By Tom Ndahiro
One evening in November 2008, I was listening to Kinyarwanda news over the BBC, when I heard the voice of Jean Marie Vianney Ndagijimana. He was being interviewed about a petition he and his friends had launched for signature. Ndagijimana, the first signatory of the petition, was speaking as the Chairman of “The International Federation of Rwandan associations” (La Fédération Internationale des Associations Rwandaises).
This petition[1] arose as a result of the reaction of the French Minister of foreign affairs, Bernard Kouchner, to the arrest of Rwanda’s Director of Protocol, Rose Kabuye, based on an indictment and a warrant issued by Judge Jean Louis Burguière. Kouchner had questioned the credibility of the indictment and arrest warrants issued by Burguière. Kouchner had advised, with good reason, against drawing a hasty conclusion about the attack that cost the life of President Habyarimana, his Burundian colleague, and the team accompanying them.
I took interest in the plea because I had met Ndagijimana in Paris where he appeared in court as a defence witness for Pierre Pean. In the court, despite claiming his mother was Tutsi, Ndagijimana gave reason to Pean who was in the dock to answer charges of labeling all the Tutsi as liars. I also felt it was worth knowing and tracking the signatories of the petition, because Pean, and many others whom I saw in the Paris court defending Pean, were first among the signatories of the petition.
The signatories, many of whom, especially the ones I know, support the double-genocide thesis advocated by genocide ‘friends’, were against Kouchner’s reaction. Kouchner, to be sure, is not a favourite figure of theirs. This was another reminder of how the network of friends operates, and a confirmation of the saying that birds of a same feather flock together. Ndagijimana was among the first advisors of the RDR since its creation in 1995, and is found in most forums of Rwandan genocide deniers.
For example, Ndagijimana, was among the people who attended the gathering of what was called an Intra-Rwandan Dialogue in Barcelona (Spain) from June 4 to 7, 2006, organized by the Spanish lawyer Jordi Palous (who also was in Paris in September 2008 to defend Pean), under his association called “International Network for Truth and Reconciliation in Rwanda” with the support of the S’Olivar Foundation, headed by Juan Carrero.[2]
It should be recalled that Carrero is also the Director of the “International Network for Truth and Reconciliation in Rwanda” just as he is the president of the “International Forum for Truth and Justice of the Africa of the Great Lakes Region.” Others who attended the meeting and commonly appear at such gatherings are Dr. Augustin Dukuze of RUD-Urunana, Christophe Hakizabera of FDLR, and Ingabire Victoire Umuhoza of the RDR, Joseph Matata, Eugène Ndahayo, Charles Ndereyehe, Paul Rusesabagina, and Jean B. Turikubwigenge.[3]
Organisations and associations affiliated with the RDR family made up the majority in this “Dialogue”: RUD-Urunana; OPJDR; CLIIR; FEDAR (Fédération Européenne des Associations Rwandaises) and a member of FEIDAR; Fondation Pont Nord-Sud; AVICA (Assistance aux Victimes du Conflit des Grands Lacs); Collectif AJIIR (Action pour une Justice Internationale Impartiale pour le Rwanda) and Hôtel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation (HRRD). There were also representatives from associations in the Netherlands which claim to fight for human rights, for the rule of law, and justice and democracy in Africa, especially in the Region of the Great Lakes: Association Contact, Dialogue et Actions Caritatives (CODAC), URAHO, PROJUSTITIA-Rwanda and HARAMBE. Ingabire Victoire Umuhoza is a founding member of these four associations.[4]
There was another Intra-Rwandan Dialogue from April 30 to May 3, 2009 again in Palma Mallorca, Spain, with many of the above people attending. This time there were also non-Rwandan friends—attending either as observers or facilitators. Among the observers were the usual names: Azparren José Eugenio, Joan Casòliva, Christiaan De Beule and his wife Martine Syoen, Nicolaas Dekker, Bernat Vicens, and Mª Teresa Florensa.[5] The facilitators were Juan Carrero, Jordi Palou and Irma Rognoni. [6]
As will be detailed below, out of 1079 signatories of this petition, some are either Rwandans who are accused of committing the genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994 or their relatives; former politicians obsessed with genocidal ideology and ethnic bigotry[7]; or foreign genocide deniers, or those who, in one way or another, have been implicated in the genocide committed against the Tutsis in Rwanda.
Many are also people who strive to change international opinion with their claim that the genocide committed against the Tutsis was a direct consequence of the attack on the plane belonging to President Habyarimana, all the while forgetting or feigning ignorance of the fact that the genocide had already been planned for a long time. Among the signatories are many individuals, who did not dare sign their full name, and a considerable number who signed two times or more. They included former well-known politicians who became genocide deniers, like Reverend Canon Dr. James Kwizera Gasana (183) and Dr. Dismas Nsengiyaremye (229)
The FEIDAR claims to represent the full range of Rwandan associations in the world, but in fact is a federation of associations of Rwandans who have ties with those who committed the genocide against the Tutsis in 1994, and who do everything in their power to distort the incontrovertible reality of the genocide. For the greater part, the names given here of persons who signed the petition are familiar names that one encounters in almost all circles of genocide deniers and revisionist. These names can be found in almost all the books by revisionist authors, their conferences and websites. It is always the same ideas that are expressed, the same words spoken. One also finds friends and relatives who have had to espouse the ideology of these genocide deniers.
