Hirondelle News Agency
9 June 07
The Rwandan government announced the relocation of Kigali prisons commonly known as "1930" worth 9,170 000 USD from Kigali city to the Butamwa in Nyarugenge district.
According to the New Times newspaper, the minister for the Internal Security Sheihk Musa Fazil Harerimana said on Tuesday that his ministry is undertaking a campaign based on the relocation of prisons within Kigali city centre and its municipals. And another prison to be relocated is the Remera prison in Kimironko located in a city suburb.
The minister said that Kigali central prison will be demolished and the land will be sold to the private developers while the Nyarugenge district provided 800hectares of land to facilitate the relocation. He stated that the government through that relocation will be in a good position to engage prisoners in productive activities including agriculture.
The Remera prison currently can host over 10,000 prisoners and the new Kigali prison 15,000 inmates. For this matter the Remera prison will be capable of hosting at least 1,000 juvenile convicted.
The plan stated that the new facility would cost over six billion but they are targeting to cut the cost using inmates sevices in terms of constructing and the relocation process would be effective next year. The prison will be subdivised in three wings mentioning that of women, children and men.
Other plans include state-of-the-art executive cells for the case of foreigners arrested in Rwanda and in case they need to be isolated.
“Our judiciary has of recent been credited internationally and we may be asked to host international prisoners as it is the case for Mali, which is detaining Rwanda Genocide convicts.” said the minister
He added that those kind of cells will be self contained and stated that there are six Rwandans including former Prime Minister Jean Kambanda who are currently serving their respective sentences in Mali after being convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, (ICTR).
Meanwhile the construction of the new prison will start from a block that will serve as a transit centre for suspects (who will be transferred from ICTR) during the course of trial, as their designated prison is the newly constructed Mpanga, Southern Province.
He said the transit centre will be turned into a Prisons administrative office after ICTR suspects’ trials are completed.
“We will collaborate with the Kigali City Council to source for us real estate developers who will buy our current premises, with the expections of pooling over a billion francs,” he explained.
In another development, the opposite area to the ‘1930’ prison, which is currently accommodating the Muhima Police Headquarters, has also been sold to private developers.
The campaign of refurbishing national prisons to suit international standards started with the Mpanga Prison which has been approved by officials at ICTR. It has the capacity to host 7,500 inmates.
“Our main objective as envisaged in the Vision 2020 is to cut down the number of prisons in the country¸ as it counts a big number. Currently, the statistics show that there is 16 prisoners in one prison per province,” the minister said.
He said that forwards after streamlining the prisons department, will be police posts.
In 2006, there was, from humanitarian sources (Liprodhor) in 16 Rwandan prisons 67921 detainees. 80 per cent of them were charged of genocide.
09 June, 2007
U.S. Navy Plans Six-Month Regional Training Mission.
United States Department of State
7 June 2007
By Vince Crawley
The U.S. Navy plans this autumn to begin a half-year patrol of West Africa as a follow-up to a regional conference in November 2006, in which Gulf of Guinea nations called for greater maritime security cooperation.
Under the new plan, a U.S. ship will act as a floating headquarters and training base. It will cruise the region for five or six months, conducting numerous port visits, deploying training teams and allowing international visitors on board, said Admiral Harry Ulrich, chief of U.S. naval forces for Europe and Africa.
The ship will carry between 200 and 300 personnel - exact numbers will change over time as experts and specialized teams come and go, Ulrich told reporters May 31 after describing the plan to West African diplomats and military officers in Washington.
The ship's personnel will focus mainly on training and working closely with Gulf of Guinea nations. Ulrich said he actively is seeking participation from European nations with an interest in West Africa as well as nongovernmental organizations. The idea is to create a "floating schoolhouse" in which multinational training teams can train in key activities such as port and oil-platform security, search-and-rescue missions and medical and humanitarian assistance.
"I think there are plenty of opportunities for nations to participate," Ulrich said.
The ship has not yet been formally identified, and the six-month mission is part of a new concept that the Navy calls Global Fleet Station. The concept allows the Navy to conduct regionwide training and partnership missions involving hundreds of Americans and thousands of international personnel while minimizing the requirements for shore-based, host-nation facilities.
The first Global Fleet Station mission began in late April when the high-speed vessel [HSV] Swift embarked on a summer-long tour to the Caribbean and Central America, with teams scheduled to visit Belize, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua and Panama, according to a U.S. Navy announcement.
For the West African mission, Ulrich said the ship is expected to sail a circuit of Gulf of Guinea nations, including: Senegal, Liberia, Ghana, Sao Tome and Principe, Cameroon, Gabon and Angola. Ulrich said that Nigeria also has expressed interest but has just completed an election and is forming a new government, so discussions on Nigerian involvement likely will take place later this summer.
Ulrich said the Gulf of Guinea naval mission is "closely aligned" with the creation of the new U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) announced by President Bush in February to coordinate U.S. military and government interests across Africa. Unlike a traditional military headquarters, AFRICOM is expected to focus on humanitarian, medical and training missions to assist African nations in creating the conditions for political, social and economic stability.
The Navy has been increasing its presence in West Africa for several years, Ulrich said, but added that the new Gulf of Guinea initiative is "in the spirit of AFRICOM."
The initiative is a follow-up to a November 2006 conference in Benin, co-sponsored by the United States, in which 11 Gulf of Guinea nations agreed to work together to address maritime security issues.
The Gulf of Guinea accounts for almost 15 percent of the U.S. crude oil supply and is rich in other natural resources. But the region also faces numerous challenges, including illegal fishing, piracy, oil theft, criminal activity and illegal trafficking. A priority for U.S. policy includes helping to foster economic and political stability, and good governance as ways to undermine factors that contribute to terrorism and other regional threats.
The Navy's training teams in West Africa will focus on four main themes:
• Training maritime professionals, such as navy and coast guard crews;
• Improving maritime infrastructure, such as protecting harbors, ships and oil platforms;
• Enhancing maritime "domain awareness," which concerns being able to monitor and identify illegal or hostile sea traffic; and
• Strengthening maritime interdiction capability, such as being able to stop illegal traffic, as well as being able to conduct search-and-rescue operations or to to help mariners in distress.
Retired Ambassador Peter Chaveas, director the African Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, a Defense Department initiative, said West African officials appear to support the idea of increased U.S. Navy training emphasis. But African nations also are concerned that the concept will not be long-lasting.
"Africans show a great deal of skepticism. We have to ... make the case that we're with them for the long term," he said.
Ulrich said he intends to follow up the six-month Gulf of Guinea mission with a year-round presence.
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
7 June 2007
By Vince Crawley
The U.S. Navy plans this autumn to begin a half-year patrol of West Africa as a follow-up to a regional conference in November 2006, in which Gulf of Guinea nations called for greater maritime security cooperation.
