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David Rawson Collection on the Rwandan Genocide Archives and Museum

11-1994

Genocide in Rwanda: Documentation of Two Massacres during April 1994

Virginia Hamilton

Koula Papanicolas

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Recommended Citation Hamilton, Virginia and Papanicolas, Koula, "Genocide in Rwanda: Documentation of Two Massacres during April 1994" (1994). David Rawson Collection on the Rwandan Genocide. 86. https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/rawson_rwanda/86

This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Archives and Museum at Digital Commons @ George Fox University. It has been accepted for inclusion in David Rawson Collection on the Rwandan Genocide by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ George Fox University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Genocide in Rwanda:

Documentation of Two Massacres

during April 1994

November 1994

This report is based on a U.S. Committee for Refugees site visit to Rwanda in August-September 1994. The documentation was gathered, and this report was written, by David Hawk, an expert on documentation of genocide. Hawk is former U.S. Executive Director of Amnesty International, and Associate of the Center for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University. He has had years of experience documenting Khmer Rouge massacres of civilians in Cambodia, and has led efforts to bring those responsible to justice. He was assisted by Joan Kakwinzere, professor of history at Makerere University, a human rights professional, and long-term member of Uganda's Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights Abuse.

This report was edited by Virginia Hamilton and produced by Koula Papanicolas of the U.S. Commitee for Refugees.

Preface

How do you massacre a million people in three weeks? Rwanda gives a real life answer. Those in authority plan and oversee. Those in the ranks butcher. Both together are guilty of ana­ tionwide matrix of nearly simultaneous local Hutu actions to extenninate their Thtsi neighbors and compatriots in April1994.

I saw the results of genocide up close, in nwnerous locations such as Nyamata and Musaza I've seen a lot in my professional life; I've never seen anything that remotely looks like this.

The UN, the United States, the entire world failed Rwanda and Rwandans in their most fate­ ful hour. To this very moment, many continue to whitewash what happened in the most effective genocide since the Holocaust. To this very moment, the world stands back from the victims and sur­ vivors while pouring aid into the hands of refugee camp leaders who are the criminal perpetrators of genocide, pledged to return to Rwanda to finish the job.

The international machinery for holding at least some accountable, to break the cycle of impunity that has infected Rwanda, is now beginning to creak into operation. The jury is still out on the seriousness of the effort. In the world's eyes, Rwanda is not a very important place.

This report attempts in a small way to summarize the dynamics of genocide in two specific locations. It names names. It is illustrative of the kind of documentation that needs to be produced at sites all over Rwanda. It is the only way to retain an accurate moral compass, to clarify the vic­ tims and the victimizers.

Every young soldier in Rwanda's new anny has seen the genocide up close. Most have lost all or most of their own families. If there is ever to be a coherent Rwanda again, this kind of docu­ mentation must be acted on, and all those found guilty punished. If this does not happen soon, vigi­ lante justice will reign, repatriation of the innocent will be impossible, and additional, perhaps re­ gional, war will be inevitable.

Roger P. Wmter, Director U.S. Committee for Refugees

A Genocide in Rwanda

INTRODUCTION

The U.S. Committee for Refugees (USCR) has to Rwanda in August and September to under­ long monitored the situation of Rwandan refu­ take an in depth documentation of two massacre gees and reported on the explosive political siru­ sites and to assess the adequacy of measures be­ ation in Rwanda that threatened even larger ing taken to monitor human rights and initiate refugee outflows. 1 Following the post-April 6 legal proceedings at the international level for eruption of massive and systematic massacres those responsible for the Rwanda genocide and against the Thtsi ettmic minority in Rwanda, USCR other grave violations of international humani­ published a series of advocacy Action Alerts on the tarian law. Rwanda crisis. The main difficulty encountered by The second Action Alert, on June 27, USCR researchers was in deciding which victim 1994, stressed the importance of imposing ac­ and survivor accounts to record. The killings countability for the massacres. That Alert noted took place throughout the country and every­ that "thorough documentation of the atrocities where there were witnesses and/or suiVivors. in Rwanda is required to begin the difficult pro­ Behind the front-lines in the civil war between cess of healing Rwandan society and to educate the Rwandan government and the rebel the world that genocide occurred while the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), political kill­ world watched." That report warned that ''fail­ ings and massive slaughters against members of ure to impose accountability in a public manner Rwanda Tutsi ethnic minority were carried out will allow many culpable military, political, and by anny units, civilian police, and mobs or mili­ militia leaders to escape and will send a danger­ tia organized by the government These killings ous signal worldwide-particularly to Burundi, took place in neighbmhoods throughout where the potential for organized violence re­ Rwanda, as government-directed militiamen at­ mains high" and recommended that the "inter­ tacked the homes of Tutsi residents. Killings national community should accelerate efforts to took place at police- and militia-manned road­ document the massacres and identify the main side checkpoints where ethnicity-specific, state­ planners and leaders of the killings in order to issued identity cards were used to identify mi­ bring them to justice." nority groups members. Larger scale massacres Subsequent USCR testimony to the took place at public buildings (churches, stadi­ Senate Foreign Relations Committee Subcom­ ums, hotels) to which the Tutsi had fled in hopes mittee on African Affairs again stressed the ur­ of finding safety and protection. This USCR re­ gency of documenting the Rwandan genocide in port describes the sequence of events at two dif­ order to bring guilty individuals to justice and ferent churches, chosen virtually at random, to send a warning that such acts will be punished which neighborhood Tutsi had sought sanctu­ by the world community. That testimony noted ary: one in the capital of Kigali and another in a Administration support for a tribunal to pros­ rural area in eastern Rwanda ecute the perpetrators of genocide in Rwanda, These investigations were conducted and urged U.S. officials to assist this process by under difficult logistical circumstances. Neither providing immediate diplomatic, financial, and the capital city of Kigali nor the provincial logistical support to human rights investigators.2 towns or villages visited by USCR had electric­ To contribute to international account­ ity, telephones, or running water. Securing ability for those responsible for the Rwandan transportation, finding food, were time consum­ genocide, USCR sent two human rights experts ing and remarkably expensive. Once the inves-

A Genocide in Rwanda

tigators located the survivor of a particular mas­ ings of the Rwandan genocide sacre, he or she would identify another wimess Our purpose, rather, is to publish the who could be interviewed. But it took days, and stories these survivors, none of whom spoke En­ often several trips, to track down and locate that glish, told us. Their narratives show that these wimess. killings were conducted openly, in broad day­ All wimesses were interviewed sepa­ light, by Rwandans who had been organized by rately. Other than examining the consistency of the State to kill their neighbors. As a result, we multiple sources of information for the same have frequently included the names of perpetra­ event, USCR investigators had no way to verify tors recognized and identified by their intended independently the information provided by the victims. survivors and eye wimesses interviewed. Nor This report describes the measures cur­ was our purpose to undertake the kind of in­ rently underway to brwg remedy and redress for vestigations required of a national or interna­ these terrible crimes, and the still urgent neces­ tional prosecutor. The massacres we are re­ sity for ongoing monitoring of the human rights porting on will undoubtedly appear as situation in Rwanda-one of the measures nec­ one-line or one-sentences items, along with essary to enable the vast numbers of new hundreds of other massacres, in official account- Rwandan refugees to return home.

Victims ofthe massacre at Gahini, a jew miles from Rukara parish, where the USCR team did documentation. The photograph was taken only days after the massacre. Photo: Father Oswald Rudakemwa

• Genocide in Rwanda I. THE APRIL MASSACRES IN A Survivor's Account GIKONDOCHURCH,KIGALI ~~~~~~------According to Mr. Emmanuel Musonera, a 37- The June 28, 1994, Report of the UN Commis­ year-old Thtsi, one of the two known survivors sion on Human Rights Special Rapporteur on of the massacre inside the church, the situation Rwanda, Mr. Degni-Sequi, cited a massacre out­ in Gikondo sector was already tense prior to the side the parish church at Gikondo, an industrial April 6 plane crash that killed Rwandan Presi­ section of the capital of Kigali, where ''the street dent Habyarimana. Several weeks earlier, there was covered with corpses the length of a kilo­ had been random killings of Tutsi in Gikondo meter."3 following the assassination of M. Bucyana, a Those bodies were the results of the leader of the extremist Hutu political party, the killings of Thtsi residing in several "hills;' also Coalition for the Defense of the Republic 4 called "cells" (cellules) that comprise the (CDR). Gikondo "sector" of one of the three "com­ Following the airplane crash of April 6, munes" that make up Rwanda's capital city of Musonera, who was residing with his family in Gikondo KigaJi According to the testimony of survi­ Kigarama cell, one of the hills in Gikondo sec­ demonstrates the vors at Gikondo, the killings were committed by tor, heard shootings all night long, but he did not politically organized mobs operating under the yet know what was going on. The following determination of direction of an elite military unit of the anned the perpetrators morning, April 7, Musonera saw several Presi­ forces of the former Rwandan government dential Guards in his neighborhood. He asked to thoroughly called the Presidential Guard. an officer what was happening. The officer re­ eliminate the Near the crest of the hill, next to the plied that he didn't know either, but told road cited by the UN Special Rapporteur as targeted minority Musonera to wait there. A corporal in the Presi­ having been littered with corpses, is a barbed dential Guard, not knowing Musonera 's group. wire fence with several metal gates enclosing ethnicity, told him that it was time to kill Thtsi. 5 an ecclesiastical "mission station" run by the A military taxi arrived and took the sol­ Pallotine missionary order of the Catholic diers away. But as the Presidential Guards de­ church. The Pallotine mission, staffed by a parted, a mob of Impusamugmi militiamen6 ar­ dozen Polish priests and nuns, is a small, rived in his neighborhood, evidently knowing self-contained campus with a large church which residents were Tutsi. Musonera saw the capable of holding up to 2,000 thousand wor­ mob attack and kill a Tutsi neighbor named shipers, a small chapel suitable for private GeiVais and his family. So Musonera and his prayers, a cultural or community center, a family quickly hid nearby in a primary school large print shop with an adjoining warehouse, ooinpound, from where he could obseiVe a group an administrative building, and several sepa­ ofImpusamugmi enter and ransack his home. rate housing quarters for resident priests and After the mob left, Musonera and his nuns. family emerged from hiding. He pretended that The following is an account of the his child was sick, and set off to seek shelter and massacre inside the mission. This massacre, protection at the Gikondo church. He passed while small compared with the more extensive numerous roadblocks manned by gendarmes, killings in the general neighborhood, is a par­ the local police force, along the way. Not rec­ ticulariy appropriate and useful potential body ognizable as a Tutsi, he was able to convince the of evidence in the event of national or interna­ police that he was taking his sick child to the tional legal proceedings against those respon­ Gikondo mission infirmary. When he arrived at sible for these killings. Gikondo demonstrates the church, late morning on Thursday, April 7, the determination of the perpetrators to thor­ several score of Tutsi from Gikondo sector were oughly eliminate the targeted minority group. already there. More would come during the Further, the easily attainable evidence includes next two days. Several hundred Thtsi were shel­ Rwandan survivor accounts, UN and other for­ tered in various buildings on the church eign eyewitness accounts, photographs of some grounds, some more securely hidden in "crawl of the wounded and dead taken by a UN eyewit­ spaces" beneath floors or roofs, others more ness, and an on-site mass grave. simply, inside various buildings .

