15.11.05

RWANDA/GENOCIDE/BOOK REVIEW - KAGAME ORDERED SHOOTING DOWN OF HABYARIMANA’S PLANE-RUZIBIZA

Arusha, November 14th, 2005 (FH) - The major allegation in a book entitled “Rwanda. L’histoire secrete” by Lieutenant Abdul Ruzibiza, recently published, is that the current Rwandan president, Paul Kagame, ordered the shooting down of a plane carrying former president Juvenal Habyarimana on April 6, 1994 thereby triggering off the genocide.

“It is him who gave the order to shoot down the plane”, firmly says 35-year old Ruzibiza – a defector from the former rebel Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) now in power in Kigali.

Ruzibiza claims to have been a member of the “network commando” which shot down the plane.

His book published by editions Panama in Paris is a war diary that retraces “the October war day by day” and the ensuing atrocities committed by different factions especially members of the RPF.

The armed conflict which took place in Rwanda between October 1990 and July 1994 was christened the “October War”.

Nearly all books on the Rwandan genocide gave a wide coverage to human rights violations committed by the government side but very little has been documented in the zone controlled by the RPF.

As an “insider”, Ruzibiza was on many fronts and had first hand information on what went on in the “liberated” zones where the population was huddled together and killed en masse.

Ruzibiza does not hesitate to use the term “genocide of Hutus” and according to him, the rebel high command “had given orders to commanders of different units and intelligence officers to kill as many Hutus as possible especially if they were found grouped together”.

The author considers April 1994 “the worst month in the history of Rwanda”. Apart from the massive genocide of Tutsis, “a large number of Hutu citizens were massacred because of a crime not all of them committed; that of having exterminated Tutsis”.

Ruzibiza is quick to warn those who might be tempted to misinterpret his book to forward the “double genocide” theory. “It should not be understood that way. The Genocide of Hutus should neither be blamed on Tutsis nor that of Tutsis on Hutus. The gravity of these crimes surpasses ethnic dimensions. Those who committed these crimes are savages who should individually answer for them”.

All specialists on Rwanda agree that the systematic massacres that took place in Rwanda between April and July 1994 were triggered off by the assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana on the night of April 6, 1994.

Grabbing power

Of the 491 pages in the book, Ruzibiza narrates in 15 pages details of the preparation of the air attack and points out the authors. According to him, Paul Kagame chaired many meetings to plan the assassination, the last of which was held at the RPF headquarters in Mulindi (Byumba, northern Rwanda) on March 31, 1994.

Many of Kagame’s associates were present, among them Colonels Kayumba Nyamwasa, Theoneste Lizinde and Lieutenant Colonel James Kabarebe.

In Ruzibiza’s opinion, Habyarimana’s death “was not an answer to Rwanda’s ills but a way to grab power”.

The author continues that the RPF first considered shooting Habyarimana “at close range on the route” but that that option was abandoned because he had reduced his travel by road.

The only remaining possibility was shooting down his plane. RPF then decided to transport to Kigali SA-16 missiles from the Ugandan arsenal. They could shoot the plane as it landed at Kigali airport.

The RPF managed to smuggle the missiles into Kigali by hoodwinking the Ghanaian contingent of the UN peacekeepers.

The weapon “was chosen because of its power, speed, and preheating which took less time”.

Habyarimana “was almost killed on April 5, 1994 as he returned from Zaire, but it was not possible to place the missiles at the site in broad daylight”.

The right occasion came up the next day when the president was returning from Dar es Salaam. He arrived over Kigali as night was falling.

Missiles had been placed on Masaka hill. Lizinde, a former officer in the Rwandan army, had picked out the spot.

The attack was carried out by two gunmen, a soldier who was deployed to protect them and a driver.

“The first person to fire, Captain Eric Hakizimana, touched the plane on its right wing but without bringing it down. 2nd Lieutenant Frank Nziza sent the next missile flying 3-4 seconds later and shot down the plane”.

“I am an eye witness to what took place when the SA-16 was fired because I was present”, writes Ruzibiza.

After the attack, soldiers of the RPF who had been readied in advance were assembled to immediately launch attacks which culminated in the fall of Kigali on July 4, 1994.

KN/AT

© Hirondelle News Agency