International
Honouring Gratien Kabiligi an insult to victims of 1994 genocide against the Tutsi
It
would be unthinkable to erect a mausoleum or create a foundation for one of the
Third Reich leaders considered as architects of the Holocaust such as Adolf
Hitler, Hermann Goring, or Heinrich Himmler.
Sadly,
for Rwanda and the victims of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, in a
shocking move, descendants of the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide living
abroad defied all the norms of decency and set up a fund in honour of Gen.
Gratien Kabiligi. The latter is one of the senior army officers in the genocidal
government army which stands accused of spearheading the extermination of the
Tutsi in 1994.
He
is one of the masterminds of the genocide against the Tutsi. During the
genocide, he was the head of operations of the genocidal army and was part of
the hardcore group of officers, including Col Theoneste Bagosora, which
orchestrated one of the worst genocides ever.
The
foundation called Foundation Gratien Kabiligi-UMUHUZA set up by his family is a
smokescreen aimed at turning a villain into a hero who allegedly helped to save
lives, yet ample evidence exists proving that he was at the heart of the
planning and execution of the extermination of the Tutsi. The purpose of this
shameful act is to rub salt into the wounds of the genocide survivors at the eve
of the 28th Commemoration of the genocide against the Tutsi.
Ten
days before the attack, on former president Juvenal Habyarimana’s plane, the
last Friday of March 1994, Col André Vincent invited Gen Deogratias Nsabimana,
alias Castar, and Kabiligi who was head of military operations and training at
the time, to his house.
At
the meeting, they stated that the Arusha Accord was not to be accepted. The
Arusha Accords were a set of accords signed in Arusha, Tanzania, on August 4,
1993, by the then government of Rwanda and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front,
under mediation, to end a three-year war. If there were any attempt to impose
the accords, the trio vowed, they would eliminate the RPF and the Tutsi. It
would not take more than a fortnight to eliminate the Tutsi, they noted,
seemingly very sure of themselves.
Col
Vincent was the head of the Belgian military cooperation with Rwanda before the
genocide. He held several parties with senior government millitary officials
during the months leading to the genocide.
Though
the now defunct International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) acquitted
Kabiligi of any genocide crimes, genocide survivors did not forget his
involvement in the planning and implementation of the slaughter of more than
one million Tutsi. Kabiligi held an important post in the Rwandan army during
the genocide and was involved in the massacres against the Tutsi. Those who
worked with him have told of how he was in charge of the para-commando units
that started the killings in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali.
After
the defeat of the genocidal forces in July 1994, Kabiligi and other ex-FAR
officers coerced more than two million Rwandans to flee the country and settle
in refugee camps in the former Zaire – now the Democratic Republic of Congo –
where they used them in their ploy to reorganise and return to seize the power
in Rwanda and carry on with their thwarted genocidal agenda. The refugee camps
were like military garrisons which represented an existential threat against
Rwanda.
Maybe
forcing these poor people to flee the country and into the jungles of Zaire is
what Kabiligi’s daughter, Olive Murenzi, refers to while explaining the logo of
this foundation made of a shield and a bridge.
She’s
quoted as saying that the aim of the fund is to preserve her father’s values of
uniting Rwandans, and that the shield represents Kabiligi’s efforts to save
Rwandans.
But
Kabiligi’s despicable acts before and during the genocide attest to the
contrary. There are no values of a genocide ringleader worth celebrating in
that fashion.
The
creation of Kabiligi’s foundation should be seen for what it is: an attempt by
his family and genocide sympathisers to whitewash him of his heinous crimes.
People
should not be fooled by such a deplorable scheme aimed at re-writing history by
turning genocidaires like Kabiligi into saints