Fact: Four trial chambers and the Appeal Chamber acquitted the entire national political and military leadership of the Habyarimana government of conspiracy to commit genocide, or any other crimes, before April 7, 1994, the day after the assassination of the President.
Dear Editor,
I have read Pambazuka with increasing amazement as Mr. Alex Obote-Odora has tried to deny the factual record established at the UN International Criminal Tribunal (ICTR). Four trial chambers and the Appeal Chamber acquitted the entire national political and military leadership of the Habyarimana government of conspiracy and planning to commit genocide, or any other crimes, before April 7, 1994 the day after the assassination of the President.
The Appeal Chamber Judgement in Prosecutor v. Bagosora et al was entered on December 11, 2011 and was reported in the International Justice Tribune as "The Brainless Genocide" because no long-planned conspiracy was found by the ICTR.[1]
But Obote-Odora goes further by also denying the contents of "Madame Prosecutor," the 2009 memoir of Carla Del Ponte, the Chief ICTR Prosecutor and his OTP superior. She reveals she was removed from her ICTR office on 15 May 2003 by the U.S. Ambassador Pierre Prosper at a State Department meeting because she insisted on prosecuting Paul Kagame for the assassination of President Habyarimana and the RPF for massive war crimes.
OBOTE-ODORA'S DENIAL OF ASSASSINATION IS CONTRADICTED BY EVIDENCE...AND HIS OWN OTP BOSS DEL PONTE
Somehow Mr. Obote-Odora was working in the OTP office and missed both these significant events. However, both are recounted my book 'The Accidental Genocide', which also has copies of the sworn statements in evidence at the ICTR from Queens Prosecutor Michael Hourigan and a reference to UN Gen. Dallaire's Military Intelligence Officer Capt. Amadou Deme that they gave evidence of Kagame's complicity to Del Ponte's predecessor Louise Arbour in January 1997. She ordered them to destroy their notes and disbanded the investigation. FBI Agent James Lyons' sworn statement confirmed the same facts and is copied in the book. [2]
As a member of the OTP, Mr. Obote-Odora has also read the ICTR testimony of RPF Lt. Abdul Joshua Ruzibiza in March 2005 when he explained he was ordered to locate the site for the missiles on 1 April 1994 by the commander at the CND, which he did in the Masaka Hills. April 5 was the date when the shoot down was originally scheduled, but a timing error required putting off the launch for a day.
Another former RPF officer in exile confirmed the details and the names of the crew are all in the ICTR record. On the night of the missile launch, former RPF officer testified that he was in Mulindi with Kagame when he got the news during the Africa Cup match in a room of 200 compatriots. Maj. Gen. Kagame gave the order for the final assault to seize power within half an hour after the plane was brought down.
All of this testimony from former RPF officers in exile was subject to the cross-examination of his colleagues in the OTP to challenge the credibility of the witnesses, as Mr. Obote-Odora knows well. He also knows the Kagame/RPF responsibility for the assassination has been admitted by former RPF Gen. Nyamwasa and Chief of Staff Theogene Rudesingwa, former ambassador to the U.S.[3]
The evidence of the responsibility for the assassination of Habyarimana by Kagame is in that evidentiary record and Obote-Odora's former boss, Ms. Del Ponte has already confirmed these facts too.
OBOTE-ODORA "CONSPIRACY REASONING" DISTORTS THE SIMPLE POINT : "THE LONG-PLANNED GENOCIDE" ACCUSATIONS WERE NOT PROVED BY RPF/OTP
Mr. Obote-Odora knows that four Trial Chambers in "national cases" (Military I and II and Government I and II) and the Appeal Chamber in the Hague unanimously concluded that until after the assassination of President Habyarimana, there was insufficient evidence from the RPF government, Mr. Obote-Odora's OTP, U.S. Justice Dept. or other sources to support the story of a long-planned genocide against Rwandan Tutsis.