A few examples are presented here, beginning with non-Rwandans. After every name there is a bracket with the number corresponding to the signature on the petition.
Colonel Jacques Hogard (2): Jacques Hogard is a French Colonel in the Foreign Legion. He was based in Djibouti before he became leader of the “Group Sud de Turquoise” in June 1994. His headquarters were at the Kamembe airport, in the south west of Rwanda. He wrote a book called “Les larmes de l’honneur” (Tears of Honor) in 2005, in defence for Operation of the Turquoise.
Horrifying allegations relative to the genocide are not a specialisation of Rwandans like Bagosora and Umutesi. Some Europeans like Hogard engage in this as well. A dialogue between two deniers—Colonel Hogard being interviewed by Alain Chevaléria—has this to present and was staged as follows.[8]
Q. “Many people believe that the election of Barack Obama is going to change American policies. Do you think that will be the case in Africa, in the Great Lakes region?
A. I think after we get past the Obamania, we will discover that Obama is an American who defends American interests, above all and without scruple, whatever might be the finer qualities of the individual himself. Anecdotally, it is interesting to note that President Obama’s father was a Kenyan Luo, a Nilotic East African tribe relatively close to the Tutsis…”
Hogard, like Bagosora and other genocidaires and deniers, blames Kagame and the RPF for the genocide. “He (Kagame) knew he could not gain power through elections, him being a Tutsi in a country that is 85% Hutu. He needed an event to trigger the renewal of hostilities… That’s why he ordered the assassination of President Habyarimana, his predecessor. He knew very well that it would provoke a cataclysm.
Q. Leading to a genocide of his own ethnic group, you believe?
A. I don’t know if his plan, if his cynicism, went that far. He did know, however, that this event had a high symbolic value and would trigger widespread massacres that would, in turn, legitimate his intervention, the return of the war, his seizure of power and his long-term installation as head of the country, without the international community being able to raise a single objection. His legitimacy was clinched when he presented himself as the one who put an end to the abomination of the massacres, but also as a member of the victim ethnic group. At the same time, in this very cynical way, he was able to get rid of the Tutsis from inside Rwanda, those Tutsis he mistrusted because they had stayed in Rwanda after 1961 and had lived under majority Hutu rule. To him, these unfortunate brothers from inside the country were just renegades and traitors to the cause of Tutsi greatness! Kagame is, at once, a strategist, whom he has well demonstrated, and a cynic, of which there can no longer be any doubt.
Q. Allow me to find that a little fantastic: we have a military leader using the genocide of his own people, in full view of the international community, to extend his power and influence with the support of the Anglo-Saxons, the Americans and the British united. For that, he reignites the war and stokes its murderous fires because the end of hostilities would mark the end of the expansion of his power and territory. That seems a lot like something else . . .
A. Yes that does very much resemble something else. In fact, it is quite a well-known and simple scheme.
Q. A condition putting in place a propaganda campaign meant to . . .
A. Yes, a condition that would bring about good propaganda, that he had the intelligence to create.
Q. All this so he could drive his foot soldiers toward Zaire . . .
A. Yes, this plot, intended to establish a ‘Tutsi Empire,’ is not just a dream, but also a reality that is still taking shape.”
Colonel Gilles DENAMUR (6): A retired French Colonel, he was a security official in Niger for the French nuclear power company AREVA. In late February 1993, Denamur accompanied French Cooperation Minister Marcel Debarge to Rwanda, when the latter oversaw the formation of the “Common Hutu Front” which became Hutu Power.
Pierre Péan (12): Is a genocide denier par excellence, with a pathological hatred for Tutsi. Born March 5, 1938 in the Sarthe region, he is the author of some twenty publications, including the book: “Noirs Fureurs, Blancs menteurs: Rwanda 1990-1994” in which he overtly demonstrates his genocide denial. A real friend of evil.
The book is dedicated to refuting accusations regarding French political involvement in Rwanda, and to attributing such accusations to the RPF. He denies the preparation of the genocide committed against the Tutsis and inverts reality, saying the Tutsis in the RPF massacred the Hutus. In this book Péan says whatever he pleases about the genocide committed against the Tutsis.
Péan attributes to himself several statements belonging to other genocide deniers without bothering to quote them. He also attributes to others quotes which are not their own. It seems this practice is not new to Péan. In an article published in September 2002 by Le Monde Diplomatique, Pierre Péan attributes to the Israeli journalist, Amir Oren, a quote stating that massacres of Sabra et Chatila in Lebanon, 1982 had been planned by the Israelis. According to an investigation published by L’Arche in January 2008, this is a false quote. Pierre Péan has never attempted to justify his statements.
