Genocide Watch

Five people acquitted years ago by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda are still waiting to find a host country. One of them for 16 years. This situation looks unlikely to change any time soon, for them and for four convicts who have served their sentences and share their containment,…

The training of the interahamwe youths continued being done in a joint operation by Rwandan and French military officers. Here in 1994, Rwanda — A group of Rwandan recruits carrying model rifles march down a road. — (Photo by Peter Turnley/CORBIS) On March 18, 1991, the head of the intelligence…

Dr Leon Mugesera leaves the Court of Appeal in previous session. He looks very weak which is clearly visible as he walks Genocide convict Dr Leon Mugesera has petitioned the Supreme Court seeking to have one Justice on the bench trying him, to be removed from his appeals trial. The…

The machetes became the must have tool during the genocide In February 1994 a representative of CHILLINGTON, a manufacturing company which makes machetes among other things, reported that the company sold more machetes in one moth than it had sold throughout the year 1993. Applications for import licenses examined by…

Dr Leon Mugesera An audio speech used in the genocide case against academic Dr Leon Mugesera was fabricated with new content added, the Court of Appeal has heard. Appearing for the start of his appeal against a life sentence for his involvement in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, Mugesera…

Bishop John Rucyahana speaking at the lecture On the 23 January 2020, the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) hosted Bishop John Rucyahana for a public lecture commemorating the 71st anniversary of the UN Convention on the prevention and punishment of genocide. Facilitated as part of a series by the…

Justice Minister and Attorney General Johnston Busingye (in blue shirt) led delegation to site on Sunday A high-level government delegation has confirmed that the mass grave exhume at airport in Rubavu district contained remains of Tutsis targeted as part of anti-Tutsi massacres before 1994. Justice Minister and Attorney General Johnston…

Local officials helping with the exhumation currently ongoing at the Rubavu district airport. The bornes are sorted and separated from items like clothing. After it is confirmed they are genocide victims, they will be laid to rest at a local genocide memorial site On Saturday January 4, workers undertaking expansion…

Fabien Neretse, 71, told a Brussels court this week he played no part in the 1994 Tutsi genocide in Rwanda. He said he did not denounce his Tutsi neighbours in Kigali or train Interahamwe militia as he is accused, and that the prosecution has got everything wrong. Court president Sophie…

Mass graves of Tutsis killed in 1994 are still being discovered, 25 years after. Here in Kabuga, outside Kigali, several mass graves were exhumed late last year. Genocide convicts in Mageragere prison, the biggest in Kigali, have pinpointed 126 locations they say have mass graves in which victims of the…

Dr Markus Pieper, the in-charge of memorial sites and museums at the Federal Foundation for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Eastern Germany, explains to visitors at the exhibition organized as part of the events marking Germany reunification Germany and the rest of the world are commemorating 30 years…

Faustin Twagiramungu, ex-Prime Minister from July 1994, a position he held for about a year before he resigned and fled to exile Barely a week after Rwanda issued a list of individuals and entities outside Rwanda that are promoting a genocide revisionist agenda, those cited have decided to come out…

The Parliamentary building where the Senate yesterday released its report Government should set up a specific office to deal with the growing genocide negationist lobby, says Parliament in a new report. The upper house of parliament, the Senate, recommends the government appoints “Ambassador at Large” – a position which if…

The site where the exhumation has been ongoing next to the Cyanika Catholic parish in Nyamagabe district, southern province An investigation has been opened in Nyamagabe district, southern province, on Cyanika parish amid allegations the clergy may have hidden information about a mass grave in the church’s land. As of…

The compound in Rwezamenyo sector, Nyarugenge district here in Kigali, where the exhumation is taking place Local officials have since the weekend been exhuming at a site in Rwezamenyo sector, Nyarugenge district, believed to be mass grave for victims of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. The site is a…

This house belongs to a genocide survivor located in Rugarama village, Mugobore cell of Simbi sector, Huye district. There are hundreds of other houses in other regions with worse conditions The Auditor General has discovered that a government-aided fund set up to support genocide survivors has millions of Francs in…

Admiral Jacques Lanxade was Chief of Staff of French Special Forces from April 1989 to April 1991, when he was elevated to full military chief of the French army. It suggests, he had the Rwanda dossiers on his desk first hand. France provided arms to government of Juvenal Habyarimana to…

Rwanda’s Prosecutor General Jean Bosco Mutangana here meets Serge Brammertz, chief prosecutor of the International Residual Mechanisms for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) at a previous visit to Rwanda Despite $5m bounty for each of the hardcore genocide fugitives and Red Notices for thousands others, the global hunt to apprehend them has…

Speaker of the Lower Chamber of Parliament Donatile Mukabalisa lays wreath at a memorial site in Kibirizi sector. However, survivors of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, want the ‘Ibambiro’ hill to be declared place of historical significance and possibly a national memorial site as a particular group of people…

Dady de Maximo at different times of his life including in the fashion world When the date April 25 is approaching, and on this exact date, “I feel rage against all men and women” – is how renowned Rwandan designer Dady de Maximo Mwicira Mitali – fondly known as ‘Dady…

This suspect Rukundo Assouman was rearrested again after he confronted a genocide survivor saying: “I’ll kill you so that you follow ur relatives”. He was found guilty in 2016 over similar actions, was released under presidential pardon in September 2018 together with 2,139 others A small number of suspects arrested…

In April 2018, Uganda’s State Minister for regional cooperation, Philemon Mateke (left) attended kwibuka 24 events, hosted by Rwanda envoy Gen Frank Mugambage. Minister Mateke, it emerged recently, that he is Uganda Government link with Rwandan FDLR rebels The Rwandan community in Uganda this Saturday afternoon paid homage to the…

Sweden’s envoy in Rwanda Jenny Ohlsson attending the night vigil in Kigali’s main stadium on April 7 when the week-long 25th commemoration anniversary activities started Sweden’s envoy in Rwanda says not happy with barrage of social media posts that are negating the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi as the country…

The seven most senior leaders of the Catholic Church in Rwanda have written to government asking that some of the genocide convicts be released or their sentences reduced as gesture, they say, which would reinforce national unity and reconciliation. These clergy under the Episcopal Conference of Rwanda, including the new…

The posters appearing on Twitter and Facebook in the US’ renewed search for genocide fugitives The US State Department has opened a new front in the search for eight Rwandans who have eluded the superpower’s might for more than a 15 years despite each having a $5m bounty. The “War…

At the Kigali car free zone, the media fraternity converged to honor their colleagues killed in 1994 In what has become annual event, journalists in Rwanda put away their cameras, gadgets and notebooks aside in honour of the 1,074,056 victims of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. What was new…

Standing ovation and applause inside the House of Commons on Monday during the motion’s introduction The Canadian Parliament on Monday unanimously adopted a historic private member’s motion on the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Brought by Rob Oliphant, the co-chair of the Canada-Africa Parliamentary Association, the motion commemorates…

The new commission of eight researchers and historians named by French President Emmanuel Macron to investigate the role of the French military in Rwanda must operate “independently”, the umbrella association of genocide survivors IBUKA says. IBUKA said hopes the team comprises “people of integrity”, in a speech made yesterday by…

Ethiopia PM Abiy Ahmed speaking today Abiy Ahmed, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia arrived in Rwanda on Saturday evening. He was welcomed by President Paul Kagame at the airport – as one the world leaders for the 25th anniversary of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. On Sunday, April 7,…

Today is April 7. The killing machine would have been in action back in 1994; starting in wee hours of this morning. This year however, 25 years after what former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Winston Churchill called the “crime without a name” in 1941 before Raphael Lamkin coined…