By Dr BIZIMANA Jean Damascène;
Kigali: As the criminal government forces were progressively being defeated, they continued to increase their efforts to expedite the massacre of Tutsi where it had not been carried out. Much efforts were put into the so-called “auto-defense civile” which was a program to continue the distribution of weapons among the militias Interahamwe, to recruit young people into the military and to increase killing equipment. All these decisions are reflected in the transcripts found in the diary of KAMBANDA of 1994.
1. DECISIONS TO INCREASE MILITARY TRAINING FOR YOUTH AND EQUIPPING THEM WITH WEAPONS
The meeting convened by the Prime Minister focused on two key issues. The first was to analyse how the KAMBANDA Government and its forces would reposition themselves to ensure that they wouldn’t continue to lose the war against the RPF-INKOTANYI Forces; the second issue was to assess how the Genocide to exterminate the Tutsi could continue and be accelerated as much as possible.
They assessed the situation in the parts controlled by the Government namely Gisenyi, Ruhengeri, Butare and the Western Kigali. In KAMBANDA’s writings, he says they have found that the “enemy” was more powerful in military matters for a number of reasons. Among the strongest ones they mentioned were the fact that the government soldiers were getting discouraged. It was agreed that the army chiefs should explain to the military the danger to the people if the whole country would be captured by the RPF. They also highlighted the plight of the increasing number of their burglar soldiers who were especially stealing cars, and the problem of deserters who run away from the battle without being pursued, which further discourages the rest of soldiers.
It was agreed that in the government-controlled areas, they would continue to focus on encouraging young people to join the military, provide them with training and weapons. They gave an example that in Butare and Gikongoro prefectures about two hundred (200) people had started the training.
It was appreciated that the students who had been evacuated from Byumba in the Groupe Scolaire de la Salle, and were lodged in the School of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry (EAVK), had started the military training at the school. The government demanded that it should be done elsewhere to ensure that the youth continue to receive military training and weapons.
The trained and armed young men were mostly used to provide assistance to the Interahamwe in the killings. It is in that way that Hutu students from EAVK killed their fellow Tutsi students after the former Director of the school, Theophile MBARUSHIMANA initiated them to do so. He was the first to shoot a Tutsi student in an attempt to set a bad example for Hutu students to commit Genocide and they had immediately killed their fellow Tutsi students and Tutsi who were evacuated from Byumba. MBARUSHIMANA Theophile is the son of Joseph HABYARIMANA GITERA who enacted “10 Hutu Laws” in 1959.
The meeting also decided that all banks should be relocated to Gisenyi near the Congolese border, to make it easier for them to immediately transfer public funds to Congo once they lose the war and that is exactly what happened.
As a result, the army chiefs were determined to do everything possible to fight for the Kigali-Ruhengeri-Gisenyi road to prevent RPF INKOTANYI from capturing the area.
2. RESOLUTIONS TO ENCOURAGE PREFECTS AND BOURGMESTRES TO REINFORCE THE KILLING
Apart from military related measures taken, political measures including to continue encouraging all prefects and bourgmestres to accelerate the “auto-defense civile” program had been taken. This consisted of accelerating the killing of Tutsi, according to the Prime Minister Jean KAMBANDA’s instructions of May 25, 1994 addressed to all the authorities, including the prefects and bourgmestres.
Let us recall that the “auto-defense civile ” directives written by Jean KAMBANDA on May 25, 1994, commanded all prefects to provide the Interahamwe with all the necessary equipment to commit the genocide. Jean KAMBANDA pleaded guilty to that crime at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and emphasized that, the directives were contained in the document entitled “directive sur la defense civile” of 25 May 1994. The directives were intended to incite the “Interahamwe to carry out killing against Tutsi civiliansin all prefectures; and the government was responsible for the killings by the Interahamwe.”
During the June 5, 1994 meeting between KAMBANDA and the army chiefs, it was agreed that the Government should allocate sufficient budget for “auto-defense civile”, increase the number of people involved in the program and increase the number of weapons and other necessary equipment for them.
In addition, it has also been said that among the educated people (intellectuals), some were ready to assist the government in its endeavour, especially in terms of fighting the media war with the purpose of regaining the good image of the criminal government. They had found it necessary because the government forces were accused by the international community of committing the killings alone, and that the RPF’s actions were not mentioned.
This misconception was to overlook that there were foreign journalists and staff of rescue organisations in the RPF-INKOTANYI controlled area who would have disclosed the news in case RPF had committed any kind of killing.
They also pointed out that another way to regain the good image of the government was to attract some Tutsi so that they flee to the government-controlled area and protect them in order to show that the government could not commit Genocide and at the same time ensure the safety of the Tutsi who took refuge in their controlled area.
3. THE ARMY OF KAMBANDA’S GOVERNMENT CONFIRMED THAT INKOTANYI WERE MORE EXPERIENCED AND DISCIPLINED
KAMBANDA wrote in his diary that the military leaders had shown him that one of the reasons why the RPF-INKOTANYI was more skilled and defeated them continuously was due to their unity and teamwork in all its structures especially in politics and the military (political and military unity).
Another indication of the RPF-INKOTANYI’s expertise was that its soldiers were diligently fighting with devotion contrary to the ones of the Government. He added that RPF soldiers have been given enough military and disciplinary trainings than government soldiers. It was also said that the RPF-INKOTANYI had a systematic way to plan the battle and monitor its daily progress with great commitment.
They pointed out one of RPF-INKOTANYI weakness as the population did not like the RPF INKOTANYI and hence mobilization should continue among the population to make them hate it even further and thus encourage them to flee the country.
CONCLUSION
All the government and military meetings held during the Genocide against the Tutsi show how KAMBANDA Government implemented the pre-April 1994 genocide plan to exterminate the Tutsi. The shooting down of President HABYARIMANA’s plane was an excuse to achieve the evil plan.(End).
* Dr BIZIMANA Jean Damascène, Executive Secretary National Commission for the Fight Against Genocide (CNLG)