October 25, 2009

H.E. Jean-Maurice Ripert

Permanent Representative to the UN, France

H.E. Philip Parham

Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, UK

Dr. Susan Rice

Permanent Representative to the UN,   USA

H.E. Vitaly Churkin
Permanent Representative to the UN, Russia Federation

H.E. Mr. Zhang Yesui

Permanent Representative to the UN, Popular Republic of China

H.E. Mr. Ban Ki-Moon

Secretary General,  Nations Unies

Professor Ronald Kenneth Noble

Secretary General, INTERPOL

Fax: +33 (0)4 72 44 71 63

Ref:  INTERPOL risks to become an instrument of the Rwandan judiciary run amok.

Fifteen years after the 1994 Rwandan tragedy, arrests by INTERPOL of Rwandan refugees and exiled Rwandans accused of genocide by the Kigali regime are extensively chronicled in the world mass media. These people were arrested at the request of courts setup to serve the political interests of the ruling clique in Rwanda. This phenomenon has recently gained momentum under the peculiar indifference of the International Community.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC), a coalition between the Rally for Unity and Democracy (RUD-Urunana) and the Rally of the Rwandan People (RPR)is sounding an alarm.  We are calling on the leaders of INTERPOL and appeals to their vigilance to dismiss requests, especially the politically and ethnically motivated arrest warrants issued by the regime in Kigali, that would undermine the otherwise positive image of this reputable institution.

The international arrest warrants issued by the Rwandan judiciary system have nothing to do with the tragedy of 1994 that befell the Rwandan people. These arrest warrants are a veiled form of persecution, annihilation, and subjugation of the Hutu majority and manipulation and isolation of ethnic Tutsis. The issuance of these warrants is a disturbing phenomenon schemed up by the clique in power in Rwanda to consolidate the state of lawlessness and terrorism against its political opponents. It is a headlong rush of criminals within the Rwandan regime who are wanted by the French and Spanish judiciary systems. These criminals use the otherwise credible international legal tools, such as the INTERPOL, to perpetuate their policy of terror against all those who have fled their repression. Indeed, it is surprising that these criminals within the Rwandan government, who are charged with the gravest crimes by the official courts of France and Spain, are not on the list of persons wanted by INTERPOL. Why does INTERPOL seem to turn a blind eye when it comes to criminals wanted by the French and Spanish courts? Do INTERPOL leaders realize that, by executing the warrants from a criminal government, they may become a de facto partner in the harassment, persecution and repression of Rwandan refugees accused by a regime setup and formed by known criminals?

The Rwandan courts render justice that aims at destroying and enslaving forever much of the Rwandan population, from all ethnic groups. That's the true and sinister political ideology behind the courts labelled “Gacaca”. On April 11, 2009, in an article published in Los Angeles Times and titled: “The power of horror in Rwanda”, Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth wrote:

“One tool of repression has been the gacaca courts … which the government established at the community level to try alleged perpetrators of the genocide. … the law outlawing "genocide ideology" is written so broadly that it can encompass even the most innocuous comments. As many Rwandans have discovered, disagreeing with the government or making unpopular statements can easily be portrayed as genocide ideology, punishable by sentences of 10 to 25 years. That leaves little political space for dissent.”

In Rwanda, the Gacaca courts and the law on "genocide ideology" target a single ethnic group: the Hutus. The purpose of these two law enforcement instruments is to maintain the two ethnic groups - Hutus and Tutsis - in fear and mutual distrust. Inside Rwanda, the “Gacaca” courts are regarded as a tool of annihilation and enslavement of Hutus and terrorization and manipulation of Tutsis. The accused are Hutus who are tried and convicted not because they have necessarily committed genocide but most of the times because either they have a certain level of education that enables them to ask questions about the injustice suffered by the people, or they own properties coveted by members of the ruling elite. The accusers are from one ethnic group and are themselves used as pawns by members of the ruling clique. The judges are, too, from one ethnic group. The witnesses, who are allowed to testify, are rigorously  selected by the authority with the specific instructions to recite the script assigned to them by the members of the ruling clique. This is the context in which “justice” is administered in Rwanda: a system of repression against the Hutus, and which exploits the members of the Tutsi ethnic group, with the aim to enslave the Rwandan people as a whole.

Fifteen years after the tragedy, the Rwandan regime perpetuates, through this system of repression "Gacaca" and "genocidal ideology", the persecution and massacres of innocent civilians, hence, generates the uninterrupted flow of Rwandans fleeing the country. The latest flow of refugees recently crossed into Burundi in the hundreds. From the perspective of the leaders in Kigali, being a political opponent or fleeing the dictatorship and tyranny of the regime is itself a crime of genocide.

It is obvious that most of the arrest warrants issued by Kigali are not based on facts; they are rather the result of lies and fabrications. The question we can ask is whether the INTERPOL should execute orders based on lies and fabrications just because they are issued by a state, even if that state flouts the basic individual rights and abuses the human rights of its citizens. What right and moral authority the Rwandan regime has to use the services of the INTERPOL when the regime holds in contempt the justice rendered by other nations, including those deemed civilized and advanced in the respect of human rights (such as France and Spain)?

We believe that the International Community, that created the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to judge crimes related to genocide and other crimes against humanity,  should sound the alarm to request that only the warrants to be executed by the INTERPOL in connection with the  1994 Rwandan tragedy only emanate from the ICTR, that we recognize as the legitimate avenue for such cases. We take this opportunity to urge the International Community not to rush the closure before the ICTR has arrested, brought before the Court, and prosecuted the officials within the Kigali regime  for the crimes they committed.

Sincerely,

Felicien Kanyamibwa, PhD,

President

National Democratic Congress (NDC)

New York, October 25, 2009