MISNA
21 February 2008
The party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the Pakistani Muslim League (PML-N) and the Pakistan's People Party (PPP), winners, according to the partial results, of last Monday's elections have announced an accord to form a new coalition government. Sharif, who met Asif Zardari, leader of the PPP and widower of Benazir Bhutto, said that the new Pakistani executive's first action shall be to ask the UN to set up an inquiry to uncover those behind the murder of Ms. Bhutto. The two parties have also decieded to revisit, in parliament, the issue of the re-installation of judges fired by president Pervez Musharraf. “There is no disagreement on the restoration of judges, (the issue) shall be resolved by parliament” they said in a joint press conference. The partial results published by the electoral commission, the two parties have earned 154 of the 268 seats in parliament, while Musharraf's party, The Muslim League-Q, has so far won only 38 seats.
22 February, 2008
BENEDICT XVI: KOSOVO, APPEAL FOR “PREDENCE AND MODERATION”
MISNA
21 February 2008
Editor's Note: Though admittedly Pope Benedict was not the Pontiff at the time, the irony should not be lost on the reader considering the Vatican funded Tudjman and his party.
An appeal “to all the parties involved, to behave with prudence and moderation and look for solutions that will promote mutual respect and reconciliation”. It was made this morning, with reference to “the current crisis in Kosovo”, by Pope Benedict XVI, as he received in the Vatican Vladeta Jankovic, extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to the Holy See, who came to submit his credentials. “I know how deeply the Serbian populations have suffered during the recent conflicts and I would like to express my sincere concern for them and for the other Balkan nations that have been affected by the sorrowful events of the last decade. The Holy See shares your deep wish that the peace achieved may bring lasting stability in the region”, added the Pope. The Pontiff also expressed his satisfaction for “the progress made in the relations between the Orthodox and Catholic Christians”, underlining how the “geographical location of Serbia” gives it “a unique opportunity to promote ecumenical dialogue, while its familiarity with Islam” opens “rich opportunities” in terms of “inter-religious dialogue”.
21 February 2008
Editor's Note: Though admittedly Pope Benedict was not the Pontiff at the time, the irony should not be lost on the reader considering the Vatican funded Tudjman and his party.
An appeal “to all the parties involved, to behave with prudence and moderation and look for solutions that will promote mutual respect and reconciliation”. It was made this morning, with reference to “the current crisis in Kosovo”, by Pope Benedict XVI, as he received in the Vatican Vladeta Jankovic, extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to the Holy See, who came to submit his credentials. “I know how deeply the Serbian populations have suffered during the recent conflicts and I would like to express my sincere concern for them and for the other Balkan nations that have been affected by the sorrowful events of the last decade. The Holy See shares your deep wish that the peace achieved may bring lasting stability in the region”, added the Pope. The Pontiff also expressed his satisfaction for “the progress made in the relations between the Orthodox and Catholic Christians”, underlining how the “geographical location of Serbia” gives it “a unique opportunity to promote ecumenical dialogue, while its familiarity with Islam” opens “rich opportunities” in terms of “inter-religious dialogue”.
21 February, 2008
NORTH-KIVU: CIVILIANS KILLED.
MISNA
20 February 2008
At least 38 civilians have been killed by the government armed forces (FARDC) and the rebels loyal to Laurent Nkunda last month in North Kivu said MONUC, adding that it is "concerned by the violations of human rights perpetrated during the months of January and February by the various signatories to the agreement for the ceasefire”. In this way, adds MONUC: "the evidence gathered show that elements of the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP, the movement led by the Tutsi-congolese Nkunda) have killed at least 30 civilians ion Kalonge and in nearby villages between January 16 and 20, 2008”. The killing appears to have been “pre-meditated as part of reprisals against the population accused of having taken refuge in an area controlled by PARECO”, another adversary group, in the same area. The Second Brigade of FARDC, is believed to be responsible for the killing of civilians in the village of Musezero (50 km. northwest of Goma) last January 2; at least eight bodies were identified by MONUC troops.
20 February 2008
At least 38 civilians have been killed by the government armed forces (FARDC) and the rebels loyal to Laurent Nkunda last month in North Kivu said MONUC, adding that it is "concerned by the violations of human rights perpetrated during the months of January and February by the various signatories to the agreement for the ceasefire”. In this way, adds MONUC: "the evidence gathered show that elements of the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP, the movement led by the Tutsi-congolese Nkunda) have killed at least 30 civilians ion Kalonge and in nearby villages between January 16 and 20, 2008”. The killing appears to have been “pre-meditated as part of reprisals against the population accused of having taken refuge in an area controlled by PARECO”, another adversary group, in the same area. The Second Brigade of FARDC, is believed to be responsible for the killing of civilians in the village of Musezero (50 km. northwest of Goma) last January 2; at least eight bodies were identified by MONUC troops.
FBI joins East Timor probe.
Associated Press
20 February 2008
Three FBI agents arrived in East Timor on Wednesday to join the investigation into attacks last week on the tiny nation's president and prime minister.
Other international police officers are already investigating the assassination attempts, which left President Jose Ramos-Horta, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, critically injured.
The three FBI officers begin work Thursday, U.S. Ambassador Hans George Klemm told reporters.
"We are very committed to trying to assist the prosecutor general uncover all the facts of the case," Klemm said.
20 February 2008
Three FBI agents arrived in East Timor on Wednesday to join the investigation into attacks last week on the tiny nation's president and prime minister.
Other international police officers are already investigating the assassination attempts, which left President Jose Ramos-Horta, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, critically injured.
The three FBI officers begin work Thursday, U.S. Ambassador Hans George Klemm told reporters.
"We are very committed to trying to assist the prosecutor general uncover all the facts of the case," Klemm said.
US floats NATO troop plan for West Bank: Israeli report.
AFP
20 February 2008
The United States is floating an idea to temporarily deploy NATO troops in the West Bank after Israeli troops eventually withdraw, a newspaper said on Wednesday, quoting Israeli defence officials.
General James Jones, the US special Middle East envoy, is spearheading the idea, the Jerusalem Post reported.
It said Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak had been briefed but had not finalised his position. Israel has traditionally been hostile to any suggestions of using foreign troops to help achieve peace in the region.
Under such a deal, third-party troops would be stationed in the West Bank to secure the area between the time of an Israeli withdrawal and when the Palestinian Authority is able to take over full security control.
"The deployment of such a force has come up in talks, and Jones is known to be working on it," a senior defence official was quoted as saying. "At the moment, it's just an idea and yet to be accepted or adopted by Israel."
Asked about the report, US embassy spokesman Stewart Tuttle said only that "General Jones hasn't said anything in public about any discussions he may be having in private, and it is very early in the process."
Jones, a former commander of the US Marine Corps and NATO military chief, was named in November as US envoy on Middle East security issues.
One concern for Israel is the degree to which its troops would still have freedom of operation in the West Bank under such a deal, the Post said.
20 February 2008
The United States is floating an idea to temporarily deploy NATO troops in the West Bank after Israeli troops eventually withdraw, a newspaper said on Wednesday, quoting Israeli defence officials.
General James Jones, the US special Middle East envoy, is spearheading the idea, the Jerusalem Post reported.
It said Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak had been briefed but had not finalised his position. Israel has traditionally been hostile to any suggestions of using foreign troops to help achieve peace in the region.
Under such a deal, third-party troops would be stationed in the West Bank to secure the area between the time of an Israeli withdrawal and when the Palestinian Authority is able to take over full security control.
"The deployment of such a force has come up in talks, and Jones is known to be working on it," a senior defence official was quoted as saying. "At the moment, it's just an idea and yet to be accepted or adopted by Israel."
Asked about the report, US embassy spokesman Stewart Tuttle said only that "General Jones hasn't said anything in public about any discussions he may be having in private, and it is very early in the process."
Jones, a former commander of the US Marine Corps and NATO military chief, was named in November as US envoy on Middle East security issues.
One concern for Israel is the degree to which its troops would still have freedom of operation in the West Bank under such a deal, the Post said.
East Timor president out of coma; talks to family.
Reuters
21 February 2008
East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta has regained consciousness from a drug-induced coma since being shot 10 days ago in an assassination attempt and is talking to his family in an Australian hospital.
"Doctors are pleased with his progress," a spokeswoman for Royal Darwin Hospital told Reuters on Thursday.
Nobel laureate Ramos-Horta was shot and critically wounded at his home in Dili last week in an attack by rebel soldiers. Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao escaped injury in another shooting the same day.
Both attacks are believed to have been carried out by followers of rebel leader Alfredo Reinado, who was killed during the attack on Ramos-Horta.
Ramos-Horta, 58, was shot twice in the back and chest. He was put on life support, placed in a drug-induced coma and airlifted to Darwin where he underwent a series of operations.
Darwin hospital staff could not say whether Ramos-Horta would require further surgery or how long he would remain in hospital.
Arrest warrants have been issued against 17 people suspected of being involved in the attack while East Timor's police and international troops have been hunting for rebels hiding in hills near Dili. Around 200 fast reaction troops from Australia and more police were sent to the capital Dili after the attacks.
Reinado deserted the army in May 2006 to join about 600 former soldiers sacked earlier that year amid claims they were discriminated against because they were from the western part of East Timor. Fighting killed 37 people, drove 150,000 from their homes and foreign troops were sent to restore order.
East Timor gained full independence from Indonesia in 2002 after a U.N.-sponsored vote in 1999 marred by violence. Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975 and many thousands of East Timorese died during the brutal occupation that followed. ((Reporting by Michael Perry; Editing by David Fox))
21 February 2008
East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta has regained consciousness from a drug-induced coma since being shot 10 days ago in an assassination attempt and is talking to his family in an Australian hospital.
"Doctors are pleased with his progress," a spokeswoman for Royal Darwin Hospital told Reuters on Thursday.
Nobel laureate Ramos-Horta was shot and critically wounded at his home in Dili last week in an attack by rebel soldiers. Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao escaped injury in another shooting the same day.
Both attacks are believed to have been carried out by followers of rebel leader Alfredo Reinado, who was killed during the attack on Ramos-Horta.
Ramos-Horta, 58, was shot twice in the back and chest. He was put on life support, placed in a drug-induced coma and airlifted to Darwin where he underwent a series of operations.
Darwin hospital staff could not say whether Ramos-Horta would require further surgery or how long he would remain in hospital.
Arrest warrants have been issued against 17 people suspected of being involved in the attack while East Timor's police and international troops have been hunting for rebels hiding in hills near Dili. Around 200 fast reaction troops from Australia and more police were sent to the capital Dili after the attacks.
Reinado deserted the army in May 2006 to join about 600 former soldiers sacked earlier that year amid claims they were discriminated against because they were from the western part of East Timor. Fighting killed 37 people, drove 150,000 from their homes and foreign troops were sent to restore order.
East Timor gained full independence from Indonesia in 2002 after a U.N.-sponsored vote in 1999 marred by violence. Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975 and many thousands of East Timorese died during the brutal occupation that followed. ((Reporting by Michael Perry; Editing by David Fox))
Kyrgyzstan will demand U.S. close airbase - eventually.
RIA Novosti
20 February 2008
Kyrgyzstan is to eventually demand that the United States close down its airbase in the country, the Central Asian republic's president said on Wednesday, without giving a firm date.
The U.S. Ganci airbase at Manas Airport, located 30 kilometers (17 miles) east of Bishkek, accommodates 1,000 U.S. troops along with nine refueling and cargo planes supporting antiterrorism operations in Afghanistan.
"We will [eventually] raise the issue of its closure. That's for certain," Kurmanbek Bakiyev said in an interview with RIA Novosti and Russia Today.
Kyrgyz Finance Minister Tazhikan Kalimbetova disclosed earlier this month that Washington pays $17.5 million each year in rent.
Although Russia has encouraged Bishkek to demand the withdrawal of American troops, the impoverished nation of five million needs U.S. support and the military base has generated jobs and is a strong contributor to the Kyrgyz economy.