Under the new plan, a U.S. ship will act as a floating headquarters and training base. It will cruise the region for five or six months, conducting numerous port visits, deploying training teams and allowing international visitors on board, said Admiral Harry Ulrich, chief of U.S. naval forces for Europe and Africa.
The ship will carry between 200 and 300 personnel - exact numbers will change over time as experts and specialized teams come and go, Ulrich told reporters May 31 after describing the plan to West African diplomats and military officers in Washington.
The ship's personnel will focus mainly on training and working closely with Gulf of Guinea nations. Ulrich said he actively is seeking participation from European nations with an interest in West Africa as well as nongovernmental organizations. The idea is to create a "floating schoolhouse" in which multinational training teams can train in key activities such as port and oil-platform security, search-and-rescue missions and medical and humanitarian assistance.
"I think there are plenty of opportunities for nations to participate," Ulrich said.
The ship has not yet been formally identified, and the six-month mission is part of a new concept that the Navy calls Global Fleet Station. The concept allows the Navy to conduct regionwide training and partnership missions involving hundreds of Americans and thousands of international personnel while minimizing the requirements for shore-based, host-nation facilities.
The first Global Fleet Station mission began in late April when the high-speed vessel [HSV] Swift embarked on a summer-long tour to the Caribbean and Central America, with teams scheduled to visit Belize, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua and Panama, according to a U.S. Navy announcement.
For the West African mission, Ulrich said the ship is expected to sail a circuit of Gulf of Guinea nations, including: Senegal, Liberia, Ghana, Sao Tome and Principe, Cameroon, Gabon and Angola. Ulrich said that Nigeria also has expressed interest but has just completed an election and is forming a new government, so discussions on Nigerian involvement likely will take place later this summer.
Ulrich said the Gulf of Guinea naval mission is "closely aligned" with the creation of the new U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) announced by President Bush in February to coordinate U.S. military and government interests across Africa. Unlike a traditional military headquarters, AFRICOM is expected to focus on humanitarian, medical and training missions to assist African nations in creating the conditions for political, social and economic stability.
The Navy has been increasing its presence in West Africa for several years, Ulrich said, but added that the new Gulf of Guinea initiative is "in the spirit of AFRICOM."
The initiative is a follow-up to a November 2006 conference in Benin, co-sponsored by the United States, in which 11 Gulf of Guinea nations agreed to work together to address maritime security issues.
The Gulf of Guinea accounts for almost 15 percent of the U.S. crude oil supply and is rich in other natural resources. But the region also faces numerous challenges, including illegal fishing, piracy, oil theft, criminal activity and illegal trafficking. A priority for U.S. policy includes helping to foster economic and political stability, and good governance as ways to undermine factors that contribute to terrorism and other regional threats.
The Navy's training teams in West Africa will focus on four main themes:
• Training maritime professionals, such as navy and coast guard crews;
• Improving maritime infrastructure, such as protecting harbors, ships and oil platforms;
• Enhancing maritime "domain awareness," which concerns being able to monitor and identify illegal or hostile sea traffic; and
• Strengthening maritime interdiction capability, such as being able to stop illegal traffic, as well as being able to conduct search-and-rescue operations or to to help mariners in distress.
Retired Ambassador Peter Chaveas, director the African Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, a Defense Department initiative, said West African officials appear to support the idea of increased U.S. Navy training emphasis. But African nations also are concerned that the concept will not be long-lasting.
"Africans show a great deal of skepticism. We have to ... make the case that we're with them for the long term," he said.
Ulrich said he intends to follow up the six-month Gulf of Guinea mission with a year-round presence.
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
US Congressman With Oil Rich Equatorial Guinea Ties on Corruption Charges.
African Oil Journal
9 June 07
United States congressman, William Jefferson, who appears to have extensive and influential business connections in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea and Botswana, was indicted by a federal grand jury.
The 16-point, 95 page-long indictment, among others, charges Jefferson with bribery and racketeering for allegedly using his office to corruptly solicit bribes and for paying bribes to a foreign official, government officials, and utilizing congressional staff members to promote businesses and businesspersons.
Business ventures that Congressman Jefferson sought to promote included: telecommunications deals in Nigeria, Ghana, and elsewhere; oil concessions in Equatorial Guinea; satellite transmission contracts in Botswana, Equatorial Guinea, and the Republic of Congo; and development of different plants and facilities in Nigeria.”
Furthermore, the indictment states, “Jefferson did demand, seek, receive, accept, and agree to receive and accept things of value from (a company) in the form of a share of (the company’s) gross revenue from satellite transmission contracts it sought in Botswana, Equatorial Guinea and the Republic of Congo”. The funds were to be paid to ANJ, a Jefferson family controlled company. These was done in return for Jefferson’s performance of official acts “to advance (the company’s) efforts to obtain satellite transmission contracts” the indictment states.
The indictment covers the period from August 2000 to August 2005, while he served as an elected member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Jefferson paid a 10-day working visit to Botswana (April 6-15 2001), sponsored by Botswana Confederation of Commerce, Industry and Manpower (BOCCIM).
The purpose of the trip was to investigate the “Accelerated and Growth Opportunities Act (AGOA) implementation; anti-AIDS initiatives and diamond industry in Botswana.”
Jefferson’s trip, on which his child Jelani Jefferson accompanied him, set back the sponsors by $20,753.33. He is known to have paid subsequent trips to the country, hobnobbing with some local elites to some of Botswana’s exotic spots like Kasane.
Congressman Jefferson is also said to have been used in Botswana’s diamond for development campaign. Records indicate that n 2001 Congressman Jefferson was one of the dignitaries that were expected to attend Lady Ruth Khama’s funeral in Serowe.
9 June 07
United States congressman, William Jefferson, who appears to have extensive and influential business connections in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea and Botswana, was indicted by a federal grand jury.
The 16-point, 95 page-long indictment, among others, charges Jefferson with bribery and racketeering for allegedly using his office to corruptly solicit bribes and for paying bribes to a foreign official, government officials, and utilizing congressional staff members to promote businesses and businesspersons.
Business ventures that Congressman Jefferson sought to promote included: telecommunications deals in Nigeria, Ghana, and elsewhere; oil concessions in Equatorial Guinea; satellite transmission contracts in Botswana, Equatorial Guinea, and the Republic of Congo; and development of different plants and facilities in Nigeria.”
Furthermore, the indictment states, “Jefferson did demand, seek, receive, accept, and agree to receive and accept things of value from (a company) in the form of a share of (the company’s) gross revenue from satellite transmission contracts it sought in Botswana, Equatorial Guinea and the Republic of Congo”. The funds were to be paid to ANJ, a Jefferson family controlled company. These was done in return for Jefferson’s performance of official acts “to advance (the company’s) efforts to obtain satellite transmission contracts” the indictment states.
