Charles Auguste Onana, 60, a French-Cameroonian political scientist, investigative journalist, historian, essayist, author, and publisher has marked history in 2024. Over the year 2024, Charles Onana became a major focus of world media during a trial widely labelled a political scheme and denounced for targeting the activist and investigator journalist. In fact, Charles Onana's trial has put a focus on the systematic massacres, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and alleged genocide committed by Rwandan Patriotic Front in Rwanda and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, led by Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame’s RPF. The verdict is expected on December 9, 2024. Regardless of the outcome, whether a guilt or an acquittal, Charles Onana has changed history and is considered as a hero, a voice for the voiceless people in the African Great Lakes Region.
Charles Auguste Onana, was born on February 18, 1964. A Black Man from France, Europe, but originally from Cameroon, Africa, he is well known for his remarkable political analysis, investigative journalism work, and publications on civil wars, war crimes, genocides, and looting of natural resources in Africa, especially in the Great Lakes of Africa, including the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, and Uganda.
A graduate of Sorbonne University, Onana obtained a Ph.D. in political science in 2017 from Jean Moulin University Lyon 3, with a doctoral thesis titled in French "Rwanda : l'opération Turquoise et la controverse médiatique (1994–2014), or "Rwanda: Opération Turquoise and the Media Controversy (1994–2014).
Charles Onana has also published works on African geopolitics, international conflicts, and African dictators, especially focusing on the Rwanda-Congo civil wars involving the long term Rwandan dictator and ruler General Paul Kagame.
In his thesis, later published as book in October 2019 by Éditions du Toucan and titled "Rwanda: The Truth about Operation Turquoise - When the Archives Speak"", Charles Onana uncovers hidden or overlooked truth for decades, based on archives and secret documents of the Pentagon, the Elysee, and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
This research has put him at the forefront of the media reports and made him the target of some organizations, some of which have been accused by activists, media, and investigators of allegedly working for African dictators.
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Charles Auguste Onana: A Challenging and Active Voice for the Voiceless in the African Great Lakes Region
Charles Onana's work has focused on term "genocide" used to qualify the tragic events that took place in Rwanda.
Specifically, Charles Onana’s writings have challenged the controversial dominant narrative about the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which millions of Rwandan Tutsi and Hutu civilians were systematically murdered. Contrally to the promoted narrative focusing on only one ethnic group and promoting the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) rebels that took power in Rwanda following the genocide, Charles Onana has provided a different narrative in his writings. He has argued that the RPF committed significant systematic massacres targeting the Hutu ethnic group and the Tutsi who were living in Rwandam , atrocities and war crimes during and after the genocide. He has also raised controversial questions about the role of Western powers in the on-going conflicts in the Africa Great Lakes Region .
Hence, challenging the on-going narrative, that is viewed as a propaganda, Charles Onana has affirmed that the Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame has planned, put into action, and executed the massacre of Tutsis and Hutus in Rwanda. Charles Onana has also affirmed, based on his investigations and secret decuments, that Paul Kagame and the RPF are behind the assassination of Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira, having shot down the plane carrying them and their closest aides on April 6, 1994.
Some of his analyses have been confirmed by Western officials, former leaders of RPF and world renown peace activists such as Nobel Price winner Dr Dennis Mukwege. During the trial, credible and expert witnesses from various background confirmed the findings by Charles Onana. The witnesses included senior officers from the French army, former lawyers at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, UN Peacekeepers commander in Rwanda, Rwandan political opposition leaders during and after the Rwandan civil war, and many more.
On April 7, 2024 US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, wrote on X that "The United States stands with the people of Rwanda .... remembering the victims of genocide. We mourn the many thousands of Tutsis, Hutus, Twas, and others whose lives were lost durring 100 days of unspeakable violence"
On September 14, 2016, Theogene Rudasingwa, a former Secretary General of the RPF, the Private Adviser to General Paul Kagame when he became president and the first ambassador to United States for the RPF government issued a statement confirming the findings by Charles Onana, stating:
"Since 1994, Rwanda and the international community invested tremendous resources in acknowledging, documenting, remembering and bringing to justice the perpetrators of the genocide against Tutsi. Sadly, though well documented by the international community and known by the victims, there has never been an acknowledgement that the crimes committed against the Rwandan Hutu fully satisfy the definition of genocide according to the Genocide Convention of 1948."
See more statements from various independent political analysts in "Disappointed, But Still Standing: Are Rwandans Building their Nation on a Rock or Sinking Sand?""
Based on the impact of his journalist investigations, researches and publications organizations, allegedly working for the Rwandan government dictator Paul accused Charles Onana, French courts indicted Charles Onana in January 2022, following complaints filed in 2020 by the non-governmental organizations accusing him of denial of crimes against humanity in his book. He was put on trial in October 2024.
The trial was held in the 17th chamber of Paris Criminal Court between October 7 - 11 2024. The rationale for the trial has been contested by two Nobel Peace Prize laureates, Denis Mukwege, and Adolfo Pérez Esquivel.
A few days before the trial, on October 4, 2024, Charles Onana filed a complaint with the Paris public prosecutor against the Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame, for "public threats" targeting his life.
Also during his trial, Charles Onana argued that the motives and dynamics behind the trial are fueled by his revelations about Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame’s invasion and looting of mineral riches in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. His views are widely shared and supported by organizations, activists and independent analysts and many humanitarian figures including Dr. Denis Mukwege, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who has, in his public support for Charles Onana, labelled the legal proceedings against Charles Onana as a “Trial of Shame” for France.
In a post in social media on October 8, 2024, Dr Denis Mukwege said: "The trial against political scientist and investigative journalist Charles Onana opened yesterday before the Paris High Court. Prosecuting a man [Charles Onana] who documents and denounces the crimes committed in the DRC with total impunity during the deadliest conflict since the Second World War, listed in part by the Mapping report published by the UN 14 years ago, while the sponsors of these crimes are entitled to a red carpet during their visit to Paris, brings shame to France, often presented as the country where human rights are a priority. Let us hope that this politicized trial will not lead to further injustice. We express our support for Mr. Charles Onana: the truth always triumphs in the end. The Congolese people who resist and survive the barbarism of the African Great Lakes region are with you."
Up to now, the eyes are focused on the outcome, expected on December 9, 2024, of the historic judgment of an known activist and researcher, with the implications will be far reaching.
Charles Onana's trial has put a focus on the systematic massacres, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and alleged genocide committed by Rwandan Patriotic Front led by Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame’s RPF.
Hence, Charles Onana, initially just a political scientist, a historian, a journalist investigator, and an author has become a hero who put a focus on the hidden truth about the tragedy that has been going on in the African Great Lakes Region for more than 3 decades. Before and during the trial he has proved to be resilient, full of integrity and ready to face an challenge against the search of truth.
©AfroAmerica Network, 2024