• Genocide in Rwanda Several hundred Tutsiwere sheltered in various buildings ~ Emmanuel Musonera, one of two known survivors ofthe massacre in Gikondo Church, Kigali on the church Photo: USCRID. Hawk grounds, some more securely On Saturday, April9, around 9:00a.m., compound. The murders went on for two hours, hidden in "crawl the priests asked the approximately 500 Tutsi .as the militiamen circulated among the spaces" beneath gathered in the compound--many, if not most of wounded to finish them off. whom were regular or frequent congregates or Musonera was robbed of his money floors or roofs, worshipers at this church--to gather in the main and shoes, then slashed on his ear, face, and others more chapel for a worship sexvice. During the mass, head. The deep cut across his mouth and cheek simply, inside the worshipers heard shootings, grenade explo­ bled profusely. At first, he feigned death. Later, various buildings. sions, and a commotion outside the church. he was able to run outside and hide behind some These were probably the killings of sector resi­ bushes across from the entrance to the church. dents who had been rounded up from the neigh­ From their unifonns, he could identify two of borhood and brought to the road outside the the officers as Presidential guards and two local church grounds for execution and whose bodies police. were obsexved the next day "littering the street" Musonera also recognized several of After the mass, the worshipers re­ the killers. The mob was lead by Jean 7 mained inside the church. The next thing they Ntawutagirpfa, also known as "Congolais," the knew, four officers (two Presidential Guard and head of the Gikondo sector lnterhamwe. two local police) entered the church, followed Musonera also recognized Bernard Rwajekare, by some hundred or more Interhamwe militia­ whom he knew to be a CDR member, and men8 anned with machetes and clubs. The mili­ Alphonse Kakizimana, a Hutu who had come tiamen began slashing away--hacking at the from Byumba and who had worked as a gar­ anns, legs, genitals, breasts, faces and necks--at dener at Gikondo church. the unarmed, terrorized and panic-stricken wor­ shipers trapped inside the church. Some were killed inside the church. Others were dragged Eyewibtess and Corroborating Accounts outside and beaten to death in the small court­ yard in front of the church. In the confusion and Some of the kiliings described by Musonera were melee of the bloodletting, an unquantifiable witnessed by two officers ofthe UN peacekeeping number of the Tutsi were also able to run out of operation for Rwanda, Major Jerzy Macza and the church and hide elsewhere on the church Major Chudy Ryszard.9 To share the company of

• Genocide in Rwanda Based on his own observations, Maczka saw clear cooperation and, in fact, a division of The court yard and front door ofthe church at Gikondo. This is the location where Major labor between the Maczka observed killings. Photo: USCRID. Hawk local police and the militia in the the Polish priests and nuns at the Gikondo mission, person had a grenade. The priest came over to the two Polish UNAMIR officers resided at the talk to the local police, who claimed further that Gikondo church. chw:-ch while off duty. Coincidentally, they were the church and church grounds were harboring The police searched on the church grounds when the killings began, Inkotanyi, Tutsi supporters of the Rwanda Patri­ for the Tutsi and and they saw some of what happened before they otic Front, and that they had to search for them. were ordered to leave the church grounds and The priests claimed that those present used their authority return to UNAMIR headquarters on April 10. were Christian worshipers, oot the local police to gain entrance and Also present, .of course, were the for­ continued to insist that they search the premises open the door for the eign priest and nuns, the members of the and examine the identity papers of the mobs who did the Pallotine religious order, who ran the mission Rwandans present at the church. Some of the complex at Gikondo. Following yet another police remained at the main church itself, while actual killing. massacre at Gikondo church on April 12, others left the area directly in Hunt of the UNAMIR came with armored personnel carri­ church. Then the militia appeared, threatened ers and evacuated the Pallotines on April 13. and pushed the priests away, entered the church, Father Filipek Stanislas, one of the priests and began the beatings and killings, which Fa­ present during the killings onApril9, organized ther Stanislas said went on for two hours. the digging of the mass grave on April 10, and UNAMIR Major Maczka was about 70 was also on the church grounds during the sub­ meters from the main church. He saw the local sequent April 12 killings at the Chapel. By the police begin to enter the various buildings in the time of the USCR mission to Rwanda in Au­ mission complex. ffe saw a group of about 60 gust, Father Stanislas had returned to Kigali. militia armed with machetes, clubs, and what While he did not personally see the actual mur­ appeared to be one Kalishnikov climb over the ders themselves, his testimony amplifies, in im­ fence surrounding the church complex and portant ways, the accounts of Major Maczka swarm over the area. For 10 or 15 minutes, he and Emmanuel Musonera. 10 saw people being pulled out of the church and According to Father Stanislas, on the clubbed and slashed in front of the church. 11 morning of April 9, a group of local police first After 15 minutes, the militia came back outside entered the church grounds.. They killed a per­ the church and clubbed the wounded there to son at the door of the church, claiming that the death.

S Genocide in Rwanda During the massacres, Major Maczka eleven children. Father Stanislas also saw gar­ attempted to contact UNAMIR headquarters on bage trucks pull up outside the church, and pris­ his walkie-talkie, but because the channels were oners from the city jail loading the bodies on the occupied, he could not get through. After the road just outside the church. According to Ma­ carnage, and after the militia and local police jor Moczka, another 25 bodies that were found had withdrawn from the church, Majors Maczka at various places on the mission ground were and Ryszard helped the priests care for the buried the next day. Many of the identity cards wounded. Maczka had a camera with several of the dead had been taken by the local police frames left on the roll of film inside. He photo­ when they first entered the church. They were graphed two of the wounded, Musonera, whose strewn about amidst other paper and piles of face was badly gouged and swollen, and another ruble from the carnage. The identity cards were woman, Mrs. Theodosie. Several other photo­ not collected again or preserved by the priests. graphs showed a score of bodies strewn in front There is no way now to determine the names of of the church. The following day, Major the dead. Maczka was ordered back to UNAMIR head­ Worse, the killing had not ended. The quarters. priests tried to persuade the sutvivors of Based on his own obsetvations, Maczka Saturday's massacre to leave the mission saw clear cooperation and, in fact, a division of la­ grounds because they were unable to guarantee bor betWeen the local police and the militia in the their security. But one mother with children Gikondo church. The police searched for the said to the priests, "Father, if we must die, let us Tutsi and used their authority to gain entrance die here." And so they did. Roughly 20 persons and open the door for the mobs who did the actual remained on the mission grounds, 10 or 12 were killing. housed in the small, one-room brick chapel, According to Father Stanislas, the mur­ about 50 yards from the main church. The ders were prepared and premeditated. They priests quietly brought food to them during the were also vicious and cruel. From the wounds night, hoping no one would know that people on the dead bodies, it was apparent that the ears were still hidden there. But somehow, word got and mouths had been particularly slashed; out. · According to Father Stanislas, Radio clothes were pulled off and genitals mutilated RTLM, the extremist radio station run by mem­ on both men and women. bers of fonner President Habyarimana 's politi­ The priests tended the wounded and cal party, announced that the church was still helped some of the sUIVivors escape the pre­ harboring the lnkotanyi (supporters of the RPF). mises through a small gate at the back of the Four days later, on the afternoon of mission complex away from the front and side April 12, approximately 100 Interhamwe en­ roads. They tried to persuade the SUIVivors to tered the church grounds and demanded the leave because the priests could not protect them. keys to the chapel. The metal door to the chapel Some did. About 20 others did not, preferring had been locked from the inside, and according to continue to hide under floor boards, in crawl to Father Stanislas, the priests did not have keys. spaces between ceilings and roofs, and in the The I nterhamwe tried without success to shoot small, private chapel. the lock and otheiWise break down the door. Musonera was evacuated by Medecins Failing that, the mob broke the narrow win­ Sans Frontiers (MSF) staff, who took him to the dows, poured gasoline into the roughly 12' by hospital at Giterama. He again feared for his 12' room, threw in grenades, the explosion of life as they passed several highway road blocks which caused fires, burning to death the 10 to 12 manned by lnterhamwe, but MSF managed to people who had locked themselves inside. get him through. The mob went through the other build­ According to Major Moczka, the Red ing on the mission ground, and beat seven per­ Cross came that afternoon, but said there were sons who were found hiding in the building ad­ too many bodies to take them away. The priests jacent to the print shop. Four died immediately. dug a huge but shallow hole in an area adjacent Three more were heavily wounded. The priests to the courtyard in front of the church and bur­ brought water and tried to treat their wounds. ied most of the dead. Seventy-seven bodies But they died the following morning. were buried that Saturday, including those of 1be next morning, April 13, lnterhamwe