The indictment covers the period from August 2000 to August 2005, while he served as an elected member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Jefferson paid a 10-day working visit to Botswana (April 6-15 2001), sponsored by Botswana Confederation of Commerce, Industry and Manpower (BOCCIM).
The purpose of the trip was to investigate the “Accelerated and Growth Opportunities Act (AGOA) implementation; anti-AIDS initiatives and diamond industry in Botswana.”
Jefferson’s trip, on which his child Jelani Jefferson accompanied him, set back the sponsors by $20,753.33. He is known to have paid subsequent trips to the country, hobnobbing with some local elites to some of Botswana’s exotic spots like Kasane.
Congressman Jefferson is also said to have been used in Botswana’s diamond for development campaign. Records indicate that n 2001 Congressman Jefferson was one of the dignitaries that were expected to attend Lady Ruth Khama’s funeral in Serowe.
08 June, 2007
Libya: Spies, Oilmen and the Colonel.
African Oil Journal
Matien Khalid.
June 7 07
England has no permanent friends and no permanent enemies, only permanent interests". This diplomatic bon mot of a Victorian statesman was so apt as Tony Blair jetted to Tripoli on the first leg of his African farewell tour, gushed about his "easy personal relationship" with Colonel Gaddafi, hailed Libya's emergence into the Lexus–McWorld globalist stage and bagged a $900 million gas exploration contract for BP the same week the Kremlin squeezed its Siberian gasfield.
Tony Blair made no secret of his enthusiasm for the kinder, gentler Libyan Arab Socialist Peoples Jamarhiya that emerged when the quixotic Brother Colonel who seized power 37 years ago in a military coup abandoned his nuclear weapons programme, stopped bankrolling guerillas and secessionist revolutionary movements, handed over the two intelligence agents who caused the midair explosion that killed 290 human beings on Pan Am Flight 007 over the skies Scotland and shelled out $2.7 billion in compensation to the Lockerbie victims. And why not? Libya is the Arab world's last unexplored oil province, with 40 billion barrels of proven reserves and a LNG treasure trove that rivals Algeria and Qatar.
Britain desperately needs Libyan gas since it must replace a third of its electric power plants in the next decade as its existing coal and nuclear stations retire. Moreover, British arms exports to Arab governments are mission critical for BAE, as Tony Blair's intervention to halt a SFO probe of kickbacks on a Saudi fighter jet deal proves. So it was not coincidental that Blair linked M16-Libyan mukhabarat intelligence ties to gas and arms contracts that he hoped to sign with Colonel Gaddafi's regime.
British intelligence is, of course, no stranger to the ancient deserts of Libya, the scene of epic wartime tank battles between Edwin Rommel, Hitler's desert fox and Montgomery. After all, the fabled SAS whose license to kill presence in Arab wars from Suez to Dhofar to Fallujah has shaped the secret history of the Middle East, was born in Colonel Stirling's raid on the Nazi garrison at Tobruk. M16 agents had cultivated the Sufi reformist Sanussi religious orders of Benghazi, whose revolt against Mussolini's brutal Italian colonialists was instrumental in the Axis defeat in North Africa. It was therefore entirely natural that the head of the Sanussi order, Sidi Idris, was crowned King of Libya, with the assistance of British intelligence in 1951 even though Tripolitania, Fezzan and Cyraenica to had been distinct regions even during the Ottoman Sultanate.
Libyan oil was discovered by BP in the 1950's. Having learnt the lessons of the CIA–M16 coup to oust Mossadegh, London became the de facto protector of King Idris regime as black gold from the Sirte Basin made the Sannusi monarchy rich beyond the dreams of Croesus.
However, King Idris's palace entourage made a fatal mistake when they fattened their Swiss bank accounts by awarding oil concessions to America's oilmen, particularly Dr Armand Hammer of Occidental Petroleum, who tried to muscle into the Seven Sisters oil fiefdoms in the Middle East. Not coincidentally, the British Army's signals and cryptology school sponsored several young Bedouin officers from the Fezzan for its communications course in Beaconsfield, whose most famous alumnus was, of course, Muammar Gaddafi. On September 1st 1969, Gaddafi used his (UK educated) knowledge of military ciphers to good use when he engineered the coup while King Idris was on a state visit to Turkey. Both Britain and United States immediately recognised the new military regime, impressed by Gaddafi's Islamic piety and hatred for Soviet Communism. M16 arrested a boatload of mercenaries hired by King Idris's émigré royalists to overthrow Gaddafi's regime before it set sail from Trieste to Tripoli. In fact, the CIA even tipped off Gaddafi of a coup plot within his own Revolutionary Command council's brother officers and spread the word that Libya's Langley connection was sacrosanct. Inevitably, Agency business, the arms bazaar and oil concessions converged with a vengeance in Libya.
Bunker Hunt, Dr. Hammer's Oxy, Conoco, Marathon Oil, Halliburton, Bechtel, the great and the good of the Texan oil batch, made money hand over fist in Libya even after 1969. But they too made a fatal mistake, like King Idris's kleptocrats. They misread the mercurial, messianic young military ruler of Libya who lived in a tent and dreamt he was the new Saladin destined to recover Palestine for the Arabs, who dreamt he was the heir of Nasser after the humiliation of the Six Day War, who used oil as a political weapon before King Faisal's embargo.
Amnesia is mission critical in international relations. So M16 and the CIA are not really interested in introspection on their track record in Libya, even though ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free (yeah right!). Gaddafi, of course, sent Libyan troops to Uganda to save Idi Amin, and the CAR to save the self styled Emperor Bokassa, invaded Chad to seize the uranium mines of the Aouzou Strip, sent guerillas to attack the Tunisian city of Gafsa, helped the Liberian warlord Charles Taylor to the bitter end. Gaddafi's petrodollars financed such luminaries of the Third World as Abu Nidal, Carlos the Jackal, the PFLP, Angolan guerillas, Frelimo, the Provo IRA, Pakistan's black market nuclear component smuggling rings, the Polisario in Western Sahara, the Eritreans, the Basques and the Corsicans. Libya almost provoked a war with Sadat's Egypt in 1977 and with the United States in 1981, when Libyan MIG's buzzed the Sixth Fleet, setting in motion Reagan's bombing raid over Tripoli and Benghazi. Of course, the F-111 jets that bombed Aziziyah Barracks in April 1986 took off from a USAF airfield in the sceptred isle, home of BP (ousted from Libya in 1974) and the Firm, Her Majesty's fabled secret service.
Libya has fascinated me since my boyhood. The world's oldest cave paintings, the Roman ruins of Leptis Magna, the legends of Septimus Sevenus Caesar and Omar Mukhtar, the Sufi Zawiyas (Monastries) of Benghazi, Tripoli's Ottoman forts that once housed Barbarossa's pirates and slave traders, the battlefields of the Africa Korps. Yet the history of Libya is so tragic, its politics so sinister.
