Quantum of Justice

19 December 2008



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Major Rwandan Genocidaires Convicted

In 1994, the small African country of Rwanda was the site of one of the most horrific genocides since the Holocaust. In about 100 days, extremist Hutus murdered 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus, 10% of the nation's population. It has taken 14 years, but at last, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania, has sentenced some of those responsible at the highest level to life in prison. The death penalty is not permitted under the court's charter, but this is one of those cases where it is more than justified.

The man behind it all is Theoneste Bagosora, the chief of staff of Rwanda's Ministry of Defense when the murders began. He walked out of peace talks in Tanzania between the Hutu and Tutsi in 1994 saying he was returning to Rwanda to “prepare the apocalypse.” He took control of the government after President Juvenal Habyarimana’s plane was shot down, the signal for the murders to begin. The Times succinctly explained, “Hours after the president's aircraft came down, the brutal Interahamwe militants set up roadblocks across Kigali and the next day began killing Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The slaughter, coordinated by Bagosara, eventually ended after Tutsi rebels invaded from neighbouring Uganda and drove out the genocidal forces.”

What is particularly appalling about the events that spring is the way civilian Hutu succumbed to radio propaganda that incited them to genocide. Labeling their fellow Rwandans “cockroaches,” extremist Hutus used Radio Rwanda and Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) to broadcast constant provocation of which Himmler would have been proud. Moreover, these broadcasts pre-dated the genocide by months and months.

Another horrifying part of this dark zone in human history was the general disinterest in the rest of the world. Some of this is certainly due to general ignorance about African affairs, and some of it can only be attributed to latent racism. The Guardian reported, “In 2004, intelligence reports obtained under the US Freedom of Information Act showed that the then US president, Bill Clinton, and his cabinet were almost certainly told about a 'final solution' to eliminate the Tutsi population in the early days of the killing. In 2000 the UN security council accepted responsibility for failing to prevent the genocide. A week earlier, Belgium's then prime minister, Guy Verhofstadt, made a public apology for his country's failings.” Yet, no one tried to stop the murders until it was too late. For a depressingly well-written account of the entire disaster, one can do no better than to read General Romeo Dallaire's Shake Hands with the Devil.

This journal is pleased that the ITCR has held the leaders of this abomination accountable with the life sentence imposed on Mr. Bagosora and others. However, one is reminded of the lesson of Bonaparte, who escaped exile from Elba. That event cost the lives of tens of thousands during the 100 Days in 1815, lives that could have been saved had the Allies had the guts to shoot the Little Corporal. Mr. Bagosora remains a threat to the human race and will continue to be a threat until he dies. The thought that he could escape or receive his freedom as some kind of clemency arrangement is stomach-turning.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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