Author: b_igi_adm1n

Despite thousands of 1994 Genocide deniers in USA and elsewhere in the world, U.S permanent representative to the UN Susan E. Rice has come up with what she witnessed six months after the Genocide.

Rice testified what she saw then at Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) while addressing a gathering of senior government officials, students and faculty members.

Below is the verbatim testimony extracted from her seven pages speech;

I have come to Rwanda to bear witness to the remarkable progress you have made against all odds.

Rwanda holds its own tragic place in the 20th century’s grim litany of mass violence. As you know so well, the evil of genocide came swiftly, home by home, in the form of men with machetes, calls to murder hissed out over transistor radios, lists of innocents for slaughter. Deliberate, direct cruelties that still leave us shocked and shaken.

Rwanda did not suffer from so-called “ancient hatreds.” It suffered from modern demagogues: from the ex-FAR, the Interahamwe, Radio Mille Collines. It suffered from those who were willing to kill in the name of difference, from those who saw division and death as the path to power.

And it suffered from the indifference of neighbors, international institutions, and individual governments – including my own – that failed to act in the face of a vast, unfolding evil.

Tomorrow, I will take my husband and two children to the genocide memorial here in Kigali, so they can experience what I have learned in my prior visits.

We will pay our respects both to those forever lost and to the brave survivors, who challenge us all even to comprehend their enduring sacrifices and extraordinary strength.

Today, I am here as an American ambassador. But I also will speak for myself, from my heart. I visited Rwanda for the very first time in December 1994, six months after the genocide ended.

I was a young Director on the National Security Council staff at the White House, accompanying the then-National Security Advisor, Anthony Lake.

I was responsible then for issues relating to the United Nations and peacekeeping. And needless to say, we saw first-hand the spectacular consequences of the poor decisions taken by those countries, including my own and yours, that were then serving on the United Nations Security Council.

I will never forget the horror of walking through a church and an adjacent schoolyard where one of the massacres had occurred.

Six months later, the decomposing bodies of those who had been so cruelly murdered still lay strewn around what should have been a place of peace.

For me, the memory of stepping around and over those corpses will remain the most searing reminder imaginable of what humans can do to one another.

Those images stay with me in the work I do today, ensuring that I can never forget how important it is for all of us to prevent genocide from recurring.

Here, after three long months, the genocide finally ended. But the destruction was hardly over. Up to a million dead.

Another million refugees scattered across borders, including thousands of genocidaire eager to resume battle.

Zaire was their rear base, and the refugees in UN-supported camps were their hostages. Rwanda, according to the World Bank, in just a few months had become the poorest country on earth.

And within a few short years, it sent forces into neighboring Congo. “Africa’s first world war,” as it was called, claimed millions more lives from battle and disease.

Yet, even as war still raged, another story was beginning to play itself out. The people and the new government envisioned a different Rwanda, one where reconciliation replaced division, where healing helped salve deep wounds, where self-sufficiency could eventually defeat despair.

Having endured the worst, you nonetheless aspired for the best.

First, you worked to address the past, so your future could come sooner. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda is finally winding down.

Gacaca courts, adapting traditional justice practices to the overwhelming task of separating the innocent from the small fish, and the small fish from the most guilty planners and perpetrators, brought a measure of justice and reconciliation.

Many former ex-FAR-Interahamwe militants have been reintegrated into society.

Though much more remains to be done, the processing of cases, the commuting of sentences to community service, and the building of new jails have combined to reduce the number of prisoners by half over the past decade.

The speech read in parts.

Ends

President of Republic of Congo-Brazaville Denis Sassou Nguesso who has been in the country for a three days state visit, has left Rwanda heading to his country after promising farther relations between both countries.

Before leaving the country, Sassou Nguesso addressed the press in a joint press conference with his counterpart President Paul Kagame, organized by president’s office.

Sassou Nguesso said that his country will abide by the international law to respect cessation clause which puts an end on refugee status given to Rwandans in the world.

Cessation clause has been adopted by UNHCR due to no reasons in Rwanda that qualify one to seek for refugee status.

“We are going to sensitise Rwandan refugees in our country to return home voluntary and we work closely with UNHCR and we will follow the international law when the deadline for their refugee status comes,” Sassou Nguesso said in a joint press conference.

Both heads of state agreed to leave all options open to give opportunities to the population of both countries to benefit from the cooperation saying that there is no limit to what can be done jointly.

The heads of state also commented on African development saying that the continent no longer wait for solutions from international community, in spite of existing weaknesses as a result of low capacities.

President Sassou N’Guesso said that if you look at the recent past, African nations, through the African Union have been actively involved in finding solutions for problems that have been affecting the continent, citing peacekeeping in Darfur, Somalia and the AU involvement to find solutions for the Libyan crisis.

“It is an exaggeration to suggest that Africa is not united because it is evident that Africa is now moving forward as a continent and taking its position in global affairs. We now voice our global interests as a continent, like we did during the climate change Summit. Africa is getting organised.” Sassou Nguesso said.

Commenting on the recent developments in Libya where the late President Gaddafi’s son, Seif Al-Islam was arrested, President Kagame said that since the alleged crimes were committed in Libya and against Libyans, as a sovereign state Libya deserves to try him.

“Considering what Libya has gone through and may not have the capacity to try the case, the Libyan people should be able to look for other options, like combining local and international efforts to implement justice.” Kagame said.

President Kagame said that the continent did not wish to see more problems in the Democratic Republic of Congo beyond what is already there and wished that whoever the winner of the upcoming elections should be, should aim at ameliorating and not escalating the situation and ensure peace and stability for the people.

In a Joint Communiqué read by the Rwandan foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo and signed by both foreign affairs Ministers, the two Heads of State made a commitment to strengthen cooperation in areas of commerce, environment and natural resources, tourism, judiciary, air transport and public service reforms.

At a regional level, the two Heads of State made a commitment to follow closely the evolution of the DR Congo elections and noted that the International Heads of State Summit for the Great Lakes Sub-region scheduled for Kampala on December 25 would be good opportunity to revisit the security situation in the region.

The two Heads of State also committed to fight all negative forces operating in the region and condemned FDLR and LRA militias and other negative forces bent on destabilising the region.

Ends

After guided and explained visual findings of 1994 Genocide at Kigali Genocide Memorial Site,the President of the Republic of Congo-Brazaville Denis Sassou Nguesso called upon African leaders to join efforts in saving their population from human atrocities.

“What I saw from the memorial leaves me almost speechless. I am emotionally disturbed by the horror that befell this country,” Sassou Nguesso said at the memorial Site.

“As an African political leader, it’s a pity that we face such problems; Africa lacks preventive measures, it is upon us to ensure that we protect out land from such tragedies,” he added.

Sassou Nguesso said that the kind of atrocity that befell Rwanda can take place in another country if not prevented therefore called for the never again doctrine.

“I visited the section of child-victims in the memorial, it’s unbelievable how ruthless people became and it also unbelievable how Rwanda has moved on tremendously.”

After visiting the Memorial Site, Sassou Nguesso also visited the top beverage company Inyange industries where he vowed to begin looking at how its products can be exported to his country.

He however advised that infrastructural development was highly needed to boost such investments in the country.

President Sassou Nguesso is in the country on a three-day state reciprocal visit after his counterpart Paul Kagame visited his country last November.

Ends