Russia established in October 2003 its own airbase in Kant, about 20 miles west of the Kyrgyz capital. The Russian base currently deploys about 400 troops, as well as 20 combat and transport planes, helicopters, and L-39 trainers.
Kalimbetova said Kyrgyzstan has not charged Russia, and has no plans to impose charges for the use of the Kant airbase, because the Russian troops are stationed at Kant under an agreement in the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) - a regional security bloc in Central Asia, which also includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Furthermore, Kyrgyzstan's debt to Russia totals $184 million, and in these circumstances, it would be rather "inappropriate" to demand rent, the minister said.
20 February 2008
Kyrgyzstan is to eventually demand that the United States close down its airbase in the country, the Central Asian republic's president said on Wednesday, without giving a firm date.
The U.S. Ganci airbase at Manas Airport, located 30 kilometers (17 miles) east of Bishkek, accommodates 1,000 U.S. troops along with nine refueling and cargo planes supporting antiterrorism operations in Afghanistan.
"We will [eventually] raise the issue of its closure. That's for certain," Kurmanbek Bakiyev said in an interview with RIA Novosti and Russia Today.
Kyrgyz Finance Minister Tazhikan Kalimbetova disclosed earlier this month that Washington pays $17.5 million each year in rent.
Although Russia has encouraged Bishkek to demand the withdrawal of American troops, the impoverished nation of five million needs U.S. support and the military base has generated jobs and is a strong contributor to the Kyrgyz economy.
Russia established in October 2003 its own airbase in Kant, about 20 miles west of the Kyrgyz capital. The Russian base currently deploys about 400 troops, as well as 20 combat and transport planes, helicopters, and L-39 trainers.
Kalimbetova said Kyrgyzstan has not charged Russia, and has no plans to impose charges for the use of the Kant airbase, because the Russian troops are stationed at Kant under an agreement in the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) - a regional security bloc in Central Asia, which also includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Furthermore, Kyrgyzstan's debt to Russia totals $184 million, and in these circumstances, it would be rather "inappropriate" to demand rent, the minister said.
Clinton, Obama bank major donations from Abramoff's former law firm.
Michael Roston
Wednesday February 20, 2008
The Raw Story
Jack Abramoff has been the specter haunting Republican politicians for a few years now. The disgraced GOP lobbyist, who pled guilty in 2006 on fraud and corruption charges, burrowed his way deep into Washington, DC's political elite, leading to the convictions of top Bush administration officials and contributing to 2006's electoral calamity for the Republican Party. Abramoff's fall also encouraged Democrats to reposition themselves as the party of clean government.
But in 2008, it might be harder for the Democratic presidential nominee to make the same case that his or her Congressional counterparts successfully built in 2006. Facing off against likely Republican nominee John McCain, who as a senator led early investigations into Abramoff's corrupt lobbying, either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama could find themselves linked to Abramoff and his former law firm, the Miami-based giant Greenberg Traurig.
A RAW STORY review of Federal Election Commission records shows that Clinton and Obama both received hundreds of thousands of dollars of donations from Greenberg Traurig staff. Moreover, each candidate has particularly benefited from the largesse of the firm's top management and its registered lobbyists.
The Clinton and Obama campaigns were both contacted on Monday and Wednesday for comment regarding donations to their candidates from Abramoff-linked donors. Neither responded to RAW STORY's queries.
Giant firm takes out checkbook for Democratic candidates
Greenberg Traurig has offices all over the United States and is one of the largest law firms in the country. It hired Jack Abramoff and his lobbying team in 2001, and fired him in 2004 when knowledge of a federal investigation of his practices became public.
Greenberg Traurig attorneys have actively donated to this season's presidential campaigns. A Feb. 12 article from the Huffington Post noted that McCain, the senator whose Indian Affairs Committee investigations helped bring down Abramoff and embroiled Greenberg Traurig in years of legal trouble, took in more than $100,000 from the firm's employees.
But McCain was not alone among the likely presidential candidates in receiving big money from Greenberg Traurig attorneys. According to FEC records, Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, along with her earlier senate campaign and political committees, received just under $200,000 in donations from Greenberg Traurig employees. And Barack Obama, who has not been operating a national political campaign as long as Clinton, is halfway there, banking just over $100,000 from the firm's attorneys.
But beyond merely earning donations from the firm's attorneys, Clinton and Obama have both benefited heavily from the firm's registered lobbyists and management.
In all, Senator Clinton received just under $50,000 in donations from Greenberg Traurig's registered lobbyists who represent interests ranging from health insurance company Humana to New Balance Shoes to Dole Food. But Clinton also received about $18,000 in donations from lobbyists who worked directly on accounts with Abramoff himself.
Both Joe Reeder and Alan Slomowitz, who worked alongside Abramoff for various clients, have donated to Clinton's presidential campaign. Reeder worked with Abramoff on an account with Voor Huisen Project Management, which appeared to be a shell corporation and paid Abramoff $2.1 million in fees. Slomowitz was a registered lobbyist for the American International Center, a money laundering front organization established by Abramoff and run by a lifeguard in Delaware, as well as many of his other accounts.
The other two Clinton donors, Ronald Platt and Michael D. Smith, both left Greenberg in the aftermath of the Abramoff controversy, and only made donations to Clinton's pre-presidential political committee "Friends of Hillary." Smith, along with three other former Greenberg employees, was asked to resign from Greenberg after improperly taking payments from a firm run by Michael Scanlon, an Abramoff associate who pled guilty to a conspiracy charge in 2005.
None of these four lobbyists have been charged with breaking any laws.
Obama, on the other hand, appears to have remained mostly true to his frequent pledges to not take money from lobbyists. But recently, one appears to have made it through the firewall.
Richard Edlin, a registered Greenberg Traurig lobbyist with SPI Spirits, gave the senator $1,500 in the 4th Quarter of 2007. While Edlin was not a member of Abramoff's team, he was implicated in one of the convicted lobbyists' money laundering schemes, according to a June 2006 report in The Hill. However, as the article points out, "It is unclear...whether Edlin knew the true purpose," of the phony donation he was asked to process, and Edlin was not charged with any wrongdoing.
While Obama has not received as much as Clinton did from Greenberg Traurig lobbyists, the firm's top executives, who made the decisions to initially hire and eventually fire Abramoff, have given heavily to the Illinois Democrat. Firm founders Larry Hoffman and Robert Traurig, along with current executive director Cesar Alvarez were all included in $14,500 from the firm's executive leadership to Obama.
Clinton also received $7,600 from the firm's general counsel and the chair of its New York office, who appear to have hedged their bets and given to Obama as well.
GOP could launch attacks on Abramoff connections
While Congressional Democrats have made the most hay out of links between their Republican opponents and Abramoff, the GOP has demonstrated its willingness to attack Democrats on the same charges.
In Dec. 2005, the National Republican Senatorial Committee circulated a document entitled "Democrats don't know Jack?" which identified 40 Democratic senators who had received donations from Abramoff and his partners.
In specific '06 campaigns, the very Abramoff-tied lobbyists who gave to Clinton and Obama were highlighted by Republican candidates and their organizations.
For instance, Republican Bob Corker, who defeated Harold Ford, Jr. in a tight Tennessee Senate race in 2006, slammed his opponent for receiving money from Greenberg Traurig attorneys, including Michael Smith and Alan Slomowitz.
"Congressman Ford needs to explain all his dealings with Team Abramoff and acknowledge that his recent denials were completely false and misleading. Tennesseans have the right to the truth about the Congressman's connection to these lobbyists,'" read a Jan. 2006 statement from Corker's campaign after Ford denied receiving money from Abramoff-connected lobbyists.
And even at the local level, Republicans have brought up Abramoff's attorneys' donations to Democratic candidates. In a 2007 race for the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in Virginia, Republican Gary Blaise charged Democratic incumbent Gerald Connolly with taking money from Joe Reeder, who also gave to Clinton's campaign. Unlike Corker, Blaise did not succeed in defeating his Democratic opponent.
Whether or not Republicans will actually confront the eventual Democratic candidate on donations from lobbyists tied to Abramoff is anybody's guess. McCain's receipt of donations from the firm and its lobbyists might at least cancel out any effort by the GOP to make that move. But if they do, the charge might stick better to Senator Obama, who has declared strongly on the campaign trail that he wants to get lobbyists out of federal elections.
"In terms of how we've been running this campaign, we have seen that I have not taken money from federal registered lobbyists. We are not taking money from PACs," Obama argued in the very first Democratic presidential debate in South Carolina last April.
Obama also has gone a step further, arguing that he has a record of promoting government ethics initiatives within the Senate.
"I'm the only person on this stage who has worked actively just last year passing -- along with Russ Feingold -- some of the toughest ethics reforms since Watergate -- making sure that lobbyists could not provide gifts and meals to congressmen, making sure the bundling of monies by lobbyists was disclosed," he argued in an October 2007 debate in Philadelphia.
Clinton, on the other hand, has stood by her general willingness to accept money from lobbyists.
"A lot of those lobbyists whether you like it not, represent real Americans," Clinton declared at the YearlyKos convention last August, shaking off some jeers from the audience. "They represent nurses, they represent, you know, social workers...and yes, they represent corporations and they employ a lot of people....the idea that somehow a contribution is going to influence you, I just ask you to look at my record, I have been fighting for the same things, my core principles have not changed."
And Clinton's willingness to take money from lobbyists has paid off. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Clinton took in just under a million dollars from political action committees in 2007.
Wednesday February 20, 2008
The Raw Story
Jack Abramoff has been the specter haunting Republican politicians for a few years now. The disgraced GOP lobbyist, who pled guilty in 2006 on fraud and corruption charges, burrowed his way deep into Washington, DC's political elite, leading to the convictions of top Bush administration officials and contributing to 2006's electoral calamity for the Republican Party. Abramoff's fall also encouraged Democrats to reposition themselves as the party of clean government.
But in 2008, it might be harder for the Democratic presidential nominee to make the same case that his or her Congressional counterparts successfully built in 2006. Facing off against likely Republican nominee John McCain, who as a senator led early investigations into Abramoff's corrupt lobbying, either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama could find themselves linked to Abramoff and his former law firm, the Miami-based giant Greenberg Traurig.
A RAW STORY review of Federal Election Commission records shows that Clinton and Obama both received hundreds of thousands of dollars of donations from Greenberg Traurig staff. Moreover, each candidate has particularly benefited from the largesse of the firm's top management and its registered lobbyists.
The Clinton and Obama campaigns were both contacted on Monday and Wednesday for comment regarding donations to their candidates from Abramoff-linked donors. Neither responded to RAW STORY's queries.
Giant firm takes out checkbook for Democratic candidates
Greenberg Traurig has offices all over the United States and is one of the largest law firms in the country. It hired Jack Abramoff and his lobbying team in 2001, and fired him in 2004 when knowledge of a federal investigation of his practices became public.
Greenberg Traurig attorneys have actively donated to this season's presidential campaigns. A Feb. 12 article from the Huffington Post noted that McCain, the senator whose Indian Affairs Committee investigations helped bring down Abramoff and embroiled Greenberg Traurig in years of legal trouble, took in more than $100,000 from the firm's employees.
But McCain was not alone among the likely presidential candidates in receiving big money from Greenberg Traurig attorneys. According to FEC records, Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, along with her earlier senate campaign and political committees, received just under $200,000 in donations from Greenberg Traurig employees. And Barack Obama, who has not been operating a national political campaign as long as Clinton, is halfway there, banking just over $100,000 from the firm's attorneys.
But beyond merely earning donations from the firm's attorneys, Clinton and Obama have both benefited heavily from the firm's registered lobbyists and management.
In all, Senator Clinton received just under $50,000 in donations from Greenberg Traurig's registered lobbyists who represent interests ranging from health insurance company Humana to New Balance Shoes to Dole Food. But Clinton also received about $18,000 in donations from lobbyists who worked directly on accounts with Abramoff himself.
