During the commemoration of the 30 Years anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, the US Government leaders have expressed their empathy towards and solidarity with the Rwandan people, regardless of their ethnic group. Reacting to US Government leaders' statements, Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame publicly expressed his concern that the US Government has included victims of the 1994 tragedy from all ethnic groups. His comments have shocked the world, especially given the indisputable facts on the genocide committed in Rwanda in 1994. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron has maintained his position that France has responsibility but was not an accomplice in the Rwandan massacres. Moreover, former RPF top leaders have reinforced their testimony that the RPF army was responsible of the assassination of late Rwandan President General Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira, an event which became the catalyst of the Rwandan genocide..
From 1990, Rwanda was rocked by a bloody civil war that culminated in a genocide in 1994, following the assassination of the late Rwandan President General Juvénal Habyarimana.
Assassination of late Rwandan President General Juvénal Habyarimana: A Catalyst of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide
On the evening of April 6, 1994, late Rwandan President General Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira were assassinated. The assassination was the catalyst for unprecedented ethnically based massacres. At the end of the massacres, millions of Rwandans, from Hutu, Tutsi and Twa ethnic groups were massacred. According to estimates by several sources, the Rwandan genocide claimed close to a million people from the 3 ethnic groups, Hutu, and Twa.
The assassination of the presidents and the massacres that followed set off a regional humanitarian catastrophe whose consequences are felt even today, 30 years later.
According to multiple reports, independent investigations, and testimonies from the top leadership of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, the assassination was committed the rebel army of the currently Rwandan ruling elite known as Rwandan Patriotic Front. Some testimonies came from the co-founder of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) and then head of military intelligence and former chief of staff of the RPA, Lt Gen. Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa and former Secretary General Dr Theogene Rudasingwa. (see: Remembering Assassination of Presidents Juvenal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira: 30 Years Later, Still No Justice) and (Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) Military Leaders Committed Genocide Against Hutus, States Former RPF Top Leader Dr Theogene Rudasingwa).
In the years that followed the genocide and war crimes spilled over in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), then known as Zaire, where it has claimed millions of lives, mostly Congolese civilians and Rwandan refugees. Most of those killed in the DRC were children and women. Based on estimates from the NGOs, experts, and, most importantly, the United Nations, the assassination of Juvenal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira has led to more than 10 million deaths, so far.
30 Years later following the assassination, the US Government leaders, including President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, have expressed their empathy and solidarity with the Rwandan people, regardless of their ethnic group as people from all the three ethnic groups, Hutu, Tutsis, and Twa, have been killed and have suffered, and experience loss and pain.
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US Leaders Express Empathy and Remember Victims From All Ethnic Groups.
On Sunday April 7, 2024, US President Joe Biden issued a statement saying, “...30 years ago, a brutal and systematic campaign of slaughter began in Rwanda. In the 100 days that followed, more than 800,000 women, men, and children were murdered. Most were ethnic Tutsis; some were Hutus and Twa people. It was a methodical mass extermination, turning neighbor against neighbor, and decades later, its repercussions are still felt across Rwanda and around the world. ... the United States stands with the people of Rwanda in their grief. We honor the victims who died senselessly and the survivors who courageously rebuilt their lives. And we commend all Rwandans who have contributed to reconciliation and justice efforts, striving to help their nation bind its wounds, heal its trauma, and build a foundation of peace and unity. Those efforts continue to this day.
We will never forget the horrors of those 100 days, the pain and loss suffered by the people of Rwanda, or the shared humanity that connects us all, which hate can never overcome.”
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken posted on social media X: "The United States stands with the people of Rwanda during Kwibuka 30 in remembering the victims of genocide. We mourn the many thousands of Tutsis, Hutus, Twas, and others whose lives were lost during 100 days of unspeakable violence."
Both US President Joe Biden's statement and Anthony Blinken's posts were vividly attacked by Rwandan government leaders and agents, some publicly, but mostly under the cover of social media pseudonyms.
Reacting to US Government leaders' statements, Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame publicly expressed his concern that the US Government has, with Tutsis, included Hutus and Twa among the victims of the 1994 tragedy.
His comments have shocked the world, especially given that indisputable facts on the crimes committed in Rwanda in 1994 and that in his speech while attending an event in the USA, General Paul Kagame finally admitted that the rebel troops he was in charge of in 1990 Rwandan civil war committed war crimes and crimes of genocide against other ethnic groups at the unseen scale. However, this may not be a surprise, as even throughout that speech he only mentioned the Tutsi ethnic group, and ignored the qualification of other ethnic groups, known as Hutu and Twa (see: USA: Rwandan Dictator Paul Kagame Avoided by US Government Leaders During National Prayer Breakfast)
Statements by French President Emmanuel Macron and Form RPF Leaders .
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron has also refused to retract his statement regarding the role of the French army in the Rwandan genocide insisting that he has acknowledged France’s responsibility in Rwanda but that France was not an accomplice in the massacres. In the pre-recorded video that aired on Sunday April 7, 2024, French President Macro said: " I think I said everything on May 27, 2021 when I was with you. I have no word to add, no word to take away from what I told you that day.. We have all abandoned hundreds of thousands of victims to this infernal closed door. "
On May 27, 2021, President Emmanuel Macron made a speech in which he acknowledged France’s responsibility in “moment so important and so cruel” of the Rwandan history but said that France was not an accomplice in the massacre.
At the same times, a former RPF leader hava issued statement confirming that RPF leaders assassinated President General Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira and RPF targeted and massacred millions of Hutus during and after the Rwandan genocide.
In a statement dated on April 6, 2024, former Secretary General of RPF, Dr Theogene Rudasingwa, now a refugee in the USA, said: "Today, thirty years ago, I attended a Pan-African Movement conference in Kampala, Uganda.... Looking back, I vividly recall how I had traveled from RPF’s headquarters at Mulindi in northern Rwanda with colleagues Patrick Mazimpaka, Wilson Rutayire (Shaban), Christine Umutoni, and a few other senior cadres. I was the RPF’s Secretary General... April 6, 1994, is Rwanda’s worst day in the centuries-old nation's history; it is unquestionably Rwanda’s “Day of Infamy,” to borrow former U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt’s words.... The surprise missile attack on President Habyarimana’s plane was a powerful trigger for the firestorm that engulfed the whole nation, leaving hundreds of thousands of Tutsi to perish in just 100 days... In retrospect, as I reflect on those times, RPF’s Major General Paul Kagame, in absolute pursuit of power, made a fatal and very consequential decision to assassinate Juvenal Habyarimana..."
The position of the USA Leaders and the French President have highlighted the dynamics regarding the truth about the Rwanda tragedy. According to Dr. Theogene Rudasingwa, since April 6, 2024, "the USA, United Kingdom, and France have propped up General Kagame's brutal regime and sheltered it from accounting for the atrocities his regime has committed against Hutu and Congolese people." Now the positions by US Government and France, the recent measures towards Rwandan leaders continue to fuel unanswered questions and speculations about Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame's waning relevance as an African political leader and about the power struggles in Rwanda (see here: USA - Rwanda: US Government Reissues Travel Advisory to Rwanda and Raised it to Level 3.)
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