S Genocide in Rwanda The burnt interior ofthe little chapel at Gikondo where 12 people burned to death. Photo: USCR/D. Hawk

also returned. They saw the bloodstained Rwandan genocide: first, in making the legal clothes on the priest who had treated the case that acts of genocide were comrniu:ed, and wounded and threateningly accused the priests second, regarding any individual indictments of sheltering and assisting the Tutsi who were that might be brought against the identifiable supposed to be killed. Angered, the mob set and recognizable leaders of the Gikondo sector fires to cars on the church grounds and began Interhamwe. (Father Stanislas is certain he ransacking and robbing the health and commu­ could recognize some of the Interhamwe leaders nity center, saying that there were still Inkotanyi of the Gikondo sector.) inside. Now fearing for their lives, the priests At Gikondo, there is an articulate, cred­ contacted UNAMIR, and at 5:00 p.m., the UN ible suiVivor, Mr. Musonera, whose wounds peacekeepers evacuated the priests and nuns. were photographed by a UN official. Perllaps, The church buildings were further damaged by with more time, the prosecutors can locate the warfare when the RPF captured Kigali. Follow­ other photographed wounded survivor, Mrs. ing the end of the war, some of the priests re­ Theodosie. According to Musonera, the daugh­ turne-d from Poland, and began to reopen the ter of Charles Karera witnessed and suiVived the mission. In August, when the U.S. Committee killings on the road outside the fenC(!. The for Refugees mission initially investigated this USCR mission of August-September could not particular massacre, the acrid stench of death re­ locate her. But reportedly, she continue:s to re­ mained, as did some skeletal remains in the side in Gikondo sector, and probably she:: can be chapel's antechamber. found and can clarify those events. There were the two UNAMIR eyewitnesses, who photo­ graphed some of the wounded and dead within Concluding Note hours of the killings. There were an ample number of foreign priests and nuns, who did not In it~ essentials, the Gikondo church massacre wimess the killings, but who were present on does not differ from scores of such massacres the mission grounds during the massacres and that took place throughout Rwanda in April treated the wounded and buried the dead. Only 1994, including the one described below at one of these had returned to Kigali at the time of Rukara parish. Even so, the April 9-12 killings the USCR investigation. But the others are easy at the Pallotine mission station at Gikondo to locate in Poland. Should forensic patholo­ should be a prime case in any international legal gists need to exhume remains, the mass grave p~..edings that might be instituted for the exists next to the church. a Genocide in Rwanda Almost certainly there were employ­ That was not to be the case this time. ment records of the local police--the gendarmes From the testimony of Rwandan survivors and who opened the doors for the militia--for foreign eyewitnesses, it is clear that the politi­ Gikondo sector; whether these records can be cally organized mob that carried out the killings found is an open question. The identifiable kill­ (which were not without ritualized and brutal ers are either living elsewhere in Rwanda, per­ mutilation, as well as petty thievery) was work­ haps with an assumed name, or more probably ing in concert, indeed guided by, military and in one of the refugee camps outside Rwanda police agents acting under the authority of the stili under the control of the former government. Rwandan state. That neither the police initially Whether indicnnents or arrest warrants could or the I nterhamwe mobs subsequently could be ever be drawn up or served is a matter for future dissuaded by the foreign priests from carrying prosecutors to determine. out their work shows how clear and firm their But the murders at Gikondo church are orders must have been. clearly genocidal massacres, not simply political That the Gikondo sector militiamen re­ killings. Like elsewhere in Rwanda, the Tutsi of peatedly returned again to search the premises Gikondo sector fled to the church to escape the to make sure they had left no Tutsi still alive in­ eruption of house to house killings in their dicates the intention to destroy in whole, and not neighborhoods--thinking they could find even in part--literally, to finish off physically-­ safety in the religious places where they had the ethnically Tutsi residents of that area All of formerly worshiped with their Hutu neigh­ this was done in broad daylight, without any at­ bors until the killing spree had passed, as had tempt whatsoever to disguise the identity of the previously happened during earlier outbreaks perpetrators, indicating that there was absolutely of ethnic violence against the Tutsi minority no perceived moral, legal, or political sanction group. against what they were doing.

The mass grave at Gikondo Church. Photo: USCRID. Hawk a Genocide in Rwanda ll. THE MASSACRES AT RUKARA dead were collected and cremated, reportedly PMUSHCHURCH,KmUNGO inside the church buildings, but not befbre for­ PREFECTURE eign journalists had visited the scene and photo­ graphed some of the carnage. But there is now In contrast to the killings at Gikondo described no way to verify independently the nurnber of above, the massacres at Rukara, a rural com­ deaths. And some elements of this story do not mune and sector in Kibungo Prefecture (prov­ entirely hang together. However, the survivor ince) were much larger, more drawn out, and accounts are remarkably consistent The execu­ more complex--initially irresolute, even haphaz­ tioners knew many of their victims. .And the ard, yet in the end, even more savage and gro­ survivors readily identify those who led lhe kill­ tesque. Again, militia attacks on Tutsi in their ings and many who participated. Following is a hom,es along the hillsides immediately follow­ summary reconstruction of their accounts. ing the downing of President Habyarimana 's Rukara commune12 is located in plane drove several thousand Tutsi, most of Kibungo prefecture, 13 roughly an hour :and fif­ whom were fanners or cattlemen, to a sprawl­ teen minutes by car due east and slightly north ing, isolated mission complex on a high plateau of the capital of Kigali. Most of the way, the In between sprees above one of the fingers of Lake Muhazi. Some road is paved. But at Lake Muhazi, a laterite of murder, the of the cattle traders brought their small herds road goes up a considerable hill, past a large killers paused to with them. The Thtsi from Rukara commune hospital complex at Gahini. From there, one first encamped, then hid, in a dozen different lane, dirt roads extend deeper into an agricul­ chat with their vic­ buildings within the church complex, where tural plateau. Rukara has a town square with tims, kill and roast they had previously worshiped and gone to detached houses stretching around a green the the cows the Tutsi school with their Hutu neighbors. On at least size of a soccer field. But like the rest of cattlemen had four occasions, the Hutu Burgrneister (the local R wanThe left the church compound to get more ammuni­ unenclosed mission stretches along a road, per­ tion or soldiers to assist them before returning, haps a half-mile in length, perpendicular to two singing and whistling, for another round of other roads. At the intersection of one of the mass murder. petpendicular roads there are quarters for the The foreign priests and nuns at Rukara nuns and a cemetery. At the other end, there is a parish were evacuated a third of the way dispensary, or medical facility. Along tne road through the April killings. As of August, they that runs in between, there are several school had not returned except for one visit by the buildings, a three-room maternity facility, a fonner head priest, and were not available at the church and adjoining office building, a nearby time of the USCR mission to provide non­ one-room building used as a recreation room, R wandan corroboration. The slaughter of and several other scattered buildings. Behind Rukara commune's Tutsi population ended the recreation hall, is a small rabbit hutch. when the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) cap­ According to Sister Veneranda tured the area on April 16. The bodies of the Murekatete, a thirty-year-old Rwandan who was

A Genocide in Rwanda Bodies outside ofRukllraparish. Photo: Cathy Watson

born at Rukara and who spent four years as a Others were more suspicious. Andrew nun at Rukara Parish, the mission complex was Kabarira, a Tutsi, moved back to Rukara in run by the Spanish-based Missionary Order of early March 1994 because political unrest in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary. The chief Kigali had resulted in the closing of the factory priests were Father Santos and Father Melchior. where he worked. But it wasn't secure in The head nuns were Sister Maria-Louisa Ariaga Rukara either. According to Kabarira, the youth and Sister Terese Canavese. The Spanish nuns wings of the MNRD and the CDR had come and priests were evacuated to Barcelona, but into Rukara by bus to hold political rallies Sister Veneranda believes that some of them where they would speak against the Thtsi and may now be in the refugee camps in Zaire or against the moderate Hutu political opposition Tanzania. such as the Liberal Party and the Social Demo­ cratic Party. After these rallies, the youth would rough up some Tutsi (including himself, The Trouble Starts Kabarira relates) and other Hutu whom they would see wearing the distinctive hats of the op­ Mr. Gerald Gasherebuka, a 54-year-old Tutsi position parties. school teacher who had been living in Rukara Sister Veneranda also expected trouble. for 27 years, says that the Hutu and Tutsi had Ever since the political parties began, she had lived together in that area "without problems." noticed Hutu beginning to keep a distance from Before December 1993, people lived amicably their fonner Tutsi friends. There was munnur­ and "shared beer." After that, though, he no­ ing about the killing of Tutsi. Sister Veneranda ticed Hutu youth withdrawing, drinking beer by now believes that the Hutu had been infonned themselves. Some of the youth wings of the that they would have to kill the Tutsi, but they Hutu political parties were learning how to didn't know when. Indeed, some Hutu would shoot, and separated themselves from others in openly say that "the government had delayed the community. And in March, a Hutu friend giving the orders to kill the Tutsi." But, accord­ named Rukul asked him, oddly he thought, if ing to her, "the Thtsi didn't believe" that there the Tutsi of Muzizi cell were planning to kill the could be such orders. Hutu of Kinunga cell. Sometime around April 6 or 7, some- A Genocide in Rwanda body gave the orders. The murderous sewch for Thtsi in Ruara commune began the day follow­ ing the attack on President Habyarimana 's plane. That day, a Hutu police officer in Rukara told nurse Immaculate Muakmurigo that the at­ tack on the plane never would have happened if they had finished off the Thtsi earlier. And as elsewhere in Rwanda, it began with militiamen of the two ruling Hutu extremist parties sc:~h­ ing through the neighborhoods, looking for Tutsi in their homes. On Wednesday nigh1t, An­ drew Kabarira saw smoke and fires on the hill­ sides in the direction of Murambi. Mid-day on Thursday, April 7, Kabarira saw two of his neighbors at Mitundo cell, Mr. Senturo Viateur and a Mr. Nkeramugaba, killed by a group of Father Santos was alx>Ut 30 militiamen.14 Kabarira told his wife and children to run to Rukara parish, two or overwhelmed three kilometers away, while he packed some the because some ofhis clothes. When he started to leave, he saw that Gerald Gashebebuka, a survivor of his neighborhood was sunounded by militia­ massacres at Rukara parish. most important Photo: USCRID. Hawk parishioners-­ men, so he hid in thick bushes near his home. From there, he could see the militiamen who catechists, choir killed his neighbors, and other bands of n1ilitia because her aunt was a midwife there. looting and taking the metal roofs off of houses members, lay Other swvivors described their flight to frorr.t which Tutsi had fled. His neighbors took officials--were the parish on Friday. Mr. Gerald Gashebebuka off his roof and doors, then knocked his house says the killings started at Gahini sector on killing their down. (After Kibirira hid for two days in these April 7. On Friday, April 8, many Thtsi from neighbors and bushes, a friendly Responsible--the title of the Rukara sector and Kawangire sector arrived at leadilng local public official for a cell--Mr. former fellow­ Rukara parish. He also saw people coming Gakwisi of Buyonza cell, saw him, gave him worshipers at his, from Rwinkuba cell, where he could see houses water, and urged him to go to Rukara parish at burning. On Friday, Sister Veneranda took a and their, church. 5:00 am. the next day, where he was able to re- parish car and traveled to her family's house in join his family.) Rukara. Her Thtsi neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. On Thursday, the day after the plane Manuel and their five children, had been killed. crash, Mr. John Mari-Vienney Butera, a 41- So Sister Veneranda took her own family back to yea.r--old cattle herdsman, saw people, including the parish, where she put them in the maternity wounded people, fleeing from the direction of ward. Nurse Immaculee Rukamurigo was al­ Mirnmbe. These people told him that Thtsi had ready at the parish dispensary. On Friday after­ been attacked all night long. Butera feared the noon, she was already treating the wounded pattern of killing would reach his house. He transfening the worst cases to the hospital wanted to flee to the forests, but was afraid that a~ Gahini. Her family joined her at Rukara parish, Interhamwe had the roads to the forests covered. as large numbers of others began to arrive as So he went to Rukara parish, bringing his cattle well. wilth him, as others did. Ms. Angelique Jolie Many of the Tutsi who came to Rukara U1nurungi, a 22-year-old, lived only a kilorneter parish were worshipers there. Others were Protes­ from the chun;h. On Thursday, April 7, around tants. And ~some, according to Sister Veneranda, 5:00 p.m., she saw a group of militia headed in were nonworshipers. Irrespective of what was the direction of her house, so she hid all night in happening in the cells and sectors from which the bushes. On Friday, she ran to the parish rec­ they had fled, by all accounts, they thought they reation room, where she had often gone before would be safe at the church. The Thtsi from to watch videos. Another 22-year-old, Ms. around Rukara commune camped out around Otantal Kayisinga went to the maternity ward