Both Joe Reeder and Alan Slomowitz, who worked alongside Abramoff for various clients, have donated to Clinton's presidential campaign. Reeder worked with Abramoff on an account with Voor Huisen Project Management, which appeared to be a shell corporation and paid Abramoff $2.1 million in fees. Slomowitz was a registered lobbyist for the American International Center, a money laundering front organization established by Abramoff and run by a lifeguard in Delaware, as well as many of his other accounts.
The other two Clinton donors, Ronald Platt and Michael D. Smith, both left Greenberg in the aftermath of the Abramoff controversy, and only made donations to Clinton's pre-presidential political committee "Friends of Hillary." Smith, along with three other former Greenberg employees, was asked to resign from Greenberg after improperly taking payments from a firm run by Michael Scanlon, an Abramoff associate who pled guilty to a conspiracy charge in 2005.
None of these four lobbyists have been charged with breaking any laws.
Obama, on the other hand, appears to have remained mostly true to his frequent pledges to not take money from lobbyists. But recently, one appears to have made it through the firewall.
Richard Edlin, a registered Greenberg Traurig lobbyist with SPI Spirits, gave the senator $1,500 in the 4th Quarter of 2007. While Edlin was not a member of Abramoff's team, he was implicated in one of the convicted lobbyists' money laundering schemes, according to a June 2006 report in The Hill. However, as the article points out, "It is unclear...whether Edlin knew the true purpose," of the phony donation he was asked to process, and Edlin was not charged with any wrongdoing.
While Obama has not received as much as Clinton did from Greenberg Traurig lobbyists, the firm's top executives, who made the decisions to initially hire and eventually fire Abramoff, have given heavily to the Illinois Democrat. Firm founders Larry Hoffman and Robert Traurig, along with current executive director Cesar Alvarez were all included in $14,500 from the firm's executive leadership to Obama.
Clinton also received $7,600 from the firm's general counsel and the chair of its New York office, who appear to have hedged their bets and given to Obama as well.
GOP could launch attacks on Abramoff connections
While Congressional Democrats have made the most hay out of links between their Republican opponents and Abramoff, the GOP has demonstrated its willingness to attack Democrats on the same charges.
In Dec. 2005, the National Republican Senatorial Committee circulated a document entitled "Democrats don't know Jack?" which identified 40 Democratic senators who had received donations from Abramoff and his partners.
In specific '06 campaigns, the very Abramoff-tied lobbyists who gave to Clinton and Obama were highlighted by Republican candidates and their organizations.
For instance, Republican Bob Corker, who defeated Harold Ford, Jr. in a tight Tennessee Senate race in 2006, slammed his opponent for receiving money from Greenberg Traurig attorneys, including Michael Smith and Alan Slomowitz.
"Congressman Ford needs to explain all his dealings with Team Abramoff and acknowledge that his recent denials were completely false and misleading. Tennesseans have the right to the truth about the Congressman's connection to these lobbyists,'" read a Jan. 2006 statement from Corker's campaign after Ford denied receiving money from Abramoff-connected lobbyists.
And even at the local level, Republicans have brought up Abramoff's attorneys' donations to Democratic candidates. In a 2007 race for the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in Virginia, Republican Gary Blaise charged Democratic incumbent Gerald Connolly with taking money from Joe Reeder, who also gave to Clinton's campaign. Unlike Corker, Blaise did not succeed in defeating his Democratic opponent.
Whether or not Republicans will actually confront the eventual Democratic candidate on donations from lobbyists tied to Abramoff is anybody's guess. McCain's receipt of donations from the firm and its lobbyists might at least cancel out any effort by the GOP to make that move. But if they do, the charge might stick better to Senator Obama, who has declared strongly on the campaign trail that he wants to get lobbyists out of federal elections.
"In terms of how we've been running this campaign, we have seen that I have not taken money from federal registered lobbyists. We are not taking money from PACs," Obama argued in the very first Democratic presidential debate in South Carolina last April.
Obama also has gone a step further, arguing that he has a record of promoting government ethics initiatives within the Senate.
"I'm the only person on this stage who has worked actively just last year passing -- along with Russ Feingold -- some of the toughest ethics reforms since Watergate -- making sure that lobbyists could not provide gifts and meals to congressmen, making sure the bundling of monies by lobbyists was disclosed," he argued in an October 2007 debate in Philadelphia.
Clinton, on the other hand, has stood by her general willingness to accept money from lobbyists.
"A lot of those lobbyists whether you like it not, represent real Americans," Clinton declared at the YearlyKos convention last August, shaking off some jeers from the audience. "They represent nurses, they represent, you know, social workers...and yes, they represent corporations and they employ a lot of people....the idea that somehow a contribution is going to influence you, I just ask you to look at my record, I have been fighting for the same things, my core principles have not changed."
And Clinton's willingness to take money from lobbyists has paid off. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Clinton took in just under a million dollars from political action committees in 2007.
20 February, 2008
Gen. Nkunda's men massacred at least 30 Hutu civilians, including a one year old baby during peace talks according to UN Investigators.
By Joe Bavier
20 February 2008
Reuters
Editor's Note: Interesting how MONUC reveals this just after a group of Gen. Nkunda's soldiers who reported for mixing at Kamina military base failed in an attempted mutiny against General Mabe's men. General Mabe was the commander who opposed General Nkunda and the Rwandans during the siege of Bukavu in 2004.
Tutsi rebels in Congo shot, hacked and beat to death at least 30 Hutus last month while their leaders negotiated a peace settlement, United Nations investigators said.
The killings, carried out by soldiers loyal to renegade General Laurent Nkunda, took place on January 16 and 17 around the village of Kalonge, around 100 km (64 miles) west of Goma, capital of the violence-torn North Kivu province.
At the time, a delegation representing Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) was in Goma attending talks that would broker a ceasefire on January 23 between government troops, Nkunda loyalists, and local Mai Mai militia.
"It seems almost certain that it was CNDP soldiers who carried out the killings," a U.N. human rights team concluded in a confidential report seen by Reuters on Wednesday.
"The massacre of this number of civilians is classified as a crime against humanity ... Also, given the fact that all the victims identified so far are Hutu, the incrimination of genocide should not be precluded."
Nkunda could not be reached for comment, but CNDP spokesman Rene Abandi told Reuters he was not aware of the incident.
According to the report, for two days CNDP soldiers occupied positions in and around Kalonge, in one instance manning a barricade along a trail leading to a grouping of villages there.
Nkunda loyalists arrested passing civilians, questioned them, and if they were believed to have travelled from areas under the control of a rival Mai Mai militia, killed them.
The area had been the scene of ongoing clashes between the CNDP and the Mai Mai in the weeks leading up to the killings.
Nearly all the victims were men, though a one-year-old baby, a 14-year-old boy, and a woman were also killed.
"The victims were killed by gunshot, machetes, and hammer blows to the head," the report said.
"That victims were arrested, tied up, beaten and shot at close range, some literally hunted down in their fields, suggests that the killings were deliberate," it said.
Some 450,000 North Kivu residents fled fighting between government troops, Nkunda loyalists, Rwandan Hutu rebels, and Mai Mai in the year leading up to last month's peace deal.
The conflict, which has its roots in neighbouring Rwanda's 1994 genocide in which around 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered, has raged on despite the official end to Congo's broader 1998-2003 war.
(Editing by Nick Tattersall)
20 February 2008
Reuters
Editor's Note: Interesting how MONUC reveals this just after a group of Gen. Nkunda's soldiers who reported for mixing at Kamina military base failed in an attempted mutiny against General Mabe's men. General Mabe was the commander who opposed General Nkunda and the Rwandans during the siege of Bukavu in 2004.
Tutsi rebels in Congo shot, hacked and beat to death at least 30 Hutus last month while their leaders negotiated a peace settlement, United Nations investigators said.
The killings, carried out by soldiers loyal to renegade General Laurent Nkunda, took place on January 16 and 17 around the village of Kalonge, around 100 km (64 miles) west of Goma, capital of the violence-torn North Kivu province.
At the time, a delegation representing Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) was in Goma attending talks that would broker a ceasefire on January 23 between government troops, Nkunda loyalists, and local Mai Mai militia.
"It seems almost certain that it was CNDP soldiers who carried out the killings," a U.N. human rights team concluded in a confidential report seen by Reuters on Wednesday.
"The massacre of this number of civilians is classified as a crime against humanity ... Also, given the fact that all the victims identified so far are Hutu, the incrimination of genocide should not be precluded."
Nkunda could not be reached for comment, but CNDP spokesman Rene Abandi told Reuters he was not aware of the incident.
According to the report, for two days CNDP soldiers occupied positions in and around Kalonge, in one instance manning a barricade along a trail leading to a grouping of villages there.
Nkunda loyalists arrested passing civilians, questioned them, and if they were believed to have travelled from areas under the control of a rival Mai Mai militia, killed them.
The area had been the scene of ongoing clashes between the CNDP and the Mai Mai in the weeks leading up to the killings.
Nearly all the victims were men, though a one-year-old baby, a 14-year-old boy, and a woman were also killed.
"The victims were killed by gunshot, machetes, and hammer blows to the head," the report said.
"That victims were arrested, tied up, beaten and shot at close range, some literally hunted down in their fields, suggests that the killings were deliberate," it said.
Some 450,000 North Kivu residents fled fighting between government troops, Nkunda loyalists, Rwandan Hutu rebels, and Mai Mai in the year leading up to last month's peace deal.
The conflict, which has its roots in neighbouring Rwanda's 1994 genocide in which around 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered, has raged on despite the official end to Congo's broader 1998-2003 war.
(Editing by Nick Tattersall)
Spanish Investigations Into Rwanda Put ICTR in Akward Position.
Hirondelle News Agency
19 February 2008
The 40 arrest warrants issued against officials of the Rwandan army by a Spanish judge on 6 February are in connection with crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and terrorism committed between 1990 and 2002 and put in a delicate position the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) which should have, a long time ago, prosecuted the authors of these acts.
In his decision, Judge Fernando Andreu Merelles underlines that the crimes committed in 1994 are of the ICTR jurisdiction and says he is ready to transfer the case to it. The ICTR did not officially react but
in session a member of the office of the prosecutor, answering to a lawyer who stated that the international court "was not concerned" with the Spanish decision.
If the prosecutor is not legally bound by the conclusions of the Spanish judge, it, on the other hand, is held, by several resolutions of the United Nations, including one issued in August 2003, to prosecute the
officials of the Rwandan Patriotic Front who would be guilty of crimes under the jurisdiction of the tribunal created by the UN.
Since, the prosecutor Hassan Bubacar Jallow holds his answer and explains that he is studying the results of the investigations started in June 2000 on this issue.
These investigations are officially closed since the end of 2004. While abstaining from answering on the attack of 6 April 1994, considered as the spark that led to the genocide, and taking into account the crimes committed by the rebels, then by the regime in power since they captured Kigali in July 1994, the prosecutor caused complaints to be filed and the opening of legal procedures before other jurisdictions, like France and Spain. Ten months before the end of the first instance trials he is also compromising the legacy of the tribunal.
In creating a standstill out of a part of the story, he, in particular, fed the arguments of persons accused of genocide in Arusha, who constantly denounce a political justice and see in each new procedure, whether it be in France or Spain, justifications for their own crimes. However, self-defence has never been accepted for the crime of genocide or crimes against humanity.
According to the Spanish judge, the facts relating to the RPF in 1994 are overpowering. Fernando Andreu Merelles explains why between August 1993 and March 1994, "the RPA/RPF planned the final attack to seize power by force". He considers the agreement signed 4 August 1993 in Arusha, which led the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) to place a battalion of 600 men in the capital, as a mission to protect the officials of the Rwandan Patriotic Front.