Arab political reform is a joke as long as Britain and America embrace a regime that has never allowed an election since 1969, that has subverted Arab and African governments, whose bizarre social experiments and Green Books put Chairman Mao to shame. But Western spies and Western oilmen bear a moral responsibility to the Libyan people. So the CEO of Exxon meets the Colonel in a tent, Shell mints money with LNG tankers, the Rothschild Bank advises on Libyan offshore refinery mergers, Harvard Business/School's Michael Porter designs the Libyan economic future. Amnesia definitely helps in a world where friends and enemies are ephemeral but spooks and oil money are permanent.
Matein Khalid is a Dubai-based investment banker and economic analyst
Matien Khalid.
June 7 07
England has no permanent friends and no permanent enemies, only permanent interests". This diplomatic bon mot of a Victorian statesman was so apt as Tony Blair jetted to Tripoli on the first leg of his African farewell tour, gushed about his "easy personal relationship" with Colonel Gaddafi, hailed Libya's emergence into the Lexus–McWorld globalist stage and bagged a $900 million gas exploration contract for BP the same week the Kremlin squeezed its Siberian gasfield.
Tony Blair made no secret of his enthusiasm for the kinder, gentler Libyan Arab Socialist Peoples Jamarhiya that emerged when the quixotic Brother Colonel who seized power 37 years ago in a military coup abandoned his nuclear weapons programme, stopped bankrolling guerillas and secessionist revolutionary movements, handed over the two intelligence agents who caused the midair explosion that killed 290 human beings on Pan Am Flight 007 over the skies Scotland and shelled out $2.7 billion in compensation to the Lockerbie victims. And why not? Libya is the Arab world's last unexplored oil province, with 40 billion barrels of proven reserves and a LNG treasure trove that rivals Algeria and Qatar.
Britain desperately needs Libyan gas since it must replace a third of its electric power plants in the next decade as its existing coal and nuclear stations retire. Moreover, British arms exports to Arab governments are mission critical for BAE, as Tony Blair's intervention to halt a SFO probe of kickbacks on a Saudi fighter jet deal proves. So it was not coincidental that Blair linked M16-Libyan mukhabarat intelligence ties to gas and arms contracts that he hoped to sign with Colonel Gaddafi's regime.
British intelligence is, of course, no stranger to the ancient deserts of Libya, the scene of epic wartime tank battles between Edwin Rommel, Hitler's desert fox and Montgomery. After all, the fabled SAS whose license to kill presence in Arab wars from Suez to Dhofar to Fallujah has shaped the secret history of the Middle East, was born in Colonel Stirling's raid on the Nazi garrison at Tobruk. M16 agents had cultivated the Sufi reformist Sanussi religious orders of Benghazi, whose revolt against Mussolini's brutal Italian colonialists was instrumental in the Axis defeat in North Africa. It was therefore entirely natural that the head of the Sanussi order, Sidi Idris, was crowned King of Libya, with the assistance of British intelligence in 1951 even though Tripolitania, Fezzan and Cyraenica to had been distinct regions even during the Ottoman Sultanate.
Libyan oil was discovered by BP in the 1950's. Having learnt the lessons of the CIA–M16 coup to oust Mossadegh, London became the de facto protector of King Idris regime as black gold from the Sirte Basin made the Sannusi monarchy rich beyond the dreams of Croesus.
However, King Idris's palace entourage made a fatal mistake when they fattened their Swiss bank accounts by awarding oil concessions to America's oilmen, particularly Dr Armand Hammer of Occidental Petroleum, who tried to muscle into the Seven Sisters oil fiefdoms in the Middle East. Not coincidentally, the British Army's signals and cryptology school sponsored several young Bedouin officers from the Fezzan for its communications course in Beaconsfield, whose most famous alumnus was, of course, Muammar Gaddafi. On September 1st 1969, Gaddafi used his (UK educated) knowledge of military ciphers to good use when he engineered the coup while King Idris was on a state visit to Turkey. Both Britain and United States immediately recognised the new military regime, impressed by Gaddafi's Islamic piety and hatred for Soviet Communism. M16 arrested a boatload of mercenaries hired by King Idris's émigré royalists to overthrow Gaddafi's regime before it set sail from Trieste to Tripoli. In fact, the CIA even tipped off Gaddafi of a coup plot within his own Revolutionary Command council's brother officers and spread the word that Libya's Langley connection was sacrosanct. Inevitably, Agency business, the arms bazaar and oil concessions converged with a vengeance in Libya.
Bunker Hunt, Dr. Hammer's Oxy, Conoco, Marathon Oil, Halliburton, Bechtel, the great and the good of the Texan oil batch, made money hand over fist in Libya even after 1969. But they too made a fatal mistake, like King Idris's kleptocrats. They misread the mercurial, messianic young military ruler of Libya who lived in a tent and dreamt he was the new Saladin destined to recover Palestine for the Arabs, who dreamt he was the heir of Nasser after the humiliation of the Six Day War, who used oil as a political weapon before King Faisal's embargo.
Amnesia is mission critical in international relations. So M16 and the CIA are not really interested in introspection on their track record in Libya, even though ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free (yeah right!). Gaddafi, of course, sent Libyan troops to Uganda to save Idi Amin, and the CAR to save the self styled Emperor Bokassa, invaded Chad to seize the uranium mines of the Aouzou Strip, sent guerillas to attack the Tunisian city of Gafsa, helped the Liberian warlord Charles Taylor to the bitter end. Gaddafi's petrodollars financed such luminaries of the Third World as Abu Nidal, Carlos the Jackal, the PFLP, Angolan guerillas, Frelimo, the Provo IRA, Pakistan's black market nuclear component smuggling rings, the Polisario in Western Sahara, the Eritreans, the Basques and the Corsicans. Libya almost provoked a war with Sadat's Egypt in 1977 and with the United States in 1981, when Libyan MIG's buzzed the Sixth Fleet, setting in motion Reagan's bombing raid over Tripoli and Benghazi. Of course, the F-111 jets that bombed Aziziyah Barracks in April 1986 took off from a USAF airfield in the sceptred isle, home of BP (ousted from Libya in 1974) and the Firm, Her Majesty's fabled secret service.
Libya has fascinated me since my boyhood. The world's oldest cave paintings, the Roman ruins of Leptis Magna, the legends of Septimus Sevenus Caesar and Omar Mukhtar, the Sufi Zawiyas (Monastries) of Benghazi, Tripoli's Ottoman forts that once housed Barbarossa's pirates and slave traders, the battlefields of the Africa Korps. Yet the history of Libya is so tragic, its politics so sinister.