• Gentxide in Rwanda the sprawling mission station. They e:en thought that the responsible Rwandan officials for the commune would provide for their pro­ tection. Nonetheless, sensing themselves to be several thousand in number, some of the men vowed they would resist, should the I nterhamwe come there to attack them. The most immediate concern of some of those present was the well-being of the sev­ eral hundred or more cattle that some of the Thtsi had brought with them. The cows had not been watered or fed, and were becoming rest­ less and noisy. Reportedly, the Burgmeister, the highest commune level official, had already come to Rukara parish on Friday. They asked him about water for their cattle, but he belittled their concern. ''The question of the cows is no question at all," he told them. That was cer­ tain! y the case, as the course of events unfolded. A band of Interhamwe militia came to Andrew Kabarira, a survivor ofthe RJl]aua Rukara parish between 2:00p.m. and 3:00p.m. on Saturday afternoon. The Tutsi men, some parish massacres. Photo: USCRID. Hawk carrying the spears and clubs they had brought with them, came out of the buildings on the they were not convinced, and preferred to re­ road, stood their ground, and faced off the mili­ main at the parish. tia The militiamen retreated--or, rather, they Around 6:00 p.m., a larg~ group of left to get weapons, and came back in larger Interhamwe came and attacked them, again us­ number around 5:00p.m., this time with gre­ ing grenades, and again forcing people to retreat nades in hand. Using their grenades, the inside the church buildings. Those at the church Interhamwe attacked, killing eleven. They itself barricaded the doors and windows so that drove the Tutsi defenders into the church build­ the I nterhamwe could not get in. According to ings. According to Gasherebuka, those who Kabarira, a pick-up truck belonging to the com­ threw the grenades included Paul Mujyambere mune and driven by a Member of Parliament, and John Bosco Rukundo. Mr. Karibwende, delivered a truck load of The militia then drove away the cattle. stones. The Interhamwe managed to break According to virtually all the survivor accounts, some of the church windows and attempted the Interhamwe then feasted for two days on the throughout the night to throw stones and gre­ 15 Thtsi 's cows, and did not return to the parish nades through the broken windows. The attacks grounds on Sunday or Monday. During this continued until dawn. Those inside the church time, Father Santos and others present at the counted 35 dead, mostly from the grenades parish, including Andrew Kabarira, buried tossed in through the small openings in the bro­ the eleven in the cemetery at the mission ken windows. At daybreak, the Interhamwe complex. shouted out that, after getting some rest, they Nothing happened during the day on would come back to finish the attack. Monday, other than consultations between Fa­ Those inside the church buildings came ther Santos and the Burgmeister at the Bukara outside and tried to cook breakfast for the chil­ commune headquarters. In any event, those at dren. Early Tuesday morning, a distraught Fa­ the Parish related that Father Santos came and ther Santos went to see the Prefect (the equiva­ told them that the Burgmeister had said he lent of a governor) at Kibungo, not to return would send police to guard the people at the until months later. According to Sister parish. A policeman did come around 3:00p.m. Veneranda, Father Santos was overwhelmed be­ to deliver a message that people should go home cause some of his most important parishioners-­ and that nothing would happen to them. But catechists, choir members, lay officials--were A Genocide in Rwanda quick or easy either. Like the main church, the recreation building was a one-story, brick struc­ ture with a few small windows and a small metal door. The militia pried away a portion of the metal sheet roofing. They threw in gre­ nades, killing many inside. On the outside, they continued to try to break the door. In the middle of the night, they succeeded in breaking through the bricks on one side of tht: door frame, 17 and thus were able to open the door. According to Ms. Angelique Umurungi 's testimony, about 30 lnterhamwe entered the room and proceeded to slaughter nearly one thousand persons, while those outside shouted the names of those who should be killed--mostly the wealthier Tutsi. Because of the grenades exploding in­ AU ofthe survivors side the enclosed space, those hiding inside fromRukara were too terrified to react, according to Ms. Umurgungi. The killers moved about, hacking interviewed by John Mam··Vienney Butera, survivor ofthe and beating people to death. They then poured USCRwere Rukera parish massacre. gasoline about and started fires. Those who convinced that the Photo: USCR/D. Hawk then tried to run outside through the now open Burgmeister and door to escape the fires were killed outside. r:~~gi claims that of a thousand persons government soldiers killing their neighbors and follller fellow-wor­ 1 hiding m the recreation building, only ten sur­ shipers at his, and their, church. 6 were working hand vived: those who, like herself, had smeared The Interhamwe did return at around themselves with blood and crawled under in hand with, and in 11 :00 a.m. and, true to their word, renewc~ the corpses. fact were directing, attack, which continued sporadically until late One thousand is a very approximate tltat afternoon. The dead inside the church, the Interhamwe round number. If there were that many in the mostly killed by exploding grenades, were now militiamen. recreation room, it was extremely crowded. But so many that the swvivors stopped counting. much more important in telllls of evidence of And at that point, those who had barricaded them­ genocide, and far worse than the actual number, selves inside tlhe main church lost contact witth the w~tever it was, is the mutilation that Angelique other groups of people around the parish. testifies to have personally witnessed: her Late Tuesday afternoon, the Bwg1neister mother's head beaten so savagely it came off her returned to the parish, accompanied by govennnent neck, after which her killers-a Mr. Rukundo soldiers. He tried to convince those barricaded and a Mr. Minani--kicked the decapitated head inside the church building and recreation hall remarking that the woman had not even that the had no authority or control over the cried out. Interhamwe. He told people to leave and find After spending much of Monday night other places for their security. No ·one believed attacking the main church building, renewing hilm, and the hidden people called out to him to the fight there on Tuesday during the day, and provide for their protection The Burgm.eister attacking the recreation hall throughout much of left All of the swvivors from Rukara inter­ Tuesday night, on Wednesday the Interhamwe viewed by USCR were convinced that the moved to the other end of the mission complex Burgmeister and government soldiers were and attacked the small maternity ward, where worldng hand. in hand with, and in fact were di­ Ms. Olanta! Kayisinga, the 22-year-old student recting, the lnterhamwe militiamen. at Kayonza, had been hiding with her extended Early Thesday evening, the militia re­ family since April 7. After the arduous turned, but this time concentrated on the recre­ struggles at the church and the recreation hall, ation hall just down the road, where they com­ the 50 persons hiding in the little three-room mitW..d a terrible massacre. But that was not maternity ward where her aunt had been a mid-

