Tutsi killed)were missing at the end of July 1994. Therefore, atleast one million Hutu had also disappeared. The reportermanaged toraise the issue with Seth Sendashonga, during a visit to Bonn in 1996, so as to get his views on it.He explained that the said estimation wasbased, inter alitt on the number of people living in Rwanda that he providedon the basis of figuresoommunicated bythe bourgmestres to UNHCR, afler having assumed his responsibilityasMinister ofthe Interior inthe Twagiramungu Government. Thenumber of Hutu refuge.es was knownand only the number of exiles who have returned toRwanda was estimated. Thefirst indication ofthe massacreofthe Hutu population wasgiven in the "Gersony Report" which, unfortunately, hasnever been published. 3 NgurumbeAloys, one ofthe most known "Inyenzi" aetivists, explained inKANGUKA No. 52, of 12February 1992,the origin ofthe terre Inyenzi and his activities afler having been imprisoned inRwanda between 1981 and 1991.(Sec Amaex 2) DI05-0039oe). [ DRA~T I \ d~ Finally,the reportgives no exhaustiveexplanation for the 1959 Rwandansocial revolution.This has been donc extensively by other experts. However,the authorwould like to emphasizethat the monarchywas abolishedthrough a democraticprocess supervised by the UnitedNations in 1961.The populationof Rwandahad theinalienable right to choosethe political substructure of the new independent state. It is truc thatrepresentatives of the former regime rejected the results and went into exile. The Rwandan tragedybegan at thatvery moment. II. Introduction The June2002 report of ExpertWitness Alison Des Forgesgives the historicalevents almostwithout taking into consideration thefact that they had occurred in a warsituation. She andother Prosecution expert witnesses seem to haveforgotten that the arraignedofficers were facedwith a historicalresponsibility, hotbecause they planned or wantedto seizepower, but becausethey were victims of a politicalvacuum that resulted from the murderof the most importantrepresentatives of the State of Rwandaand itsarmy, as wellas theHead of Stateof Burundiand two ofhisministers. AlisonDes Forgestends to minimizethe importanceof the attackon the President’s planeon 6 April1994 which, quite on the contrary,together with the immediateresumption of militaryhostilities by RPF, constitutes the main factor which triggered off anti-Tutsi genocide and widespreadkillings of Hutuin thearea under RPF control.These combined factors fuelled themilitia’s hatred for the Tutsi population and paved the way for the killings. The authorinsists that the Tutsigenocide was unprecedented,incomparable to other crimesagainst humanity described by SamanthaPower (POWER2000). The Tutsi case uniquein thatit occurredwithin the context of totalpolitical vacuum, contrary to theholocaust whichhad beenplanned and committedunder the supervisionofthe German State. In Rwanda,hatred for the invaderswas mostprofound among the millionwar-displaced persons,mainly from the Byumbapréfecture, who were,particularly in February1993, packed in makeshiftcamps in the suburbsof Kigali,affer their property had been expropriated by the RPFrebels. Those people nursed no hopeof returningfollowing the resumption of hostilitieson 7 April1994. It is particularlyrevealing toread what Dallaire wrote atter visiting those camps in August1993. "Andthen, in themiddle of thisrural idyll, we came across a hellishreminder of thelong civilwar. We smelledthe campbefore we saw it, a toxicmixture of feces,urine, vomit and death.A forestof blueplastic tarps, covered an entirehillside where 60,000 displaced persons fromthe demilitarized zone and the RPF sector were tightly packed into a fewsquare kilometres. Whenwe stoppedand gotout of ourvehicles, we wereswarmed by a thickcloud of flies,which stuckto oureyes and mouthsand crawledinto our earsand noses. It was hardhOt to gag with the smell,but breathingthrough the mouthwas difficultwith the flies.A youngBelgian Red DI05-0039(E) 2 [ DRAFT ] , ~t/.qqo Crossworker spotted us and interruptedher rounds to guideus throughthe camp. The refugees huddledaround small open fires, a silent,ghostlike throng that followed us listlesslywith their eyesas we pi«kedour way gingerlythrough the filth of the camp.I was deeplyimpressed by the youngBelgian women’s [sic] calm compassion as she gentlyadministered what aid she couldto thesedesperate souls. It was obviousthat she could see through the dirtand despairto their humanity.The scenewas deeplydisturbing, and it was the firsttime I had witnessedsueh sufferingunmediated by the artifice of TV news.’’