The judge writes that the RPF took advantage of this period to bring military equipment and organize the entry of funds, train the men of the battalion and infiltrate the Hutu extremist organizations. The orders
were to attack the Rwandan armed forces, "knowing that their missions would not prevent the foreseeable massacre of Tutsis who did not leave the country in 1959", in the areas of Kibuye, Gikongoro, Gitarama, Kubungo and in Bugesera.
The judge mentions the political assassinations of opponents, including, among others, that of Felicien Gatabazi, founder and president of the Social Democratic Party, 21 February 1994. "After each murder, massacres of Tutsis took place", writes the judge who examined the attacks in Gisenyi and Ruhengeri on 8 February 1994.
Merelles established that on 14 March 1994, the high command of the rebellion planned massacres in the regions of Byumba, Umutara and Kibumgo and adds that several meetings were intended to prepare the assassination of the former president Juvenal Habyarimana, 6 April 1994, which started the genocide of the Tutsis. Always in 1994, the judge writes that "in the diocese of Byumba (...) a sector completely controlled by the RPA/RPF (...) several thousand people were killed, including 64 Hutu priests".
Facts that the members of the ICTR special investigations unit investigated in depth, according to several sources. According to the Spanish decision, nearly 2 500 people, held at the stadium of Byumba, were murdered and their "lifeless bodies were dumped in a septic tank" of a building belonging to Felicien Kabuga.
The judge, who bases himself in particular on the Gersony report, which was classified confidential by the United Nations, mentions the massacre of almost 5 000 people at the border with Tanzania and of the military capture of Gitarama, 2 June 1994, which resulted in the murder, in Kabgaye, of three catholic bishops and nine priests. The judge estimates, on the basis of witness statements, at least 312, 726 people were victims of the RPA, between July 1994 and 1995, and counts 173 mass graves in the country. All these elements are thus under the jurisdiction of the ICTR, without it being bound by the qualification given by the Spanish judge to these crimes.
19 February 2008
The 40 arrest warrants issued against officials of the Rwandan army by a Spanish judge on 6 February are in connection with crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and terrorism committed between 1990 and 2002 and put in a delicate position the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) which should have, a long time ago, prosecuted the authors of these acts.
In his decision, Judge Fernando Andreu Merelles underlines that the crimes committed in 1994 are of the ICTR jurisdiction and says he is ready to transfer the case to it. The ICTR did not officially react but
in session a member of the office of the prosecutor, answering to a lawyer who stated that the international court "was not concerned" with the Spanish decision.
If the prosecutor is not legally bound by the conclusions of the Spanish judge, it, on the other hand, is held, by several resolutions of the United Nations, including one issued in August 2003, to prosecute the
officials of the Rwandan Patriotic Front who would be guilty of crimes under the jurisdiction of the tribunal created by the UN.
Since, the prosecutor Hassan Bubacar Jallow holds his answer and explains that he is studying the results of the investigations started in June 2000 on this issue.
These investigations are officially closed since the end of 2004. While abstaining from answering on the attack of 6 April 1994, considered as the spark that led to the genocide, and taking into account the crimes committed by the rebels, then by the regime in power since they captured Kigali in July 1994, the prosecutor caused complaints to be filed and the opening of legal procedures before other jurisdictions, like France and Spain. Ten months before the end of the first instance trials he is also compromising the legacy of the tribunal.
In creating a standstill out of a part of the story, he, in particular, fed the arguments of persons accused of genocide in Arusha, who constantly denounce a political justice and see in each new procedure, whether it be in France or Spain, justifications for their own crimes. However, self-defence has never been accepted for the crime of genocide or crimes against humanity.
According to the Spanish judge, the facts relating to the RPF in 1994 are overpowering. Fernando Andreu Merelles explains why between August 1993 and March 1994, "the RPA/RPF planned the final attack to seize power by force". He considers the agreement signed 4 August 1993 in Arusha, which led the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) to place a battalion of 600 men in the capital, as a mission to protect the officials of the Rwandan Patriotic Front.
The judge writes that the RPF took advantage of this period to bring military equipment and organize the entry of funds, train the men of the battalion and infiltrate the Hutu extremist organizations. The orders
were to attack the Rwandan armed forces, "knowing that their missions would not prevent the foreseeable massacre of Tutsis who did not leave the country in 1959", in the areas of Kibuye, Gikongoro, Gitarama, Kubungo and in Bugesera.
The judge mentions the political assassinations of opponents, including, among others, that of Felicien Gatabazi, founder and president of the Social Democratic Party, 21 February 1994. "After each murder, massacres of Tutsis took place", writes the judge who examined the attacks in Gisenyi and Ruhengeri on 8 February 1994.
Merelles established that on 14 March 1994, the high command of the rebellion planned massacres in the regions of Byumba, Umutara and Kibumgo and adds that several meetings were intended to prepare the assassination of the former president Juvenal Habyarimana, 6 April 1994, which started the genocide of the Tutsis. Always in 1994, the judge writes that "in the diocese of Byumba (...) a sector completely controlled by the RPA/RPF (...) several thousand people were killed, including 64 Hutu priests".
Facts that the members of the ICTR special investigations unit investigated in depth, according to several sources. According to the Spanish decision, nearly 2 500 people, held at the stadium of Byumba, were murdered and their "lifeless bodies were dumped in a septic tank" of a building belonging to Felicien Kabuga.
The judge, who bases himself in particular on the Gersony report, which was classified confidential by the United Nations, mentions the massacre of almost 5 000 people at the border with Tanzania and of the military capture of Gitarama, 2 June 1994, which resulted in the murder, in Kabgaye, of three catholic bishops and nine priests. The judge estimates, on the basis of witness statements, at least 312, 726 people were victims of the RPA, between July 1994 and 1995, and counts 173 mass graves in the country. All these elements are thus under the jurisdiction of the ICTR, without it being bound by the qualification given by the Spanish judge to these crimes.
Former USAID Official Reportedly Admits to US Role in Rwanda Tragedy-ICTR Lawyer Peter Erlinder.
The Jurist
19 February 2008
Guest Columnist Peter Erlinder of William Mitchell College of Law, lead defense counsel for former Major Aloys Ntabakuze in the Military 1 Trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and president of the UN-ICTR Defense Lawyers Association, says that recently issued French and Spanish international war crimes warrants and new evidence at the UN Rwanda Tribunal have exposed current Rwandan President Paul Kagame as the man primarily responsible for the 1994 “Rwanda Genocide” and the beneficiary of a decades-long US-sponsored “cover-up” of Pentagon complicity in the massacres committed by his regime...
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As George Bush continues his much ballyhooed African safari, he has heaped praise on Rwandan President Kagame as a “model for Africa,” and mourned with Kagame the victims of the “Rwanda Genocide”. But recently issued French and Spanish international “war-crimes” warrants, and new evidence at the UN Rwanda Tribunal, have exposed Kagame as the war criminal who actually touched off the 1994 “Rwanda Genocide” by assassinating the previous President and who is benefiting from a decades-long U.S.-sponsored “cover-up” of Pentagon complicity in massacres committed by Kagame’s regime, which even Britain’s Economist has called “the most repressive in Africa.” [1]
Multiple “War Crimes” Warrants Issued for Rwanda’s Leaders
Just last week, a Spanish judge issued 40 international warrants for current and former members of Kagame’s government, including senior staff at Rwanda’s Washington Embassy. Judge Abreau’s warrants charge Kagame’s clique with war crimes and crimes against humanity that may even fit the definition of “genocide.” But these are not the only international arrest warrants issued for Rwanda’s current leaders.
French Judge Bruguiere (famous for indicting “The Jackal”) has also issued international warrants against nearly a dozen members of Kagame’s inner circle. Bruguiere also met with Kofi Annan in late 2006 to personally urge the U.N. Rwanda Tribunal to prosecute Kagame for the assassination of Juvenal Habyarimana, the war crime that re-ignited the four-year Rwanda War and the massive civilian killings in the war’s final 90-days.
Could it be that no-one in the Bush Administration was aware of these pending charges against their Rwandan hosts - or is it that they just don’t care?
In either case, the French and Spanish international arrest warrants have pierced the wall of U.S./UK/Rwandan propaganda about who bears primary responsibility for the massive tragedy that unfolded in Rwanda - but the “official story” has actually been unraveling for some time.
Chief UN Prosecutor Del Ponte in 2003: “Rwanda’s Leaders Guilty of War Crimes”
In the summer of 2003, Swiss Judge Carla Del Ponte, then Chief Prosecutor for both the Yugoslavia and Rwanda tribunals, publicly announced that she would soon begin the prosecution of members of Kagame’s government for the same kinds of crimes now charged in the French and Spanish warrants. But nearly five years later, not one case has been filed against one member of Kagame’s government, nor against Kagame himself, despite the direct request of Judge Bruguiere.
The Del Ponte-announced prosecutions did not go forward because she was replaced at the ICTR within 90 days of her announcement by Abubacar Jallow, a US/UK-approved Prosecutor who pledged not to prosecute any on Kagame’s side, no matter what the Del Ponte and the European judges’ findings! Prosecutor Del Ponte’s long-time press-aide, Florence Hartmann, published a book in Paris in September 2007 that explains exactly how and why Del Ponte was replaced.
According to the Hartmann book, that Del Ponte has not repudicated, Del Ponte was called to Washington just after her 2003 announcement and threatened with removal from office by Bush “war crimes ambassador” Pierre Prosper because of a long-standing political quid pro quo between Washington and the Kagame regime that is spelled out in detail in the book. (Ironically, Prosper was a former ICTR prosecutor under Del Ponte, and must have had access to the same information motivated her decision to prosecute the U.S. ally). When she refused to ignore her UN-mandate, to prosecute all crimes committed during the 1994 Rwanda War, she was sacked by the U.S. and U.K.[2]
ICTR Chief Investigator in 1997: “Rwanda’s Kagame Assassinated Previous President”
But this is not the first time that crimes of Kagame have been “covered-up” at the ICTR. According to sworn affidavits, placed in the ICTR record in early 2006, well respected ICTR Lead Investigative Prosecutor Michael Hourigan, an Australian QC, recommended that Kagame himsel, be prosecuted for the assassination of Habyarimana in 1997! But then-Chief UN Prosecutor, Louise Arbour of Canada, ordered him to drop the Kagame investigation; to forget it ever happened; and, to burn his notes! Hourigan resigned rather than comply and copies of his original notes are now part of the ICTR public record for all to see. [3]
The “Rwanda Genocide” Cover-up on Clinton’s Watch
The Hourigan affidavit makes clear that the “Rwanda Genocide" cover-up has been going on for at least a decade, but the reasons for the cover-up did not become clear until late 2007, when a senior Clinton administration diplomat, Brian Atwood, was confronted with UN documents describing a 1994 “cover-up” meeting with the Rwandan Foreign Minister in Kigali and the UN’s Kofi Annan. According to the UN documents, U.S.-sponsored human rights reports by investigator Robert Gersony had documented massive military-style executions of civilians by Kagame’s troops, during and after the final 90 days of the four-year Rwanda War.[4]
The former Rwandan Foreign Minister at the meeting, Jean Marie Ndagiyimana, testified at the ICTR that, rather than participate in the proposed “cover-up,” he resigned and went into exile, where he remains today. His ICTR testimony confirmed that Clinton’s USAID Chief for Africa, Brian Atwood, and the chief of the UN Department of Peace Keeping Operations Kofi Annan, were both in his office in late October 1994 urging him to assist in the “cover-up” the war crimes committed by Kagame’s forces. [5]
The “Inconvenient Truth” Behind the Cover-up: Pentagon Complicity in the 1994 Rwanda War
The damning “Gersony Report” included first-hand evidence of tens of thousands of civilians being massacred by Kagame’s troops in eastern Rwanda, later confirmed by similar reports by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. The U.N. document (also in the ICTR record) says that Annan told the Foreign Minister that public knowledge of the Report would be “embarrassing to the UN” and the former U.S. Clinton administration diplomat, Brian Atwood, not only confirmed he was at the meeting, but explained that he had engaged Gersony, and that Gersony’s findings of war-crimes being committed by Kagame were “…an inconvenient truth” for both the United States and the UN.