a Genocide in Rwanda I nterhamwe warned her that they were again ap­ proaching the parish. Up to this point, when­ ever they came, people were wounded and killed. But then the militiamen would withdraw. And up to then, the Burgmeister, the local Member of Parliament, various police and sol­ diers would also- come to the parish and talk with the gathered Tutsi. Up to Wednesday, Aprill3, seven days after the killings in Rukara began, there were still numbers of Thtsi en- sconced at the parish mission station. And there was still something of a stand-off between the Interhamwe and the resisting Tutsi in the main church building. Nurse Mukamurigo thinks that only then was there renewed determination in Rukara that all Tutsi at the parish had to be killed off They asked the completely. Her reason for thinking this is the son ifthey should heated debate that took place among lnterhamwe members in front of her and her kill him or his son. He, like Angelique Umurungi, had been mother. The son Chantal Kayisinga, whose family was killed at hiding among the dead and wounded at the rec­ the maternity ward at Rukara Parish. replied that if that reation hall. During that massacre, he had been Photo: USCRID. Hawk found and recognized by fonner classmates who was their thinking, wife were easily massacred. From morning un­ were now lnterhamwe. They pulled him out of they should better til mid-day, the militia pulled many people out the rec room, but whether or not it was to save kill them both. of the crowded rooms and hacked them with him or to use him to find his mother was not yet machetes. Her father, Sostain Musominare, a clear. In any event, they took him to the dispen- retired agricultural teacher, was cut on the knees sary, which was at the other end of the mission and beaten to death. Of her immediate family station from the recreation hall, and had him call members, only Chantal and her younger sister out to his mother, who was then hiding in a dis- survived. 18 That Chantal survived is a miracle. pensary toilet. When she recognized his voice, When we interviewed her five months later, she she came out of hiding. He was covered in was still at the hospital at Gahini. They had blood, and at first sight she thought that her son hacked her ankles with a machete, so she was terribly wounded. But he assured her that wouldn't be able to walk. Five months later, the he was all right. deep, ugly cuts were still healing. Once she was There then followed the bizarre argu­ on the ground, they beat her with a heavy club, ment between I nterhamwe members, in front of and she lost consciousness. They slashed the the mother and son, about whether these two back of her neck, obviously intending to finish Tutsi had to be killed. Some said it had to be her off. Five months later, she still had an inch­ done. They asked the son if they should kill deep wound in her neck several inches wide. him or his mother. The son replied that if that Astonishingly, her spinal cord had not been sev­ was their thinking, they should better kill them ered. both. Other Interhamwe objected. "This The experience of Mrs. Immaculate woman has nursed us all our lives when we Mukamurigo, the 49-year-old nurse at the dis­ were sick," one explained. "What is the sin for pensary, was quite different. She thinks that which she must die?" he asked. Mrs. only on Wednesday had the decision been made Mukamurigo 's defenders prevailed. They took that all the Thtsi at the parish had to be killed. her and her son back to her home. But her At least up to then, that had not been clear to home had been destroyed. So they put her up her. She had remained at the dispensary, tend­ with a kindly Hutu, Mr. Mbonye-Muvunyi, who ing the wounded, hiding in the dispensary toilet agreed to shelter them.19 when the singing and whistling of the Nurse Mukmurigo 's theory about the

a Genocfde in Rwanda The soldiers AngelUJue Umurungi, survivor ofthe finally pried away recreation room massacres at Rukara parish. a section ofmetal Above, Rukara dispensary. roofing directly Photo: USCR!D. Hawk above the door, and began shooting down at recent decision that all the Tutsi at the parish ammunitio~ having blindly shot so many times had to be killed may be correct On Thursday, into the door and through the roof.20 When the those inside. April 14, when Interhamwe returned to renew soldiers left around 2:00p.m., the militia with­ the attack against the Tutsi in the main church drew from the church, as well. building, they brought with them a larger group On Friday, the lnterhamwe mob and the of tetter anned soldiers, reportedly from soldiers returned. But now, on Friday, April 15, Mirambi. The soldiers used their rifles to try to the sounds of serious warfare between the gov­ shoot through the metal door. A few bullets did ernment anny and the RPF were audible at penetrate the door, killing those who were hold­ Rukara parish. The Interhamwe now asked ing the door in place from inside. But still the those inside to open the door and talk. Perhaps door held. They then tried to cut through the surprisingly, after some discussion, the Tutsi door with an ax. Fmally, the metal gave out, agreed to open the door. And while they were and the ax slashed through the door. But those talking, other government troops came by to inside grabbed the ax head from inside the door collect the soldiers that were at the parish with and pulled the ax into the church. They shoved the locallnterhamwe mob so that the anny units a spear out the slash hole that had been created could flee together to escape before the advanc­ by the ax, nunming it through one of the sur­ ing troops of the RPF. At that point, deserted by prised attackers. The fighting grew even more the soldiers, the local militiamen threw their re­ desperate. maining stones. and spears at the church, and Soldiers climbed on top of the roof and then ran away, too.21 began shooting down through the roof into the The massacre of Tutsi at the Rukara area where the defenders were guarding the parish was over. When the RPF arrived the next door. Now, the soldiers threw many grenades day,22 they found bodies strewn about in front of through the windows, and the defenders died in the church buildings, and inside the various huge numbers. The soldiers finally pried away buildings. Many people were still hiding about a section of metal roofing directly above the Indeed, many of the SUIVivors were reluctant to door, and began shooting down at those inside. come out, at first believing that the soldiers were The people in the church thought that finally from the government, coming to finish them off. they were finished. But the soldiers ran out of According to the new, RPF-installed B~eister :for Rukara. Mr. Jean-Pierre Dusingizemungu, they ~~ Genocide in Rwanda did not have the capacity to prepare graves for The events at Rukara parish certainly the dead, so they brought soldiers from Gahini conform to what a leading genocide scholar has barracks, gathered the bodies into various piles, recently characterized as the genocidal para­ and cremated the decomposing corpses. digm: The survivors inteiViewed in August­ September 1994 speak of two to three thou­ • There is a sustained attack, or continuity of sand deaths at Rukara parish, with only about attacks, by the perpetrator to physically de­ two hundred suiVivors, most of whom were stroy group members. among those still left alive inside the main • The perpetrator is a collective or orga­ church.23 Foreign journalists do have addi­ nized actor or a commander of orga­ tional photographs of the bodies sprawled nized actors. (Genocide is distinguish­ around the church grounds in late April. It able from homicide empirically by the would be possible to inteiView another score fact that it is never an act of a single in­ of suiVivors whose accounts could fill in dividual.) more details of the events at Rukara parish. • The victims are selected because they are It should also be possible to obtain the confir­ members ofa group. mations of the foreign priests and nuns who • The victims are defenseless or are killed re­ were present during the beginning parts of gardless ofwhether they surrendered or re­ the massacres. One would like even more to sisted. interrogate Burgmeister Jean Mpambara, who • The destruction of group members is under­ minimally would have a lot of explaining to taken with intent to kill and the murder is do. But the outlines of what happened at sanctioned by the perpetrators.24 Rukara are far beyond doubt. While some killings were done during the night, many The course of events at Rukara parish were done in broad daylight by killers who exemplifies the findings of the UN Security knew their victims. There are many survi­ Council's Commission of Experts for Rwanda vors who easily and repeatedly can identify that "mass extenninations of Tutsis were canied far more individual killers than are ever out by Hutu elements in a concerted, planned, likely to be held responsible for their crimes. systematic, and methodical way.''25

~.;; At left, the Rukma parish door, with axe ~-:,, ,,_. gashes, bullet holes, and blood stllins. Above, ';.._ ~- ·.··· ,/ interior of church, where the roof was pried up ~-- to allow soldiers to shoot down at those inside. Photo: USCRID. Hawk

• Genocide in Rwanda DI. POSTSCRIPT: PROBLEMS OF from Rwanda28 Tragically, the fifteen UN PREVENTION, REMEDY, AND RE- Member States on the Security Council failed to DRESS redefine, rebuild, or redeploy a UN peacekeep­ ing presence to make a necessary "show of In 1948, the United Nations promulgated the force" that could have saved tens of thousands Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of lives by detening government-instigated of the Crime of Genocide. The Convention was mobs from carrying out many of the massa­ cres.29 fmmulated in response to the opinion of the judges at the post-World War IT Nuremberg tri­ Thus, it was not concerted international bunals that tenible crimes against humanity not action that deterred or suppressed massacres in committed in time of war were not previously Rwanda; rather, it was the military victory of the illegal under international law. The Genocide RPF in the renewed warfare after the breakdown Convention defines "acts of genocide" and of the cease fire and the mass killings by sup­ "crimes of genocide." The Convention requires porters of the old government that followed that signatory States incorporate laws on the President Habyarimanas fatal plane crash. The prevention and punishment of genocide into RPF victory led to one of the largest refugee The refugees their domestic criminal codes. 111e Convention flows ever recorded. Leaders of the defeated camped. in Zaire establishes a potential avenue for the prevention government took roughly two million Hutu and Tanzania are or suppression of genocide, and it posits the le­ Rwandans with them into regionally destabiliz­ ing exile in neighboring Tanzania and Zaire. controlled by the gal obligation that those responsible for com­ mitting genocide should be brought to justice Widely televised images of death and disease in same political lead­ and punished either in the state in which the refugee camps sparked the massive international ers and forces now crime occurred, or in a competent international humanitarian intervention that had been so penal tribunal. tragically absent from the victims and survivors in those camps who in Rwanda itself. But despite a continuing inter­ perpetrated the national presence, the refugees camped in Zqire genocide. Non-Prevention and Non-Suppression in and Tanzania are controlled by the same politi­ Rwanda · cal leaders and forces now in those camps who perpetrated the genocide, and who today use the Under Article VIll of the Genocide Convention, refugees, and the prospect of their repatriation the procedure for preventing or suppressing to Rwanda, as a bargaining chip in a quest for genocide is that ''Any Contracting Party may amnesty and a return to political power. These call upon the competent organs of the United factors set the international political context for Nations to take such action under the Charter of dealing with the aftennath of the Rwandan the United Nations as they consider appropriate:' genocide. Even before the mgent need in April 1994 for concerted international action to halt Breaking the Cycles of Impunity and the Rwandan genocide, the situation in Rwanda was already a matter of concern in the UN Se­ Deterring Revenge cwity Council, the UN's most "competent or­ gan." The Council had already dispatched peace­ For literally a generation, from the 1959-60 keeping foireS known as the United Nations revolution that brought the Hutu to power and Assistance Mission in Rwanda, I(UNAMIR) to led to the initial, partial expulsion of Tutsi to oversee the implementation of the 1992 interna­ Uganda, Burundi, and elsewhere, elements of tionally brokered "Arusha" pear..e accord be­ the Hutu majority population, with complete tween the Rwandan government and the rebel and total impunity, periodically massacred Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF)26 members of the Tutsi minority group who re­ However, rather than building on the mained in Rwanda No one was ever brought to established UNAMIR presence to "prevent or justice or punished for these killings. There suppress" the genocide, the chain of events in were no sanctions, or even the idea that there Rwanda that accompanied the outbreak of the should be sanctions, against such murders. This post-April 6 massacres also led to UNAMIR 'sZ7 key factor, cited by UN reports and many breakdown and its almost complete withdrawal Rwandans alike, enabled the Rwandan genocide.