Jean François L’Huillier (14): was born May 18, 1943. He is a French colonel, having served for 32 years in the elite regiments of the Troupes de Marines et Parachutistes (RPIMA). He took part in Operation Turquoise in Goma. Huillier is said to have claimed one night while drinking that he “threw Negroes out of helicopters.” He is the friend of Henri Poncet, former commander of Operation Amaryllis (Rwanda, April 1994).
Madeleine Raffin (15): She is of French nationality, and lived in Rwanda from 1968 to 1997. She was a teacher at Kibeho from 1968 to 1993, and the director of the Catholic NGO Caritas in Gikongoro diocese from 1993 to 1997. She thus witnessed the genocide carried out against the Tutsis. She had strong ties to Bishop Augustin Misago.
She accompanied the Tutsis expelled by the Bishop to the technical school in Murambi, where some 50,000 Tutsis were assembled and later butchered. The Tutsis she accompanied had been arrested at a roadblock in a place called Kabeza. In other words, she led them to their death, since she knew very well what was happening at these roadblocks which had been set up all along the road to Murambi.
Until their massacre on April 21, 1994, the Tutsi refugees in Murambi were starved, but immediately after the massacre, provisions from Caritas were distributed among the killers. Raffin was expelled from Rwanda after the genocide. She currently lives in the southwest of France and participates in all activities staged in defence of the killers.
She still has close ties with extremist circles. I met her in Paris in September 2008, where she was among the people who had come to defend Pierre Péan. In her testimony during cross-examination, she was asked how a whole people, like the Tutsi, could be branded liars. In response, she declared this was the truth—but added that all Rwandans are liars.
Jean-Jacques Maurin (21): Lieutenant Colonel Jean-Jacques Maurin is a former member of the first RPIMA, within the French army. He was the assistant Deputy Attaché, staff advisor to the Rwandan Armed Forces from March 1992 to April 1994. In the Defense Attaché’s absence, he served as his substitute from the 6th to the 8th of April. On April 7, he met with Bagosora along with Ambassador Marlaud. He was commander of Operation Amaryllis on April 9. From April 12 to15, 1994 he was Head of the special detachment in Kigali.
General Jean-Claude Lafourcade (22): Lafourcade is French and a former student of the prestigious French military academy of Saint Cyr. He is an officer in the Troupes de Marine. General Lafourcade was appointed commander of Operation Turquoise beginning June 27, 1994.
He was in charge of relations with national authorities, with the parties present, with the UN and NGOs. During a visit to the General’s headquarters in Goma on June 30, 1994, General Dallaire noted that when he lunched with the officers under Lafourcade: “They refused to accept the existence of a genocide and the fact that the extremist leaders, their officials and certain of their former colleagues were part of one and the same group. They made no pretence of hiding their desire to combat the RPF.” (Dallaire, Shake Hands with the Devil, p. 560)
Lafourcade wanted to control more than one third of the Rwandan territory: “In the name of his government, Lafourcade, having arrived in Zaire, demanded that the line go somewhat to the west of Ruhengeri and to the east of Gitarama and Butare so that it would include the entire western expanse of the country, more than one third of the Rwandan territory. The RPF for its part demanded that it be able to cross much further to the west, which the commander of Operation Turquoise ultimately had to accept. (J. Costonguay, “Les Casques bleus au Rwanda” (The Blue Helmets in Rwanda p. 188) Lafourcade notes in his final report from the mission that “the firing capacities of the Gazelle canon helicopters turned out to be insufficient (120 shots at that altitude)” He thus confirmed that Turquoise was primarily a military operation aimed at opposing the RPF.
Jean-Claude Lafourcade is currently the president of the French Turquoise Association which “aims to defend the unjustly attacked soldiers and to help establish the truth of this tragedy.” Mostly, to protest against the charges of complicity in the genocide filed against the French army before the Tribunal des Armées de Paris. After the publication of the Mucyo report, Lafourcade denounced the “unfounded and unwarranted accusations” contained in the Rwandan report, which accuses Paris of active participation in the genocide committed against the Tutsis. “[These accusations] implicate the people who put an end to the genocide, who saved thousands of lives and helped avoid a humanitarian catastrophe by persuading millions of persons fleeing to Zaire to remain in Rwanda.” (Le Figaro, August 7, 2008). Along with ten French officers, he filed a defamation suit against the authors of the Mucyo report. (AFP wire, November 5, 2008, 18:06). He was among the defence witnesses of Péan in September 2008.
Cynthia McKinney (62): An American politician born March 17, 1955, she was elected to the United States House of Representatives with the Democratic Party from 1993 to 2003.