According to Atwood, unknown to the State Department, “the Pentagon had been supporting Kagame since before the 1990 invasion, when he was the head of Military Intelligence for the Museveni government of Uganda.” The “Gersony Report” tied the Pentagon to the crimes of Kagame’s invading, Pentagon-trained and funded forces. More UN documents in the ICTR record reveal that the State Department was negotiating for a peaceful settlement of the war at the same time the Pentagon was supporting Kagame’s invasion. The Clinton Administration sought to enlist Atwood and Kofi Annan in keeping evidence of Kagame’s crimes from ever seeing the light of day, to prevent Pentagon involvement in the “Rwandan Genocide” from ever coming to light.[6]
The existence of a separate Pentagon foreign policy on Rwanda also tallies with the ICTR testimony of former Ambassador Robert Flaten, who testified that he seriously doubted that Habyarimana’s supporters planned to kill civilians on a massive scale because the CIA and other intelligence agencies would have reported it when he was in Rwanda from 1990 to late 93.[7] He said that his requests for Pentagon-DIA spy satellite photographs showing the status of the war in the countryside were turned down because of “clouds over Rwanda,” during his entire 3-plus years in Rwanda. [8]
Former Amb. Flaten also noted the obvious: Uganda’s military assistance for the 1990 Kagame invasion coincided with increased Ugandan military funding by the U.S./U.K. Most importantly, Flaten also testified that he personally warned Kagame that “he (Kagame) would be responsible for massacres like just happened in Burundi, if Kagame broke the cease-fire and re-started that war". Now the evidence in the ICTR record, shows Kagame did exactly that!
In short, the evidence that is now in the public record shows that during the 1994 Rwanda Genocide, the Pentagon could have stopped the carnage with a phone call, and the State Department apparently did not know enough about the Pentagon’s close ties to Kagame to ask them to do so, at least until USAID’s Atwood was informed of Pentagon panicked reaction to the “Gersony Report,” in the summer of 1994.
Other de-classified State Department documents show that it was the invading Kagame forces that were the aggressors, and were blocking the State Departments efforts to implement the Arusha Accords, peace agreement.[9] The UN’s General Dallaire has testified that Kagame would not agree to a ceasefire to use troops to stop the massacres because “he was winning the war.”[10] And, now we know what Dallaire may not have known, until later…Kagame was winning with the Pentagon’s help.
The Great “Rwanda Genocide” Cover-up Continues under Bush
The “Rwanda Genocide” cover-up of Pentagon complicity in Kagame’s crimes is almost complete, with the U.S. cutting ICTR funding to shut it down by the end of 2008. Carla Del Ponte’s replacement, Abubacar Jallow, will be conveniently unable to carry out the prosecutions that Del Ponte urged in 2003, or those initiated by Judge Bruguiere in 2006, or Judge Abreau, just last week.
However, the international warrants are still in effect, and the Del Ponte book and Hourigan’s affidavit have begun to unravel the whole sordid manipulation, but unless the “Rwanda Genocide” cover-up makes it onto "page one" in Europe and North America, it may be too late for the ICTR detainees who are being held responsible for the crimes of the Kagame regime - a bit like the UN holding the Japanese responsible for Hiroshima and the Germans for the fire-bombing of Dresden.
With U.S. and U.K. support, Kagame’s government is actively campaigning to have all ICTR matters transferred to Rwanda and has issued 40,000 warrants for Kagame’s Hutu and Tutsi opponents in the worldwide Rwandan diaspora (a movement that includes such as figures Paul Rusesabagina, the real hero of Hotel Rwanda).
Correcting the Historical Record and Ending the Cover-up
But I have to disclose my own bias. Under the laws of Rwanda, I too am a criminal “negationist” for writing this essay, and President Kagame has personally denounced me as a “genocidaire” for my work as an ICTR defense lawyer. My former investigator is seeking asylum in Europe and the ICTR Prosecutor who replaced Carla Del Ponte is now prosecuting another defense investigator for asking too many questions in Rwanda while denouncing Judge Bruguiere’s request for the UN to prosecute Kagame and Spanish Judge Abreau as well.
An ICTR defense lawyer like me has to hope that despite all that is now known about the manipulations of the ICTR by the U.S. and U.K. for their own political purposes, the ICTR judges will not be influenced by the sacking of Del Ponte and that they will carefully evaluate the evidence in my client’s case. But it it is hard to be too optimistic.
At least my conscience is clear, now that the great “Rwanda Genocide” cover-up has been exposed. But I wonder if the judges, prosecutors, other UN-ICTR officials (who now know about the manipulation of their best efforts) will be able to say the same, if they allow the cover-up to continue?
During the week’s festivities in Rwanda, Presidents Bush and Kagame are sure to find much in common, as would Tony Blair, who has recently signed-on as an “unpaid” advisor to Kagame. All three stand accused of war crimes, and are mutually benefiting from the US/UK/Rwandan “cover-up” of their own complicity in the “Rwandan Genocide” tragedy that should put all three in the dock at the ICTR.
(c) 2008 Peter Erlinder. All of the documents and testimony referenced above are in the court record at the ICTR, except for the interview of Ambassador Brian Atwood, which occurred in December 2007 at his office at the University of Minnesota, Humphrey Institute, Mpls. MN.
Notes
[1] The Economist, April, 2004
[2] Hartmann, Paix et chatiment: les guerres del la politique (2007 Flammarion, Paris)
[3] See Hourigan Affidavit and related documents in Miltary 1 record at the ICTR.
[4] See, UN documents in the Military 1 trial record at the ICTR.
[5] See ICTR Testimony of Ndagiyimana, November 2006, and related documents
[6] Interview with Dean Brian Atwood, Humphrey Institute, University of Minnesota, December 22, 2007.
[7] See Flaten ICTR testimony, June 2006.
[8] Interview with Robert Flaten in Arusha TZ, June 2006.
[9] See, April 1, 1994 Cable from U.S. Embassy in Kigali to Kampala Uganda in the ICTR Military 1 Trial Record.
[10] See ICTR Testimony of Gen. Romeo Dallaire and associated documents, January 2006.
Peter Erlinder is a professor at William Mitchell College of Law. He is a past-President of the National Lawyers Guild.
February 19, 2008
19 February 2008
Guest Columnist Peter Erlinder of William Mitchell College of Law, lead defense counsel for former Major Aloys Ntabakuze in the Military 1 Trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and president of the UN-ICTR Defense Lawyers Association, says that recently issued French and Spanish international war crimes warrants and new evidence at the UN Rwanda Tribunal have exposed current Rwandan President Paul Kagame as the man primarily responsible for the 1994 “Rwanda Genocide” and the beneficiary of a decades-long US-sponsored “cover-up” of Pentagon complicity in the massacres committed by his regime...
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As George Bush continues his much ballyhooed African safari, he has heaped praise on Rwandan President Kagame as a “model for Africa,” and mourned with Kagame the victims of the “Rwanda Genocide”. But recently issued French and Spanish international “war-crimes” warrants, and new evidence at the UN Rwanda Tribunal, have exposed Kagame as the war criminal who actually touched off the 1994 “Rwanda Genocide” by assassinating the previous President and who is benefiting from a decades-long U.S.-sponsored “cover-up” of Pentagon complicity in massacres committed by Kagame’s regime, which even Britain’s Economist has called “the most repressive in Africa.” [1]
Multiple “War Crimes” Warrants Issued for Rwanda’s Leaders
Just last week, a Spanish judge issued 40 international warrants for current and former members of Kagame’s government, including senior staff at Rwanda’s Washington Embassy. Judge Abreau’s warrants charge Kagame’s clique with war crimes and crimes against humanity that may even fit the definition of “genocide.” But these are not the only international arrest warrants issued for Rwanda’s current leaders.
French Judge Bruguiere (famous for indicting “The Jackal”) has also issued international warrants against nearly a dozen members of Kagame’s inner circle. Bruguiere also met with Kofi Annan in late 2006 to personally urge the U.N. Rwanda Tribunal to prosecute Kagame for the assassination of Juvenal Habyarimana, the war crime that re-ignited the four-year Rwanda War and the massive civilian killings in the war’s final 90-days.
Could it be that no-one in the Bush Administration was aware of these pending charges against their Rwandan hosts - or is it that they just don’t care?
In either case, the French and Spanish international arrest warrants have pierced the wall of U.S./UK/Rwandan propaganda about who bears primary responsibility for the massive tragedy that unfolded in Rwanda - but the “official story” has actually been unraveling for some time.
Chief UN Prosecutor Del Ponte in 2003: “Rwanda’s Leaders Guilty of War Crimes”
In the summer of 2003, Swiss Judge Carla Del Ponte, then Chief Prosecutor for both the Yugoslavia and Rwanda tribunals, publicly announced that she would soon begin the prosecution of members of Kagame’s government for the same kinds of crimes now charged in the French and Spanish warrants. But nearly five years later, not one case has been filed against one member of Kagame’s government, nor against Kagame himself, despite the direct request of Judge Bruguiere.
The Del Ponte-announced prosecutions did not go forward because she was replaced at the ICTR within 90 days of her announcement by Abubacar Jallow, a US/UK-approved Prosecutor who pledged not to prosecute any on Kagame’s side, no matter what the Del Ponte and the European judges’ findings! Prosecutor Del Ponte’s long-time press-aide, Florence Hartmann, published a book in Paris in September 2007 that explains exactly how and why Del Ponte was replaced.
According to the Hartmann book, that Del Ponte has not repudicated, Del Ponte was called to Washington just after her 2003 announcement and threatened with removal from office by Bush “war crimes ambassador” Pierre Prosper because of a long-standing political quid pro quo between Washington and the Kagame regime that is spelled out in detail in the book. (Ironically, Prosper was a former ICTR prosecutor under Del Ponte, and must have had access to the same information motivated her decision to prosecute the U.S. ally). When she refused to ignore her UN-mandate, to prosecute all crimes committed during the 1994 Rwanda War, she was sacked by the U.S. and U.K.[2]
ICTR Chief Investigator in 1997: “Rwanda’s Kagame Assassinated Previous President”
But this is not the first time that crimes of Kagame have been “covered-up” at the ICTR. According to sworn affidavits, placed in the ICTR record in early 2006, well respected ICTR Lead Investigative Prosecutor Michael Hourigan, an Australian QC, recommended that Kagame himsel, be prosecuted for the assassination of Habyarimana in 1997! But then-Chief UN Prosecutor, Louise Arbour of Canada, ordered him to drop the Kagame investigation; to forget it ever happened; and, to burn his notes! Hourigan resigned rather than comply and copies of his original notes are now part of the ICTR public record for all to see. [3]
The “Rwanda Genocide” Cover-up on Clinton’s Watch
The Hourigan affidavit makes clear that the “Rwanda Genocide" cover-up has been going on for at least a decade, but the reasons for the cover-up did not become clear until late 2007, when a senior Clinton administration diplomat, Brian Atwood, was confronted with UN documents describing a 1994 “cover-up” meeting with the Rwandan Foreign Minister in Kigali and the UN’s Kofi Annan. According to the UN documents, U.S.-sponsored human rights reports by investigator Robert Gersony had documented massive military-style executions of civilians by Kagame’s troops, during and after the final 90 days of the four-year Rwanda War.[4]
The former Rwandan Foreign Minister at the meeting, Jean Marie Ndagiyimana, testified at the ICTR that, rather than participate in the proposed “cover-up,” he resigned and went into exile, where he remains today. His ICTR testimony confirmed that Clinton’s USAID Chief for Africa, Brian Atwood, and the chief of the UN Department of Peace Keeping Operations Kofi Annan, were both in his office in late October 1994 urging him to assist in the “cover-up” the war crimes committed by Kagame’s forces. [5]
The “Inconvenient Truth” Behind the Cover-up: Pentagon Complicity in the 1994 Rwanda War
The damning “Gersony Report” included first-hand evidence of tens of thousands of civilians being massacred by Kagame’s troops in eastern Rwanda, later confirmed by similar reports by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. The U.N. document (also in the ICTR record) says that Annan told the Foreign Minister that public knowledge of the Report would be “embarrassing to the UN” and the former U.S. Clinton administration diplomat, Brian Atwood, not only confirmed he was at the meeting, but explained that he had engaged Gersony, and that Gersony’s findings of war-crimes being committed by Kagame were “…an inconvenient truth” for both the United States and the UN.
