The Rally for the Return of Refugees and Democracy in Rwanda (RDR) firmly denounces and condemns the Clinton administration military training and arms supplies to the abusive Rwandan troops who invaded the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, formerly Zaire) in 1996 and 1997 and committed acts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity by massacring more than 200 000 Rwandan unarmed Hutu refugees, mostly women, children and elderly. These horrendous crimes have been well documented and condemned worldwide by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, the United Nations Secretariat, the UN Security Council, the London-based Amnesty International, the New York-based Human Rights Watch, the Montreal-based Center for Human Rights and Democratic Development and other international humanitarian and human rights organizations.

By providing military support to the abusive Rwandan troops without any regard to their human rights record, the US government is allowing death to become a banality not only in Rwanda but also in the entire African Great Lakes region. With US military assistance, Rwandan troops are massacring unarmed civilians without mercy and in complete impunity in all parts of Rwanda and the DRC. The RDR denounces and condemns the Clinton administration’s indifference, if not complicity, to acts of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, crimes against peace and other human rights violations committed and still being committed by the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In press interviews given to journalists from the US Washington Post and the South African Mail &Guardian published on July 9, 1997 and August 8, 1997, respectively, the Rwandan dictator General Paul Kagame praised and acknowledged himself to have planned and ordered the Rwandan invasion of former Zaire and the attacks of refugee camps since October 1996 to May 1997. He also said to have previously warned the US government of his intentions before proceeding and commended the US administration for subsequently taking the right decisions to let him proceed. When the decision to prosecute war criminals responsible of the massacres of Rwandan Hutu refugees in DRC by an international tribunal was going to be made, the Clinton administration granted impunity to war criminals. A presidential statement presented by the US Ambassador to the UN, Mr. Bill Richardson, and endorsed by the 15-member UN Security Council on July 13, 1998 requested Rwandan and Congolese governments, under the influence of Tutsi war criminals, to investigate themselves and prosecute those responsible. However, General Paul Kagame, Vice-President, Minister of Defense and President of the ruling party, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), can't investigate and prosecute himself. The Rwandan government has no political will to do so. Congolese government's recent decision to send back home Rwandan and Ugandan troops, most of whom are suspected war criminals, has triggered the new Rwandan invasion of the DRC under the disguise of the new Congo's ethnic Tutsis rebellion. The Clinton administration should take a firm resolution to bring also suspected Tutsi war criminals to an international tribunal and halt all military assistance to the abusive Rwandan and Ugandan troops.

RDR firmly denounces and condemns the new US colonization policy consisting of preparing and backing invasion of sovereign states in African Great Lakes region, overthrowing the governments in place and, through military conquest, prop up dictatorships of extremist minority ethnic Tutsis who, instead of spending a large proportion of the national budget and exports earnings to improve the welfare of the African masses, allocate much needed millions of dollars to imports of US-made sophisticated weapons to protect their tyrannies and slaughter the people.

While the new Rwandan invasion of the DRC was going on, a dozen U.S. military personnel in camouflage uniform were seen at the Gisenyi border post between Rwanda and the DRC on August 5th, 1998. U.S. Army Major Henry L. Huntley from the American European Command headquarters in Vaihingen, Germany, near Stuggart, was quoted the same day by Associated Press saying "Yes, we do have soldiers there, approximately 12, that make up the Rwanda Interagency Assessment Team (RIAT). He said further that the mission of the American team was to "assess the current military situation in Rwanda and to determine the Rwandan military capability to deter, contain or minimize the threat of insurgency…" On August 5th, 1998, we also learned from Agence France Press that a 10-member team from the 3rd Special Forces Group in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, had been training Rwandan officers since July 15, 1998. Since the RPF took power, US military training and arms supplies to the new Rwandan dictator have intensified. From an internal Pentagon chronology draft prepared in response to congressional questions about the US military role in Rwanda, the Washington Post revealed on August 16, 1197 that US military role in Rwanda is greater than disclosed.

While being militarily trained and equipped by the United States, US-trained Ugandan troops lead by officers of Rwandan origin invaded the Republic of Rwanda on October 1^st, 1990 under the name of the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) rebellion and finally overthrew the Rwandan government on July 4^th, 1994 after four years of war which cost the life of over one million Rwandans. In October 1996, while being militarily trained and equipped by the United States, Rwandan troops invaded the Republic of Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), under the disguise of the Congo's ethnic Tutsis' rebellion, and overthrew the Zairian government on May 17^th, 1997 after massacring more than 200 000 unarmed Rwandan Hutu refugees. With the tacit U.S. support, the small, poverty-stricken, war-torn Rwanda and Uganda are suddenly emerging as regional power brokers!

The oppressed people of Rwanda, whom the RDR represents, appeals to the American people who love peace, freedom and prosperity for all to demand the Clinton administration to cease all military assistance to the so-called ‘‘new breed of African leaders’’ who are nothing else than dictators, criminals and oppressors who represent a permanent danger for peace in the African Great Lakes region and to take a firm resolution to bring to justice all war criminals irrespective of their ethnic background or current military or political status.

The oppressed people of Rwanda, whom the RDR represents, says no to war, no to US military training and arms supplies to the abusive Rwandan Patriotic Army, no to dictatorship. We want to live in peace, we want love in place of hatred, peace in place of war, democracy and freedom in place of dictatorship and oppression. We want health centers, hospitals and medicines, roads and communication links, schools and jobs for ourselves and our children instead of arms and ammunitions, poverty, hunger and misery. Up to now, US military assistance to the Rwandan dictator has brought nothing than more bloodshed, poverty, misery, sufferings, ethnic divisions, insecurity and hatred among the Rwandan people. It is high time for the Clinton administration to stop spilling blood and fueling chaos in the African Great Lakes region.

For the RDR

NDEREYEHE Charles

Chairman

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