Cynthia McKinney is quoted on one of the DRC blogs with regard to what they termed as her revelations as President Bill Clinton’s special envoy to Africa. McKinney claimed to have followed closely that which she calls “the Great Lakes tragedy,” and stated that “what happened in Rwanda was not a genocide planned by the Hutus. It was a regime change. A terrorist coup d’etat perpetrated by Kagame with the help of foreign forces.”[9]
On July 21, 2006, someone by the name of Christophe Baroni had the following reaction to the McKinney’s ‘revelations’: “If Cynthia McKinney does not like Paul Kagame and the RPF, this is her right. But to blame them for all of the tragedies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a biased and flagrant injustice. This Roman Catholic has been manipulated by certain Spanish Catholics (from the Opus Dei?) who dream of the old Rwanda, in which their church was all-powerful. (…)
How could Cynthia McKinney be so blind to the fact that in the DRC, most of the crime and rape has been perpetrated by the Hutu genocidaires in of 1994 who were “filtered out” to Zaire with the complicity of the French authorities? …Perhaps she should have conducted her own investigation before speaking out once again on a subject she apparently knows nothing about.”[10]
Alain Ménargues (71): Born in 1947, an investigative journalist and French writer, former director of information for Radio France Internationale and a correspondent for Radio France in Beirut from 1982 to 1995. A specialist on the Arab world, he was fired by RFI in 2004 for anti-Semitic sentiments.[11]
Hervé Lancrenon (86): The son of General Didier Tauzin. And General Didier Tauzin (89): in 1993-94 General Tauzin used a code name Thibaut. He arrived in Rwanda on February 22, 1993 and took over Operation Chimère to rescue the Rwandan armed forces. He returned to Rwanda on June 23, 1994 for Operation Turquoise in Cyangugu. He then took control of the Nyarushishi camp, there, where many of the region’s Tutsi survivors were assembled. He was replaced by Jacques Hogard. He then travelled to Gikongoro.
He led both operations on Butare on July 1st and 3rd July 1994. In Gikongoro, he organized a plan of defence against the RPA, particularly around Murambi School, where several remnants of FAR soldiers, gendarmes and other individuals who had fled the fighting between the FAR and RPA had regrouped. The FAR had sought refuge in Gikongoro when the town of Butare was taken by the RPA. On July 4, he declared that “if the RPF threatens the population, we will not hesitate to shoot them.” He was then called back to France.
Michel Robardey (124): He is a Lieutenant Colonel in the French gendarmerie. He served as technical advisor for the Rwandan gendarmerie judicial police. Beginning in February 1991, he participated at in meetings of the gendarmerie staff. He was also investigated regarding the 1992 massacres in the Bugesera region (Mucyo Commission report, pages 50 and 77).
He was the leader of the DAMI Gendarmerie, he gave gendarmerie judicial police information and reorganized and computerized the system which was used in 1994, to locate Tutsis. It was code-named CRCD. Under his command were Major Corrière, and Warrant Officers Nicolas, Colle, and Salvy (Mucyo commission report, pages 81-86).
The “Etude sur le terrorisme au Rwanda depuis 1990” (Study on terrorism in Rwanda since 1990) was written by the DAMI P.J.-CRCD, which was led by Michel Robardey. In it, all the incidents of terrorism in Rwanda in 1990-93 are attributed to the RPF, which seems highly unlikely. In a confession to Pierre Péan, he states his regret that “nobody measured the home front; everyone was neutralized by the communications of the opposing party.”[12]
Officially, Robardey completed his mission in September 1993 and was supposed to leave Rwanda. In reality, however, he remained in Rwanda into April 1994. The book by Jean-Marie Milleliri, a military doctor on assignment for civil cooperation, entitled “Un souvenir de Rwanda” (A memory of Rwanda) (Harmattan Publishers), on the beginning of the genocide in April 1994, removes any doubt that may remain.
On page 73 of his book, Milleliri writes of a commander of the gendarmerie named Michel: “The parachutists on guard duty, watching with even more vigilance than the night is long, start conversations. They discuss the activities of the day and the plans for tomorrow. Michel, a gendarme from Ruhengeri who experienced the evacuations of 1993 with my friend Didier the pharmacist, is anxious about recovering the bodies of the two French soldiers who were killed: it is Didier and his wife. They are on the front line between the FAR and the RPF, or at least inside a less secured zone. He should be able to approach this zone disguised with a medical banner. He is prepared to take care of the logistics. He asks me if I am up for accompanying him, since I am a doctor. I respond in the affirmative – of course I will. He tells me he will try to set up the transfer tomorrow morning. He knows where we can find our unfortunate compatriots, and as soon as he can round up some civilian clothing and a proper vehicle, we can be on our way.”
Michel Robardey, the commander, then, was in Kigali in April 1994 after all. Why did he have the press write that he left Rwanda in September 1993? What does he have to hide?