According to Atwood, unknown to the State Department, “the Pentagon had been supporting Kagame since before the 1990 invasion, when he was the head of Military Intelligence for the Museveni government of Uganda.” The “Gersony Report” tied the Pentagon to the crimes of Kagame’s invading, Pentagon-trained and funded forces. More UN documents in the ICTR record reveal that the State Department was negotiating for a peaceful settlement of the war at the same time the Pentagon was supporting Kagame’s invasion. The Clinton Administration sought to enlist Atwood and Kofi Annan in keeping evidence of Kagame’s crimes from ever seeing the light of day, to prevent Pentagon involvement in the “Rwandan Genocide” from ever coming to light.[6]
The existence of a separate Pentagon foreign policy on Rwanda also tallies with the ICTR testimony of former Ambassador Robert Flaten, who testified that he seriously doubted that Habyarimana’s supporters planned to kill civilians on a massive scale because the CIA and other intelligence agencies would have reported it when he was in Rwanda from 1990 to late 93.[7] He said that his requests for Pentagon-DIA spy satellite photographs showing the status of the war in the countryside were turned down because of “clouds over Rwanda,” during his entire 3-plus years in Rwanda. [8]
Former Amb. Flaten also noted the obvious: Uganda’s military assistance for the 1990 Kagame invasion coincided with increased Ugandan military funding by the U.S./U.K. Most importantly, Flaten also testified that he personally warned Kagame that “he (Kagame) would be responsible for massacres like just happened in Burundi, if Kagame broke the cease-fire and re-started that war". Now the evidence in the ICTR record, shows Kagame did exactly that!
In short, the evidence that is now in the public record shows that during the 1994 Rwanda Genocide, the Pentagon could have stopped the carnage with a phone call, and the State Department apparently did not know enough about the Pentagon’s close ties to Kagame to ask them to do so, at least until USAID’s Atwood was informed of Pentagon panicked reaction to the “Gersony Report,” in the summer of 1994.
Other de-classified State Department documents show that it was the invading Kagame forces that were the aggressors, and were blocking the State Departments efforts to implement the Arusha Accords, peace agreement.[9] The UN’s General Dallaire has testified that Kagame would not agree to a ceasefire to use troops to stop the massacres because “he was winning the war.”[10] And, now we know what Dallaire may not have known, until later…Kagame was winning with the Pentagon’s help.
The Great “Rwanda Genocide” Cover-up Continues under Bush
The “Rwanda Genocide” cover-up of Pentagon complicity in Kagame’s crimes is almost complete, with the U.S. cutting ICTR funding to shut it down by the end of 2008. Carla Del Ponte’s replacement, Abubacar Jallow, will be conveniently unable to carry out the prosecutions that Del Ponte urged in 2003, or those initiated by Judge Bruguiere in 2006, or Judge Abreau, just last week.
However, the international warrants are still in effect, and the Del Ponte book and Hourigan’s affidavit have begun to unravel the whole sordid manipulation, but unless the “Rwanda Genocide” cover-up makes it onto "page one" in Europe and North America, it may be too late for the ICTR detainees who are being held responsible for the crimes of the Kagame regime - a bit like the UN holding the Japanese responsible for Hiroshima and the Germans for the fire-bombing of Dresden.
With U.S. and U.K. support, Kagame’s government is actively campaigning to have all ICTR matters transferred to Rwanda and has issued 40,000 warrants for Kagame’s Hutu and Tutsi opponents in the worldwide Rwandan diaspora (a movement that includes such as figures Paul Rusesabagina, the real hero of Hotel Rwanda).
Correcting the Historical Record and Ending the Cover-up
But I have to disclose my own bias. Under the laws of Rwanda, I too am a criminal “negationist” for writing this essay, and President Kagame has personally denounced me as a “genocidaire” for my work as an ICTR defense lawyer. My former investigator is seeking asylum in Europe and the ICTR Prosecutor who replaced Carla Del Ponte is now prosecuting another defense investigator for asking too many questions in Rwanda while denouncing Judge Bruguiere’s request for the UN to prosecute Kagame and Spanish Judge Abreau as well.
An ICTR defense lawyer like me has to hope that despite all that is now known about the manipulations of the ICTR by the U.S. and U.K. for their own political purposes, the ICTR judges will not be influenced by the sacking of Del Ponte and that they will carefully evaluate the evidence in my client’s case. But it it is hard to be too optimistic.
At least my conscience is clear, now that the great “Rwanda Genocide” cover-up has been exposed. But I wonder if the judges, prosecutors, other UN-ICTR officials (who now know about the manipulation of their best efforts) will be able to say the same, if they allow the cover-up to continue?
During the week’s festivities in Rwanda, Presidents Bush and Kagame are sure to find much in common, as would Tony Blair, who has recently signed-on as an “unpaid” advisor to Kagame. All three stand accused of war crimes, and are mutually benefiting from the US/UK/Rwandan “cover-up” of their own complicity in the “Rwandan Genocide” tragedy that should put all three in the dock at the ICTR.
(c) 2008 Peter Erlinder. All of the documents and testimony referenced above are in the court record at the ICTR, except for the interview of Ambassador Brian Atwood, which occurred in December 2007 at his office at the University of Minnesota, Humphrey Institute, Mpls. MN.
Notes
[1] The Economist, April, 2004
[2] Hartmann, Paix et chatiment: les guerres del la politique (2007 Flammarion, Paris)
[3] See Hourigan Affidavit and related documents in Miltary 1 record at the ICTR.
[4] See, UN documents in the Military 1 trial record at the ICTR.
[5] See ICTR Testimony of Ndagiyimana, November 2006, and related documents
[6] Interview with Dean Brian Atwood, Humphrey Institute, University of Minnesota, December 22, 2007.
[7] See Flaten ICTR testimony, June 2006.
[8] Interview with Robert Flaten in Arusha TZ, June 2006.
[9] See, April 1, 1994 Cable from U.S. Embassy in Kigali to Kampala Uganda in the ICTR Military 1 Trial Record.
[10] See ICTR Testimony of Gen. Romeo Dallaire and associated documents, January 2006.
Peter Erlinder is a professor at William Mitchell College of Law. He is a past-President of the National Lawyers Guild.
February 19, 2008
Ex-Minister Arrested And Brought Before ICTR
UN News
19 February 2008
A former Rwandan government official has been arrested and handed over to the United Nations war crimes tribunal.
Callixte Nzabonimana, who served as minister of youth and sports in Rwanda's interim government in 1994, was arrested yesterday in the Tanzanian town of Kigoma and transferred today to Arusha, site of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). He is soon expected to make an initial appearance before a judge.
Mr. Nzabonimana, 55, is facing six charges, including counts of genocide, making direct and public incitements to commit genocide, and conspiracy to commit genocide.
19 February 2008
A former Rwandan government official has been arrested and handed over to the United Nations war crimes tribunal.
Callixte Nzabonimana, who served as minister of youth and sports in Rwanda's interim government in 1994, was arrested yesterday in the Tanzanian town of Kigoma and transferred today to Arusha, site of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). He is soon expected to make an initial appearance before a judge.
Mr. Nzabonimana, 55, is facing six charges, including counts of genocide, making direct and public incitements to commit genocide, and conspiracy to commit genocide.
ICTR Obligated to Prosecute President Kagame Say ICTR Defense Laywers
ADAD NEWS RELEASE- NOV. 21, 2006
ICTR DEFENCE LAWYERS: “U.N. TRIBUNAL IS OBLIGATED TO BRING
RWANDA PRESIDENT PAUL KAGAME TO JUSTICE.”
ARUSHA, TZ: At a Press Conference at the UN-ICTR Headquarters on November 21, 2006, at 1:30 pm, the President of ADAD [Association des Avocats de la Defence], Prof. Peter Erlinder, will present the following statement and respond to press questions with other members of the ADAD Bureau:
The ADAD Bureau welcomes the publication of the Report of French Judge Bruguiere recommending prosecution of Rwanda President Paul Kagame for war crimes, including the assassination of two former Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi.
The Bruguiere Report confirms evidence being produced by the Ntabakuze Defence Team in the Military I trial over the past year that current Rwanda President Paul Kagame is responsible for the events that led to the 1994 Rwanda tragedy, commonly referred to by his own Government as the “Rwandan Genocide”.
In addition to the evidence presented to Judge Bruguiere, ICTR President Mose and the Judges in the Military I trial have heard sworn testimony from numerous witnesses that establishes:
• Then General Kagame actively prepared for a final military offensive to seize power during the entire period that the Arusha Accords were being negotiated and implemented between July 1993 and April 1994.
• Former U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda, Robert Flaten, testified that he personally warned Kagame and Habyarimana in December 1993 that if EITHER resumed warfare, that person would be responsible for massive civilian massacres, similar to those which had occurred in neighboring Burundi in 1988 and 1993.
• In the last analysis the RPF blocked the implementation of the Arusha Accords in late March 1994 when it became clear that the RPF lacked sufficient political support to come to power through democratic means.
• The plan to assassinate Habyarimana was put into motion on April 1 and was originally to have occurred on April 5, 1994 but took place a day later, due to timing and technical problems.
• Former RPF officers, who were members of the assassination squad, testified under oath before Judge Brugierre and ICTR President Mose that missiles launched at the order of Paul Kagame killed both Pres. Habyarimana AND the President of Burundi on the evening of April 6, 1994.
• Sworn testimony of eye-witnesses to events at the RPF Headquarters, coming from multiple sources, confirms that Kagame’s order for a final military assault to seize power was given from Mulindi on April 6, shortly after the assassination, and long before any killings of political opponents suspected of conspiring against Habyarimana.
• Once the long-predicted civilian killings began, as a result of Kagame’s resumption of the war, documents and witnesses in Military I establish that ONLY the RPF had the military strength to fight a war AND to prevent the civilian massacres, either by agreeing to a ceasefire or using its own superior military forces to do so.
• After re-initiating the war and touching off the predicted civilian-civilian massacres, General Kagame himself ordered the removal of RPF officers who attempted use their troops to stop civilian killings.
• In an April 24, 1994 CODE CABLE, even UNAMIR Gen. Dallaire reports that he criticized Kagame for a military strategy that focused on military objectives rather than saving civilians. According to Gen. Dallaire, Kagame told him the civilian massacres were “collateral damage” of his war plan.
• As early as May 17, 1994, UNHCR was aware that RPF troops were carrying out systematic and massive killings in the eastern portions of Rwanda which they controlled.
• Recent documents and witnesses have also come to light that Kofi Annan and other senior UN officials were aware of these reports and made a policy decision to block further independent investigations of RPF crimes during the 1990-1994 war, as early as October 1994.
Perhaps the most shocking recent revelation is that former lawyers and investigators in the ICTR Prosecutor’s Office had enough evidence to indict Paul Kagame for the assassination of the Presidents of both Rwanda and Burundi as early as 1997 , but the prosecution was blocked by Chief Prosecutor Louise Arbour, for reasons unknown.
As Officers of the Court, sworn to uphold the integrity of the Tribunal, and deeply concerned that reconciliation be achieved in Rwanda, the ADAD Bureau calls on Chief Prosecutor Bubacar Jallow and Assistant Chief Stephen Rapp to immediately begin war crimes proceedings against Paul Kagame that are consistent with the Bruguiere Report and evidence in the Military I trial pointing to the responsibility of Paul Kagame for the war and resulting massacres in Rwanda.
