Last week, there was outrage in Kigali, and elsewhere, as Rwandans and friends of Rwanda around the world in addition association of survivors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, expressed “strongest objection” to the use of the Queensland Parliament Hall by a group that refers to itself as “Rwandan Association of Queensland Inc [RAQ]” for the event themed “Never Again, Annual Rwanda Genocide Commemoration” scheduled for Saturday, May 7.

The survivors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi petitioned the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland, Australia, urging him not to give a platform to Genocide deniers.

But guess what, Curtis Pitt, Speaker of the Queensland Parliament, did not listen to the genocide survivors’ entreaties. The members of RAQ carried on with their event meant to negate the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

It was conducted in top secrecy, though. Every participant – and there were few – had a badge with their names on. Clearly, they felt the pressure of the petition!

However, the fact that Australian authorities – especially lawmakers – continue to allow this to go on, on their soil, is not only an insult to the victims by denying their suffering; it is also a message of encouragement to the criminals who perpetuate genocide denial, as well as the genocide ideology.

Australian authorities and lawmakers are betraying humanity. But in so doing, if they think they are safe, they are totally wrong.

By allowing deniers a platform to deny the genocide against the Tutsi, The Queensland Parliament has become a direct accomplice in creating confusion among Australians about the real history of the events in the 1994 in Rwanda.

In addition, this might create a general perception around the world that the Queensland Parliament, by allowing this distortion of history to take place in it’s premises, endorses this event hence boosting the already growing trend of denial of the genocide against the Tutsi in the world.

Genocide suspects or deniers and their sympathizers are still lingering all over the world, especially in developed countries including Australia where they abuse host countries’  hospitality to evade justice by posing as victims of a crime that most of them actually committed or were accomplices, in one way or the other!

In 1996, Prof Gregory Stanton proposed a formula that seeks to identify the different elements that ultimately lead to the crime of genocide. Surprisingly, genocide is not the final and ultimate stage of his 10 stage formula. Denial of genocide is.

As noted, denial by the perpetrators, whether by words or by taking active steps to cover their acts. This denial may also manifest itself in different ways, including through intimidation and pressure on others not to recognize the atrocities.

Queensland and Australia know that The Great Lakes Eye has previously reported that a number of genocide revisionists, deniers and fugitives are roaming freely in Australia, with the country's Parliament especially used as their den.

Most highlighted was Frodouard Rukeshangabo, a fugitive who directed the mass murder and torture of the Tutsi in Rwanda's Eastern Province during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison by the Gacaca courts before fleeing to Malawi, and then to Australia where he was given citizenship despite his past criminal records. Rukeshangabo was nicknamed “trophy hunter” for his enthusiasm in hunting down the Tutsi during the genocide. In 1994, he was serving as an inspector of schools in the area and he led a group of Interahamwe militia in the area, requesting them to bring him the heads of murdered Tutsi.

It is now custom that a section of Rwandans living in New South Wales, a southeastern Australian state, together with regional lawmakers commemorate what they call a “Rwandan genocide." They never use the correct, and universally acknowledged, terminology, “the genocide against the Tutsi”.

As reported before, a closer look at the people behind this double genocide theory construct and the reasons why they want to differ from the rest of the world in honouring the lives of more than one million Tutsi slaughtered by Hutu extremists in 1994 reveals close ties to the perpetrators of the genocide.

Even though Australia welcomed a diverse community of Rwandan refugees, the majority, especially those in New South Wales are at the heart of misleading the public opinion through RAQ. They infiltrated all spheres of national life there.

It is difficult to know the exact number of genocide suspects and genocide deniers living in Australia scot free. But The Great Lakes Eye tracked some of them, besides Rukeshangabo.

Theogene Ngabo is the president of RAQ. He is believed to be the MRCD-FLN representative in Australia. He is alleged to have committed atrocities in the former Muvumba Commune, Byumba.

Theogene Ngabo Member of Rwandan Association of Queensland

Pacifique Gakindi was charged for genocide crimes in former Gishyita Commune, Kibuye, after which he fled to Zambia, and ended up in Queensland, Australia. This former chairman of the association in Queensland is originally from Kamonyi district in Rwanda. He is also the RNC Secretary in Australia. 

Pacifique Gakindi, a genocide convict. 

Jean Baptiste Nshimiyimana, apart from being a genocide suspect, is also a chief fundraiser for the National Front for Liberation (FLN) of Paul Rusesabagina, who is in prison for terrorism. Nshimiyimana also supports other terrorist organizations like the Rwanda National Congress (RNC) which is hell bent on destabilizing Rwanda.

Apart from genocide suspects, Australia is also home to promoters of genocide denial and revisionism. Among these individuals is Amiel Nubaha, the son of Rukeshangabo. Nubaha is one of the leaders of RAQ which has been commemorating what it calls ‘Rwandan genocide.’

Amiel Nubaha, a member of Rwandan Association of Queensland with his father Frodouard Rukeshangabo 

Then there is Noel Zihabamwe and his wife, Delphine Uwamwiza. They very often call themselves genocide survivors. But they are not. Zihabamwe previously spread rumours in the Australian media alleging that Rwanda’s security agencies abducted his siblings and they may have been killed. He left Rwanda in 2000 as the beneficiary of a Government scholarship to attend university studies in Australia, and went to study using his real birth name, Noelle Yandamutso. But when the duration of his university course was over and he was supposed to return, he did not. He changed his names to Noel Zihabamwe, and began his activities as a supporter, fundraiser and propagandist for anti-Rwanda terrorist groups like RNC and other armed groups.

Noel Zihabamwe

If Australian authorities care to bring to book criminal Rwandan networks in their country, they can easily trace his change of identity through immigration records.

Nelson Muhirwa and his wife, Yvette Muhirwa are part of the criminal network too. They live in Perth, West Australia. They fled from refugee camps in eastern DRC to Zambia, from where they later found their way to Australia

 

Nelson Muhirwa and his wife Yvette Muhirwa. Muhirwa was a defense witness in Simon Bikindi’s cases at the ICTR

Robert Mukombozi, a Ugandan, is the RNC terror organisation’s coordinator and financial mobiliser in Australia. He is another virulent genocide denier.

 

Mukombozi who has in the past posed as a ‘crusading journalist’, calling himself the “voice of Rwanda” was expelled from Rwanda in 2008 and declared persona non grata by Kigali, which partly explains his anti-Rwanda stance.

Other fugitives are holed up in New Zealand, the most prominent being Enoch Ruhigira, who was chief of of staff  at Habyarimana's presidency office.

 

Enoch Ruhigira

What is most troubling is the question: have the authorities and the media, in Australia and New Zealand, really fallen for the lies of these genocide suspects, deniers and anti-Rwanda subversive groups, or they support them well knowing their real purpose and intent?