In France last week arrested one of the worst war criminals of the century félicien Kabuga. He is accused of complicity in the mass genocide in Rwanda – and then, in 1994 killed 800 000 people of the Tutsi people. Kabuga was looking for 25 years – and he lived quietly in the suburbs of Paris with his family. How is that even possible?!
félicien Kabuga is accused of what he funded which lasted a hundred days of slaughter. Vosmidesyatitonnye Rwandan was detained in a police RAID in a suburban apartment, where he lived under a false name. “The arrest of one of the most wanted criminals in the world concludes a lengthy and thorough investigation,” reads the statement of the French prosecution, which mention the cooperation with international agencies, as well as the Belgian and American authorities in this matter.
In 1997 the international criminal UN Tribunal for Rwanda filed against Kabuga seven counts of genocide. He, in particular, was accused of creating militia groups, which are responsible for the deaths of many people, and to use their radio station to broadcast calls for the murder.
More specifically, these dry formulations are explained as follows: félicien Kabuga is accused that he supported the Hutu extremists, actively arming their supporters with machetes, hoes, and provided transportation.
Kabuga headed the Fund of national defense, in which he and other businessmen made their money, which allegedly was purchased machetes and uniforms for the army and militia of the Hutu.
Also one of the richest businessman in receipt of incomes from the tea plantations, was owned by the infamous radio station “is Free radio and television of a thousand hills”. This media has become the mouthpiece of propaganda of incitement to ethnic hatred and played a key role in the genocide in Rwanda. In his broadcast, there were calls to “bring down the tall trees” and “exterminate the cockroaches”. These euphemisms was actually calling to kill members of the Tutsi.
About the origins of the conflict between the two ethnic communities, speaking the same language Kinyarwanda, there are different versions. According to one theory, the differences between them had class or caste character: the Tutsi were pastoralists, the Hutu with agriculture.
In colonial times (Rwandas first possession of the German Empire, and then Belgium) Europeans in the context of the policy of “divide and rule” contributed to the fact that the Tutsis were in a dominant and the Hutu in a subordinate position.
After the acquisition of Rwandan independence, old grudges and conflicts between the Hutus and Tutsis moved to a new level.
a Mass murder was happening in the civil war that began in 1990 between the a government made up of representatives of the people are Hutu, and the Rwandan Patriotic front, largely composed of refugees Tutsi.
Controlled by the Hutu media throw fakes on the alleged open plan Tutsi by killing all Hutus. These ideas were imbibed by the participants of the groups the Interahamwe (“those who attack together”), uniting the youth of the representatives of the Hutu.
After 6 April 1994 the plane, which was carrying the President of Rwanda, Juvenal of Habyarimana and the President of Burundi Cyprien Ntaryamira, was shot down on approach to the Rwandan capital Kigali, the country began a genocide: the security forces and the Interahamwe militia dealt with the key military and political figures among Tutsi and moderate Hutus, and began mass killings of Tutsis, whose nationality was established from the documents. Neighbors killed neighbors, groups of killers wield a machete (including those that were purchased with the funds of Félicien Kabuga), broke into churches and schools. Many Tutsi women were raped, and a considerable portion of them were infected with HIV.
the Genocide was stopped only as a result of military success of the opposition defeated the government forces and captured the capital of the country. The victory represents the interests of the Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic front forced hundreds of thousands of Hutu who feared vengeance, to flee to neighboring countries. Among them, in June 1994, fled abroad and félicien Kabuga.
French authorities say the law enforcement agencies is actively sought Félicien Kabuga for 25 years. Believed to be a Rwandan actively moved between countries, periodically changing place of residence, living in Germany, Belgium, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire), Kenya and Switzerland. To disappear from justice fugitive businessman was helped by money and connections.
And that’s only in the early morning of may 16, 2020 félicien Kabuga had been arrested by gendarmes in Asnieres-sur-Seine, near Paris, where he lived under false documents under a false name. Olivier Olsen, head of the Association of homeowners in the building where he lived Rwandan fugitive, Kabuga described as “very careful,” the man who muttered something when he said Hello.
“Today’s arrest of Félicien Kabuga is a reminder that the perpetrators of genocide can be prosecuted even after twenty-six years after their crimes,” – said the chief Prosecutor of the International residual mechanism for criminal tribunals (the body established by the UN security Council in 2010 for the execution of the main functions of the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) after the end of their mandates) Serge Brammertz.
the United States appointed for the capture of Kabuga award of $5 m��n in 2002 was conducted a media campaign in Kenya with an appeal to help in the search for a fugitive sponsored genocide.
Many in France and abroad interested in how long time one of the most wanted in the world people managed to escape near Paris.
the Former investigator of the French gendarmerie on condition of anonymity, told the AFP news Agency why investigations of this kind so difficult: “We’re looking for escaped suspects who change their personality all the time move, while some have great resources.”
“as Félicien Kabuga, who was wanted since 1997, we had a photo of 17-year-old. About six years ago, his wife lived in Belgium, he consistently was in Congo-Kinshasa, then in Kenya,” says the former investigator. – We repeatedly received information on his whereabouts in France. We tried to detain him in Paris on Christmas eve a few years ago, but to no avail. Nevertheless, it is remarkable that France have arrested him.”
in General, the role of France in the Rwandan tragic events of 1990-ies is, to say the least, highly ambiguous.
the most controversial points concerns the extent of military aid provided by France to the regime of Rwandan leader of Hutu Juvenalia of Habyarimana in the period from 1990 to 1994, as well as the circumstances of the crash, which cost him his life and which served as the trigger for the genocide.
In April proshlgo year, President Emmanuel macron has announced the opening of French archives on Rwanda during the period 1990 to 1994 for historians and lawyers.
Kabuga – not only those in Rwanda, think is responsible in the genocide, who found shelter in France. It is, for example, about Agatha Kanziga, the widow of a deceased President of Juvenile Habyarimana. French justice was denied in 2011, the results of its Rwandan authorities. It is considered one of the leaders of “Akazu”, the first circle of Hutu power, which, according to her accusers, planned and implemented the genocide.
a Relative of the President of Juvenile Habyarimana was, by the way, and félicien Kabuga: in 1993, one of his daughters was married to the eldest of the President’s son. And the other daughter married Augustin of Ngirabatware, the Minister of planning of Rwanda, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison for participating in the bloodshed.
“Genocide could not happen without Kabuga, basically he financed this whole genocide – said, “al-Jazeera” Professor SOAS, University of London Phil Clark. – It basically created and funded militias who carried out many of the massacres during the genocide. He also financed the home “radio station of hatred”, triggering many of the key murders, and he was instrumental in the import of about 500 thousands of machete, without which the murder would be impossible.”
