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November 8, 1995
PRESS RELEASE Nº 34
The RPF military dictatorship announced on 6th november 1995 that it carried out a military raid on IWAWA island in which its troops killed over 300 "former rwandese government soldiers and militiamen".
According to RPF information, many guns were recovered including anti-aircraft guns. The RPF Army is said to have lost only five men after 3 days of fighting. Whereas the raid is said to have taken place on saturday 3rd November 1995, up to the 6th November 1995, no independent observer had been allowed on the island, before RPF Army had made appropriate scenes for international propaganda purposes .
However the military record and policy of the RPF administration as well as the information so far released belies the projected idea of a mass killing of 300 Hutu rebels, a story meant to raise the morale of soldiers eroded by increasing discontent among its ranks due to unequal sharing of the war loots in 1994 and from the population as well as a nerve breaking fear of an imaginary external attack.
It was not by sheer coincidence that while the carriage on IWAWA island was being announced, Radio Rwanda was announcing killings of alleged escapees from prisons (in RUBUNGO commune, KIGALI Prefecture and NYAMABUYE GITARAMA Prefecture) and an allegedly lone "soldier" killed 15 people and seriously injured 19 others in NYAMAGABE Commune GIKONGORO Prefecture.
The important factor that has to be pointed out is that all the islands in Kivu lake are inhabited including IWAWA and are not occupied by former government soldiers as alleged. The number of 500 men which is given by RPF military is most likely to be the number of people who live on that island.
Visits of government officials to the people of this island have taken place before.
The attack on this island is not different from the attack on KIBEHO camp, which RPF suspected of harbouring 500 men of the former Army allegedly led by a Major and KANAMA massacres which followed a stage managed attack on an RPF Army convoy .This is clearly meant to discourage any quick return of rwandese refugees.
It goes beyond any stretch of the most fertile imagination to project a situation whereby a unit transported by canoes surprises and kills 300 out of 500 trained men and just lose five men after 3 days of fighting.
The international community should not be deceived even by the "doctored reports" of the UN Representative in Rwanda who has distinguished himself by being in the group now commonly labelled by Kigali residents as the 115% (more RPF than RPF themselves by 15 %). If the UNAMIR was aware of an impeding attack from that Island, which is on the rwandese territory, why didn't it make a fact finding mission on that area instead of waiting until the RPF attacked to release that information? Is it out of fear?
The reality of this matter is that the RPF has carried out its strategy of earth scotched policy practised since its war in Byumba in October 1990 and of intimidation and bloody repression which are a logical outcome of its lack of a political base.
However the International Community should not be surprised by the logical consequence of such a policy : ever rising discontent, and eventual revolt which may eventually lead to a higher degree of violence.
It is one thing to be allied to RPF and to want to salvage it from the abyss it has plunged itself and it is another to shy away from an inevitable bad end of a tyranny.
For RDR
NZABANDORA CHRIS
Director of Information