Arab political reform is a joke as long as Britain and America embrace a regime that has never allowed an election since 1969, that has subverted Arab and African governments, whose bizarre social experiments and Green Books put Chairman Mao to shame. But Western spies and Western oilmen bear a moral responsibility to the Libyan people. So the CEO of Exxon meets the Colonel in a tent, Shell mints money with LNG tankers, the Rothschild Bank advises on Libyan offshore refinery mergers, Harvard Business/School's Michael Porter designs the Libyan economic future. Amnesia definitely helps in a world where friends and enemies are ephemeral but spooks and oil money are permanent.
Matein Khalid is a Dubai-based investment banker and economic analyst
Darfur rebel faction signs peace agreement with Khartoum.
Sudan Tribune
8 June 07
A rebel faction which defected from the National Redemption Front (NRF) has joined the Darfur Peace Agreement, Sudan official news agency SUNA reported today.
A Darfur rebel group, headed by the former governor of West Darfur State, Ibarhim Yahia, has inked an initial agreement on Thursday in El Genaina, to join the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA). The group encompasses members from the National Redemption Front (NRF): the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM).
Following several failed attempts to elect an executive body, the one year old front appears on the verge of disintegration with its member working alone.
The NRF was founded on June 30, 2006 in the Eritrean capital Asmara. The members of the front are the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) headed by Khalil Ibrahim, Sudan Liberation Movement Army (SLM) lead by Khamis Abdalla Abakr, and the Sudan Federal Democratic Alliance (SFDA) jointly led by Ahmed Ibrahim Diraig and Sharif Harir.
The Eritrean government played a vital role in the creation of this front that consisted of the non-signatory rebel groups. The purpose was to unify them under one umbrella to renegotiate with Khartoum.
The Commissioner of Genaina and member of the committee who arranged the deal, Dr. Fadlalla Ahmed Abdalla, said that the group members are citizens of the Massalet tribe.
Abdalla added that the signature ceremony with the group will be held next Saturday at El-Genaina, in the presence of a high level federal delegation headed by the Presidential Advisor, Magzoub Al-Khalifa, along with representatives from the UN and the African Union mission.
Some analysts speaking to Sudan Tribune have suggested that the Khartoum is resorting to divide and conquer tactics within the rebel groups to weaken their positions on the political and military front. However they played down the impact of this agreement on the situation on the ground.
The international community has been adamant about the need to unite the rebel groups for any future peace negotiations with the Sudanese government. The government of Southern Sudan led by the first vice president Silva Kiir has proposed a meeting in Juba for the rebel groups to look into consolidating their political positions.
At least 200,000 people have died in the western region and more than two million more fled their homes since ethnic minority rebels rose up three years ago drawing a scorched earth response from the military and allied militias.
8 June 07
A rebel faction which defected from the National Redemption Front (NRF) has joined the Darfur Peace Agreement, Sudan official news agency SUNA reported today.
A Darfur rebel group, headed by the former governor of West Darfur State, Ibarhim Yahia, has inked an initial agreement on Thursday in El Genaina, to join the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA). The group encompasses members from the National Redemption Front (NRF): the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM).
Following several failed attempts to elect an executive body, the one year old front appears on the verge of disintegration with its member working alone.
The NRF was founded on June 30, 2006 in the Eritrean capital Asmara. The members of the front are the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) headed by Khalil Ibrahim, Sudan Liberation Movement Army (SLM) lead by Khamis Abdalla Abakr, and the Sudan Federal Democratic Alliance (SFDA) jointly led by Ahmed Ibrahim Diraig and Sharif Harir.
The Eritrean government played a vital role in the creation of this front that consisted of the non-signatory rebel groups. The purpose was to unify them under one umbrella to renegotiate with Khartoum.
The Commissioner of Genaina and member of the committee who arranged the deal, Dr. Fadlalla Ahmed Abdalla, said that the group members are citizens of the Massalet tribe.
Abdalla added that the signature ceremony with the group will be held next Saturday at El-Genaina, in the presence of a high level federal delegation headed by the Presidential Advisor, Magzoub Al-Khalifa, along with representatives from the UN and the African Union mission.
Some analysts speaking to Sudan Tribune have suggested that the Khartoum is resorting to divide and conquer tactics within the rebel groups to weaken their positions on the political and military front. However they played down the impact of this agreement on the situation on the ground.
The international community has been adamant about the need to unite the rebel groups for any future peace negotiations with the Sudanese government. The government of Southern Sudan led by the first vice president Silva Kiir has proposed a meeting in Juba for the rebel groups to look into consolidating their political positions.
At least 200,000 people have died in the western region and more than two million more fled their homes since ethnic minority rebels rose up three years ago drawing a scorched earth response from the military and allied militias.
2 Witnesses in Ntuyahaga Trial Dissapear."
Hirondelle News Agency
7 June 07
Two Rwandan gendarmes who had come to testify in Brussels at the trial OF Major Bernard Ntuyahaga on 24 May have disappeared before their return to Rwanda, scheduled for two days after their testimonies; learned the Hirondelle agency.
After their return, on the trial day, to the buildings of the federal police force, which lodges the witnesses of the trial, they would have left, leaving some personal effects behind, and have not reappeared since.
The two men, in possession of valid passports and visas that expire at the end of July, were free to move about. Their disappearance has nevertheless been announced.
At the time of their testimonies, the two gendarmes had shared their concerns for their safety and had asked that their names not be quoted in the media.
Assigned to the protection of Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, they were present at the morning of 7 April at her residence when the Belgian peacekeepers were forced to disarm before being taken by Bernard Ntuyahaga to the military camp of Kigali where they were later killed.
The former major, Bernard Ntuyahaga, is suspected by Belgian justice of having taken part in these killings.
They had nevertheless both ensured not to have seen the officer of the Rwandan Armed Forces (RAF) at the residence of Agathe Uwlingiyimana.
One of them had also surprised the court while reconsidering former statements that he had made according to which Bernard Ntuyahaga would have directed the military operations in the district of Kyovu where the Prime Minister lived. He had guaranteed to have had spoken "about another Ntuyahaga, also a major". The credibility of this testimony had been put in doubt by the counsel of the civil parties.
Observers think that the two gendarmes intend to ask for asylum in Belgium or in a nearby country.
In 2005, at the time of the preceding trial related to the Rwandan genocide, more than ten witnesses that came from Rwanda remained in Belgium and requested political asylum.
7 June 07
Two Rwandan gendarmes who had come to testify in Brussels at the trial OF Major Bernard Ntuyahaga on 24 May have disappeared before their return to Rwanda, scheduled for two days after their testimonies; learned the Hirondelle agency.
After their return, on the trial day, to the buildings of the federal police force, which lodges the witnesses of the trial, they would have left, leaving some personal effects behind, and have not reappeared since.
The two men, in possession of valid passports and visas that expire at the end of July, were free to move about. Their disappearance has nevertheless been announced.
