Résumé
Human Rights Watch/Africa issues statement condemning April 12, 1994 call for violence and RTLM's daily broadcasts. The NGO calls for the protection of "terrorized civilians" who have sought refuge and underlines the planned nature of the murders, which constitute crimes against humanity. She further warns that the violence of the last ten days in Rwanda cannot simply be described as anarchy or tribal conflict. The statement finally confirms that Monique Mujawamariya is alive and fled Rwanda, just like Alphonse-Marie Nkubito, while deploring the murders and disappearances of several other human rights defenders.
Citation
Alison Des Forges (716) 881-2758
Susan Osnos (212) 972-2257
Holly Burkhalter (202) 371-6592
(New York, NY) April 15, 1994 - Human Rights Watch/Africa (formerly Africa Watch) has learned that national radio broadcasts in Rwanda continue to incite bloodshed. On April 12, such a call for violence was issued by the Rwandan Ministry of Defense; the Coalition pour la Defense de la Republique (CDR) political party broadcasts such messages daily over Radio des Milles Collines Authorities responsible for these radio stations should immediately halt such incitements to violence. Human Rights Watch/Africa condemns in the strongest possible terms the slaughter of thousands of defenseless Rwandans by the Presidential Guard, the militia attached to the Mouvement Nationale Republicain pour la Democracie et le Developprnent (MRND) and CDR political parties, and soldiers of the Rwandan armed forces.
The international laws of war forbid attacks on defenseless civilians. Human Rights Watch/Africa calls upon Colonel Alexis Kanyarengwe, President of the Rwandese Patriotic Front, and the Commanders of the Rwandan Army, to order their troops to respect this prohibition. Even in time of war, Article 3 common to the four Geneva Conventions, prohibits violence to the life and person of non-combatants and prohibits the summary execution of such persons. Given the scale of the civilian massacre already committed, it is essential that military commanders take full responsibility for the conduct of their troops and to enforce strict discipline among them.
Human Rights Watch/Africa is especially concerned now for those terrorized civilians who have taken refuge in a stadium in Kigali (6,500), in King Faisal Hospital (5,000), in the Milles Collines Hotel (300) and in churches and other public buildings. In addition to the danger of direct attack, they are suffering from a lack of food and water.
Furthermore, the international co1mnunity must be alert to the impending catastrophe in the camps that housed some 800,000 persons prior to the disastrous events of last week. These displaced persons, some refugees from earlier stages of the conflict in Rwanda, some refugees from fighting in neighboring Burundi, depend upon international food assistance to stay alive. Such assistance was being provided by a number of programs staffed by expatriates. With the departure of all foreigners and the spread of violence within Rwanda, these programs will come to a halt. The persons in these camps will be drlven to looting in an effort to survive, causing further killing, or they will simply die of starvation.
Human Rights Watch/Africa believes that the massacres in Kigali and elsewhere in Rwanda constitute crimes against humanity. Once a legitimate government is established in the country, one of its first priorities must be accountability for those responsible for the bloodshed, conducted in an orderly fashion, with all guarantees of due process. Until that time, arbitrary reprisals must not be permitted.
Human Rights Watch/Africa cautions that the violence of the last ten days in Rwanda cannot simply be dismissed as anarchy or tribal conflict. Organized killings, hinted at well before the plane crash that killed the Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi on April 6, lie behind the generalized carnage. Key leaders as well as ordinary members of opposition political parties have been summarily executed or have disappeared. Human rights activists critical of government abuses have also been targeted.
Two weeks before the killings began, the outstanding human rights monitor Monique Mujawamariya alerted Human Rights Watch to the impending violence: "For the last two weeks, all of Kigali has lived under the threat of an instantaneous, carefully-prepared operation to eliminate all those who give trouble to President Habyarimana. [Army] officers who support him have trained 1700 young people of his party militia. They have guns and grenades." A highly placed government official contacted Human Rights Watch to warn that Habyarimana and his inner circle were about to resume the war with the RPF to provide an excuse for eliminating the opposition.
In the weeks before the killings, the radio station operated by supporters of President Habyarimana spewed forth daily hate broadcasts. Madame Mujawamariya was denounced as "a bad patriot who deserved to die." Others attacked ail who supported opposition political parties or Tutsi, the minority people who make up about 15 percent of the population.
Madame Mujawamariya, feared dead last week, has in fact escaped Rwanda, as has Alphonse-Marie Nkubito, founder and first president of the Association Rwandaise pour la Defense des Droits de l'Homme. Human Rights Watch/Africa deplores the killing of other human rights activists, including Father Chrysologue Mahame, S.J. and Abbe Augustin Ntagara. Human Rights Watch is concerned for the safety of many others, such as Charles Shamukiga, last seen in the custody of Presidential Guards last week, Bernadette Kanzayire and Innocent Mazimpaka.