• Genocide in Rwanda Thus, in April 1994, when a crisis ex­ such crimes is no deterrent whatsoever. ploded over the unwillingness of the governing It is hard to imagine a situation where Hutu political parties to implement the power­ acts of genocide will be so massive, clear, and sharing provisions of the Arusha peace accords, both legally and politically unambiguous as and when the decisions were made and imple­ they were in Rwanda The international com­ mented to physically eliminate the Tutsi minor­ munity failed to prevent or suppress the ity group, as such, the killings were done in Rwandan genocide while it was ~going on. If it broad daylight. The killers made no attempt to fails now to hold accountable and bring to jus- disguise or hide their identity. These were ethni­ tice those responsible for the genocide, the cally motivated murders, not punislnnents for mur­ grave ramifications will reach far beyond the der. These were murders sanctioned by state and situation in Rwanda political authorities, who indeed had gone to great Genocide is an international crime that lengths to organize, prepare, and motivate elements should, by its own definition, be punished under of the population to take these actions. international law. Beyond that, there are three The new Rwandan government argues, reasons why it important for Rwanda that inter- with compelling logic and passion, that there is national proceedings be initiated for the crimes one way to deter future ethnically motivated po­ committed there, in addition to any criminal " ... only legal action litical killings: end the generation-long pattern proceedings that might take place at the national against those re­ of such killings by holding accountable and level in a rebuilt Rwandan judicial system. sponsible for these bringing to justice those responsible for criminal First, ending the cycles of impunity--without acts under international and Rwandan domestic which a genuine process of national reconcilia­ murders can deter law. The Rwandan government also argues that tion will be unlikely--requires that the ethnic aggrieved Rwandan only legal action against those responsible for majority in Rwanda not perceive the punish­ citizens, including these murders can deter aggrieved Rwandan ment of those responsible for the former citizens, including members of the new government's mass murder of ethnic minorities members ofthe new Rwandan armed forces, from taking the law into as "victor's justice" or state-sponsored revenge. Rwandan armed their 0\\>11 hands in the form of revenge killings. 30 "World-sanctioned," not "Rwandan-victors" jus­ forces,from taking UN officials working to create an inter­ tice will result if an international community tri­ the law into their national tribunal also emphasize the centrality bunal determines that genocide and other ter­ of establishing the principle of accountability rible crimes were committed and prosecutes own hands••. " for grave violations of international humanitar­ those most responsible. By the same token, the ian law, including genocide, as a deterrent to fu­ new government and the Tutsi minority at the ture violations. Acts of genocide, war crimes, grass roots level need to know that in the eyes of and crimes against humanity have all been com­ the world and in the conscience of mankind, ter- mitted since the founding of the UN and the rible crimes were committed in Rwanda and signing of the Genocide Convention. Despite that those who committed them will be indicted that fact, no international criminal proceedings and prosecuted by an international tribunal. have occurred since the Nuremberg and Tokyo Second, the fonner Rwandan govern­ trials following World War II. The Convention ment officials most responsible for the geno­ on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime cidal acts and crimes against humanity commit­ of Genocide has never been used or imple­ ted in Rwanda have fled the country and remain mented to bring to justice those responsible for outside the tenitocy and jurisdiction of the these crimes. Up to the present in real life, the Rwanda state, beyond the reach of Rwandan Convention remains morib.md. Thus, the world law. The countries in which those most respon­ has no measure of the extent to which international sible now reside will more likely respond to, prosecutions would acUlally deter future political and cooperate with, an international tribunal authorities from resolving their internal political convened under the jurisdiction of the UN Secu­ difficulties through the attempted destruction of un­ rity Council, than to Rwandan national courts. wanted, despised or problematic ethnic, racial, reli­ Thus, it is more likely that an international tribu­ gious or national groups. On the other hand, the nal can successfully indict and prosecute those converse is perfectly obvious: the suspension or who planned, organized, and ordered the massa­ non-application of legal principles and procedures cres. Operating in isolation, Rwandan law will to hold accountable those who have committed only reach, and a reconstituted Rwandan justice

A Genocide in Rwanda system will only prosecute, those who did not "binding on the Rwandan State" and other grave flee, and those who are at the very bottom of the violations of international humanitarian law. fonner government's murderous chain of com­ The report recommended the establishment of a mand: the pathetic small fry--some confessing reinforced team of human rights observers in guilt, ~orne protesting innocence--now under de­ Rwanda, and that: tention in Rwandan jails. Third, it is probably easier and faster to Pending the establishment of a permanenJ conver te an international tribunal than to rebuild international criminal cow-t, the United the R' vandan judicial system under prevailing Nations sJwuld establish an ad hoc inter­ conditions in Rwanda national tribwzal to hear the evidence and judge the guilty parties or, alternatively, should extend the jurisdiction of the inJer­ Ajchieving Accountability national tribwzal on war crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia. 33 Two major impediments hinder efforts to bring to justice those responsible for the Rwandan Only the UN Security Council itself, Operating in genoci :le. First, the international and national acting under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, can isolation, courts necessary to initiate legal proceedings do establish an international tribunal whose deter­ not ye1: exist and have to be created or re-cre­ minations are binding on all UN Member States. Rwandan law will ated. Second, is the sheer nmnber of partici­ Immediately after the Spxial ~rteur's Re­ only reach ... those pants in the killings-as noted above, far more ports were published, on July 1, 1994, the Secu­ who did not flee, than ca G possibly be brought fully to justice under rity Council passed Resolution 935 urging the any cor teeivable circumstances. Thus, if, or when, UN Secretary-General to appoint an impartial and those who are an inte1 national criminal tritxmal is convened and Commission of Experts on Rwanda The action at the very bottom if, or when, the Rwandan judicial system is recon­ followed a precedent established when the UN ofthe former stituted and reb.rilt, coordinated judgments must be created an ad hoc tribunal for the former Yugo­ govemmenfs made 2 bout priorities for prosecution at both the slavia. The Commission was charged with ex­ nationa: l and international levels. amining the facts and legalities of the Rwandan murderous chain situation, and to provide the Secretary Genernl. ofcommand. with its conclusions regarding the evidence and Steps Toward Convening an International perpetration of grave violations of international hu­ Tribunal manitarian law, including genocide. The Secretary-General's Report to the In contrast to the UN Security Council's floun­ Security Council of July 26,34 which appointed dering ;nability to prevent, deter, or suppress the the Expert Commissioners (Mr. Atsu-Koffi Rwand;m genocide while the massacres were Amega, a former President of the Supreme taking :place, the UN Security Council actions Court of Togo; Mrs. Habi Dieng, a former At­ n1ost essential for creating an international tribu­ torney General of Guinea; and Mr. Salifu nal for grave violations of intemaljonal humani­ Fomba, a law professor in Mali who is a mem­ tarian l:tw in Rwanda are moving forward. But ber of the UN International Law Commission) they at1 ~ enveloped by other critical and long­ further mandated the Commission of Experts to overdu~: UN human rights monitoring efforts in review and update infonnation available from Rwand;t that remain mired in intra-UN bureau­ all sources, carry out its own investigations in cratic confusion and delay. Rwanda, draw its own conclusions on the evi­ 31 On June 28, a 19-page report by a UN dence of violations of international hwnanitarian Cmnmi ssion on Human Rights-appointed "Spe­ law including genocide, and determine whether 32 cial Rapporteur," Mr. R. Degni-Segui, exam­ and to what extent individuals may be held re­ ined the nature of the human rights violations in sponsible for having committed such violations. Rwand(t with specific reference to the provi­ The Commission of Experts convened sions of the Genocide Convention. Degni-Segui in Geneva and began its work in mid-August concluded that acts of genocide had been com­ Its final report is to be submitted by November mitted in Rwanda, along with additional viola­ 30. The Commission of Experts urgently issued tions of human rights conventions that are a preliminary report on September 29, to facili-

a Genocide in Rwanda tate earlier Security Council consideration of es­ The Report considers the relative merits tablishing a oibunal for Rwanda The Commis­ of "municipal" prosecutions, i.e. Rwandan sioners reviewed a wide variety of reporting, courts for international crimes, versus interna­ from the Special Rapporteur, UN Member tional prosecutions for international crimes. It States, UN agencies, other intergovernmental finds that international prosecutions are prefer­ bodies, NGOs, 35 and from both sides in the able, citing independence, objectivity, and im­ armed conflict. The Commissioners visited partiality and the perception (both in Rwanda Rwanda, Zaire, and Tanzania from late August and abroad) that convictions will have been to mid-September, prior to the September 29 fairly reached. The Commissioners also publication of its Preliminary Report. stressed that the gravity of the Rwandan viola­ The 35-page Preliminary Report dis­ tions extend beyond Rwanda, and that as a mat­ cussed the "concerted, planned, systematic and ter of peace and security affecting the interna­ methodical nature of the criminal acts," commit­ tional community as a whole, ted by the Rwandan Government soldiers and Hutu militia against the Tutsi of Rwanda 36 the developmen! of international criminal (The Commission of Experts Preliminary Re­ law to better deter such crimes from being port has a one sentence notation of the massacre perpetrated in the future not only in at Rukara, described in some detail above in this Rwanda, but anywhere, would be best fos­ 37 USCR investigation. ) The Report also states tered by international prosecution rather 41 that grounds exist for concluding that Tutsi ele­ than by domestic courts. ments committed acts against Hutu individuals that, while not amounting to genocide, included The Commission of Experts strongly assassinations, summary executions, breaches of recommends to the Security Council that it international humanitarian law, and crimes against humanity. 38 The Commission noted that take all necessary and effective action to it had just received reports of Rwanda Patriotic ensure that the individuals responsible for the serious violations of human rights in Front violations of the right to life committed Rwanda during the armed conflict trig­ during August and September 1994, and that the gered on 6 April 1994 are brought to jus­ Secretary General had asked the Commission to tice before an independent and impartial 39 further investigate these reports. international criminal tribuna/." 42 The Preliminary Report devoted eleven pages to an analysis of individual responsibility The Commission of Experts offers in international law as applied to the situation in three reasons for expanding the competence and Rwanda: particularly violations of Common jurisdiction of the recently created International Article 3 of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to handle the 1977 additional Protocol II to the Geneva prosecution of Rwandan cases, rather than to Conventions relating to violations against the ci­ create a separate ad hoc tribunal for Rwanda:43 vilian JX>pulation in time of armed conflict; crimes (1) administrative efficiency, (2) the deterrent against humanity; and geoocide. Regarding geno­ value of the development of international crimi­ cide, the Preliminary Report noted that, nal justice, and (3) the consistency of intetpreta­ tion and application of international law. On The Commission of Expens has deter­ this matter, the Commission of Experts for mined tluzt there are ample grounds to con­ Rwanda concurs with concerns raised by the clude that every provision laid out in Ar­ United States. From the time of the UN's ticle III of the Genocide Convention [genocide crimes include the killings them­ founding up to just a year ago when the selves; conspiracy to commit genocide; in­ Yugoslav Tribunal was created, the UN had not citement to commit genocide, the attempt been able to bring into being an international to commit genocide, and complicity in criminal tribunal as part of the international or­ genocide] have been violated in Rwanda in der. Thus, no experience or precedents exists the period 6 April to 15 1 uly in respect of a for deteiiDining how to conduct such trials or specific ethnic group as such.40 how to intetpret or apply various international laws. If two separate, independent tribunals