At the time of their testimonies, the two gendarmes had shared their concerns for their safety and had asked that their names not be quoted in the media.
Assigned to the protection of Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, they were present at the morning of 7 April at her residence when the Belgian peacekeepers were forced to disarm before being taken by Bernard Ntuyahaga to the military camp of Kigali where they were later killed.
The former major, Bernard Ntuyahaga, is suspected by Belgian justice of having taken part in these killings.
They had nevertheless both ensured not to have seen the officer of the Rwandan Armed Forces (RAF) at the residence of Agathe Uwlingiyimana.
One of them had also surprised the court while reconsidering former statements that he had made according to which Bernard Ntuyahaga would have directed the military operations in the district of Kyovu where the Prime Minister lived. He had guaranteed to have had spoken "about another Ntuyahaga, also a major". The credibility of this testimony had been put in doubt by the counsel of the civil parties.
Observers think that the two gendarmes intend to ask for asylum in Belgium or in a nearby country.
In 2005, at the time of the preceding trial related to the Rwandan genocide, more than ten witnesses that came from Rwanda remained in Belgium and requested political asylum.
Ntuyahaga Implicated in Killings in Kyovu.
Hirondelle News Agency
7 June 07
Several witnesses called to testify before the Crown Court of Brussels underlined the responsibility of Major Bernard Ntuyahaga in cleansing operations in the district of Kyovu in Kigali starting on 7 April 1994.
In addition to his alleged participation in the killing of the ten Belgian peacekeepers, the former major of the Rwandan Armed Forces (RAF), Bernard Ntuyahaga would also be implicated in the killing of Rwandan civilians, neighbours living in his district of Kyovu. However he states that he did not return home after 7 April and that he remained at the military camp of Kigali.
According to several witnesses that testified before the Crown Court of Brussels, soldiers came and went in vicinity of the officer. "The soldiers before going out and killing people left Bernard Ntuyahaga’s residence and returned or stood in front of his house", stated the servant of Robert Schriewer, former Belgian co-operator. He and his wife said to have heard "festival noises ", laughter and songs, at Ntuyahaga’s, whose house was next to theirs, on the 7th and the following days.
A road block held by soldiers, where "many people were killed", would have been drawn up in front of the major‘s house, according to Laurent Uwimana, gardener in a house of the district. He, however, did not see Bernard Ntuyahaga there.
Leonard Nzaramba, servant in another house, states that the major regularly came to visit in a vehicle "to see how things were going" before going over to the Chief of Defense Staff. According to him and other witnesses, the servant of Ntuyahaga, called "Helmet", present at this road block, would have been armed and dressed in a military uniform.
Robert Schriewer had reported the statements of Alphonse-Marie Nkubito, former Minister of Justice, today deceased and his neighbour at the time, according to which the defendant would have been responsible for massacres in the district.
Wednesday, Bernard Ntuyahaga was, notably, blamed for the murder of Emmanuel Nkundabagenzi and his family, on the 8th. The soldiers that would have killed them would have come from the major’s house, according to a witness. Faustin Murangwa would have even seen Ntuyahaga accompanying them. A few days after, soldiers would have come to plunder the house of Mr. Nkundabagenzi to carry furniture to Bernard Ntuyahaga’s residence.
According to Coming Ndamage, at the time head of service at the National Bank of Rwanda (NBR) and close to the accused, "Ntuyahaga could not have massacred the family of Emmanuel taking into account their (good) relations". He also ensured not to have heard anything about celebrations in the district.
These testimonies are for the defense circumstantial and created to support, in 1999, an extradition request to Rwanda from Tanzania, where Bernard Ntuyahaga was held.
The former officer is also accused of killing several other civilians and their families in the district of Kyovu and Gitega of Kigali.
7 June 07
Several witnesses called to testify before the Crown Court of Brussels underlined the responsibility of Major Bernard Ntuyahaga in cleansing operations in the district of Kyovu in Kigali starting on 7 April 1994.
In addition to his alleged participation in the killing of the ten Belgian peacekeepers, the former major of the Rwandan Armed Forces (RAF), Bernard Ntuyahaga would also be implicated in the killing of Rwandan civilians, neighbours living in his district of Kyovu. However he states that he did not return home after 7 April and that he remained at the military camp of Kigali.
According to several witnesses that testified before the Crown Court of Brussels, soldiers came and went in vicinity of the officer. "The soldiers before going out and killing people left Bernard Ntuyahaga’s residence and returned or stood in front of his house", stated the servant of Robert Schriewer, former Belgian co-operator. He and his wife said to have heard "festival noises ", laughter and songs, at Ntuyahaga’s, whose house was next to theirs, on the 7th and the following days.
A road block held by soldiers, where "many people were killed", would have been drawn up in front of the major‘s house, according to Laurent Uwimana, gardener in a house of the district. He, however, did not see Bernard Ntuyahaga there.
Leonard Nzaramba, servant in another house, states that the major regularly came to visit in a vehicle "to see how things were going" before going over to the Chief of Defense Staff. According to him and other witnesses, the servant of Ntuyahaga, called "Helmet", present at this road block, would have been armed and dressed in a military uniform.
Robert Schriewer had reported the statements of Alphonse-Marie Nkubito, former Minister of Justice, today deceased and his neighbour at the time, according to which the defendant would have been responsible for massacres in the district.
Wednesday, Bernard Ntuyahaga was, notably, blamed for the murder of Emmanuel Nkundabagenzi and his family, on the 8th. The soldiers that would have killed them would have come from the major’s house, according to a witness. Faustin Murangwa would have even seen Ntuyahaga accompanying them. A few days after, soldiers would have come to plunder the house of Mr. Nkundabagenzi to carry furniture to Bernard Ntuyahaga’s residence.
According to Coming Ndamage, at the time head of service at the National Bank of Rwanda (NBR) and close to the accused, "Ntuyahaga could not have massacred the family of Emmanuel taking into account their (good) relations". He also ensured not to have heard anything about celebrations in the district.
These testimonies are for the defense circumstantial and created to support, in 1999, an extradition request to Rwanda from Tanzania, where Bernard Ntuyahaga was held.
The former officer is also accused of killing several other civilians and their families in the district of Kyovu and Gitega of Kigali.
G8: "Tired of Giving Aid to Africa."
"Some members of the G8 are tired of always giving more aid promises to Africa and they do not intend to take on further precise commitments for this reason", said a high-ranking representative of one of the delegations attending the G8 summit in Heiligendamm, to the German news agency DPA. The representative spoke of “aid promises” since, as with many reports coming from various organizations and associations they have shown that, as for actually allotted aid, not only have promises of increased not been honored, but there has also been a notable drop in those that have been issued. According to the same representative, some G8 countries – “more than one or two” said the mysterious interlocutor – are opposing to give more aid to Africa preferring instead to concentrate on rationalization and greater operational efficiency for the aid that has already been given.”
