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RALLY FOR THE RETURN OF | |
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4, RUE A. CLUYSENAAR 1060 BRUXELLES BELGIQUE Tél: 32-2-5348035 Fax: 32-2-5348053 |
7, RESIDENCE MONTESQUIEU 49000 ANGERS FRANCE Tél/Fax: 33-41489987 |
November 4, 1995
H.E JIMMY CARTER
CARTER CENTER
USA
Your Excellency,
The Rally for the Return of Refugees and Democracy in Rwanda (RDR) is happy to learn that you are going to organise in the near future a regional conference on the problem of rwandan refugees .
RDR considers this decision as a positive development after it had addressed you its letter on the 24th September 1995, requesting you to get more involved in the search for lasting peace in Rwanda.
RDR would like to thank you for taking this decision and hopes that this conference will do better than those which have preceded it.
We earnestly hope that our Organisation will be represented at the conference to make its own contribution.
RDR is of the view that the yardstick to measure the success of the conference will be its capacity to bring the KIGALI government to take the right decision with regard to bringing lasting peace to Rwanda: dialogue with representatives of refugees to discuss conditions of a quick and peaceful return of refugees and about a mechanism for a permanent solution to the rwandan conflict, which is the democratic governance in Rwanda.
RDR has been appealing to the Rwandese Patriotic Front government for over 6 months to accept dialogue with refugees. The response of the RPF government has been the intensification of repression inside the country, forcing the former prime minister,FAUSTIN TWAGIRAMUNGU to leave the government and the country. Yet, the same RPF had justified its war by the refusal of the former government to have dialogue with former refugees.
It is the considered view of RDR that any initiative to solve the problem of refugees without involving them is bound to fail. The settlement of the crisis involves three actors, namely the KIGALI government, the refugees themselves and the international community that include countries that host refugees . The most important actors remain however the KIGALI government and the refugees.
Sidelining the refugees therefore would be a serious shortcoming in any conference on the problem of Rwanda.
RDR has reason to believe that your experience as a statesman and your involvement in conflict management and mediation gives you strong moral authority to convince all actors in the rwandan conflict of the righteousness of the demand of refugees to be involved in all moves to end their misery, and in particular in the proposed conference which you are going to organise.
The refugees want to return home quickly and peacefully and the conditions that they are setting for their return are no more than their fundamental human rights, civil and political liberties as well as an assurance of personnal and collective security and human dignity.
In specific terms, they demand the following:
1. An end to the climate of insecurity, summary executions, arbitrary arrests and detention, torture and unexplained disappearances of innocent civilians carried out by the Rwandese Patriotic Front, as reported by the report of the Executive Comity of MDR party of 6th Nov. 1994, confirmed by none other than the Prime Minister on his return from his tour in Europe and USA in november 1994, as well as by Human Rights Watch, usually favourable to RPF, the International Federation for Human Rights (I.F.H.R) in its report dated April 1995, Amnesty International in its reports of April 1995 (AFR 47/05/1995) and June 1995 (AFR 02/12/95), by ARDHO (Rwandese Association of Human Rights), yet very pro-government, in its quarterly report of April 1995, by CLADHO, by the Chief Prosecutor of Kigali Chief magistrate court, NSANZUWERA François Xavier in his press release made in Brussels on the 11th May 1995, and by the District Councils of GISENYI and GITARAMA in the presence of the Minister of Internal Affairs.
2. Immediate and unconditional release of people detained illegally.
3. Removing soldiers from the countryside where they are a source of terror and insecurity and confining them in barracks
4. Vacate and free immediately and without condition, property held illegally, without waiting for the return of their rightful owners. Indeed, the inviolability of private property is underpinned by a legal principle in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and has been endorsed by the Protocol on the rule of law signed in Arusha on 18th Aug 1992, under art 1, chap 1. In this connection, a legal instrument should be put in place by government to deal with defaulters.
5. The formation of a broadbased government , that includes all political forces and shades of opinion representative of refugees as recommended in item 5 of the joint communique of the regional summit on Rwanda held in Nairobi on 7th January 1995, and an end to the policy of ethnic exclusion.
6. Formation of a national Army including elements of the Rwandese Patriotic Front and of the former Rwandese National Army now in exile.
7. Establishing a transitional Parliament that includes all political forces and shades of opinions representative of refugees.
8. Reorganise as soon as possible the judicial system and make it capable of safeguarding the rule of law;
9. Reassure civil servants of their reintegration and enjoyment of their full benefits once they return to the country. In this connection, a legal or statutory instrument should be adopted clearly showing that there will be no area where they would be automatically excluded.
10. Undertaking a firm commitment on allowing political pluralism by lifting the ban on normal political party activities in the country and the freedom of speech.
11. Set a timetable for local, parliamentary and presidential elections within a period not exceeding two years after the formation of a government that includes all political forces and shades of opinion that represent refugees.
You may be aware that the RPF government, jealous of its political power and quite unwilling to lose this monopoly, has succeeded with its powerful external lobby that uses the unfortunate tragedy that befell Rwanda, to demonize all people opposed to its illegitimate hold on power, particularly the elite.
RDR believes that limiting the mandate of the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda and the political interference in its work so far noticed, are not accidental. Many people believe that it is a deliberate move to consolidate the power of RPF government, by
silencing all political challengers to its power and shielding the RPF leadership from any prosecution.
While everybody agrees that the assassination of late President HABYARIMANA triggered off large scale massacres, and that the 4 year war had created an explosive situation, it is not understandable that the same people get nervous when some one calls for an enquiry into these two events which are at the root of the rwandan tragedy.
RDR believes that it is fundamental to investigate and identify the planners of the assassination of the late President HABYARIMANA and his colleague of Burundi, if ever one wants to get at the root causes of the rwandan tragedy and set a solid foundation for national reconciliation.
Your Excellency, RDR is happy to forward to you herewith attached, a detailed account of the untold story about the rwandan conflict.
Please accept, your Excellency, the assurance of my highest consideration and esteem.