A Genocide in Rwanda were 1:0 come into operation siinultaneously, a Meanwhile, the Commission of Experts considerable risk exists 1that different is continuing to investigate the Rwandan viola­ prosec utorial standards and procedures and dif­ tions, in preparation of its final report of No­ fering interpretation and applications of interna­ vember 30. That report will be a much more tional law would result from two unrelated sets thorough factual and legal analysis than was of pro:;ecutors and judges. possible for the September 29 Preliminary Re­ There are other practical matters. The port At least a dozen persons seconded to the Comrnission of Experts for Yugoslavia took Commission of Experts from UN Member States nearly two years to figure out the structure and are now conducting investigations inside Rwanda. rules of procedure that detennine how such a In early September, as a pennanent criminal court would work. Appointing judges member of the Security Council, the United and finding a chief Prosecutor was another States began circulating draft amendments to lengthy UN process. But these elements are the Statutes of the Tribunal for the fonner Yugo­ now irt place. The Dutch govennment has pro­ slavia (which the Security Council had ap­ vided court rooms in the Hague and built a proved in Resolutions 808 and 827). It also cir­ prison for the Yugoslav tribunal. A separate tri­ culated a draft resolution on Rwanda that would bunal ;br Rwanda would duplicate these efforts, enable the international prosecution of persons at coru;iderable time and expense.44 Even while responsible for serious violations of interna­ 1the Commission of Experts for Rwanda recom­ tional humanitarian law committed in the terri­ mends that the Yugoslav Tribunal, about to get tory of Rwanda, or by Rwandans in the territory underway in Holland, be expanded to handle of neighboring States, since April 1, 1994. That R wanclan cases as well, the Commission notes resolution would allow the Secretary General to that, e~ren if the legal framework, structure, and arrange urgently for a prosecutorial staff for the persont1el of the Yugoslav tribunal are used for Rwandan cases and to prepare for the election R wanC.a, the competence and jurisdiction of the of additional judges. The draft resolution urges triburuJl are a different issue from the site where Member States and intergovernmental and non­ trials c:>uld be held. While this would be a mat­ governmental organizations to contribute funds, ter for the Court itself to decide, if and when the equipment, and services the International Triru­ Securi1y Council creates such a tribunal, the nal. And the draft resolution \VOuld "decide;' under Commission of Experts explicitly notes that the UN's Olapter 7 powers, that States

no inconsistency would in any way exist shall cooperate fully with the International between having cases brought under the Tribunal ... and take any measure necessary jurisdiction of an international criminal under their domestic law to implement the tril. 'una/ and between having the trials con­ provisions of the present resolution and the ducted by this tribunal in the territory of Statute. Rwanda.... " 45 This important provision fairly man­ A very strong case can be made that dates the States to which those individuals most some trials should be conducted and verdicts responsible for the Rwandan genocide have fled announced in Rwanda However, reportedly, it to cooperate with the Tribunal in arresting and may be the case that elements of the new extraditing indicted suspects. Rwandan government prefer that a completely If the Security Council does choose to separat~ tribunal be brought into being and lo­ expand the tribunal previously created for cated entirely within Rwanda46 (Elements of Yugoslavia, whose structure and rules of proce­ the Rwandan government may also have reser­ dure already exists, it is possible to envision vations about the projected time frame for the ju­ how the process would work for Rwanda The risdicticn of an international t:ribma. Rwanda Yugoslav Tribunal has two trial chambers of continues to sit on the Security Council of the three judges each, an appeals chamber with five UN, wllere the decisions on these matters will judges, a court staff called the "registry," and a be maC.e (as the fonner government did when prosecutorial staff headed by a Chief Prosecutor the UN was stymied in its respon.r)(! to the geno­ and Deputy Prosecutor that would operate fairly cide lfu.t was occurring.) independently of the judges. The U.S. proposal a Genocide in Rwanda would add an additional two trial chambers with presendy detained iil Rwandan prisons. another three judges each. The UN General As­ More importan~ the process could be­ sembly elects the judges based on the candi­ gin for indicting those former higher-echelon dates suggested by the Security Council. The Rwandan officials who led the massacres, and Prosecutorial staff, the Court Registry, and the the highest level political leaders who planned Tribunal budge~7 would be enlarged to handle and ordered the killings but who fled Rwanda, the tribunal's caseload. Because the Rwandan and who now reside outside Rwanda's territory cases derive from Francophone Africa, geo­ and jurisdiction. If the Judges of the Interna­ graphic balance, regional representation, and ap­ tional Tribunal concur with the September 29 propriate language and legal qualifications Repo:rt4 9 of the Commission of Experts for would be factors in adding judges and Rwanda that not only were acts of genocide prosecutorial staff. The United States has pro­ committed in Rwanda, but also that provisions posed slight alterations in the Tribunal's legal prohibiting conspiracy to commit genocide, mandate to ensure that the Courts' handling of public incitement to commit genocide, the at­ war crirnes and crimes against humanity take tempt to commit genocide, and complicity in into account the Rwandan situation. genocide were all violated as well in Rwanda If the mandate of the former Yugoslavia between April 6 and July 15 in respect to a spe­ tribunal is expanded, international legal pro­ cific ethnic group, then the international tribunal ceedings against the perpetrators of the Rwanda would be able to indict for "conspiracy" to genocide could begin fairly quickly.48 Consulta­ commit genocide the political leaders who tions could begin right away between the inter­ planned the massacres and gave the orders to national Prosecutor's office and Rwandan au­ carry out the massacres. The directors and thorities regarding the priority targets for .broadcasters of Radio Mille Collenes, which criminal indictments and the ca.'Cs of prisoners broadcast admonitions to the public to fill the

The massacre at Gahini. Photo: Father Oswald Rudakemwa

A Genocide in Rwanda graves, should be indictable. for "incitement" to states, which could be important if Zaire, for ex­ commit genocide. And the leaders of the ample, would not cooperate in arresting poten­ I nterkvnwe mobs that wielded the machetes tially indicted persons residing in the huge and clubs should be indictable for the "attempt" Rwandan refugee camps there. to carr. mit genocide. Thus, whHe the Tribunal will not con­ The President of the Yugoslav Tribunal duct trials in absentia, international has already explained how the itndictment pro­ criminalization can occur,in effect, even if the cess '"·auld work. 50 First, the Chief Prosecutor indicted persons cannot be tried. According to prepar~~s an indicnnent. Second, a judge from the President of the Tribunal: one of the Trial Chambers confirms the indict­ ... the steps we have included, and which we ment 'nd issues an arrest warrant. (The details are prepared to implement, will go a long of every indicnnent will be made public). way towards bringing those persons to Third, the arrest warrant will•be sent to the State justice or effectively imprisoning them in wh[ch the accused was last known to be within the borders of a State which will be present. (That State is required to notify the Tri­ regarded as a pariah among nations.51 bunal if it is unable to execute the warrant.) Fourth, if the state fails to execute the warrant Obviously, many steps are necessary to reach promptly, the Tribunal will attempt to inform this endpoint the accused of the indicnnent by putting notices * * * in appropriate newspapers. Fifth, if at that point, the accused person still does not come In reviewing the problems and prospects into th~ custody of the Tribunal, the indicnnent for the war crimes Tribunal for the former Yugosla­ and aTI of its supporting evidence will be sub­ via, Helsinki Watch concluded, mitted in full to one of the three judge Trial Chambers. If the Judges determine that a prima The international corrununity has lacked facie case exists, an international arrest warrant the will to bring about a cessation of war will be issued to all member states. crimes and crimes against humanity in The Tribunal is to report to the Security Croatia and Bosnia; the least it can do is Council if the noncooperation of a Member to bring the criminals to justice.52 State binders an arrest warrant. The Security Council has already prepared the groundwork The same can certainly be said about Rwanda, for po: ;sible sanctions against noncooperating as well.