The cases Mr. Obote-Odora cites to confuse the issue for Pambazuka readers involve local leaders or private actors in which the words "conspiracy" and "genocide" are used, but in a completely different factual context, all of which allege crimes that occurred after 7 April, 1994, which was not "the long-planned conspiracy to commit genocide against the Tutsi" with which the national leaders had been charged. Mr. Obote-Odora knows this.[4]
The reason ICTR Chambers rejected the long-planned conspiracy theory, as Mr. Obote-Odora knows, was because U.S. State Dept documents from 1990 through 1994 reported a completely different reality about the Habyarimana government with apparently serious attempts at reconciliation, democratization and, as late as March 28, 1994 the Papal Nuncio, the U.S., front line states, all parties MDR, PL, etc. issued a public statement that the RPF was blocking a peaceful settlement.[5]
The U.S. State Dept. documents in ICTR evidence show that the assassination of the President of Burundi by the Tutsi military and the genocide of Hutu civilians in Burundi in October 1993 caused U.S. diplomats to warn both Habyarimana and Kagame that if either broke the ceasefire, mass violence would break out in Rwanda, too.
The cause of the "Rwanda genocide" w as a predictable consequence of the "Burundi Genocide" of Hutus that had already occurred in Oct/Nov 1993, according to the U.S. State Dept analysis in the April 6, 1994 Code Cable from Washington D.C. to Kigali that Mr. Obote-Odora knows full well, too.[6]
These documents are in the ICTR evidentiary record, and some are reproduced in the 'Accidental Genocide'. The facts in U.S. government and U.N. documents that were put into the record in the Military-I case, as well as the testimony of the U.S. Ambassador to Rwandan during 1990-93 confirmed that there was no conspiracy to kill Tutsis that was known to the U.S. or other western intelligence, which was the factual evidence that caused the Trial Chambers to acquit the national leaders as they did.[7]
Prof. Peter Erlinder (Ill. Bar 3124291) Wm. Mitchell College of Law, MN (ret) Director, Int'l. Humanitarian Law Inst. 325 Cedar St. Ste. 308 St. Paul, MN 55101 USA 651-340-1272/651-340-0357 fax cell 651-271-4616/ w ww.ihli.org Military-I Lead Defense Counsel Major Aloys Ntabakuze Author: 'The Accidental Genocide' (Int'l. Humanitarian Law Inst, St. Paul, 2013)www. amazon.com
END NOTES
[1] Thierry Cruvalier, International Justice Tribune, December 2011. [2] See generally, Erlinder, The Accidental Genocide, (2013) [3] Public Statement of Dr. Theogen Rudesingwa October 1, 2011. Reproduced in Erlinder, The Accidental Genocide. [4] Thierry Cruvalier, International Justice Tribune, December 2011. [5] See, May 28, 1994 document, reproduced in Erlinder, the Accidental Genocide (2013) [6] See Code Cable of April 6, 1994, reproduced in, Erlinder, the Accidental Genocide (2013) [7] Thierry Cruvalier, "The Brainless Genocide," International Justice Tribune, December 2011.
* THE VIEWS OF THE ABOVE ARTICLE ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE PAMBAZUKA NEWS EDITORIAL TEAM
* BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS
* Please do not take Pambazuka for granted! Become a Friend of Pambazuka and make a donation NOW to help keep Pambazuka FREE and INDEPENDENT!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. I have loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore I die in exile. The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men. When the white man came we had the land and they had the bibles; now they have the land and we have the bibles. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Voice of the Poor, the Weak and Powerless.
----------------------------------------------------------- Post message: AfricaRealities@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: AfricaRealities-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Unsubscribe: AfricaRealities-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com List owner: AfricaRealities-owner@yahoogroups.com __________________________________________________________________
Please consider the environment before printing this email or any attachments. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -http://www.africarealities.com/
Africa Realities Media is independent. Your support helps us expose injustice, challenge silence and produce evidence-based analysis on Africa and the Great Lakes Region.
Africa Realities Media offre un espace aux écrivains, chercheurs, experts, activistes, voix communautaires, militants, analystes et personnes ayant une expérience vécue qui souhaitent contribuer à des contenus réfléchis, responsables et courageux sur les changements nécessaires dans la région des Grands Lacs, ainsi que sur les réalités politiques, économiques, culturelles et sociales africaines souvent ignorées, minimisées ou mal représentées.
Nos articles et vidéos visent à ouvrir le débat, renforcer la sensibilisation, encourager la pensée critique et favoriser une réflexion plus profonde sur les réalités vécues par les populations africaines. Nous voulons aider les peuples de la région des Grands Lacs à mieux comprendre leurs droits, notamment leurs droits humains, leur droit au développement, leur droit à la dignité, à la sécurité, au bien-être et à une vie meilleure.
