Citation
As the criminal government was progressively losing its military battle with the RPF-INKOTANYI, it continued to try and find every possible way to win the war comprising the purchase of weapons abroad in violation of the UN Security Council resolution banning all countries from selling weapons to Rwanda. At the same time, the government continued to encourage people to kill Tutsi who were still alive and to give the former all the means to accomplish the genocide in the near future.
1. INCREASED NUMBER OF INJURED GOVERNMENT SOLDIERS AND THE DEATH TOLL WERE CLARIFIED AS TOUGH OBSTACLES TO THE GENOCIDE IMPLEMENTATION
During the meeting on June 6, 1994, the Prime Minister summarized his remarks at a meeting with military and gendarmery high commanders which was held on June 05, 1994. One of the issues under consideration was the high number of wounded people in the military whereby they estimated the number of wounded to be more than five thousand (5000) while that of deceased since April 1994 had reached a thousand (1,000).
One of the strategies to resolve the issue was to call back soldiers who were being trained in foreign countries, however, they were also concerned about some of them who might refuse to return to Rwanda, but concluded that they should call them anyway.
The government had also discussed the issue of its soldiers who run away from the battle and concluded that the military tribunal will start operations and imprison those who escape the battle. It therefore required the establishment of military prisons in areas under the government’s control. They also reiterated that one of the reasons they were losing the battle was because of accomplices in their military and that they had to keep searching for them.
Certainly, this was a reason for them to continue killing those they did not want, including some soldiers who were not participating in the Genocide plot. Being called an accomplice of the enemy entirely meant that.
The government also endorsed another strategy concerning the battle that all armed people everywhere in the country, i.e. the Interahamwe and Impuzamugambi should be brought together and join forces to fight the RPF-INKOTANYI. It was also agreed that military training should be intensified at the Ecole superieure Militaire (ESO) which had relocated to Kigeme and at the Ecole des Sous-Officiers (ESM) in Butare. On that day, they also decided to replace Lieutenant Colonel Tharcisse MUVUNYI who was in charge of the school with Colonel MUNYENGANGO for unexpressed reasons.
Another issue discussed was about the bourgmestres who, after they become aware that the RPF-INKOTANYI forces are approaching their communes, run away and yet they have worked closely with the KAMBANDA government committing genocide from the beginning. Examples of the bourgmestres of Shyorongi, Mbogo, Kanombe and Tumba were given, and it was suggested that others who behave like that should be replaced as soon as possible. This was one of the reasons why some bourgmestres were replaced in June 1994 and were replaced by extremists who were more determined to exterminate the Tutsi who had not yet been killed.
2. KAMBANDA GOVERNMENT USED DIPLOMACY TO HIDE ITS CRIMINAL IMAGE AGAINST THE TUTSI
On June 6, 1994, a meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the African Union (OUA) was held in Tunis, Tunisia, with the purpose of preparing for the heads of States summit which was scheduled to convene on 13-15 June 1994. At various meetings of the KAMBANDA Government held in May and June 1994, it was agreed that the Government should make efforts to acquire arms and to restore its good image through diplomacy and show that it was not killing people but putting all the blame on the RPF-INKOTANYI. This was also the advice given by France to the Government of KAMBANDA at different occasions.
Let us recall that on 24 April 1994, the Government of KAMBANDA sent a delegation to France consisting of Jerome BICAMUMPAKA who was the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Jean Bosco BARAYAGWIZA who was the Director General in charge of politics and diplomacy in the same Ministry for the purpose of strengthening diplomacy. The Rwandan delegation was received in the Presidency of the French Republic by Bruno DELAYE who was the Special Adviser to President MITTERRAND in charge of Africa, the Prime Minister Edouard BALLADUR and Alain JUPPE who was the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
With regards to the military cooperation, between May 9 and 13, 1994, France received the Rwandan delegation led by Lieutenant Colonel Ephrem RWABARINDA. The delegation comprised of Colonel Sebastien NTAHOBARI who was the Rwanda military attachéat the Rwandan Embassy in France, and Lieutenant Colonel Cyprien KAYUMBA who was in charge of finance at the Ministry of Defense during the Genocide. KAYUMBA spent 27 days in France on a weapons search mission.
Among the French officials who received the Rwandan military delegation was General Jean-Pierre HUCHON, former Director General of Military Cooperation at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A mission report prepared by Lieutenant Colonel RWABARINDA regarding what was discussed during the mission, revealed that France had agreed to provide military assistance to Rwanda and advised that the Government should do its utmost to improve its image abroad.
That is why on May 22, 1994, President Theodore SINDIKUBWABO wrote a letter to the French President Francois MITTERRAND thanking him for all the support France had given to Rwanda since 1990 and urging him to increase the support, especially since the RPF-INKOTANYI forces had already taken over Kigali International Airport, Kanombe.
Based on this self-assurance, the KAMBANDA Government decided that its envoys should go around the world trying to hide that the Government was committing Genocide. It is in this context that the criminal Government envoys attended the OAU summit of Ministers and President SINDIKUBWABO attended it as the Head of State from 13 to 15 May 1994. His remarks were marked by the denial that his government was committing Genocide, declaring that the problem in Rwanda was the war that Rwanda was involved in by the RPF-INKOTANYI. His remarks were condemned by many in Tunisia as a lie. Rwandan delegates were informed at the meeting that it was already clear that the Government and its troops were killing Tutsi civilians instead of going to the military battle to fight the RPF-INKOTANYI.
CONCLUSION
The main highlight of the first days of June 1994 was the fact that the criminal government realised that it was being defeated in the war, and intensified its efforts to improve its image abroad, to search for arms, while also continuing to exterminate the Tutsi. The government had done its utmost to slander the RPF-INKOTANYI and mobilizing population and the international community to hate it, but the truth had prevailed and will always prevail.
Done at Kigali on June 6, 2020
Dr BIZIMANA Jean Damascène
Executive Secretary
National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG)
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