Footnotes topography, Rwanda is known as the "land of a thousand ------hills." The Rwandan c:apital of Kigali is rather like an tmbuilt-up San Francisco, an tmdulating cluster of steep 1 See Etile From Rwanda: Background to an Invasion, hills. USCR Il:sue Paper, February 1991. See also, U.S. Com­ mittee fc1r Refugees, Human Rights in Uganda: the Rea­ sons for Refugees, August 1985; Human Rights in s Musonera is short (roughly 5' 5") and has a rounded Uganda: A Season of Hope for its Refugees and Dis­ nose. In legend and mythology, and to a lesser extent in placed Persons, 1986. Refugees Uganda and Rwanda: in reality, the archetypical Tutsi is tall and slender, with an The Ban:1arwandan Tragedy, 1983. aquiline or long nose, while supposedly Hutu are short, stocky, and with a flat or more rmmded nose. In reality, 2 Testimony of Jeff Drumtra, Africa Policy Analyst for ethnic designation in Rwanda is as much a ftmction of the U.S. Committee for Refugees, on the "U.S. Response "class" as it is "tribe." Many Rwandans cannot be recog­ to the Crisis in Rwanda/Central Africa," before the Senate nized as either Huru or Tutsi, which is why the govern­ Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs, July ment retained the use of '"tribal specific" identity cards. 26, 1994.pp. 12-13. 6 Formally, lmpusamugambii "those who have the same 3 UN Dec. E/CN.4!1995n, p. 6. goal," or /nJerhaJnwe, "those who act together," were the ''youth wing" or "militia"' of President Habyarimana' s po­ 4 A "ceU" (cellule in French) is thebasic political admin­ litical party, the National Revolutionary Movement for istrative anit in Rwanda, roughly equivalent to an Ameri­ Democracy and Development (MRND). They were gen­ can urban precinct or, in rural areas, a village. A "cell" is erally tmeducated, lDlemployed or semi-employed yolDlg also called a "hill" because it, literally, is a hill. Due to its men, armed by the extremist parties, around a core of ~~ Genocide in Rwanda poorly paid local thugs. The normal use of the word "mi­ The more salient fact is that, after killing eleven and driv­ litia" connotes far too much organization. discipline, or ing off the cattle, the mob did not rerum for two days to training for these young men. lnterhamwe has also ac­ continue the killings. quired generic usage as a ''Tutsi-attacking mob." Throughout this report, the terms "lnterhamwe," "mili­ 16 According to Sister V eneranda, important parishioners tia," and "mob" refer to this MRND "youth wing." The who led the /nterhamwe attacks at the church included: /nterhamwe had two bosses, the Presidential Guard Jean Tpaumbara, Jean Bosco Rukundo, Mr. Ruribunmdi, (when they were around) or local political leaders. It is Mr. Ngbonziza, Paul Thujyambere, Francois Nyiraluku. clear from the descriptions of the survivors that the Jean Claud Nkuruyija, Mr. Gasaugura, Jean Gihana, and /nterhamwe functioned like mobs. Ten armed UN sol­ M. Ruabikinza. diers posted as guards at either of these sites could surely have stopped the killing entirely. These vagabond teen­ 17 A gaping hold on the side of the metal door frame was agers with machetes and clubs would not have challenged plainly visible when, after hearing Ms. Umurungi' s testi­ uniformed men with blue hats and guns. mony, the USCR mission made its second visit to Rukara Parish. 7 Survivors interviewed in both of the case studies pre­ sented in this report gave several reasons for staying in­ 18 Other immediate family members killed at the mater­ side the parish grounds and buildings, even when they nity ward include Berthe Mukaysinga, Odette knew they would be attacked. First, the streets and roads Musantiwabo, Jean Marie Vjamney Hodari, Liliose outside were even more dangerous. With or without Mwentekati, Uwimana, Umutone, Bizimana, Bamuyesi, Tutsi ID cards, they would have surely been killed out­ andGatesi. side the churches. They cited, as well, their hope for safety in numbers, and thought that their best hope lay in !9 Mr. Mbonye-Muvunyi, nonetheless, fled to Tanzania. remaining inside the parish property, on holy ground and along with most of the area Hutu after the RPF took over with foreign priests to protect them. in Rukara. While he had not killed, his sons had been /nterhamwe, and he was afraid that the RPF would kill 8 See footnote 4. him too, according to Nurse Mukamurigo.

9 The United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda 20 After hearing Andrew Kabarira's testimony, the USCR (UNAMIR), which had been earlier sent to Rwanda by mission returned to the church and witnessed the bullet the UN Security Council to observe the implementation holes in the roof, the ripped off sheet roofing, and the of the Arusha peace accord between the Rwandan gov­ gash in the metal door. ernment and the rebel force known as the Rwandan Patri­ otic Front (RPF). Major Ryszard subsequently returned 21 Some of them may not have gotten too far. Just after to Poland. This account is from the testimony of Major the RPF takeover at Rukara. when foreign jomnalists (in­ Maczka, who remains on duty with UNAMIR. cluding a Kampala-based, free-lance journalist who has written a number of reports for USCR) came to the par­ ish, among the dead bodies strewn about the parish was a 10 The only discrepancy between Musonera's account noticeable pile of short young men whose anns had been and those of the two foreign observers cited here is in the tied behind their backs. None of the Tutsi survivors at numbers of participants in these events, both with respect Rukara interviewed by USCR in August-September de­ to victims and perpetrators. scribed killings in that fashion.

11 The original negatives were sent back to Poland for 22 When the killings in Rukara began, nine days earlier, processing. The only pictures mailed to Kigali were according to the new RPF leaders for Rukara comnume, the given to UN human rights officials who took them to RPF troops were more than one hundred kilometers away. Geneva for duplication. 23 Without identifying its source of information, the Sep­ 12 "Commune" is the Rwandan administrative equivalent tember 29 Preliminary Report of the UN Commission of of a "county" in the United States. Experts cites the massacre of 500 Tutsi at the Catholic mission at Rukara (para. 63, p. 15). All of the Rukara survivors USCR interviewed (independy of each other) 13 'Prefecture" is the Rwandan administrative equivalent mentioned either two or three thousand deaths. of a "state" in the United States. 24 Helen Fein, "Discriminating Genocide from War 14 According to Kabarira, this group of militiamen was Crimes," Denver Journal of International Law and led by Francois Nyirahuku, a teacher and local president Policy, Vol. 22, No.1, Fall1993. of the extremist CDR party; Mr. Rukundo, headmaster of a local primary school; Paul Mujambere, a carpenter; Mr. ~ Preliminary Report of the Independent Commission of Magoro, the Responsible of Kinunga cell; Mr. Nkurayiga, Experts Established in Accordance with Security Council an accountant at the Rukara Commune office; and a peas­ Resolution 935, September29, 1994, p. 10. ant farmer known as Munyagihe. 26 See U.S. Committee for Refugees Issue Paper, "Exile 15 USCR did not ask how the survivors actually knew from Rwanda: Background to an Invasion," February that the militiamen ate steak and roast beef for two days. 1991. A Genocide in Rwanda 27 Caused in large part by the withdrawal of the Belgian 33 Paragraph 75, page 19. contingent following the deaths of ten Belgian peace­ keepers who were with Prime Minister Agathe 34 UN Doc. S/1994!879 Uwilingiyimana, who had been deliberately and person­ ally targeted for immediate execution--a situation that 3S Including the U.S. Commiuee for Refugees. differed substantially from the mass killings of etlmic mi­ nority group by the poorly armed government-organized 36 Item B, pages 10-17. mobs that followed for the next several weeks. n Paragraph 63, page 15. 28 Ironically, one of the difficulties was that, at the same time, the Rwandan government, which was committing 38 Paragraph 82, page 17. the genocide, was itself one of the revolving, nonperma­ nent members of the Security Council, and continued to 39 Paragraph 83, pages 17-18. participate in UN deliberations over what to do about Rwanda Another difficulty was the initial misperceptions in -«~ Paragraph 115, page 28. Also Paragraphs 137-139, some UN policy circles that what was happening was com­ page34. munal violence resulting from an explosion of ancient tribal hatreds, rather than a governmentally planned and 41 Paragraph 129, page 32. directed mass murder designed to retain political power. Another complicating factor, given present U.S. predomi­ 42 Paragraph 141, page 34. nance in the Security Council, was the coincidental ar­ rival at the UN of the Presidential Decision 25, a well­ 43 Pages 31-32. considered U.S. (Somalia experience-driven) policy memoranda designed to bring about better, more careful, 44 It is also very much on the minds of UN legal officials long-term planning for more effective UN peacekeeping that the expansion of the competence of the Yugoslavia operations, but which arrived at the very moment when tribt.m.al is a large step toward the Security Council creat­ what was even more efficacious was decisive action in ing a possible ongoing international tribunal with vastly the face of messy, fast-moving events in Rwanda. wider jurisdiction than would likely be accomplished through the process of creating a pennanent international 29 Unlike other peacekeeping operations elsewhere, in tribunal through the treaty ratification by UN Member Rwanda, the UN peacekeeping troops were not them­ States, a process that would allow many States to severely selves targeted. The few instances where a handful of the restrict and delimit the jurisdiction of any such tribunal. remaining UNAMIR forces did maintain a presence at sites where large numbers of Tutsi had· sought refuge, the 45 Paragraph 126, page 31. militia backed off and did not attack. 46 SeeNew York Times, October 7, Page 19. 30 The new government is arresting some Tutsi who have engaged in revenge killings by private citizens. One such 47 Importantly, nongovernmental organizations are ex­ person was interviewed in Kibungo by the USCR mis­ plicitly enabled to submit evidence to the Prosecutors. sion. There are also now additional allegations of re­ NGOs can be called upon to testify. NGOs can also sub­ venge killings by RPF forces. (The USCR mission saw mit amicus curiae briefs to the Court at the Trial and ap­ imprisoned RPF soldiers, but did not learn what they are peal stages. charged with.) 48 The International Tribtmal would be funded, upon ap­ 31 UN Doc. #E/CN. 4/1995n. Excerpts from this report proval of the budget by the General Assembly, as an inte­ were published as a News Bulletin by USCR on July 12, gral part of the UN system. 1994. 49 Op.Cit., paragraphs 114 and 115, p. 28. 32 The Commission on Human Rights is a Geneva-based UN political body, comprised of 53 UN Member States, so "Statement by the President Made at a Briefing to which reports to the Economic and Social Council, a sub­ Members of Diplomatic Missions," International Tribunal sidiary body of the UN General Assembly. The staff Sec­ for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious retariat of the Commission, the UN Human Rights Cen­ Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed ter, and its agents (generally referred to as "Special in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, Febru­ Rapporteurs" or "Special Representatives'') can only con­ ary 11, 1994, The Hague, Netherlands, UN Doc. IT/29, p. 8. duct investigations of, or prepare reports about, human rights violations when explicitly enabled so to do by a Sl Ibid., p. 9. resolution of the Commission, passed by a majority of its members voting under instructions of their respective 52 Jeri Laber and Ivana Nizich, 'The War Crimes Tribu­ governments. Normally, the Commission meets for only nal for the Former Yugoslavia: Problems and Prospects," six weeks a year in February-March. To obtain the nec­ Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, Vol. 18, No. 2, Sum­ essary mandate for the UN investigation a special session mer/Fall1994, p. 16. of the Human Rights Commission, its third ever, was convened on May 25.

A Genocide in Rwanda