À travers nos contenus, nous cherchons également à rappeler aux décideurs, aux institutions publiques, aux acteurs régionaux et internationaux, ainsi qu’aux responsables politiques, leur devoir de transparence, de responsabilité et de redevabilité envers les populations qu’ils prétendent servir. Notre objectif est de contribuer à une culture de vérité, de justice, de participation citoyenne et de protection égale pour tous les peuples africains.
Why We Exist
Many abuses facing African people are committed by African states, ruling elites, armed groups, military forces and security services. But these abuses are often sustained by international silence, Western lobbying, trade interests, migration deals, mineral access, diplomatic partnerships and unequal global accountability.
Africa Realities Media exposes that system.
Lived Experience Matters
Survivors, displaced communities, refugees, families affected by repression, journalists, activists, women, young people and diaspora voices are not passive subjects. They are knowledge holders.
Their experiences must shape policy, advocacy, journalism and public debate. The people closest to injustice are often closest to the solutions.
T he FDLR Pretext Collapses Under the Weight of Documented Plunder Introduction: A Battle That Tells the Truth When Rwandan-backed RDF/M23 forces fought with extraordinary ferocity to seize and hold Rubaya — a remote mining town in North Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo — the stated justification was security. Kigali's consistent public line has been that its military presence in the DRC is a response to the threat posed by the Forces Democratiques de Liberation du Rwanda (FDLR), an armed group whose leaders include individuals linked to the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. This narrative has been accepted, qualified, or left insufficiently challenged by Western governments and multilateral institutions for over a decade. The Battle of Rubaya strips that narrative bare. What unfolded in Rubaya was not a counter-insurgency operation against genocidal remnants. It was a sustained military campaign — reinforced by the Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF), prosecuted at sign...
http://www.inyenyerinews.org/amakuru-2/rwandas-major-john-sengati-assassinated-in-gitarama-rwanda/ Rwanda's Major John Sengati assassinated in Gitarama, Rwanda May 12, 2013 by Rwema IT Webmaster Leave a Comment By: Jennifer Fierberg Rwandans are saddened by the death of Major John Sengati who was assassinated in Gitarama (appx 50km from Kigali) on May 10th, 2013. John Sengati was a retired Major, and ADC to Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa from 1993 to 2001. After Gen Kayumba went to UK to further his studies, Major John Sengati was appointed Commanding Officer (C.O.) of Garrison Force that was in charge of the security to VIPs under the Ministry of Defense. Around 2007, he went to study at Kigali Institute of Technology (KIST) while he was still an active member of the RDF. According to local reports , in 2009 Major Sengati's land was redistributed in Karama to local residents. Around 2010 he was forced to retire from the army, because he was considered to be loyal and ...
How Paul Kagame Uses Diplomats' "Bury Your Head in the Sand" Strategy as a Green Light to Continue Rwanda's War in the DRC Africa Realities Media | 17 July 2026 The purpose of this article is to expose a deliberate and systematic strategy: Paul Kagame's years-long practice of creating events — diplomatic dinners, RPF party meetings, genocide commemorations, international business forums and RPF Bureau Politique addresses — to which he invites foreign ambassadors and the world's business and political elite for one purpose: to explain, justify, and defend Rwanda's military invasion of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Everybody who follows this region knows the strategy now. The same narrative. The same arguments. The same defiance. At one event he tells the Trump Administration to go to hell. At the next he says those sanctioning him will leave power and he will remain. At the RPF Bureau Politique of 17 July 2026, he tells ambassadors that the on...
ANALYSIS AND INVESTIGATION Introduction: The Myth and the Man Behind the Myth There is a version of Paul Kagame that exists in the conference halls of Davos, in the pages of Western magazines, in private hotel meetings in London, Paris and Washington, and on the sleeves of European football shirts. In this version, Kagame is a visionary. A builder. A disciplined African moderniser. A leader who pulled a broken country from the ashes of genocide and turned it into what admirers often call the “Singapore of Africa”. In this version, Rwanda is clean, efficient, safe, investment-friendly and orderly. Kagame is presented as the African leader the West wants to believe in: controlled, polished, pro-market, security-focused and comfortable in elite Western spaces. Then there is the Rwanda that many Rwandans, exiles, journalists, opposition figures and human rights organisations describe. In this Rwanda, YouTubers and online commentators are jailed for what they say. Critics die in custo...
