Tag Archives: genocide

Guns don’t make peace, secure people do

When military leaders overthrew governments in the Horn of Africa and Great Lakes region beginning with Yoweri Museveni in Uganda in 1986, those who didn’t understand their real motives quickly christened them a new breed of African leaders in search of peace, democracy and development led by private sector and market forces. The new leaders hired lobbyists in western capitals and received support from sympathetic reporters especially after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. In Rwanda, Bahutu were depicted as “bad guys” behaving like wild beasts that should be punished en masse. And Bahutu were hunted down with millions of lives lost in jungles and in camps of displaced persons. Reports of atrocities perpetrated by Rwanda and Uganda were ignored by the international community or issued statements of condemnation that were meaningless without the force of law.

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Guns don’t make peace, secure people do

When military leaders overthrew governments in the Horn of Africa and Great Lakes region beginning with Yoweri Museveni in Uganda in 1986, those who didn’t understand their real motives quickly christened them a new breed of African leaders in search of peace, democracy and development led by private sector and market forces. The new leaders hired lobbyists in western capitals and received support from sympathetic reporters especially after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. In Rwanda, Bahutu were depicted as “bad guys” behaving like wild beasts that should be punished en masse. And Bahutu were hunted down with millions of lives lost in jungles and in camps of displaced persons. Reports of atrocities perpetrated by Rwanda and Uganda were ignored by the international community or issued statements of condemnation that were meaningless without the force of law.

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Ugandans are ready for popular uprising

Greetings fellow Ugandans and friends

The verdict is out – loud and clear. The February 2011 presidential, parliamentary and local elections were massively rigged – there were many imperfections including lack of level a playing field and using public funds for NRM campaigns. The results are illegitimate. Therefore, governments at the central and local levels formed out of these illegitimate elections are also illegitimate, unacceptable and rejected by the people of Uganda.

Western congratulatory messages that have come in so far should be interpreted with a grain of salt.

The people of Uganda have decided to bring the new governments down through peaceful demonstrations, making room for a coalition transitional government to prepare for free and fair elections at presidential, parliamentary and local levels.

The massive election rigging has driven the last nail in Museveni’s presidency. He is no longer the darling of the west. Corruption, sectarianism, failure of structural adjustment, plunder of Congolese resources, interference in neighbors’ political affairs and alleged genocide of Hutu people in DRC by Uganda troops have immensely diminished his credibility.

The west has been sending messages of discontent with Museveni’s regime which we need to take into account as we drive him and NRM out of power.

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Museveni’s carrot and stick strategy has backfired

Museveni who was used to accolades of success story, star performer and darling of the west has not yet adjusted to the new reality of humiliating failures in Uganda. The country’s focus has shifted from the glory of taming inflation, boosting economic growth and reversing HIV & AIDS to diseases of poverty underpinned by jiggers and malnutrition, environmental crisis led by Kampala City floods, alcoholism and associated traffic accidents, rampant corruption in high places and blatant sectarianism, allegations of genocide against Hutus in DRC, witchcraft and associated human sacrifice. Organizations that praised Uganda and its leader Museveni sky high in international conferences have gone silent or are blaming Museveni for the messy situation.

In order to reverse this disquiet and return to a normal development path, Museveni should accept full responsibility for what has gone wrong, distance himself from ‘yes men and women’ and pay more attention to critical and constructive advice.

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Dangers of failure to punish perpetrators for crimes including of genocide

The total international community’s neglect of the 1972 and 1993 crimes of genocide of Hutu by Tutsi in Burundi is believed to have emboldened the Hutu extremists in Rwanda to commit crimes of genocide against Tutsi and moderate Hutu in Rwanda in 1994. The perpetrators of Rwanda genocide thought that the international community would not act as in Burundi. They were wrong. But action against Hutu perpetrators of genocide in Rwanda and omission to act against Tutsi perpetrators of genocide in Burundi in 1972 and 1993 were judged as double standards practiced by the international community including the United Nations. Hutu survivors were forced to take up arms for self-defense resulting in human loss, injuries and displacements and destruction of property, infrastructure and institutions.

