There is one piece of writing by Jean Kambanda, dating back to November 1, 2011. This Kambanda I am referring to is Rwanda’s former interim Prime Minister in the government that executed the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. He wrote it from his prison cell at Koulikoro in Mali.
That piece of writing passed on through the Internet has this title: “The planning of the Genocide of Tutsi and Hutu by Paul Kagame”. Understandably for someone convicted of his role in the Genocide, and who pleaded guilty for it, and got sentenced as a result, it’s not surprising if he suddenly turns out to deny the very Genocide. Even for Kambanda to be handed a prison sentence, it’s just because judges didn’t find any mitigating circumstances and, even worse, he felt no remorse for the crime he had committed.
In that piece of writing, argues researcher Tom Ndahiro, Kambanda denies his role in the Genocide. Instead, he accuses the RPF (Rwanda Patriotic Front) of a number of killings.
The document, Ndahiro says on his blog, is filled with lies – making it difficult for one to analyze and debunk it chapter by chapter.
What demonstrates the excessive level of lie is when Kambanda uses a photo of remains of victims from the Murambi Genocide Memorial Site in Nyamagabe district [Southern Rwanda] and, quite ironically, states that the photo shows dead bodies of Hutu in the jungle of Congo [the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC].
Kambanda said that the then Rwandan government would never allow in accomplices of Inkontanyi [the other name for RPF] within its ranks. It was during a meeting with local administrators and opinion leaders, back in May 1994.
“Work or else have no peace”
He said the Rwandan government was for Rwandans, and that those who sought to help the RPF would have to join it at Murindi [by then North-based stronghold and headquarters for RPF]. Only those who believed in the Genocide were considered Rwandans.
In that meeting, writes Ndahiro, Kambanda called upon people he termed as “silent politicians” that they “must come out and say whether they fight for the interests of the population or lean towards the ideology of Inkotanyi”. He scolded them, saying that “whoever will not manifest their opinion, should never same come forward to ask for something when the country has regained peace”.
That, Ndahiro argues, was a wake-up call for them to “work” – which meant to killing Tutsis during the Genocide. But most especially, it was a way of reminding leaders of sensitizing the population “to work”. And by telling them that whoever will not speak out should never therefore ask for anything, Ndahiro explains, means that they will not be paid. So carrying out the Genocide against the Tutsi was a well-defined plan for politicians to make some profit afterwards.
“Civilians asked to become fighters”
Throughout the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, many people – hard to put the exact figure on them – may have died after being caught up in the cross-fire as they rather foolishly engaged the (disciplined, well-equipped) Inkotanyi elements in fighting, following lies by then administrators that the government forces had the upper hand on the battlefield, yet they were fighting in retreat.
Kambanda explained that the government he was heading had embarked on using a new warfare strategy to “teach the population about self-defense and put up a fight [against Inkotanyi] – what is otherwise called ‘Civil Defense’”. And it was agreed that the new tactic would “defeat the guerilla-style attacks” of the Inkotanyi (RPF).
And Kambanda did explain how the new tactic would work out. According to him, “in each sector, 10 to 20 young men will be selected, trained and equipped with all the essentials to help the population fight against the Inkotanyi, instead of just running away upon hearing the first gunshot, yet it’s just a handful of Inkotanyi firing on them, who don’t even out-power them [the population]”.
“I am heading to Kigali” – Kambanda
Quite understandably, Kambanda had rallied a lot of people to join the war. And his message was heeded. But it was not yet enough for him, says researcher Ndahiro.
In a speech broadcast on the state-run Radio Rwanda and on the privately- (but government-sponsored) owned RTLM (Radio-Télévision Libre des Mille Collines) right as the Genocide was happening, Kambanda lied to the population to engage the Inkotanyi since they did not have strength and weapons.
As Ndahiro argued, Kambanda made the remarks after June 15, 1994. Just because in the radio and televised speech, one could sense that Kambanda had already left Gitarama [now in Muhanga district, Central Rwanda. Right in the middle of the Genocide, the Kambanda-led government had fled for safety to this place as the battle for Kigali intensified and the Inkotanyi pushed away the government forces], purportedly fleeing into Zaire, now DRC. Another reason for the choice of that estimate date is that in the same speech, one could sense that it was in the build-up to the Independence Day, by then celebrated on July 1.
In the speech Kambanda said: “Know that we will defeat the Inkotanyi. Know that nowhere in the world do we know of the population − having identified their enemy, and the enemy is few in number − have been defeated by that enemy.”
“I affirm that RPF cannot govern this country. Never! [...],” Kambanda sounded, followed with a round of applause.
“[…] I would like to tell you that I will now go back to Kigali and face off them [Inkotanyi] right being in Kigali”, he added, followed with another round of applause. “I will go nowhere else other than to Kigali”, Kambanda concluded.
A few days later, on July 4, 1994, Kigali and the whole of Rwanda fell to the Inkotanyi (RPF).
So, Ndahiro concludes, there was this desperate Kambanda who, aware of the government forces consistently losing ground, kept asking the poorly armed and poorly trained population – if at all one can call it training − to take part in the fighting only to be killed in the cross-fire as he was instead fleeing to neighbouring Zaire, now DRC.
He was then arrested in Nairobi, Kenya, on July 18, 1997 and later convicted of Genocide by the Tanzania-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).