The FDLR Myth: How Rwanda Weaponises a Diminished Threat to Justify Occupation Investigation Exposes Contradictions in Rwanda's Security Narrative For over a decade, Rwanda has justified its military presence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo by citing threats from the FDLR, a Hutu militia group linked to the 1994 genocide. But an investigation into FDLR's actual capabilities, Rwanda's military operations, and patterns of violence reveals a narrative that does not match reality. The FDLR threat, whilst real, has been systematically exaggerated and manipulated to justify objectives that have nothing to do with the militia group. Introduction The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) occupies a central position in Rwanda's justification for military intervention in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. For more than two decades, Rwandan authorities have portrayed the militia group as an existential threat requiring sustaine...
Ndabona mu bo Francois Hollande avugana n'abo Kagame wenyine niwe utarimo. Nimwisomere namwe: http://www.slate.fr/story/90909/hollande-telephone-politique-etrangere#xtor=RSS-2 From: "Samuel Desire sam4des@yahoo.com [Democracy_Human_Rights]" <Democracy_Human_Rights@yahoogroupes.fr> To: DHR <Democracy_Human_Rights@yahoogroupes.fr>; Rwandalibre Group <rwandalibre@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Tuesday, 12 August 2014, 21:08 Subject: *DHR* A qui François Hollande téléphone-t-il? Et qui reçoit-il à l'Elysée? A qui François Hollande téléphone-t-il? Et qui reçoit-il à l'Elysée? [VISUALISATION] http://www.slate.fr/story/90909/hollande-telephone-politique-etrangere#xtor=RSS-2 Envoyé par : Samuel Desire <sam4des@yahoo.com> ...
Kigali wants Washington to punish Congo too. But a ceasefire that leaves the occupier in place is not peace; it is occupation without noise. African lives are not worth less. African deaths are not normal. Western interests must never become a licence to kill African people. Introduction: A Familiar Complaint On 29 June 2026, Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Olivier Nduhungirehe, sat before the cameras of France 24 and declared that his country was “disappointed by the increasingly biased US mediation” in the conflict with the Democratic Republic of Congo. He asked why sanctions had targeted only Rwanda. He called the measures unfair, one-sided and counterproductive. Weeks earlier, President Paul Kagame had told Jeune Afrique that sanctions and threats were insults thrown at Rwanda, and accused Washington of exerting heavy pressure on Rwanda while treating the DRC more delicately. The grievance sounds reasonable until you remember where you have heard it before. Since 2022, the Kr...
This article identifies the central obstacle to accountability for Paul Kagame’s actions in Rwanda and the Great Lakes region: the powerful global network of political leaders, former presidents, diplomats, philanthropists, religious figures, businesspeople, international institutions, sporting organisations, advisers and paid lobbyists that has promoted, legitimised, defended and protected him for three decades. This is a problem-identification article. It asks why Kagame has remained internationally influential and protected despite serious and extensively documented allegations concerning Rwanda’s military actions in the Democratic Republic of Congo, political repression, extraterritorial operations, mineral exploitation and the treatment of political opponents, journalists and critics. The answer is that Kagame has built an international network that gives him political access, diplomatic protection, commercial partnerships, institutional legitimacy, favourable media coverage, ...
Kagame’s Global Protection Network: Lobbying, Silence and Western Complicity: From 1990 to 2026. More at: https://www.africarealities. com/2026/07/the-empire-of- kagames-global-friends.html
French State-Sponsored Racism Without Limits Against the Hutu in France France does not simply remember the Rwanda genocide. It owns it. For three decades, the French state has sponsored and enforced a racist political order — criminalising Hutu identity, silencing African expertise, enforcing a one-sided judicial record and reproducing the same ethnic hierarchy Belgium imposed on Rwanda under colonialism. This is not a failure of memory. It is state-sponsored racism without limits, dressed in the language of historical accountability. African lives are not worth less. African deaths are not normal. Western interests must never become a licence to kill African people. Introduction: Racism as Policy The genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda was real. Between April and July 1994, following an invasion of Rwanda launched by the RPF from Uganda on 1 October 1990, initially under the command of Major-General Fred Rwigyema and subsequently led by Paul Kagame after Rwigyema was killed ...
