Niger transfer of Rwandans linked to 1994 genocide proof UN system is oblivious to genocide

On December 27, 2021, the government of Niger notified eight Rwandans of the order of their expulsion from its soil for "diplomatic reasons", just a month after they were welcomed in the capital, Niamey.

The eight are former key figures of the regime which executed the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994. They were all tried by the ICTR and later acquitted or released after serving their sentences in whole or in part.

The Niger government's decision has been widely discussed, and the Rwandan government has been cited in the speculations about what prompted Niger authorities to expel those former dignitaries of the genocide regime.

Jeune Afrique news magazine reported that, “Niger's government made the U-turn after Rwanda expressed its displeasure about their arrival in Niamey.”

But the elephant in the room is the UN system which, oblivious to the consequences of the crime of genocide, doesn’t care or see the imperative of helping genocidaires, convicted or not, who have no intention to reform.

The UN knows well that once they settle in a host country anywhere they’ll most likely reoffend. Still, the UN Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals chose to handle them without involving or informing Rwanda, and this can only suggest that the UN simply prioritizes their theories over Rwanda’s efforts to heal the wounds of genocide.

Rwanda's interests in this matter are undermined by the fact that the international community does not understand the issue of genocide ideology and its consequences.  Decision makers at the UN court are only concerned about the rights provided in legal texts and welfare standards of former dignitaries of the genocide regime while the latter are allowed to use UN-provided resources to dispute the crimes they were convicted of, or engage in subversive activities against Rwanda.

As said by Rwanda’s representative to the UN, Amb Valentine Rugwabiza, in a UN debate in July 2019, the Mechanism’s mismanagement of genocidaires released many years ago after their acquittal or after serving their prison sentences, “defeats every logic and in itself symbolizes the tragic irony of the international justice system.”

Rugwabiza called on the UN court to stop the continued unconditional payments of generous living allowances to genocidaires after their release.

Continuously gifting unrepentant former prominent figures of the genocide regime with UN protection, privileges, and financial support, – in addition to housing and medical care, is unbelievable.

Each génocidaire released after acquittal or serving their sentence, receives $350 allowance per month for food, local transport, clothing and communications, – without anything being asked of them in terms of repentance and reform and this makes a mockery of what justice the UN court purports to pursue.

There is evidence that people released by the Mechanism have actually been engaging in subversive activities before and after their relocation in Niger. In March 2017, Tanzanian authorities intercepted near the border with Burundi one of the ICTR convicts, Captain Innocent Sagahutu, a former ex-FAR, who was granted an early release in 2014 and was since living in a UN “safe” house in Arusha.

He was stopped as he was preparing to cross the border to Burundi where the so-called Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda, FDLR) militia were known to be getting protection and facilitation from the Burundi government to organise attacks on Rwanda. During his interrogation, Sagahutu told the Tanzanian immigration services that he had recently travelled to Mozambique and Switzerland with travel documents delivered by the UN.

Formed primarily by individuals responsible for the genocide against the Tutsi who fled Rwanda in 1994 and who oppose Rwanda's current government, the FDLR has survived mostly by preying on the Congolese population. The terrorist group formerly known as the Army for the Liberation of Rwanda (Armée pour la libération du Rwanda, ALIR) is active in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Similarly, according to a recent video clip of a meeting attended by Sagahutu on YouTube, it is clear that he started engaging in subversive activities as soon as he was relocated in Niger.

He was heard calling to remove the Rwandan government which he accused of “terrorism” in the Sahel region. He also stated that the genocide crimes he was convicted of “were actually committed by others now living in Kigali”, a blatant revisionism in line with the denialist theory promoted by Judi Rever that RPF planned the genocide, infiltrated the Interahamwe and encouraged them to kill the Tutsi.

If the UN system was not oblivious to the gravity and consequences of genocide, the intent of allowances and privileges accorded to members of the genocidal regime would be to make them liable to a share in the expiation for their wrongdoings, rather than recidivate. It is for that reason that Rwanda’s representative to the UN stated that Niger will be expected, “to exercise its responsibility to ensure that none of the persons [transferred by the UN Court] use its territory for subversive activities that have contributed to the insecurity and instability of the Great Lakes Region for the past decades.”

This situation of ICTR acquitted persons and persons released after serving their sentences makes a mockery of the victims of genocide and Rwandans’ post-genocide reconstruction efforts.

It means the UN finds it normal to fund key figures of the genocidal government so they can live a life of luxury, and without a clear demand in return for them to desist from trying to revise the genocide, refrain from contacting terrorist groups such as FDLR or taking part in denialist platforms.