Further, should the Office of the Prosecutor fail to act on this evidence, as has been the case since at least 1997, if not 1994, the ADAD Bureau calls on Eric Mose, the President of the ICTR, to issue a Writ of Mandamus requiring the OTP to carry out its responsibilities entrusted to the ICTR by the UN Security Council.
-- 30 --
CONTACT:
[Eng.] ADAD President: Prof. Peter Erlinder [Prof. of Law, Wm. Mitchell College of Law U.S./Ntabakuze Lead Counsel], perlinder@wmitchell.edu, ICTR Ext. 5073, TZ cell: 075-425-1460
[Fr] Conseiller de Presse for ADAD: Me. Christopher Black, [Can.], bar@idirect.com, ICTR Ext. 5288, TZ cell: 075-266-6972
ICTR DEFENCE LAWYERS: “U.N. TRIBUNAL IS OBLIGATED TO BRING
RWANDA PRESIDENT PAUL KAGAME TO JUSTICE.”
ARUSHA, TZ: At a Press Conference at the UN-ICTR Headquarters on November 21, 2006, at 1:30 pm, the President of ADAD [Association des Avocats de la Defence], Prof. Peter Erlinder, will present the following statement and respond to press questions with other members of the ADAD Bureau:
The ADAD Bureau welcomes the publication of the Report of French Judge Bruguiere recommending prosecution of Rwanda President Paul Kagame for war crimes, including the assassination of two former Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi.
The Bruguiere Report confirms evidence being produced by the Ntabakuze Defence Team in the Military I trial over the past year that current Rwanda President Paul Kagame is responsible for the events that led to the 1994 Rwanda tragedy, commonly referred to by his own Government as the “Rwandan Genocide”.
In addition to the evidence presented to Judge Bruguiere, ICTR President Mose and the Judges in the Military I trial have heard sworn testimony from numerous witnesses that establishes:
• Then General Kagame actively prepared for a final military offensive to seize power during the entire period that the Arusha Accords were being negotiated and implemented between July 1993 and April 1994.
• Former U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda, Robert Flaten, testified that he personally warned Kagame and Habyarimana in December 1993 that if EITHER resumed warfare, that person would be responsible for massive civilian massacres, similar to those which had occurred in neighboring Burundi in 1988 and 1993.
• In the last analysis the RPF blocked the implementation of the Arusha Accords in late March 1994 when it became clear that the RPF lacked sufficient political support to come to power through democratic means.
• The plan to assassinate Habyarimana was put into motion on April 1 and was originally to have occurred on April 5, 1994 but took place a day later, due to timing and technical problems.
• Former RPF officers, who were members of the assassination squad, testified under oath before Judge Brugierre and ICTR President Mose that missiles launched at the order of Paul Kagame killed both Pres. Habyarimana AND the President of Burundi on the evening of April 6, 1994.
• Sworn testimony of eye-witnesses to events at the RPF Headquarters, coming from multiple sources, confirms that Kagame’s order for a final military assault to seize power was given from Mulindi on April 6, shortly after the assassination, and long before any killings of political opponents suspected of conspiring against Habyarimana.
• Once the long-predicted civilian killings began, as a result of Kagame’s resumption of the war, documents and witnesses in Military I establish that ONLY the RPF had the military strength to fight a war AND to prevent the civilian massacres, either by agreeing to a ceasefire or using its own superior military forces to do so.
• After re-initiating the war and touching off the predicted civilian-civilian massacres, General Kagame himself ordered the removal of RPF officers who attempted use their troops to stop civilian killings.
• In an April 24, 1994 CODE CABLE, even UNAMIR Gen. Dallaire reports that he criticized Kagame for a military strategy that focused on military objectives rather than saving civilians. According to Gen. Dallaire, Kagame told him the civilian massacres were “collateral damage” of his war plan.
• As early as May 17, 1994, UNHCR was aware that RPF troops were carrying out systematic and massive killings in the eastern portions of Rwanda which they controlled.
• Recent documents and witnesses have also come to light that Kofi Annan and other senior UN officials were aware of these reports and made a policy decision to block further independent investigations of RPF crimes during the 1990-1994 war, as early as October 1994.
Perhaps the most shocking recent revelation is that former lawyers and investigators in the ICTR Prosecutor’s Office had enough evidence to indict Paul Kagame for the assassination of the Presidents of both Rwanda and Burundi as early as 1997 , but the prosecution was blocked by Chief Prosecutor Louise Arbour, for reasons unknown.
As Officers of the Court, sworn to uphold the integrity of the Tribunal, and deeply concerned that reconciliation be achieved in Rwanda, the ADAD Bureau calls on Chief Prosecutor Bubacar Jallow and Assistant Chief Stephen Rapp to immediately begin war crimes proceedings against Paul Kagame that are consistent with the Bruguiere Report and evidence in the Military I trial pointing to the responsibility of Paul Kagame for the war and resulting massacres in Rwanda.
Further, should the Office of the Prosecutor fail to act on this evidence, as has been the case since at least 1997, if not 1994, the ADAD Bureau calls on Eric Mose, the President of the ICTR, to issue a Writ of Mandamus requiring the OTP to carry out its responsibilities entrusted to the ICTR by the UN Security Council.
-- 30 --
CONTACT:
[Eng.] ADAD President: Prof. Peter Erlinder [Prof. of Law, Wm. Mitchell College of Law U.S./Ntabakuze Lead Counsel], perlinder@wmitchell.edu, ICTR Ext. 5073, TZ cell: 075-425-1460
[Fr] Conseiller de Presse for ADAD: Me. Christopher Black, [Can.], bar@idirect.com, ICTR Ext. 5288, TZ cell: 075-266-6972
19 February, 2008
EU DEMANDS THE RELEASE OF MISSING OPPOSITION MEMBERS.
MISNA
18 February 2008
The EU has asked Chad’s president Idriss Deby to release three missing opposition members, who were presumably arrested two weeks ago during the rebels’ attack in N’djamena. A statement adopted by the 27 foreign affairs minister of the EU, expresses “deep concern over the arrest of opposition members and for Lol Mahamat Choua in particular” and “we appeal president Deby to act with moderation and to immediately release these prisoners”. The government said that Choua is alive and in its custody, having been captured during the military action in the ‘battle for N’djamena’ last February 3, denying, however, any involvement in the cases of the missing Ngarlejy Yorongar and Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh. The EU ministers have asked the parties to resume talks, asking both the Sudanese and the Chadian government to “stop equipping and supporting armed groups” to avoid the situation from worsening. As for the state of emergency, which was declared last Thursday by president Deby, the EU takes note of the measure but warns that it shall pay special attention to “the respect of civil liberties and of the basic principles of the rule of law”
18 February 2008
The EU has asked Chad’s president Idriss Deby to release three missing opposition members, who were presumably arrested two weeks ago during the rebels’ attack in N’djamena. A statement adopted by the 27 foreign affairs minister of the EU, expresses “deep concern over the arrest of opposition members and for Lol Mahamat Choua in particular” and “we appeal president Deby to act with moderation and to immediately release these prisoners”. The government said that Choua is alive and in its custody, having been captured during the military action in the ‘battle for N’djamena’ last February 3, denying, however, any involvement in the cases of the missing Ngarlejy Yorongar and Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh. The EU ministers have asked the parties to resume talks, asking both the Sudanese and the Chadian government to “stop equipping and supporting armed groups” to avoid the situation from worsening. As for the state of emergency, which was declared last Thursday by president Deby, the EU takes note of the measure but warns that it shall pay special attention to “the respect of civil liberties and of the basic principles of the rule of law”
N’DJAMENA: MISSING OPPOSERS, PARTY FILES REPORT.
MISNA
18 February 2008
A report was filed for “illegal arrest, abduction and arbitrary detention” by the Party for Liberty and Development (PLD) of Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh, one of three Chadian political opposition figures who disappeared on February 3 during the ‘battle of N’Djamena’ between government troops and rebel forces. “We demand to know who arrested him, where he is detained and above all for what reason”, a PLD lawyer told the press. Saleh is also spokesman of the Coordination of Political Parties for the Defence of the Constitution (CPDC), a coalition of some twenty movements that signed the 13 August 2007 accord for the opening of dialogue between the government and opposition and the organisation of free and transparent elections. The government of N’Djamena denies any involvement in the disappearance of Saleh and two other opposition figures, including Ngarlejy Yorongar. Lol Mahamat Choua, the third opposition figure to disappear on the same day, was found last week: “he was taken as a prisoner of war during the action, but his life was preserved”, government spokesman Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor said in a statement, while some sources emphasise that Choua has still not been allowed to see his family.
18 February 2008
A report was filed for “illegal arrest, abduction and arbitrary detention” by the Party for Liberty and Development (PLD) of Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh, one of three Chadian political opposition figures who disappeared on February 3 during the ‘battle of N’Djamena’ between government troops and rebel forces. “We demand to know who arrested him, where he is detained and above all for what reason”, a PLD lawyer told the press. Saleh is also spokesman of the Coordination of Political Parties for the Defence of the Constitution (CPDC), a coalition of some twenty movements that signed the 13 August 2007 accord for the opening of dialogue between the government and opposition and the organisation of free and transparent elections. The government of N’Djamena denies any involvement in the disappearance of Saleh and two other opposition figures, including Ngarlejy Yorongar. Lol Mahamat Choua, the third opposition figure to disappear on the same day, was found last week: “he was taken as a prisoner of war during the action, but his life was preserved”, government spokesman Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor said in a statement, while some sources emphasise that Choua has still not been allowed to see his family.
TO HAVE BEEN APPOINTED MINISTER IN 1994 IS NOT A CRIME- DEFENCE ATTORNEY.
Hirondelle News Agency
18 February 2008
To have been a member of the interim government in power during the 1994 genocide is not a crime in itself, claimed a defence lawyer Monday before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), trying key suspects of the April-July slaughter.
"The simple fact of belonging to the interim government does not suggest membership to a criminal organization", claimed Tom Moran who represents the former minister of the Civil Service, Prosper Mugiraneza, who has began his defence case.
He is on trial alongside three other colleagues. All have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
"The prosecutor could not show that the interim government as a whole took part in a planned criminal enterprise", explained Moran, an American lawyer. He added that the prosecution had not either proven that the government, or any other which preceded it would have planned or Intended to plan the genocide.
Mr Moran indicated that the only evidence in the case came verbally from a few experts and he argued that, from a legal standpoint, their opinions do not have any value. Among the experts called by the prosecution included the American historian and human rights activist Alison Des Forges who, inter alia, testified that the former Rwandan Government had defined the "enemy" as Tutsi, according to her assessment.
Mr Moran announced that on this subject he would call Lieutenant-Colonel Geoffery Corn, former military intelligence official in the United States and former magistrate, who will affirm that to define the enemy in times of war was not a violation of an international law.
The four ministers are also prosecuted for incitement to genocide. "People hear what they expect to hear", stressed Moran.
Besides these experts, Mugiraneza and his defence team plan to call several witnesses, including some alibi witnesses. The latter should in particular prove that the defendant had remained in Kigali from 6 to 12 April 1994, before going to Gitarama, central Rwanda, with the interim government and that he could thus not have been in his native region of Kibungo, eastern Rwanda, where he would have taken part in the massacres as claimed by the prosecution.
Mr Moran showed that prosecution witnesses contradicted themselves, displayed a lapse in memory or quite simply lied.
Mugiraneza's defense is going to call survivors of the various massacres which he is accused of taking part in, according to Moran.
"We believe that the result of all this will lead us to two things: to cause reasonable doubt concerning the credibility of the prosecution witnesses in regard to the Mugiraneza’s actions and those of the interim government; to cause reasonable doubt concerning the guilt of Mugiraneza", concluded the lawyer.
18 February 2008
To have been a member of the interim government in power during the 1994 genocide is not a crime in itself, claimed a defence lawyer Monday before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), trying key suspects of the April-July slaughter.