Africa Realities Media speaks to Africa and to the developed world. Many abuses facing African people are committed by African states and ruling elites, but they are often protected by international silence, lobbying, public relations, trade interests, migration deals and unequal global accountability. While governments pay lobbyists to present a good image abroad, ordinary African people continue to face violence, hunger, disease, poverty, repression and exclusion. We challenge the normalisation of African suffering and demand equal truth, equal justice and equal protection.
Pourquoi Africa Realities Media est différent?
Africa Realities Media s’adresse à l’Afrique et au monde développé. De nombreux abus subis par les peuples africains sont commis par des États africains et des élites dirigeantes, mais ils sont souvent protégés par le silence international, le lobbying, les relations publiques, les intérêts commerciaux, les accords migratoires et une responsabilité mondiale inégale. Tandis que des gouvernements paient des lobbyistes pour présenter une bonne image à l’étranger, des Africains ordinaires continuent de faire face à la violence, à la faim, aux maladies, à la pauvreté, à la répression et à l’exclusion. Nous contestons la normalisation de la souffrance africaine et exigeons une vérité égale, une justice égale et une protection égale.
Our work is designed to trigger debate, discomfort and action. We do not only expose injustice; we work for policy and systems change.
We want governments and institutions to address the root causes of inequality, disadvantage, discrimination, exclusion and barriers affecting African people. We believe lasting change must be shaped by people with lived experience.
Exposing Injustice in Africa
Africa Realities Media is an independent African accountability platform based in London. We report, analyse and challenge the systems that shape African suffering, silence African victims and protect abusive power.
We are not here to repeat diplomatic language. We are here to ask the questions that are often avoided: why are African deaths treated as normal? Why are African victims given less urgency? Why are governments that imprison, exclude, displace or kill their own people protected when they serve powerful international interests?
Africa Realities Media gives space to writers, researchers, experts, activists, community voices, campaigners, analysts and people with lived experience who want to contribute thoughtful, responsible and courageous content about the changes needed in the region, as well as the political, economic, cultural and social African realities that are often ignored, minimised or misrepresented.
Our articles and videos aim to encourage debate, raise awareness, stimulate critical thinking and support reflection. We seek to help people in the Great Lakes Region understand their rights to human rights, development and wellbeing, while also encouraging decision-makers to be more transparent, responsive and accountable.
Recent Posts
Appel à contributions
Sensibilisez le public aux causes qui vous tiennent à cœur. Prenez part au changement que vous souhaitez voir émerger. Aidez à combattre l'injustice partout où elle se manifeste.
Africa Realities Media accueille des articles originaux, analyses, tribunes, réflexions communautaires et commentaires fondés sur des faits concernant la région des Grands Lacs africains, ainsi que les questions liées à la justice, aux droits humains, à la gouvernance, aux conflits, à la paix, aux réfugiés, aux ressources naturelles et à la responsabilité publique en Afrique.
Nous accueillons également les annonces concernant de nouvelles ou d'anciennes publications liées à nos domaines d'intérêt. Vous pouvez annoncer gratuitement votre publication, notamment un livre, un rapport, une étude, un article académique ou tout autre travail pertinent.
Les articles doivent être rédigés en anglais ou en français et ne doivent pas dépasser 1 500 mots.
Veuillez inclure le nom complet de l'auteur, qui sera publié avec l'article s'il est accepté.
Avant de soumettre votre article, veuillez d'abord lire nos pages du site web afin de vérifier si votre article correspond à nos priorités éditoriales, à nos thèmes et à nos domaines d'intérêt.
Si vous avez un article, un commentaire ou une annonce de publication à partager avec un public plus large, veuillez l'envoyer par email à :
africarealitiesmedia@gmail.com
Nous étudierons la possibilité de publier gratuitement les articles et annonces de publications appropriés s'ils répondent à nos critères éditoriaux, notamment la pertinence, la clarté, l'originalité, l'intérêt public, le respect des communautés concernées et l'utilisation responsable des informations et des preuves.
Les articles sont publiés tels qu'ils sont soumis s'ils répondent à nos critères et à notre politique éditoriale. Nous ne procédons pas à une modification supplémentaire de votre article avant sa publication.
Comments
Post a Comment