Among the other non-Rwandans who signed were also individuals I do not need to identify in details since whenever you meet their name, you are likely to find other genocide deniers. For example Luc Marchal (118), a Belgian colonel; Robin Philpot (164) a Canadian journalist, notorious genocide denier and author of Ca ne s’est pas passé comme ça à Kigali (That’s Not What Happened in Rwanda)-published in 2003. In this book, he contests the reality of the genocide committed against the Tutsis, and denounces Anglo-Saxon complicity.
Also, Christiaan DE BEULE (199)—and his wife Martine SYOEN (191) with their SOS-Rwanda Burundi; and Charles Onana (406). In their article entitled “A discrimination study of the files of asylum-seekers in the Great Lakes Region” published February 1, 2001, DE BEULE and SYOEN quote SOLIDAIRE-Rwanda, (“The unspoken truth about the massacres in Rwanda »), Issue No. 2, October 1994) writing that “the RPF’s politico-ideological and military brigades were comprised exclusively of Tutsis, and there were many Tutsi youth in the MRND, MDR, PL and PSD parties thus insinuating that the Tutsis were their own executioners!
Both Luc Marchal and Onana were defence witnesses in Péan’ case in September 2008. In 2004, the journalist Christophe Ayad published an article in the newspaper Libération in which he presents Charles Onana and Robin Philpot as “negationist authors” after they were invited to participate at an international symposium on Rwanda at the University of Sorbonne.
The two filed a defamation suit against the newspaper, but their petitions were dismissed before the correctional tribunal and court of appeals. Onana participates in almost all conferences for deniers of the genocide committed against the Tutsis in Rwanda.
His titles include “Investigation into the Mysteries of a President” (with Déo Mushayidi as co-Author), “Forbidden Investigations,” “France and its Skirmishers,” “The Secrets of International Justice: Rigged investigations into the Rwandan genocide” (with a preface by Pierre Péan), and “Silence on an attack.”[13]
Hervé Cheuzeville (682): A French citizen who introduces himself as a “humanitarian worker since the late 1970s… [who] since 1989 has been living and working in Africa, particularly in Sudan, Malawi, the DRC and Uganda.”
In 2003, he wrote his first book, entitled “Kadogo, Children of the Central African Wars”(Kadogo, Enfants des Guerres d’Afrique Centrale) which was published by Harmattan. Hervé Cheuzeville is also one of the genocide deniers and revisionists. In his article entitled “Today, April 7 2009, the Kigali regime commemorates the ‘beginning’ of the Rwandan genocide” published April 7, 2009, (the 15th anniversary of the genocide committed against the Tutsis in Rwanda), he does not attempt to hide his negationism and revisionism: “The atrocities and massacres which spilled so much Rwandan blood did not begin on April 7, 1994.
They began in October 1990, after the country was attacked by the army of the neighbouring country of Uganda. They continued for the entire duration of this war, and they continued well after the RPF takeover, the emanation of these elements of the Ugandan army.”
To contest the term “genocide” against the Tutsis, he wrote the following in his article “For truth and reconciliation in Rwanda” (Pour la vérité et le pardon au Rwanda): “Too often, the term ‘Tutsi genocide’ is used, just as the term ‘genocide of the Jews’ was used, albeit rightfully so in the latter case. If we are going to talk about genocide, as far as I am concerned, I prefer that we simply speak of a ‘Rwandan genocide.’”[14]
Rwandan petitioners
Joseph Mushyandi (684) He was born April 16, 1951 in the Rukina sector, Masango district, Gitarama prefecture. He is the son of Jérôme Mushorongondo and Angéline Kayiseme. He is married to Alivère Niyitegeka.
He is a lawyer by profession. Before the genocide in Kigali he was a lawyer, in a private law firm. He is known to have been in the circles of extremists who went on to establish human rights NGOs to propagate hatred against the Tutsi and the RPF. One good example is a letter meant for the UN Secretary General which was co-signed by Mushyandi, as the Legal representative of LIDEL and by Ferdinand Nahimana, representing ARDEVI-TABARA concerning crimes committed by the RPF.[15]
Both NGOs were known to be too close to the CDR. Joseph Mushyandi would later be employed by the ICTR as the defence investigator for Laurent Semanza.[16] He worked for the Bank of Kigali and of the Ministry of Finance. He was the president of the MRND in the Masango district. After the massacres committed against the Tutsis in Bugesera in 1992, the international community established an international commission which confirmed that Habyarimana’s government was in the process of committing genocide.
Joseph Mushyandi was one of the delegates of the MRND who were sent to Europe to deny those murders. After participating in the genocide of the Tutsis in Kigali, he had returned home to Muyunzwe in the Masango district by April 18, 1994. In his home district, he also played a major role in the massacres committed against the Tutsis. It is alleged he ordered the killers to liquidate all Tutsis teaching at the APECAS Secondary School, where he was the national-level legal representative. The teacher Muligande from Butare was the first to be killed. There are many other charges against him concerning his role in the genocide committed against the Tutsis.
Emmanuel Neretse (878): Formerly a Major in the military service, accused of acts of genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994. After his emigration, he first lived in Kenya, and then in France, where he still resides today.