MISNA.
7 June 07
MISNA.
7 June 07
07 June, 2007
Ntuyahaga Trial: Lots of Hearsay From Witnesses.
Hirondelle News Agency
5 June 2007
Rwandan soldiers present at the Kigali camp at the time of the killing, on 7 April 1994, of the ten Belgian peacekeepers gave before the Crown Court, charged with trying Major Bernard Ntuyahaga for these murders, testimony for the prosecution, often in contradiction with other elements of the case.
According to the indictment, Major Ntuyahaga would have disarmed the UN peacekeepers at Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana’s residence before taking them to the military camp of Kigali where they were killed.
The Sergeant-Major P.N. saw arriving around 9 a.m. at the camp a white minibus transporting the UN peacekeepers. "Disarmed Whites, not Blacks", he specified; the ten Belgians were accompanied by five Ghanaians. "They came out, talked between themselves before they were told to sit down. After 15-20 minutes, a rumour circulated that they had fired on the presidential plane ". The soldiers present, among them war wounded, would then have started lynching the soldiers.
The minibus transporting Ntuyahaga set out again immediately after having dropped off the soldiers, according to P.N. "That proves that whoever was in the bus was not the one that spread the rumour", according to Luc de Temmerman, the lawyer for Ntuyahaga.
For his part, Jean-Népomucène Bugingo, arms instructor at the Military College of the camp, said to have been a witness to the massacre of the UN peacekeepers and present at the murder of Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana. Bernard Nutyahaga, according to him, attended the lynching. Whereas Colonel Laurent Nubaha, the commander of the camp, tried to restrain the soldiers, he would have heard Ntuyahaga say: "Let them kill these ten imbeciles because the President is dead". It is the first time that Bugingo stated these comments although he had given two prior statements since 1994.
Modeste Munyengabo, on the contrary, played down his former statements. According to him, the UN peacekeepers were lynched by war wounded on the orders of a Corporal by the name of Ngoga. Previously, he had said to have seen Ntuyahaga saying to Ngoga that the Belgians were responsible for the attack; he reconsidered these comments to the Court: "I had only imagined that he was the soldier who had opened the door of the minibus who had said that to Ngoga", he explained. Nevertheless, he "hears" that the major "would have supervised the war wounded until the death of the UN peacekeepers".
"Coming often to the Kigali camp", Bertin Munyampirwa only stated what his "friend" Corporal Boniface Gasabizi had said to him. According to him, a meeting of senior officers was held the night of the 6 to the 7 in the Chief of Defense Staff at the Kigali camp, "where it was decided to kill awkward political persons, and the Belgian peacekeepers in order to reach Agathe Uwilingiyimana" who the Belgians ensured the escort. He did not say if Ntuyahaga attended this meeting.
Lastly, Célestin Masonga said to have seen Bernard Ntuyahaga coming to the Kigali camp around two in the morning to meet François-Xavier Nzuwonemeye, recognition battalion commander indicted before the ICTR. The defendant always affirmed that he had not left his residence the night from the 6 to April 7.
For the defense, the majority of these testimonies are "manufactured". The lawyer for the Rwandan Government declared that one did not have to simply ignore inconsistencies" that can be explained by fear, emotion or youth at the time of the facts.
5 June 2007
Rwandan soldiers present at the Kigali camp at the time of the killing, on 7 April 1994, of the ten Belgian peacekeepers gave before the Crown Court, charged with trying Major Bernard Ntuyahaga for these murders, testimony for the prosecution, often in contradiction with other elements of the case.
According to the indictment, Major Ntuyahaga would have disarmed the UN peacekeepers at Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana’s residence before taking them to the military camp of Kigali where they were killed.
The Sergeant-Major P.N. saw arriving around 9 a.m. at the camp a white minibus transporting the UN peacekeepers. "Disarmed Whites, not Blacks", he specified; the ten Belgians were accompanied by five Ghanaians. "They came out, talked between themselves before they were told to sit down. After 15-20 minutes, a rumour circulated that they had fired on the presidential plane ". The soldiers present, among them war wounded, would then have started lynching the soldiers.
The minibus transporting Ntuyahaga set out again immediately after having dropped off the soldiers, according to P.N. "That proves that whoever was in the bus was not the one that spread the rumour", according to Luc de Temmerman, the lawyer for Ntuyahaga.
For his part, Jean-Népomucène Bugingo, arms instructor at the Military College of the camp, said to have been a witness to the massacre of the UN peacekeepers and present at the murder of Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana. Bernard Nutyahaga, according to him, attended the lynching. Whereas Colonel Laurent Nubaha, the commander of the camp, tried to restrain the soldiers, he would have heard Ntuyahaga say: "Let them kill these ten imbeciles because the President is dead". It is the first time that Bugingo stated these comments although he had given two prior statements since 1994.
Modeste Munyengabo, on the contrary, played down his former statements. According to him, the UN peacekeepers were lynched by war wounded on the orders of a Corporal by the name of Ngoga. Previously, he had said to have seen Ntuyahaga saying to Ngoga that the Belgians were responsible for the attack; he reconsidered these comments to the Court: "I had only imagined that he was the soldier who had opened the door of the minibus who had said that to Ngoga", he explained. Nevertheless, he "hears" that the major "would have supervised the war wounded until the death of the UN peacekeepers".
"Coming often to the Kigali camp", Bertin Munyampirwa only stated what his "friend" Corporal Boniface Gasabizi had said to him. According to him, a meeting of senior officers was held the night of the 6 to the 7 in the Chief of Defense Staff at the Kigali camp, "where it was decided to kill awkward political persons, and the Belgian peacekeepers in order to reach Agathe Uwilingiyimana" who the Belgians ensured the escort. He did not say if Ntuyahaga attended this meeting.
Lastly, Célestin Masonga said to have seen Bernard Ntuyahaga coming to the Kigali camp around two in the morning to meet François-Xavier Nzuwonemeye, recognition battalion commander indicted before the ICTR. The defendant always affirmed that he had not left his residence the night from the 6 to April 7.
For the defense, the majority of these testimonies are "manufactured". The lawyer for the Rwandan Government declared that one did not have to simply ignore inconsistencies" that can be explained by fear, emotion or youth at the time of the facts.
Renzaho Could Not Control the Militias-Witness
Hirondelle News Agency
4 June 2007
Tharcisse Renzaho, a former prefect of Kigali, accused in at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), did not have any authority over the militias nor on the road blocks which they controlled, stated the former delegate of the Rwandan Red Cross who had come to testify in his favour on Monday.