In 1994 Gersony submitted a report showing that the Tutsi in the Rwanda Patriotic Front and Army (RPF/A) had committed serious crimes against Hutu that could be classified as crimes of genocide. The Secretary-General of the United Nations acting either alone or under pressure suppressed publication of the report. The massacre or what some have called ‘genocide’ of tens of thousands of Hutu internally displaced persons (IDPs) at Kibeho camp was also ignored by the international community. The failure to punish perpetrators emboldened the hardliners in Rwanda government to commit more crimes and to get rid of moderate voices.

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From success story to genocide in Rwanda

The world we live in is very unpredictable and Rwanda is a good example. Until the economic crisis that started in 1989 with the collapse of coffee prices on the international market, Habyarimana’s economic and social programs had been hailed by the international community and Rwandese as success story to be emulated by the rest of Africa. By 1990, a weakened Rwanda was under attack and the government collapsed in 1994 in the midst of genocide. What caused the change of circumstances – from success story to genocide in a four year period?

Chris Atim has reported that four developments contributed to a quick shift from success story to genocide. But first, let us briefly examine the economic and social situation between 1973 when Habyarimana became president in a bloodless coup and 1989 when the price of coffee on the international market plummeted.

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Exposing silent genocide in Uganda

Santayana reminded us that “Those who do not remember history are condemned to repeat it”. We should not forget that Uganda has been recorded as a country where genocide has already taken place (Fran Alexander et al., 1998).

Those who want to prevent genocide in Uganda must study carefully the definition of genocide and then analyze what is going on in their communities because genocide may be taking place slowly, incrementally and silently without being noticed. Ugandans know the type of genocide that took place in Rwanda – the armed killing of targeted groups that took place in 1994. Genocide that takes place silently and incrementally overtime is difficult to detect and much less to condemn. Let us revisit the definition of genocide which has the following elements:

  1. Killing members of the group
  2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
  3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
  4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
  5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another.
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The creation of Rukungiri Municipality has genocidal implications

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 9, 1948 and came into force on January 12, 1951.

Article II of the Convention states that “In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to the members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

(d) Imposing means intended to prevent births within the group”, (Human rights. A

compilation of International Instruments, Volume I {Second Part} Unites Nations 2002)

The deliberate demarcation of the area that has been incorporated into Rukungiri Municipality targeted the ethnic group of Bairu people who form the largest group in the area. Their ancestors arrived in the area 3000 years ago. They were joined by Bahororo (Batutsi from Rwanda via the short-lived Mpororo kingdom) around 1800. The latter were militarily strong, crushed indigenous resistance and have dominated them politically, economically and socially since then against increasing resistance as Bairu begin to understand their human rights.

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Mounting evidence of Hutu genocide by Tutsi in Rwanda and DRC

First let us recall the definition of genocide. The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 9, 1948. The Convention entered into force on January 12, 1951.

Article II of the Convention states “In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction in whole or in part;

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group (Human Rights Volume I (Second Part) Universal Instruments United Nations 2002).

The targeted killing or genocide of moderate Hutu and Tutsi that took place in Rwanda in 1994 shocked the world. There is ‘guilt of omission’ to act. The international community did nothing to prevent the genocide when sufficient advance warning had been made available (Mary Robinson A Voice for Human Rights 2006: 222).

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Should genocide and massacre be treated equally?

Genocide

According to Article II of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, genocide is defined as “any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, such as: (1) killing members of the group; (2) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (3) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (4) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (5) forcibly transferring children of the group to another group”. Genocide is a crime under international law whether committed in time of peace or in time of war.

Massacre

According to Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary massacre means: (1) the indiscriminate, merciless killing of a number of human beings or, sometimes, animals; wholesale slaughter; (2) an overwhelming defeat.

This could mean killing people of a particular group – ethnic, religious, racial or opposition, conveying the same meaning as in (1) above under genocide.

Examples from Rwanda

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