Defense & Foreign Affairs' Strategic Policy March, 2001 SECTION: EN CLAIRE; Pg. 3 HEADLINE: Evidence Mounts of Kagame Atrocities in Rwanda
Defense & Foreign Affairs has obtained a copy of the letter of resignation of Maj. Alphonse Furuma, a senior member of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) and Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA), to Rwandan military leader Maj.-Gen. Paul Kagame, in which he gives more than 50 pages of detailed information on crimes committed by the RPF/RPA against Rwandans. Furuma's last position was Military Assistant to the RPA Army Chief of Staff, and he had been a founder-member of the RPF/RPA in 1987. He had also served as the RPA representative to the joint Rwandan/Ugandan Command and Control Center in Kisangani, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 1999 and 2000. Maj. Furuma's document has now begun circulating among Rwandan expatriates.
Among his many allegations are the claim that the RPF/RPA security institutions were being used "to intervene in preparations for the coming elections by openly manipulating and/or intimidating the population into voting for candidates favored by the RPF/RPA leadership in Kigali. In essence, these organs have been sent to unleash terror on the population and non-RPF institutions." He said, in his letter to Kagame: "You and some of your senior Government officials, including Police and Army officers, have illegally acquired large stretches of land for modern dairy farming by displacing innocent peasants using force, intimidation, money or any other means. Some of the very many cases of complaints by peasants have been brought to you personally." He continued: "Some Ministers are on record for having deposited Ministerial funds [into] personal accounts. In record time, some of these Ministers and their business allies are busy buying and raising mansions in Kigali City and abroad."
Maj. Furuma gave details of some murders carried out by the RPF, including citing one particular case: "Former RPF Ministers and especially Seth Sendashonga could not compromise their positions. Consequently, he was forced to resign, fled to Nairobi, where he was assassinated to destroy evidence concerning deliberate Hutu killings." Furuma said: "Some of these killings which were carried out in broad daylight and witnessed by relatives and neighbors of victims were reported to you and yet most of those responsible for these crimes still hold senior Government posts and some have since been promoted. As the war resumed during the genocide, you ordered the RPA Field Engineers to launch a campaign to destroy by mining all premises; residential, commercial, or industrial, identified as belonging to Hutus. The towns of Kibungo, Kigali City, and Gitarama serve as very good examples."
Maj. Furuma noted: "When the RPF/RPA launched the offensive to stop genocide, every Hutu was assumed to be a killer. For months and from one border to another, Hutus were chased and massacred on sight." He also noted: "All along in the armed struggle, Military Intelligence, which was your personal creation and which directly reported to you, tortured and killed civilian suspects. Military Intelligence bases everywhere were associated with graves for such victims."
Significantly, Defense & Foreign Affairs was told that former US (Clinton Administration) Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Dr Susan Rice had promised Maj.-Gen. Kagame that she would continue to support him when she left the US State Department. It is known that several of her former assistants remain in the State Department and continue to support the Kagame Administration inside Rwanda.
Meanwhile, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who has now broken completely with Kagame, said on April 4, 2001, that his country would withdraw two more battalions from the DRC, where Ugandan soldiers had fought alongside rebels against Kinshasa since 1998. The Ugandan withdrawals contrast with the sustained RPA presence inside the DRC. Maj.-Gen. Kagame is aware that withdrawing Rwandan units to Rwanda would likely result in his overthrow: the RPA forces deployed into the DRC are of the French-speaking Tutsi groups, not the English-speaking, so-called "Uganda Akazu (clan)" of Kagame.
Pres. Museveni noted in Kampala: "We're going to pull out another two battalions soon, in addition to the two we pulled out recently." He did not give a date for the pullout. In March 2001, Uganda withdrew two battalions of about 726 men each from Bunia in north-eastern DRC and Gemena in the north-west. Pres. Museveni said Uganda was "very happy" with the situation in the DRC, following a meeting held in Kinshasa on April 3, 2001, between DRC President Joseph Kabila and Ugandan Foreign Minister Eriya Kategaya. By April 29, 2001, there was only one Ugandan battalion reportedly left in the DRC.
Pres. Museveni said the Kinshasa meeting, also attended by Ugandan Security Minister Muruli Mukasa and military intelligence chief Noble Mayombo, was held to try to "normalize relations with DRC". Foreign Minister Kategaya said there were plans to reopen Uganda's embassy in Kinshasa. -- Yoshie
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