In Kenya, Neretse was the liaison officer for the directorate of military intelligence in Nairobi, with responsible for coordinating activities of the RDR in Kenya and Uganda.
The Collectif des Parties Civiles in France have conducted investigations which prove he had an active role in the genocide committed against the Tutsis, and have filed a complaint against him.
Jean Gakwaya (767): Born in 1961, son of Pascal Habimana and Marie Mukaruhinda. He comes from the Gisitwe cell, Kamonyi sector, Taba district, Gitarama prefecture.
He was the councillor of the Kamonyi sector. According to recent reports, he is residing in Belgium. He has been accused of the crime of genocide in the Gitarama prefecture, particularly in the Taba district, and his case file number with Rwanda’s Prosecution Authority is RMP n°28581/S4. Along with Jean Paul Akayesu, Silas Kubwimana and Claver Murekezi, he was one of the silent partners involved in the genocide in the Taba district, the site of a mass grave which holds the bodies of about 700 victims killed on April 19, 1994.
He incited those living in this sector to conduct the killings. He was in charge of leading the local attacks against the Tutsis, and he was personally at the forefront of several attacks. He had barricades erected to help identify the Tutsis with the help of their identification cards. There were such blockades in Gacurabwenge, Rubona, Kamonyi, Gihinga, and Rwabashyashya… There are allegations from testimonies we received that he distributed weapons to the Interahamwe and organized meetings aimed at inciting the Hutu population to participate in the active massacre of the Tutsis.
Séraphin Rwabukumba (751): He was born in 1949, son of Semapfa and Nyirashakiye, currently living in Belgium. He is from the Giciye district, Gisenyi prefecture.
He is a businessman, owner of an import export company called La Centrale. He is a brother-in-law of President Habyarimana. He is a former Civil Servant at the National Bank of Rwanda. He is residing in Belgium. His name is both on the list of genocidaires compiled by the ICTR, and on that of the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Rwanda.
Rwabukumba’s file number with the latter office is RPGR 53/Gén/MJD/RE. He is one of the members of the Réseau Zéro (Zero Network) who were the brains behind the plan for the genocide committed against the Tutsis. His company called La Centrale was a major centre for the preparation of all of the genocide plans. He was an influential member of Akazu, or President Habyarimana’s exclusive team, and the third-ranking shareholder of the R.T.L.M. According to reports in La Libre Belgique, for the weeks of August 5 and August 11, 1997, he financed the Interahamwe militias, providing them with weapons for the massacres in Bugesera in March 1992.
Rwabukumba was one of the leaders of the Réseau Zéro group of “death squads” active in Rwanda from October 1990 to July 1994 (…). He participated in the rearmament of the ex-FAR and Interahamwe militias in Zaire after July 1994.
Félicien Muberuka (414): He was one of the most senior Colonels in the army and the commander of the Kanombe military barracks, and operations in the Kigali city, before he fled the country in 1994. He is being pursued by the ICTR, but has not yet been arrested. The soldiers who lived in Kigali allege that during the genocide, he was transferred to the Kigali camp. He was a member of the RDR Cameroon branch like Bagosora, and other extremists. He is the representative of FDLR in Cameroon.[17]
Colonel Muberuka is one the FAR members known for their role in the planning of the genocide. He was among the officers who published a document in 1992 defining the enemy. The first enemy was the Tutsi.
Muberuka is also among those who trained the militia that would be used as the killing machine, but code named “civil defence”. It is said : “On 29 March 1994, Déogratias Nsabimana, the army chief of staff, convened a meeting at army headquarters with Tharcisse Renzaho, the prefect of Kigali, and Colonel Félicien Muberuka, the commander of the operational sector of Kigali, in order “to hone the civil self-defence plan”. The following day, Nsabimana forwarded to the Minister of Defence the minutes outlining the decisions taken at the meeting.”[18]
Ntilivamunda (408): He was born in 1954, son of Gaspard Munyampeta and Mélanie Cyulinyana. He comes from the Mukingo district in the Ruhengeri prefecture, but he lived in the Kicukiro district, City of Kigali prefecture. He was the Director of Bridges and Highways at the Ministry of Public Service.
He is residing in Belgium. He has been accused of the crime of genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda. The file number with the Prosecutor General is RPGR 230/Gén/MJD/RE. His name is on the list of persons suspected of committing the crime of genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994.
