09956

06/20/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-09956

JUSTICE FOR RWANDA GENOCIDE

"Looking at my neighbors, I thought they were friends. I was very much surprised that they were among the people who came to try to kill us." Those were the words of Isadore Munyakazi [ee-sah-door-ay moo-nyah-kah-zee]. He was referring to the Rwandan genocide, in which ethnic Hutu extremists murdered some eight-hundred thousand Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Between April and July of 1994, Rwanda was a scene of unspeakable horror. Men, women, and children were hacked and beaten to death. Many were raped and horribly mutilated before being killed. Churches, hospitals, and schools became killing centers. Among those indicted for turning Isador Munyakazi's friends and neighbors into killers is Felicien Kabuga [kah-boo-gah].

Kabuga is wanted by a United Nations tribunal for genocide. A Hutu businessman, he is charged with using his wealth to incite hatred and violence against Tutsis and moderate Hutus who rejected his extremist ideology.

Kabuga's privately owned Radio Television Libre des Mille Collines [Thousand Hills Independent Radio and Television] called for the mass murder of Tutsis and others. Kabuga is accused of supplying machetes, hoes, and other tools used as weapons by Hutu mobs. He is alleged to have been the main financial backer of the Hutu extremist militias who carried out the massacres along with the Rwandan government and military.

The United States is offering a reward of up to five-million dollars for information that leads to the arrest of Felicien Kabuga and others wanted for war crimes in Rwanda. Anyone with information should contact the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate. Or call Nairobi, Kenya at 254-722-298483 or 254-733-250208. Email may be sent to rewards@state.gov. The identity of informants will be kept strictly confidential.

As Pierre-Richard Prosper of the U.S. State Department's Office of War Crimes Issues said, "The United States remains committed to bringing those who commit genocide, war crimes, and atrocities to justice. Whether the perpetrators are terrorists or war criminals, they must be sought . . . Mr. Kabuga and his associates must now understand that they will be captured."