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Latest News

International Criminal Court Frees Rwandan For Lack of Evidence

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has released a Rwandan rebel leader after judges ruled there was not enough evidence against him.

Callixte Mbarushimana, a Hutu rebel leader, had denied ordering his fighters to kill and rape civilians in 2009.

Mr Mbarushimana, a spokesman for the FDLR movement, is the first suspect brought to the court to be freed.

Earlier this month, the court said that “there was not sufficient evidence to establish substantial grounds” to believe that he could be held criminally responsible.

ICTR reduces sentences for Rwandan officials

A U.N. tribunal has reduced sentences for two former Rwandan military officials who were convicted of genocide during one of the court’s most significant verdicts.

The Tanzania-based court said Wednesday it overturned several convictions against former Rwandan Ministry of Defense director Col. Theoneste Bagosora. The court reduced his life sentence to 35 years. Bagosora had been sentenced in 2008 at the age of 67.

The court also reduced the life sentence of former military commander Anatole Nsengiyumva to 15 years and released him for time served.

The court did not reverse either man’s genocide conviction.

More than half a million members of the Tutsi ethnic minority and moderates from the Hutu majority were slaughtered during the 100-day genocide in 1994.

Rwandan Journalist Killed In Uganda

A Rwandan journalist living as a political refugee in Uganda has been shot dead, police say.

Charles Ingabire was gunned down in a bar in Kampala on Wednesday, but details are only now emerging. He was editor of Inyenyeri News, an online publication critical of the government of Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

Several critics of Mr Kagame have been attacked or killed in recent years. The government denies any responsibility.

Kagame to be keynote speaker at genocide conference

Kagame will be traveling to Northern California this week to give a keynote speech on Thursday, November 3rd, at a conference on genocide at Sacramento State University. 

Link to KPFA story

Kagame Sparked 1994 Genocide

A former ally of Rwandan President Paul Kagame has accused him of complicity in the death of a former president which sparked the 1994 genocide.

Theogene Rudasingwa said he heard Mr Kagame boast in 1994 that he ordered the shooting down of the plane carrying President Juvenal Habyarimana.

“By committing that kind of crime Kagame has the responsibility in the crime of genocide,” he told the BBC.

Read all news stories in the News Archive

Discussion

Former Chief of Staff: Kagame killed Habyarimana and Ntaryamira

Posted on December 1, 2011

The Confession of Former Kagame Chief of Staff, Dr. Theogene Rudesingwa:

On August 4, 1993, in Arusha, Tanzania, the Government of Rwanda and the Rwandese Patriotic Front signed the Arusha Peace Agreement [which]….included a commitment to principles of the rule of law, democracy, national unity, pluralism, the respect of fundamental freedoms and the rights of the individual.

The agreement further had provisions on power-sharing, formation of one and single National Army and a new National Gendarmerie [national police] from forces of the two warring parties; and a definitive solution to the problem of Rwandan refugees. On April 6, 1994, at 8:25 p.m., the Falcon 50 jet of the President of the Republic of Rwanda, registration number “ 9XR-NN, ” on its return from a summit meeting in DAR-ES-SALAAM, Tanzania, as it was on approach to Kanombe International Airport in KIGALI, Rwanda, was shot down.

All on board, including President Juvenal Habyarimana, President Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi, their entire entourage and flight crew died. The death of President Juvenal Habyarimana triggered the start of genocide that targeted Tutsi and Hutu moderates, and the resumption of civil war between RPF and the Government of Rwanda. The RPF’s sad and false narrative from that time on has been that Hutu extremists within President Habyarimana’s camp shot down the plane to derail the implementation of the Arusha Peace Agreement and to find a pretext to start the genocide in which over 800,000 Rwandans died in just 100 days….

The truth must now be told. Paul Kagame, then overall commander of the Rwandese Patriotic Army, the armed wing of the Rwandese Patriotic Front, was personally responsible for the shooting down of the plane. Continue reading…

Rwanda Truth and Reconciliation Roundtable

Posted on November 24, 2011

Mutual Acceptance of Responsibility -
The Way Forward

Speakers:

Paul Rusesabagina, honored for saving Hutus and Tutsis alike during the Rwandan Genocide
Robert Flaten, Former U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda
Professor Peter Erlinder, UN‐ICTR Lead Defense Counsel
Special guest TBA for security reasons

Moderated by Dr. Ali Galayd, Former Prime Minister of Somalia

4:00 PM ‐ 6:00 PM
William Mitchell College of Law, 875 Summit Avenue, St. Paul
Open to local students and faculty members with valid ID
Conference will be streamed live ‐ register at reconcileconference@gmail.com for video link.

Downloadable flyer for Rwanda Truth and Reconciliation Roundtable

Paul Rusesabagina of Hotel Rwanda to Speak at WMCL

Posted on November 23, 2011

Paul Rusesabagina, the real life hero of the acclaimed film Hotel Rwanda, will speak at William Mitchell College of Law from 1 to 3 pm Monday, Nov. 28. His speech, “Human Rights, Democracy, and Dictatorship: The Rwanda Experience,” is free and open to the public.

Mr. Rusesabagina served as manager of the Hotel des Mille Collines in Kigali and bravely risked his life to shelter Hutus and Tutsis who were seeking refuge from the genocide that killed more than 800,000 people during a 100-day period in 1994.
Continue reading…

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