Enock Ruhigira (371): He was born in 1951, the son of Ladislas Mugesera and Jeannette Kinazi. He is currently based in New Zealand. He was the director of the cabinet of the Presidency of the Republic during Habyarimana’s presidency. He has been accused of the crime of genocide against the Tutsis and his name is on the list of wanted fugitives published by the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Rwanda. His file number is RPGR 154/Gén/MJD/RE
Marie Rose Habyarimana (358): She is the daughter of President Habyarimana. Bernard Rugwiro Habyarimana (756) and Léon Habyarimana (37): are her brothers. In a letter of August 16, 1999, to the UN secretary general, they accuse the RPF of preparing and executing the genocide against the Tutsi.[19]
Marie-Rose lives in Gatineau, Canada. In her April 6, 2007 articleA la mémoire de Juvénal Habyarimana Marie-Rose Habyarimana sings to the tune of the “friends of evil” who published it, who want to inverse the roles of the genocide, transforming the victims into perpetrators and the perpetrators into victims: “Today, the Rwandan people remember their own who were killed in the massacre planned and executed by the RPF who, invading from Uganda with the help of the Ugandans, attacked a peaceful nation and carried out a massive and indiscriminating massacre against the entire population, thus setting in motion a macabre process that culminated in the genocide.”
In speaking of genocide, she is not talking about the genocide committed against the Tutsi in Rwanda as it is recognized by the United Nations. She demands that an investigation be carried out by a UN-appointed committee, but she already knows its conclusions. Despite the United Nations mandate she desires, one wonders whether she would not treat the UN as a “sponsor of the RPF” if it reached conclusions different from her own, as she has done with all those who speak the sad truth about her father and about the genocide against the Tutsis which was organized and executed by her relatives.
Before seeing the results found by a neutral committee carrying out the meticulous investigation she ostensibly desires, she already knows that “everything— and some are convinced that our father’s assassins are the same as those who planned all the large-scale massacres that took place from April to July 1994, both in the governmental zone and in the zone controlled by the RPF.” An analysis of the rest of the article reveals that she is referring to the RPF.[20]
Other fugitives from justice are:
Dr. Léopold Munyakazi (313): He was arrested February 6, 2009 in Washington, D.C., in the United States. He has been accused of genocide. He taught a French language course at a university in Washington.
In a speech given at the same university in 2006, Munyakazi objected to the notion of genocide, reckoning that since the Tutsis and Hutus were living together, the proper term should be “fratricide.”
Marcel Bivugabagabo (252): Born in 1954, he is the son of Nkinamubanzi and Mbuzehose. He is from the Ramba district in Gisenyi prefecture. He is on the list of suspected genocidaires published by the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Rwanda. He was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Rwandan Armed Forces.
He was the commander of military operations in the operational sector of Ruhengeri. He has been accused of playing a major role in the preparation and execution of the genocide in the Ruhengeri prefecture. He is currently residing in Toulouse, France. He was arrested in France in 2008, accused of playing a role in the attacks which cost the life of the Tutsi refugees who were at the Court of Appeals in Ruhengeri, and on the university campus in Nyakinama.
The complaint was filed by the Collectif des Parties Civiles pour le Rwanda (CPCR). He was released after a decision to deny his extradition to Rwanda on October 9, 2008. Both he and a certain Célestin Harelimana (in prison in Mpanga) were assigned by the FAR to work with a Belgian law firm defending the “Hutu Cause” The lawyers are Johan Scheers and Luc de Temmerman.
Célestin Harindintwali (172): He was born in 1965, the son of Isaïe Rugirimvano and Constance Nyirabarangana. He comes from the Mukindo sector, former Kibayi commune, Butare prefecture. He served as the director of bridges and highways to the Minister of Public Works in Butare. He is currently residing in Canada. He is accused of the crime of genocide in Butare and is included on the list of suspected genocidaires published by the Prosecutor General. His file number is RPGR 476/Gén/MJD/RE.
Stanis Mbonampeka (118): Stanislas Mbonampeka was born in 1943. The son of Buzabarande and Nyiramatama, he comes from the Nkumba district in the Ruhengeri prefecture but was living in the Ndera sector, of former Rubongo commune. He led the Hutu Power wing of the PL party.
He gave incendiary speeches at his party’s meetings and during on-air debates on RTLM radio and radio Rwanda. Eyewitnesses allege that he organized the massacres in the Rubungo and Gikomero communes on April 13-15, 1994. He has been accused of acts of genocide in Kibirira, Kibuye, Bugesera, Shyorongi, and Mbogo.
Mbonampeka name is on the list of suspected genocidaires published by the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Rwanda, with the file number RPGR 155/Gén/MJD/RE. He is currently residing in France.
Sosthène Munyemana (31): Dr. Sosthène Munyemana was working as a gynecologist at the Rwanda University Hospital in Butare, the country’s only university hospital at the time. He was living in the Tumba sector, Ngoma commune in the Butare prefecture. During the genocide, this doctor became one of Tumba’s major murderers. Not only did he incite several people to commit these crimes, but he also killed others with his own hands. He left the country at the end of June 1994, just before the town of Butare was taken by the Rwandan patriotic army.
He was given a scholarship by the French Minister for Cooperation. In October 1994, he was recruited by the Université de Bordeaux II, where he continued his education. His wife also worked there. He moved to Talence. Just before moving, information had reached the university regarding Sosthène’s participation in the genocide. He denies the accusations but his claim to innocence has been judged unconvincing.