~ By attackingon 7 April1994, RPF violatedthe peaceagreement concluded with the Governmentof Rwandaon 4 August1993. In so doing,RPF destroyedthe envisagedand partly establishedinstitutional base. Furthermore, RPF madeno effortat ail to negotiatean order which wouldenable the remainingRwandan State to combatthe numerouspeople who were killingthe Tutsi. On thecontrary, the rebels sabotaged any effort to restorelaw and order so as to achievetheir military victory. The situationof Tutsibecame even more problematic, desperate,when the international community and RPF rejectedany intervention to bring help to them. Withdrawal,on 15 April1994, of the Belgiancontingent of peacekeepersand soldiers fromother powers which intervened to evacuatetheir nationals is one of the factorsthat encouragedthe killers to continuetheir nasty job. Paul Kagame even threatened to considerthe soldiersas enemiesat~er the evacuationof Europeans,as thiswas revealedby the Belgian Minister5 ofForeign Affairs, Willy Claes, in 1997. Therefore,the issue is to knowwhether those who triedto act as stopgapswere able to maintainorder and peace at thetime when the RPF rebelswere waging an ail-outwar. Whenthe UnitedNations Security Council decided on 21 April1994 to reduceUNAMIR troopsto theridiculous number of 270,General Dallaire had no possibilityto protect the Tutsi. Theywere let’t to themercy of killerswho felt that the international community had abandoned thecountry to RPF.Ail information available confirms that ail countries that were opposed to a reinforcedpeacekeeping contingent were aware of thethreat looming over the Tutsipopulation. Thisis confirmedby LindaMelvern who hashad theopportunity to readconfidential reports of Security6 Council meetings (Melvern 2000). Theauthor does not agree with a greatersection of the"international community" on the originand perpetrationof genocide against the Tutsi,namely that they were planned by "Hutu « Dallaire2003:63/64 s On24 June 1997, Claes stated before the Belgian Senate: "Do you realize that RPF had given us an ultimatum, statingthat if we did not leave on Thursday, itwould attack?! RPFtold us very elearly that it accepted a short-terre humqnit_ar.ia_n operation,butthat we should hot try to transform peacekeeping intopeacemaking, ifnot, it would considerusto be enemies. " (Extract from the report of the "Commission d’enquëte parlementaire concernant les événementsduRwanda" ; Chap. 3.8.4.2. Impact sur le génocide.) 6 Theauthor does not agree with many interpretations ofthe facts as provided byLinda Melvem but feels that this bookis indeed a valuable contribution tothe "fact finding". (SecStrizek 2002) DI05-0039(E) 3 IDRAFT I extremists".Rather, he espousesRobin Philpot’s conclusions: "Ça ne s "estpas passécomme ça à Kigali"[It did not happen like that in Kigali]. (Philpot 2003). KofiAnnan was rightto say on 26 April20047 that the internationalcommunity could haveprevented the butchery in 1994.On the basisof documentsreceived from the author, it was notthe political will that was lacking as Annansaid. Rather, the vast majority ofmembers ofthe SecurityCouncil showed a strongwill to favouran RPFvictory at ailcosts. According to RPF, anyintervention in favour ofthe Tutsi population would have undermined that objective. That is whyits allies prevented any attempt to savethe Tutsi who were under threats. The authorhowever supports the viewpointof certainProsecution expert witnesses concerningthe performanceof the presentRPF-dominated
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