Protected by anonymity, this witness who clearly explained before the Tribunal that he had directed the Rwandan Red Cross at the time of the genocide, stated that Renzaho did not have any real power with his 30 police officers and that the local Red Cross, as well as the International Red Cross Committee, had never requested safe passage from him.
"Sorry for him but the police was the joke of the militia", stated the witness who had obtained from the militia leaders a document to allow his ambulances to circulate.
According to the witness, Renzaho, who is accused of complicity with Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka in aggressions and rapes committed at the parish of the Holy Family in the center of Kigali, came only once to this place with a delegation of the United Nations, Red Cross and the government to study the creation on this site of a "humanitarian safe zone".
Questioned on the assistance that Renzaho would have, according to the charges, brought to the militia, the witness stated that on the contrary "the militia could have nourished Renzaho" and supplied him in gasoline thanks to "war stockpiles" that they had constituted by plundering abandoned houses. "I saw him in his shelter, it felt like poverty", he said, stating to have taken refuge in the cellar where the prefect slept under his office at the time of a RPF bombardment.
Renzaho’s trial started on 8 January this year. The defense called its seventh and eighth witnesses on Monday and is expected to call another twenty. The Chamber is composed of judges Erik Mose (Norway), assisted by judges Serguei Egorov (Russia) and Rita Arrey (Cameroon).
4 June 2007
Tharcisse Renzaho, a former prefect of Kigali, accused in at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), did not have any authority over the militias nor on the road blocks which they controlled, stated the former delegate of the Rwandan Red Cross who had come to testify in his favour on Monday.
Protected by anonymity, this witness who clearly explained before the Tribunal that he had directed the Rwandan Red Cross at the time of the genocide, stated that Renzaho did not have any real power with his 30 police officers and that the local Red Cross, as well as the International Red Cross Committee, had never requested safe passage from him.
"Sorry for him but the police was the joke of the militia", stated the witness who had obtained from the militia leaders a document to allow his ambulances to circulate.
According to the witness, Renzaho, who is accused of complicity with Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka in aggressions and rapes committed at the parish of the Holy Family in the center of Kigali, came only once to this place with a delegation of the United Nations, Red Cross and the government to study the creation on this site of a "humanitarian safe zone".
Questioned on the assistance that Renzaho would have, according to the charges, brought to the militia, the witness stated that on the contrary "the militia could have nourished Renzaho" and supplied him in gasoline thanks to "war stockpiles" that they had constituted by plundering abandoned houses. "I saw him in his shelter, it felt like poverty", he said, stating to have taken refuge in the cellar where the prefect slept under his office at the time of a RPF bombardment.
Renzaho’s trial started on 8 January this year. The defense called its seventh and eighth witnesses on Monday and is expected to call another twenty. The Chamber is composed of judges Erik Mose (Norway), assisted by judges Serguei Egorov (Russia) and Rita Arrey (Cameroon).
As His Trial Ends, Bagosora Claims He is the Victim of RPF Propaganda.
Hirondelle News Agency
3 June 2007
Addressing the judges on Friday at the end of his trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Colonel Théoneste Bagosora, accused of being "the mastermind" of the genocide, said that he his a victim of the propaganda of the current Rwandan regime.
"I was and I remain a victim of pitiful propaganda from the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front, former rebel group that is currently in power), declared, standing behind his lawyers, the former chief of staff of the Ministry for Defense.
"I did not kill anyone, nor did I give any order to kill anyone (...) Only you can rehabilitate me in society", protested the principal defendant at the ICTR before his three judges.
The most prominent prisoner of the ICTR, pink silk tie on a pink shirt, asked "all goodwill men to release him from the intoxication of this propaganda, believe (him) and help (him) make the truth shine on the events which darkened Rwanda from 1990 to now".
"I kneel myself before all the victims of this human madness that has no precedent (...) I share the pain of all those who lost theirs lives in this tragedy which does not seem to finish", he continued, on the same reflected tone.
He was followed by the former military commander of the Gisenyi sector (northern Rwandan), Lieutenant-Colonel Anatole Nsengiyumva, handcuffed, for the circumstances, as was Bagosora, in an impeccable suit.
Claiming his innocence, Nsengiyumva was said "struck" by the allegations that carry against him, "of these irreal stories", he said.
He is accused of having been the principal supporter of the Tutsi massacres in Gisenyi.
He finally addressed his thoughts "to all the survivors, whether they are Hutu or Tutsi, even to these Twas which no one ever talks about".
The two other accused in this trial, the former chief of military operations at the chief of defense staff for the army, Brigadier-General Gratien Kabiligi and the former paracommando battalion commander, Major Aloys Ntabakuze, did not speak.
These interventions mark the end of this week which was devoted to the hearing of the closing arguments in this trial that began in April 2002.
During this trial, there were 408 days of proceedings, 242 witnesses were called and 1554 exhibits were presented, pointed out Judge Mose.
The date of the judgment will be announced at a future time. It should be rendered before the end of the year.
3 June 2007
Addressing the judges on Friday at the end of his trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Colonel Théoneste Bagosora, accused of being "the mastermind" of the genocide, said that he his a victim of the propaganda of the current Rwandan regime.
"I was and I remain a victim of pitiful propaganda from the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front, former rebel group that is currently in power), declared, standing behind his lawyers, the former chief of staff of the Ministry for Defense.
"I did not kill anyone, nor did I give any order to kill anyone (...) Only you can rehabilitate me in society", protested the principal defendant at the ICTR before his three judges.
The most prominent prisoner of the ICTR, pink silk tie on a pink shirt, asked "all goodwill men to release him from the intoxication of this propaganda, believe (him) and help (him) make the truth shine on the events which darkened Rwanda from 1990 to now".
"I kneel myself before all the victims of this human madness that has no precedent (...) I share the pain of all those who lost theirs lives in this tragedy which does not seem to finish", he continued, on the same reflected tone.
He was followed by the former military commander of the Gisenyi sector (northern Rwandan), Lieutenant-Colonel Anatole Nsengiyumva, handcuffed, for the circumstances, as was Bagosora, in an impeccable suit.
Claiming his innocence, Nsengiyumva was said "struck" by the allegations that carry against him, "of these irreal stories", he said.
He is accused of having been the principal supporter of the Tutsi massacres in Gisenyi.
He finally addressed his thoughts "to all the survivors, whether they are Hutu or Tutsi, even to these Twas which no one ever talks about".
The two other accused in this trial, the former chief of military operations at the chief of defense staff for the army, Brigadier-General Gratien Kabiligi and the former paracommando battalion commander, Major Aloys Ntabakuze, did not speak.
These interventions mark the end of this week which was devoted to the hearing of the closing arguments in this trial that began in April 2002.
During this trial, there were 408 days of proceedings, 242 witnesses were called and 1554 exhibits were presented, pointed out Judge Mose.
The date of the judgment will be announced at a future time. It should be rendered before the end of the year.
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