In July 1995, Munyemana was asked to step down until his case was settled before the courts. On October 18 1995, the CPCR, FIDH, Survie and other individual plaintiffs started proceedings against Dr. Munyemana, requesting his arrest. Later, he started his own proceedings against those who had decided to bring him to court.[21] Pierre Péan claims in his writings that Munyemana is the victim of manipulation.
Ildephonse Munyeshyaka (236): From the North. He is currently the president and spokesperson of a group called “Opposition Démocratique Rwandaise (ODR-Dufatanye).” The members are La Démocratie au Rwanda PDR-Ihumure, le Partenariat Intwari and la Coalition RUD/RPR (Ralliement pour l’Unité et la Démocratie au Rwanda et Rassemblement du Peuple Rwandais).
Sylvestre Mudacumura (10): He is the military commander of the FDLR and is on a wanted list by the International Criminal Court. He has the rank of Major General, and is nicknamed Bernard Mupenzi. He was born in 1951 in the Ferege cell, Gatumba sector, Kibilira district, Gisenyi prefecture. He is the son of Mukanda and Nibagwire. During the genocide, he was commander of the 31st battalion, which was based in Rutare in the operational sector if Byumba. After Byumba was taken by the RPF, he was active in Mont Jali.[22] Mudacumura has his military headquarters in North Kivu, DR Congo
[1] See: Contre l’immixtion de Bernard Kouchner dans l’instruction de l’affaire Rose Kabuye, Fait à Paris, le 24 novembre 2008, by Membres et amis de la FEIDAR and written by JMV NDAGIJIMANA, whose signature on the petition came first. (feidar.contact@yahoo.fr). Available on : http://www.petitiononline.com/jmvn51/petition.html
[2] See: INTRA-RWANDAN DIALOGUE on http://www.veritasrwandaforum.org/dialeg/DIR06_engl.pdf
[7] You have names like Eric Bahembera (49), Joseph Matata (111), Gratien Rudakubana (618) Emmanuel Nyemera (636) and Serge Desouter (365) whose names appears in almost all circles of friends.
[9] Source: Les révélations de la congressiste américaine Cynthia McKinney
http://forumrdcongo.afrikblog.com/archives/2006/02/08/1300626.html
[10] Ibid
[11]Seehttp://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_M%C3%A9nargues also http://www.lemague.net/dyn/IMG/_article_PDF/article_902.pdf
[12] Sources: GDR officers 2/15/1993; Populaire du Centre 30/11/96; B. Lugan, “Rwandan counter-investigation on the genocide», p. 145; Pierre Péan Noirs fureurs, Blancs menteurs. Rwanda 1990-1994. Investigations pp.188, 199-8-199,195,501-510.
[14] Source: http://sthiramany.free.fr/kadogo/.
[15] A Monsieur le Secrétaire Général de l’Organisation des Nations-Unies, Atrocités commises par le FPR Kigali, le 18 Novembre 1993. This is a Prosecution Exhibit No P107/33 in Case No ICTR-99-52-T tendered in court on March 14, 2002.
[16] Court Proceedings in CASE No: ICTR-97-20-T, 12 FEBRUARY 2002
[17] African Rights report, A Welcome Expression of Intent: The Nairobi Communiqué and the ex-Far/Interahamwe (December, 2007) p.37
[18] JUDGEMENT AND SENTENCE, (para. 473) Case No. ICTR-98-41-T, THE PROSECUTOR v. Théoneste BAGOSORA, Gratien KABILIGI, Aloys NTABAKUZE, Anatole NSENGIYUMVA (18 December 2008)
[19] See:“Lettres de la famille du Président Habyarimana et de la veuve du Président Ntaryamira au Secrétaire Géneral des Nations Unies” where some signatories are Jeanne NTILIVAMUNDA, Jean-Claude HABYARIMANA, HABYARIMANA Marie-Rose, Léon HABYARIMANA, Bernard HABYARIMANA, Jean-Luc HABYARIMANA, and Marie-Merci HABYARIMANA Sources : http://www.inshuti.org/habyari2.htm
[20] Sources: http://www.inshuti.org/habyari2.htm or http://www.iwacu1.com/news/article.php?lang=francais&dfrom=0&id=126&catid=opinion
[21] Source: Investigation into the case of Sosthène Munyemana by the organization African Rights. These investigations resulted in a publication entitled: “Sosthène Munyemana: Le boucher de Tumba: en liberté en France” (Sosthène Munyemana, the Butcher of Tumba: At Liberty in France).
[22] For more detailed information, See Rakiya Omaar, “The leadership of Rwandan armed groups abroad with a focus on the FDLR and RUD/Urunana,” December 2008, pp. 101-104.
friends of evil 
[…] [8] Charles Ndereyehe is also among the obnoxious signatories appearing twice on No96 & 823 See: https://friendsofevil.wordpress.com/2013/08/27/obnoxious-petitioners-and-friends-of-evil/ […]