"The simple fact of belonging to the interim government does not suggest membership to a criminal organization", claimed Tom Moran who represents the former minister of the Civil Service, Prosper Mugiraneza, who has began his defence case.
He is on trial alongside three other colleagues. All have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
"The prosecutor could not show that the interim government as a whole took part in a planned criminal enterprise", explained Moran, an American lawyer. He added that the prosecution had not either proven that the government, or any other which preceded it would have planned or Intended to plan the genocide.
Mr Moran indicated that the only evidence in the case came verbally from a few experts and he argued that, from a legal standpoint, their opinions do not have any value. Among the experts called by the prosecution included the American historian and human rights activist Alison Des Forges who, inter alia, testified that the former Rwandan Government had defined the "enemy" as Tutsi, according to her assessment.
Mr Moran announced that on this subject he would call Lieutenant-Colonel Geoffery Corn, former military intelligence official in the United States and former magistrate, who will affirm that to define the enemy in times of war was not a violation of an international law.
The four ministers are also prosecuted for incitement to genocide. "People hear what they expect to hear", stressed Moran.
Besides these experts, Mugiraneza and his defence team plan to call several witnesses, including some alibi witnesses. The latter should in particular prove that the defendant had remained in Kigali from 6 to 12 April 1994, before going to Gitarama, central Rwanda, with the interim government and that he could thus not have been in his native region of Kibungo, eastern Rwanda, where he would have taken part in the massacres as claimed by the prosecution.
Mr Moran showed that prosecution witnesses contradicted themselves, displayed a lapse in memory or quite simply lied.
Mugiraneza's defense is going to call survivors of the various massacres which he is accused of taking part in, according to Moran.
"We believe that the result of all this will lead us to two things: to cause reasonable doubt concerning the credibility of the prosecution witnesses in regard to the Mugiraneza’s actions and those of the interim government; to cause reasonable doubt concerning the guilt of Mugiraneza", concluded the lawyer.
18 February, 2008
DILI: FIRST ARREST FOR ATTACKS.
MISNA
18 February 2008
A woman with dual Timorese-Australian citizenship was arrested in Dili over last week’s coordinated attacks on East Timor’s top leaders. Angelita Pires, a 42 year-old lawyer who was born in East Timor but spent time in Australia, was one of nine people summonsed to a Dili police station as witnesses and was arrested after a couple of hours of interrogation Sunday night. The woman, a friend and maybe financier of the rebel leader Alfredo Reinado, apparently spent the night before the attacks with the rebel and met with him previously on several occasions. East Timor’s Prosecutor General said Pires may possibly face charges of “conspiracy to commit crimes against the state and the attempted murder of the head of state and government, because the citizen had information (about a crime) but did not report it”. According to investigators, the aim of the attacks was to abduct President Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, but something went wrong. Doctors refer that Ramos-Horta remains in a serious but stable condition in Australia, where he was taken for two gunshot wounds after the attack, and is likely to undergo a fourth round of surgery in the next days.
18 February 2008
A woman with dual Timorese-Australian citizenship was arrested in Dili over last week’s coordinated attacks on East Timor’s top leaders. Angelita Pires, a 42 year-old lawyer who was born in East Timor but spent time in Australia, was one of nine people summonsed to a Dili police station as witnesses and was arrested after a couple of hours of interrogation Sunday night. The woman, a friend and maybe financier of the rebel leader Alfredo Reinado, apparently spent the night before the attacks with the rebel and met with him previously on several occasions. East Timor’s Prosecutor General said Pires may possibly face charges of “conspiracy to commit crimes against the state and the attempted murder of the head of state and government, because the citizen had information (about a crime) but did not report it”. According to investigators, the aim of the attacks was to abduct President Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, but something went wrong. Doctors refer that Ramos-Horta remains in a serious but stable condition in Australia, where he was taken for two gunshot wounds after the attack, and is likely to undergo a fourth round of surgery in the next days.
ELECTIONS (2): ATTACK IN LAHORE, OPPOSITION CANDIDATE KILLED.
MISNA
18 February 2008
Five people were killed, including an opposition candidate, in an attack in Lahore, in eastern Pakistan, shortly before polls opened for the legislative and provincial elections. According to police, unknown gunmen opened fire against the car of Asif Ashraf, a candidate of the PML-N party of the former premier Nawaz Sharif, killing him and his bodyguards. Meanwhile, six people were wounded in clashes in the southern Sind province between supporters of the Pakistani People’s Party (PPP) that Benazir Bhutto led and the Pakistani Muslim League (PML) of President Pervez Musharraf. Some vehicles were torched in the unrest. Amid tight security and over 50,000 police deployed in the main cities, polls opened this morning at 8:00a.m local time. Despite a foreseen low turnout of the over 80-million registered voters and atmosphere of tension, these elections are considered crucial for the nation’s future.
18 February 2008
Five people were killed, including an opposition candidate, in an attack in Lahore, in eastern Pakistan, shortly before polls opened for the legislative and provincial elections. According to police, unknown gunmen opened fire against the car of Asif Ashraf, a candidate of the PML-N party of the former premier Nawaz Sharif, killing him and his bodyguards. Meanwhile, six people were wounded in clashes in the southern Sind province between supporters of the Pakistani People’s Party (PPP) that Benazir Bhutto led and the Pakistani Muslim League (PML) of President Pervez Musharraf. Some vehicles were torched in the unrest. Amid tight security and over 50,000 police deployed in the main cities, polls opened this morning at 8:00a.m local time. Despite a foreseen low turnout of the over 80-million registered voters and atmosphere of tension, these elections are considered crucial for the nation’s future.
KIVU: POINTLESS SKIRMISHES OR STRUGGLE FOR ECONOMIC SURVIVAL?
MISNA
15 February 2008
"The violations of the ceasefire are tied to control over mining areas. The armed groups are becoming gangs that clash for economic survival”, says the Kinshasa daily ‘Le Potentiel’ about the skirmishes between rebel groups – at least 18 known episodes – in the Kivu region, violating the agreement signed in Goma, last January 23. The newspaper says that economic interests tied to the exploitation of natural resources are the maion cause of instability in the region. The turn taken by events in North Kivu, sayds the paper, "shows that the motivations of the Goma agreement signatories are revelaing themselves to be less political. Observations suggest that every armed group holds tnacious control over every part of its territory. An area of national territory that every one of these militias administers, collecitng 'taxes' and 'revenues' from the extraction of minerals”. Gold, coltan and especially niobium, it read, "are highly sought after becasue they generate revenues able to seduce the most incorruptible of the Congolese. The flourishing trade of precious stones in Goma illustrates this perfectly”.
15 February 2008
"The violations of the ceasefire are tied to control over mining areas. The armed groups are becoming gangs that clash for economic survival”, says the Kinshasa daily ‘Le Potentiel’ about the skirmishes between rebel groups – at least 18 known episodes – in the Kivu region, violating the agreement signed in Goma, last January 23. The newspaper says that economic interests tied to the exploitation of natural resources are the maion cause of instability in the region. The turn taken by events in North Kivu, sayds the paper, "shows that the motivations of the Goma agreement signatories are revelaing themselves to be less political. Observations suggest that every armed group holds tnacious control over every part of its territory. An area of national territory that every one of these militias administers, collecitng 'taxes' and 'revenues' from the extraction of minerals”. Gold, coltan and especially niobium, it read, "are highly sought after becasue they generate revenues able to seduce the most incorruptible of the Congolese. The flourishing trade of precious stones in Goma illustrates this perfectly”.
CRISIS: EAST AFRICAN LAWYERS TO INVESTIGATE VIOLENCE.
MISNA
15 February 2008
Lawyers from the East African judicial association (EALS), from Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi, are to join their Kenyan colleagues to investigate the violence that broke out after the December 27 elections in order to determine whether or not there were human rights abuses. The association’s president, Tom Ojienda, said the investigation would begin after the end of Kofi Annan’s mediation, whereupon the legal team is to visit the various areas of the country to gather evidence”. Hassan Omar Hassan, spokesman for the Kenyan Commission for Human Rights (KNCHR) said that those who gave the mandate for the crimes should also be pursued by the law, in order to ensure that justice is fully pursued. Hassan also demands that investigations be opened into the corruption and bad management of public resources, accusing the government of having ignored signs of the growing inter-ethnic tensions. “We have lived in collective denial of what were clear signs of collapse of the social and structural fabric – he added – leading to serious human right violations as a consequence.
15 February 2008
Lawyers from the East African judicial association (EALS), from Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi, are to join their Kenyan colleagues to investigate the violence that broke out after the December 27 elections in order to determine whether or not there were human rights abuses. The association’s president, Tom Ojienda, said the investigation would begin after the end of Kofi Annan’s mediation, whereupon the legal team is to visit the various areas of the country to gather evidence”. Hassan Omar Hassan, spokesman for the Kenyan Commission for Human Rights (KNCHR) said that those who gave the mandate for the crimes should also be pursued by the law, in order to ensure that justice is fully pursued. Hassan also demands that investigations be opened into the corruption and bad management of public resources, accusing the government of having ignored signs of the growing inter-ethnic tensions. “We have lived in collective denial of what were clear signs of collapse of the social and structural fabric – he added – leading to serious human right violations as a consequence.
Bolivia declares U.S. diplomat undesirable person.
Xinhua News Agency
12 February 2008
Bolivian President Evo Morales declared U.S. embassy official Vincent Cooper an "undesirable person" Monday, citing charges that Cooper was trying to organize a spy ring, according to news reaching here.
"This man has not only violated the rights of his own citizens, but is also violating, offending and attacking a nation like Bolivia," Morales said during a speech to start the academic year at a school for sergeants in the Bolivian province of Cochabamba.
Morales said Cooper had asked scholarship holders and Peace Corps volunteers to spy on Cubans and Venezuelans living in Bolivia.
"From the moment that this mistake was discovered, he became an undesirable person for Bolivia and for the Bolivian government," he said.
Fulbright Foundation scholar Alexander Van Schaick told Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca and a U.S. broadcaster that during a November meeting at the U.S. embassy, he had been asked to become a spy.
"They told me to give them the names, addresses and activities of any doctor or worker from Venezuela or Cuba that crosses my path during my stay here," Van Shaick said.
The U.S. embassy in the Bolivian capital La Paz said that a member of its security staff had met U.S. volunteers and made what it described as "an inappropriate suggestion." It added that more senior staff had immediately corrected the official.
Bolivia's armed forces have the obligation to safeguard the nation's integrity and image and also the nation's dignity, Morales said, adding that Bolivia would continue its foreign relations but was strongly opposed to those nations that use students and volunteers as spies.
12 February 2008
Bolivian President Evo Morales declared U.S. embassy official Vincent Cooper an "undesirable person" Monday, citing charges that Cooper was trying to organize a spy ring, according to news reaching here.
"This man has not only violated the rights of his own citizens, but is also violating, offending and attacking a nation like Bolivia," Morales said during a speech to start the academic year at a school for sergeants in the Bolivian province of Cochabamba.
Morales said Cooper had asked scholarship holders and Peace Corps volunteers to spy on Cubans and Venezuelans living in Bolivia.
"From the moment that this mistake was discovered, he became an undesirable person for Bolivia and for the Bolivian government," he said.
Fulbright Foundation scholar Alexander Van Schaick told Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca and a U.S. broadcaster that during a November meeting at the U.S. embassy, he had been asked to become a spy.
"They told me to give them the names, addresses and activities of any doctor or worker from Venezuela or Cuba that crosses my path during my stay here," Van Shaick said.
The U.S. embassy in the Bolivian capital La Paz said that a member of its security staff had met U.S. volunteers and made what it described as "an inappropriate suggestion." It added that more senior staff had immediately corrected the official.
Bolivia's armed forces have the obligation to safeguard the nation's integrity and image and also the nation's dignity, Morales said, adding that Bolivia would continue its foreign relations but was strongly opposed to those nations that use students and volunteers as spies.
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